Free Web NovelChapter 29: Chapter 28: They’re Not Worthy...
Seeing Mendeleev’s cry for help in the group chat, Li Dong’s heart skipped a beat, and he quickly asked in the chat.
[Cramming for Exams]: @Mendeleev, what’s wrong? What happened?
At the same time, the lurking group members were also drawn out.
[Isaac Newton]: You bearded man from Russia, did you get blown up by that damned internal combustion engine?
[Albert Einstein]: Oh, God. If it’s a lab explosion, remember to protect your head first.
However, the one with the strongest reaction was surprisingly Franklin, who often bickered with Mendeleev.
[Benjamin Franklin]: @Mendeleev, hey! Don’t scare us! If something happens to you now, who wins our bet? Talk! Say something!
Although Franklin’s tone wasn’t friendly, Li Dong could clearly sense the anxiety behind that string of exclamation points.
’Looks like those two have argued their way into a genuine friendship without even realizing it.’
[Benjamin Franklin]: @Mendeleev? Fine, I admit you’re more adventurous. Stop messing around and say something!
But no matter how many times everyone tagged him, Mendeleev remained silent.
Li Dong’s heart sank.
For some reason, he suddenly thought of Gauss, who had private messaged him before.
An ominous premonition washed over him.
He immediately opened the group member list and quickly found Mendeleev’s profile picture.
In that instant, Li Dong sucked in a sharp breath.
The originally colorful profile picture of the bearded man had now turned a bizarre half-gray, half-color!
This...
Just as Li Dong was reeling in shock and confusion, Mendeleev finally spoke in the chat.
[Mendeleev]: Water... I need water...
[Mendeleev]: To find those two bicycle-repairing brothers across the ocean and build an airplane, the merchant ship I was on struck a reef... I’m now stranded on an unknown deserted island and haven’t had anything to eat or drink for three days...
[Mendeleev]: I feel my bodily fluids rapidly evaporating, my electrolytes are imbalanced, and my proteins are starting to break down... I don’t think I can last much longer.
Staring at the messages in the chat, Li Dong was stunned for a second.
’Mendeleev’s life is in danger? Is that why his profile picture is half-gray, half-color?’
’Then what about Gauss? His profile picture was completely gray.’
But this wasn’t the time to be thinking about that.
If he hadn’t sent that "Initial Exploration of the Design of Heavier-than-Air Flight Vehicles" to Mendeleev, the great chemist wouldn’t be stranded on a deserted island!
’This is the butterfly effect!’
’I might actually be the one to send the father of the periodic table to his grave!’
"No! I absolutely can’t let him die!"
Putting aside the fact that he hadn’t reaped any benefits from Mendeleev yet, Li Dong couldn’t just stand by and do nothing when a life was on the line, especially one he had indirectly endangered.
[Cramming for Exams]: @Mendeleev, hang in there! I’ll figure something out!
Li Dong switched out of the chat and immediately opened his browser.
[Emergency self-rescue methods for a desperate situation on a tropical deserted island with no food or water for three days]
Soon, the web page was filled with countless tutorials on surviving on a deserted island.
"Look what I found? A wild hairy crab..."
Li Dong skipped past these useless tutorials, focusing on authoritative ocean survival guides and real-life rescue cases from shipwreck survivors.
Soon, Li Dong had compiled an illustrated "Deserted Island Survival Guide."
[File sent successfully: Deserted_Island_Survival_Guide.pdf]
[Cramming for Exams]: @Mendeleev, look at this, quick! Whatever you do, don’t drink seawater! Not only will it not quench your thirst, but it’ll also accelerate your electrolyte imbalance and kill you!
Mendeleev received the file.
Li Dong prayed silently.
’Bless him, Bear Grylls! Bless him!’
However, just a minute later, another message from Mendeleev arrived.
[Mendeleev]: Cramming for Exams, the methods in your guide are truly perfect.
[Mendeleev]: Whether it’s the principle of condensation to distill seawater using solar energy, or the biological characteristics used to capture crustaceans according to tidal patterns, I understood it all.
Li Dong was about to breathe a sigh of relief, but then...
[Mendeleev]: But...
[Mendeleev]: My hands... they have a mind of their own.
Li Dong: "..."
He stared at his phone screen, completely speechless.
’So, you’re saying your brain gets it, but your hands don’t?’
’Dude, you’re a chemist! Don’t you have to use your hands for your experiments?’
But on second thought, Li Dong understood.
’Hadn’t he heard the story about Newton boiling his pocket watch instead of an egg? Or about Einstein often getting lost on his way home?’
These great minds were all the brightest stars in their respective fields.
’But stars aren’t exactly down-to-earth.’
"This is a problem..."
Theory couldn’t save Mendeleev. He needed someone to teach him, step by step!
Li Dong suddenly remembered the "Group Invitation Function" the system had mentioned was now unlocked.
"Pull a survival expert in?"
He immediately got to work.
He quickly rummaged through the group settings and finally found an integrated function button in an inconspicuous corner.
He clicked on it and saw that most of the icons inside were locked and grayed out. Only the group invitation function was available.
[Invitation Slots: 1]
Only one chance!
Li Dong didn’t have time to worry about whether it was worth it; saving a life was the priority.
The first name that popped into his head was, naturally, the man at the top of the food chain—Bear Grylls.
Li Dong quickly typed in Bear Grylls’s full name.
[Bear Grylls]
[Searching...]
[Invitation failed.]
[System prompt: In this dazzling pantheon of stars, merely conquering nature with one’s physical body is not enough to gain an admission ticket. Though he is a conqueror of the wilderness, he has not carved an eternal mark upon the bedrock of human civilization.]
’Hmm, how should I interpret this...?’
’Maybe...’
’Bear Grylls isn’t worthy of joining the group!’
"What the fuck! This group judges you on your academic credentials and contributions?"
Li Dong was now sweating with anxiety, but he quickly thought of someone else.
Input: [Robinson Crusoe]
[Invitation failed.]
[System prompt: Fictional ink cannot blossom in the soil of reality. This place only accepts real souls, not phantoms from paper.]
"Damn it! So many rules!"
Li Dong couldn’t help but curse.
’So, they have to be a real person, have made huge contributions to humanity, and also be a survival expert?’
’Where the hell am I supposed to find someone like that?’
Seeing the gray area on Mendeleev’s profile picture growing larger, Li Dong started to panic.
"Real... great... exploration... survival..."
Suddenly, he thought of someone.
A man known as "the greatest failure."
He was on the ice fields of Antarctica. His ship was trapped and crushed by the ice, leaving the entire crew in a desperate situation. From there, he piloted a small lifeboat across the world’s most violent seas, miraculously bringing back every single crew member!
’If it’s him, he’s definitely qualified!’
Li Dong typed a name into the input box.
[Ernest Henry Shackleton]
[Verifying...]
[Verification successful.]
[He is a monument to polar exploration. On the desolate ice fields, he embodied the absolute limits of human will.]
[His name represents ’endurance’ and ’survival’.]
[Invitation successful!]
Following a crisp notification sound, a message popped up in the chat.
[Ernest Henry Shackleton has joined the group chat.]
