Explosive Experiment Under the Eyes of the World

The text on the Virtual Panel came to an end.

Lin Tuo silently willed it away, putting the entire panel away before dealing with the aftermath.

He recalled the Avatar into his body... turned off the flashlight, dismantled the support frame fixed to the Sandbox... gulped down the now-cold strong tea, tidied up the takeout boxes, instant noodle cups, and snack wrappers, then squeezed out toothpaste and washed up in the light of the early morning sun.

Fortunately, there was no one else at home.

No one saw how disheveled he looked.

Only after finishing everything did Lin Tuo throw himself heavily into his chair, feeling utterly drained, as though his body had been wrung dry.

"I actually lectured for five days and four nights? Even cram-school teachers aren't as hardworking as me, right..."

As he silently mocked himself, Lin Tuo looked toward the Sandbox, where Time Acceleration had already resumed, and felt somewhat emotional.

"Five days and four nights" was naturally an exaggeration. He had rested many times in between, but overall, it had indeed been a massive undertaking. Fortunately, the final result looked pretty good.

The final act of "Sky-Treading away" had been something he had planned long ago.

Its purpose was mainly to further reinforce his authority.

"This kind of exit will surely leave a deep impression on both the court and common folk of Chi Kingdom. In that case, out of reverence for the Celestial or Sage, the development policies I laid out for them should be carried out quite smoothly."

Of course, none of this would produce immediate results.

As civilization evolved within the Sandbox and society grew more complex, the ratio of time flow would decline further.

Lin Tuo estimated that it would take at least one or two days before the Aether in Creation Mode rose noticeably.

As long as it was faster than normal, his efforts would not have been in vain.

As for the Aether in Observation Mode... well, despite more than a week having passed, the Aether concentration around Yang City was still at a "minuscule" level.

There was nothing he could do...

With a soft sigh, Lin Tuo picked up his phone, intending to order breakfast before catching up on sleep.

But just then, his chat app suddenly popped up with a string of messages.

Lin Tuo opened it and found that they came from a non-work group from his former company's department. The group owner had just sent a message and tagged everyone, immediately stirring up quite a crowd.

"What happened?"

"What's going on?"

Group owner: "Look at the link I sent! A livestream of the armed demolition at Tucker Desert!"

The moment he saw those words, all sleepiness vanished from Lin Tuo.

Armed demolition!

After thinking back for a moment, he recalled having indeed seen rumors two days ago. Since every method of detection had failed one after another, the research team outside Tucker Desert seemed to be preparing to attempt an armed demolition.

That was, they would bury huge quantities of explosives and carry out a targeted blast against the Great Wall—the outer shell of the Sandbox Isolation Shield.

This proposal had been raised long ago, but it had never been approved.

Lin Tuo remembered that people online had previously predicted that if research continued to make no progress, armed demolition would be almost inevitable.

Yet he had not expected the proposal to be approved, much less implemented that very morning.

In truth, Lin Tuo had devoted most of his attention to teaching in the Sandbox, which was why he had not learned about this at once.

Fortunately, someone had posted it in the group. Otherwise, he really would have missed it.

He immediately sat up straight. After some thought, instead of opening it directly, he used the laptop on his desk to open the link in the group chat, successfully entering a livestream room.

The livestream's title was unusually straightforward:

"Live from the Takk Black Box Demolition Site!"

After checking the streamer, he saw that it was not an official media outlet. Thinking about it, that made sense. This was not a rocket launch; there was no reason for an official broadcast.

In theory, the area around the demolition site should have been under martial lockdown.

"I wonder how this streamer managed to film it..."

Lin Tuo muttered inwardly, then quickly discovered that the livestream image was indeed extremely blurry.

The camera seemed to have been set up at some elevated location. With the help of some machinery or algorithms, it had zoomed in and magnified a scene from an immense distance away.

As a result, the picture was especially blurred. He could only make out a long road, vehicles by its side, vaguely visible busy staff—

And farther away, that Great Wall.

Clearly, the demolition site was very far from the streamer. At best, the streamer could probably only capture the flash of the explosion.

As for why the blast point had not been chosen somewhere more remote and farther from people, he had no idea. It was probably due to various practical considerations.

A glance at the upper-left corner of the webpage showed that the livestream's viewer count had already surpassed two hundred thousand and was still rapidly climbing. Every second, a huge number of accounts poured in.

They were probably all netizens drawn in by the news.

The comments scrolled rapidly across the screen:

"No way, no way? There really is a livestream? A live broadcast? Streamer, you're awesome!"

"This is blurrier than a mosaic censor bar. Streamer, are you serious? What are we supposed to see through this mess?"

"Exactly. Was this filmed from across the Milky Way?"

"Heh, take off your glasses and censored becomes uncensored. Streamer, I'm with you."

"Alright, stop arguing... It's good enough that we can see anything at all."

The netizens discussed it enthusiastically.

Some voiced dissatisfaction, some spammed 666, but overall, the atmosphere was fairly good. After all, everyone knew that outsiders could never be allowed close to such a demolition test.

If not for the special nature of the chosen location, they would not even have been able to see this much.

The streamer did not show their face and seemed to be adjusting the camera. At that moment, they also apologized:

"Sorry, everyone. There's really nothing I can do. It's too far away, so this is the best resolution I can get."

"It's fine."

"No problem."

"Streamer, ignore those haters."

A wave of comments drifted past.

Then Lin Tuo heard the unknown streamer explain:

"Everyone, what you're seeing is the designated demolition site. You probably can't make it out clearly, so let me tell you what I know.

People arrived last night and began setting up the blast points.

Look, right here... this section of the Great Wall... there are troops sealing off the area nearby. Of course, we can't see them clearly. They should attempt the demolition soon..."

More and more viewers flooded into the livestream.

But Lin Tuo's expression kept changing as he sat before the computer.

Rationally, he believed that based on the abilities displayed by the Evolution Sandbox, it absolutely had nothing to fear from human thermal weapons. Emotionally, however, he still felt a trace of instinctive nervousness.

Yet compared to him, the people within the restricted zone of Tucker Desert were undoubtedly far more tense.

A section of Tucker Desert.

Inside the restricted zone.

At that moment, the dawn sun had already risen, illuminating the boundless earth. From this angle, a vast stretch of the Great Wall also revealed interwoven shades of black and gold.

Amid deafening mechanical roars, the entire restricted zone was filled with a tense, oppressive atmosphere.

In the distance, soldiers transferred from a nearby unit were busily setting up blast points, while large numbers of personnel guarded the perimeter to seal off the area.

Farther away stood one firepower position after another, prepared to guard against any possible "unexpected risks."

And in an unseen place even farther away, special forces had already erected missile launchers, awaiting orders at all times.

Outside the danger zone.

Inside a temporary tent.

A group of scholars had gathered there. They wore no white lab coats, only simple outerwear, and exhaustion covered their faces.

Several in the center had white, thinning hair. Their expressions were grave as they stared at the jet-black Great Wall.

"How much longer before we can begin?" someone suddenly asked through the Communicator.

"The explosives have been placed. We are conducting the final round of inspections... Personnel are expected to withdraw in ten minutes." The voice on the other end was exceptionally steady.

"Good."

There was no further conversation. The researchers around them had long since made every preparation, setting up all manner of observation equipment, ready to record every possible change the explosion might trigger.

"Don't be nervous. Relax." Perhaps sensing the heavy atmosphere, a scholar of clearly immense standing smiled at the younger operators.

They were called "young," but in truth, almost none of the personnel operating the instruments were under thirty.

Pick any one of them at random, and they would be a prized treasure at any major university or research institute. Yet at this moment, they were all nervous beyond measure.

"Academician Zhou, do you think... can this really blow it open?" After hesitating, someone finally could not help asking.

"What do you all think?"

"I can't say. The power of the blast is beyond doubt, but the material of the Great Wall is simply too unusual..."

The atmosphere in the camp became incomparably quiet. No one spoke, which also showed that this was indeed what most people thought.

No one knew what immense pressure this group had endured during this period.

The eyes of the entire world had converged upon them, yet the research had made no progress at all.

In the end, they had no choice but to accept the demolition proposal.

Online, countless people believed that as long as thermal weapons were used, the mysterious Black Box could surely be pried open.

But these people were not nearly so confident.

Thermal weapons?

High-yield explosives?

Could these weapons of war, invincible on the battlefield, truly work against a creation suspected to be alien technology?

In the silent atmosphere, time slipped away second by second.

Soon, the personnel had finished withdrawing, and everyone entered protective facilities at a safe distance.

"Ignition countdown!"

A calm voice came through the Communicator. It belonged to the person in charge of the detonation operation.

The atmosphere shifted abruptly. At that moment, everyone cast aside their distracting thoughts. Some stood beside instrument after instrument, while others took their positions at safe observation points, looking toward that dark, sky-blocking wall in the distance.

"10, 9, 8..."

The countdown began through the Communicator, giving personnel at every level time to prepare. After all, this was not an ordinary demolition. No one knew what might happen.

Inside the livestream.

The viewer count had already climbed into the millions, while the actual number of viewers was likely also in the tens of thousands.

And this was only a livestream room with little fame.

On other internet platforms, even more people were following the experiment through various means.

"6, 5, 4..."

Before the laptop, Lin Tuo fixed his gaze on that blurry patch of light and shadow.

"2, 1, 0... Detonate!"

The next second, a terrifying boom erupted from the flat ground throughout the restricted zone. Explosives placed in every location detonated at once, throwing up a vast blaze of fire.

The enormous wind pressure rolled up great clouds of dust and swept them toward the observation area. Yellow sand filled the sky, and the sound shook the land for a thousand miles!

In the livestream, the comments froze at that instant.

The streamer even blurted out a curse, expressing their shock.

Within the blurry picture, a brilliant flash appeared first. Then, an irregular mushroom cloud rose into the air.

At the same time, Lin Tuo turned to look at the Sandbox by his left hand.

He saw that at the very moment of the explosion, somewhere along the enormous Isolation Shield at the edge of the Sandbox, ripples suddenly spread across a tranquil deep-blue sea.

Within the Sandbox, somewhere in the boundless ocean beyond the continent, the calm surface suddenly boiled, stirring up a burst of wind and waves.

Then it gradually settled.

Outside the Sandbox, Lin Tuo glanced at the tiny splash and revealed an unsurprised expression.

Not long afterward, the dust gradually dispersed.

Inside the restricted zone.

The many academicians and even more researchers silently watched the Great Wall on their screens, still completely unscathed amid the dust, and all fell silent.

And when the results of the experiment were transmitted and reported to every nation, then...

That morning, the entire world fell silent as well.