Command to Escape

Trapped inside a massive crystal a thousand kilometers underground, Bai Ge had many ways to escape if he simply wanted out.

For instance, he could teleport randomly again. The universe's coincidental teleportation only required 100,000 degrees of electricity.

His brain hole's generator set brought in 20,000 degrees per hour, so it would only take five hours.

But doing so would essentially create another containment item.

Bai Ge's original plan was to teleport twice, once there and once back, to make a substantial profit.

Now that he had to create an extra one, Bai Ge naturally wanted to consider other methods.

"I don't know how big this cavity actually is. If the crystal shell is relatively thin, will draining all the air here cause it to collapse due to pressure?"

"No... even if it collapses, it's more likely I'll be directly buried alive, stuck in an incredibly small crevice. After all, the entire crystal is likely super thick."

Bai Ge was absorbing the high-temperature gas here every moment.

Most of this gas was inert, and Bai Ge stored it in a corner of his Material Universe.

To prevent the gas from spreading at light speed within the universe, Bai Ge specifically sectioned off a piece of spacetime, forming a colossal Spacetime Box.

Outside the box was nothing, the so-called 'Non-existence' zone.

This way, the high-temperature gas would be confined to that corner, preventing it from destroying his entire Material Universe.

Based on the absorption rate of 500 kilograms per second, over twenty-four hours, he could absorb 43.2 million kilograms of gas.

This was roughly the amount of gas within a cube with sides of six thousand meters.

However, the cavity here far exceeded this volume; trying to absorb all the gas was like trying to achieve the impossible.

"It takes too much time, not worth experimenting."

"If I can last three hours here, I'll consider myself extremely lucky!"

Every second, Bai Ge endured immense pain. If not for the Calm Command, he would have collapsed long ago.

It wasn't that he couldn't maintain his composure, but rather that once the command was deactivated, his normal self would bear a tremendous psychological burden, potentially leaving him with trauma.

Therefore, he tried not to let each Calm Command last too long.

Bai Ge wandered through the cavity, which was larger than a city. Everywhere he looked, there was nothing but spinel.

Even if other elements were present, they were mixed within the spinel.

This made him feel as if he were in a crystal palace.

"Among my existing traits, all others are useless; only Universal Unlock remains."

"If I can treat this entire crystalline composite as a lock, and I understand its sealing principle, then think of a way to unlock it, could I open it..."

Bai Ge immediately thought of using the Universal Unlock command.

Because theoretically, this trait could open this sealed space.

The last time Bai Ge constructed the unlock command, he hadn't completely removed the conceptual lock from his settings.

He had only removed the invisible locks.

Now, Bai Ge was like being inside a locked box; he could see it and touch it.

"If it's possible, then Universal Unlock would be incredibly useful."

The immediate priority for Bai Ge was to figure out how the cavity was locked and how to open it himself.

"The entire Crystal Island, roughly calculated, is composed of at least over eighty million massive crystals, not counting the smaller ones. Internally and externally, it should be divided into three layers."

"The outermost layer is currently melting, in its most unstable solid state."

"The second layer is complex in composition, an incomplete crystal, definitely fused with a large amount of other substances."

"Only the innermost layer is relatively pure cubic crystal, especially this cavity; the crystal impurities inside are particularly low. The gem-quality ones around me alone... can be counted in the millions of tons."

Bai Ge suddenly smiled. He realized this Crystal Island was actually unstable.

It shouldn't have been at this depth; it was likely forced down from the upper layers due to mantle flow.

It was just too large, so it hadn't completely dissolved yet.

This wasn't a single, monolithic crystal, but rather composed of numerous crystals pressed together.

This meant it was entirely possible to break the delicate balance of interlocking spinel through external force, then crack open from the cavity, splitting into two halves.

"Stop absorbing gas!"

Bai Ge, thinking this, quickly stopped absorbing the surrounding gas.

Now, he actually needed the cavity to be filled with gas, because that indicated the crystal was 'loose.'

"Bell, simulate this super crystal."

In an instant, a crystal made of imagined matter appeared in his brain hole.

The crystal's surface was irregular but generally egg-shaped.

If one looked inside, they could see massive, elongated octahedrons or rhombic dodecahedrons interlocking with each other.

It was as if countless gears were meshed together.

Due to the immense pressure, the interlocking parts were extremely tight. Layer upon layer, they formed a cavity in the center.

"Bell, if I'm in the cavity and emit high-frequency vibrations, can I disrupt the balance from the inside and cause this assembly to crack open?"

"Yes, the pressure here isn't enough to alter molecular structure in a short time. So, this crystal that fell from the upper mantle is essentially like a pile of screws pressed together. As long as the vibration is strong enough, combined with the external pressure, it can 'dislocate' at the cavity, splitting into two halves first, and then continuously fracturing until it breaks down into nothing." Bell replied.

Bai Ge rejoiced. This was just like a lock!

Centered on the cavity, any cross-section would divide Crystal Island into upper and lower halves, like a lock mechanism.

"The principle of this 'lock' is that the external pressure interlocks several crystals; it's essentially the simplest latch lock."

"As for the key, it's even simpler. This 'lock' isn't fully engaged; it's just that the 'bolt' has been slid in. A powerful Sonic Oscillator can 'shake it loose'."

Although Bai Ge had the technology for a Sonic Oscillator and could even build one now, Shadow Lord's passive ability prevented him from making any sound other than speaking. Therefore, even with the key, Bai Ge couldn't open the lock.

However... the Universal Unlock command didn't require Bai Ge to have the key, nor did it require Bai Ge to use it...

He just needed to know the unlocking method.

Looking at this 'lock,' with just one sentence, it would open itself.

"I'm worried it will be judged as destroying the lock. In the settings for Universal Unlock, destroying the lock doesn't count as knowing how to unlock it."

Bai Ge looked at the crystal palace and silently thought.

"Universal Unlock."

"Boom! Kaka-kaka-kaka..."

Continuous vibrations suddenly appeared, with countless echoes reverberating within the cavity, like a giant grinding its teeth.

The sound of crystals rubbing and striking against each other grew louder, until the dome suddenly tilted, as if the 'sky' had gone askew.

"It actually works..."

Bai Ge knew that the upper and lower structures were beginning to misalign. Once there was even a slight imbalance, the pressure, over a million times greater, would amplify that instability to the maximum.

The entire Crystal Island suddenly opened up like a seashell.

"Eeeeeee-dong!"

A series of piercing sounds echoed, and then, suddenly, blinding green light filled Bai Ge's vision.

"I didn't feel any heat... As expected, even if thermal energy is converted to electrical energy, it's absorbed by the bow tie first... In my Shadow Lord state, I can't directly utilize cellular properties to absorb heat."

No one had ever 'seen' with their own eyes inside molten lava at five thousand degrees Celsius, so Bai Ge was astonished by the vast amount of green liquid.

Bai Ge felt like he had become colorblind, as if a green lens had covered his eyes.

"This is nearly five thousand five hundred degrees... The wavelength of light is between green and blue."

"But there are also many orange and white things..."

Amidst the crowded green magma, there were streaks like lightning cracks or shattered glass, these streaks were white.

The colors were different when encountering different substances. Here, one might see a world of pure purple or pure blue.

The entire world was bizarre and in constant motion. Because it was too viscous, it was impossible to distinguish up from down.

The pressure was too immense; Bai Ge couldn't move at all and could only drift with the flow.

The cracked giant crystal egg appeared black in his vision. It had split into two halves, like the two halves of a cracked-open egg.

They spun around each other like yin and yang fish, pushed and abraded by the magma, constantly dissolving.

Watching the black behemoth recede, Bai Ge no longer paid attention and began collecting high-temperature materials!

Absorbing five hundred kilograms of magma per second, a dedicated area in the Material Universe was set aside for storage.

"The longer I last, the more high-temperature material I can obtain..."

Bai Ge's body did nothing, allowing himself to be squeezed, with fluid constantly disappearing around his head.

The brain hole, like a black hole, under Bai Ge's control, madly devoured everything around it.