Below the Rift

Ryan entered the tower's auxiliary passage. The air here, faintly lit by his light, was much drier than in the cavern. It carried a slight smell of rust and powdered limestone, leaving a fine prickling sensation in his throat whenever he breathed. The ground beneath his feet had originally been made of hard, natural rock, but as Ryan continued forward, it gradually changed, becoming rougher and clearly artificial stone. The surface of this artificial stone was uneven. Now and then, he could see broken pipes embedded in the walls and abandoned cable trenches. They looked as though they had not been used in a very long time, buried beneath thick layers of dust and cobwebs.

When the ring of light in Ryan's hand swept across one of the walls, an old warning sign left over from the original construction suddenly appeared before him. The sign was badly worn, and most of the writing had been eroded into a blur, but after examining it carefully, Ryan could still make out the words "Danger Zone" and "No Unauthorized Personnel."

Ryan reached out and gently touched the sign. His fingertips immediately felt its cold, hard texture. He could not help sighing. "This place... really has been forgotten for a long time."

As he continued deeper along the artificial passage, Ryan's attention was drawn to a damaged power cabinet. Its metal door hung slightly ajar, and what lay inside was somewhat astonishing. The cabinet was covered in dust and cobwebs. The ports that should have connected various devices were now empty, with only a few cables scattered across the floor.

Ryan carefully turned over the cables, hoping to find something useful. After rummaging through them for a while, he finally found a thin cable that still had some flexibility. It looked fairly sturdy, so