Technical reconstruction of the temporary key, a perilous hack into the Department of Technology

When Gwen Stacy returned to her room at the guesthouse, Hela and Wanda's eyes immediately fell on her hands.

She didn't speak, but simply placed the silver metal strip gently on the table in the center of the room.

The metal strip was small, smooth, and had no joints or markings. It lay there quietly, yet it seemed to control the air in the entire room.

"Is that all?" Hela stood to the side with her arms crossed, her brow furrowed, her tone full of doubt.

In her view, the fact that something needs to be obtained secretly represents a sign of weakness.

Wanda remained silent. She stepped forward, extended two fingers, and carefully picked up the key.

She closed her eyes, and a faint, almost imperceptible red glow appeared on her fingertips, seeping into the metal strip like ripples in water.

The room was quiet.

Hela's patience was being worn down by this silence.

Gwen Stacy stood still, observing Wander's expression. She trusted the professional judgment of the Technology Integration Department; this was the division of labor principle established by Lynn, and also the procedure she, as the leader, had to follow.

A few seconds later, Wanda opened her eyes.

Her complexion wasn't good.

"There's a problem." Wanda placed the key back on the table, her voice low.

"What's the problem?" Gwen Stacy asked.

"Ke'er left a backdoor inside," Wanda said, pointing to the metal strip. "The core code of this thing contains a reverse tracing program. Once we use it to open any channel, its usage records and our precise location will be simultaneously sent to an unknown receiver within a trillionth of a second."

"I bet that receiver isn't on Director Ke'er's desk," Gwen Stacy, adjusting her glasses.

"Of course not." Wanda's tone carried a hint of the aloofness typical of a technician. "The Data Stream points to the Rules Faction server. Ke'er gave us a key, but it has a blaring alarm attached to it. He wants us to stir up a hornet's nest, but also wants to absolve himself of any responsibility as soon as the nest is breached."

Hela sneered.

"I knew it. None of these administrative guys can be trusted. Let's just storm over and blow up that engine. Let's see who dares to stop us then."

"Then we become the intruders who started the trouble, and Ke'er becomes the victim we deceived and used. The Administrative Faction and the Rules Faction will immediately unite to carry out a joint purge against us." Gwen Stacy refuted Hela's impulsiveness.

She looked at the key on the table; it was a hot potato.

Using it is a trap.

No need, the trail ends here.

"Do you have a way to handle it?" Gwen Stacy looked at Wanda, throwing the question to the professional.

This is trust, but also pressure.

Wanda remained silent for a moment.

"Conventional methods won't work." She shook her head. "The tracking program and the key's authorization code are symbiotic, hardcoded into the lowest level. Forcibly deleting them will render the entire key invalid, turning it into a piece of scrap metal."

Hela's expression turned even more grim.

"So, we've wasted our time?"

"No." A glint flashed in Wanda's eyes. "Just because conventional methods don't work doesn't mean my methods don't."

She picked up the key and held it in her palm.

I need an absolutely quiet environment.

Gwen Stacy nodded and said to Hela, "The Stability Maintenance Office is responsible for perimeter security; no one is allowed to approach this room."

Although Hela was impatient, for the first time she didn't object to Gwen Stacy's order and turned to leave the room. She knew this wasn't the time to act impulsively.

Only Gwen Stacy and Wanda remained in the room.

Wanda took a deep breath, and Scarlet mist began to emanate from her body.

It wasn't just energy, but countless fine Data Stream and Runes, invisible to the naked eye. They intertwined and swirled behind Wanda, slowly forming a phantom, a gigantic furnace that seemed to be composed of countless lava and Nebula.

The Chaos Furnace.

The highest computing power core of the Technology Integration Department.

Wanda gently tossed the key in her hand into the phantom of the furnace.

The moment the metal strip came into contact with the Scarlet Mist, it was broken down into billions of shimmering points of light.

"He etched the trap with rules on a physical level." Wanda's voice seemed to come from another dimension, carrying a hint of etherealness. "I then stripped it down to the most primitive conceptual level and recompiled it."

Gwen Stacy couldn't understand the complex Data Stream, but she could understand what Wanda was doing.

This is a technologically Dimensionality-Reduction Strike.

Battleworld used advanced hardware encryption technology to set a trap, while Wanda bypassed the hardware and modified the fundamental rules that defined the existence of this "hardware".

Just as it's difficult to modify a printed and stamped Red-Headed Document, it's easy to directly modify the original document on the computer.

The Scarlet Chaos Furnace operated silently.

Countless points of light recombine, separate, and recombine within it.

A gray module, composed of twisted code and representing "tracing," was forcibly detached from the main data chain and then completely crushed in the furnace, turning into nothingness.

What remains is pure, Golden Code representing "authorization".

Wanda manipulated these Golden Code, re-"printing" their physical form according to the original logical structure of the key.

The light faded.

The silver metal strip reappeared in Wanda's palm.

From the outside, it looks exactly the same as before.

"Alright." Wanda put away the illusory image of the Chaos Furnace, a fine layer of sweat beading on her forehead. "Now, it's just a clean key."

Gwen Stacy looked at her and nodded.

"Thanks for your hard work."

The door was pushed open, Hela walked in. She glanced at the "clean" key on the table, then at Wanda, whose face was somewhat pale, and said nothing.

"Action," Gwen Stacy gave the order.

Without saying another word, the three took the key and quickly left the guesthouse.

The internal passages of the Battleworld, just like when they arrived, were pure white. Alloy Wall, sensor-activated doors, and an omnipresent, cold sense of order.

With the route map provided by Ke'er, they avoided all the usual patrol routes and Surveillance Camera.

This road is very remote, like a long-abandoned maintenance tunnel, and the air is filled with a slightly sweet smell of equipment coolant.

Ten minutes later, they arrived at a huge, round metal door.

There were no markings on the door, only an inconspicuous recess whose shape perfectly matched the Silver Key.

This is the outer perimeter of Engine Three in the Core Zone.

Hela stepped forward, placing her hand on the hilt of her sword at her waist, ready for battle.

Wanda then opened her terminal, ready to provide data support at any time.

Gwen Stacy stepped forward, took a deep breath, and steadily inserted the reconstructed key into the groove.

There was no alarm.

The metal door emitted a faint mechanical whirring sound as it slid open silently from the center outwards, its tightly sealed body opening smoothly.

Behind the door was not the narrow passageway or the control room filled with instruments they had imagined.

Instead, it was a... vast, unimaginably white space.

At the very center of the space, suspended in the air, is an enormous, slowly rotating Energy Core; that must be the so-called "Rule Engine."

But what caught their attention wasn't the engine.

Instead, it consists of hundreds or thousands of transparent cylindrical containers arranged in a circular matrix around the engine.

Each container was immersed in a pale blue nutrient solution, and its body was covered with a dense array of Probe and tubes.

And in each container, there is a living person imprisoned.

These people, whether old or young, male or female, are dressed in clothing from different eras and styles.

But they all have one thing in common.

They were all Erik Lehnsherr.

Gwen Stacy, Hela, and Wanda stood frozen in the doorway.

They stared at the "Variant" furnace before them, a scene of utter devastation, and were speechless.