The Expert Team Leader Arrived Under Fire, and the Bronze Gear Began Its Traceability Audit
The alloy structure of the ceiling was peeling away inch by inch, emitting a sickening metallic groan. A piercing physical alarm replaced the programmed alarm, echoing throughout the Engine Room and making one's eardrums ache.
Ke'er used the most primitive methods to overturn this game.
Gwen Stacy managed to steady herself by holding onto the edge of the control panel. The exhaustion from the disappearance of the Order Force Field, combined with the dizziness from the physical collapse, made her vision blur.
Hela shielded the dying Erik behind her, her Death Force forming a thin black veil to protect him from the falling debris. Her gaze was fixed on the solidifying golden quicksand.
The data screen in front of Wanda was now a blood-red mess of gibberish. She tried to use Chaos Magic to stabilize the out-of-control engine, but the torrent of energy surging wildly toward the center of the vortex was something she couldn't handle alone.
The engine's computing power is providing that will with the flesh and blood to solidify into a physical form.
The humanoid figure's outline became clearer and clearer, with golden sand outlining the lines of its shoulders, arms, and torso. A pressure beyond the comprehension of everyone present permeated from the spiritual to the physical realm. The air seemed to turn into viscous syrup, making each breath exceptionally difficult.
Kang the Conqueror.
He didn't even need to lift a finger; the mere act of descending was enough to bring everything within this space to Ending.
Just then, a cutting sound, completely different from the surrounding collapse noise, rang out.
Zi--
Amidst the violent tremors, a perfectly precise energy beam ripped open a standard rectangular doorway in the Alloy Wall on one side of the Engine Room. The cut was as smooth as a mirror, with not a single trace of excess energy leaking out.
Beyond the doorway lay not a chaotic passageway, but a calm darkness.
A figure emerged from the darkness.
Jean Grey.
She wore the same Negative Zone Management Committee combat uniform as Gwen Stacy and the others, but with a special badge on her shoulder representing the "Expert Team." Her face was expressionless, and her gaze calmly swept across the entire area.
Behind her, several fully armed Security Team filed in and quickly established defensive formations on both sides. Their movements were precise and well-trained, standing out starkly from the surrounding chaos.
Jean's gaze lingered for half a second on the Supreme Adjudicator was slumped on the ground, then swept over the pale-faced Wanda and the ready-to-fight Hela, finally landing on Gwen Stacy.
The two exchanged a glance.
Without a word, Gwen Stacy's tense nerves miraculously relaxed a little.
The second move has arrived.
Qin's gaze finally turned to the golden humanoid figure that was frantically absorbing energy and about to solidify completely. The Phoenix Force within her instinctively felt a slight tremor, but she forcibly suppressed it with absolute rationality.
She did not adopt any fighting stance, nor did she release her Psychic Power.
Under everyone's gaze, Jean Grey calmly and slowly reached into the inner pocket of her combat suit.
What she took out was neither a high-tech weapon nor Crystal containing powerful energy.
It was an old, unremarkable Bronze Gear covered in verdigris.
The gear was about the size of a palm, with severely worn edges and blurred, unrecognizable lines on its surface, exuding the musty smell of a machine product from an old era.
It seemed so out of place in this futuristic Engine Room.
Hela frowned, not understanding what use such a piece of junk was at a time like this.
Gwen Stacy's pupils constricted slightly.
She recognized it. It was the real "trump card" that Lynn had given to Jean Grey privately before he left, a card he had never revealed to anyone.
Jean Grey, carrying the Bronze Gear, took two steps forward.
Her steps were steady, her high-heeled combat boots making a crisp, rhythmic sound on the debris-strewn ground, as if she were completely ignoring the rapidly collapsing dome above her and the terrifying presence that was about to take shape.
She stood before the main control console, her gaze passing over the golden storm, and spoke calmly.
Her voice wasn't loud, but it was exceptionally clear, like a precise Scalpel cutting through the cacophony of alarms.
"This is the Negative Zone Management Committee, and the head of the expert rescue team is Jean Grey."
She paused, as if reading a very serious official document.
"Based on Mr. Lynn's authorization, on behalf of the Negative Zone, I hereby formally initiate the ' Factory Settings Traceability Audit ' procedure with the Battleworld Engine Three."
After he finished speaking, the entire room fell silent.
Even the swirling golden quicksand paused almost imperceptibly.
Source tracing review?
What's this?
Hela and Wanda were both stunned. This term sounded more like a jargon used by a product quality control department when handling consumer complaints.
Using an administrative procedure to fight against an impending Multiverse overlord?
However, Qin gave no one time to react.
Holding the Bronze Gear, she bypassed the paralyzed Supreme Adjudicator and headed straight for the core of the Rule Engine.
The base is covered with a variety of complex Data Interface and power lines, but at the very bottom, in a corner almost completely covered by dust, there is a strangely shaped groove.
The shape of the groove matched the Bronze Gear in her hand perfectly.
Qin knelt down, brushed the dust off the groove with her hand, and then gently and steadily pressed the ancient Bronze Gear into it.
Click.
A soft sound.
The gear fits perfectly into the groove.
The moment the gears engaged, the whole world seemed to be paused.
There was no earth-shattering explosion, no cataclysmic energy clash.
An ancient, primal, even savage wave, centered on the Bronze Gear, instantly swept through the entire Engine Room.
This fluctuation does not contain any energy; it is more like a command, an instruction from the deepest, most fundamental level.
The physical alarm, which was blaring wildly, suddenly stopped.
The falling metal fragments froze in mid-air.
The torrent of energy formed by the uncontrolled convergence of computing power subsided instantly.
The humanoid figure, composed of golden quicksand and about to solidify completely, froze in place, every grain of "sand" that made up his body ceasing to move.
The entire Engine Room fell into a deathly silence.
Time and space seemed to have been forcibly frozen by this most primal command.
On the main control panel's light screen, all the glaring red alerts disappeared. In their place were lines of ancient code, glowing with an eerie green light, which no one could decipher.
The code scrolled rapidly upwards from the bottom of the screen like a waterfall.
The Bronze Gear is reading the most primitive, lowest-level Factory Settings of this massive machine, before it was formatted by "Kang the Conqueror".