The eerie green blind spot in the liquid helium surge, Lynn tears out the emergency fuse

The ground on the seventh basement level of the condenser tower continued to tremble.

The dozen or so explosion-proof tungsten filament lamps hanging overhead swayed violently, tearing the pale white light spots into shreds on the waterlogged ground.

The creaking sound of steel being twisted by immense force came from behind the heavy lead door.

Liquid helium gas at minus two hundred degrees Celsius was forced out through the rubber seal of the lead door, instantly condensing into billowing white mist upon encountering the humid, warm air.

The pungent smell of Ozone mixed with the burnt smell of burning engine oil penetrated directly into people's nasal cavity and trachea.

Ke'er, standing at the back, turned ashen-faced and stumbled back three steps, his back slamming against the wet condensate pipe.

"Director Lynn, this is a self-destruct procedure."

Ke'er gripped the sword at his waist, his voice dry and strained in the white mist.

"Two years ago, during the major cleanup and sealing of the warehouse, the engineering team buried six sets of high-pressure liquid helium self-destructing tanks under the ventilation well to prevent the Variant from escaping."

"If the unit is forced to idle, the evaporator chamber will burst within two minutes, freezing the entire condenser tower into brittle iron."

Ke'er whirled around and barked out orders to the Black Crow Honor Guard behind him.

"Immediately activate the Level 3 alarm for the blind spot during the shift change, close the isolation gate on the sixth basement level, and everyone evacuate to the main road!"

Just as the Black Crow Honor Guard was about to raise his hand to tap the alarm on the wall, a black leather glove pressed against his wrist.

Lynn grabbed the guard's wrist with one hand and pressed down, effectively stopping the guard's movement in mid-air.

"What's the panic, Commander Ke'er?"

Lynn turned around, the hem of her dark black trench coat fluttering in the cold air.

"Once the alarm sounds, the main control computer will automatically pour flame-retardant foam into the seventh basement level to completely seal the entire shaft."

"Do you intend to retreat safely with your men, or do you plan to use this tank of liquid helium to eliminate any survivors from Zero Storage Room and settle old scores?"

Ke'er's pupils contracted sharply.

"Lynn, don't throw all the blame on the Black Crow Guard!"

"The generator is already pressurizing; the pressure gauge is about to burst. Anyone who stays here is doomed!"

On the pipe wall to the right of the lead gate, a copper mechanical pressure gauge covered in oil was emitting a rapid metallic vibration.

The thick black pointer swept across the yellow zone at a speed visible to the naked eye, heading straight for the limit mark at the end of the red zone.

The two technical officers in charge of escorting the prisoners were covered in cold sweat, their military boots involuntarily shifting backward.

The puddles on the ground had begun to freeze, and a layer of white frost spread rapidly along the gaps between the floor tiles, making a faint cracking sound.

The eerie green light shining through the crack in the door grew stronger and stronger, reflected in the thick fog like the open pupil of death.

Lynn did not take a single step back.

He released the guard's wrist, bent down, and picked up a heavy-duty explosion-proof pipe wrench from the toolbox the Messenger had dropped.

"Technician, insert that bone conduction magnetic card into the bypass test slot."

Lynn's voice was perfectly calm and even.

The trembling Technician swallowed hard, stepped forward unsteadily, and slapped the black magnetic card into the flat card slot below the distribution box.

The normally lit red fault light above the test slot flashed a dim yellow standby color the moment the magnetic card engaged.

"The liquid helium pipeline in Zero Storage Room uses a dual-loop deadlock logic."

As Lynn spoke, he strode through the rising freezing fog and walked straight to the rusty maintenance niche at the back of the unit.

"The seals used during the major cleaning only sealed the main circulation pipe."

"If the Watchmaker could directly detonate the Mainframe, he wouldn't have gone to such lengths to get the logbook from Horn to calibrate the peripheral beacons."

Lynn slammed the pipe wrench in his hand heavily onto the metal cover of the niche.

Two rusted Phillips head bolts flew off with a snap, and the sheet metal cover was pried open, revealing the intricate network of high-voltage cables inside.

The cable surface was covered with a thick layer of asbestos fireproofing, but beneath the main wires, two brand-new silicone conductors were quietly laid out.

The surface of the conductor still had a faint fluorescent color, and it climbed all the way along the cable tray to the blind end of the sewage pipe on the bottom floor of the computer room.

"Do you see that, Commander Ke'er?"

Lynn lifted the pipe wrench and pointed to the two illegally connected exposed wires.

"This is not a unit malfunction; someone is using a stolen external bypass to forcibly supply power to the backup oil pump, forcing the pressure relief valve to overload prematurely."

"He's not trying to blow this place up; he just wants to use the air conditioning to keep us back for three minutes so he can slip away through the dead end of the sewage pipe."

Ke'er stared intently at the two silicone wires, his lips biting white, unable to utter a single word.

He led his team to search the area no less than three times, but never discovered that such a hidden bypass for stealing electricity was concealed inside the niche.

Lynn's pipe wrench got stuck on the brass terminal at the end of the silicone wire, and he forcefully pulled it outwards.

A sharp, ear-piercing crackling sound of an electric arc suddenly rang out.

Blue and white sparks illuminated the dark niche, and the intense heat instantly melted the frozen frost into water droplets.

However, the pointer on the mechanical pressure gauge did not drop back; instead, it struck the limit pin at the edge of the red zone and emitted a loud beeping sound.

"Reporting to the Director! Although the external connection cable is broken, the magnetic stirrer inside the unit is mechanically jammed!"

The Technician stared at the red text flashing on the portable terminal and shouted in disbelief.

"The pressure relief circuit cannot be emptied, and the residual liquid helium is vaporizing and expanding!"

"Only twenty seconds left, and the inner liner is about to physically disintegrate!"

Ke'er could no longer contain himself. He drew his sword, ready to cut the escape route behind him. "Retreat! Retreat immediately!"

"Anyone who dares to retreat even half a step will be treated as a deserter during wartime."

Lynn didn't even turn his head, coldly uttering a single sentence.

He tossed aside the pipe wrench and pulled out the fragment of the black greatsword that Hela had just Hela to him from inside his coat.

The broken Asgard Obsidian sword tip remained sharp, its edges gleaming with a deathly dark light.

Lynn gripped the metal bandage at the bottom of the sword hilt, veins bulging on his right arm, and aimed the broken sword at the emergency fuse control box behind the unit, which was vibrating rapidly, and plunged it hard into the gap!

A heavy, crisp cracking sound rang out.

The Special Alloy lid, mixed with Vibranium powder, was cleaved open by the Obsidian sword as easily as cutting paper.

Inside the box, a cylindrical main fuse, about the thickness of an adult's forearm and cast entirely from refractory ceramic, was exposed.

The fuse casing had turned a glaring reddish-brown due to the ultra-high voltage, and its surface was even cracked with spiderweb-like fine lines.

Once it completely melts, the entire circuit will be permanently welded shut, resulting in an irreversible pressure explosion.

The physical contacts must be forcibly removed before it completely melts.

That's high-temperature ceramic at 1200 degrees Celsius; any ordinary tool that touches it will be stuck Carbonization the moment it touches it.

Lynn remained expressionless, his right hand plunging the broken sword into the latch groove of the fuse base, while his left hand, gloved, suddenly grabbed at the scorching ceramic tube.

"Zzz--"

The smell of burning mingled with rising smoke.

The palms of the specially made dragon-skin gloves instantly Carbonization and turned black, the intense heat penetrating straight through the bones and muscles.

The two guards standing behind gasped.

Ke'er's hand, which had been resting on the hilt of his sword, hung in mid-air, a hint of undisguised shock flashing in his eyes.

He had seen Asgard berserkers and the most ruthless assassins in the Stability Maintenance Office, but he had never seen a logistics agent who spent his days sitting in an office reviewing files be so ruthless to himself.

Lynn's eyebrows didn't even twitch.

His left hand gripped the red-hot ceramic tube tightly, while his right wrist suddenly exerted force, flicking the Obsidian broken sword upwards!

"Rise!"

With a low, cold shout, the ten-kilogram ceramic fuse was pried out of its base slot by the hilt!

The scorching hot cylinder traced a crimson arc in the air before plunging into the cold, damp puddle below with a splash, sending up plumes of white steam.

The underground generator set, which had been roaring and vibrating, let out a muffled gasp, and its speed plummeted like a cliff.

The pointer on the mechanical pressure gauge suddenly paused, and then, with a series of mechanical jolts, slowly fell from the red zone, finally stopping at the critical point where yellow and black meet.

The white mist gushing from the gaps in the lead door gradually thinned, the Ozone smell dissipated, leaving only the dripping sound of condensation falling onto the steel plate.

They escaped death.

The Technician collapsed onto the muddy ground, his chest heaving as he gasped for breath.

The two bodyguards were also drenched in cold sweat, their arms gripping the pulse guns trembling uncontrollably.

Lynn released his grip and tucked the broken sword back into his belt.

He raised his left hand and slowly removed the dragon-skin glove, which was completely charred Carbonization.

His palm was covered with a Scarlet- black burn mark, with blisters around the edges, but he simply pulled out a roll of ordinary field bandage from his pocket, bit one end with one hand, and neatly wrapped it around his palm three times, tying a tight knot.

After doing all this, Lynn turned around and looked at Ke'er, whose face had turned pale.

"Commander Ke'er, it seems this place won't collapse anytime soon."

Ke'er's Adam's apple bobbed as he instinctively avoided Lynn's gaze.

"Director Lynn... his skills are as sharp as ever."

"Stop talking nonsense."

Lynn straightened the collar of his trench coat and turned his gaze to the heavy lead door in front of him, which had finally quieted down.

Due to the sudden drop in internal pressure, a crack, about two fingers wide, appeared in the seam of the lead door that had been tightly held in place.

Inside the crevice, the thick, eerie green light had not completely died out; instead, it seemed to wriggle slowly along the frost-covered edge of the door, like some kind of vibrant moss.

Lynn strode toward the lead door.

His boots crunched on the broken ice with a crisp sound.

Reaching the door, Lynn reached out and grasped the heavy alloy handle, preparing to use it to pull it open.

His gaze, however, stopped half a meter below the crack in the door.

Within that two-finger-width gap, a section of pale human skeleton, covered in thick frost, was clearly lodged.

It was the withered bone of the five fingers of a left hand.

The surface of the bone was covered with a very thin layer of translucent ice crystals, and the fingertips were deeply embedded in the lead lining of the lead door. It seemed that in the last second before the unit started, the hand was still desperately trying to crawl out.

Between the fingers of those five withered bones, a palm-sized brass object was tightly clenched.

It was the case of a mechanical pocket watch that had been completely frozen by extremely low temperatures.

The watch cover had long since fallen off, and the exposed gear mechanism was completely frozen inside a pale blue block of ice.

Lynn gently tapped the frost off the surface of the withered bone with the butt of his gun, and picked the brass casing out of the finger bone.

Two lines of tiny characters were hand-carved on the back of the shell using some kind of sharp tool.

The first line is a three-letter abbreviation:

[TVA]

On the second line, where the factory serial number should have been engraved, a set of countdown start code and a coordinate were crudely engraved instead.

Lynn looked down, his gaze lingering for a second on the six-digit code.

That's the highest level of satellite orbit synchronization time in the defense zone.

Based on the frequency conversion above, there are exactly thirty-seven minutes left until the endpoint set by this code.

From the Abyss behind the lead door came an extremely faint yet rhythmic metallic ticking sound.

Like an old pendulum clock, it slowly ticks its last tick in the deathly silence of the sixth underground level.