Looking out the window, an assistant in protective gear screamed in terror, the sound coming through the internal communicator, tinged with fear.

Zhang Meng and Zhang Mingyuan's hearts jumped into their throats!

Jiang Feng's grip on the gun tightened abruptly! Contact with stardust without protective gear?

This is practically suicide!

Once the energy dissipates, it can instantly vaporize her!

Mingzhao, however, seemed not to hear any exclamations of surprise.

She stood in front of the lead-gray metal box, her slender figure appearing particularly thin under the cold light.

Her gaze, like the most precise probe, fell on the few faintly flashing red indicator lights on the surface of the box.

A few seconds later, she extended her finger and, without hesitation, pressed it several times quickly and precisely on a very discreet black panel on the side of the box, which resembled a fingerprint recognition area.

There was no sound, no light.

Click.

A faint, almost inaudible mechanical sound came from inside the box.

Immediately afterwards, the top cover of the box slid open silently in all directions, like blooming metal petals.

There was no expected burst of energy, no blinding light.

Only a clump of matter, like a solidified nebula, slowly rose and floated in the center of the open box.

It was not a physical entity, but rather a slowly flowing, dark red mist bound by an invisible force field.

Inside the fog, countless tiny, dazzling points of light floated and swirled, each minute fluctuation causing visible, subtle ripples and distortions in the surrounding air.

A deep, almost infrasound-like hum, yet reaching the very depths of the soul, began to permeate the control room.

That wasn't a sound, but a pure vibration of energy!

Just looking at it, a primal fear and sense of insignificance, stemming from the instinct of life, instantly gripped everyone observing from the window!

Even wearing protective suits, Sun and the others involuntarily took a step back, their hearts pounding.

Academician Zhang Meng's breathing stopped instantly.

Zhang Mingyuan felt like his blood was about to freeze!

This is the stardust that once nearly destroyed the world!

So beautiful, yet so deadly!

Jiang Feng subconsciously raised the muzzle of his gun slightly, aiming it at the floating nebula inside the control room. His finger was on the trigger, his knuckles turning white.

His duty is to protect the samples and also to protect the security of the base.

If there's any sign of things getting out of control, he won't hesitate to...shoot?

No, firing the gun might just detonate it! A tremendous sense of tension instantly overwhelmed him.

Mingzhao remained calm.

She seemed oblivious to the oppressive feeling and energy surges that could drive an ordinary person to the brink of mental collapse.

Her gaze, as if drawn by a magnet, was firmly locked onto the core of that dark red nebula.

Her right hand slowly rose and reached out towards the suspended, deadly core of stardust!

Slender, unprotected fingers were exposed to the horrified gazes of everyone present.

Little by little... it pierced through the invisible force field and probed into the slowly rotating, dark red nebula containing world-destroying energy!

Time seemed to stand still at the moment Mingzhao's fingertips probed into the dark red nebula.

Looking out the window, Zhang Meng, Zhang Mingyuan, Jiang Feng, and everyone else wearing bulky protective suits felt their hearts stop beating!

I felt like my blood had almost stopped flowing, and my heart was pounding in my chest!

Wang Tiezhu, separated by lead glass, was so frightened that he collapsed to the ground!

It's over! The base is going to be gone!

Everyone... is going to be destroyed by this madman's hand!

Jiang Feng's gun barrel trembled violently, and his index finger, gripping the trigger, spasmed from extreme shock and the conflict of duty!

Shoot? Stop her?

No! That would only trigger an even more terrifying chain of explosions!

Dead silence!

The anticipated devastating energy burst did not occur.

Mingzhao's slender, unprotected fingers hovered steadily at the core of the nebula, as if inserted into viscous mercury.

Dark red energy mist swirled around her fingertips, but showed no signs of erosion or eruption.

The dazzling points of light at the core floated and swirled, as if soothed and guided by some invisible force field emanating from her fingertips.

Her eyes were closed, and her long eyelashes cast faint shadows in the pale light.

His entire body was in a strange stillness, as if he had established some kind of connection with that destructive cloud of stardust that transcended the physical realm.

Her fingertips felt the deeper, more complex topological structure hidden beneath the violent energy flow from the core of the stardust, a structure that vibrated like a cosmic string.

It wasn't about touching matter, but rather about analyzing the soul of energy.

Everyone stared at Mingzhao in astonishment.

"This is simply illogical!"

"How dare she?!"

At that moment, the same thought popped into their minds.

Mingzhao's actions would have been fatal for anyone else, so they couldn't understand why Mingzhao hadn't been hurt!

A few seconds felt like centuries.

Mingzhao's fingers twitched extremely slightly.

It wasn't a withdrawal, but rather an extremely subtle twisting and pulling motion, so small that it was almost imperceptible to the naked eye.

Buzz...

The deep, humming energy emanating from the control room subtly shifted with her movements.

The frequency seems to have decreased, becoming more... stable? Gentle?

The originally turbulent and swirling stardust seemed to have gained a sense of order in its rotating trajectory.

Then, an unbelievable scene unfolded!

A strand of silk, a thousand times finer than a human hair, radiating a pure dark golden light, was as if it had been drawn from the core of a nebula by an invisible spindle!

It gently wrapped around Mingzhao's fingertips, radiating a restrained and pure energy fluctuation, completely different from the violent dark red mist around him!

Mingzhao opened her eyes, her cool gaze falling on the strand of dark gold thread on her fingertip, as if confirming something.

She slowly withdrew her hand.

The wisp of dark gold thread seemed to possess a life of its own, leaving the core of the nebula along with her fingertips, hovering in the air, emitting a stable and mysterious faint light.

laugh!

The lid of the lead-gray metal box closed instantly, sealing the remaining dark red nebula back into place.

The invisible force field tightened again, and the chilling energy hum and air ripples inside the control cabin quickly diminished and disappeared.

With the dark gold thread still wrapped around his fingertips, Mingzhao calmly stepped out of the vacuum control chamber.

Her face seemed even paler than before she went in, but her eyes remained clear and steady.

Looking out the window, the deathly silence was replaced by heavy breathing and a feeling of exhaustion from surviving a disaster.

Academician Zhang Meng clutched her chest, her face deathly pale, her back soaked in cold sweat.