Lu Nange was chewing on a mushroom, and a unique mushroom fragrance spread on her taste buds.

[Host…Nannan…Host…Can you hear me?]

The sound was soft and ethereal, as if it came through a layer of frosted glass, and it also carried a crackling electrical noise.

"Yes, yes?" Lu Nan's voice trembled, and the chopsticks fell "clatter" onto the rim of the bowl.

Everyone at the table turned to look.

"Nan Nan, what's wrong?" Chi Yanzhou put down his chopsticks, his eyes darkening.

"Sister..." Lu Beiye stood up abruptly, the chair leg scraping against the floor with a screeching sound.

"Little sister, are you feeling unwell?" Lu Xici, He Zhuo, Gu Wan... a dozen pairs of eyes were all fixed on her face, asking questions all at once.

Youyou: [Host...please...don't mention me!]

Lu Nange bent down to pick up the chopsticks: "It's nothing, I just remembered I hadn't replenished the crystal cores for the 'Youyou' brand RV in a long time..."

As she spoke, she picked up a new pair of chopsticks, placed a piece of pork rib into her bowl, and said, "It's really nothing, keep eating!"

There was a two-second silence at the dinner table.

Although everyone still had doubts, especially Chi Yanzhou, his deep gaze lingered on her seemingly calm profile for a few seconds.

Seeing that Lu Nange was unwilling to say more, they tacitly stopped asking.

The clinking of bowls and chopsticks and the sounds of conversation returned to the dining table, but everyone was now paying more attention to each other without saying a word.

Lu Nange kept her head down, seemingly focused on eating, but in reality, her entire mind was absorbed in her thoughts.

[Yes! Is that you? You're finally back! What happened? What's that screen in the sky? Where did you go? Why couldn't we contact you?]

She had a lot of questions on her mind and wanted to pour them all out.

The electronic voice in my mind seemed to have an unstable signal; it remained silent for a few seconds before resuming intermittently.

[Host...time is running out, listen to me...this world...has been 'set up'.]

It's like a giant 'program' that overwrites the original rules.

The answer... you'll have to find it yourself. I can't tell you directly; the rules... don't allow it.

Lu Nange's heart sank: [Set up? Programmed?]

The sound of "yes" grew weaker and weaker, becoming intermittent like a radio running out of power.

Only by finding and completely 'eliminating' the 'core will' driving all of this behind the scenes can this world... possibly break free from the cycle and return to... its original state.

Remember, Nan Nan, you are not..., you are... the key to... this world... you... must... destroy it...

Before the words were finished, the electronic voice seemed to be strongly interfered with, emitting a series of ear-piercing noises, then suddenly weakened, became indistinct, and finally fell silent completely.

[Yes? Yes?]

Lu Nange called out to him in her heart several times, but only silence answered her...

......

Almost at the same moment that the sound of "Youyou" echoed in Lu Nange's mind.

The man, who had been relaxing on the sofa, opened his eyes.

Before him was a giant screen that almost filled the entire wall, divided into countless images, displaying in real time the panic caused by countdown screens in various corners of the world.

In that instant, the man's languid expression was replaced by one that was a mixture of excitement, mockery, and a cruel, predatory desire.

“They’re here…” he whispered, his voice low and cheerful, like a shark that has caught the scent of blood.

"As expected... still as foolish as ever. They couldn't resist after just a little bit of 'bait' was released."

His slender fingers moved rapidly through the air, bringing up a densely packed energy fluctuation monitoring chart that was incomprehensible to ordinary people.

"Let me see which idiot has come this time?"

His initial excitement quickly turned into doubt, and his brows furrowed tightly.

“How is this possible…” he muttered to himself, staring at the screen.

"...How could they have disappeared again? Why are there no traceable 'intruders'? Where are they hiding? None? How could they not be there?"

......

Youyou, who was forcibly "pulled" back, is now "complaining" to a being with higher licensing authority.

[I didn't even have time to give Nannan the things I'd saved up!]

[You think I don't know what she needs? You just give her whatever she needs when you sign in, and you even dare to distribute things from other small worlds!]

Youyou seemed a little guilty, but immediately retorted confidently.

[Boss, you can't say that! My Nannan said that there's no reason to make a horse run without feeding it!]

Time is running out, and this is the last chance; that thing has patched up all the loopholes in the rules...

It can't be an outsider, and they've set up sensitive words, so I can't even notify my host...

It all depends on my host's own intelligence and resourcefulness to figure it out. If I don't prepare more equipment for her, and the opponent wins again...

We really won't be able to take back this little world then. It will be marked as an 'unrecoverable source of contamination' by the main system and forced to undergo a formatting and destruction process...

All life inside will become victims of complete annihilation!

So, I'm giving my Nan Nan more support to increase the success rate, which is also for the sake of the bigger picture! Boss...]

The authoritative electronic voice remained silent for a moment before finally speaking coldly.

[If you need anything, apply for it from the system's public warehouse according to the rules, following the proper procedures. Privately selling or transporting resources from other worlds is prohibited.]

Upon closer listening, the electronic voice immediately took on a hint of flattery and probing.

[Formal process? Application? Approval? That would be so slow! My host just reached level eight dual-elemental power... and needs so much more!]

Boss, this is a special case, so we need to treat it specially! Also, we're pressed for time, and I don't have enough points. How about... we can buy on credit first?

As long as my host can destroy the opponent, I'll use those points to pay them back with interest!

[...Get out of here!]

The authoritative voice seemed to be choked by its thick skin, carrying a hint of barely perceptible helplessness, and directly cut off this "background call," blocking Youyou's request.

After Youyou's "voice" completely disappeared from the conversation space, a very faint electronic noise seemed to rise in the silence.

[...It's supposed to be a beginner system... but it's even more slippery than the old system, always haggling...]

......