The energy fluctuations between Alice's hands became stronger and stronger, the space began to distort, and an invisible pressure enveloped Ye Ling and others.

"Want to play with me? You're still a little young!" Alice sneered and clasped her hands together suddenly.

"Space confinement!"

The surrounding space solidified instantly, and Ye Ling felt like she was stuck in a quagmire, and the movements of the mecha became extremely slow.

Duan Yu's situation was not much better. He tried to mobilize energy to break through the confinement, but found that the spatial energy was like a maggot on the tarsal bone, constantly eroding their physical strength.

Even Morris, the "theoretical expert," panicked. He turned pale and shouted incoherently, "It's all over! I'm really done for! I haven't even published my research yet!"

Ye Ling gritted her teeth and endured the erosion of spatial energy.

She knew that if she just sat there and waited for death, she would die.

She forced herself to calm down and carefully observed the flow of energy in the surrounding space.

Although Alice's confinement spell is powerful, it cannot be without weaknesses.

Sure enough, in the flow of spatial energy, Ye Ling discovered several subtle energy nodes.

These nodes flicker with faint light, like stars hidden in the darkness.

"That's it!" Ye Ling was delighted. She concentrated the energy of the mecha to one point and fired a powerful beam of light at one of the nodes.

"boom!"

With a loud bang, a crack appeared in the space confinement.

Ye Ling did not hesitate at all and launched an attack on other nodes again.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

With loud bangs, the spatial confinement was completely broken, and Ye Ling and others regained their freedom.

Alice's face showed surprise. She didn't expect Ye Ling to be able to break her confinement spell so quickly.

Duan Yu walked to Ye Ling, his eyes full of praise: "Well done!"

Ye Ling smiled slightly, but before she could respond, she heard Alice's cold voice: "You... are very good..."

Alice's face turned pale. She pointed at Ye Ling's nose and cursed, "You little girl, do you know what you've ruined? Do you know how important my plan is? You're playing with fire!"

Ye Ling retorted without hesitation: "Playing with fire? I think it's you who's playing with fire! The secret of the other dimension belongs to everyone, why should you keep it to yourself? Who do you think you are? The center of the universe?"

"You...you..." Alice was so angry that her whole body was shaking. Her fingers were trembling as she pointed at Ye Ling. "You are so ungrateful! I'm doing this for the future of all mankind! What do you know?!"

"Haha, the future of all mankind? I think you are doing this for yourself! Stop being hypocritical here!" Ye Ling ruthlessly exposed Alice's lies.

"You...you..." Alice was speechless after being rebuked by Ye Ling. She stamped her feet in anger, "Okay! Very good! Since you don't want to accept my toast, don't blame me for being rude!"

Duan Yu stood beside Ye Ling, holding her hand tightly, giving her strength and support.

Ye Ling felt the warmth and strength of Duan Yu's hand, and her heart was filled with gratitude. She glanced at Duan Yu with eyes full of love.

Alice was furious when she saw the interaction between the two. She sneered and said, "Well, it seems that you two really are as close as brothers! In that case, let's die together!"

She quickly formed seals with her hands, and the energy in the surrounding space began to fluctuate again. An even more powerful pressure enveloped everyone.

"Want to fight? I'll fight you to the end!" Ye Ling's eyes were firm and she was not afraid at all.

She increased the power of the mecha to the extreme, preparing to meet Alice's attack.

At this moment, Morris suddenly stood up and shouted, "Wait! You two, please talk things over nicely. Don't be impulsive!"

Ye Ling and Alice both looked at him, their eyes full of confusion.

Morris cleared his throat and said, "I have a suggestion..."

Morris wiped the sweat from his forehead and carefully moved between the two of them, like a sandwich.

"Boss, calm down! Take my advice. How about... we collaborate?" He rubbed his hands together, a flattering expression on his face. "Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could all study the secrets of this crystal together and share the results?"

Alice snorted coldly, "Cooperation? With these two brats? I'm afraid they'll hold me back!"

"You can't say that, Ms. Alice," Duan Yu rarely spoke, but his tone was unquestionable and firm. "You've just witnessed Ye Ling's strength. She's not some 'little brat'." He glanced at Ye Ling, and a subtle smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. "Besides, cooperation is a win-win situation, isn't it?"

Ye Ling also stepped forward, opened her personal terminal, and displayed a full stack of extra-dimensional space research notes and data analysis charts.

"Ms. Alice, I admit that my understanding of other dimensions is not as good as yours, but I have also been working hard to explore. This is the result of my research over the years. I hope you can take a look."

Alice looked at the dense data and charts, a hint of surprise flashing in her eyes.

She originally thought that Ye Ling was just a little girl who relied on luck and brute force, but she didn't expect that she had done so much research.

Alice's heart began to waver. She knew that it was almost impossible to unlock all the secrets of the crystal by her own strength.

Morris saw that there was something going on and quickly added fuel to the fire: "That's right! Young friend Ye Ling's research results are quite astonishing! If we join forces, we will definitely get twice the result with half the effort!"

Finally, Alice sighed and said, "Okay, I agree to cooperate. But let me be frank with you, if you dare to play any tricks..." She narrowed her eyes, with a hint of threat in her tone.

"Don't worry, we are equally curious about the secret of the crystal." Ye Ling put away the terminal and a sincere smile appeared on her face.

Morris breathed a sigh of relief, nearly crying tears of joy. Finally, he wouldn't be cannon fodder!

The three of them stood around the crystal, ready to begin their research, when the crystal suddenly emitted a dazzling light, and a powerful energy wave spread out in all directions.

"What's going on?" Ye Ling exclaimed.

Duan Yu grabbed Ye Ling's hand, protected her behind him, and stared at the crystal vigilantly.

The light emitted by the crystal became stronger and stronger, forming an energy barrier visible to the naked eye, isolating them from the outside.

Alice's expression suddenly changed: "Not good!..."