A cold glint flashed in his eyes, and without further hesitation, he gritted his teeth and growled, "System, time delay, turn it up to the maximum!"

Buzz—!

In an instant, the whole world seemed to be played at 0.25x speed.

The energy blasts that were originally hurtling towards them now slowly trailed brilliant trails of light in the air, like fireworks during a festival; the guards' ferocious faces and wide-open mouths were frozen into comical emojis, perfect for screenshots and profile pictures.

Lu Zhaoming, like a cheetah with bulging muscles, suddenly leaped out, grabbed Qinglian who was still standing there stunned and pale, and with a burst of speed, performed a graceful "Lingbo Weibu" in the almost frozen energy rain, pulling her back from the edge of death's scythe and narrowly dodging to another, more solid cover.

"Pfft—" As soon as he landed, Lu Zhaoming felt as if he had been hit hard on the back of the head by an invisible battering ram. Stars flashed before his eyes, the world spun, and his stomach churned.

The damned side effects of the trial system are now surging forth like a volcanic eruption!

"Warning! The mental interference module is at 99.8% load! It's about to crash! Please stop using it immediately!" The cold system notifications kept flashing through his mind, almost killing him.

"We...we have to end all this quickly." Lu Zhaoming gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead like dragons, large beads of sweat rolling down his pale cheeks, his voice hoarse and distorted from the pain, carrying a hint of suppressed madness.

He endured the excruciating pain that felt like his brain was about to boil, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the still-humming "life energy extraction" device, especially the lone data interface that was protruding out. At this moment, in his eyes, it was both the entrance to hell and possibly the only chance of survival.

He suddenly gave Qinglian, who was still in shock beside him, a hand signal that only the two of them understood, his eyes fierce and resolute: "On my command, prepare for a full-scale attack!"