The damned system notification in my head exploded without warning, as cold as a winter's wind: "[Unknown high-risk energy field interference detected! Forcibly moving the core device may cause unpredictable consequences, including but not limited to energy leakage, spatial collapse, device malfunction...]"

"Mr. Lu, please think it over!" Professor Lin's old face instantly turned pale, and his voice trembled. "This thing is definitely Pandora's box! The system has warned us that if it gets out of control, it's no joke. The entire wasteland could be destroyed!" The old man stomped his feet anxiously, as if he was afraid that Lu Zhaoming would press the detonator at any moment.

"Suffer? Hmph, if we don't take it now, we'll be the ones 'suffering' here first!" Lu Zhaoming sneered, his face showing no hesitation whatsoever.

Instead of letting go, he suddenly clenched his fingers, gripping the edge of the box tightly, his knuckles turning slightly white from the force.

"Is this the time to hesitate? The bold get rich, the timid starve! My motto is to just do it!"

Just as his domineering words had barely faded—

"Buzz—!!!"

The piercing alarm suddenly ripped through the tense atmosphere!

Deep within the secret passage, a place that was originally dark and unclear suddenly lit up with an eerie, rapidly flashing scarlet light, making everyone's face look like a demon returned from hell!

Immediately afterwards, a synthesized sound, devoid of emotion and as cold as mechanical friction, resounded throughout the collapsing passageway:

"WARNING: Core area security lock has been forcibly disengaged. Unauthorized movement intent detected... Self-destruct mechanism activated. 180 seconds countdown."