216: I suddenly realized I really love writing self-destructive content.

Lin Mo's body lay in a pool of blood, a bizarre smile frozen on his face. The red light on the device at Wei Ziqing's temple flashed in sync with the countdown, issuing a silent, urgent warning.

There was no time to hesitate, and no chance to crack the code.

Shen Mingyuan made a decision.

He raised both arms, and the energy output of the "twin stars" pistols was adjusted to the most precise low-frequency mode.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

A series of slight, rapid hums rang out. The energy beams were no longer lethal impacts, but had transformed into precise thermal-melt cutters, instantly slicing through the crude metal fences surrounding the hostages in the distance, the plastic zip ties binding them, and even the locks roughly fastened onto some people. Sparks flickered, and the restraints snapped one after another!

"Everyone! Run toward the exits! Don't look back! Don't stop!"

Shen Mingyuan's voice, amplified through his armor, was resolute and decisive, overwhelming the shock and sobbing at the scene. Survival instincts were ignited; after a brief moment of daze, the crowd erupted with their last bits of strength, crying and supporting one another as they surged toward the passages in all directions that hadn't been completely blocked by rubble.

"shadow! I'll help you!" Wei Ziqing had just stumbled to his feet and wiped the blood from his face, intending to rush toward Shen Mingyuan.

"Go!" Shen Mingyuan shouted harshly, not even looking back at him. Only twenty-odd seconds remained. He exerted force through his legs and instantly rushed in front of Wei Ziqing. Before the youth could react, the armored arm scooped him up by the waist like a piece of luggage and threw him with full force using the momentum of the charge!

"—Catch him!"

Wei Ziqing cried out in surprise as his body was thrown by a gentle yet irresistible force toward Wei Qingyuan, who had just been helped up by his disciple nearby. The old man instinctively opened his arms, and the two collided, but he caught him steadily.

"Take him and go! Now!" Shen Mingyuan growled at Wei Qingyuan, leaving no room for argument.

The old man took a deep look at that black back. Pain and realization flashed in his clouded eyes. He gritted his teeth, tightly held onto the struggling Wei Ziqing, and dragged him into the fleeing crowd.

Shen Mingyuan no longer paid attention to what was behind him. His gaze locked onto an entrance in the shadows at the edge of the stage. Time: 00:15.

He stepped toward it, his pace steady yet so fast it left afterimages. His consciousness was operating at high speed, yet a thought completely out of place with the current desperate situation inexplicably drifted through his mind:

'How... ironic. I never expected that one day, I would personally act out this scene.'

'Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty, Reichenbach Falls...'

The corners of his mouth under the armor seemed to want to twitch, but only coldness remained.

'However, there is one difference.'

He stepped onto the downward stairs, and darkness enveloped him, with only his eyepieces flickering with a faint light. Deep within the narrow space ahead, a crimson button was exceptionally piercing under the dim emergency lighting.

'Sherlock Holmes' ending was rewritten by the readers and the era. He "came back".'

He stopped before the button. Without the slightest pause, the armored index finger of his right hand steadily pressed down on that splash of crimson.

'As for me...'

BOOM!!!!

A roar more violent and frenzied than any previous explosion suddenly erupted from deep within the foundations of the stage!

Blinding fire and shockwaves first swallowed the underground compartment, then tore through the heavy stage structure above, mixing with rebar, concrete, and shattered wooden boards to surge upward like a volcanic eruption!

The entire main stage completely collapsed and pulverized amidst the deafening roar, shrouded by a suddenly blooming small mushroom cloud! The scorching air currents swept through the surroundings, knocking the last few people who hadn't run far enough to the ground.

The crowd, who had fled to a relatively safe area and were being received and guided by official tactical team members, looked back in horror, seeing only the terrifying fireball and thick smoke that had swallowed the stage.

Wei Ziqing let out a heart-wrenching scream, but was held down firmly by his Master and the rescue personnel.

00:00.

The countdown hit zero. Aside from the destructive explosion at the center of the stage, no new blasts rang out in any other corner of the venue.

In his final moments, Lin Mo seemed to have kept his twisted "agreement"—using the sacrifice of "shadow" in exchange for the silence of the other bombs.

"Quick! Medical team! Search and rescue! Enter immediately! Find survivors! Control the fire!" The GUPA commander shouted hoarsely. Fully armed special operations members, firefighters, and medical personnel began to risk entering the still burning and collapsing interior of the venue through various entrances. Their primary target was, naturally, the core of the explosion—the place where "shadow" was last seen.

However, when the first GUPA elite squad wearing heavy protective suits and carrying life detectors struggled to reach the edge of the original stage site—now a massive, charred crater—amidst the high temperatures and choking smoke, an anomaly suddenly occurred!

"Attention! High energy reaction underground!" The detector emitted a sharp alarm.

At the bottom of the crater, the embers that hadn't fully died out and the twisted rebar and concrete suddenly arched and burst! A massive device with an extremely strange design, filled with a blend of biological and mechanical styles, suddenly drilled out from deep within the ruins like a metal beast emerging from the earth!

It was roughly a streamlined shuttle shape, with a dull dark-grey outer shell covered in textures resembling biological carapaces and flickering eerie blue energy conduits. Below it were multiple thick, mixed mechanical-biological limbs used for movement and support.

The most horrifying part was its front. Within armor petals that opened like a flower, a black armored figure could be faintly seen encased in a transparent energy pod, appearing to be unconscious or imprisoned—it was exactly "shadow"!

A figure wearing a white Researcher's uniform with a simple protective vest over it was standing behind the control console on top of that strange machine. It was none other than Zhu Zicong, who hadn't been seen for a long time!

With his signature smile—a mix of fanaticism and playfulness—on his face, he shouted through a megaphone at the stunned GUPA members below:

"Yo! Big shots from the authorities, thanks for the hard work! Cleaning up the battlefield is quite a hassle, isn't it?"

His gaze glanced toward Shen Mingyuan in the energy pod, his tone as casual as if discussing the weather:

"Regarding the ownership of this 'shadow' gentleman... it looks like he still has a breath left? Oh my, such precious live experimental Materials would be such a waste in your hands. It's better for us at 'Prometheus' to 'safekeep' and study him instead!"

"Don't even think about it!" The GUPA Squad leader roared, raising his weapon.

"Bye-bye! Thanks for the 'fireworks' show!" Zhu Zicong laughed loudly and pulled down the control lever with force.

That peculiar biological machine emitted a low energy hum. All its limbs retracted, and intense blue light burst from the gaps in its shell. Its massive body actually charged toward a huge gap in the venue's side blown open by the explosion with a fierce speed that belied its size! It ignored the debris along the way, crashing through everything to force a path out!

"Fire! Stop it!" Bullets and energy beams hit its biological armor, but most were deflected or absorbed, leaving only shallow marks.

"Pursue! We absolutely cannot let them take 'shadow'!" The GUPA commander's eyes nearly split from rage as he ordered all mobile units to pursue with full force.

But that strange vehicle, a Fusion of biology and cutting-edge technology, was extremely fast and seemed to have planned its route through the city terrain long ago. With a few leaps and crashes, it disappeared into the pervasive gunpowder smoke and the chaotic city streets, leaving behind only billowing dust, a mess of ruins, and countless people who were still in shock and unsure of what would happen next.

【Consciousness Space】

Han Chengyu's consciousness light orb flickered urgently. Shen Mingyuan had been taken away and fallen into the hands of "Prometheus"; every second was extremely dangerous.

Lu Jianchuan was the most reliable powerful outside help at the moment, but he was far away in another city on a mission. Even if he received the news and turned back at full speed immediately, he definitely wouldn't make it in time. By the time Lu Jianchuan arrived, it would likely be too late for everything.

Relying on outside rescue was too slow; he had to find another way. But right now, he and the System were trapped inside the Transformation Device, hijacked along with Shen Mingyuan. The means he could employ were extremely limited... No, he couldn't panic. There was at least one thing that could be done immediately, and must be done.

"System," he suppressed his anxiety and issued a clear command, "Lock our current movement trajectory and record all path and environmental data. Synchronize and transmit it in real-time to Lu Jianchuan's contact, and attach an emergency situation report: Shen Mingyuan has been kidnapped by Prometheus member Zhu Zicong; urgent rescue needed."

【Command confirmed.】

【Recording coordinates and path information...】

【Establishing covert communication link...】

【Information packaging complete.】

【Beginning real-time synchronized transmission to designated contact "Lu Jianchuan".】

【Transmission in progress.】

The command was sent, and path information was being transmitted; this at least left a trail for the distant reinforcements. But Han Chengyu knew this was far from enough. Lu Jianchuan wouldn't make it in time, and Shen Mingyuan's situation grew more dangerous by the moment.

"Just... what should I do?"

Lu Jianchuan wouldn't make it. By the time he got that reserved belt and rushed back, Shen Mingyuan would likely have already met with disaster.

Time was the most luxurious and cruelest thing right now.

Han Chengyu's consciousness light orb operated at high speed, eliminating unfeasible plans one by one.

Almost all paths for outside rescue were blocked. The only Breakthrough seemed to be the white belt that had just been completed and was currently lying quietly deep in Shen Mingyuan's apartment closet—the "Second Collaborative Combat Unit" originally planned for Lu Jianchuan.

A bold idea, like a match struck in the dark, suddenly flashed through his mind.

If they couldn't wait for Lu Jianchuan to use it... if time was so tight it had to be calculated in hours or even minutes... then perhaps they could only find a third person capable of using it.

Someone who could immediately access and activate that belt, and who was willing and able to carry out an almost impossible rescue mission.

Who?

The moment this thought arose, a figure surfaced in Han Chengyu's "mind" almost simultaneously. It wasn't based on any complex detection data or concentration thresholds—those concepts were meaningless now—but rather a comprehensive judgment based on recent contact, intuitive impressions, location, and most crucially, that latent quality.

A brief but meticulous weighing was completed in an instant. The risk was enormous and the uncertainty extremely high, but it was perhaps the only path currently available to reach the target before tragedy struck.

There was no more time to hesitate.

Han Chengyu's consciousness coalesced and made a decision.

"Then..."

The light orb flickered steadily, as if a final resolution had been made.

"I choose you."