174: Chapter 174 Annihilation Core Crystal

In the Abyss Hall of the Thirteenth Floor, darkness rapidly spread throughout the entire space.

At the break in the power cable connected to The Mainframe, the residual high-voltage arc slowly flickered out. The giant mutated brain within the glass nutrient tank completely lost all signs of activity.

Shortly after Gu Shen embedded the Golden Omega-level Access Card into the final slot of the main console, the heavy armored shutters of the console slid open smoothly to both sides.

"Click."

In the very center of the hall, at the base of the ancient nuclear reactor that loomed like a mountain, a special lead-steel protective door several feet thick slowly opened amidst a series of dull mechanical grinding sounds. A wave of high-frequency radiation fog, appearing a deathly grayish-blue, came billowing out through the opening gap.

The destructive Laws contained within this fog caused a thick layer of metal oxide rust to instantly grow upon the surface of the alloy floor.

Gu Shen stood directly in front of the reactor, the dark gold halo of his black flood dragon black gold armor circulating on his body's surface, blocking all physical erosion from the radiation. His Dark Gold Thunder Bone resonated steadily beneath his flesh, supporting him as he took firm steps directly into the core extraction zone at the base of the reactor.

On the central cradle inside the protective door, an irregular polyhedral crystal the size of a fist, entirely a deathly grayish-blue in color, floated quietly.

Inside the crystal, it seemed as though a miniature star undergoing infinite collapse and decay was locked away. Terrifying nuclear Fusion destruction kinetic energy and long-accumulated mutated Death Qi had reached an extremely delicate balance within the crystal's microscopic lattice.

This was the ultimate foundation of Shelter No. 7—the nirvana nuclear crystal.

Gu Shen extended his right hand, True Yuan spiritual power surging within his palm as he used telekinesis to draw this strange object, which radiated bone-chilling cold and lethal heat radiation, into his hand. At the moment of contact, a violent burst of destructive intent attempted to rush along his Meridians into Gu Shen's spiritual platform, but it was instantly diverted and dismantled by the AI Crystal at his brow.

He quickly took out a specially prepared heavy lead Spirit-Sealing Jade Box, laid down three successive Yin-Locking Formations, Sealed the nirvana nuclear crystal layer by layer, and securely placed it into the depths of his Storage Ring.

At the exact same time the nuclear crystal left the reactor's cradle.

The low-level alarm lights of the entire Thirteenth Floor hall suddenly began flashing at a high frequency.

"Warning. Main reactor core mass missing. Main circuit power supply hub completely paralyzed."

A piercing buzz emitted from the auxiliary physical speakers of the main console. "Bottom-level coolant circulation System has lost kinetic energy. Hydraulic threshold has broken through the critical point. The high-energy nuclear waste liquid pool below is entering an irreversible state of thermal runaway boiling."

"Estimated three hundred seconds until ultra-high pressure steam breaches the physical shielding layer, triggering a global structural destructive collapse."

As the energy heart of the entire base, the removal of the nirvana nuclear crystal directly broke the physical balance maintaining the stability of the reactor at the bottom of the hall. Without the suppression of the main cooling cycle, once the tens of thousands of tons of lethal waste liquid below fully vaporized and exploded, the entirety of Shelter No. 7 would surely turn into a sea of molten lava.

Gu Shen's expression was grave, but he had no intention of retreating in panic. Since he had decided to accept the Karma of this place, he would absolutely not allow this Shelter to be destroyed.

"Crab, interface with the central host."

Following Gu Shen's order, he quickly unfastened the black terminal iron plate from his leg. He pressed his fingers together like a sword, forcing out an extremely fine Geng Metal Sword Qi to directly cut open the alloy protective cover of the main console's core host, revealing the massive fiber optic interface below that was originally connected to The Mainframe.

The small mechanical reconnaissance spider popped out eight probes, firmly gripping the edges of the interface.

Gu Shen's fingers flicked rapidly as six Soul-Pulling Threads shot out from between his knuckles. The Soul-Pulling Threads turned into the most precise carving knives at this moment, drawing upon the remaining refined red copper Materials in his Storage Ring to forcibly carve one intricate formation after another between the terminal iron plate and the motherboard of the central host.

A moment later.

The formations lit up with a dazzling green spiritual light, completely branding Crab's independent ROM chip logic onto the hardware hub of Shelter No. 7.

"Crab-01 global takeover protocol initiated. Fusing with the Shelter's bottom-level hardware using 'Artifact Spirit' Laws."

Crab's electronic voice instantly spread through the speakers across the entire Shelter, the originally chaotic logical noise being forcibly overridden by a cold, stable data stream.

"Master, Artifact Spirit hub Fusion complete. Executing crisis management contingency plan."

Code on the holographic screen in the center of the hall refreshed like a waterfall. As an artificial intelligence that had served the base since its birth, Crab demonstrated unparalleled dispatching capabilities the moment it obtained Omega authority and the host's computing power.

"Forcibly cutting off all residual circuits in non-essential areas from levels one to eight. Recovering redundant electrical energy."

"Starting miniature geothermal auxiliary generators and backup reactor generators. Forcibly restarting the main circulation hydraulic pumps."

"Dispatching thirty percent of the condensation reserves from the 'Zero-Degree Electronic Fluorinated Liquid Lake' in the ninth-floor data center. Opening vertical floodways directly downward to inject into the Thirteenth Floor's high-energy nuclear waste liquid pool."

Accompanied by Crab's commands, precise to the millisecond.

A series of earth-shaking booms echoed from deep within the Shelter. Several special alloy pipes several zhang in diameter dropped from the hall's ceiling, and military-grade electronic fluorinated liquid at over a hundred degrees below zero, mixed with liquid nitrogen, poured frantically into the boiling blue ocean of waste liquid below like a celestial river.

Extreme cold and extreme heat underwent a violent physical collision, and dense white steam instantly rose within the hall.

However, under the absolute chemical inertness and super-cooling suppression of the fluorinated liquid, the temperature of the violent blue waste liquid pool plummeted. The overloaded hydraulic pressure quickly fell back within safe thresholds, and the piercing blood-red alarm lights flickered out, replaced by a steady standby green light.

The three-hundred-second crisis of destruction was completely eliminated under Crab's powerful intervention.

"Report, Master. Waste liquid thermal runaway has subsided. All areas of Shelter No. 7 are entering deep-dive hibernation mode."

In the center of the holographic screen, a blue light-and-shadow Crab waving its two large claws appeared, its electronic eyes flashing with a human-like absolute loyalty. "All pneumatic gates, machine tool assembly lines, and military warehouse permissions for the five above-ground levels and thirteen underground levels of Shelter No. 7 have been placed under Master's name. As long as the geothermal core does not go out, this base shall never fall."

The ennoblement was complete.

Gu Shen felt that faint, ethereal connection between the massive underground city and his own Divine Sense, and he nodded slightly.

At this time, Crab was no longer a simple artificial intelligence attached to an iron plate; it was the Dominator of the entire steel shell of Shelter No. 7, the 'Artifact Spirit' of Shelter No. 7 in the truest sense.

With a wave of his sleeve, Gu Shen collected all nine Demon Bone Iron Guards, whose titanium-tungsten armor was heavily damaged, into his Storage Ring.

He picked up the miniature mechanical reconnaissance spider that had been accompanying him and clipped it back onto his shoulder. Although Crab's motherboard was now soldered to the Shelter's core host, this mechanical spider could still serve as a sub-terminal, accompanying Gu Shen to provide tactical scanning and data interfacing in the outside world at any time.