"Wait a minute!"

Biaozi's expression suddenly changed slightly, and he glanced around again. This place... Though it was his first time here, it gave him a strangely familiar feeling!

It was the office building from the "Biochemical Crisis" map chip.

Although there were some differences, the overall appearance was almost identical.

He closed his eyes and stood still, quickly recalling.

When he cleared the Biochemical Crisis, the final step was on the rooftop, where he used a steel cable to reach the building opposite. He had once overlooked this city... that city...

It looked almost exactly the same as this city.

He didn't know if this information was useful, but he relayed it back to President Ai before continuing to cautiously explore. The ground floor lobby had already been searched, with no abnormalities found.

There was only a reception desk.

And there was nothing on the reception desk, not even a pen or paper, completely empty.

The elevator had stopped functioning.

Biaozi led the team at the front, starting a systematic search through the fire escape one floor at a time.

...

Outside the office building.

The Fixed Star Train was already soaring above the city, nearly reaching the top of this space, which was only a thousand meters high.

Several Mechanical Eyes outside the train began to rotate rapidly.

Countless data streams flashed across the control panel screen.

"Scan progress 47%... Scan progress 99%... Scan progress 100%."

"Comparison progress 89%... Comparison progress 100%."

"Similarity 72%."

"Train Captain."

Inside the train, Ai's mechanical electronic voice echoed: "Comparison completed. The similarity between this city and the city in the Biochemical Crisis map is 72%. The partial differences mostly stem from the completeness of the map."

"In the Biochemical Crisis, the skyscraper on the left with the huge lightning rod is intact, whereas here, that skyscraper has collapsed."

"But the overall city planning structure is completely consistent."

"Which means—"

"The city in Biochemical Crisis is still in a state of war, and this place appears to be the aftermath."

"Hmm."

Chen Mang nodded, finding nothing too surprising about it. After all, since the "Map Chip" was created, it having a prototype reference for the map was normal; it would be too onerous to construct a city out of thin air.

This he could understand.

The only thing he couldn't comprehend was: why is such a large lightning rod installed on top of the skyscraper in a subterranean space?

Could lightning strike down here?

What kind of massive oath would it take for that to happen?

Thirty minutes later—

All three guard teams returned safely, having searched three office buildings without finding anything useful. The office buildings were completely empty, even lacking computers, A4 paper, fire axes, desks, and chairs.

Everything was empty.

The Fixed Star Train didn't linger much longer, continuing its journey along the city's central road toward the unknown ahead.

During the aerial scan, Ai marked several noteworthy points. If this city had nuclear bombs, they would be in these points.

The control panel screen now displayed a simplified overhead view of the city.

Three red-marked points were his next targets.

Several minutes later.

They quickly reached the first target point, located in the city's core area. It resembled a military base, with no skyscrapers around it, looking extremely conspicuous from above.

The area wasn't very large.

It was about the size of a basketball court, surrounded by a steel net.

The ground covered only such a small area, but underground it was much larger, about the size of three or four football fields.

Chen Mang glanced at the dozens of red points on the Target Detection Radar, indicating the presence of life within this underground base, though... the radar couldn't show specific information about these red points. Their biological nature or level was unknown, merely indicating red points.

"..."

He took out the "Laboratory Access Card" from the drawer and handed it to Ai, who was beside him: "Take this to Biaozi and have him lead a team down to check it out."

"Yes."

After Ai left, he looked back at the screen displaying information about this Adventure Map, frowning slightly.

-

"A massive nuclear bomb lies hidden within this city, powerful enough to annihilate the entire city and the monsters within. However, the crisis came too swiftly, leaving no time to activate the bomb."

"This mission: Activate the bomb and escape from here."

-

He had been to many Adventure Maps before, but they were relatively simple, akin to barrier challenges, which made this the first time he encountered such a complex Adventure Map.

No detailed challenge procedures, no difficulty selection.

No time limit, and those skyscrapers were not surrounded by air barriers, allowing free exploration, though nothing substantial was found.

He originally thought there would be rewards for the first one over the line.

Yet there were no rewards even if he was the first to cross the line, as if it was just a casually set item race.

In other words.

The freedom increased, but so did the difficulty.

And escape from here...

Escape the nuclear bomb? Or escape...?

Chen Mang suddenly laughed. Although Adventure Maps had no rank distinction, this Adventure Map was evidently more complex than others he had encountered, meaning the rewards would also be higher.

...

"Bang!"

Biaozi controlled the Mecha, cleaving open the steel gate of the military base ahead with an axe, then striding inside the military base.

On the surface.

There was only one exposed flat-roofed building.

About a hundred square meters, entirely steel-structured, appearing extremely heavy-duty.

The internal square was lined with plenty of heavy firepower weapons. At a glance, at least a hundred large-caliber "Heavy Machine Guns," their caliber comparable to those on the train, each mounted with a box capable of storing Energy Stones.

These heavy machine guns were energy weapons.

In addition, there were ten rocket pods, each equipped with forty rockets, capable of launching forty rockets simultaneously.

And in the four corners were fixtures resembling telephone poles, topped with steel spheres, whose purpose was unclear.

The firepower could be described as fierce.

However, they were all heavily damaged and unusable.

The most crucial part—

All weapon barrels weren't aimed outside the military base; uniformly, they were all directed at the flat-roofed building on the ground, as if fearing some terrifying monster would emerge from the house.

"..."

Biaozi quickly swept his gaze around, taking a deep breath, and then glanced at the constantly transmitted information from the Iris Chip before slowly approaching the flat-roofed building, tightly gripping the giant axe in his hand.

"No signs of life on the surface."

"At one hundred thirty meters underground, the first red point will be encountered, name of the creature unknown, level unknown."

"Master Mang instructed, prioritize exploration, tear the ticket at the first sign of irresistible danger."

The Iris Chip displayed information sent by President Ai.

He gradually reached the door of the flat-roofed building, where the words "Military Restricted Area, Do Not Approach!" and "Danger, Danger, Do Not Approach!" were written in crimson on the wall.

He was already at the entrance.

The door was sufficiently large for his Mecha to enter.

A red button with the words "Open Door" was affixed to the pillar at the entrance. He placed his hand on it and pressed down, soon accompanied by the loud sounds of gears grinding.

The door before him slowly retracted into the side walls.

But beyond that, there was another door.

Before he could do anything, the subsequent door also began to retract into the side walls, revealing another door once more.

A minute later.

All doors were opened, revealing eight layers. Standing at the entrance, Biaozi glanced inside. The walls of the house were entirely made of solid steel, no less than three meters thick, which was frankly outrageous.

And there was nothing inside the house.

Only an exposed elevator shaft resembling a mine, with the roof corners featuring a slowly flashing red warning light.

This was the first time he had seen any lights in this city.

The ground was covered in dust, having been abandoned for an unknown period.

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