When Han Zhan awoke again, his head still throbbed painfully.

He instinctively reached up to rub his temples, and only then did he realize something was off, abruptly turning to his side.

Not far away, Wang Chunyu sat slumped there, his face appearing far more aged than just moments ago.

"Tell us your purpose here, and we will offer every assistance we can." Shang Xiaoyun's mechanically synthesized voice rang out once more.

It was that emotionally flat synthesized voice that had deceived Han Zhan's senses earlier, causing an explosion of knowledge in his mind and rendering him unconscious.

Yet it seemed they hadn't taken advantage of the moment.

Upon hearing Shang Xiaoyun's words, Han Zhan understood.

"You already know my identity?"

"Is it the bidirectional nature of consciousness transmission?"

This time his carelessness had cost him.

But it wasn't a complete loss; from the vast memory and conscious information Shang Xiaoyun injected into him, Han Zhan managed to find the location of the massive warehouse storing the energy bricks.

With the location known, he had a target and no longer needed to wander aimlessly like a headless fly.

Faced with Shang Xiaoyun's gesture of goodwill, Han Zhan thought for a moment and truthfully replied, "My infiltration into Titan City this time is for the energy bricks."

Upon hearing Han Zhan's response, Wang Chunyu, who had been dejectedly sitting on the ground, suddenly lifted his head.

"So that's the choice you ought to have made." Wang Chunyu stopped suddenly, as if recalling something saddening, and fell silent once more.

"You should leave here quickly. Every twenty-four hours, someone comes to check on my vital signs and rejuvenate me. By then, escaping will be difficult." Shang Xiaoyun urged.

Wang Chunyu exhaled deeply.

He stood up again, forcefully dusting off his clothes. "Let's go, follow me. I know an escape route that leads directly outside the Mechanical Research Institute."

"And what about her? What about her?" Han Zhan asked, pointing at Shang Xiaoyun. "If possible, the three of us should escape together."

"It's pointless. Those tubes on her are all for transferring neural signals. If the signals are cut, the Shang Family will immediately find out, and no one will get away."

Thus, Wang Chunyu's original plan was to trick himself into following him here, then use him as a scapegoat to swap out Shang Xiaoyun for rescue.

What changed his mindset? Was it because they found out I am Han Zhan?

Thinking of this, Han Zhan remained silent.

He didn't know how to evaluate the situation or what to say.

"Let's go; it's not your fault." Wang Chunyu suddenly smiled, reverting to his more familiar self. "Initially, I deceived you out of selfishness, but now that I've successfully sent you out, we're even."

As he spoke, he turned to look at the girl in the water tank behind him, eyes filled with reluctance and sadness, but soon he averted his gaze.

"Xiaoyun, if we miss this opportunity, there will definitely be another. I will never give up!"

Having said that, he turned and resolutely walked toward the door.

"Regret it? There's still time to change your mind; we can think of another way." On the way, Han Zhan asked Wang Chunyu.

"Regret it? Of course, I regret it. I regret not realizing it was you when I was selecting people. If it were someone else, Xiaoyun and I would be out of Titan City by now." Wang Chunyu gave a wry smile.

"Maybe this is fate; it was destined that I wouldn't succeed this time. But being able to help my idol makes the trip to Titan City worthwhile!"

Wang Chunyu forced an optimistic tone, and the two quickened their pace, weaving through the labyrinthine maze.

...

"Beep beep beep!"

The shrill alarm sounded.

At the Heaven Net Center, a faceless digital visage appeared on the large screen.

Upon closer inspection, it was a visage formed by chains of 0s and 1s, vividly lifelike.

It addressed the staff below, "Sound Level Three alarm; two rats have escaped from the Mechanical Research Institute, and the number of individuals who uploaded the experimental data does not match those entering the Mechanical Research Institute."

After it spoke, the images on the screen began to change rapidly.

Soon, the photos of Wang Chunyu and the person Han Zhan was impersonating appeared on the large screen.

"These are the two; capture them."

"Received!"

After the highest command was issued, Heaven Net staff swiftly took action, accessing all surveillance cameras in the Mechanical Research Institute to search for the two individuals' possible whereabouts.

It wasn't long before the two individuals' images reappeared on the surveillance footage.

"How did they know the access codes?"

Watching the two move through the complex maze as if they owned the place, repeatedly unlocking access codes to enter the next area.

Many question marks popped up in their minds like, could there be an insider?

"Request to escalate the situation to Level Two, immediately contact the security team and surround the Mechanical Research Institute! Capture these two individuals alive; I need to know where they got the code information!"

Commands were issued one after another.

At this time, Han Zhan and Wang Chunyu were unaware of the imminent danger.

The Mechanical Research Institute was too large, and the maze-like areas consumed considerable time for them.

"So, the capsule bomb within me was extracted in the same way?"

"Yes."

"And the bomb? Where is the bomb?"

"The bomb...the bomb is in...wait, why didn't I think of this! After extracting the bomb, it was left in the lab!"

"There's no time to go back and retrieve it, it would take too long, enough for the security team to respond."

Muttering to himself, Wang Chunyu gritted his teeth and continued forward with Han Zhan.

Before they could walk much further, suddenly, the entire Mechanical Research Institute erupted with alarms.

In an instant, all the lights on the access paths turned a warning red.

The paths they opened before began to close again, with heavy doors descending to completely seal off each area.

Seeing this scene, Wang Chunyu's expression became grim.

"This is bad; it seems they've already discovered us."

"I knew the Celestial Net's mainframe isn't that easy to fool." Wang Chunyu grumbled as he accelerated his steps toward their final destination.

A vertical escape shaft.

Through this escape shaft, they could reach the institute's underground and leave from below, which was Wang Chunyu's original plan.

However, when they reached the edge of the escape shaft and looked down, they found a large number of security robots tightly clustered below.

Their silvery metal glint was striking.

Wang Chunyu withdrew his gaze, turning to Han Zhan behind him, "The plan has changed, it looks like we'll need a different route."

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