Chapter 31 Opening the Door

"It's back! It's coming straight for us!"

Li Na's voice, laced with tears, echoed through the communication channel.

On the massive screen in the Command Center, that green dot of light, like an enraged bullet, was dragging a straight trajectory behind it, closing in on Lin Yuan's position at high speed.

"How could this happen?!" the head of the Technology Department turned pale. "We clearly bypassed its active defense system. It was only a lowest-level silent alarm; it shouldn't have alerted it, logically speaking!"

"This is not the time to look for reasons!" the Minister of Security roared, cutting off his defense. "Comrade Lin Yuan! Stop the decryption immediately! Retreat at once! Hurry!"

Retreat?

Lin Yuan glanced at the crystal door mere inches away, then at the green light dot on the thermal map that was getting closer and closer, his teeth almost shattering from clenching them so hard.

Damn it! It was just a little bit more!

The decryption progress was already at 91%. If he gave up now, wouldn't all his previous efforts be in vain? If he wanted to come back in next time, heaven knows if there would be such a good opportunity again!

"Chief! Academician Wang! Give me another thirty seconds! No! Ten seconds will do!" Lin Yuan roared into the communicator, his voice filled with a desperate, reckless grit. "Technology Department! Don't stop! Keep going for me!"

"Nonsense!" the Minister of Security was anxious. "This is an order! You..."

"Let him try!"

An old but incomparably firm voice interrupted the Minister of Security.

It was Academician Wang.

He stared fixedly at the screen, his eyes bloodshot. His expression was like that of a gambler who had bet his entire fortune on the very last hand of cards.

"We have no way back! If we retreat now, we'll still be blocked in the corridor by it! The result will be death anyway! We might as well take a gamble! Gamble that we can open this door before this thing arrives!"

Academician Wang's words silenced everyone.

That was true; that thing's speed was too fast. Looking at the thermal map, it would reach the entrance of the "Gene Temple" in at most a minute and a half. And for the drone to retreat from here to the breach where it entered, it would take at least three minutes.

No matter how they chose, it seemed to be a dead end.

The only chance of survival was this tightly closed door in front of them.

"Director Chen!" Academician Wang turned his head abruptly to look at Chen Weiguo, his eyes full of determination. "Give the order! Let's gamble!"

Chen Weiguo looked at the solitary light dot representing Lin Yuan on the screen, then at the green light dot representing death that was closing in at high speed. His knuckles turned white from the force of his grip.

In his life, he had made countless difficult decisions. But never had one felt like such a mountain of pressure as this moment.

This wasn't a gamble on the success or failure of a single mission.

This was a gamble on the future of the entire civilization.

"Technology Department!" Chen Weiguo finally spoke, his voice hoarse. "Divert all the computing power of the pangu system to me! I don't care what method you use, within thirty seconds, you must open this door for me!"

"Comrade Lin Yuan!" He switched back to the channel with Lin Yuan. "Hold on! We are all behind you!"

"Yes!"

Having received the confirmation, Lin Yuan's spirits were greatly lifted.

That grit and gambling nature he had honed while scavenging were completely ignited.

Isn't it just gambling with his life? In his life, which day hadn't he been gambling?

"Come on! You son of a bitch! Let's see if I get through the door first, or if you come over and collect me like trash first!" Lin Yuan cursed viciously in his heart.

"Decryption progress 93%!"

"Alert! The opponent is raising their firewall level! Our computing power is about to be suppressed!"

"Increase energy output! Overload by thirty percent! Burn it out if you have to, but keep it up for me!"

In the Command Center, the experts of the Technology Department were already hoarse from shouting.

Countless lines of code were refreshing rapidly on the screen like a waterfall, so fast that they were appearing as afterimages.

And on the thermal map, that green light dot had already rushed past the last corner!

Lin Yuan could even see, through the drone's wide-angle lens, a small ball emitting a milky white halo appearing at the end of the corridor in the distance!

It was here!

"Decryption progress 96%!"

"Hold on! Just one last protocol left!"

"It... it sped up!" Li Na's voice sounded again, filled with despair.

They saw the white ball in the distance, seemingly feeling the urgency of time, its body suddenly contracted, and then like a cannonball, its speed suddenly increased by a large margin!

Twenty seconds!

No! It might only take ten seconds for it to rush in front of them!

It's over!

In the Command Center, these two words appeared in everyone's mind.

There wasn't enough time.

However, at this critical moment!

A crazed thought suddenly flashed through Lin Yuan's mind.

Energy!

This thing was attracted by energy fluctuations!

Then what if... they gave it an even stronger energy fluctuation?

"System!" Lin Yuan roared in his heart at the system, which had been very quiet ever since he entered the ship. "Give some of my energy to the drone! No! Give it all! Overload the engine for me!"

He didn't even have time to discuss this thought with the Command Center.

Because he knew that if they discussed it, it would be too late.

[Warning: host's mental power is directly connected to the drone; energy overload may cause irreversible mental damage to the host! Confirm?]

"Confirm! Damn it, overload it for me!"

Lin Yuan's eyes were already bloodshot.

The next second, he felt his brain go "buzz," as if it had been smashed hard by an invisible giant hammer!

A massive amount of mental energy was brutally extracted from the depths of his consciousness by the system and then crazily poured into the energy core of "scavenger no. 2"!

The drone's energy reserve gauge instantly soared from less than half to 150%! The red overload alarm flashed frantically in Lin Yuan's field of vision!

"Lin Yuan! What are you doing?!" In the Command Center, Chen Weiguo and Academician Wang let out a simultaneous exclamation when they saw the energy data instantly going off the charts.

Lin Yuan didn't answer them.

Enduring the needle-stabbing pain in his head, he controlled the drone and poured all the energy into the four small engine nozzles located at the tail of the drone!

"Buzz—!"

A piercing roar, far exceeding normal power, instantly resounded through the silent white corridor!

Four dazzling blue plasma flames erupted from the tail of the drone, slamming fiercely into the incredibly sturdy crystal door of the "Gene Temple"!

Although this energy couldn't shake the door in the slightest.

But the intense energy fluctuations and high heat it generated were like dropping a red-hot branding iron into a pot of calm oil!

In the distance, the white ball that was rushing over at high speed suddenly slammed on the "brakes"!

It seemed to have been "startled" by this sudden, violent energy fluctuation.

In its judgment system, this level of energy burst had far exceeded the category of "unstable abnormal unit" and was directly defined as — "highest level threat"!

Its action mode changed instantly.

It was no longer "cleaning," but "elimination"!

They saw the surface of the white ball, that smooth, milky white shell, splitting and opening like petals, revealing an inner core composed of countless smaller, metallic-shimmering particles that were constantly rotating!

A murderous intent, ten times colder than before, instantly locked onto Lin Yuan's drone!

It was going to attack!

But it was precisely this short one or two seconds of "transformation" and "mode switching" delay!

That bought the Technology Department the most precious, final two seconds!

"Success! The door is open!"

Following the Technology Department head's roar of joy and tears!

"Click—!"

A crisp, sweet, and heavenly sound of unlocking came from inside the crystal door!

That incomparably huge, seemingly eternal circular gate slowly, but firmly, slid open to both sides!