183: The non-existent key

"Emergency ventilation shaft?"

Shitou's eyes lit up; this idea instantly enlightened him.

That's right. Such a massive underground facility couldn't possibly be a completely sealed tin can. It must have channels for gas exchange with the outside world, or the people inside would have suffocated long ago.

For concealment and safety, these channels are usually constructed in extremely tricky and unexpected locations.

"Split up and search!" Shitou immediately ordered. "Everyone move! Check every suspicious rock and every crack!"

The SAS Team Members immediately took the order, spreading out like geckos to conduct a meticulous search across the steep rock face of the meteorite crater.

Wang Dalong also controlled the drone, activating the thermal imaging mode and circling back and forth in the air, trying to find any exit with an abnormal temperature.

At the site, only Lin Feng remained, standing quietly before the massive Demon Gate.

He didn't move, his eyes slightly closed, sinking into silence.

Wang Dalong and Shitou both thought he was contemplating, performing another extraordinary logical deduction.

But they didn't know that Lin Feng's consciousness was currently immersed in a world inaccessible to others.

[System Store]

[Skill: Universal Lock Mastery (Golden Legendary Rank)]

[Description: You will instantly master the structural principles and opening techniques of all locks, from ancient times to the present, from East to West, and from mechanical to electronic. Any "lock" will be useless before you. Any lock will be extremely easy for you to open.]

[Price: 200,000 Karma Points]

Looking at that astronomical figure, Lin Feng's heart couldn't help but twitch.

This was almost all the savings he had accumulated since obtaining the System.

Just to open one door?

Was it worth it?

It was worth it.

In Lin Feng's mind, he recalled the cold shaft beneath the Alps, the bloody Ouroboros symbol in the command post, and the silent 88mm anti-aircraft guns pointing toward the sky... Behind this door lay a shocking secret capable of overturning modern historical understanding.

This secret must be revealed.

[Confirm Purchase]

Lin Feng recited silently in his mind.

[Ding! 200,000 Karma Points consumed. Universal Lock Mastery purchased successfully!]

Boom—!

The moment he confirmed, a massive torrent of information rushed out and poured into his mind!

Wooden locks with mortise and tenon joints, ancient Roman bronze locks, cipher locks from Da Vinci's manuscripts, bank vault combination locks, Swiss bank electronic voice-activated locks... three-dimensional structural diagrams, mechanical principles, force feedback, acoustic signatures of countless types of locks... all this knowledge was forcibly instilled into his brain in 0.01 seconds, perfectly merging with his nervous system and muscle memory!

His fingers even twitched slightly, simulating the sensation of twisting an invisible probe.

Lin Feng opened his eyes.

The world, in his eyes, seemed different.

He looked again at the massive, cold, and impregnable steel blast door before him.

To ordinary people, it was a single unit.

But in his current eyes, it had become an extremely precise mechanical diagram composed of countless parts. He could even "see" the huge lock bolts behind the door—each over thirty centimeters in diameter and forged from Krupp special alloy—along with the hydraulically linked mechanism that was so complex it made one's scalp tingle.

"Found it..."

Lin Feng murmured to himself.

Just then, Shitou's voice came through the walkie-talkie, tinged with fatigue and disappointment: "Report, we've searched half the area, no discoveries..."

"No need to search."

Lin Feng calmly interrupted him.

He took a step and slowly walked toward the massive door.

"Brother Feng?!" Wang Dalong, who was down the slope, saw this through the drone feed and shouted anxiously, "What are you doing?! Don't touch that thing!"

Shitou and his team members also stopped their search, looking at Lin Feng in confusion.

Lin Feng ignored anyone.

He walked up to the door, extended his right hand, and gently ran it across the cold, camouflage-coated steel plate, as if stroking a piece of art.

His movements were slow, his eyes slightly closed, like a doctor listening to a heartbeat.

Finally, his finger stopped on an inconspicuous protrusion on the lower right side of the door, disguised as a rivet.

Found it.

The core of the entire linkage lock system, the single, most vulnerable maintenance interface.

"Give me a paperclip," Lin Feng said without turning his head.

"...What?" Shitou thought he had misheard.

"Or, any piece of metal wire that is thin and stiff enough," Lin Feng added.

Although full of confusion, an SAS Team Member pulled out a thin steel wire used for cleaning gun barrels from his tactical vest and handed it over.

Lin Feng took the wire and casually bent it a few times with two fingers, forming a strange shape.

Then, under the gazes of everyone—a mix of astonishment, confusion, and even absurdity—he slowly inserted the crude steel wire into the tiny hole at the center of the "rivet," a hole barely larger than a needle tip.

Time slowed down.

Everyone held their breath.

All they heard was... click.

An extremely faint, yet incredibly clear crisp sound, came from inside the massive door.

Following that... *clack*... *clack-clack-clack*... a series of fragmented sounds, like the meshing of clock gears, came from all directions of the door, moving closer and growing louder!

It was as if some ancient mechanical behemoth that had been sleeping for eighty years was slowly waking up from within!

Wang Dalong's mouth hung open in an 'O' shape.

Shitou and the SAS elites beside him had bulging veins on their gun-gripping hands, their faces filled with world-shattering shock!

How... how was this possible?!

Finally.

CLANG—!!

A deafening roar, like a mountain collapsing, came from deep within the door! It was the sound of all the main lock bolts retracting completely and simultaneously!

Following a grating *creak*, the Demon Gate—which weighed tens of tons and could not be breached even by C4 explosives—slowly and automatically opened a crack inward before them!

A blast of cold, decaying air, imprisoned for eighty years, rushed out of the gap, carrying the dust of history and hitting them in the face!

Beyond the gap was bottomless, pure darkness.

Inside the entire meteorite crater, there was a deathly silence.

Everyone stared as if they had seen a ghost at the young man standing before the door, holding a thin steel wire, his figure still appearing somewhat slender.

There was no expression on his face.

As if he had only done a trivial little thing.