I am the Holy Poisoner, the Empress advised me to calm down

He paused, narrowed his eyes, and whispered, "Everyone, stop for a moment. There may be hidden clues behind these patterns. We need to figure out whether it's a deliberate trap or has another purpose."

As everyone watched with bated breath, the university student leaned forward to tentatively analyze the image with a portable scanner. The next second, the screen clearly displayed a person's facial features... and a hoarse, magnetic voice slowly spoke:

"Welcome back, traveler... Are you ready to open the door to truth? The price is everything... including memories, souls, and even existence itself..."

Qin Yifei frowned, but before he could say anything, someone around him questioned him, "What the hell is this thing... Why does it feel so eerie and scary?! Is it deliberately misleading people to cause a breakdown?!"

"I don't know, so every next step requires careful evaluation and judgment... but there's clearly no turning back now," Qin Yifei answered firmly. He then turned to the university student and sternly instructed, "Continue to enter the final security code to verify the logic chain. I'll do my best to maintain the outer protection strength for at least half a minute!"

So the battle intensified again...

At the same time, a low and strange laugh came from a dark corner——

"Hehe~ Interesting... The real show has just begun! Let's see how far these ants can persist!" "What's with this laughter? Is there someone controlling all this behind the scenes?" A thin young man asked in a trembling voice, glancing around, trying to find the source of the sound.

"Don't panic! The most important thing right now is to stay calm," Qin Yifei whispered, his gaze fixed firmly on the core controller in front of him. He didn't have time to pay attention to the strange laughter. He knew that the enemy might be lurking in the dark, and the slightest mistake would put him in a desperate situation.

At that moment, the core controller's screen suddenly glowed blue, and the human face became clearer. It seemed to smile mysteriously, then slowly spoke, "Did you think you could find the answers just by barging in here? Haha... How naive. The truth is never easily revealed."

A complex string of data codes suddenly popped up on the screen, accompanied by a shrill alarm sound—

**"Warning: The Ring of Fate has entered a critical state. The final choice is about to come. Please decide your own fate: either abandon the current operation and evacuate the area, or the system will initiate the 'zero restart' procedure within 60 seconds."**

Passersby were thrown into complete chaos when they heard the news.

"What the hell! What do you mean by 60 seconds? We don't even have enough time to retreat!" The girl with the ponytail screamed, grabbing the people around her helplessly. "It's over, it's over. Is this really the only way to try and charge through?"

The fat cook was so frightened that he collapsed on the ground, holding his head and muttering, "I should have known I shouldn't have followed... Why did I have to get involved in this kind of thing?!"

In sharp contrast to these panicked people, Du Fan smiled with interest: "Tsk tsk, it seems that the real crisis has finally arrived. Since the so-called evacuation is just a cover, why not go all out and crack the core directly! Anyway, running will kill us, so we might as well take a gamble!" His tone was as relaxed as if he was discussing what to eat for dinner.

The college student's brow furrowed, beads of sweat dripping down his forehead. "There's something wrong with this code..." He tapped away at the keyboard, but the more he read the on-screen prompts, the more anxious he became. "The cracking logic has been tampered with. We need to enter an additional security verification key. And that key...isn't even in our database! This is a deliberate barrier!"

Zhao Li turned to look at everyone, her tone cold and unquestionable, "Then the conclusion is simple—find it. If you drag your feet at this critical moment, everyone will be punished! Whoever comes up with a solution first, I'll help hold off those damned mechanical claws for a while!"

As everyone was arguing and discussing, a more violent vibration was heard outside the room, clearly indicating that the enemy's offensive was intensifying. Several small robots broke through the makeshift defenses and charged directly into the center of the crowd. The situation was briefly out of control.

"Hey, can you help me get rid of these lumps of iron first and then talk about other things? Otherwise, everyone will die soon and there will be no secret to solve." An uncle carrying a modified rifle yelled, and then opened fire continuously, smashing the two patrol machines that were attacking him into pieces and scattering them on the ground.

"Yes, let's kill them first! Survival is the top priority!" another tech geek wearing headphones shouted, waving the melee weapon in his hand and joining the fight.

However, just as the battle between the two sides entered a white-hot stage, a young hacker suddenly had an idea and pointed at a long-closed metal door in the distance. He said, "Hey! I think that's where the backup energy is stored. If the control circuit inside is reconnected to the core controller, theoretically, it can trigger a system reboot. Maybe even bypass the security code restrictions!"

Everyone's attention instantly shifted to this new direction.

"Boy, are you reliable? Don't try to trick us into risking our lives." Someone asked half-doubtfully.

"Stop talking nonsense! It's better to try than to sit and wait for death, right?" Du Fan said nothing and ran towards the metal door. After killing a few enemies who stood in his way, he turned back and waved provocatively, "Do you dare to join us?"

Despite their doubts, most of the survivors, under Qin Yifei's calm gaze, bravely followed and rushed towards the metal door. Behind them, more patrol robots swarmed in, almost surrounding the entire passage.

"Hurry, open the cover and let me see what's inside!" The college student urged while cutting the seal with a dagger.

"Connect a wire here... Yes, that's right! Give me 30 seconds to complete the circuit connection!" Another young man who was proficient in electrical configuration took the tools and began to work hard.

Time ticked by, and the air was filled with an oppressive tension. 58, 59... the sound of the jumping numbers echoed in everyone's ears.

"Alright! The last link is completed!" The tech geek wiped the sweat from his forehead and shouted.

The next moment, the entire base shook violently, and then the equipment that was originally flashing red light miraculously switched briefly to a stable green indicator light.

"Success?!" Passersby stared at the changing scene with wide eyes, unable to believe their ears and eyes.

But the good times didn't last long. The warning text flashed again on the core display: **"Anomaly detection module failed...Executing mandatory countermeasures: 'Ultimate Annihilation' countdown begins - 20 seconds remaining."**