Who gave you permission to travel through time with Earth?

But the reality... took a completely opposite turn from Lu Chen's delusion.

As they were swallowed by the giant, ever-opening elevator (food outlet), the pressure from the acceleration instantly slammed them all to the floor! Their eardrums throbbed so loudly they almost vomited.

The duration of this elevator ascent far exceeded that of any previous operation, with the theoretical ascent height already exceeding two thousand meters, and it continues to extend.

Clearly, conventional spatial theories are meaningless to this company. The second floor appears to be just a simple iron block building, but in reality, the space of a reservoir far surpasses it.

When the elevator stopped on the fourth floor, the scene that unfolded before him once again confirmed the anomaly of the company's space... to the point that Lu Chen unknowingly knelt down on the ground.

"Where the hell am I?"

Because what lies before them is no longer just a single-story building; beneath those countless interconnected transparent glass domes lies a vast space with countless overlapping and hollowed-out floors!

With Fang Jin's eyesight, she couldn't see the end at all, or even the point where the two glass domes met. They seemed to extend infinitely, creating a huge sky that belonged to her alone above.

At the very center of this space stands a pure white metal tower, also reaching straight up into the sky. However, unlike the main tower, each of its circular levels has three to four pipes connecting to it.

It serves to connect and reinforce, and from below it looks like a crisscrossing spider web... as well as an infinitely growing giant metal tree. A person standing at the bottom is as small as a piece of tobacco ash that has been brushed off.

As for why this metaphor was used... it's simple, because at that moment a giant with four heads and four glasses, dressed in a suit and leather shoes, happened to pass by, and the ash from the cigar he dropped almost buried Lu Chen.

The giant didn't even glance at them, his steps so hurried he had no time to spare. His large, rough hands pressed against the smooth metal tower.

The wall surface instantly cracked and melted, opening out of thin air an elevator to accommodate his figure. The elevator closed the moment he stepped in, sending him to some unknown floor above... to go to work.

The dangerous aura he exuded was no less than that of the baker, and might even be greater. Fang Jin discovered nearly a hundred similar terrifying beings after just a quick scan.

"I see... This is indeed a detached instance. No wonder the life levels of the Blood Tide monsters fluctuated so much."

What is a free state?

Fang Jin asked Zhou Tongtong, who was kneading her hair, because he only had a general understanding of the main star system and the dungeons. Asking for clarification was better than making a mistake while completely clueless.

"After the main star system selects the main world, it establishes connections with almost all the dungeon worlds. The world levels range from Tier 1 to Tier 6, and the difficulty levels are Normal, Hard, Nightmare, and Unsolvable."

"Different world levels correspond to different player level systems. Players are only allowed to enter the next stage of the world after crossing two major levels. This is an unchanging law written into the underlying logic."

"Apart from the sixth tier, the evaluation of the sixth tier world is not in the original system. It usually refers to closed worlds that are special, remote, or too powerful to be controlled."

"Collectively referred to as 'free state'."

Zhou Tongtong spoke eloquently, but this information should be knowledge that any player must accept and understand before entering the dungeon. Fang Jin should not be so ignorant.

But neither she nor Fang Jin found it strange at all.

"Did we stumble upon a detached instance? No wonder the system gave so few hints; this place is unknown even to them."

"It is obvious that free-state replicas usually have several characteristics. First, the strength of the natives is difficult to define. They may be weak or extremely strong, or they may form a class-based coexistence like here."

"Secondly, there are the rewards. Being closed off means being unknown and primitive. The free state has an energy system and treasures that other known copies do not have, and the system itself will reward a lot of experience for exploring the unknown."

"Again, it's dangerous. There were no warnings, no precedent, and some special spaces might even have our gear locked. In team mode, it might even attract unknown forces..."

"..."

"Why are you all so calm?"

"We're fucking dead!"

Lu Chen stared at their conversation in utter disbelief. They both knew this was a detached instance, so how could they remain so calm? What was the difference between this situation and the tolling of death knells?!

What they encountered was even the most dangerous kind in the detached state instance. The strength level of the natives far surpassed theirs, and the strength of each full-time employee was enough to kill everyone instantly!

Lu Chen now realized that this world was far more dangerous than he had imagined. The vampires he encountered on the third floor were probably nobodies in the Beast Corporation, but they had already made them exert all their strength.

Even though their very presence here is a miracle, this tiny miracle is as insignificant as a candle thrown into the sea, about to be extinguished in the blink of an eye in the face of absolute disadvantage.

"...Luckily, I ate a very full meal before my execution." In the end, Lu Chen couldn't help but think this.

"..."

"..."

"...Haven't you figured it out yet?"

Fang Jin couldn't help but say, "It's one thing if others didn't realize it, but for the three people on the cloud ladder who witnessed Xu Rou's 'death' to still not have come to their senses is just too much."

"The 'exit' has already been found, or rather, it has always been around us."

"...What?"

Lu Chen abruptly raised his head, only to be met with pitying glances from Fang Jin and Zhou Tongtong. His initial excitement was almost instantly extinguished by embarrassment and anger, but he quickly spoke.

"Where is the export... or rather, what exactly is an export?"

The second layer of mirrors proved not to be the way out, but rather a shortcut for the marchers to directly enter the reservoir; perhaps their method of leaving the company lay beneath that whirlpool.

But that area is clearly not accessible to players. Not to mention the parades that could occur at any time, the speed and depth of the vortex itself are enough to kill.

So... what exactly is the exit?

"this."

Fang Jin reached into her clothes, pulled out the pistol with a blue cotton thread attached, held it between her fingers, and adjusted its direction... Then she pointed the dark muzzle directly at Lu Chen's forehead.

The atmosphere suddenly became stiff. Lu Chen hesitated to speak, while Fang Jin, after a long while, remembered what he had forgotten. He took out the honeycomb, loaded the bullets, and then tried to strike the same pose as before.

"...It's too late."