Zhuang Pengpai, who did not notice Li Ang clicking his tongue in amazement, immediately put his chemical-resistant gloves back on after absorbing the flame into his palm.

Stonemason shone his flashlight inside, took out a spare flashlight from his backpack, and tossed it in. It did not meet with any attack.

After confirming that the area was clear, Stonemason did not rush inside but instead turned to Alphonse and asked, "By the way, in this place, is there a monster that can be referred to as the origin?"

"The Origin?"

Alphonse was startled by the question. "Sorry, I don't know about such a thing."

"Then let me rephrase it," Stonemason asked, "Where did you put the Origin of Life?"

"Before the disaster struck, I had already locked it in a secret room below this level," Alphonse replied calmly. "Even the Flesh Fungi Blanket would not be able to touch it."

Stonemason's gaze grew icy. "You lied to us."

"That's right," Alphonse answered quietly. "The Origin of Life will always bring calamity. No matter how enticing or powerful it appears, it's nothing but Pandora's Magic Box, containing disaster. If I were you, I wouldn't even think about getting close to it." T^hi&s c!ha!pt-e*r was fir#st^ s-e*en! on *$.

Stonemason stared hard at Alphonse for a long while before shifting his gaze and, together with Alphonse, entered the room where the backup generators were located.

The others stood outside the door, watching the two of them switch on the backup generators.

It must be said, Alphonse, as a once-leading capitalist, spared no expense when constructing the infrastructure of the underground laboratory, striving for all equipment to be "advanced, durable, and reliable."

Even after decades, the backup generator kicked into action without issue.

As the low rumblings of the generator started up, the underground laboratory, which had always been shrouded in darkness, finally gained a hint of human creation.

The bulbs embedded in the ceiling, despite being covered and obscured by the Flesh Fungi Blanket, still emitted a faint light.

Insects that had never been exposed to light scrambled frantically into the veins of the Mycelium Carpet, while oddly shaped mutant plants gently swayed their branches as if venting their panic and confusion.

Alphonse and Stonemason rushed out of the room and pulled the alloy door shut. Alphonse then turned to the other players and said, "We need to move quickly! There are many mutations here. Some are not aggressive, while others are extremely ferocious and violent. We must get to the main control room and initiate the self-destruct sequence before they cause widespread damage. That will activate the countdown for hundreds of low-yield nuclear bombs buried throughout the laboratory. I'll set a 20-minute timer. You all use that time to return to the surface and leave this place."

Li Ang frowned and asked, "What about you?"

"Me? I'm the sinner who brought about the extinction of humanity. If not for revenge, I would have long since given myself over to despair and gone completely mad."

Alphonse sneered self-mockingly, using his swollen fingers to point at his grotesque, disfigured face. "Besides, even if I escaped with you, looking like this, I wouldn't be accepted by the survivors..."

The former president of Libra Company had long been resigned to death. Perhaps for him, death was not a burden but a release.

"Let's go. The mutations above ground might come down here at any moment."

Alphonse laboriously moved his bulging form, hurrying down the hallway without looking back.

Six players followed behind him, running a long distance until they finally reached the main control room.

At the same time, a cacophony of noise also started up at the far end of the same floor, with all manners of beastly roars and hisses penetrating the winding metal walls and reaching everyone's ears.

The mutants seemed to have reacted. Some began to smash the light fixtures in the ceiling, while others, tracking the unusual scent in the air, charged towards Li Ang and the others.

"Open the door, quick!" Stonemason called out to Alphonse, while he himself drew a craft knife and stood at the intersection of the T-shaped corridor with two teammates.

The control room's security was extremely tight. The metal door remained firmly shut, impervious even to the Mycelium Carpet, which hadn't managed to corrode and invade it over the decades.

Now that the electricity had been restored, Alphonse took an old-looking metal card from the inner pocket of his suit and swiped it along the frame of the control room's alloy door.

"'Stand back, everyone,' Alphonse said, motioning for Li Ang and the others to stand farther away. 'This control room is set up to allow only those with a pass to enter. Any unauthorized person will be immediately sliced into numerous pieces of cooked meat by the laser cutters on both sides of the control room's door frame.'"

As the door slowly opened, lights inside the control room came on, and the soft voice of an artificial intelligence spoke up in the pentagonal and spacious room.

"Dr. Alphonse Anderson, welcome back. It has been 31 years, 7 months, 2 days, 12 hours, and 10 minutes since the last activation."

"Long time no see, Nina." Alphonse called out the artificial intelligence's name, a hint of a smile flickering across his grotesque face.

He awkwardly squeezed through the door, seemingly unaffected by the stale air inside the control room.

The other players remained outside, watching as Alphonse, this monster with a deformed appearance, went straight to the control panel.

His hands trembling, he unfastened a metal chain from around his neck.

At the end of the chain was a cylindrical alloy key.

This indestructible key had been constantly caressed by Alphonse's fingertips over the long years, its tip showing a smooth and dazzling metallic sheen.

Alphonse took a deep breath, grasped the alloy key, and pressed it into the circular recess in the control room's control panel.

His swollen fingers, resembling chubby radishes, clumsily twisted it.

"Doctor, you have initiated the self-destruct sequence for the experiment center. The countdown is set for 20 minutes. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"No, that's not necessary." Alphonse seemed to collapse into the chair, lying back to look up at the ceiling he was once very familiar with, stained with a coffee mark.

"Nina, close the door."

The control room's door slammed shut.

The six players in the corridor had just heard the artificial intelligence inside the control room begin the 20-minute countdown to the nuclear explosion when they saw the door seal shut.

At the same time, the System's notification quietly rang out.

[Objective 1 complete: Eliminate Libra Company President Alphonse Anderson. Current team score is plus one.]

[Objective 3 complete: Destroy the Libra Company Boston Biotech Laboratory. Current team score is plus two.]

The six players were simultaneously taken aback. What? Did starting the unstoppable nuclear countdown mean the mission was already accomplished?

[Having completed two objectives, Objective 4 is now unlocked.]

[Objective 4: Destroy the damaged Origin of Life.]