Zhang Chen took a few steps towards the energy absorption device before suddenly stopping.
"What's wrong? Is... is there a problem?" Tang Houde asked nervously, his obsequious smile still plastered on his face.
"I feel something is strange!" Zhang Chen said, frowning.
"Strange? What's strange?" Tang Houde asked in surprise.
"Why didn't Xu Linna come?"
"According to what you said, if the apocalypse ends, then her plan will be all for naught."
"Will she just stand by and watch her plan fall apart?" Zhang Chen asked, looking confused.
This was indeed too unnatural. Xu Linna was definitely not someone who gave up easily. And it was she who caused the lighthouse to fall. With such a massive behemoth falling from the sky, a woman like Xu Linna, who mastered the highest technology of both the Gene School and the Progressive Faction, would surely be able to locate this place. But why hadn't she appeared yet, even though he had already reached the energy absorption device? When things are abnormally smooth, there must be a trick!
"Well... Xu Linna is human, and humans make mistakes!" Tang Houde asked with a fawning smile. "Since she hasn't shown up yet, shouldn't we hurry and end this apocalypse? Isn't that good?"
"No!" Zhang Chen gently shook his head.
"What's not right now?"
"After all your painstaking efforts, visiting so many of our laboratories, wasn't it all to find the truth about the apocalypse and end it?"
"Now victory is within reach. As long as you walk in and take a nap, the whole world will return to normal!"
"You can live the life you desire with the person you love, and we can return to our homeland, no longer having to wander. Isn't this a win-win outcome?!"
Tang Houde felt like he could no longer see through Zhang Chen. Why would someone who had been desperately searching for a way to end the apocalypse hesitate at the final moment when all conditions were met?! Could it be... he had discovered something? But that was impossible!
"The time meteor core, Xu Linna has it, right?" Zhang Chen suddenly asked.
"Yes, although it's just a very small fragment from the time meteor, that's correct, it is!" Tang Houde added.
"Time meteors have the ability to create time branches and erase redundant ones."
"In other words, Xu Linna should have some precognitive ability!"
"Do you think there's a possibility that Xu Linna foresaw that she wouldn't enter this device at all, and that's why she didn't come to stop me?" As Zhang Chen said this, he felt a flash of inspiration, and all the questions that had been weighing on his mind suddenly became clear! Previously, the natives had obstructed Zhang Chen in every way, burning the shepherd, dispatching AI combat armor teams to capture his son, and so on. But now, everything was too smooth. The natives, including Xu Linna, seemed to have ceased all action, quietly waiting for Zhang Chen to walk step by step to this point.
Zhang Chen had survived in the apocalypse for so long, and the most important lesson he had learned was that there are no free lunches! If you feel everything is going smoothly, it's because someone is bearing the burden for you! Could it be that the natives had cleared the path for Zhang Chen, just waiting for him to walk into a trap?! Xu Linna's previous friendliness towards him was to destroy the world's control center, seize the time meteor fragment, and even eliminate him. And now Tang Houde's enthusiasm must also mean trouble!
"You're not entering this device? That makes no sense, you have absolutely no reason to do this!" Tang Houde said with a forced smile.
"I have no reason to give up on ending the apocalypse, but I have every reason not to trust you selfish natives!" Zhang Chen raised his hand.
Buzz!
A stream of pure energy instantly struck the energy absorption device.
Bang!
The device was directly consumed by energy, from the inside out, every component, every detail.
Rumble.
It left a patch of scorched and deformed debris on the ground.
"You... you're crazy!"
"Why aren't you following the predetermined script?!"
"How is this possible?! All your actions should be within our design!" Tang Houde roared in exasperation.
At the same time, an alloy shield immediately popped up in front of him, and then a portal opened, with staff members pushing Tang Houde into it.
"Don't even think about running!" As Tang Houde's upper body was halfway through the portal, Zhang Chen activated his force field, immobilizing everyone behind the shield. Also immobilized was one of Tang Houde's legs. He was pushed in, his body tilting backward, but his leg remained outside.
Whoosh!
At this moment, the portal closed, and a lower leg dangled in mid-air. Zhang Chen finally understood. The alloy shield's purpose wasn't to block his attack. With his current strength, the alloy shield's defense was about as effective as a piece of A4 paper. Its purpose was to obstruct Zhang Chen's vision and distract him, allowing Tang Houde to be pushed into the portal in that split second of surprise. Indeed, the natives' reaction speed was far inferior to Zhang Chen's. But this action had been rehearsed countless times, so it was only because the opponent was Zhang Chen that not only was a leg left behind, but two researchers might have also escaped.
"As expected, it was a trap. Otherwise, Tang Houde wouldn't have been so guilty that he even prepared an escape route for himself!" Zhang Chen ignored the two researchers frozen in place and turned his gaze towards the scorched and deformed pile of parts.
Just then, a prompt slowly appeared from the side:
[The energy absorption device can absorb all the overflowing biological energy of the entire Water Blue Star, and at the same time extract the meteor core, sealing it within.]
Hiss...
Seeing this prompt, Zhang Chen gasped. So the natives truly had malicious intentions. They weren't just going to drain the world's biological energy, but also drain him. With the meteor core, they could become the masters of this world... No, perhaps even the masters of all parallel worlds!
But... Looking at the prompt, Zhang Chen felt a surge of anger. He had stared at the device for so long, and the prompt hadn't appeared. Now that it had been smashed into scrap metal by him, it suddenly materialized. If he had made the wrong choice earlier, what use would this prompt have been?! Zhang Chen angrily kicked the deformed parts, sending them flying into the clouds, eliciting bursts of violent lightning!
However, upon further reflection, Zhang Chen suddenly realized a problem. Could it be that only by not entering the energy absorption device at that moment could the world on this timeline be validated, and that's why the prompt continued to appear!?