I'm the administrator of the National Fortune Arena at the start of the game; I'll hand it

Upon seeing this, Wang Yi immediately realized the seriousness of the problem.

He piloted the Thor mech and tentatively thrust his spear at another sea golem, which passed right through without any resistance. The golem's counterattack, however, was swift and ruthless.

Zhao Zihan's electromagnetic harpoon was like shooting into water, not even making a splash.

For a time, the three mechs were forced to retreat step by step by these unkillable liquid metal monsters, and were completely put on the defensive.

"Damn it! How am I supposed to fight this? It's like hitting a lump of mercury, I can't get any force out of it!" Chen Hu shouted into the channel while desperately trying to fend off the sea golem's attacks.

"Their bodies can switch between solid and liquid states at any time to avoid physical impacts!" As an engineer, Zhang Wei quickly saw the clue. "This is a shape-memory metal we've never seen before; it's incredibly advanced!"

At the Dragon Kingdom Operations Center, Li Guodong and Lin Zhan also frowned deeply.

"These kinds of enemies that seem impossible to kill are the most troublesome. Xiao Su, do you have a solution?"

"It's a minor issue," Su Yuan said calmly.

He had already used the system to expose all the secrets of these sea monsters.

[Species: Liquid Metal Guardian 'Sea Golem']

[Hazard Level: C+]

[Abilities: Morphological transformation, physical immunity (partial), self-repair]

[Weakness: Its core is maintained by a tiny liquid controller, which is extremely sensitive to extreme temperatures.]

"Physical immunity?" Su Yuan chuckled. "In the face of absolute temperature, all fancy tricks are just paper tigers."

"Zhang Wei." Su Yuan's voice rang directly in Zhang Wei's mind.

"Administrator! I'm here!"

"Is your logistics mech equipped with cryogenic liquid nitrogen injectors for emergency repairs?"

"Ah? Yes, there is one. But it's used to cool down overheated parts, and the spray volume isn't large." Zhang Wei was somewhat unsure of Su-Yuan's intentions.

"That's enough," Su Yuan said. "Now, put on that gear and give those tin men a cold shower."

"Take...take a cold shower?" Zhang Wei was stunned for a moment, but then he understood what Su Yuan meant.

If you're afraid of high temperatures, you're naturally also afraid of low temperatures!

"I see!"

Without hesitation, Zhang Wei immediately piloted his logistics support mech, charging out from the rear of the formation. His mech's arms rapidly transformed, replacing them with a pair of enormous nozzles resembling fire hoses.

"Make way, everyone! Let me cool them down!"

Zhang Wei spotted a sea golem that was attacking Chen Hu and suddenly pressed the jet button!

"laugh--"

Two white jets of ultra-low temperature liquid nitrogen, filled with extreme cold, instantly gushed out from the nozzle and accurately hit the sea golem!

There was no violent reaction, only an eerie silence.

The liquid metal warrior, who had been nimbly attacking the Titan mech, suddenly froze the moment he came into contact with the liquid nitrogen.

Its flowing, silvery-white body rapidly solidified and frosted before the naked eye's eyes, eventually transforming into a lifelike ice sculpture, retaining even the motion of wielding a halberd.

"Chen Hu! Now!" Su Yuan's voice rang out.

"Okay!"

Chen Hu, who had been holding back his anger for a long time, roared excitedly upon seeing this scene.

He piloted the Titan mech, lunged forward, and slammed the massive power gauntlet, fueled by vengeful fury, into the "ice sculpture"!

"Smash it, you son of a bitch!"

"Bang!"

A crisp sound, like glass shattering, rang out.

The seemingly indestructible sea monster, frozen solid, became incredibly fragile. Under the Titan's powerful punch, it shattered instantly, exploding into a pile of silvery-white fragments!

At the center of that pile of rubble, a controller, no bigger than a fingernail and as small as a water droplet, was also crushed into powder.

"Hahaha! So you guys are afraid of the cold!" Chen Hu looked at the broken pieces all over the ground and burst into hearty laughter.

"I've found a way!"

"Zhang Wei, freeze them! Chen Hu, smash them! We'll cover you!"

Wang Yi immediately issued new combat orders.

In an instant, the situation on the battlefield reversed.

The three mechs of the Dragon Team embarked on a unique "whack-a-mole" game.

Wherever Zhang Wei sprays liquid nitrogen, an ice sculpture appears.

Wherever Chen Hu's fist landed, the ice sculpture shattered into pieces.

Wang Yi and Zhao Zihan were responsible for clearing the area, forcing back the sea monsters that tried to approach Zhang Wei.

The dozens of sea monsters that were originally menacing were wiped out in less than ten minutes with the tacit cooperation of the Dragon Team.

The entire plaza returned to calm, leaving only scattered metal fragments as proof of the battle that had just taken place.

After clearing the sea golem from the plaza, the Dragon Team did not linger and continued to advance deeper into the city under Su Yuan's guidance.

The deeper they went, the more they felt the grandeur and wonder of this city.

The architecture here is incredibly artistic, almost unimaginable to humans. The streets are deserted yet spotless. Automated cleaning robots tirelessly perform programs set tens of thousands of years ago.

"This city... seems to have been completely abandoned." Wang Yi looked around thoughtfully and said, "There are no traces of war, no signs of disaster, it's as if... the people here all disappeared one day."

"Perhaps it ascended to heaven?" Chen Hu joked.

"Stop guessing and stay alert," Wang Yi warned. "It looks peaceful here, but who knows what kind of weird thing might pop up around the next corner."

While the team members explored the city, Su Yuan, far away in the capital, was completely captivated by a frantically flashing energy signal on the administrator panel.

This signal source is located at the very top of the towering building at the very center of Atlantis.

The energy fluctuations it released were so vast, pure, and stable that Su Yuan's system issued a slight alarm the moment it detected them.

"What...is this?"

Filled with curiosity and excitement, Su Yuan focused his "omniscient perspective" on the past.

The next second, detailed information about that energy source appeared on his panel.

[Item: Heart of Poseidon (Zero-Point Energy Reaction Core)]

[Rank: SSS (Rules-based Creation)]

[Introduction: The pinnacle of the Atlantean civilization, a perpetual motion machine theoretically capable of drawing infinite energy from the vacuum. It is the power source of the city and the cornerstone that has sustained the Atlantean civilization for millennia.]

[Note: This item possesses the power to rewrite the course of civilization.]

"hiss--"

When Su Yuan, a man of great knowledge, saw the description of the item, he couldn't help but gasp in surprise.

Zero-point energy!

Perpetual motion machine!

Unlimited energy!

These concepts, which only exist in the most advanced science fiction novels, have now appeared before him in the form of a real object!

Su Yuan's heart began to pound uncontrollably.

He knew better than anyone what this thing would mean for the Dragon Kingdom and even for all of human civilization once it was materialized in the real world!

While controlled nuclear fusion is powerful, it still requires fuel and carries certain risks.

This "Heart of the Sea God" is a truly inexhaustible source of clean energy!

It will completely liberate the Dragon Kingdom from the constraints of energy!

Interstellar travel, warp drives, Dyson spheres... countless dreams that were once out of reach will become possible because of its existence!

"We must! We have to get our hands on it!"

An unprecedented light burst forth in Su Yuan's eyes.

The strategic value of this thing is even greater than all the previous rewards combined!

However, just as he was getting excited and preparing to find a way to get Wang Yi and the others to retrieve the item, a line of small print below the item information poured cold water on his enthusiasm.

[WARNING: This item is currently sealed by the Chronos Lock and cannot be moved or obtained by any external force.]

"A time-space lock?"

Su Yuan's brows furrowed instantly.

He clicked on the explanation of the term, and his expression became even more serious.

[Time-Space Lock: A top-tier sealing technology based on the laws of time and space. Once locked, the time flow and spatial coordinates of the object are fixed, essentially 'stripped' from the current universe. Unless the seal is broken, any attempt to touch it will only result in passing through a mere illusion.]

"Damn, that's ruthless!" Su Yuan couldn't help but curse.

After all that, it turns out to be just a pie in the sky that you can see but can't touch.

Unconvinced, he immediately began using his privileges in the administrator backend to brute-force crack the so-called "time-space lock".

[Attempting to decipher the 'time-space lock'...]

[Parsing failed! Target privilege level too high!]

[Attempting to forcibly unlock the 'time-space lock'...]

[Resolution failed! Insufficient energy! At least 100 million National Fortune Points are required for forced intervention!]

One million national fortune points?

Su Yuan looked at the balance of just over 30,000 yuan in his account, and his lips twitched.

What's the difference between this and telling him he needs to spend a million to open the treasure chest?

"Calm down... calm down..."

Su Yuan forced himself to calm down.

"If direct cracking doesn't work, then we'll have to go through the proper procedures."

He carefully studied the operating principle of the "time lock" and soon discovered a key point.

"I see... The energy of this time-space lock is not independent, but connected to the energy system of the entire city."

"In other words, as long as I can cut off the city's total energy supply, this spacetime lock will become unstable due to insufficient energy, and may even temporarily fail!"

Su Yuan's eyes lit up instantly.

He immediately turned his gaze to the city's central energy tower.

Although the "Heart of Poseidon" is located at the top of the tower, it supplies energy through a complex conversion and transmission system, transferring energy to the energy hub at the bottom of the tower, and then distributing it to the entire city.

Destroying that energy hub is like unplugging the entire city's power cord!

"Wang Yi." Su Yuan immediately contacted the Dragon Team.

"Yes, administrator."

"I'm giving you a new target." Su Yuan marked the structural diagram of the energy tower and the location of the energy hub at the bottom of the tower, and sent it to Wang Yi.

"See that tallest tower? Its base is the energy core of the entire city. I need you to shut it down for me."

"Turn it off?" Wang Yi asked, puzzled. "Aren't we here to find the lost technology of Atlantis? If we turn off the power, won't this place be paralyzed?"

"Don't ask so many questions." Su Yuan didn't explain the existence of the "Heart of the Sea God." This thing was too important, and now was not the time for them to know. "Do as I say. Turn it off. It's crucial for our next move."

"……yes!"

Despite his doubts, Wang Yi chose to trust unconditionally.

"Everyone, destination changed! Head to the central energy tower, full speed ahead!"

The three mechs started up again and charged toward the "heart" of the city.

Meanwhile, Su Yuan continued to frantically calculate and deduce various possibilities for breaking the "space-time lock" in the background, making final preparations for seizing the core.

Just as the Dragon Team was advancing at full speed toward the Energy Tower, several discordant signal points reappeared on Su Yuan's administrator map.

"Hmm? Still haven't given up?"

Su Yuan looked closely and discovered that these signal points were actually the White Elephant Kingdom players who had been knocked unconscious by his "oxygen deprivation technique" earlier.

He was somewhat surprised, not expecting these people to be so resilient, managing to climb out after being thrown into a place like the "Devil's Throat".

At this moment, these White Elephant Kingdom contestants were sneaking around not far behind the Dragon Team, seemingly looking for some opportunity.

"Interesting." Su Yuan looked at them with great interest.

He wanted to see what tricks these defeated opponents were up to.

……

"Captain, do we really have to do this?"

In the White Elephant Kingdom's team channel, a team member looked at the three Dragon Kingdom mechs in front of him, which looked like gods descending to earth, and his voice trembled slightly.

"That's the Chinese national team! We...we can't beat them!"

"Shut up!" Rajesh, the captain of the White Elephant Kingdom, hissed. "Can't beat them? Who said we were going to fight them head-on?"

His eyes gleamed with a greedy yet venomous light.

"We have the protection of the 'Shiva's Cloak,' which makes us immune to most energy attacks! And the Chinese are currently focused entirely on that tower! This is our best chance!"

Rajesh licked his chapped lips, a sinister smile spreading across his face.

"When they've painstakingly conquered that tower and obtained the treasures inside, that's our moment to strike! We just need to launch a sneak attack when they're most relaxed, grab the loot, and run! Then, this tremendous achievement will belong to our White Elephant Kingdom!"

He was blinded by jealousy and greed.

He hadn't considered at all how big the gap in strength between himself and the Dragon Kingdom team really was. All he knew was that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to "pick up the scraps".

His so-called "Shiva cloak" was a B-grade defensive item, which could indeed withstand some attacks. But this also gave him a false and unrealistic sense of confidence.

He thought he could withstand the damage from the Dragon Team.

He thought he could snatch the spoils of victory right under the noses of the three steel behemoths.

"Everyone, lie in wait! Await my orders!"

Rajesh gave the order, then, like a cold, venomous snake, stared intently at the distant energy tower.