You went on a blind date and presented an A-level wanted criminal as a meeting gift?

Old Qi's withered, age-spotted hand pressed tightly against the bright red button, as if grasping at his last lifeline.

His face, sallow and withered from cancer, was now flushed with a sickly, almost ecstatic redness, and his cloudy old eyes shone with an almost manic light!

"Hehe...hehehe..."

He looked at Lin Chen, a hoarse and shrill laugh escaping his throat like a broken bellows, a laugh filled with resentment, bitterness, and a mad, gleeful feeling of dragging the whole world down with him.

"Lin Chen! Consultant Lin! I admit, you're amazing! You're the most talented young person I've ever met!"

"You're skilled and intelligent; even the Wailing Wall couldn't stop you. You dismantled my perfect 'Guardian' like taking apart a toy!"

"But so what!"

Old Qi suddenly straightened his already hunched back and roared with all his might:

"Human strength has its limits! No matter how good you are at fighting, can you defeat explosives?!"

"I'm telling you! From the very beginning of the design, this entire five-level underground system was filled with a full five tons of TNT! Five tons!!"

He stretched out five withered fingers and waved them wildly in front of Lin Chen, his eyes almost overflowing with madness.

"With just this one finger... a slight release! 'Boom!' All of us, including you, including me, including those useless people you rescued, and those police officers searching outside!"

"Everyone! Everyone! They'll all be blown to bits! Not even a single bone will be left intact!"

"You won? No! You didn't win! You just pushed me to the brink, and now, I'm going to drag you down with me! In this game, there are no winners! Hahahaha!"

The maniacal laughter echoed through the deathly silent shelter, sounding particularly jarring and eerie.

The venomous snake, who had collapsed to the side, was completely desperate. Her beautiful face was covered with tears and... the smell of urine.

Hearing Old Qi's furious barking, a desperate, morbid hope rekindled in her unfocused eyes.

Correct!

perish together!

Even if we don't survive, it's worth it to drag this devilish man down to hell with us!

She even joined Old Qi in letting out a neurotic, miserable laugh.

For a moment, two kinds of maniacal laughter intertwined throughout the entire shelter, creating a frenzied symphony before the apocalypse.

However, despite being the center of all this frenzied emotion, Lin Chen showed not a trace of panic on his face.

He just stood there quietly, watching Old Qi, who seemed to have gone mad, with the same look he had when watching a clown perform his final, ridiculous act.

Even more so, a faint, mocking smile curled at the corners of his mouth.

He even felt a little amused.

Five tons of TNT?

That sounds pretty intimidating.

Electronic detonator?

It looks quite high-tech.

The problem is, are you playing this game with someone who has god-level physics expertise and countless high-tech gadgets?

Isn't this a bit too disrespectful to science?

"Old Qi,"

Lin Chen finally spoke, his voice calm, as if he were chatting with an old friend.

"I have a question for you."

"Did you ruin your brain, which was once hailed as a national treasure, while researching elixirs of immortality?"

Old Qi's laughter stopped abruptly. He stared at Lin Chen in astonishment, not understanding why he could remain so calm when he was about to die.

Lin Chen sighed softly, his expression resembling that of a teacher looking at a hopeless, dim-witted student.

"Do you think I'd be so foolish as to barge in without any preparation, knowing full well that this is your stronghold that you've built up over decades?"

"You think that when I took so long to dismantle that titanium alloy door, it was really just to show off my lock-picking skills?"

Lin Chen is stalling for time!

A thought that sent chills down Old Qi's spine instantly rose from the bottom of his heart!

Before he could think it through, Lin Chen had already slowly taken something out of his trench coat pocket.

It was a small device, about the size of a lighter, made entirely of black matte metal, with a simple design and a high-tech feel.

It was the very thing he had always carried with him as a talisman—the [Miniature EMP Generator]!

"What is this?"

Old Qi's pupils contracted, and an unprecedented, extremely ominous premonition instantly overwhelmed his heart.

"A gift to send you on your journey."

A cold smile curled at the corner of Lin Chen's mouth.

Under Qi Lao's horrified gaze, he gently pressed an inconspicuous button on the side of the metal device.

"Buzz—"

There was no earth-shattering roar, no world-destroying light.

Only a faint buzzing sound, seemingly from ancient times, swept across the entire fifth underground level in an instant!

A high-intensity electromagnetic pulse, completely invisible to the naked eye, surged outwards from Lin Chen in all directions!

The next second, something unexpected happened!

"Crackling and popping!"

All the lights in the shelter, whether ceiling lights or emergency lights on the walls, flickered violently at the same time, and then went out with a "snap"!

The computer screens that were still running suddenly burst into a series of dazzling sparks, then went completely black, with wisps of blue smoke rising from them!

The entire world was instantly plunged into absolute darkness, where one could not see their own hand in front of their face!

And, a deathly silence!

The red indicator light on the electronic detonator in Old Qi's hand, which had been flashing to indicate standby status, went out with a "sizzle" the instant the pulse swept through!

All its delicate electronic components, chips, and circuit boards were completely burned out by the violent electromagnetic pulse in less than a tenth of a second!

It has become a piece of useless plastic waste that even recycling stations wouldn't want!

"It's...it's not working?"

In the darkness, Old Qi could no longer feel the familiar vibrations and temperature of the detonator. His brain, which was burning up from madness, was instantly doused with a bucket of ice water from head to toe!

He went crazy, using all his strength to press the cold, stiff red button over and over again!

One, two, ten, one hundred!

However, nothing happened.

There was no earth-shattering explosion as he had imagined, nor the expected towering flames.

There was nothing there.

Only his heavy, labored breathing, fueled by fear and despair, echoed in the darkness.

"How could this happen... Why did this happen... My detonator... My explosives..."

His worldview, his last reliance, and his insane plan to perish together with others were all crushed in this sudden darkness by a force he could not comprehend, a dimensional attack that shattered them!

What... what kind of devilish methods are these?!