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Chapter 227 - 226: Dream’s End

On the other side, Lin Qing sprinted forward, no barrier could stop her.

Even the heavy explosion-proof doors isolating the core reactor from external areas were no match for the slicing force of molecular wires—after repairing the dual-arm weapon system, her combat power had recovered to over eighty percent of her peak in Sky Castle.

By the time of the third power fluctuation, she had successfully breached the reactor control room. Through leaded glass, she could see the reactor below and the boron rod insertion mechanism suspended on a crane. Of course... there were also a few prowling white monsters.

Connected to the control system, Lv swiftly obtained the highest permissions for the control room.

Now, if she were to press the emergency brake button, the reactor would immediately shut down.

However, Lin Qing retracted her half-extended hand.

A bold idea emerged in her mind.

Why not exploit the reactor’s overload and create an earth-shattering explosion? The Shadow Demon was currently absorbing energy above the nuclear plant. A shutdown might let it struggle longer, but an explosion would surely cause it a fatal blow!

"Lv, can you melt the core to create a reaction similar to an explosion?" She asked her AI assistant.

"Analyzing... feasibility above ninety percent, it will take fifteen minutes." Lv quickly concluded, "Although this reactor has many passive safety measures, all can be manually dismantled."

"Alright, do it then!" Lin Qing immediately decided.

"Understood. Now shutting down the cooling water circulation pump, extracting all neutron absorption rods..." Lv began to execute her owner’s orders step by step.

The hall was immediately filled with loud alarms!

"Main circulation water pump shutdown!"

"The power of reactors one, two, and three is rising too quickly!"

Meanwhile, the passive safety measures did not activate—because their parameter settings had all been rewritten by the AI, effectively cutting off their perception of environmental changes.

As for active shutdown methods, Lin Qing certainly wouldn’t touch them.

Through the camera, she saw the heavy water pool housing the reactor rods begin to glow with brilliant blue light, a sign of the reaction intensifying rapidly.

"Warning, power has exceeded the limit!"

"Warning, reactor at risk of meltdown!"

An array of red warning messages filled the control room’s large screens.

"Estimated explosion time, eleven minutes." Lv calculated.

Lin Qing nodded with satisfaction, "Perfect, we should leave."

"Don’t move! What are you doing!?" Suddenly a stern shout came from behind, the voice full of fear and anger.

Lin Qing was momentarily taken aback.

She slowly turned her head to find that the speaker was a young man, wearing a dark gray uniform with a work badge hanging from his chest.

Why would someone show up now?

Moreover, he was gripping a gun tightly, the muzzle pointed directly at her.

"Who are you?" She grinned and asked leisurely.

"Of course, I’m someone who works here! Who are you? Why are you sabotaging the nuclear plant!" The young man asked as he approached, "Now take two steps to the right, away from the console, and don’t touch any switches!"

Lin Qing noticed that his gaze frequently drifted toward the emergency brake button, perhaps intending to stop the overload from occurring.

She obviously wouldn’t let him have his way.

"You know nothing of the situation outside." She said, not only refusing to step aside but instead walking toward the employee, "Listen—"

Bang!

The gunshot interrupted Lin Qing’s words.

Smoke rose from her shoulder.

He actually fired. Lin Qing was somewhat surprised as she reached to touch her right shoulder, extracting the flattened bullet from the cracked skin—this small-caliber ammo couldn’t pierce her subdermal armor or cause any harm. Nevertheless, his decisiveness was impressive, given he was not security personnel but showed such resolve in firing after a failed warning; not everyone possesses such determination.

Lin Qing sighed helplessly, realizing that reasoning was unlikely to persuade him. She flicked out a folding knife from her wrist, smiling slightly at him, "Don’t worry, you won’t feel any pain."

With those words, she charged at the young man with lightning speed. He reacted swiftly, continuously pulling the trigger, but Lin Qing adeptly dodged each bullet. Then she swung her fist, the long knife piercing straight into his forehead and exiting the back head position, severing his central nervous system in an instant.

The young man collapsed to the ground like a stone.

"A strange situation." Lin Qing flipped him over and removed his badge, which read "Zheng Yuhang," along with his job title: On-site Operator.

"The human brain is a chaotic system, so before the dream collapses, inexplicable changes occur." Lv reminded blandly, "Estimated explosion time remaining: eight minutes."

Lin Qing shrugged, dropping the badge, "Got it, I’m leaving now."

After all, Liu Shuyue had said that no one truly dies in dreams, and the Shadow Demon only threatens the host, while everything else is merely an illusion.

Returning to the hall by the original route, Lin Qing found it had been crowded with monsters. But outside the building, dense gunfire could be heard, along with various chaotic screams from people.

How has the world become so lively in just a quarter of an hour?

She used incomplete optical camouflage and a mantis knife to break out of the monster encirclement, only to see about a hundred-strong team in the nuclear plant parking lot! The perimeter of the team was guarded by well-trained soldiers, using fierce gunfire to isolate monsters and crowds.

Chen Xuan, Gu Zhaoning, and Su Xingwan were also among them!

It seems she wasn’t the only one who encountered unexpected situations.

Relying on her optical camouflage and the cover of night, Lin Qing boldly blended into the crowd from the front of the team—even though her dress couldn’t also disappear, the black fabric had excellent concealment at night, and considering the chaotic scene, no one noticed a floating piece of clothing.

Once in the crowd, she immediately deactivated her invisibility, squeezing over to Chen Xuan as quickly as possible, "I’m back! What’s the situation here? Why have so many refugees suddenly appeared?"

Chen Xuan was also startled to see Lin Qing, "It’s a long story. After the hall couldn’t hold, I followed them to the underground garage. Soon after, an evacuation announcement was broadcast, saying the nuclear reactor was out of control. Didn’t you shut down the power system?"

"I changed my mind." She explained her plan, "This might end the nightmare faster."

"I see." Chen Xuan agreed after hearing the explanation, "How long until the explosion?"

"Five..."

"Five minutes?"

"Four, three, two..." Lin Qing turned to look at the three square buildings not far away—those were the reactor housings, "It’s coming!"

As if responding to her countdown, a deafening explosion swept through the crowd, instantly drowning out all the noise!

Chen Xuan only felt a ringing in his ears and could hear nothing else.

He saw the entire roof of the factory building being blown open, a massive white steam surge pouring out, along with the protective dome being forcefully torn! This was a manmade explosion, far more intense and swift than any leak accident. When fresh air from the outside rushed in, it immediately triggered a second round of explosions!

This time, bright orange suns rose above the three factory buildings, lighting up the power station like daylight. These were fireballs formed by the hydrogen generated from high-temperature steam reacting with zirconium alloy, powerful enough to destroy the entire building. However, limited by the structure of the protective dome, the raging energy prioritized shooting upwards, with the design originally intended to protect the factory facilities. At this moment, they became cannons firing at the Shadow Demon!

The scorching flames and jet streams of debris shot directly at the Demon Fiend’s belly, matching the effect of the Demon-slaying True Sword, instantly tearing three massive gashes into the Shadow Demon’s abdomen!

The latter finally let out a hissing scream.

It tried to move its body, but its slender eight legs were powerless—the Shadow Demon possibly had absorbed too many nutrients, becoming excessively large, preventing easy detachment from the nuclear plant overhead. The web-like high voltage wires firmly ensnared it, rendering it immobile.

As the nuclear plant ceased functioning, high-voltage towers sparked abundantly, factory lighting, streetlights, and distant high-rise buildings successively went dark, plunging the city into complete darkness, making the world pitch black.

Above the power station, three azure light pillars appeared, utterly penetrating the Demon Fiend’s body and shooting into the dark sky, as if leading to an underworld road.