Lu Yuwen smiled apologetically. “I see — my mistake. Sorry.”

“Why are you being so aggressive?!” Su Man was put off by Li Li’s attitude. “We just want to ask you about something. Is there any need to make such a scene?”

Li Li gave up, and asked Su Man, “What has this guy been feeding you? Tell me — when did the two of you stop being reasonable?”

“Enough.” Yan Qingwen stepped in to stop the two of them from bickering further, fixing Li Li with a frown. “If Chu Huaijin truly wanted to negotiate, he could have played the two Kings off against each other slowly. But now he’s abandoned both Fu Miaoxue and Bai Youwei — that’s clearly not normal behavior. Li Li, think it through carefully. Has the research team had any new developments recently?”

Li Li replied, “The part I handle, I know well. But research data often can’t be analyzed from one segment alone — it requires linking up data from other departments for a comprehensive picture.”

“Can you access the internal research data?” Yan Qingwen asked.

Li Li’s expression grew troubled. This was clearly against protocol. But Yan Qingwen had done him great favors — flatly refusing would seem callous. And within his level of authorization, bending the rules slightly seemed… not entirely out of the question…

Li Li hesitated for a moment, then said, “Wait here for me. All research progress gets uploaded to the internal network for Professor Song to check at any time. Let me pull up the recent access logs — maybe there’ll be something useful.”

Yan Qingwen didn’t stand on ceremony. He simply nodded. “That’s a lot to ask. Thank you.”

It was clear Li Li held considerable clearance within the research team.

After taking his leave, Li Li returned to his office area and used his computer to check the recent access records.

He found that there had been one access event a week ago.

Professor Song was gravely ill, his periods of lucidity growing shorter and shorter, and yet he persisted in tracking their research progress without fail — a dedication that Li Li found deeply admirable.

He downloaded and backed up all the files, which took a little time, then reviewed them one by one.

The section he was personally responsible for showed no issues. The other departments’ reports appeared normal as well. But when viewed all together as a whole…

Li Li felt something was off. He frowned and went back to read through everything once more.

He became absorbed. Time slipped by without his noticing…

A colleague tapped him on the shoulder. Li Li snapped back with a jolt, spinning around.

The colleague blinked at his reaction. “…Everyone’s gone home. Aren’t you leaving?”

“Oh… yeah, in a minute.” Li Li replied vaguely.

Once the colleague had gone, Li Li scanned the room — most of the people in the lab had already left. It was nearly dinnertime, and without realizing it, he had been reading through the research materials for two hours.

Li Li sat at his desk for a moment, then rose and printed the files out. He headed quickly to find Yan Qingwen.

Yan Qingwen had not left. Everyone was still in the lounge waiting for him.

Li Li stepped inside, closed the door, and handed the documents to Yan Qingwen, his expression troubled.

“These are… the progress reports from one week ago.” Li Li said, his face pale. “Professor Song must have seen these and that’s why he… decided to abandon the Kings.”

Research documents typically weren’t easy for non-specialists to parse. But Yan Qingwen still caught something critical with his sharp eye.

He pointed to a line of data and asked Li Li, “What does this value represent?”

“It’s the radiation level we’ve been monitoring from the diamond-shaped unidentified aerial object.” Li Li explained. “You can think of it as — the appearance of the labyrinths and the games is caused by this kind of radiant energy. The higher the radiation level, the greater the area the labyrinths and games can cover. It’s still only a hypothesis, but… look here.”

He pointed to a color-coded diagram on the page. “The most recent three changes in this value correspond precisely to the timing of the three battle games. If the increase continues at this rate…”

Li Li swallowed, visibly uncomfortable, and looked at the people gathered around him.

“The Earth… will be unable to bear the load. It will be destroyed. This would be a true… end of the world.”