In the command center, the military officials and players were discussing from which point to re-enter the ruins. Upon hearing the door open, the conversation abruptly stopped. The relationship between the military and the Special Defense Department had eased significantly since before, but the military was still primarily in charge here. Therefore, when Jiang Qiao brought Xu Huo in, everyone in the room momentarily ceased their activities.

"Continue with your work." Shangguan Jing, the military official responsible for this event, had previously had conflicts with Xu Huo. Upon seeing Xu Huo again, there was not the slightest trace of resentment on his face. After instructing his subordinates to continue working, he invited Xu Huo to sit in the adjoining room.

Xu Huo followed Jiang Qiao inside. Shangguan Jing had evidently communicated with the higher-ups and without saying much more, he displayed the detailed information organized by the military.

"We’ve already expended a lot of manpower and resources investigating beneath Hidden Immortal Lake, but so far, there haven’t been any further findings," Shangguan Jing explained. "A number of our people have disappeared within the Folded Space, and we’ve yet to receive any response. If it’s convenient, I’d like to arrange for a few people to dive with you."

Xu Huo made no comment, choosing first to carefully observe the data.

First came the initial version of the data.

When energy fluctuations first appeared in Hidden Immortal Lake, there were significant ancient civilization ruins located within the rock formations beneath the lake. Though the overall size wasn’t small, merely measuring and exploring them took the military a full three months. The ruins included not only palaces symbolizing royal authority but also altars dedicated to ancient deities and exclusive sacrificial grounds. Besides these, there was a cluster of tombs specially constructed for the royal family. Other than the cluster of tombs, the military had checked all other areas.

"Why haven’t they entered the necropolis?" Xu Huo asked.

"The necropolis is overrun by a group of aquatic creatures," Shangguan Jing said as he opened a new set of data and projected some video footage into the center of the room. "These are evolved fish species. They are highly aggressive and emit disruptive sound waves that can interfere with or even damage our equipment. Combined with their speed and strong offensive capabilities, entry is challenging. Additionally, they have evolved a certain degree of resistance to poisons. Conventional poisons are ineffective, and if we attempt to poison them all, it could affect the entire lake, posing a risk for the players diving down."

"Do they only stay within the necropolis?" Xu Huo asked again. "Are there any similar evolved species within the Folded Space?"

"Not on the first level," Shangguan Jing replied, scrolling through the files to speed up the playback. "Our personnel have only accessed the first level, and even those who made it out alive are unaware of what exactly happened inside."

Xu Huo then looked at the wounded personnel’s information. "Missing limbs? It doesn’t look like an attack by a wild animal."

"It indeed wasn’t a wild animal attack," Shangguan Jing said. "All the injured individuals are unclear about what exactly happened. They experienced little pain, losing their limbs in an instant. The injuries exhibited symptoms of petrification, with no blood even flowing."

"Petrification?" Xu Huo was slightly surprised. "This isn’t typical of an instance attack."

The instances he had entered so far leaned towards reality. There were few like the one where Yuan Yao entered, capable of extracting human fat, or the instance Yan Jiayu and Da Mao were involved in, where stones could turn into living creatures. The only slightly unusual entities were the curator of the Hundred People Art Gallery and the mutant plants in the Goddess Replica, which possessed human-like cognition. Overall, these incidents were within his comprehension. Instantly petrifying a person transcended reality, entering the realm of myth.

"In many civilizations’ mythological stories, there are legends about turning people to stone. The most famous of these is Medusa. We considered the possibility of evolution giving rise to mythological figures, but the conditions don’t match," Shangguan Jing said. "The expert team believes it is more plausible that in the Folded Space, they have experienced a moment spanning millennia, rather than an actual myth being resurrected."

After all, the concept of Temporal Evolution is not entirely a secret in games. The authorities in Zone 014 initially sought to secure these extremely rare resources, dedicating significant research efforts. If the Time Force can rapidly reduce someone to dust, then a Folded Space concealing an ancient space from millennia ago is not entirely impossible.

Xu Huo was surprised by his candor. "Can exploration continue under such circumstances?"

"If we don’t ascertain what’s within our own territory, and it ends up being used against us by others in the future, that would be truly regrettable," Shangguan Jing said with a serious demeanor. "For the future, any sacrifice is worth it."

With that, he stood up and said, "Excuse me," and left the room.

Outside, work resumed. Jiang Qiao closed the door and turned back to Xu Huo, saying, "Take a good look at these materials. It’s uncertain how much help they’ll be."

The further Xu Huo read, the more alarmed he became.

Since multiple spaces emerged beneath Hidden Immortal Lake, energy fluctuations had been constant. The military categorized these fluctuations based on their characteristics, identifying a total of nineteen types.

In other words, the Folded Space might not be stable, but at least nineteen different spaces had appeared. Whether they are continuously maintained or appear according to some pattern is still unclear. Due to the layers of space within space, it has become impossible to extract accurate information from outside the ruins. These findings have been obtained at the cost of many lives.

The situation of the missing individuals remains unknown. However, those who emerged injured often have missing limbs, and some were unfortunate enough that when forcibly brought out by their teammates, only half of them remained intact...

The room was very quiet, with Jiang Qiao staring at the data in silence.

"Have all the casualties been caused by the same force of attack?" Xu Huo asked after a moment.

"Outside of the necropolis, that’s the case within the Folded Space," Jiang Qiao replied. "After the Folded Space appeared, there were also new changes in the necropolis. Previously, the aquatic creatures all submerged, seeming as if new evolved species were born. Players who investigated at the entrance detected a strong life force. The entities inside did not emerge. To prevent complications, we refrained from forcing entry."

"So is it possible they were brought by the Folded Space?" Xu Huo wondered.

"It’s unclear," Jiang Qiao said, opening a document and placing it in front of him. "We can detect the emergence of Folded Space with our instruments, but when the things in the necropolis appeared, we were totally unaware. It was only when other mutant fish abruptly altered their activity patterns that we realized something was amiss."

"As for the current domestic mutated species, which are the most lethal?" Xu Huo asked, shifting the subject.

"Primarily marine life. The original large-bodied and highly aggressive deep-sea animals have shown the most pronounced evolution. On land, it’s mainly wild beasts that display clear evolution in terms of physical strength, speed, and epidermis, though we haven’t yet seen large-scale genetic mutations into new species like in other zones."

"The only significant change has been in snake species."