1.20 Tier Two offers exceptional value.

According to the judgment of the AI, Ai, only the latest 12 save files are retained for every "Shelter Creation," "Broken City Original," and "Plot Memory Fragment." This Tidal Tablet, as a Broken City Original, had changed hands several times and passed through many people. Its existence spanned far more than a single Sweeping Day. Logically, all old save files should have been erased, so why was the original save file still preserved?

The reason, as the AI stated, was that this undeletable source code is a "trans-dimensional remnant," also referred to by the AI as "fragmented memory," which cannot be easily wiped. This is the digital life form's understanding of the rules of fragmentation.

In Wu Chen's view, these "fragmented memories" are actually broken "divergent plot lines." They are the remnants of the exclusive branch plot lines inherent to the original owner of the Tidal Tablet.

It is well known that all plot fragments are "frozen." This "freezing" does not refer to a "frozen screen" or "stasis in time," but rather like Wu Chen being frozen on the 404 Ring Expressway. As players would say, it is a "plot stuck." Anyone who has played games, especially exploration and puzzle-solving ones, knows that if you cannot find a clue, you cannot enter the next level, no matter how thoroughly you search the scene or exhaust the NPC dialogues. This situation is also called being "stuck in the game."

Elevating this to the fragmentation rules of the Broken City: perhaps the quantum beacon carried by the Tidal Tablet was likely the "trans-dimensional portal key" belonging to the original owner, leading to a specific plot fragment. Because that plot fragment was frozen, it retained the original owner's exclusive branch plot line. Following the owner's demise, this remnant was forgotten by the World Guardians and degraded into a "divergent plot line remnant." Thus, because of the remnant of the divergent plot line—and even the final save file of the original owner—it could not be deleted. Its manifestation was a stubborn piece of code that could never be completely cleared.

By using the save-reverting method, Wu Chen restored the stubborn code and finally uncovered the answer: the quantum beacon. As long as one finds a "quantum generator," "space-time shuttle," or "artificial wormhole device" in the camp, any one of these three could activate the quantum beacon and open the unknown plot fragment.

The AI provided the answer: 0427, Ren Shifei.

Coincidentally, Wu Chen had just been in contact with her yesterday. Without delay, Wu Chen immediately dialed the female player to ask about the quantum channel. As the AI had indicated, the female player indeed possessed a device with similar functions used to create "trans-dimensional transmission chips."

The female player called it an "extra-dimensional variable chip."

"0326, as you know, although quantum entanglement can ignore space and time, it requires a set of entangled quantum states to be transferred to the target location in advance. Alternatively, one must possess original material from the target's space-time to activate the quantum state and generate 'quantum resonance' to realize trans-dimensional transmission," the female player explained in detail, never tiring.

Wu Chen understood: "The entrusted item is the 'target object'."

"To be precise, the entrusted item is used to exchange for the target object," the female player corrected him gently.

As expected of a Shelter citizen and a high-level Lord-tier player, after a moment of thought, Wu Chen grasped the general principle of the trans-dimensional transmission she described: "According to you, there are two methods: first, bring one of the entangled quantum states to the destination; second, use a piece of original material from the destination (a fragment of an exclusive shelter) to activate the quantum entanglement through long-distance resonance."

"Yes," the female player explained the situation further: "When I entered the Land of Exile (the 404 Expressway), my exclusive shelter was unfortunately torn apart by space-time. Only quantum resonance can complete it."

"Understood." Just as when Wu Chen woke up on the 404 Ring Expressway viewing platform, sitting in the driver's seat of the AE86, when 0427 entered, she was unfortunately "stuck" by space-time. Part of her exclusive shelter failed to enter with her, so she needed to use quantum resonance to make it whole.

Wait. If part of the exclusive shelter had already entered the Broken City—the so-called "Shelter Creations"—couldn't one simply activate the resonance between the part that entered the Broken City and the part left outside? Why go to such lengths to find an original item scattered in the Fantasy Spiral Belt?

"Sweeping Day has already cleared the original memory carried by the (broken shelter). And because of my modifications, the Broken City has also overwritten the original memory," the female player gave the answer.

"So that's how it is." Wu Chen understood. In short, the part of the exclusive shelter that followed the female player into the Broken City had been "wiped." It could not generate quantum resonance with the other half of the shelter creations, let alone activate quantum entanglement. Therefore, one had to find a piece of the exclusive shelter that hadn't been wiped—one that had fallen into the Fantasy Spiral—to activate the quantum entanglement via long-distance resonance with the other half of the exclusive shelter stuck outside the current world's space-time, and transmit it to the Broken City to complete the exclusive shelter. In other words, the female player's exclusive shelter had split into at least three pieces.

Fortunately, he had communicated deeply with the female player. Otherwise, if Wu Chen had modified the AE86 on his own, he likely wouldn't have been able to restore the save. In short, the AE86 must not be modified; even if damaged, it can only be restored by reverting or advancing the save. Remember, never use the technology carried by the tablet base to repair it without authorization.

He didn't know if this rule applied to all shelter creations or only to exclusive ones, while others were exempt. Before everything was certain, caution was best.

Just as changing key nodes can reverse the future, not all upgrades trigger a branch plot line overwrite. However, one shouldn't take chances. There are always unfortunate souls. This player 0427 had unfortunately changed a key plot node, triggering a branch plot line overwrite. It was like two people on a line, one behind the other (the exclusive shelter torn in two by space-time), who accidentally took a fork in the road and could never meet again.

Wu Chen could only help the female player by delivering the entrusted item and retrieving the fragment. Only then could he help her repair her exclusive shelter and reopen the built-in "trans-dimensional transmission chip recorder." Because at this very moment, at least half of the female player's "trans-dimensional transmission chip recorder" was still missing.

The key was that Wu Chen had already spent 111 coins. If he didn't take the commission, all his efforts would be in vain.

After a frank exchange, the female player realized Wu Chen was in a difficult situation. Thus, deciding further talk was useless, she decided to let Wu Chen see the 1-star card from the commission reward first. Wu Chen would then decide based on the situation.

He spent another 10 coins to advance the AE86 to the second level. Fortunately, the AI, Ai, was still there after the second-level advance and had not been overwritten by a new AI. That was a small consolation.

With a total expenditure of 121 coins, he had 82 coins left. Wu Chen's sense of security fell below his psychological expectations once again.

Taking back the AE86, which was now a size larger, along with the alien aquarium, the 0326 tablet base detached from the main repair center. It entered the designated course and returned to the campsite.

On the second floor of the 0326 base, in the multi-function hall, Wu Chen stared blankly at the mosaic cube camp area that shrouded the sky.

"Master?" The AI had already checked the second-level AE86.

"How is it?" Wu Chen asked with a smile.

"The driver's seat is a 'Power Armor Cabin,' the passenger seat is a 'Nano Medical Cabin,' the rear seats are cryo-sleep pods, and the trunk contains a 'Nano Insect Hive.' Each cabin is an independent unit. Additionally, there is a new medical kit in the glove box, and a new emergency tool kit under the spare tire cover in the trunk."

The few medical kits he had obtained from the first level had already been used by Wu Chen. As expected, the second level brought a new medical kit. As for the newly appeared "Power Armor Cabin," "Nano Medical Cabin," "Cryo-sleep Pods," "Nano Insect Hive," "Medical Kit," and "Emergency Tool Kit," it went without saying that the upgrade was significant. And it had only cost 10 coins. The second-level advance was far more than worth the price.

Wu Chen's heart stirred: "Telephone booth."

Wu Chen was the only one with access to the red telephone booth. Pushing the door open to look inside, Wu Chen immediately felt at ease.

The old coin-and-card dual-use phone had been replaced by a multi-functional human-machine interactive phone. The biggest change was the appearance of a human-machine interactive interface similar to an ATM. All operations were clear at a glance.

He inserted his campus card. The card reader finished reading quickly, twice as fast as before. The interactive interface immediately displayed two core functions: "Shelter Coins" and "Cards." There were also three auxiliary functions: "Multimedia," "Address Book," and "Operation Records."

It was still dual-use for coins and cards. The capacity of the coin storage box had also increased to 999 coins. Even the interior space of the booth had been considerably expanded.

The frustration over the Tidal Tablet was washed away by the joy brought by the second-level advance.

Just as Wu Chen clicked on the card interface to examine the two exclusive cards, the gray card face of the femme fatale Lin Baiyu was being covered in color as ripples spread across it. The note also changed from "Unavailable" to "Available."

Wu Chen pushed the door and walked out of the booth. His wristwatch immediately chimed with Ai's notification: "Master, Lin Baiyu has awakened."