This would be Su Wu's final defense upgrade for the base vehicle. Any further upgrades would require an exorbitant amount of survival points, making them unattainable in the short term.
After the upgrade, the base vehicle appeared bulkier, with faint arcs of blue light occasionally flickering across its surface—a sign of its electromagnetic armor.
This new armor consumed power to partially absorb physical impacts and damage.
However, even with these improvements, the vehicle wasn't invincible. While it could briefly withstand contact with magma, prolonged exposure or sustained high damage would quickly drain its power, leaving it as vulnerable as any other vehicle.
By the 27th hour, the magma lake in the meteorite crater had crept to within two or three meters of the base vehicle.
Standing at the observation window facing the lava, Su Wu felt an unsettling illusion: as though one misstep could send him tumbling into the roiling magma.
The danger wasn't limited to the immediate vicinity.
Further away, previously stable depressions began to crack under tremors, forming spiderweb-like fissures.
Occasionally, fiery serpents of magma would erupt from these cracks, soaring tens of meters into the air.
As time passed, these fissures spewed more and more lava, merging into streams and pooling into lakes. The salt flats gradually transformed into a vast expanse of glowing red, like a hellish painting.
With 15 minutes remaining for the electronic lab to complete its data collection, Su Wu took his place in the cockpit.
Behind him, the hatch to his miniature mech stood open—a last resort for a rapid escape.
Ahead, the cockpit's screens displayed real-time data from the terrain radar and reconnaissance drones, which monitored every geological shift.
The onboard AI used this data to refresh potential evacuation routes at millisecond intervals.
"Just 14 minutes left," Su Wu muttered, glancing at the progress bar. Time seemed to crawl unbearably slowly.
The disaster index had climbed to 16.0, granting over one survival point per minute for enduring the situation.
But the reward, instead of bringing satisfaction, only heightened Su Wu's anxiety. He felt as if he were aboard a ship sinking into an abyss, with despair closing in from all sides.
By the 5-minute mark, the reconnaissance drone map showed that 70% of the salt flats were now covered in magma.
The base vehicle's possible escape routes had dwindled from over a dozen to just three, each blinking ominously on the map as lava encroached on them.
In the final minute, Su Wu retracted the first and third compartments of the base vehicle and deployed the entire drone fleet.
All his focus was now on the mission's completion.
The magma had reached the base vehicle's undercarriage, and the rumbling tremors had intensified into a near-deafening roar.
Yet Su Wu's senses tuned out all distractions.
He sat like a racer waiting for the starting gun, poised to launch the vehicle the instant the task was complete.
As the last second ticked down, Su Wu wasted no time checking the mission rewards.
He retracted the second compartment while starting the engine, hurtling along the final escape route.
Seconds later, a two-meter-wide magma river appeared in the vehicle's path.
Su Wu didn't hesitate.
He drove the base vehicle at its maximum speed of 60 kilometers per hour, barreling through the molten barrier.
Lava splashed violently as the massive vehicle plowed through, some landing on its armor. Blue arcs of electromagnetic energy crackled, deflecting the fiery assault.
Once past the magma river, the route became less obstructed, but the danger only escalated.
More magma spewed from cracks along the path, some jets shooting hundreds of meters into the air before exploding into fiery fragments that rained down like a volcanic storm.
As the largest target on the ground, the base vehicle inevitably bore the brunt of this fiery barrage.
To mitigate damage, the onboard AI activated the rocket launchers in the third compartment, firing interceptive rockets at the largest falling debris.
The accompanying drone fleet worked to intercept smaller fragments.
However, the launchers and drones carried limited ammunition.
Once their reserves were depleted, the drones resorted to kamikaze tactics, ramming into descending fireballs to alter their trajectories and spare the vehicle below.
Eventually, the entire drone fleet was lost in this sacrificial effort, leaving the base vehicle exposed to the unrelenting rain of fire and magma.
"Electromagnetic armor integrity: 73%. Remaining power: 42%.
"Warning: Estimated armor failure in 3 minutes 40 seconds."
Outside the cockpit's panoramic glass, Su Wu could see nothing but dense black smoke, glowing red magma, and the crackling blue arcs of the vehicle's armor.
It felt as though he were on a crumbling continent, with no refuge in sight.
"Almost there," Su Wu muttered, his tone unnaturally calm amidst the chaos.
He watched the holographic map on the console. The blinking dot representing the base vehicle was rapidly approaching the edge of the volatile salt flats, heading toward a relatively stable sand dune.
The combination of the vehicle's reinforced armor and its top speed
of 60 kilometers per hour had given Su Wu a fighting chance to escape.
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