Just as Liam grabbed Chen Kong and forced him to help search for the Saintess Euphemia, Episode 9 of Prequel of the Stars: Glimmer came to an end.
Since the cross-dimensional viewers had already learned of the existence of 'White-Void' in this episode, they instinctively assumed that Episode 10 would continue to revolve around 'Chen Kong.'
But to their surprise, the opening scene of this tenth episode was a special prison: the Permanent Magnetic Prison of Steam City.
There was no familiar Gear Church, nor any sign of Chen Kong or Liam.
Instead, the scene showed a peculiar building, buried deep beneath the Gear Tower, with walls that glowed with an eerie, metallic light.
Immediately after, information about this underground structure appeared on a screen for all the viewers.
[Permanent Magnetic Prison: A prison for Sentient Machines, unique to Steam City. It is constantly enveloped in a powerful magnetic field. The deeper you go, the more the magnetic field increases exponentially. It is the ultimate hell for all Sentient Machine Emissaries.]
After the brief introduction, a 3D image of the Permanent Magnetic Prison appeared before the viewers.
[Prison Structure:
B1 Floor: Common Inmates
B2 Floor: Grade 1 Emissaries
B3 Floor: Grade 2 Emissaries
B4 Floor: Grade 3 Emissaries (Danger Level: MAX)]
'Whoa. This place gives me goosebumps just by looking at it.'
'A prison block. Do you think that Prison Bull guy is locked up here?'
'Classic prison break story, eh?'
Recalling that their protagonist Liu Ma was captured and imprisoned by the Steam Association after their failed attempt to save Vivian not long ago, the viewers immediately concluded that this prison scene must be about Liu Ma's prison break.
But as the introduction to the Permanent Magnetic Prison disappeared, a cold electronic voice suddenly spoke.
[Identity authentication passed.]
[Access granted: B4 area.]
Accompanied by the hissing sound of steam jets, a heavy alloy door, separating the B3 and B4 areas, slowly lifted.
And when the scene behind the door appeared, the comments section instantly exploded.
Because the person who appeared before everyone was the mysterious masked man who had been missing for a long time—the one the viewers suspected to be 'Tendo.'
Just as in his first appearance, the masked man was still wearing a hooded cloak that completely concealed his hair, and a white mask covered his face.
'Holy crap! He's back!'
'That's weird, why does he have access to the Steam Branch's prison?'
'Something's not right... There's definitely a conspiracy here!'
Seeing the mysterious masked man appear on the B4 floor of the Permanent Magnetic Prison, the viewers smelled a plot.
What was strange, though, was that the little green-haired girl who was always by his side was not with him this time.
But the viewers didn't pay too much attention, because the camera had already followed the mysterious masked man into the long, narrow corridor of the B4 area, which was lit by blood-red indicator lights.
Tap, tap, tap...
Following a slow and steady series of footsteps, the masked man passed through the metal corridor and finally stopped in a huge vertical shaft-like space.
This was the deepest part of the entire Permanent Magnetic Prison, the core prison area known as 'B4.'
Not far from him, a pitch-black metallic sphere was eerily suspended on a metal tray, its surface pulsing with a blue, current-like light.
[Name: Permanent Magnetic Sphere]
[Effect: A special Sentient Machine device that has been imbued with eternal magnetism. The closer you get to it, the stronger the magnetic force becomes. It also interferes with the quantum data transmission of all Sentient Machine systems.]
The Permanent Magnetic Sphere was the core device of the prison. Its very existence was why the Steam Branch had no fear of the imprisoned Sentient Machine criminals escaping.
The device restricted their every move.
Not to mention, the three dangerous B4 inmates were also regularly monitored by the Steam Branch guards.
"Who are you?"
Just as Tendo emerged from the corridor, an inmate in a nearby cell suddenly spoke. His hoarse voice was filled with caution and a subtle excitement.
Tendo calmly glanced at him, then walked directly toward the huge sphere in the center.
"Hey! How about we make a deal?"
Seeing Tendo walk away without a word, the man in the cell refused to let go of this rare opportunity and immediately shouted at Tendo's back.
Tendo, however, didn't stop for a second. He arrived in front of the massive Permanent Magnetic Sphere as if he hadn't heard the inmate's shouts at all.
Looking at the sphere, Tendo slowly opened his palm.
In the next second, a special cube-like object appeared in Tendo's hand. It existed between reality and illusion, with quantum data streams flowing over its surface and two shallow green crystals inside.
It was only after the cube appeared that Tendo spoke for the first time.
"Originally, I couldn't be sure of the exact location of the Steam Branch's quantum keys, but I figured it out after the Twelve Bronze Council."
Tendo raised his head, and a faint light shone from the pale blue eyes behind his white mask. "They are inside this giant 'Permanent Magnetic Sphere,'" he said with a laugh, "because I didn't sense the keys on the two Steam Branch representatives at the Twelve Bronze Council."
With that, the quantum cube in Tendo's hand floated up and entered the Permanent Magnetic Sphere.
In an instant, the surface of the Permanent Magnetic Sphere rippled as if a stone had been thrown into a lake.
At the same time, the sphere's shape began to change—stretching and lengthening—becoming incredibly unstable.
Fortunately, this situation didn't last long, because the quantum cube that had entered the Permanent Magnetic Sphere flew back out, settling firmly in Tendo's hand.
But unlike when it had entered the sphere, the cube's interior, which had only contained two shallow green crystals, now held two more.
These two new crystals were the quantum access keys of Steam City that had belonged to the Steam Branch.
With these two new quantum keys, the cube in Tendo's hand now contained a total of four keys.
The other two quantum keys were from the Golden Knight Fishel, and one was what Tendo had already had Euphemia hand over to him earlier.
And with the loss of these two crucial quantum keys, the 'Permanent Magnetic Sphere,' which had been in a state of delicate balance, immediately became abnormal.
Rumble!
A violent tremor swept through the entire B4 area, and the pointers on the magnetic field gauges on the nearby walls jumped wildly.
The magnetic field of the entire B4 area was completely thrown into disarray.
However, Tendo had already anticipated this. With a slight movement of his fingers, the quantum cube in his hand immediately released a massive flood of data.
The data streams turned into shallow green bandages that wrapped around the Permanent Magnetic Sphere, restabilizing it back into its original black, spherical shape.
But Tendo couldn't leave his quantum cube here forever.
And the recently chaotic magnetic field had also caused some changes in the B4 prison area, such as some of the most dangerous criminals imprisoned there, who had just escaped.