Seems to just be a memory issue, render subdivision is set to “0”!!! With the the emitter Birthrate @172 with a life time of “832.33 F” not sure I would like to do the math. You may want to take some more time to optimize the scene.
Check out the numbers on only 2 and then 3 meta balls with the subdivision set to “0.5”


Also have a look at all the extra poly’s below the box, had to adjust the clipping just to see them.

