80: This time, we fight side by side.

The yellowed black-and-white photograph was like a curse from the past.

It lay silently on the pure white bedsheet.

Twelve innocent smiling faces, twelve twisted souls.

Twelve "doomsday clock" walking among men.

In the ward, there was a deathly silence.

The breathing of Bureau Chief Zhou and Zhao Dahai was heavy, like two massive stones pressing on their chests.

They watched the young man, who had his eyes closed and a face as pale as paper, barely daring to breathe.

Su Qingxue stood by the bed; her hand had somehow tightly grasped Chen Mo's hand.

It was icy cold.

Like holding a piece of profound ice that had not melted for millennia.

She could feel a faint yet incredibly tenacious will desperately struggling outward from that weak body.

Chen Mo's consciousness floated in the boundless ocean composed of billions of heartbeats.

He was like a lonely deep-sea diver, sinking bit by bit toward the deepest, darkest trench.

He needed to find it within that noisy symphony, filled with joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness.

He needed to find the eleven variations, twisted by hatred and madness, that did not belong to this world.

[Sinful Skynet (Provincial Level) activated...]

[Scanning all heartbeat signals within the province...]

[Data overload! Warning! Data overload!]

[Filtering high-intensity "malicious heartbeats"...]

Chen Mo's brow furrowed tightly.

His brain was like a supercomputer forcibly loaded with a map of the universe, every neuron screaming under the unbearable load.

No.

The scope is too large.

One province, tens of millions of people.

It is filled with anger, jealousy, greed, and violence... every negative emotion is the noise of a "sinful heartbeat."

To find those eleven carefully disguised "doomsday clock" in this ocean of noise.

It is equivalent to looking for a needle in a haystack.

"The Emperor"... where exactly did you hide them?

Just as his consciousness was about to be swallowed by that massive torrent of data.

A warm hand covered his cold hand.

The touch was like a faint electric current, instantly piercing all his defenses.

"Chen Mo."

Su Qingxue's voice sounded beside him.

Soft, yet carrying an undeniable firmness.

"You are not alone."

Chen Mo's body trembled violently.

He slowly opened his eyes.

What he saw were Su Qingxue's clear eyes, reflecting his pale face.

In them, the previous coldness and confusion were gone.

There was only a gentle yet firm strength he had never seen before.

"You need help."

Su Qingxue looked at him, saying word by word.

"You need a knife, a knife that can cut through all the fog for you."

"And I am your knife."

The ward was so quiet that they could hear the sound of leaves falling outside the window.

Zhao Dahai and Bureau Chief Zhou both seemed paralyzed, staring blankly at the scene before them that felt like it belonged only in a movie.

Chen Mo looked at her, and a ripple appeared in his lifeless eyes.

He remembered the figure who had stood in front of him at the "Art Museum."

He remembered the woman who had roared "You coward" at him in the "Seed Vault."

He remembered the "Ice Queen" who had pounded on the glass outside the operating room, crying like a child.

He suddenly smiled.

His smile was weak, but it was filled with an unprecedented warmth.

"Alright."

He only said one word.

Then, he gripped the warm hand covering his own.

Su Qingxue's body stiffened imperceptibly.

A faint blush, one she hadn't even noticed herself, appeared on her face.

But she did not pull her hand back.

Instead, she held tighter.

"Li Ke."

Chen Mo's voice sounded again.

This time, it was no longer a cold command.

"Here! Team Leader Chen!"

"Take that group photo and perform the highest precision scan and 3D modeling for me."

"Use all the demographic databases we currently possess to conduct cross-age facial recognition matching."

"Within twenty-four hours, I need to know where these remaining eleven children are, what their names are, and what they are doing."

"Yes!"

Li Ke's eyes instantly lit up, and his fingers once again became a blur on the keyboard!

"Captain Zhao."

"Here!"

"I need you, under your name, to issue a request for assistance to all criminal investigation units nationwide."

"Tell them we are investigating a copycat criminal organization related to the 'Severed Finger Nursery Rhyme' case fifteen years ago."

"Have them report all cold cases related to 'orphanages,' 'adoptions,' and 'missing children' to me."

"Understood!"

Fierce fighting spirit ignited in Zhao Dahai's eyes!

"Director Zhou."

Chen Mo's gaze finally settled on Bureau Chief Zhou.

"I need the highest authorization for the 'heavens punishment' plan."

Bureau Chief Zhou looked at him, and all hesitation and doubt vanished from his weather-beaten eyes.

The young man before him was no longer the "asset" they needed to protect.

He was a sheathed, national sharp blade capable of cutting down everything.

"Good."

He nodded heavily and picked up the red satellite phone.

"From now on, you are 'heavens punishment'."

...Three days later.

A black Gulfstream G650 landed at a secret military base in the western suburbs of Beijing.

Chen Mo walked down the gangway.

His face was still somewhat pale, but his steps were as steady as before.

Following behind him were Su Qingxue, Zhao Dahai, Li Hu, and Li Ke.

And also Nightingale and her four squad members, who were like black phantoms.

The "heavens punishment" task force assembled its full membership for the first time.

Inside the underground command center of the base.

A massive world map was displayed on a huge holographic projection screen.

On the map, there were eleven red dots of light.

Like eleven ominous brands, scattered across different corners of the world.

"Reporting, Team Leader Chen!"

Li Ke's voice trembled slightly with excitement.

"Matching complete! The identities of the remaining eleven 'seeds' have all been locked down!"

He pointed at the dots on the map and reported them one by one.

"Target number one, codenamed The Clockmaker, currently resides in Zurich Team, Switzerland, and is a top independent watchmaker."

"Target number two, codenamed Black Widow, currently resides in Paris, France, and is an international supermodel."

"Target number three, codenamed 'The Joker,' currently resides in Las Vegas Team, USA, and is a professional poker player."

...Eleven names, eleven identities.

They have all achieved success in their respective fields that ordinary people could never reach.

They are geniuses, they are elites.

And they are... devils.

"'The Emperor' gave them a new life, and he also gave them... hatred."

Su Qingxue looked at the dazzling resumes, her voice cold.

"Now, he intends to take it all back."

"No."

Chen Mo shook his head.

His gaze fell upon a huge, irregular pattern connected by dotted lines between the eleven red dots on the map.

"He is not taking it back."

"He is... painting."

"He wants to use the explosions of these eleven 'doomsday clock' to draw his damned Ouroboros emblem on the massive canvas of the Earth."

Everyone gasped sharply!

Using the destruction of eleven cities to complete a painting?

What kind of madness, what kind of arrogant art is this!

"He will not succeed."

Chen Mo's voice cut through everyone's fear like a cold knife.

"Because..."

He turned around and looked at the team assembled behind him to fight the devil.

He looked at Su Qingxue's eyes, which were burning with fire.

A slight curve appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"This time, we fight side by side."

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