156: Chapter 156 Not a Heavenly Secret

At Chu Xuan's request, the taxi traveled at an extremely high speed.

It didn't take long to get onto the highway, where the car maintained a speed of around 120 km/h, heading beyond the boundaries of Haicheng.

The driver, Master Zhu, hummed a little tune, looking to be in a very good mood. "Boss, what kind of business are you in?"

"I'm doing a census."

Chu Xuan brushed him off casually, glancing at the time. It was almost 4:00 AM, and during this interval, [Future Tang Zheng] hadn't sent any more messages. He didn't know how things were going.

"A census? Boss, you don't really look the part." Master Zhu joked, "Could it be that you're in such a hurry because you're planning to go to the capital to count the population?"

"I'm not checking the number of people; I'm checking whether they're actually human."

"Boss, you sure know how to joke..." Master Zhu shrugged. Feeling a bit bored, he let out a yawn, and the vehicle slowed down slightly.

Chu Xuan raised an eyebrow slightly. "Leave the Haicheng territory within 10 minutes, and I'll add another three thousand, paid immediately. Also, I'll cover all the speeding fines along the way."

"No problem!"

Master Zhu perked up again and slammed the accelerator to the floor. "Boss, you might not know this, but back in the day, I used to draw ECGs on the road! Even the traffic cops had to chase me for three blocks, begging to take me as their master to learn drifting!"

The car speed quickly reached 160 km/h, pushing toward 180. The entire chassis began to vibrate, so he slowed slightly, maintaining a top speed of 160 km/h.

The corners of Chu Xuan's mouth curled up.

This Old Zhu was quite slippery. Whether it was playing adult films on the center console in the previous dream or intentionally yawning now, he was finding ways to try and squeeze out extra cash.

But unfortunately, this was a dream. No matter how much money he gained, it was destined to be a reflection in a mirror, a moon in the water.

In less than 10 minutes, the vehicle left Haicheng and entered the Xuzhou territory. Chu Xuan paid the three thousand as promised, making Master Zhu even more excited.

"I've left Haicheng..."

Chu Xuan slowly let out a sigh of relief, sitting in the back seat and watching the scenery outside the window.

There was a faint mist in the dark night, but under the high beams, it didn't affect visibility. The car speed remained extremely fast.

At 4:20 AM, the taxi reached the border of Xuzhou and drove onto the cross-river bridge. Once across the river, they would be in Tongcheng.

Perhaps because it was dawn, or perhaps because they were over the river, the fog grew thicker. The taxi had to slow down a bit, reaching 130 km/h.

"10 minutes left in the dream..."

Having reached this point, Chu Xuan felt more at ease, but to be safe, he prepared to spend spirituality value to extend the time.

Chu Xuan opened a map. From here to the capital was about 1,150 kilometers.

Given Master Zhu's driving skills and his ability to maintain around 130 km/h, even if there were more cars on the highway during the day, visibility would also be higher.

Counting one gas stop along the way, he should be able to reach the capital in 9 hours without eating or drinking.

"In that case, I'll prepare 550 spirituality value points and extend it for 10 hours directly!"

Chu Xuan gritted his teeth. Although it pained him, [Future Tang Zheng] had said he was unwilling to leave Haicheng no matter what and wouldn't allow Tang Zheng to stay. Those words had put a lot of pressure on him.

Just then, a message from [Future Tang Zheng] arrived.

[Tang Zheng: Brother, I feel like I can't hold on. I'm about to die again... That Chu Huan is really a freak. He actually turned into a cave in advance and emitted a treasure light, intentionally luring me inside. He almost swallowed me in one gulp.]

Chu Xuan thought for a moment and replied: [Doesn't your Fighting God Talent allow your strength and agility attributes to jump an entire stage? You still can't beat him?]

[Tang Zheng: If it were just the two of us fighting, I wouldn't be that afraid. But whether it's the original timeline or this current timeline changed because of you, there are many people who want to kill me. I can only choose to endure it or run.]

Chu Xuan couldn't help but feel a bit helpless.

What on earth had Tang Zheng done in the future to provoke such public outrage that so many people wanted him dead?

[Chu Xuan: How is the future world? Facing the common enemy of the Specters, are the various factions still fighting among themselves?]

[Tang Zheng: ...]

[Tang Zheng: I'm restricted by the rules and can't send it! Things are far more complicated than you imagine! I can't reveal too much information to you. I can only tell you... our world is currently in a state of peril. 'Terrifying' and 'desperate' aren't enough to describe it. After three years of the apocalypse, it is now on the verge of destruction.]

The world is in peril, on the verge of destruction?

Chu Xuan's heart shook. He took a deep breath and asked: [Then since you've contacted me, what else do you need me to do?]

[Tang Zheng: Dammit, I got struck by lightning again! I can't reveal any more to you... Fuck! So insidious, Chu Huan is here again!]

Chu Xuan put down his phone and rubbed his furrowed brows, his thoughts churning.

From the news [Future Tang Zheng] sent this time, it wasn't hard to tell that the future situation was quite grim; even the world itself was about to be destroyed.

When the nest is overturned, no egg remains intact. Likely, all of humanity would die.

Shaking his head, Chu Xuan stopped thinking about these things. Currently, he couldn't even secure his own life, so why worry about things so far in the future?

"What a thick fog, it's getting thicker and thicker..."

The driver Master Zhu's muttering reached his ears, and the taxi slowly decelerated.

Chu Xuan looked up and saw that the outside was indeed filled with dense fog. Even with the high beams on, visibility didn't exceed three meters.

"I've never seen such a thick fog."

Master Zhu turned on the fog lights and hazard lights while slowly steering the wheel to the right. "Boss, there should be a service area not far ahead. Let's wait there for a bit. Driving in such thick fog is too dangerous..."

"Wait!!"

Chu Xuan suddenly shouted in a low voice, "This fog is not right!"

At the same time, a hazy, light chuckle sounded beside him. "Finally noticed?"

Chu Xuan was startled and jerked his head to look.

He saw that a mass of humanoid white mist had condensed beside him at some unknown point!

Faint facial features emerged, making it impossible to tell if it was male or female, and even the voice was extremely hazy:

"I followed you the whole way. I thought you wanted to do something, but I didn't expect you were trying to run away... Why are you leaving Haicheng? What did you discover? Is it the guidance given to you by [Heavenly Mystery]?"

Followed him the whole way?

Chu Xuan's scalp tingled; he hadn't noticed a thing.

He opened his mouth but found he couldn't speak at all, and his entire body was unable to move.

Not just him—the driver Master Zhu and the taxi itself had stopped moving, completely enveloped by the mist, isolated from everything.

The white mist instantly filled the entire cabin. Everything fell into a state of stasis, leaving only the faint voice echoing:

"Let me see what [Heavenly Mystery] actually is... Hehe! What are you thinking about? It's useless; I can view some of your memory images..."

Chu Xuan's mind was shaken. He felt as if he were being peered at by an eye, with no secrets left from the inside out.

A deathly silence fell over the car.

After an unknown amount of time, the voice sounded again: "Hmm? It's not [Heavenly Mystery]... Your talent is actually [Precognitive Dream]!"