325: Chapter 324 Countdown

The person on the other end of the phone was polite and respectful, but their words held a hidden edge.

Chu Xuan sensed an ambiguous underlying meaning.

He remained unperturbed, handed the phone back, and asked casually, "Who is this person?"

"This is Li Tairen, the new leader of our First Inspection Team. He was originally just a manager at a small company, but because our previous leader sacrificed himself in a Specter incident a few days ago, and his strength grew by leaps and bounds, he was promoted."

Tan Ziming said with a sour expression, "This man is extremely good at sycophancy. When he first became an intern Night Watcher, he flattered us in every way possible. However, we didn't like such hypocritical people. I didn't expect that as soon as he gained power, his attitude would change immediately."

"I see."

Chu Xuan's eyes glinted with curiosity as he murmured softly, "However, someone like that shouldn't have this kind of attitude after learning my identity."

Hearing this, Tan Ziming and the others all showed strange expressions.

"Everyone, go rest first and recover your spirit. Don't let these irrelevant people disrupt our plans."

Chu Xuan narrowed his eyes slightly, making a mental note of the name Li Tairen, intending to see what he was made of later.

Amidst his thoughts, Chu Xuan noticed that Lin Jie remained stern-faced, looking as if he bore a deep-seated grudge, and his emotions were tinged with a hint of restlessness. He immediately called out to him:

"Lin Jie, what's wrong?"

Lin Jie paused, remained silent for a moment, then suddenly looked up and said through gritted teeth, "Brother Chu Xuan, I don't want to rest. I'm not tired at all. I want to go hunt Specters!"

In his calm eyes, there was a faint trace of madness and overwhelming hatred.

Chu Xuan's expression was calm: "A curfew is now in full effect at night. Do you mean you want to carry out investigations step by step like the other Night Watchers?"

"There are still more than seven hours left until the operation. How many Specters can you find? Compared to a collective organized action on an official level, how much of a role can you play?"

Lin Jie clenched his fists tightly: "Killing even one more counts!"

Chu Xuan looked deeply at Lin Jie and changed the subject: "Why do you hate Specters so much?"

"We went through so much hardship to escape from St. Lianna Hospital, and it was all because of the Specters that those people died! I want to avenge them!!" Lin Jie growled.

Chu Xuan looked at the bloodshot eyes of Lin Jie. When he spoke, his tone changed, and a flicker of black light flashed in his eyes:

"Were you very close to them? In the hospital, for the sake of survival, you assigned a number to each of them to take turns scouting the way. Was that to unite everyone to escape alive, or was it for yourself?"

"I... I didn't know them... I wanted to save everyone together, but I wanted to save myself even more, but... but..."

Lin Jie's expression was somewhat dazed. A moment later, his eyes turned red, and tears kept falling:

"But they all died a tragic death right before my eyes! Especially Chen Mengyi, I could truly feel her care for me..."

"And Zhang Chi, he once said that after I became an Inspector, he would take me to hunt Specters and be a hero who protects the country. But they died so suddenly! In the illusion, they died over and over again, and I was killed over and over again too!"

"I want revenge! I must have revenge!!"

Lin Jie's face was distorted, filled with intense hatred: "It's all because of the Specters that the world has become like this. They all deserve to die! Those Specter Evil Gods, they all deserve to die!!"

The hatred Lin Jie was showing right now was too intense.

If it were Qin Qing, whose parents were eaten by Night Devils, or Zhao Hongchan, whose whole family died in a Specter incident shortly after her marriage, expressing such resentment would be understandable.

But the Lin Jie before him, in Chu Xuan's perception, was completely consumed by hatred at this moment. He was like a demon, having fallen into a state of madness.

Chu Xuan's eyes narrowed slightly.

Just then, a tremor came from the ground, and the entire room shook and swayed incessantly. The chandelier on the ceiling moved without wind, making a crisp clinking sound, just like an earthquake.

Chu Xuan suddenly turned his head. The bright moon outside the window had turned blood-red at some point.

With his spiritual perception, he clearly sensed all kinds of small insects in the courtyard scurrying about, birds taking flight, and a splashing sound coming from the pond in the backyard, likely from fish jumping out of the water.

A countdown suddenly appeared before Chu Xuan's eyes.

[47:59:59]

[47:59:58]

[47:59:57]

[...]

Is this... a 48-hour countdown?

Chu Xuan stood up abruptly, staring straight at Lin Jie, who was now clutching his head, his eyes bloodshot, and his expression filled with extreme pain.

Could it be related to Lin Jie?

"Lin Jie, wake up!" Chu Xuan shouted in a deep voice, his voice echoing like a booming bell.

Lin Jie was startled, and the blood-red color in his eyes slowly dissipated. After a while, he slowly woke up from the pain: "Brother Chu Xuan... what just happened?"

His voice paused, and then he showed a look of alarm: "I saw a countdown..."

"Boss Chu!"

Tan Ziming and the others, who had already left, now returned and pushed open the door one after another: "A 48-hour countdown has appeared in all of our minds. Did you feel it?"

"You have it too?"

Chu Xuan's heart suddenly stirred, and he blurted out, "Perhaps it's not just us..."

As he spoke, the tremors of the earth had disappeared. If not for the existence of the countdown, everything that had just happened would have seemed like an illusion.

Chu Xuan took out his phone and opened the most popular short video app. After refreshing it a few times, he saw people posting related content one after another, all regarding this countdown.

The comments below also verified one fact.

This was a mass event. In everyone's mind, at this very moment, this 48-hour countdown was surfacing.

Afterward, Chu Xuan opened the official forum and related foreign apps, finding that everyone was discussing the same topic.

People couldn't help but think of the strange phenomena in the heavens and earth a few days ago, followed by the large-scale disasters breaking out globally, and the ongoing curfew.

Everything indicated that the world was undergoing changes that defied common sense!

Many had realized that this world was becoming extremely dangerous.

Now, tremors had occurred everywhere simultaneously. Though they were fleeting, the same countdown appeared before everyone.

No one knew what would happen when the countdown ended, but everyone instinctively thought of the worst.

Could it be the apocalypse?

"Boss Chu, do you have any special premonitions?" Tan Ziming asked repeatedly in a slight panic, "What should we do now?"

The rest of the group also looked toward Chu Xuan at this moment.

"It might not necessarily be a bad thing."

Chu Xuan recalled the information Future Tang Zheng had told him, thought of a possibility, and waved his hand: "Business as usual. Everyone, go back and rest first."