Chapter Sixty-Three: The Terrifying Countdown
“Lord, something terrible has happened! The lords on the carriage... Lord, are you alright?”
Number One flung open the door of Armored Vehicle Four and leapt out, intending to report the sudden events inside, but was startled to see his own lord's face ashen and immediately rushed over in alarm.
Beside him, Shana stood helpless, steadying Colin as she wore an uncharacteristically grave expression, her usual gentleness clouded with worry—
She had realized that none of her usual methods were working!
“I’m fine…”
Colin, his face bloodless, waved a dismissive hand, attempting to speak, but found he couldn’t utter even those three words.
But this was no time to dwell on such details. He closed his eyes, drew a deep breath, and focused his entire being inward…
Vaguely, something seemed to be seething inside his mind…
Not only Colin—at this very moment, every survivor across the world was experiencing the same thing!
A dreadful, suffocating sense of impending doom gripped all of humanity at once.
Only a few who were engaged in battle outside felt the sensation less intensely, and thus were less affected.
Now, Colin felt something intangible crawling, merging, and splitting within his mind…
Over and over, an endless cycle…
Then, after an unknown interval, blood-red words, as if dripping with fresh gore, appeared in everyone’s mind.
“Be...ware...*...”
Those writhing crimson letters tried to take shape, as if to deliver a warning to all.
Whether their true color was red, none could say, but in the mind, they burned a deep, dreadful scarlet.
With each letter that formed, the pressure mounted in Colin’s chest, as though some unspeakable horror pressed upon him, his very teeth chattering from fear…
But after the third character, the letters blurred and became indistinct.
It was as if some force forcibly prevented the message from being completed!
Yet after a brief stalemate, the rest of the blood-stained, crimson letters suddenly broke through, appearing one after another—
“Beware the Night!!!”
“…149:07:34…”
Immediately after, a line of writhing, dark red numbers appeared—a countdown.
No explanation followed, but everyone instinctively understood that the two lines belonged together.
Only three seconds ticked by on the countdown—no time to think—before both lines of text began to distort…
First, they twisted, then bloated, cracks forming within the letters…
During this process, the vivid red faded, paling, growing ordinary, then dim, and finally vanishing altogether.
With their disappearance, calm returned.
From start to finish, the ordeal hadn’t lasted even thirty seconds. Yet Colin found himself drenched in cold sweat, his legs too weak to stand, nearly collapsing with exhaustion.
Had it not been for Shana and Number One supporting him, he doubted he’d have stayed upright at all.
What was that thing? 149:07:34… It must be a countdown. Let’s see…
Regaining his composure, Colin quickly wrapped himself in the black scarf, sharpening his reason, calming his nerves, speeding his thoughts…
About six days and five hours…
Colin’s face darkened instantly.
Damn it, isn’t that the night right after my own judgment?
I don’t even know if I’ll survive the punishment, and now there’s an even greater terror—“Beware the Night”?
Expressionless, Colin’s eyes drifted to the female corpse nearby.
The feet of the female corpse bore marks of gnawing by rodents, but this, strangely, was not unusual…
As expected, it’s changed back.
Colin narrowed his eyes. Earlier, while that unknown influence held sway, the system had revealed some deeply unsettling messages.
A coincidence, perhaps…
He took a deep breath and decided to set aside such speculation for now.
He only needed a general idea.
Next, Colin strode quickly to Armored Vehicle Four.
Peering inside through the open door, he saw the survivors sprawled in exhaustion or gasping for breath—none able to stand, each soaked as if fished from the river, their spirits half gone.
“Damn, I really thought I was finished…”
“Boss, you’re here! Any idea what just happened?”
“Hurry, let’s get out of here! The feng shui is bad and something unspeakable stalks the night!”
Clearly, they too had received the blood-red warning: “Beware the Night.”
“It won’t happen for another six days, so there’s no need to panic yet…”
Colin reassured the group, then returned to Vehicle One, his own seat. He pulled out the parchment and checked the world channel—it was ablaze, everyone discussing what had just happened.
Clearly, the incident had touched all survivors.
He vaguely realized why the warning had appeared in everyone’s mind, not just his own—
No individual could bear such terror alone.
It had to be distributed in relatively equal measure among billions worldwide, so that humanity could barely withstand it.
Colin glanced at the scarf around his neck…
So this is what they meant by “You will all die here”?
Is this their revenge?
Who sent that blood-red warning?
Was it the system, or some individual?
Why did the countdown appear now and not sooner or later?
A flurry of questions sprang up, but Colin realized, with some despair, that most were best left unasked.
Only a few answers could be vaguely discerned—such as why the warning came now…
Most likely because he’d just slain a Lord-level mutant.
Others might not recognize the blood-red, but he knew all too well—
It was the color of a Lord-level mutant’s blood!
A storm of wild thoughts raged through Colin’s mind, until finally, he reached some conclusions.
What’s certain is, one hour after my judgment begins, another calamity—one likely to engulf the entire world—will be unleashed. Worse, if I don’t resolve the judgment within the hour, both catastrophes could overlap…
Even with the “Meditation Scarf,” Colin now felt his head throbbing.
Just then, he felt soft fingers press against his temples, gently massaging, radiating a pure white glow to soothe his chaotic emotions.
Will she crush my skull…? As Colin realized whose hands they were, he was momentarily distracted, a little moved, though his face gave nothing away. After a hesitant pause, he said,
“Thank you.”
Shana’s ever gentle face lit with a small smile. She said nothing, but tilted her head in quiet reply.
Before long, Colin confirmed his suspicions and adjusted his plans accordingly for what was to come.