Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

“Because you’ve changed the most.” Zheng Zha looked at him quietly and replied, “You’ve changed too much. After the Legend of the Gods and Demons ended, you became very unpredictable. Although I can’t understand Margot Lloyd’s thoughts, I can understand her position. But you… I can’t see anything in you.”

"Is that why?" Saito asked.

"It's because of this," Zheng Zha replied.

Saito shook his head slightly, smiled, and took off his black-rimmed glasses.

“I became who I am now because of my own choice. In fact, I’m not even sure if the person sitting here talking to you is really me. But it doesn’t matter, as long as I can still think, everything is fine. As for your pointless question…” He wiped his black-rimmed glasses. For some reason, Zheng Zha felt that Saito Hajime had a strange sense of blurriness at this moment—he seemed to be there, yet he didn’t seem to be there. The contours and lines of his face also seemed to have become messy and indistinct, like an old photograph, yellowed and dim. Even if you could recognize the person in the photo at a glance, the person’s appearance had become blurred.

He was like an oil painting submerged in water, the paint slowly dissipating and crumbling, leaving only blurry holes around his features, his once upright posture subtly distorted, like a clump of rotten seaweed. His voice became indistinct, as if it were a pot of boiling broth.

Then, he put his black-rimmed glasses back on.

Everything returned to normal. So normal that Zheng Zha thought his momentary perception was merely a hallucination caused by his mental lapse. He subconsciously placed his water glass on the edge of the table and leaned back slightly, as if to avoid it.

He quickly realized his lapse in composure. But just as he was about to correct his mistake, Saito Hajime provided the answer to his question.

“Miss Alice is a puppeteer; she only directs herself and her teammates as if they were puppets. But puppets are different from people,” Saito Hajime replied, once again becoming that refined young man. “And she is well aware of this weakness of hers, which is why she decided to make you the captain of the Central Plains team.”

"Her? The puppeteer?" Zheng Zha asked, puzzled. "Isn't she a witch? An information magician or something... Although those two puppets next to her are indeed very interesting, I've never seen her handle them before."

“That’s why you don’t understand her.” Saito smiled gently. “She doesn’t even understand, so how can you talk about comprehending her?”

Zheng Zha fell silent.

“…You’re right, I really don’t understand her.” He took a deep breath. He stood up and nodded to Saito. “Thanks, Saito. I know what to do.”

“Old Saito?” Saito Hajime’s lips curled up slightly. “That’s a rather novel way to address me. But… well, it’s fine.”

He looked at Zheng Zha, who was about to leave, and suddenly asked.

"Captain, may I have a minute or two to ask you some personal questions?"

"Speak freely." Zheng Zha tilted his head slightly, looking at him with some doubt.

"There is a story with a group of brilliant protagonists. They composed an epic poem. Do you think they are qualified as protagonists?"

"It's acceptable. Positive stories are always good, aren't they?"

"Hmm, that makes sense. But what if there were another story based on this, with a different setting and plot, but the same group of guys as the main characters, creating a history that's different from the previous one, but with the exact same ending? What do you think then?"

"Fan fiction?" Zheng Zha raised an eyebrow. "As long as the plot is interesting, it's not a big deal, right?"

“Yes, that’s right. It’s not a big deal.” Saito nodded slightly, then asked his third question: “So, if there are many, many more stories there, with different backgrounds, different developments, different situations, and different styles, but the writer insists on changing all the protagonists of all the stories to the original group, do you think… that would be a bit too boring?”

“…You should ask the hand that holds the pen about that kind of question,” Zheng Zha replied. “But your question is pretty pointless. If you keep asking, I’m too lazy to argue with you anymore.”

"No, I've already asked all my questions. Thank you for your answer." Saito picked up his water glass and took a sip.

A few seconds later, Zheng Zha disappeared at the end of the corridor.

“An interesting answer, very interesting… but it was expected.” Saito smiled, glanced at Zheng Zha’s water glass that he had unconsciously placed on the edge of the coffee table, and shook his head slightly. He didn’t straighten the glass, but instead turned his head to look out the window, admiring the artificial rain scene.

The rain was pouring down, and night was falling.

Today is the first day; the earth is covered with water. No spirit walks on the water, and there is no light.

Chapter 10. The charlatans here... are professionals.

"Sir, I think we've located our target. Those Asians should be hiding in a private villa on the side of OO Road in XX District."

Sheriff Maigret looked at one of his ordinary officers with some surprise. This guy was so unremarkable, so unremarkable, that he barely even remembered the officer's name. At this crucial moment for achieving results, he hesitated for two seconds before remembering how to address the man in front of him.

"Good job, kid." He patted the policeman on the shoulder forcefully. "How did you find them? We've been searching for ages and couldn't find those Asians."

“I was lucky, sir.” The policeman smiled shyly. “That villa belongs to a distant cousin of mine, and he lives not far from my house. For some reason, he insisted on taking his whole family on vacation to Hawaii today. I happened to see his tweet about ten minutes ago, and something seemed off, so I called my son and asked him to check his villa through the rain using night vision goggles… I didn’t expect to see a large group of people’s heat signatures gathered at his house.”

“I think this must be the group of Asians, sir.”

“…Great. Just let me know next time you want to buy a lottery ticket.” The sheriff’s lips twitched. “I won’t pursue the matter of you browsing Twitter during work hours…Alright, guys!” He clapped his hands loudly and shouted.

"Time to get to work."

He was preparing to deploy police forces to plan a swift and covert raid. But just then, his Japanese assistant's phone rang.

“I’m sorry, Sheriff.” The Japanese officer, who claimed to have ‘divine revelation,’ looked at Sheriff Maigret apologetically. “We have orders from above to end our operation here. Other departments will take over the rest.”

............................................................

Inside the villa.

“Sakura is back, and she seems a bit emotionally unstable.” Zhan Lan opened her eyes and looked at Zheng Zha and the others. “I have a bad feeling. I feel like we’re being watched by someone… or something. It feels like there’s a needle stuck in my throat. It seems like Death will make its move soon.”

"Should we go somewhere else?" Zheng Zha scratched his head. "Since we have this uneasy feeling, perhaps we should take action as soon as possible."

He looked at Xiao Honglu, but the little boy thought for a moment and then gave a negative answer.

“No, we’ll stay here,” Xiao Honglu replied. “Death will make its move sooner or later, and we can’t afford to lose our composure at a time like this. This villa has become our stronghold, and Sister Alice has set up surveillance spells at various key points. We’ve also made many preparations… Leaving rashly would be harmful to us. There’s no need to revise our plans in advance.”

“Alright, I’ll listen to you.” Zheng Zha thought about it and felt that Xiao Honglu’s words made a lot of sense. So he didn’t insist on his own judgment anymore—he turned his head and saw Zhao Yingkong emerge from the shadows like a wisp of smoke.

"Is everything going smoothly?" He nodded to Zhao Yingkong.

"Yes, everything went smoothly. I successfully infiltrated the city's municipal government and uploaded some surveillance viruses to the mainframe there. Besides that, I also discovered some interesting things." The assassin girl's face was slightly flushed; clearly, she had made quite a haul. She was even talking more now.

She took out a document and placed it on the table in front of them. Although it was in English, everyone present could understand the text, and the red word that served as the title was particularly glaring.

“Apocalypse, the Book of Revelation…Apocalypse?” Zheng Zha frowned. He opened the document and read it with his teammates while listening to Zhao Yingkong’s brief summary of the information.

"Kimberly's precognitive abilities are superpowers, and these abilities have already caught the attention of the world's government, which has brought people with such abilities into government agencies. However, unlike Kimberly and Alex, the protagonist of the previous Final Destination film, other precognitive individuals do not seem to be able to see their own deaths, and there is no record in the files of them being hunted by Death."

"Their ability is not triggered actively; they see fragments of the future, such as disasters occurring in certain places or people dying. The government can then take corresponding countermeasures based on their premonitions. According to the description in the document above, people with this ability are usually not very old, mostly between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five. There are also those who are younger than fifteen, but they can usually only see or hear a series of meaningless numbers, which should be considered as their ability not yet being fully developed."

"The government values ​​these Awakened Ones highly and spares no effort in recruiting them. This document is actually the government's recruitment plan for wild Awakened Ones, and Kimberly may be a hot potato."

The document was thick, and although Zhao Yingkong spoke briefly, it contained a vast amount of information. Even Zheng Zha was taken aback when he glanced at the benefits and treatment the Awakened Ones received. He also gained a profound understanding of the importance this country placed on them.

“Variables, huge variables.” Xiao Honglu pulled at his hair in distress, and soon more than a dozen black strands fell to the ground. “The problem has become very troublesome. I didn’t expect the Grim Reaper in this world… to be so active. My previous deductions may also be wrong.”

He sighed heavily. "Being an enemy of those with precognitive abilities is incredibly troublesome. It means a one-sided lack of transparency in intelligence... No matter how meticulously planned or how foolproof the scheme, someone else can simply read the script and render all our plans futile. And there are quite a few of these prophets... Damn it, should I be thankful that their precognitive abilities are all passive? What if they could actively foresee the future?"

Xiao Honglu couldn't help but slam his fist on the table.

"Contact with the local government is inevitable. We will inevitably be hunted by Death, and there is a high possibility that we will become enemies with the government. Although Death in the movie cannot directly control people's minds, it is very likely that he will cause loopholes in our plans and lead us to fight the government due to various misunderstandings."

“So we have to take action, we have to contact the government of this world before that happens.” He rubbed his temples hard.

"Coercion and bribery?" Zhan Lan glanced at him.

“Yes, that’s right. Lure them with benefits, then threaten them with force.” Xiao Honglu nodded heavily. “We need to let them know that being our enemy will cause huge losses, while cooperating with us will bring substantial gains. Doesn’t Sister Alice have a lot of high-tech data from her real world? Use that to lure them, and at the same time, use our military force to intimidate them… Right now, we could easily demolish a city. In short, we must make them hesitate, make them unable to make a decision.”

“A nation is a large, self-interested entity. Given sufficient interests, even if Death makes some minor moves, it's unlikely to directly influence national decisions. We must grasp this point and then eliminate the possibility of them entering the country as much as possible before the twelve-day deadline.”

"I still need to think about the specific plan for a while. In short, let's prepare for armed confrontation first. This kind of worldview... tsk, you have to think about the worst-case scenario for everything."

Zheng Zha nodded and said, "I'll go find Margot Royd to discuss this matter. It just so happens that I was also planning to have a good talk with her."

Chapter 11. Varus, give me back... Hey, the Legion is still here!

After a brief discussion, Zheng Zha went alone to the top floor of the villa, the fourth floor, where Alice and Patchouli were located.

Saito Hajime was originally on the second floor, but he seemed to have something to say to Zhang Heng, so he temporarily left the second floor and went to the third floor, where Zhang Heng and Zero were using it as a sniping platform—Zheng Zha heard arguing as he passed by the third floor. It seemed to be Zhang Heng venting his anger, but Zheng Zha couldn't discern the specifics.

Companions should respect each other and value each other's privacy.

He thought to himself as he arrived at the fourth-floor hall and paused slightly, looking at Alice who was dealing with numerous monitoring screens.

“Margot Lloyd, are you free now? I want to talk to you about something.” He tapped on the wooden stair railing, making a crisp 'thump thump' sound.

He noticed that Patchouli didn't seem to be there.

"Just a moment, it'll be done in a minute," Alice said without turning her head. Her fingers trembled slightly as several more light screens quickly appeared around her. These screens reflected the surrounding streets in the downpour, providing surveillance of an area of ​​about one kilometer from different elevations.

She let out a soft breath.

"Hmm, it's mostly done. This way, the surrounding surveillance can be largely resolved, and even if there are any emergencies, we can issue timely warnings and take appropriate action." Alice gently patted the swivel chair she was sitting in, and then turned her body slightly to face Zheng Zha's direction.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" she asked.

"Where's Norrell? Isn't she here?"

“She… has something to take care of.” Alice lowered her eyes. But she quickly put it aside. “Don’t worry about her, she’ll be back soon. You can just tell me if anything happens.”

Her words were vague, so Zheng Zha didn't intend to pay much attention to such matters. He then carefully considered his words and decided to tell Alice the information that Zhao Yingkong had obtained from the government.

“If it's about ‘Apocalypse,’ then there’s no need to elaborate; I already know about it.” Alice lightly touched a light screen beside her, revealing the scene in the villa’s first-floor hall—the newlyweds were sitting together, monitoring the hypnotized characters according to their pre-assigned plan. Meanwhile, Zhan Lan and the others remained on the other side of the hall, planning their next move and preparing for the upcoming battle. They also kept the newcomers under their watchful eye, ensuring they could respond promptly to any unexpected events.

“You see, I was part of the audience when you were discussing things, so I know exactly what information you’ve gathered and why you’re here.” Alice reached out and tossed two small USB drives to Zheng Zha.

“I’m also involved in network intrusion, though you might not need it. But the red USB drive can directly access all the main servers of the World Wide Web. You might find it useful. The black one contains the future technology you need—from fusion reactors to starship blueprints within planetary systems. I hope you can make good use of it,” Alice said calmly, her tone devoid of much emotion.

“Margot Lloyd, you…” Zheng Zha stared at her, stunned for a long while.

"You really are well-prepared." He shook his head with a wry smile.

“It’s always good to save some time.” Alice spread her hands, making a 'helpless' gesture. “We’re going to be here for twelve days, and given the nature of this world, we can expect the first few days to be the easiest. So I don’t think there’s any need to waste time… Do you have any objections?”

"No, it's nothing." Zheng Zha took a deep breath and then asked, "Why did you make me the captain?"

“Because you’re more suitable,” Alice answered without hesitation. “You can assemble this team, while I can’t. And your potential is much greater than mine… You see, at the beginning of the last horror movie, you could only last thirty milliseconds against me at my peak. But now, even at my peak, if I don’t prepare a base, rituals, and various enchanted items beforehand, my chances of winning against you are only around 60 or 40.”

"You covered in less than sixty days what took me almost six hundred years to do... To be honest, I'm incredibly jealous of you. Your talent is simply despair-inducing, and I'm certain this isn't even the limit of your potential. If I'm not mistaken, I won't be able to beat you after this horror movie ends."

Her gaze was tilted, as if she were examining some kind of prehistoric ape—the kind with the smallest brain capacity.

“You have potential, you have leadership skills, and you have the determination to take responsibility for the entire team… Why are you asking me such a stupid question?”

“I didn’t even know I was this strong…” Zheng Zha wisely ignored the rather intriguing word ‘six hundred years’.

“You’ll soon have the chance to prove you’re that strong.” Alice stood up from her seat, casually pushed aside the light screens, and walked straight to the floor-to-ceiling windows at the far end of the hall. Through the rain, the brightly lit city skyline was fully revealed in her view.

“War is inevitable, and the conflict with the local regime that Xiao Honglu predicted is a foregone conclusion. In terms of technology and advanced weaponry, we have the advantage, but luck and numbers are on the enemy’s side.” She said calmly, as a door next to her quietly opened, and footsteps with a metallic tremor came from it.

“I can’t do anything about the so-called fortune in that idealistic system, but I can still make some moves on the number of people.”

Before Zheng Zha appeared a beast-shaped machine the size of a lion. It was painted black and had four sturdy metal legs. Except for the composite sensor on its head, every part of its body was protected by a single piece of armor. At the rear of its body, a flexible mechanical beam mounted an ion cannon, ready to fire in any direction at any time.

"TX-0 type, mechanical dog. It's 1.42 meters long and 0.8 meters high, made of lightweight composite alloy, so its weight is kept to around 30 kilograms. Its maximum speed is 55 kilometers per hour. Its main weapon is an ion cannon, capable of effectively dealing with most armored targets. It has a Tesla coil in its head, capable of suppressing nearby unarmored or lightly armored enemies with a strong current. And this thing..."

She looked at Zheng Zha.

"With sufficient resources, I can provide more than 10,000 units within 24 hours. And this is just the lowest level of combat unit. There will be many more powerful models to come."

"You... how could you possibly do such a thing?" Zheng Zha's eyes were filled with disbelief. Alice hadn't told him about the Great Library before... or rather, he hadn't asked, so she hadn't explained in detail.