Under the night sky, the bell tower emitted a bright light once again.

The ethereal sound of the bell resonated through the air, shaking off the snow that covered the bell tower. The soft light outlined its old silhouette, making it look like a solitary lighthouse, guiding lost souls.

The hands on the clock face began to spin rapidly.

At the same time, a tremendous weariness and fatigue invaded the minds and bodies of everyone, making them drowsy.

Beside the fireplace, Gu Chi, wrapped in a blanket, shook his head forcefully, forcing himself to stay awake as he walked towards the window.

His coat slipped off his body as he got up.

Startled by the commotion, Ling Mao woke up. "Hey, your coat!"

On such a cold day, not wearing a coat would freeze him!

But Gu Chi seemed to not hear her. He even stepped on the coat, ignoring the cold that was creeping in, and quickly walked to the window, gazing at the bell tower.

This time, Gu Chi saw it clearly.

Two clock faces, one blue and one yellow, but only the pointer on the blue clock face was spinning rapidly.

One round, two rounds, three rounds...

Gu Chi stared fixedly at the blue clock face, silently counting the number of rounds the pointer made in his mind.

He grabbed the window sill with both hands, the veins on the back of his hands bulging, his expression even becoming somewhat ferocious due to exertion, and his eyes quickly filled with bloodshot veins.

Gu Chi wanted to maintain his elegance, but he had no choice. He had to do this in order to temporarily withstand the strong drowsiness coming from all parts of his body... temporarily.

Gu Chi had already been trying his best to resist the mysterious power emanating from the bell tower, but even so, he couldn't hold on for too long.

When the pointer completed its fifth round, Gu Chi couldn't support himself any longer and his body fell down weakly.

But it seemed like he didn't fall on the floor?

This soft feeling... as if someone had cushioned his fall?

Before closing his eyes, Gu Chi took one last look.

Ling Mao had already fallen at his feet without him realizing it, still tightly holding onto the coat with shoe prints on it.

Jiang Niao and Mustard Soup had also fallen asleep long ago.

The two of them maintained a sitting position, sitting very close to each other.

Mustard Soup rested his head on Jiang Niao's shoulder, while Jiang Niao's head leaned against Mustard Soup's head.

The night returned to silence.

Only the flickering light of the fireplace remained.

...

...

The next day.

As soon as Ling Mao opened her eyes, she saw a beautiful scene.

It had snowed all night, and the weather seemed to have improved today. The bright sunlight shone into the living room, giving the air a hint of warmth.

Gu Chi sat beside the coffee table, earnestly writing something. The light fell on the side of his face, making him shine as well.

The scratching sound made by the pen on the paper seemed to hide a certain rhythm, neither fast nor slow, just right in sync with her heartbeat.

Ling Mao admitted that in that moment, she was captivated by Gu Chi's handsomeness.

"Awake?" Gu Chi asked without lifting his head.

"Yeah." Ling Mao stretched lazily, propping herself up and sitting up. Only then did she realize that she was covered with a coat. She tilted her head in confusion. "Isn't this your coat? How did it end up on me? Did you cover me with it?"

"The wind blew it."

"Is that so?"

Gu Chi didn't answer anymore.

But Ling Mao's mood improved. She stood up, dusted off the dust on her body, placed the coat on the sofa, and walked to Gu Chi's side. "What are you writing?"

"Neil's words."

There were two sheets of paper in front of Gu Chi, one was a letter left by Neil, and the other was the conversation they had with Neil the night before.

Comparing the conversation with the contents of the letter would make it easier to discover the key information.

"You actually remember what he said?" Ling Mao wanted to ask this, but when she got closer, her attention was completely drawn to something else. She noticed that Gu Chi's clean chin now had a lot of sexy stubble...

Ling Mao widened her eyes. "Y-You have a beard?!"

"Yeah." Gu Chi casually replied with a simple "yeah," not really caring about it.

Well, if a charm level of 9 meant having a beard, then so be it.

Ling Mao suddenly realized something and rushed into the bathroom.

She looked at the woman in the mirror.

...Oh no, I really grew up, sob!

Not long after, Jiang Niao and Mustard Soup, who were leaning on each other, also woke up. They saw each other's greasy faces and fell into silence.

So ugly...

Jiang Niao didn't want to look at Mustard Soup anymore.

Mustard Soup didn't want to look at him either.

Jiang Niao silently took out his phone and opened the calendar.

"November 16th, 5792."

"92 minus 82... Did ten years pass overnight?"

"Then today..."

"Today until tomorrow should be twenty years." Gu Chi continued, "Tomorrow until the day after tomorrow is forty years."

Jiang Niao's hand trembled. "So, we won't exist the day after tomorrow?"

A quick look at "paw𝑟ead.com" will leave you more fulfilled.

With the leap in time and their own ages, in two days, their ages would be close to one hundred. Even if they miraculously didn't die, what could a ninety or one hundred-year-old man do?

By then, forget about self-destructing robots, he was afraid he couldn't even make a single leg of a robot. The only thing he could do was wait for death.

Gu Chi noticed Jiang Niao's expression. "Feeling the pressure?"

Jiang Niao nodded slightly nervously. Although dying of old age didn't sound painful, who wouldn't want to live if they could avoid it?

Gu Chi said, "Then let's make good use of our time and create more machinery. We might need them later."Ling Mao, who had finished washing up, came out of the bathroom and heard these words, feeling a sense of familiarity.

Mustard Soup blamed himself a little, "If only my skill level was higher."

Yesterday's dinner, he specially made four bowls of refreshing soup according to Gu Chi's request.

But obviously, the effect was not great, they still fell asleep.

For two consecutive nights, they inexplicably fell asleep. Mustard Soup also realized that the clock tower had the ability to make people fall asleep forcibly. If the quality of his refreshing soup was higher, perhaps it could resist this force.

"It's not your fault, and it's not about the refreshing soup," Gu Chi shook his head. He had thought about this problem early in the morning. No matter how advanced the refreshing soup was, it was still just a refreshing soup. The essence of medicinal food would not change.

In other words, its medicinal properties were too mild and would be dispersed by the fierce "illness".

There was a good solution, not to increase the level of the refreshing soup, but to increase the dosage of functional ingredients or medicines.

Or simply put--

"What is the ingredient in the soup that can keep people excited?" Gu Chi asked.

"Awakening Grass," Mustard Soup replied.

Gu Chi said, "Then tonight, each of us will have one plant and eat it directly?"

Everyone: "???"

What is this?

Mustard Soup quickly said, "No, no, Awakening Grass is toxic. It cannot be eaten raw. It must be processed with water above 105 degrees."

Okay... Gu Chi passed on this straightforward plan and asked again, "How much Awakening Grass should be added to one bowl of refreshing soup?"

"One leaf is enough," Mustard Soup said. This was the standard dosage.

"Not enough, for severe cases, use strong medicine," Gu Chi said, "Add one and a half plants."

Mustard Soup: "..."

Jiang Niao: "..."

Ling Mao was a little scared, "Won't this kill us if we drink it?"

Gu Chi glanced at her, "What is your role?"

Ling Mao: "I'm the one who pulls aggro... No, I'm the healer!"

Right, she was the healer!

Even if she was really poisoned, it would only be a debuff for her. Whether she could dispel it or not was another matter, as long as she didn't suddenly die, she could heal herself back. At least it wouldn't easily cause someone's death. And as long as they didn't die, the physical pain caused by the poison was actually a good thing. Coupled with the main effect of the Awakening Grass, under the double stimulation, it wouldn't be so easy for them to fall asleep!

Now, Ling Mao looked at Gu Chi's eyes with excitement.

This man is so smart!

Gu Chi said, "Do you understand what I mean?"

Ling Mao: "Yes, yes!"

Gu Chi waved his hand, "Alright, go and do your own things. We have limited time, don't waste it."

"Okay... wait." Ling Mao walked halfway and came back, "What should I do?"

Did she lose her memory? She didn't remember Gu Chi assigning her any tasks.

Gu Chi picked up a pen again, "There is a gym upstairs. Go and adapt to your current body so that you can run faster when pulling aggro."

Ling Mao: "..."

She shouldn't have asked that question!

Ling Mao cursed herself as a stupid cat in her heart and reluctantly went upstairs.

Jiang Niao went to the side and picked up a screwdriver, while Mustard Soup went to the kitchen.

It was 9:37 in the morning. In order to resist the power of the clock tower, everyone started to get busy.

Gu Chi sat on the sofa all day.

He circled several words on two pieces of paper - "clock tower", "time", "wanderer", "zombie virus", "hospital", and a word he wrote himself - "eye".

Gu Chi never forgot the main quest of this instance.

Although so far, everything they had experienced seemed to have nothing to do with the "eye", Gu Chi always believed that it was not just a coincidence. These fragmented plots across time were like scattered pearls, just needing a thread to connect them all.

What he needed to do was to find this thread.

...

At night, the sky was as dark as ink.

Everyone gathered around the fireplace once again.

The difference was that this time, there was an additional small table among them.

On the table was a pot of thick, dark green soup, emitting a fragrant aroma.

"Refreshing Soup (Pure Enjoyment Edition): 36 times the amount of Awakening Grass, one bowl to toast to courage, one bowl to toast to death."

Jiang Niao: "..."

Ling Mao: "..."

Gu Chi: "..."

Honestly, he didn't expect the refreshing soup made from one and a half plants to look like this.

"No, this taste is too strong."

Jiang Niao covered his nose, leaned back, and his face was full of refusal. "Can this thing really be drunk?"

"It should be...?" Mustard Soup took a deep breath and felt that the smell was okay, just a bit spicy and a little pungent, but not really stinky.

Ling Mao looked at Mustard Soup, who calmly took a big whiff of the smell, and seemed to understand why he was called that.

Jiang Niao's expression was complicated.

Until a minute ago, he had never thought that one day he, a person who never ate mustard, would drink a soup that smelled like mustard...

In comparison, Gu Chi was much calmer.

Originally, he didn't plan to do this, but after smelling this scent...

It was just a hypnotism, nothing scary.

"Ten more minutes."

Ling Mao closed her eyes and started to suggest to herself, chanting in her mouth, "Don't be afraid, once you drink it, you'll clear the instance, once you drink it, you'll clear the instance..."

Dang!At twelve o'clock, the bell rang as expected.

Gu Chi, who had always been very steady, suddenly became full of passion. He scooped a full bowl from the pot and raised his hand, "Gentlemen, let's get drunk while we have wine. Cheers!"

Ling Mao was stunned on the spot.

Such bravery!

Seeing Gu Chi's boldness, Jiang Niao gritted his teeth. They were all men, there was no reason for him to be more cowardly than Gu Chi.

Wasn't it just a soup that smelled like mustard?

It wasn't real mustard, what was there to fear!

So, Jiang Niao also scooped a bowl like Gu Chi, "Cheers!"

The next second.

Jiang Niao: "!!!"

His face turned red in an instant, his eyes widened, and quickly filled with bloodshot. His nostrils flared, exhaling heavily, like a bull in heat.

He was wrong... really wrong.

This wasn't just a soup that smelled like mustard, this was damn mustard!

And it was mustard with added mint!!

Jiang Niao felt an indescribable spicy sensation rushing to his forehead, causing his eyes to fill with tears instantly. He wanted to cry, but his excited brain commanded him to laugh, he really...

"Hahaha...wuwu...haha!"

Ling Mao: "…"

Someone, please take these two madmen away.

Why two?

The other one was her.

Ling Mao pinched her nose, closed her eyes, drank most of the bowl in one breath, then started circling around the room with her neck pinched.

"Hahaha...so spicy...help...hahaha..."

Mustard Soup: "…"

These two, was it necessary?

He didn't drink as much as Gu Chi and the others in one gulp, but sipped it little by little, his eyebrows unconsciously relaxed, and he seemed to enjoy it.

This was a true warrior.

Never underestimate a homebody.

Gu Chi didn't say a word, gave Mustard Soup a thumbs up, and went to the window to observe the clock tower.

The hands on the blue dial moved faster than yesterday, and in the blink of an eye, it had passed ten rounds.

After ten rounds, the speed began to slow down.

Fatigue gradually invaded everyone's bodies.

The effect of one and a half doses of strong medicine was significant, the sleepiness tonight came nearly five minutes slower than last night.

Gu Chi immediately shouted to the room, "Keep drinking!"

Jiang Niao: "Hahaha...cheers!"

Mustard Soup: "Glug, glug."

After Ling Mao finished her portion, she took Gu Chi's bowl.

The four of them drank bowl after bowl.

Jiang Niao and Ling Mao almost vomited several times, all supported by a single thought - they couldn't vomit, if they vomited, they would sleep, and once they slept, it would be twenty years.

But, if they didn't sleep, would these twenty years really not fly away?

"Ding."

The hand on the blue dial stopped moving, exactly twenty rounds.

At the same time, the hand on the yellow dial below began to accelerate.

Gu Chi seemed to understand something, took out his phone and opened the clock.

The battery in the upper right corner was much less than yesterday, the numbers representing seconds on the screen were rolling crazily, and the minutes and hours were also constantly changing.

"Ding."

Another sound of the pointer seemed to ring directly in his mind.

The time froze at 06:00, and the stopwatch returned to normal.

A faint light rose from the horizon, heralding the imminent sunrise.

"So we made it?" Jiang Niao was overjoyed.

"It's already the second day, and it's almost dawn!"

"Hahaha...awesome, this soup is really awesome, it's worth drinking!"

Jiang Niao was already high-fiving Mustard Soup in celebration, and Ling Mao also showed a relieved smile.

They didn't notice at all, their temples were quietly turning white.

Only Gu Chi noticed this detail, his face slightly darkened, and he opened the calendar.

Today's date was - 5812, November 17.

...