The vehicle stopped outside the church gates.
But Colin had no intention of getting out just yet.
"If this doesn't involve anything deeper, and assuming this warning isn't fake, then six days from now there'll be a major operation targeting us 'Outsiders.' Its purpose can only be to kill us."
Wrapped in the Meditation Headband, Colin's mind raced as he sorted through everything in his head.
At the same time, he used the hint to check whether his guess was right.
[Based on what you know, you think that this is probably more or less what you suspected.]
Probably. Did that mean there was more hidden beneath the surface?
Colin thought it over, then decisively shook his head, casting aside these useless and dangerous "side" details.
"I've figured out its primary objective, but I don't yet know what it ultimately wants. That doesn't matter, though.
"Now that I've more or less confirmed its primary objective, what I need to do isn't complicated. I just have to do the opposite of what it wants. If it wants to kill people, then I'll save them.
"The only thing I can do now is improve the overall strength of the Survivors as much as possible, so that humanity as a whole will have a better chance of overcoming this disaster when it comes.
"Mm, one more thing. Given how this 'game' operates, every countdown should start at a whole number."
The Blood Red Countdown had appeared as if it had already been running for a while. That meant it hadn't just appeared recently; it had been there for some time.
It had simply been concealed until now. Only after he defeated the Lord-level Aberration and triggered some condition—or for some deeply buried reason he couldn't yet understand—had it finally been revealed.