Time Pincer Offensive!

Xu Jin was a fugitive?!

Lin Xu clearly remembered that the captain leading the rapid response unit had told him, "Xu Jin has already received the punishment he deserved."

Yet in the police system, he was still listed as a fugitive?

The information in the police system couldn't be wrong. So that captain had lied?

Indeed.

At the time, he had assumed Lin Xu was part of some extremist civilian group seeking revenge on Xu Jin. Giving him such a "reassuring" answer seemed perfectly reasonable.

But what exactly had Xu Jin done?

He tried to open the case file details, only to find that the refreshed page was completely blank.

At the center of that blank page were two words.

Top secret.

Insufficient clearance.

The clearance level of a rank-and-file police officer was not enough to view Xu Jin's case file.

Now that was telling...

If it had merely been an ordinary terrorist attack, the police system should have had records of it. After all, it would still fall within the scope of a social crime, something local police needed authority to handle.

But Xu Jin's case had clearly gone beyond the scope of a "social crime."

What, had he attacked a space base too? Was he planning to steal a spaceship to Mars?

Lin Xu's head throbbed. He returned to the initial page and continued searching for information on Xu Jin.

This time, he focused on the basic information.

His past work history could not be found, but his family details and social connections were available.

Parents, spouse, children...

Previous employers, religious beliefs, political affiliation...

Public security penalty records, litigation records...

Lin Xu rapidly committed every piece of information he saw to memory. Just then, he heard footsteps approaching from behind.

He glanced at the time displayed on the police handheld.

11:58.

There was no time.

So be it.

He exited the search page and turned off the police handheld's screen.

Then he stood up and turned toward the officer escorting the fleeing team member back. Waving like a helpful citizen, he said:

"Officer, are you looking for this?"

The officer looked at the police handheld in Lin Xu's hand, then asked:

"Where did you find it?"

"I picked it up right here. He knocked me over, and it fell here."

The officer took the police handheld from Lin Xu and complained:

"Damn it, these drunken lunatics are getting more lawless by the day... Oh, don't leave yet. Come inside with us later and assist with the investigation. I'll even get you a certificate for acting bravely."

"No need."

Lin Xu waved a hand.

"I'm out of time."

"You have to make time."

The officer's expression darkened.

Lin Xu froze for a moment.

I see. He figured out I'm an accomplice.

He had originally wanted to get friendly with him, to probe around and see if he could extract anything useful from the man.

But judging from the situation, that was clearly hopeless.

So Lin Xu simply gave up.

He obediently walked ahead of the officer, heading toward the police station.

Skullhead, who was still arguing with the officer at the entrance, caught sight of him. A flicker of surprise flashed through his eyes.

Lin Xu understood the unspoken message in that look.

It was the expression of someone disappointed in a failure.

He smiled and said:

"It's fine. Time's up anyway."

"Officer, the end of the world is about to arrive. At most, there are twenty seconds left."

"If you don't die immediately afterward, can you answer one question for me?"

"Remember, my question is: do you know Xu Jin? What did he do?"

The moment those words fell, the officer's expression changed instantly.

He looked at Lin Xu as though he were insane.

But at that very moment, white light flashed.

Lin Xu collapsed in agony. In the final instant before his consciousness faded away, he heard a sentence.

"I don't know!!"

Lin Xu opened his eyes and woke up in his own bed once again.

It was already one thirty in the afternoon, and his stomach was rumbling with hunger.

As he took out his phone to order delivery, Lin Xu updated the clue document with the information he had found about Xu Jin.

[First, Xu Jin is still at large and has not been captured.]

[Second, what Xu Jin did was not an ordinary social crime, and likely not merely a "terrorist attack" either, to the point that even the regular police system cannot access his case file.]

These two pieces of information were crucial, especially the first.

Think about it. Even in 2025, very few people could remain living in the country while wanted by the authorities. Twenty years later, with artificial intelligence and information systems even more widespread, it would be even more impossible to lie low domestically.

Either he had already fled abroad.

Or... perhaps, like Jiang Xingye, he was truly already on Mars.

Impressive.

You lunatics from the Planetary Reincarnation organization really did all go to Mars. You really did cross over to the other side, huh?

Lin Xu shook his head, then added several less important but newly memorized pieces of information about Xu Jin to the document.

His father was Xu Qianlin, and his mother was Zhang Wan.

There was only one listed employer: Jinling Materials Research Institute. However, his employment there only lasted until the end of 2028.

So it was possible that he left the materials institute in 2028 and joined the Planetary Reincarnation organization?

Uncertain.

He would leave it as a question for now.

Lin Xu marked that information as "secondary information."

He had sorted through most of the new information and clues by the time his delivery arrived.

After opening the door and collecting his food, Lin Xu ate while considering his next move.

By now, he could basically tell that the path of searching for information and clues through the bracelet had been blocked.

Whether it was Jiang Xingye or Xu Jin, their information was classified, and highly sensitive at that.

The moment anyone touched it, it would trigger an alert.

As for his own information?

That was even more of a black box.

He could find his résumé online. After confirming that he had once served as the CEO of Skyvault Technology, Lin Xu had also tried searching his own name online when he returned to Bracelet World to look for information.

But no matter how he looked at it, the results were merely an ordinary "career history of a professional manager."

And beyond those public channels, his future self had left no information for his self from twenty years earlier.

Not even a single diary.

Right. What normal person kept a diary?

Learning about himself would likewise require a rather tedious and complicated process.

Therefore, his information was actually in the same state as Jiang Xingye's and Xu Jin's.

It was not that it could not be found. The marginal benefit was simply too low.

He might need several, or even more than a dozen, attempts before he found even a trace of something useful.

Rather than doing that, he might as well start over from the beginning.

Changes in the real world could affect the future world, as long as they reached certain critical points.

If that was the case, he would focus on "changing the real world" for now.

What was that called?

Time Pincer Offensive!

Lin Xu swallowed the last bite of his braised pork trotter rice with satisfaction. The number on his bracelet was 2, and the number on his computer clock was also 2.

Before meeting Jiang Xingye that evening and having dinner with her, he still had time to enter Bracelet World once more.

Lin Xu rested for a bit, then lay down on the bed. He was just about to raise his hand and touch the bracelet to enter the other world when, at that instant, he suddenly took out his phone as if possessed.

Then, he opened his browser and entered the name "Xu Qianlin" into the search bar.

—He had always felt that the name sounded familiar.

But he had no idea where he had seen it before.

Half a second later, the results appeared.

Lin Xu's eyes widened instantly.

"Xu Qianlin: Researcher at the General Design Department of the China Institute of Space Technology."

"Chief designer of the Zhurong Mars rover."

Zhurong!