The Extinguished City

"All 99 squads: captains and vice-captains must record their routes at the sand table every day for the remaining time. Each of you must also select one team member as your replacement. If the captain dies, the vice-captain takes over. If the vice-captain dies, the replacement takes over." Qing Chen's cool voice echoed across Whale Island's midnight plaza.

Qing Chen said, "Remember, from the moment you cross over, your lives no longer belong to yourselves. Your only task is to lead your teammates in purchasing the supplies I assigned, then leave City No. 10 alive together—or reach the Lower Three Districts. Do you understand?"

"Understood!" the Time Walkers replied.

Qing Chen nodded. "Once this catastrophe is over, you will have truly grown up. I hope that when we return next time... I can still see you standing here."

To be honest, even Qing Chen felt a pang of pain when he said that. He knew very well what would happen during the coming week after they crossed over.

If things were truly as bad as he imagined, then there probably would not be many who could return alive...

Before leaving the plaza, Chen Zhuoqu suddenly said to the many Time Walkers in the crowd, "There should still be quite a few people here who, like me, once attempted the cliff challenge but backed down. Now that the forty-eight-hour limit for the second stage has passed, you can only challenge the third and fourth cliffs. But what I want to say is, it is never too late to start striving in life."

Chen Zhuoqu said, "Perhaps this won't reward you right now, but after you have experienced the helplessness between life and death, you must understand that the crisis we face this time will certainly come again in the future. A