Chapter Eleven Countdown Eleven
[“Calamity’s d*ath” Countdown: 72H44M58S]
Shengjing.
Just after ten o’clock in the morning, shortly past the morning peak, a young man pushed open the wooden door of a café about three kilometers from the Siye Association Headquarters and jingled the brass bell on the door.
“Jingle—!”~
The office workers who hurried in and out left the café in disarray, with the owner and staff busy cleaning up. Hearing the bell, the owner raised his head, saw the young man entering the shop, and broke into a friendly smile.
“Same as usual?”
The young man appeared at the entrance, dressed in trendy clothes, looking sunny and handsome, but with his hair dyed a strange deep green. He was a familiar customer of this café…
For more than a month recently, he had come almost every morning, sitting in the corner by the window, most of the time fiddling with incomprehensible codes on his laptop, and occasionally “dating” a woman resembling a jasmine flower.
“Yeah, same as usual.” The young man grinned at the staff, revealing his neat, white teeth, “A latte with double sugar and double milk, and a pot of floral tea… But I’m not in a hurry. You clean up first.”
After speaking, he walked to his familiar corner by the window and sat down, taking out his laptop and placing it on the table without opening it. He merely rested his chin on his hand, watching the street outside where the passersby were dwindling, quietly waiting.
While waiting, his fingers gently tapped on the laptop’s exterior, and with the soft “tap tap” sounds, his eyes gradually dimmed, and a maze of dark green letters flashed faintly in the depths of his pupils.
Since the Yumen Pass incident, he had developed some relationship with the Wordless Book, and Void often met her privately. After many meetings, this café, not far from the Siye Association Headquarters—”Monday Nine Roasting”—had become their regular meeting place.
Most of the time, it was Void who initiated the invitation, but the Wordless Book might not always show up…
As a guardian of the Siye Association, she had many matters to attend to every day and didn’t have so much time to handle Void’s entanglements.
Although every meeting, Void could provide her with some useful intelligence, but… gathering intel like this was better done by accumulating a few times, and when Void had sorted and summarized the information, they could meet again and take it all at once, right?
On rare occasions, like today, when Void received an active invitation from the Wordless Book, it meant she would certainly meet that beautiful elder sister.
After a while, as the Wordless Book, dressed in professional attire and looking like a workplace elite, appeared across the street, Void’s eyes regained their sparkle. He stood up and waved continually at her, a broad smile of joy on his face.
Seeing that, the older owner, who was preparing the latte and floral tea, revealed a knowing smile, secretly sighing: Young people in love are always so wonderful!
“Jingle—!”~
The bell at the door rang again as the beautiful woman, who seemed to have an aura that kept people at a distance, walked into the shop. He secretly added in his mind: Still a brother-sister relationship, how interesting!
“Tap tap tap…”
The sound of high heels clicking on the tiles echoed as the Wordless Book sat down across from the excited Void. She took out a USB drive from her handbag and slid it across the table towards Void, then adjusted her golden-rimmed glasses, expressionless, and said, “Help me edit a video?”
Although the Siye Association had long been short-staffed, theoretically, finding someone reliable to edit a video shouldn’t be too difficult…
However, it was better to have a professional do professional work; perhaps only with Void’s hand could the edited video ensure that no one or urban legend could detect any signs of editing.
Additionally, the divine powers displayed during battles between two calamity grade entities would not greatly affect cameras and video data, but it was a tremendous burden for ordinary operatives of the Siye Association.
The most common similar examples were the “Guardian Spirits” pasted on doorways during the New Year and amulets made in reference to certain mythological urban legends, which could be worn at any time. They served the purpose of protecting people, relying on a trace of divine power contained within the images and sculptures…
Previously, when the Wordless Book sought the assistance of Siye Association operatives to edit these videos, they found it impossible to face the terrifying scenes of clashes between the two calamity grade entities for long periods, resulting in very low efficiency.
After careful consideration, the Wordless Book felt that only Void could complete this task efficiently and with guaranteed confidentiality.
Void stared blankly at the USB drive in front of him, then at the Wordless Book, tilting his head and asking, “Me? Edit a video? What video?”
As the most powerful internet urban legend in the world, Void could essentially do anything as long as there was internet and electronic devices available, and now he was being asked to do something like video editing…
Wasn’t this a bit of overkill?
It was like using a lightsaber to fight primitive people.
“Just a Siye Association promotional video.” The Wordless Book slightly frowned, “What, is it difficult for you?”
“Of course not!” Void patted his chest, “It’s just a promotional video, I can handle it.”
As he spoke, he picked up the USB drive on the table, and the moment his fingertips touched it, he completed reading the data within.
Upon glimpsing the horrifying video lasting over twenty hours, Void’s mouth twitched violently, and his hand holding the USB trembled, cold sweat appearing on his forehead.
A minute ago, he had thought the “promotional video” the Wordless Book mentioned was something akin to an “enrollment short video,” only to realize now that he was completely wrong…
Extremely wrong!
“……”
[Black Emperor] and Calamity engaged in a deadly clash…
You call this a promotional video for the Siye Association?!
Promoting the martial integrity of the Siye Association, the incredible combat power of [Black Emperor]? Void thought.
Although in those videos, Calamity died in various ways over fifty times, making it evident that they were faking it, even if it wasn’t an actual life-and-d*ath struggle, the clash of divine powers between two calamity grade entities could still impact those with insufficient strength or urban legends through the visual footage.
Some videos could make people excited after watching, some could bring people to tears, while others could cause psychological pollution and physiological discomfort.
No one knew this better than Void.
“Earlier, you said there were no problems, right? Then let’s get to work! Time is tight, after editing the video, you need to hurry and send it to [Black Emperor] for processing…”
“By the way! Make it good, at least to the extent that it looks seamless to those below calamity grade, as well as the vast majority of calamity grade entities… This shouldn’t be a problem, right?”
“Once this task is done, I have other things for you to do.”
Just as Void was in a daze, the Wordless Book’s voice floated to him.
Void, “……” Sorry, sister, I might have been a bit loud just now. Can I take that back?
————
[“Calamity’s d*ath” Countdown: 71H03M14S]
Over an hour later, having consumed a lot of spirit energy, Void finally completed the video editing, feeling as though he had been emptied out, leaning back against the café’s sofa, his face slightly pale, with beads of sweat covering his forehead.
“Finished…” he looked at the Wordless Book and spoke, his voice trembling slightly.
“Mm.” The Wordless Book nodded, took the USB drive from the table, and placed it in her handbag, calmly saying, “Thank you for your hard work, but your task isn’t over yet… After I hand the edited video to [Black Emperor] for processing, I’ll need you to help spread the processed video around.”
As she spoke, she stood up, seemingly about to walk out of the café.
At that moment, Void suddenly made an unexpected move.
“Wait, don’t go yet!”
Watching the Wordless Book turn her back, Void furrowed his brow, pondering for a few seconds, sat up, stretched out his hand, and gripped the Wordless Book’s wrist tightly.
Earlier, a member of the Solar Eclipse Association Elder Group had visited him in his lair, suggesting that the Elder Group was interested in trading with him, which prompted him to start investigating the few suspected spiritual ability users or urban legends related to world destruction mentioned in the intelligence provided by the Elder Group…
After some investigation, he had indeed uncovered some things.
For the past few days, he had been hesitating about whether to share the information he had collected with the Wordless Book, but after meeting her, he finally made up his mind and chose to act.
Suddenly grabbed by the wrist, the Wordless Book paused in surprise, turned around, and examined Void for a moment, as if finally understanding something. She nodded, arranged a few strands of hair that had fallen to the side of her face, and sat down next to Void, expressionless as she took out a handkerchief.
Although Void’s divine power represented a potential huge threat to her powers, at the same time, Void was also someone she was trying very hard to win over.
It seemed appropriate to give a little suitable comfort after having someone she wanted to win over handle a task?
So, under the astonished and confused gaze of Void, she gently used the lightly sandalwood-scented handkerchief to wipe away the beads of sweat from his forehead, then folded the handkerchief and stood back up.
“Is that okay? If everything’s fine, I’ll go back to work now.”
Void, “？？？”
What is this? What’s okay? Although it feels pretty good, is that really what I asked for?
Thinking this, while the Wordless Book’s wrist was still not free from his grasp, he quickly used the subtle connection of their divine powers to send information to the Wordless Book.
As a result, a phantom light screen unfolded before her eyes, with lines similar to a chat box appearing in her vision…
[Void: “The Solar Eclipse Association Elder Group seems to be plotting something regarding world destruction factors. Recently, I’ve collected some reliable intel and think it’s necessary to tell you…”]
“……” The Wordless Book looked at Void, wanting to say something but hesitating, then allowed him to hold her slender wrist and silently sat back in her seat.
