As the hourglass shifted, a few new prompts indeed appeared before Qiu Tu.
[Congratulations on successfully surviving the recent crisis and earning Yan Chen's preliminary trust.]
[However, naturally suspicious as he is, he was not completely convinced by the lie you fabricated—after all, your story still contains flaws that cannot withstand scrutiny.]
[Therefore, he plans to visit Qin Shuman's residence tonight to interrogate you in person.]
[You will have five hours to prepare.]
[Weave all your lies as tightly as possible and gather suitable evidence to fight for a glimmer of hope.]
[You would not want to know the consequences of failure.]
Once the prompts finished scrolling, the original countdown hourglass slowly transformed into a gently wobbling little treasure chest. Another countdown hourglass popped up beside the chest, settling alongside it.
[04:59:50]
Watching the new countdown, Qiu Tu remained silent for a few seconds, then broke into a faint smile.
He had known that given Yan Chen's suspicious nature, the man wouldn't be fooled so easily.
This was a game of walking a tightrope with his life on the line; how could it be passed so simply?
Still, five hours was vastly better than the two minutes he had just had. At least it gave him time to do a few other things. For instance...
Thoroughly investigate his golden finger.
With that thought, Qiu Tu turned his gaze toward the newly appeared chest icon and tapped it experimentally.
The next second, the chest popped open and vanished, replaced by a translucent, sea-blue stone.
At the same time, two small prompts refreshed before his eyes.
[Crisis survived. Treasure chest reward acquired: Aurora Stone.]
[Aurora Stone: An important Cataclysm material. Combined with other requisite materials, it can be used to craft a variety of Cataclysm potions and Cataclysm items. Examples include: "Cataclysm Potion," "Runed Skull," "Elder Sign," "Shining Trapezohedron," etc.]
Looking at the two prompts, Qiu Tu stared in silence for a few seconds before his brow slowly furrowed.
Cataclysm materials?
Cataclysm potions? Runed Skulls? The Shining Trapezohedron?
This wasn't an ordinary world; supernatural power existed here? This was clearly outside Qiu Tu's expectations.
At once, he quickly combed through the memories in his head, yet found not a single shred of information related to supernatural power.
Whether through official announcements released by the sanctuaries or the rumors circulating in the zones pending planning, there had never been word that extraordinary power existed in this world.
The armed forces of this world still relied primarily on firearms, with agriculture and industry serving as its core sectors.
Even the major sanctuaries were reportedly built on abandoned pre-Cataclysm munitions factories, massive farms, or industrial complexes.
*What is going on? Could it be... that supernatural power isn't widely known in this world?*
*Then... do the major sanctuaries know about it?*
Pondering this, Qiu Tu quickly reviewed his memories once more.
This time, he soon caught a few subtle traces.
The first clue came from a colleague who had been seconded to City Hall.
He had mentioned that while City Hall accepted refugees fleeing from the Cataclysm Zones for free, it had a peculiar requirement for them: they had to map out and mark every area dense with flora and fauna along their escape routes.
The second clue had been whispered to him by a black market trader while Qiu Tu was collecting kickbacks there.
The trader had said that the Military Department—one of the three major factions in Xinjie City—had been secretly gathering materials in the Cataclysm Zones near the city, but no one knew what they were collecting.
The third clue was a remark Yan Chen had made while drunk.
In his memory, Yan Chen had unexpectedly received a commendation from above one day and thrown a small celebratory banquet. At the gathering, slightly inebriated, he had clapped the shoulder of the man beside him with great gusto and said, "The Cataclysm may have destroyed human civilization, but it also granted mankind new opportunities."
Afterward, when someone asked what he meant, Yan Chen merely smiled and said nothing. The very next day, he flatly denied ever saying such a thing.
Because these three incidents were so disjointed, and because the mid-to-high-level administrators sent down from the sanctuaries were always shrouded in secrecy, Qiu Tu hadn't thought much of it before.
Now, however, piecing everything together, something felt distinctly off.
*Could it be... that extraordinary powers truly emerged in this world because of the Cataclysm? And the sanctuaries already possess this power?*
*Could the real reason they established all these zones pending planning be to harvest various Cataclysm materials and precious resources?*
The more he analyzed it, the more Qiu Tu felt his hypothesis was likely correct.
Furthermore, this train of thought led him to consider even more.
If the sanctuaries truly had a method to make humans evolve and acquire supernatural powers, then could Commissioner Jiang of the Municipal Council, the big shot from the Military Department, and Yan Chen all possess such powers?
After all, they were key figures entrusted with vital missions, dispatched to carry out duties in a dangerous territory like a zone pending planning...
Thinking this through, Qiu Tu felt the weight of the pressure mount instantly.
No one knew what form or discipline this world's supernatural powers took, nor what formidable, bizarre, or miraculous effects they possessed.
And that would make his situation far more dangerous.
After pondering silently for a while, Qiu Tu took a deep breath and exhaled the crushing stress.
*Forget it. No use overthinking. Better to keep investigating the golden finger first.*
Casting those worries aside, he shifted his focus back to the upper-left corner of his vision.
Tapping the chest earlier had yielded a reward, which encouraged him.
He reached out and began poking aimlessly at the icons and text prompts in that corner.
After tapping five or six times, a prompt actually sprang up before his eyes.
[Golden Finger Name]: Crisis Sense (Unbound, Refreshable)
[Golden Finger Type]: Triggered
[Golden Finger Effect]: When a major crisis is encountered, Crisis Sense activates and provides corresponding crisis prompts. If the crisis is successfully survived, a reward corresponding to the crisis can be obtained.
[Available Refreshes]: 0
Qiu Tu: "??!"
*Surprises really are everywhere!*
Qiu Tu could swear he had only been tapping randomly so he wouldn't miss any possibilities; he hadn't harbored much real hope.
Yet he had actually tapped open something incredible.
What was this?
The "true form" of his golden finger?
Studying the panel before him for a moment, Qiu Tu grasped the general idea of what it was.
If he wasn't mistaken, he was different from ordinary transmigrators.
Most transmigrators had only a single, fixed cheat, and whatever they got was purely random. It might be useful, or it might be useless.
His golden finger, however, could either be bound permanently or "refreshed"!
Keep the cheats he liked, and reroll the ones he didn't. This was practically the most overpowered golden finger imaginable!
The only pity was that the conditions for refreshing remained unknown.
*Looks like I'll need to keep looking into this.*
With that in mind, Qiu Tu resumed his frantic tapping spree.
Perhaps his luck had truly run dry, however, because no matter how he tapped this time, the display showed no response at all.
*Probably haven't met the trigger condition, right?*
Realizing this, Qiu Tu stopped fussing over the golden finger.
Having been given a second chance at life, his mindset was very grounded: he had died once already anyway, so being able to cross over into this new world and live even a second longer was pure profit!
If he had a cheat, he would use it; if he didn't, he would fight with his own two hands!
No fretting over gains and losses, no unnecessary pressure—just living this new life to the fullest!
Smiling at the thought, Qiu Tu straightened his clothes, opened the bathroom door, and stepped out, preparing to meet the "ally" who was still asleep in his bed...
[04:52:03]
Chapter 3