It was strange.

For some unknown reason, the Big Eyeballs didn’t harm animals.

This was what Ban Xia had observed. The herbivores living in the Qinhuai district area were still going about their normal activities. While their activity frequency had decreased somewhat, that was a normal phenomenon caused by dropping temperatures and seasonal changes. A herd of wild cattle had a movement pattern from Nanjing Agricultural University to Meihua Villa and then to Xuanwu Bay, wandering back and forth for their daily walks. Ban Xia was quite familiar with them. After the Big Eyeballs appeared, this herd’s movements weren’t disturbed at all, and their numbers hadn’t decreased – they still made their daily back-and-forth wandering strolls.

Ban Xia observed for two consecutive days, confirming that the wild cattle truly didn’t seem to care about these suddenly appearing Big Eyeballs.

It wasn’t just the wild cattle who didn’t care – other animals didn’t either.

“BG, what does this mean?”

“Does it mean the Big Eyeballs only target humans?” Yang Yang thought for a moment. “They’re not interested in other creatures, Young Miss. OVER.”

“Why?”

Ban Xia leaned back, frowning in the darkness.

She found this very abnormal. If a huge threat appeared in the Qinhuai district, animals with their sensitive perceptions would be the first to notice. The Big Eyeballs were very dangerous unknown objects – they were the culprits behind humanity’s extinction. So why weren’t the animals afraid of them?

“Are you asking why the Big Eyes only target humans, Young Miss?” Yang Yang said. “We’re thinking about this question too. The decryption team is analyzing the drafts the teacher left behind. For now, we can assume that the Black Moon and the Big Eyes came to destroy humanity, but we still don’t know why they want to destroy humanity. OVER.”

The girl let out a long breath.

This was a crucial question – why did the Black Moon descend, and why did the Big Eyeballs want to exterminate humans? It directly related to whether the people of 2019 could reverse the future. Without an answer to this question, everyone was still shooting in the dark.

The decryption team had taken on a heavy responsibility. The teacher’s manuscripts were currently their only source of information, but drafts were just drafts – there was only so much material to go through. The decryption team had worn the drafts ragged, blown up every character to the size of baskets, and posted them on walls, secluding themselves like Dharma in meditation, facing the wall in deep contemplation day after day, staring with hope that one day they’d suddenly achieve enlightenment.

Currently, the decryption team can confirm very little information. One point was that the Black Moon might have a major connection to the galactic center – they didn’t rule out the possibility that the galactic center was the Black Moon’s source. Old Zhao had already submitted requests hoping to mobilize domestic and international astronomical observation resources to monitor the galactic center, hoping to discover something unusual. But this was a monumentally huge plan. The Shanghai Observatory protested: Do you even know what you’re talking about? The galactic center is an enormous structure on the scale of 6,000 light-years, and it’s 26,000 light-years away from us. We can only see what was there 26,000 years ago – what exactly do you want us to look at?

Old Zhao said look at whatever you want, just point the telescopes that way.

The Shanghai Observatory angrily protested that this was amateurs directing professionals.

The other piece of information the decryption team could confirm was 25,473,000 – twenty-five million four hundred and seventy-three thousand. They believed this number represented a quantity.

It was the teacher’s estimate of the total number of Big Eyes that had once descended upon Earth.

This number was terrifying, large enough to inspire despair.

Based on a global population of 6.5 billion people, if the Black Moon deployed 25 million Big Eyes on Earth, then each Big Eye would only need to kill 260 people to completely exterminate all humans on Earth.

“Oh right, Young Miss, there’s another word we found in the teacher’s drafts. The decryption team can’t figure out what it means and asked me to check with you. OVER,” Yang Yang said.

“Go ahead.”

“Fruit,” Yang Yang said. “Does this word ring any bells? OVER.”

“Fruit?”

The girl was startled.

Fruit? Like apples? Pears?

She put down her handset and took the old, yellowed “Journey to the West” from the bookshelf. Using a small flashlight, she turned to the specified page according to BG4MXH’s page number. Under the small white circle of the flashlight beam, Ban Xia saw the word “fruit” – it was starkly written in red pen on the margin of the page. Whether due to a broken pen tip while writing or not, the red ink had spread into a large stain, like dark red blood, making these two characters appear as if they were soaking in a pool of blood. Ban Xia must have seen it before, but she hadn’t paid much attention.

“BG, I don’t know what this word means. The teacher never mentioned it to me when he was here,” Ban Xia shook her head. “Does this word have some special meaning?”

“I don’t know either,” the boy in the earphones sounded a bit helpless. “The information in the drafts is too chaotic and scattered, but the decryption team thinks this word is important. OVER.”

“Are your shoulders sore? Want me to massage them?”

Suddenly, a young woman’s voice faintly came through the earphones.

Ban Xia’s ears immediately perked up.

“No… no… I’m talking right now, Sister Qiao!”

“Who was that?” Ban Xia asked. “BG, who was just speaking?”

“It’s the counselor, the counselor sent by the higher-ups. She just arrived today. No, no, no, no, no – are you trying to kill me? My shoulder’s about to dislocate, ah, ah, it’s going to dislocate, help, it’s dislocated, it’s dislocated…”

Then Ban Xia heard a crisp bone crack, followed by piercing screams like a pig being slaughtered.

The sound made Ban Xia’s little head duck down.

“Look at this weak frame of yours,” Lian Qiao snorted, giving Yang Yang a push on the back. “With this build, how do you expect to shoulder the responsibility of saving human society? The revolutionary cause will fail before your body gives out. Starting tomorrow, wake up at 5:30 AM and run five kilometers with me.”

“You want my life,” Yang Yang grimaced, massaging his shoulders and back. “Counselor, Sister Qiao, you’re bringing the heat as the new boss – giving me new tasks before you’ve even started anything else?”

“Training your will, strengthening your body – you call that a task?” Lian Qiao turned to leave. “Don’t forget, tomorrow at 5:30 AM. I’ll wait for you downstairs.”

“5:40!”

“5:30.”

“5:35! Considering I’m working hard through the night, please give me five minutes grace, just five minutes!”

Lian Qiao stood at the door, stared at Yang Yang for a moment, then nodded: “Alright, five minutes then.”

She was about to leave when Yang Yang called out again:

“Wait, Sister Qiao!”

“What is it?”

“Um… could you show us that thing again?” Yang Yang asked. “You know, that thing.”

“What thing?”

“That super cool thing that left us all stunned – catching the xiaolongbao with one hand in mid-air!” Yang Yang was eager to try. “I have some frisbees here, how about I throw some for you to catch?”

Lian Qiao’s face darkened.

“Tomorrow morning, wake up at 5:25!”

Ignoring Yang Yang’s wails, Lian Qiao left his room. When she entered the living room, Zhao Bowen had just returned from a meeting. Old Zhao hurriedly came in and sat on the sofa, sweating profusely.

“Damn these bastards, they’re making my scalp tingle.”

“What happened?” Bai Zhen and Wang Ning asked.

“Simply put, some people think we’re being too wishy-washy. Instead of all this planning, they think we should just expand the military across the board, turn the cities into fortresses and strongholds, and when the Black Moon comes, give it one hell of a fight.”