Staring at the terrifying attack warning posted on the utility pole, Lu Ren frowned deeply and asked Xu Wenxing.
“Scroll down to the bottom of the post and see if anyone else has spotted this notice elsewhere.”
“No problem, let me check.”
Seeing Lu Ren’s expression, Xu Wenxing immediately sensed that something was wrong and quickly took back his phone, scrolling downward.
After just a few seconds, Xu Wenxing held his phone up to Lu Ren again and nodded solemnly.
“There are. Similar notices have appeared in other places, too.”
“Let me have a look…”
Lu Ren’s brows furrowed even tighter as he took Xu Wenxing’s phone and began scrolling through the post.
“I’ve got this notice here, too. I thought it was just a prank. [Picture]”
“Don’t overthink it. It’s obviously a prank. Who would be dumb enough to announce a terrorist attack in advance? They’re just playing at role playing, that’s all.”
“It doesn’t feel like a joke to me. There’s one of these notices pasted to the utility pole in my neighborhood, too. Who’s got that much free time to go around putting these up all over City A in one night? [Picture]”
“Maybe some rich guy messed up and wanted to lay low, so he hired people to put these things up?”
Below, the comments were a jumble of voices, some convinced it was a scam, others worried it was a real terror threat.
But no matter what, being able to put up so many alarming notices all over the place without anyone noticing was proof enough that whoever was behind this was no ordinary person.
Either it was really like the comments said, something done by some rich guy.
Or, just as others guessed, they truly were the Night Demon Apostles.
“Hiss…”
Lu Ren felt a headache coming on.
Right now, he could only hope this notice was just a rich guy getting people to paste it up, and not the work of the Night Demon Apostles themselves.
Otherwise, they’d be in serious trouble.
“What’s wrong, Brother Ren? Did you think of something?” Xu Wenxing looked at Lu Ren, lost in thought, and asked.
“…I remember that when we took the taxi here, we saw a utility pole with something similar, didn’t we?” Instead of answering, Lu Ren asked Xu Wenxing in return.
“Uh, I think there was. Brother Ren, are you planning to check if it’s real?” Xu Wenxing hesitated a little.
“That’s right, I want to see for myself.” Lu Ren picked up the official phone that had been given to him. “Wait for me. I’ll be back in a minute.”
“Okay, go ahead, Brother Ren.” Xu Wenxing nodded to Lu Ren, saying nothing more.
Lu Ren casually grabbed a slice of watermelon and, eating as he walked, headed for the utility pole he remembered.
About five minutes later, when he arrived near the utility pole, he saw several bored-looking people already taking photos of it, and even a few reporters with cameras.
Lu Ren made his way past them to stand before the pole, looking at the notice posted there.
“Dear humans…”
Seeing that this notice was almost exactly the same as the others, Lu Ren nodded slightly, took out his phone, snapped a picture, and sent it to the Secret Chat Group.
Since similar notices had appeared on almost every utility pole in City A, it was easy enough to draw a conclusion.
Without a doubt, this notice hadn’t been posted by ordinary humans—it was the work of those self-proclaimed Night Demon Apostles.
Though he didn’t know why they’d bother to warn everyone before an attack, letting them prepare.
But it didn’t matter. Now that he knew it was the Night Demon’s doing, things were easier to handle.
Lu Ren stuffed his phone back in his pocket and returned to the hot pot restaurant, sitting down in his seat again.
“Brother Ren, did you find one at the hot pot place too?”
Seeing Lu Ren return, Xu Wenxing quickly asked.
“I did. I just took a picture—take a look.” Lu Ren held up his new phone for Xu Wenxing to see.
Xu Wenxing inhaled sharply at the familiar words and turned to Lu Ren.
“Why do we have one here too… Brother Ren, do you think it’s a hoax, or is this for real?”
“I can’t say for sure, but I don’t think it’s a joke,” Lu Ren gave his opinion.
“So that means they’re really planning something? My god, are these people insane? Who runs a cult and launches attacks in this day and age?”
Xu Wenxing looked astonished, clearly never expecting anyone would dare to pull off a terror attack in broad daylight.
“Maybe they’re not people at all?” Lu Ren said with a slight smile.
“Not people… Brother Ren, you mean…” Xu Wenxing suddenly understood, too shocked to say another word.
“XXth of X month—today, in other words. Let’s just see what happens at three thirty this afternoon,” Lu Ren said casually. “If they really show up, I’ll go to the scene myself and cut down all those so-called Night Demon Apostles.”
“Brother Ren, we have class this afternoon, remember? You planning to skip again?” Xu Wenxing advised, “You still haven’t signed a contract with the Monster Response Department, so you can’t skip class without a proper reason. Why not tell Sapphire and the others and have them help out at the scene?”
“Hmm… that’s fine, too. Anyway, I’ve already sent them the photo—they should have gotten it by now,” Lu Ren nodded, accepting Xu Wenxing’s suggestion.
“Make sure you go to class, Brother Ren,” Xu Wenxing joked, “Otherwise you won’t have enough Full Attendance Points, and you’ll fail at the end of the semester.”
“That’s no big deal. I’ll ace the makeup exam. I’ll save myself from disaster,” Lu Ren waved his hand, looking relaxed.
“And don’t ask how you ended up in disaster, right?” Xu Wenxing laughed, teasing Lu Ren. Then, together, they continued eating hot pot.
Listening to Xu Wenxing’s teasing, Lu Ren shook his head, feeling much more at ease.
In a blink, more than half an hour had passed.
After Lu Ren and Xu Wenxing had eaten and drunk their fill, they took a cab back to the university and returned to their dorm for a short rest.
By the time it was almost three thirty in the afternoon, just before class, the two of them left the dorm and headed toward the Teaching Building.
Along the way, Lu Ren kept the official phone in hand, waiting for replies from Sapphire and Meteor.
Earlier, in the dorm, Lu Ren had already discussed the plan with them, hoping they could wait near the Elephant House of Xiangsen Changlin Zoo this afternoon and see if they could seize the opportunity to purify the so-called Night Demon Apostles in one go.
Having seen the notice themselves, Sapphire and Meteor also agreed with Lu Ren’s request, both feeling that the speed at which the notices were posted was too fast to be the work of humans.
The three of them were now of one mind.
So at this moment, Sapphire and Meteor were waiting inside Xiangsen Changlin Zoo for the Night Demon Apostles to show themselves.
Meanwhile, Lu Ren silently watched the seconds ticking by on his phone.
15:32, 15:33, 15:34…
Finally, as he approached the Teaching Building, the time on his phone changed to 15:35.
Lu Ren gripped the Red Star Pendant in his pocket, holding his phone in his right hand, ready to alert Sapphire and Meteor the moment he sensed any abnormal magical energy, so they could take immediate action.
A few dozen seconds later, after a long wait, the moment finally came when the pendant began to heat up in Lu Ren’s hand.
He was about to send the message he’d prepared in the chat, but just as his thumb pressed down on the send button, the pendant suddenly turned cold again.
“What…?”
Lu Ren stood frozen on the spot.
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