# 775
Chapter 776: Twelve Minutes
"So it really is the ability to control mirror objects..."
Guan Zai touched it with his finger.
Seeing this, the Silver-Robed Oracle Envoy standing below was shocked, his jaw dropping...
What happened?
How did the spear just suddenly stop?!
This scene completely exceeded the Silver-Robed Oracle Envoy's understanding. Whether it was the code that suddenly appeared in the void, or the tampering with the physical laws of the entire area, it all gave him an extreme sense of unreality...
How could this happen?
Before the Silver-Robed Oracle Envoy could regain his composure, Guan Zai raised his hand again and tapped in the air for a moment. Several more lines of code flashed across the void.
"Target selected."
"Administrator permissions unlocked. Target braking capability restored. Modifying physics engine..."
"Physics engine modification complete. Setting parameters... Target vector direction inverted. Kinetic energy doubled. Pointer direction locked. Initiating execution..."
Guan Zai's finger gently came to rest.
The suspended mirror javelin before him suddenly moved again!
However, this time it wasn't thrusting toward Guan Zai—it was instead shooting out in the opposite direction, directly toward the Silver-Robed Oracle Envoy who had thrown it!
Boom—!!
With the double kinetic energy bonus, the mirror javelin instantly shattered the sound barrier. An invisible blast rolled through the air, and in the blink of an eye, it arrived before the Silver-Robed Oracle Envoy!
The Silver-Robed Oracle Envoy's pupils constricted sharply.
Relying on the enhanced physique from his cybernetic modifications, he rapidly dodged to the side, but the mirror javelin seemed to have completely locked onto him. It adjusted its trajectory as well, continuing to thrust toward his chest!
Boom—!!!
The mirror javelin crashed down. A deafening explosion rang out from within Sunken Dragon Pass. The invisible shockwave sent the clothes of several Night Watch members and military personnel in the distance fluttering wildly. They stabilized their bodies against the force while gazing at the battlefield in shock, their eyes filled with admiration.
Guan Zai was truly worthy of his reputation!
This was a complete domination!
Gradually, the dust settled. In the devastated landscape, a slender, sharp mirror javelin was deeply embedded in the ground. Its tip had pinned most of the Silver-Robed Oracle Envoy's body and one mechanical arm to the earth. The metal skeleton had been completely deformed, and faint electrical sparks flickered across its surface.
But the vast majority of the Silver-Robed Oracle Envoy's body had already vanished.
"Did he escape?" Guan Zai observed this, slightly stunned. He scanned the surroundings, confirming the man hadn't fled from Sunken Dragon Pass, and bewilderment appeared in his eyes. "How did he get away?"
After a moment of hesitation, Guan Zai pressed down on his baseball cap with one hand and lightly hopped down from the sky into the deep crater the javelin had carved out.
In the crater, the Silver-Robed Oracle Envoy's figure was indeed nowhere to be found.
Guan Zai furrowed his brow slightly. He raised his hand once more and tapped in the void.
"Enabling administrator permissions. Retrieving backend data..."
After a moment, dense lines of code surged before Guan Zai's eyes like a tide. He gazed up at this code, his pupils vibrating at high frequency, as if reading the information contained within.
This code was a record of everything that had happened in this area over the past five seconds—essentially a "history log."
Through this code-formatted "history log," Guan Zai could deduce everything that had occurred at some point in the past within this space, naturally including the Mirror Calamity's escape process.
A few seconds later, Guan Zai seemed to discover something. Understanding flickered in his eyes.
"The physics engine was altered... that person passed through a mirror into another world?" Guan Zai turned his head, looking at a piece of mirror fragment on the ground nearby. He walked over and bent down to pick it up. "He moved pretty fast."
Guan Zai sighed.
Through writing code, he could indeed alter the rules within a region, but it was impossible for him to enter the mirror world.
He couldn't track the Mirror Calamity within that realm, but someone could...
It seemed he should go find a certain delivery guy later.
Guan Zai tucked this mirror into his chest and walked out of the crater. His gaze swept over Lu Qiu and the others nearby as he asked, "None of you are injured, I hope?"
"No, no. Thanks to Mr. Guan arriving just in time, none of us are hurt." Lu Qiu stepped forward and respectfully addressed Guan Zai. "I'm the former deputy captain of Night Watch Squad 066, Lu Qiu. I'm currently serving as the acting commander of this Sunken Dragon Pass."
"Mm, you've worked hard." Guan Zai gave a slight nod. "Since the matter has been resolved, I'll be taking my leave. This mysterious individual's background is not simple—we must capture him as quickly as possible."
"Understood."
After a brief farewell with Lu Qiu and the others, lines of code floated from around Guan Zai's body. His figure flickered and vanished from the spot.
Lu Qiu surveyed the ruined communications tower and main control room, sighing helplessly.
"Send the emergency repair team over. Restore communications first, then repair the main control room." Lu Qiu turned to glance at the Mist Border beyond the steel walls, speaking solemnly, "We're at the front lines of the Mist Border. No matter what, we must restore communications with headquarters first. Otherwise, if something truly major happens, we won't be able to transmit any information...
Three hours. If the communications aren't restored within three hours, have that repair team resign themselves."
"Does it need to be that urgent?" A military expert walked over, somewhat puzzled. "The last major 'Mystery' invasion was half a year ago. Even if there's a second beast tide, it couldn't possibly coincide so conveniently with our communications failure, right?"
Lu Qiu's brow furrowed. He turned back to face this expert, walking up to him step by step.
"Are you joking with me?"
The expert froze. "What?"
Lu Qiu extended his hand, pointing toward a certain direction beyond Sunken Dragon Pass, and spoke coldly: "Three hundred kilometers behind this pass are several crucial coastal cities of Great Xia. If the beast tide breaches the border and we fail to transmit the message at the first moment, there will be a twelve-minute information vacuum...
Do you know what these twelve minutes represent?"
Lu Qiu took a deep breath and spoke slowly:
"By the third minute, the beast tide will have crossed this sea and appeared at the edges of coastal cities.
By the fifth minute, seven coastal cities will have been completely destroyed by the beast tide. Over ninety million citizens will perish within them. Countless families will be torn apart. The accumulated wealth of these cities spanning centuries will be reduced to nothing.
By the twelfth minute, two provinces will have fallen... Casualties will be beyond counting.
During the first catastrophic beast tide half a year ago, if it hadn't been for Wang Mian, captain of the [Mask] Squad, who traveled back half an hour at the moment the beast tide appeared on the coast to foresee that disaster, if several special squads and Human Apex hadn't acted together...
What I just described would have been the final outcome Great Xia would have suffered."
The expert was stunned. After a long while, he asked in confusion:
"But... don't we have gods guarding Great Xia?"