Several seconds later, a black, humanoid object slowly rose from the shadows on the ground. It was about two meters tall, and its body was wrapped in solidified darkness, like a three-dimensional "shadow." But it was clearly not a regional optical phenomenon caused by an object blocking light; it was a true entity existing in three-dimensional space.

"The analogy of a puddle outside a river…" Feng Bujue disregarded Samael's less-than-stellar entrance and continued his previous topic as if nothing had happened. "…is more accurately described as a whirlpool outside the River of Time."

"Although Einstein said that time and space are just illusions of human perception, merely parameters for describing the movement of matter, in this magical world, we can treat them as something more concrete. It's something that must be kept running at all times, like water in a river, always flowing. If the water stops flowing, then the river can no longer be called a river."

"Based on this view, since Samael has extracted this space, he must also extract a portion of 'time.' Otherwise, everything in this space will be static, including himself. But the amount of water he can draw from the 'river' is limited; he only managed to get thirty minutes. These thirty minutes belong only to this city and will cycle endlessly. Each time the cycle ends, there will be a few seconds of nothingness as a buffer. Those moments of darkness are the points where the segments of the circular timeline connect. After passing through the buffer point, it's a new cycle."

The circle of shadows beneath Samael began to move, his humanoid body advancing along with the black circle connected to his feet, approaching the five players.

"Jue-ge, any suggestions?" Wang Tanzhi didn't dare to act rashly and quickly asked for advice.

The others were also waiting for Feng Bujue to say something.

"We probably don't need to do anything special…" Feng Bujue said. "Given the current plot development, the difficulty definitely won't be higher than choosing to go through the door." He continued, "Stop interrupting; I haven't finished yet. In summary, the coming of darkness is just a phenomenon that occurs when reaching the connecting point of the timeline, not some action carried out by Samael."

"But why do the monsters get stronger every time the darkness descends? There's only one reason: that short period of dark buffer, which doesn't belong to the time loop, is the only time Samael can exert his full power. He can only do something in those few seconds, such as distributing power to the demons or instantly devouring the humans in the city. Of course, before we arrived, he had already devoured everyone in the city, and we are so-called 'outsiders,' so he can't devour us."

"Are you saying… the Samael in front of us isn't strong? At least weaker than the Boss we might have encountered after going through the Demon Gate?" Long Aomin asked.

"To give an example, it's as if we are inside a balloon, as weak as ants, while Samael is outside the balloon, as strong as a human. The inside and outside of the balloon are two insurmountable dimensions. He can't puncture the balloon, he can only blindly grab at it from outside the balloon with his hand. What we see now is just the outline of his finger pushing against the outside of the balloon." Feng Bujue stroked his chin and said, "But I personally believe… even so, his current strength is definitely not as weak as you say; it's still easy for him to kill us."

"Hey! Then why are you saying so much with such a relaxed expression! Run!" Lonely Little Guy grabbed Lonely Girl and turned to flee.

Before they could take a few steps, they heard a system prompt: \[Worldview has been deciphered, player: Feng Bujue, awarded 240 skill points. The team can now view the world rules of this scenario in the extended options of the task menu.]

"If I didn't hurry up and 'say' it, how would I get these skill points?" Feng Bujue said. "Worldview decryption must be spoken aloud for the system to register it."

The black shadow that Samael had transformed into was now about ten meters away from Feng Bujue, but Feng Bujue still had no intention of running: "Besides, didn't I say that we don't need to do anything special? Since the Demon Gate has already closed…"

At that moment, the black shadow suddenly accelerated, and the volume of the humanoid object in the black circle instantly increased several times, turning into a huge black hand that swiftly pressed down towards Feng Bujue.

But at the last moment, the big hand froze in mid-air, motionless.

"Judging from the title…" Feng Bujue slightly lowered his head and walked out from under the black hand with ease. "…the [Master of Time] should be a guy who is never late."

Soon, Samael's black shadow began to shrink rapidly, as if a huge force was pulling it into the space-time opposite the pool of shadows.

\[One day… you… will… pay… the price… it won't… be long… ]

"Heh… that's not good. Generally, saying lines like that means that this villain will reappear sooner or later," Feng Bujue laughed.

The part of the black shadow protruding from the ground struggled frantically like a beast falling into a swamp, and then was completely pulled back. Then, the black circular shadow on the ground began to gradually shrink, disappearing completely after more than ten seconds.

\[Travelers from another world, thank you for what you have done. After this place is purified, I can draw water and return it to its source, allowing it to flow back into the River of Time.]

A voice different from Samael's appeared in everyone's minds. This voice sounded typical; most of the older wise men in games have this kind of voice.

\[You have received a reward from the Master of Time. Please check the settlement screen.] The system voice then rang out.

\[The current task has been completed. All main tasks have been completed.]

\[You have completed this scenario. Automatic teleportation will occur in 180 seconds.]

The automatic teleportation time limit for team mode is relatively long, apparently considering that players may need to communicate.

Wang Tanzhi immediately sat down on the ground. His tense nerves relaxed, and his fear value finally returned to the bottom.

Lonely and Lonely also breathed a sigh of relief. The feeling of surviving to the end for the first time was really great.

Long Aomin appeared relatively calm. He put away his weapon and shield, and while there was still a minute left, he said to Feng Bujue, "Brother Feng." The address had changed back to Brother Feng at this point. "I still have a question that I don't understand."

Feng Bujue said, "What is it?"

"It's a question about time," Long Aomin said. "As you said, since we entered the scenario, we haven't seen any clocks or timing devices. Then how did you calculate how much time passed between the two times the darkness fell? I remember you said 'about thirty minutes' when we arrived at the Demon Gate."

"Because I was timing it all the time," Feng Bujue replied. "As soon as I entered the scenario, I noticed an abnormality. How could there be no electronic clocks in the subway station? Later, when I got to the surface, I didn't see anything that could measure time either. After the first darkness descended, I started calculating the time. By the time we got to the police station, the second darkness descended, and I calculated it to be about thirty minutes."

"That's right, that's what I wanted to ask. Without a clock? How did you time it?" Long Aomin said.

"By counting," Feng Bujue replied. "Silently counting in my head. Three hundred and one counts as five minutes. When not exercising, you can count your pulse instead. Didn't you see that I was resting my right hand on my left hand most of the time when I was idle? That's a built-in timer for the human body. My pulse rate is 77 beats per minute in that state." He knew his pulse rate clearly because he had stayed in the hospital for a considerable period of time, undergoing countless tests, so he was very familiar with the various indicators of his body. "The time calculated by counting the pulse is actually more accurate than counting silently, and you don't have to use your brain to control the frequency of counting, so it's a lazy method. Alternating between counting seconds silently and counting the pulse when concentration decreases, the calculated time won't differ too much. You can try it at home for half an hour or an hour if you don't believe me. You can also do other things to distract your attention during this time; it's actually just a task that requires patience."

"No need… I understand, thank you for the guidance." Not only Long Aomin, but Lonely and Lonely, who were listening to these words from the side, looked at Feng Bujue as if they were looking at some kind of monster.

Wang Tanzhi was used to it anyway. He had seen so many scenes after knowing Feng Bujue for so many years. If someone came to tell him that aliens had invaded the earth, he would probably be skeptical; but if someone told him that Feng Bujue was actually an alien, he might believe it.

"Enough said, everyone, we're about to teleport, let's say goodbye here," Feng Bujue said.

Lonely and Lonely said a few words of thanks and then said goodbye to the other three. They quickly turned into white light and left the scenario.

Long Aomin did not teleport immediately. After the two disappeared, he opened his mouth and said, "Brother Feng, Brother Wang, how about we add each other as friends?"

The suggestion he made was not to hope to latch onto them as a source of support. It was too early to talk about latching onto someone. Today was only the first day of the closed beta test. Regardless of whether they were professional players, ordinary players, or casual players, at least the level gap would not be very large. Although Feng Bujue seemed to have the potential to be a high-level player, it was difficult to say whether he would log in regularly in the future.

The main reason why Long Aomin wanted to add this friend was because Feng Bujue had handed over a high-quality piece of equipment to him without hesitation earlier. Although the equipment itself couldn't be said to be of much value, it was difficult to trust a stranger unconditionally these days. Based on this alone, it was worth adding this friend.

As for Wang Tanzhi, he was clearly queuing with Feng Bujue, and Long Aomin would naturally not add only Feng Bujue. Moreover, judging from his performance in the Blood Corpse battle, although this guy was timid, his skills were not bad. Even if he was not a high-level player, he would not be a drag.

"Sure, let's talk again after returning to the login space. Let's take a look at the settlement situation first," Feng Bujue responded.

The three greeted each other and then left the scenario.

Just after all the players had left, the Demon Gate suddenly trembled again, as if some unknown creature on the other side of the door was hitting the magic-formed gate…

A white light flashed before his eyes, and Feng Bujue returned to the login space. System prompts rang out continuously:

\[You have been upgraded to level 11. Stamina limit has been increased. Current level is 1100/1100]

\[Title system has been unlocked. You have obtained the title – Cold-Blooded Headshot Maniac]

Then, he shifted his gaze to the display screen on the wall, which already showed the settlement situation after clearing the scenario.