The familiar scene made Mu Chenyi's expression darken.
Indeed, their identities had been fully exposed to these monsters!
In the last death playback, they were blocked by a falling utility pole just as they were about to escape onto the highway.
This time, he would not let history repeat itself.
The armored vehicle roared down the road, smashing countless cars to the sides and leaving storefronts in ruin.
It was the first time Mu Chenyi had ever experienced something like this—causing mass destruction in a city while driving an armored vehicle.
The last time he had seen such chaos, it had been in a criminal simulation game… and he had been using cheats.
After a dozen minutes, they reached the familiar entrance to the highway.
Mu Chenyi's eyes locked onto the very utility pole that had killed his past self.
"Watch out for that pole! In the future I saw, it falls and blocks the road!"
He patted Wang Zichen on the shoulder.
Wang Zichen didn't hesitate. He immediately maneuvered the vehicle around the pole.
Just moments after they passed—
Boom!
The utility pole crashed down violently, sending debris flying and shaking the ground.
Wang Zichen caught sight of the scene in the rearview mirror, his pupils contracting sharply.
If that thing had landed on the car, even an armored vehicle might have been stalled for long enough.
And that delay would have given the pursuing monsters all the time they needed to rip them to shreds.
"That's insane, Brother Mu!"
He was about to sing Mu Chenyi's praises when he noticed something strange.
Mu Chenyi's eyes were glowing with an eerie red light.
His pupils were lifeless and void of emotion.
Is he using his ability?
Realizing this, Wang Zichen shut his mouth instantly. He dared not interrupt.
At that moment, Mu Chenyi was already activating Death's Eye in his mind.
In his vision—
"My base is impenetrable. Those monsters will never get in."
Mu Chenyi: ???
Why do these words sound so familiar?
As his hearing returned, his vision gradually cleared.
Before him stood not only the familiar faces of Chen Wan'er and Wang Zichen, but also a one-armed man.
Beyond them, he realized they were inside a massive laboratory.
The room was cluttered with beakers, test tubes, and makeshift chemical equipment, somewhat resembling the chemistry labs Mu Chenyi had visited during university.
Only, this laboratory was far cruder than anything he had seen in school.
"But those monsters won't let us go so easily."
That was his own voice, his future self speaking.
"Yeah, Old Zhao, those monsters even found my underground base. If not for Brother Mu, we would've been finished back in the city."
Wang Zichen chimed in, sounding both impressed and frustrated.
"Don't compare your pathetic hideout to my fortress."
The one-armed man snorted disdainfully. His voice was cold and blunt.
"That so-called underground base of yours couldn't even withstand a plague-level apocalypse."
"That's really hurtful, you know…" Wang Zichen mumbled.
"And as for Tao Mu, that idiot—he exposed himself in under ten minutes in this instance. Not only did he waste a revival token, but he also lost his chance to grow stronger."
The one-armed man muttered in frustration before glancing at Mu Chenyi and Chen Wan'er.
"Luckily, you brought two new recruits… and one of them is a genius with a precognitive ability."
Mu Chenyi, still spectating this death replay, absorbed the information quickly.
So Wang Zichen's squad originally had three members, but one of them—Tao Mu—got himself killed almost immediately.
...Wait.
A realization hit him like a brick.
That idiot who exposed himself in less than ten minutes…
Wasn't that him?!
A slight awkwardness crept into his heart.
"At noon, I received an urgent message from the Anran Squad," the one-armed man continued.
"After observing the monsters all morning, they discovered something crucial."
"What is it?" Future Mu Chenyi and the others asked, curiosity piqued.
"There's a mastermind behind these creatures—something controlling them from the shadows."
The one-armed man enunciated every word carefully, his expression grim.
"And the Anran Squad has already identified the mastermind!"
Wang Zichen's gaze flickered toward Mu Chenyi.
Only moments ago, he had hypothesized about a hidden puppet master pulling the strings.
And now, this revelation confirmed it.
"Who is it?" Wang Zichen asked, voice tense.
"They told me... the mastermind is Mayor Lü Mingtian and his son, Lü Zitao."
The one-armed man pulled out three photographs.
They depicted a middle-aged couple and a young man.
Seeing the images, Mu Chenyi's pupils shrank slightly.
"These are Mayor Lü Mingtian, his wife Lin Yingge, and their son Lü Zitao."
Unlike the monstrous beings they had been dealing with, the people in the photographs looked completely normal—even friendly.
Lü Mingtian and his wife were smiling warmly, while their son had a clean, youthful, and respectable appearance.
The key detail?
These weren't images from this apocalyptic scenario.
These were photos of the Lü family from the real world.
"The mayor's family went through some sort of incident, right?" Future Mu Chenyi suddenly asked.
"Yeah, they did… but that was a long time ago. Didn't expect you to remember that old news."
The one-armed man gave him a surprised look.
Wang Zichen stared at the three photographs for a moment before asking in confusion,"The mayor isn't a player, is he? How did he suddenly become a boss in an apocalypse instance?"
"I don't know either," the one-armed man shook his head and said. "This information came from the Anran Squad, and I have no idea how they figured it out. But this morning, while analyzing Jiangcheng's surveillance footage, I noticed something peculiar about these green-haired monsters.
"When they approached certain locations, they would suddenly freeze in place, entering a dazed state. However, after just a few seconds, it was as if they received a command, and they would immediately move toward a new target with clear intent."
"Look at this footage—this was what happened right before you were surrounded by those creatures and fled here at noon."
The one-armed man pulled up a screen, showing it to the three people in front of him.
On the screen was a scene from around Fuyang Villa District. Many monsters, still disguised as humans, were going about their scripted routines, mimicking normal human behavior as they played out their roles.
Then, suddenly—several of them froze mid-action, standing eerily still on the spot.
A few seconds later, they turned in unison, their movements stiff and unnatural, and began shambling directly toward Villa No. 5.
"The fact that they froze for a few seconds before moving suggests that they had just received an order. As soon as they processed it, they immediately executed their assigned task—which led to the siege on your villa.
"If you hadn't had that second escape route and that armored vehicle, you guys would have been done for."
After saying this, the one-armed man turned his gaze to Mu Chenyi.
"Wang Zichen told me you have a prophetic skill. Is it A-rank or S-rank?"
Mu Chenyi remained silent.
Seeing this, Wang Zichen quickly tried to smooth things over.
"Forget about his skill rank," he said. "The important thing is—if it weren't for him, I'd have lost my revival token already. And trust me, his ability is definitely prophecy-related, there's no doubt about it. He's already proven it to me."