Clock of Eternity

2235 AD, Earth. The scarlet sunset covered the sky over Donghai City like a solidified blood scab. Lin Chen was leaning on the edge of the 28th-floor rooftop of an abandoned office building. The cigarette butts on his fingertips burned to the end, causing him to suddenly retract his hand. Downstairs, roars, explosions, and the harsh sounds of twisted metal intertwined into a symphony of doomsday, and the air was filled with the suffocating smell of gunpowder smoke and putrid stench. This was the third month of the arrival of the "Scarlet Tide." A "time-corroding fog" originating from a rift in the unknown universe swept across the world. Half of humanity mutated into irrational "Time Eclipsers," and the remaining survivors lingered in the ruins. The civilized order had long since collapsed. "Brother Chen! Come down quickly! The No. 3 Supply point is surrounded by a wave of corpses. Old Su said that if we don't go, we will have to drink the northwest wind this week!" Lu Feng's rough roar came from the intercom, and the background sound was dense gunfire and the roar of monsters. Lin Chen put out his cigarette butt and turned to look at the other side of the rooftop. Lu Feng, who was as strong as an iron tower, was holding on to the iron door of the stairwell with a look of anxiety on his face. His bare arms were covered with hideous scars, which were wounds opened by the Time Eclipse's claws last month when he was trying to cover the retreat of his teammates. Behind Lu Feng, Su Zhe, who was wearing black-rimmed glasses and a pale face, was quickly debugging a portable radar. His eyes behind the lenses flashed calmly: "Brother Chen, the radar shows that the scale of this zombie wave is at least three hundred, including three B-class time eaters. The compressed biscuits and pure water in the supply point are enough for us to last until next month. It is worth a try." Lin Chen nodded and picked up the long alloy knife leaning against the corner. He found this knife from an abandoned military base. The dark green blood of the Time Eclipse still remained on the blade, exuding a faint fishy odor. "Let's go." His voice was low and calm, without any hesitation. The three are brothers who grew up together. Lin Chen was once a top student in the Physics Department of Tunghai University. Before the scarlet tide broke out, he was studying a mysterious ancient book and a bronze bell pendant left by his grandfather; Lu Feng is a retired special forces soldier with strong skills, impulsive personality but extremely loyal; Su Zhe is a computer genius, good at data analysis and mechanical transformation, and is the "brain" of the team. After the doomsday came, the three of them managed to survive and formed a small team of survivors, struggling to survive in the ruins of Donghai City. The process of going downstairs is extremely dangerous. The stairwell is filled with broken steel bars and scattered corpses, and every step may trigger the vigilance of the Time Eclipse. Lu Feng opened the way, swinging the alloy battle stick with great force, smashing several low-level Time Eclipsers lurking in the shadows into pulp; Su Zhe followed closely, throwing out a homemade flash bomb from time to time to clear the field of view for the two of them; Lin Chen stepped back, and the alloy long knife accurately struck every monster that tried to sneak attack. The whistling sound of the blade cutting through the air and the screams of the monsters came one after another. "Be careful!" Su Zhe suddenly shouted, pointing his finger diagonally upward. I saw a huge Class B Time Eclipse lying on the ceiling. Its body was covered with dark purple scales, its limbs were as thick as stone pillars, its sharp claws shone with cold light, and its eyes were turbid dark red, exuding a bloodthirsty aura. Before Lin Chen could react, the B-level Time Eclipse pounced down, as fast as lightning. "Get away!" Lu Feng roared and turned around, holding the battle stick in front of him. There was a loud "bang", and the Time Eclipse's claws hit the war club hard. The huge force made Lu Feng retreat repeatedly, and blood spilled from the corner of his mouth. Lin Chen seized this opportunity, jumped up, and struck the Eclipse's neck with the sharp alloy sword with a sharp sound of wind. However, the scales of the B-level Time Eater are extremely hard, and the blade only leaves a shallow white mark on them, which in turn arouses its ferocious nature. The Time Eclipse let out a deafening roar, waving its claws and pounced on Lin Chen again. Lin Chen's pupils shrank suddenly, and while avoiding it sideways, his right hand subconsciously touched the bronze pendant around his neck. At this moment, something strange happened - the bronze pendant suddenly emitted a faint blue light, and the Time Eclipse's movements suddenly slowed down, as if the slow-down button had been pressed. "This is..." Lin Chen was stunned. He had touched this pendant countless times before, but nothing like this had ever happened. "Brother Chen, don't be stunned!" Su Zhe's voice woke up Lin Chen. Lin Chen came back to his senses, seized this golden opportunity, and struck out with the alloy sword again. This time, the blade easily cut through the scales of the Time Eclipse and penetrated deeply into its neck. Dark green blood spurted out, and the Time Eclipse let out a shrill scream. His huge body fell heavily to the ground, twitched a few times and stopped moving. "Huh... Scared me to death." Lu Feng wiped the sweat and blood on his face and gasped, "Brother Chen, what happened just now? Why did the monster suddenly slow down?" Lin Chen tightened his grip on the bronze pendant around his neck. The blue light of the pendant had disappeared, returning to its original simplicity. "I don't know," he shook his head, "it might have something to do with this pendant." He briefly told the two of them about the ancient book and pendant left by his grandfather. Su Zhe pushed up his glasses and said thoughtfully: "Your grandfather was a famous archaeologist, and the things he left behind must not be simple. This pendant may hide some special ability, and it may have been activated at a critical moment." "No matter what it is, it saved our lives." Lu Feng patted Lin Chen on the shoulder, "Let's go to the supplies point first, and we will study it later." The three of them continued to move forward, encountering several more waves of Time Eclipsers along the way, but there was no danger. More than half an hour later, they finally arrived at supply point No. 3, An abandoned supermarket. The door of the supermarket was closed, and there were several corpses of Time Eclipsers scattered at the door. Apparently someone had been here before but failed to enter. "Su Zhe, crack the door lock." Lin Chen said. Su Zhe nodded, took out a complex set of tools from his backpack, squatted in front of the door lock and quickly operated it. Not long after, there was a "click" and the door lock was successfully opened. The three of them walked into the supermarket warily. The supermarket was in a mess, the shelves collapsed, and the products were scattered all over the floor. However, the compressed biscuits and purified water piled in the corner were intact. "Great!" Lu Feng rushed over excitedly and started loading supplies into his backpack. Lin Chen and Su Zhe were on guard in the supermarket. Lin Chen's eyes fell on an old newspaper on the wall of the supermarket. The title of the newspaper was blurred, but a photo above caught his attention - the photo was of an ancient temple, with a huge bronze bell hanging in the center of the temple. The shape of the bell was exactly the same as the pendant around his neck! "Su Zhe, look at this." Lin Chen greeted. Su Zhe came over. After seeing the photo, his eyes instantly became solemn: "This is the Xuanzhong Temple located deep in the Kunlun Mountains. It is said that the bronze bell in the temple has the power to reverse time, but it has always been just a legend. Did your grandfather's ancient books mention this? A temple?" Lin Chen recalled and shook his head: "The ancient books only recorded some obscure words about the law of time, and did not mention the specific location." At this moment, there was a sudden burst of gunfire and screams outside the supermarket. Lu Feng's expression changed: "No, there are other survivors surrounded by the corpse wave!" Lin Chen walked to the window, lifted a corner of the curtain and looked out. Not far outside the supermarket, I saw a group of survivors being besieged by hundreds of Time Eclipsers. Among them were several familiar figures - people from the survivor base next door. The leader was a woman named Chu Yanran. Chu Yanran is the person in charge of the base. She is extremely beautiful. She is dressed in a black tight-fitting combat uniform that outlines her graceful figure. The sniper rifle in her hand is accurate and her skills are very good. "Save or not?" Lu Feng looked at Lin Chen with a hint of hesitation in his tone. They already have enough supplies, and rushing to save people may be in danger. Lin Chen did not hesitate at all: "Save. We are all human beings, we cannot ignore death." "Okay!" Lu Feng grinned and tightened his grip on the battle stick in his hand. Su Zhe also nodded: "I will make a battle plan. Lu Feng, you go around from the left to attract the attention of some Time Eclipsers; I will use flash bombs and smoke bombs to cover; Brother Chen, you are responsible for dealing with B-level Time Eclipsers, Chu Yanran and the others should be able to deal with low-level Time Eclipsers." The three of them quickly divided the work, quietly walked out of the supermarket, and launched a surprise attack on the zombie tide. Lu Feng descended the mountain like a tiger, and as he swung his war stick, low-level Time Eclipsers were smashed away one by one; Su Zhe's flash bombs and smoke bombs accurately landed in the middle of the zombie tide, disrupting the formation of the Time Eclipsers; Lin Chen went straight to the three B-level Time Eclipsers, and the alloy long knife struck out again. This time, he deliberately tightened the bronze pendant around his neck. The pendant once again emitted a faint blue light, and the B-level Time Eclipsers' movements slowed down again. When Chu Yanran saw the sudden appearance of Lin Chen and the others, a trace of surprise flashed in her eyes, and then she shouted loudly: "Thank you three for your help!" Lin Chen did not respond and focused on dealing with the B-level Time Eclipse. With the help of the bronze pendant, he quickly eliminated the two B-class Time Eaters, leaving only the last one. However, this B-level time eclipse seemed to notice the abnormality of the bronze pendant, and suddenly let out a roar, and its body began to swell, and the color of its scales became darker. "No, it's going to evolve!" Su Zhe shouted. Lin Chen's heart sank, he could feel the aura of the Time Eclipse becoming more and more powerful. At this moment, the blue light of the bronze pendant suddenly became dazzling, and a mysterious power poured into Lin Chen's mind. Countless images flashed before his eyes - ancient temples, rotating bronze bells, the vast universe, and some people in strange clothes performing some kind of ritual. "Reverse time... Return to position..." A vague voice sounded in Lin Chen's mind. Lin Chen subconsciously waved the alloy long knife. This time, the blade was actually wrapped with a faint blue light. He slashed at the evolving Class B Time Eclipse. The moment the blue light came into contact with the Time Eclipse's body, the Time Eclipse's expansion stopped, and its body began to shrink at a speed visible to the naked eye, eventually turning into a pool of dark green liquid. After all the Time Eclipsers were dealt with, Chu Yanran came over with the surviving team members and hugged Lin Chen and the others: "I am Chu Yanran, and on behalf of the Starlight Base, I would like to thank the three of you for your life-saving grace. I wonder what you call them?" "Lin Chen." "Lu Feng." "Su Zhe." The three of them introduced themselves in turn. Chu Yanran's gaze lingered on the bronze pendant around Lin Chen's neck for a moment, a trace of doubt flashed in her eyes, but she quickly regained her composure: "Brother Lin Chen, you are very powerful, especially you. That blue light slash just now was so powerful. We still have many survivors at Starlight Base, and the supplies are quite sufficient. Why don't you follow me back to the base, so that we can take care of you." Lin Chen looked at Lu Feng and Su Zhe, and they both nodded. In the doomsday, it is too dangerous to act alone, so joining a strong base is indeed a good choice. "Okay." Lin Chen agreed. At this moment, Lin Chen's bronze pendant once again emitted a faint blue light. This time, the blue light pointed to the west, which is the direction of Kunlun Mountain. Lin Chen's heart moved, and he knew that the pendant seemed to be guiding him to a certain place, and that place might well hide the secrets about the scarlet tide and the law of time. He looked up to the west, a trace of determination flashed in his eyes. No matter how many dangers lie ahead, he must find out. Because he vaguely felt that this was not only related to his own destiny, but also related to the survival of the entire human civilization.