Race Against Time

Luo Wei opened his eyes again.

The hellish scene of the Lower District had vanished. Instead, he saw Helena and Evelyn sitting on the sofa.

He silently let out a sigh of relief. Time had rewound to a day earlier, right after bidding farewell to Ophelia and returning home to take in Helena.

**Chapter 2: The Wegener Terror Incident (Conclusion)**

**Save Point: Riverside Road, Old Mansion**

**Remaining Save Slots: 4/5**

**Objective: Head to the Lower District, disrupt the evil god summoning ritual, and end the spreading chaos in the city.**

After securing Helena, Luo Wei hurried to the entrance, quickly changed his clothes, and opened the door. He turned back and called out to the two of them, "Stop eating! Come with me, now!"

Since they had returned to a day earlier, there was still time to act.

"What's going on? What's happening?" Evelyn, seeing Luo Wei's anxious expression, put down the grilled sausage and quickly followed him.

"Brother! Where are we going?" Helena didn’t ask too many questions. Her brother often acted like this, suddenly becoming frantic without explanation.

Luo Wei looked at her. "To save the world."

Helena nodded. "Oh, got it."

Evelyn was stunned. "Huh?"

Luo Wei didn’t have time to explain much. He quickly reviewed the events from his last save and instructed Evelyn, "I’m going to borrow a car—two cars. You need to find Ophelia immediately. I’ll tell you what to say. We’ll meet at the Lower District checkpoint as fast as possible!"

With that, he grabbed his revolver and rushed to the neighbor’s house.

After borrowing the cars, Luo Wei drove Helena to the Lower District at breakneck speed.

Along the way, the city was still in chaos, but compared to what it would face a day later, this was nothing.

Luo Wei pressed the accelerator hard, soon arriving at the border between the Eastern District and the Lower District.

Here, factory buildings began to multiply, and the terrain sloped downward. This area, located downstream of the river, was ideal for industrial wastewater discharge, making it the heart of the city’s magical industry.

As they drove onto the complex steel bridge, the city suddenly became three-dimensional. Looking down, endless rows of black buildings stretched as far as the eye could see, with no sign of the bottom streets. A foul, strange odor wafted up.

Luo Wei tightened the scarves covering his and Helena’s faces. After getting out of the car, he saw that the bridge checkpoint was sealed off. Many police officers, dogs, and vehicles were congested on the Eastern District side.

Luo Wei spotted Police Chief Raymond and his assistant in the crowd and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

They hadn’t entered the Lower District yet. He had arrived just in time.

"Chief!" Luo Wei quickly walked over.

"Luo Wei?" Chief Raymond looked at him and Helena in confusion. "What are you doing here? I heard you just got discharged from the hospital today."

"Never mind that," Luo Wei said, glancing at the slowly opening checkpoint. He pulled the chief aside and whispered, "The Truth Cult’s gathering is a trap. If you go in recklessly, you’ll all die."

"What?!" Chief Raymond stared at him in shock. "How do you know that?"

"And..." he added, puzzled, "Even if it’s a trap, what does it matter? Look at those guys over there. They’re from the Special Affairs Department—powerful supernaturals. This operation is meant to eradicate the Truth Cult."

Raymond pointed to the other side of the road. Luo Wei saw the Special Affairs Department’s leader, still in his black coat, giving orders to his agents.

"No, they’ll only make things worse," Luo Wei said urgently. He explained the hallucinogenic fog and how the supernaturals would go mad.

Chief Raymond’s face turned pale. "Even the Special Affairs Department agents aren’t immune? If they go mad, we’re the ones in danger!"

Luo Wei nodded. That was exactly what had happened last time. The chief’s gruesome fate wasn’t just due to the cult’s monsters—the insane supernaturals had played a big part too.

"So what do we do? We can’t just call off the operation, can we?" Chief Raymond looked troubled, glancing at his colleagues and the higher-ups. "The police leadership is here. I don’t have the authority to make that call."

"We don’t need to call it off, but we need to wait," Luo Wei said, looking back at the road. "Your job is to stall them for a bit. Under no circumstances should they rush into the Lower District now!"

Chief Raymond, seeing Luo Wei’s deadly serious expression, sighed in resignation.

"Alright, I’ll try... But don’t let me down, or I’ll lose all credibility with the higher-ups..."

Luo Wei shot him a look. "This is no time for that, Chief! Go!"

With a reluctant expression, Chief Raymond trudged over to his colleagues and the leadership.

Luo Wei turned his gaze back to the road, waiting quietly in the thick fog.

"Brother, are you waiting for backup?" Helena asked, knowing he had sent Evelyn to find Ophelia.

"Backup is coming," Luo Wei nodded, "but there’s something else too..."

About twenty minutes later, the checkpoint had long since opened, but the team hadn’t moved. The crowd buzzed with murmurs of confusion.

At that moment, three black carriages emerged from the fog, stopping on the bridge.

"Luo Wei!"

Luo Wei immediately saw Ophelia rushing toward him, followed by her shadow guards, each carrying heavy boxes.

A crimson shadow flashed as Evelyn reappeared beside him.

"I told her everything you asked me to."

"Thank you, teacher," Luo Wei said gratefully, then stepped forward.

"I’ve already informed Second Brother. The city defense forces will act soon. And..." Ophelia took a box and pulled out a plague doctor mask, looking puzzled. "What’s the deal with all the charcoal and stuff you asked me to replace inside?"

Luo Wei took the mask, inspected it carefully, and nodded in satisfaction.

"It’s to prevent inhaling the toxic gas."

Once he put it on, his voice became muffled.

"Will this really work?" Evelyn had been overseeing the modification of these masks for Ophelia’s people. She was curious—could simply replacing the herbs and spices with charcoal really protect them from the toxic fog?

"It’s better than nothing," Luo Wei smiled. Activated charcoal could absorb toxins and act as a filter, the same principle behind modern gas masks.

A shining example of modern science.

The only downside was that he couldn’t find proper activated charcoal here. He had to make do with regular charcoal, roughly processed. After all, in his world, the earliest gas masks during World War I had been made the same way.

Luo Wei handed the boxes to Chief Raymond, giving him a quick tutorial.

Then, they distributed the remaining masks to the Special Affairs Department.

"You want us to wear these?" One agent examined the strange plague doctor mask skeptically. "With this thing on, it’s hard to see anything. And with the fog this thick, how are we supposed to fight?"

"It’s better than going mad later," Luo Wei said, scanning the group. "Everyone heading into the Lower District to take down the Truth Cult must wear one."

Many people exchanged confused glances. The agent who had spoken earlier snorted coldly. As a supernatural, he clearly didn’t appreciate being ordered around by an outsider.

"Mr. Luo Wei..." The Special Affairs Department leader in the black coat looked at him hesitantly. He wasn’t arrogant, but he was skeptical.

"Are you saying that inhaling this fog will cause supernaturals to lose control? But this fog has been around for days, and we haven’t had any adverse reactions."

"That's because you are all official superhumans who have undergone rigorous trials, inherently stronger than ordinary superhumans, and moreover..." Luo Wei immediately shared the intelligence he had obtained from the Truth Cult member, especially the principles behind the drug.

"It stimulates human senses, amplifying and intensifying emotions..." He frowned, deep in thought. "If that's the case, it would indeed be very dangerous..."

He wasn't a rigid or old-fashioned person. He knew that even after thorough vetting and subsequent treatment, the superhumans under his command could still fall into a state of madness due to overusing their powers.

Especially in cases involving cults and evil deities—these were always the most troublesome...

"Listen to him, old Fred," Ophelia, standing behind Luo Wei, spoke up.

Fred glanced at the fifth princess, who had once overseen the Special Affairs Department, then turned back to Luo Wei and finally nodded.

"Special Affairs Department, Team One, Team Two, Team Three!"

He immediately turned to his subordinates and ordered them all to put on their masks.

Once everyone had donned their masks, the team set off again, moving at top speed toward the lower district.

Luo Wei, Ophelia, and the others led the way. As they drew closer to the cultists' secret gathering spot, Luo Wei couldn't help but feel tense.

He hoped they would still be in time to stop whatever was about to happen.