Because of what happened earlier, Little Scott seemed a bit upset and waved his hand, leaving the library first.

However, Little Scott didn’t get to visit the Black Tower. When Brian Carter left the library, a group of armed police got out of their vehicles and dispersed the crowd gathered around the Black Tower. They used white plastic boards to enclose the Black Tower, and the white plastic wall extended all the way to the library entrance, blocking off the Black Tower completely and not allowing anyone inside.

Many people stood outside the wall, taking photos of the Black Tower with their phones.

Brian Carter took a photo, got into a taxi, and went home.

Online, the Black Tower incident had already become a global hot topic.

Brian Carter lay on his bed scrolling through his Moments feed. His university classmates who studied in Japan and the US posted photos, and the writing on the Black Tower in the photos was no longer in Chinese, but had turned into Japanese and English.

Brian Carter didn’t know how to use a VPN, but the classmate studying in the US replied to several comments in his Moments.

[Yeah, it’s not Chinese, it’s speaking English! It scared me to death. Our school has suspended classes, and now a lot of people are marching to the White House, demanding an explanation from the government.]

[It’s so hard to get a plane ticket at the airport now, I can’t buy a ticket to return home at all. My roommate has money and is flying back this afternoon.]

[When it spoke, it was still nighttime here, and it played a children’s song. My friend has a video, I’ll upload it here.]

Brian Carter clicked on the new short video posted by this classmate. A familiar Black Tower floated beside the Lincoln Memorial, flashing with colorful lights, standing out especially in the night. The song wasn’t “Jingle Bells,” but it was clearly a nursery rhyme. After the song finished, the same crisp, high-pitched child’s voice spoke in English—

“Ding dong! November 15, 2017, Earth is now online.”

What on earth is going on!

Brian Carter anxiously threw his phone onto the bed.

The authorities had never released any specific information about the Black Towers, but there were simply too many of them to hide. People had already posted data online—a Black Tower stands on average in every 10,000 square kilometers of land.

Even on the oceans, there were countless Black Towers.

Brian Carter stood up and paced irritably around his room. He couldn’t calm down at all; his heart was pounding as if it would burst out of his chest. When Brian Carter reached his 160th lap, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

…This isn’t like him!

Why was he suddenly so restless and uneasy?

Brian Carter went to the bathroom and stuck his head under the faucet, not worrying about catching a cold, and turned on the cold water, letting it rush over his head. He felt a bit calmer, poured himself a glass of cold water, returned to his room, turned on his computer, and opened the bridge software.

He needed to calm down.

This sudden feeling of anxiety was completely out of his control.

Maybe his heart was beating too fast, affecting his judgment? It must be up to 150 beats per minute by now.

Brian Carter stared indifferently at the computer screen. Probably because of the huge incident, there were very few people wanting to play games at this time. It took him ten minutes to get matched into a room and start a game. As the game went on and his mind raced, Brian Carter gradually calmed down, and his heart didn’t seem to be beating as fast.

He played from daytime all the way into the night, until he was too tired and fell asleep as soon as he hit the bed.

When he woke up the next day, that hard-to-ignore feeling of anxiety surfaced again. Brian Carter opened the bridge software once more and continued playing. He played the whole day again, and by then Brian Carter looked terrible, his eyes bloodshot, and his brain so exhausted that he could fall asleep just by closing his eyes.

The QQ notification sound rang.

[Victor: Have you been playing all day?]

Brian Carter rubbed his dry eyes and replied: [Yeah, I’m not feeling well.]

[Victor: Of course you’re not, after playing for so long. Get some rest early.]

[Evan Miller: Mm.]

[Victor: Stay away from the Black Tower.]

Brian Carter had already fallen asleep at his computer desk.

When he woke up the next day, he saw the message from Victor and quickly replied, but Victor was already offline. Brian Carter stretched and suddenly felt much better. His heart was still racing, but that inexplicable anxiety had completely vanished.

People online were still discussing the Black Tower incident.

The government hadn’t given any specific explanation, but had forcefully suppressed public opinion. Many netizens could only discuss information about the Black Tower in private, and even then, it was all useless stuff—sensitive words couldn’t even be posted.

Brian Carter clicked on a few posts speculating about the truth behind the Black Tower. Most people thought the Black Tower was the result of some cutting-edge technology. A small number thought it was the end of the world, but they were clearly joking, so their posts weren’t deleted, and they just rambled on in the threads.

In the afternoon, Director Smith posted an announcement in the library group chat.

[Director Smith: Urgent notice! Starting the day after tomorrow, the library will be requisitioned as a temporary research center. Please collect any personal belongings within today and tomorrow. Repeating: starting the day after tomorrow, the library will be requisitioned as…]

The group chat immediately exploded.

Several senior staff members asked where they would work now that the library was being requisitioned. A few younger employees joked: [It’s the end of the world anyway, who cares about work.]