And with the shift of the hourglass, several new prompts did indeed pop up in front of Qiu Tu.
"Congratulations on successfully overcoming the recent crisis, you have gained Yan Chen's initial trust," it read.
"However, his naturally suspicious nature was not completely convinced by the lies you fabricated—after all, there were some holes in your story that couldn't withstand scrutiny."
"Therefore, he plans to go to Qin Shuman's residence tonight to question you in person."
"You will have five hours to prepare."
"Try to spin all your lies thoroughly, and prepare suitable evidence to vie for a chance at survival."
"You wouldn't want to know the consequences of failure."
As all the prompts ended, the original countdown hourglass slowly became a small, shaking treasure chest, and another countdown hourglass emerged, jumping next to the chest, side by side with it.
Staring at the new countdown, Qiu Tu was silent for a few seconds, then slowly smiled.
He had known that with Yan Chen's suspicion, it wouldn't be so easy to fool him.
This was always a high-stakes game of walking on a tightrope, it wasn't so simple to just get through it.
But five hours, huh... that was a lot better than the two minutes he had earlier, at least it gave him time to do something else. Like...
...Thoroughly examining his Golden Finger.
Thinking this, Qiu Tu's gaze fell on the treasure chest icon that had just appeared, trying to click on it.
The next second, the chest opened and disappeared, replaced by a piece of sea-blue, semi-transparent stone.
At the same time, two small prompts refreshed in front of Qiu Tu.
"Survived the crisis, obtained treasure chest reward: Aurora Stone."
"Aurora Stone: One of the important Cataclysm Materials. Just gather the other materials and you can make a variety of Cataclysm Potions, Cataclysm Props. For example: 'Cataclysmic Potion,' 'Skull Talisman,' 'Old Seal,' 'Shining Prescriptive Octahedron,' etc..."
Staring at the two prompts that popped up before him, Qiu Tu fell silent for a few seconds, then slowly furrowed his brows.
Cataclysmic Potion? Skull Talisman? Shining Prescriptive Octahedron?
This world was not an ordinary world after all, but one where Supernatural Power exists? This was obviously somewhat unexpected for Qiu Tu.
With this thought, he quickly went through his memories again—but he couldn't find any information related to Supernatural Powers.
Neither the official news from the Sanctuary nor the rumors circulating in the Planning Area had ever mentioned the existence of Supernatural Powers in this world.
In this world, the armed forces still relied mainly on firearms, with agriculture and industry as the core industries.
Even the major Sanctuaries, it was said, were built on the site of military factories, large farms, or industrial bases abandoned before the Cataclysm.
"What's going on here? Could it be... that the Supernatural Powers of this world are not widely known?"
"Then... do the major Sanctuaries know about this?"
With these thoughts, Qiu Tu quickly sorted through his memories again.
This time, he quickly noticed some clues.
The first clue came from something a colleague who had been transferred to the City Hall let slip.
He said that while the City Hall was accepting refugees from the Disaster Zone for free, they always had an odd request for the refugees: they were asked to mark out dense areas of animals and plants they encountered along the way from the Disaster Zone.
The second clue came from a black market merchant while Qiu Tu was scrounging around the market.
The merchant whispered to him that The military, one of the three major forces in Xinjie City, had been secretly collecting certain materials in the nearby Disaster Zone, but no one knew what exactly they were collecting.
The third clue was something Yan Chen let slip when he'd had a little too much to drink.
Once, seemingly out of the blue, Yan Chen received an unexpected commendation from above and held a small celebration banquet.
At the banquet, after drinking a bit too much, he slapped the shoulders of those next to him and said: The Cataclysm may have destroyed human civilization, but it also presented humanity with new opportunities.
When someone asked what he meant, Yan Chen just smiled without answering, and the next day, he vehemently denied ever saying such a thing.
Because these three things were very scattered and all the mid-to-high-level managers coming down from the Sanctuary were so secretive, Qiu Tu didn't think much of them before.
But now, as he connected all the dots, Qiu Tu felt something was off.
'Could it be... that this world, because of the great Cataclysm, really gave birth to Supernatural Powers? And that all the Sanctuaries already possess these powers?'
'So, the reason they established various Planning Areas might be to collect all sorts of Cataclysm Materials and precious resources, right?'
The more he analyzed, the more Qiu Tu felt that his speculation might be correct.
Moreover, through this clue, he thought of even more possibilities.
If the Sanctuary really had a way to make humans evolve and gain Supernatural Powers... then the Municipal Committee's Commissioner Jiang, the big shot from the military, and Yan Chen... Could they all possess Supernatural Powers?
After all, they were the key figures entrusted with important missions, coming to the Planning Area, a dangerous region, to execute official duties...
Thinking of this, Qiu Tu suddenly felt even more pressure.
After all, no one knew what kind of Supernatural Powers existed in this world, what direction they took, or what kind of powerful, bizarre, or magical effects they had.
And this could make his situation even more dangerous...
After pondering in silence for a while, Qiu Tu took a deep breath and exhaled the heavy pressure.
'Forget it, it's useless to think too much, better to continue researching the Golden Finger.'
Thinking this, he stopped dwelling on those troubles and once again turned his gaze to the upper left corner of his field of vision.
He had casually clicked on the Treasure Chest earlier, which had triggered a reward, giving Qiu Tu encouragement.
So he stretched out his hand to continue randomly clicking on the prompts and icons on the upper left corner.
After about five or six clicks, a prompt actually popped up in front of him.
'Golden Finger Name': Crisis Intuition (unfixed, refreshable)
'Golden Finger Type': Trigger type
'Golden Finger Effect': When facing a major crisis, Crisis Intuition will be triggered, giving a corresponding Crisis Warning. If the crisis is successfully overcome, a reward corresponding to the crisis can be obtained.
'Current Number of Refreshes': 0
'This is truly a pleasant surprise everywhere!'
Qiu Tu swore that his random clicking was really just to not miss any possibility, but he didn't hold much hope in his heart.
As a result... he really did click on something incredible.
The "true form" of his own Golden Finger?
After analyzing the panel that appeared in front of him for a while, Qiu Tu broadly understood what it was.
If he wasn't wrong, he was not like the ordinary transmigrators.
Most transmigrators only had one fixed Golden Finger, and the Golden Fingers they got were random. It might be useful, or it might not.
But his... Golden Finger could be both fixed and "refreshed"!
Hold on to a Golden Finger you like, get rid of one you don't—this was simply the most powerful Golden Finger!
The only pity was... the condition for refreshing was unknown.
'Looks like I need to continue my research.'
Thinking , Qiu Tu once again started the "click click click" endeavor.
But perhaps his luck had indeed run out, and this time, no matter how much he clicked, there was no response in front of him.
'It must be the wrong conditions for triggering it... right?'
With that thought, Qiu Tu stopped researching the Golden Finger.
Having been given a second chance at life, his current mindset was very good: After all, he had already been a dead man, so transmigrating to this new world and living an extra second meant he was already making a profit!
So... use the Golden Finger if you have it, and if not, forge your own path!
Without discontent or giving oneself pressure, fully enjoy this brand new life!
Thinking so, Qiu Tu smiled as he straightened his clothes, then opened the door and left the bathroom, ready to meet the "ally" who was still sleeping on his bed...