Chapter 226: Could It Actually Be A Bomb?

Chapter 226

Still... the sound was so quiet that Alex almost wanted to doubt his own hearing for a second there, but his enhanced senses had never given him a reason to distrust them. The sound was definitely coming from somewhere beneath the man’s clothes, and the more Alex listened to it, the more his expression gradually changed.

Could that thing making the sound underneath the man’s clothes actually be a bomb?

The possibility immediately entered his mind, and although Alex didn’t want to jump to conclusions, he couldn’t deny that it made a disturbing amount of sense. The man’s clothes looked completely ordinary, and his behavior was almost convincing enough to make anyone overlook him. After all, all he did was to simply stand there with a phone pressed against his ear, while talking to someone he called honey while casually pretending to shop for something to take home.

However, Alex wasn’t an ordinary person.

His enhanced perception allowed him to notice things that most people would never detect, and there was something deeply unsettling about the man’s eyes.

Beneath the relaxed smile and seemingly harmless expression was a strange kind of madness that didn’t resemble ordinary emotions. It seemed almost... fanatical if you asked him, as though the man had completely convinced himself that whatever he was about to do was justified.

That alone wouldn’t have been enough to convince Alex.

People could have strange eyes for countless reasons, and Alex knew better than to accuse someone based purely on an impression. However, when that strange fanaticism was combined with the unmistakable ticking sound coming from beneath the man’s clothes, the possibility became far too serious to ignore.

Still, there was a chance he was misreading the entire situation.

Perhaps the device was something completely harmless. Maybe it was some kind of electronic equipment, a medical device, or something else that simply happened to make a ticking noise. Alex’s senses were powerful, but they didn’t make him omniscient, and there was always a possibility that he had connected two unrelated things and created a threat that didn’t actually exist.

He decided to continue watching the man carefully.

The stranger shifted his position slightly while maintaining the same relaxed expression. Then his gaze moved across the shopping center, stopping for barely a second on another man standing several meters away.

Alex’s attention immediately followed the direction of his gaze.

The second man looked just as ordinary as the first. He was standing near the entrance of another store with a shopping bag hanging from one hand, and nothing about his appearance suggested that there was anything unusual about him.

For a moment, Alex wondered whether he had simply been imagining things.

Then the first man subtly nodded, and the second one responded with an equally subtle nod.

Alex’s expression changed. He decided to concentrate his hearing on the other man and just as he feared, he was able to pick up another faint ticking sound coming from the second man’s direction.

There were two of them. That realization instantly erased whatever doubt had been in his mind.

Alex’s eyes then narrowed as an old memory from his previous life suddenly surfaced. Hadn’t there been several cases of suicide bombing around this period? The details were somewhat blurred after so many years, but he remembered seeing news reports about a fanatical organization that had carried out several attacks in different locations.

One of the most prominent incidents had happened in a shopping center.

Here. Alex’s heart tightened.

’Crap! This was not good.’

He wasn’t afraid that the explosions would kill him. As a B-Rank Awakened, his physical durability was already far beyond what ordinary people could imagine, and judging from what he remembered about the attack in his previous life, these weren’t top-grade explosives capable of destroying an entire city block.

The bombing had destroyed the building itself and killed almost everyone trapped inside, but the surrounding buildings had remained largely intact.

Alex could survive something like that. But that didn’t mean Olivia could. She was still just a normal human and not an Awakened.

His gaze immediately snapped toward the changing room, where Olivia was still there, trying out the dress.

Dammit, he should have remembered that this bombing was supposed to happen today.

He had spent so much time dealing with everything that had happened since his rebirth that some memories from his previous life had gradually become buried beneath everything else. Marcus, Nyx’s businesses, the Bureau, Celine, his abilities, the system, and the countless changes he had already caused in the timeline had occupied so much of his attention that he had forgotten an event he should have remembered.

But there was no use complaining about it now. He had to act now if he wanted to save Olivia.

Alex immediately activated the Eye of Chronos. Then he activated the Second ability of Eye Of Chronos, and watched as the world slowed down around him like something in slow mo.

The people who were just excitedly walking through the shopping center appeared to now move as though they were trapped in slow mo, while drifting pieces of dust seemed to hang suspended in the air.

It was at that exact moment, the bomb detonated.

A violent explosion erupted from the man’s position, and Alex’s pupils contracted as the destructive wave began to slowly spread through the surrounding area.

Under normal circumstances, the blast would have happened too quickly for ordinary eyes to follow, but thanks to time that was now forty times slower than it normal speed, he was able to watch as the man’s body was gradually being consumed by the explosion while the expanding wave slowly pushed through the surrounding area.

Cold sweat immediately formed along Alex’s forehead. If he had activated the Eye of Chronos even slightly later, who knows what could have happened.

The thought sent a chill through him.

Deciding not to waste another second since Eye of Chronos had a limited time before it’ll deactivate on its own, he rushed toward the changing room at full speed. In an instant he reached the changing room and pulled aside the curtain.

Olivia was still there, now fully clothed in the new dress. Shit! She really did look great in it! No, now was not the time to be admiring her.

Alex got to work and placed an arm securely around her waist, before using Void Step to teleport out of this dangerous place.

Almost immediately, They reappeared a considerable distance away from the building, far enough that Olivia was no longer in immediate danger. Alex released her carefully and immediately looked back toward the shopping center.

For a brief moment, he considered deactivating the Eye of Chronos and simply staying beside her. Olivia was safe now, and that was what mattered most. He had no responsibility toward the strangers still trapped inside the building.

But then his thoughts shifted toward everyone still inside.

Most of them were just ordinary people who had come there expecting nothing more dangerous than an afternoon of shopping. Some were employees working their shifts, others were parents with their children, elderly people, young couples, and countless others who had simply happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Then Alex remembered someone else he had seen earlier while Olivia was in her shopping zone. It was a pregnant woman.

He had noticed her earlier while walking through the shopping center. She had looked perfectly happy, occasionally resting one hand against her stomach while talking with her bestfriend.

For some reason, that image immediately reminded Alex of Nyx. Nyx was also pregnant with his child.

If Nyx had been trapped inside that building, would he really have walked away after saving only himself and Olivia?

The answer was obvious.

Alex slowly exhaled.

"Screw this."

He turned around, and teleported back to the shopping center, where the destructive wave was still advancing at the unnatural speed imposed by the Eye of Chronos.

Alex immediately began searching for survivors.

He couldn’t simply grab ordinary people and carry them away at his maximum speed because their bodies wouldn’t be able to withstand the acceleration. Even if his own body could handle it effortlessly, a normal person’s bones and internal organs could be severely damaged by the sudden movement.

That was why Void Step was the better option.

Alex rushed toward the nearest group of civilians he could find and carefully touched the first person before activating his spatial ability.

The group disappeared from the building.

A moment later, they reappeared in a safe location.

Alex immediately returned and rescued another group of people. He continued moving through the building with incredible speed, searching through stores, corridors, and damaged sections while the explosion continued spreading outward at the same slowed pace.

A mother desperately holding her young child was among the first groups he found. Alex reached them just before the expanding destruction could consume their section of the building and immediately transported them to safety.

He returned before they could even understand what had happened.

An elderly man was trapped beneath a fallen shelf. Alex lifted the shelf away with ease, pulled the injured man free, and teleported him outside.

Then he returned again. He kept on repeating the process over and over. Every time he returned, another section of the building had been consumed. The situation was seriously becoming increasingly dangerous by the second.

Alex could already feel the strain of maintaining the Eye of Chronos beginning to build behind his eyes. The ability had a limit, and forty-times time manipulation was something he couldn’t maintain forever.

How much longer do I have?

He didn’t know since he had been so preoccupied with helping others. Still, all he could pray for was that the ability at least deactivates after he finished saving everyone.

Alex accelerated through another section of the building, searching for survivors while carefully controlling his movements around the slowed destruction. He rescued yet another group and transported them outside before returning again.

It didn’t take long for his breathing to turn heavier. The pressure inside his head was increasing. Yet he just couldn’t afford to stop.

Then he remembered the pregnant woman. Damnit! She was still inside. Alex’s heart tightened. He couldn’t leave her.

He sped through another corridor and checked every room he passed. With his enhanced perception, he made sure to search through the wreckage, listening for anything else that could indicate a survivor.

But there was nothing. So he had no chance but to move farther into the building. There, another section had already been heavily damaged.

Still nothing.

Crap! He could feel as the Eye of Chronos began approaching its limit. For a brief moment, Alex considered leaving.

He had already rescued dozens of people, and Olivia was safe. From a purely logical perspective, he had done more than enough. He wasn’t responsible for every person in the city.

But his conscience wouldn’t allow him to leave.

The thought of that pregnant woman still being somewhere inside the building kept pulling him forward.

Alex thought about Nyx again.

He imagined her carrying his child and being trapped beneath the wreckage of a destroyed building, waiting for someone to come.

He couldn’t abandon someone else simply because she wasn’t his family. Alex gritted his teeth and pushed himself harder.

He used his speed to sweep through the remaining sections of the building, checking every store and corridor as quickly as possible. He searched areas where survivors might have taken shelter, and looked beneath collapsed displays.

The pressure behind his eyes became almost painful. The Eye of Chronos was now reaching its limit. He needed to find her now.

Alex accelerated through another damaged corridor and suddenly caught sight of... a hand?

It resembled a woman’s own and was extending from the explosion....