“Uh, what am I supposed to do?” Brian Brooks asked.

“According to the Public Security Administration Punishments Law, he needs to be detained and fined. Please come and handle the paperwork,” the young woman on duty at the police station said.

“Sorry, I’m not going. Please punish him severely. According to the Public Security Administration Punishments Law, if the circumstances are serious, he should be detained for more than ten days but less than fifteen, and fined between five hundred and three thousand yuan. Please give him the maximum penalty, thank you,” Brian Brooks shook his head and said.

The other party was stunned for a moment: “Aren’t you his son?”

Brian Brooks replied, “I’m the one who reported the case. I’m not his son, I’m just a concerned citizen, Mr. Qing.”

The young woman on duty: “???”

Brian Brooks didn’t hesitate any longer and hung up the phone directly. His gambler father would be detained for at least 10 days, which meant that before his next crossing, he wouldn’t have to see him.

But for a teenager, having your father detained and scolded loudly by others didn’t feel good.

Most teenagers look up to their fathers as role models during adolescence. Once you discover your father is disgraced and has no dignity, a load-bearing wall in your heart suddenly collapses.

Brian Brooks took a deep breath and slowly lay down on the bed. He opened his phone to check his call log and WeChat, but there was no message from his mother.

He didn’t know why, but at some point, he even wanted to return to that prison early.

Even though it was an unknown and dangerous world.

It was already past one in the morning, and Brian Brooks wasn’t sleepy at all.

In the dim room, only the phone screen illuminated his cheeks. On the screen was the Canon sheet music he had just searched for.

This was a lifelong regret for Emily Thompson, but for Brian Brooks, it had come effortlessly.

Maybe that’s the difference between different worlds. The other person also had things that Brian Brooks dreamed of.

But should he give the sheet music to Emily Thompson?

If he did, how would he explain where it came from?

In the end, he still didn’t get a call or message from his mother.

……

Countdown, Day One, 7:30 a.m.

Brian Brooks put on his blue and white school uniform and left the house, eating instant noodles as he walked.

The Luocheng Foreign Language School he attended was only a five-minute walk from his home, just across a small path.

On Xingshu Road, the breakfast stall selling egg pancakes was wafting with fragrance. Passersby would sit at the small stall and eat a bowl of hot tofu pudding or spicy soup.

The freshly fried youtiao were golden and crispy, and the tea eggs were smooth and translucent after peeling.

But Brian Brooks was out of money. Most of his savings had been spent on supplies for the countdown.

In Class 3, Grade 11, the students on duty were cleaning the classroom, and the smell of water from mopping hadn’t dissipated yet.

Brian Brooks sat in the last row. At that moment, his deskmate David Carter hurried into the classroom, looking nervous.

“Did the homeroom teacher say anything about me skipping class yesterday?” Brian Brooks asked in a low voice.

But David Carter seemed absent-minded, as if he hadn’t heard anything: “Huh? What?”

“Never mind,” Brian Brooks shook his head. “Why do you look so flustered?”

“Flustered?” David Carter was startled. “No, I’m not.”

Brian Brooks fell silent.

After a moment of quiet, David Carter suddenly lowered his voice and asked, “Brian Brooks, if you encountered something really strange, what would you do?”

“Call the police?” Brian Brooks fixed his gaze on David Carter.

David Carter’s eyes lit up: “Right, call the police! Brian Brooks, does your family know anyone at the police station?”

“Yeah,” Brian Brooks thought for a moment and said, “My dad just got arrested last night for gambling.”

David Carter: “???”

Chapter 14: If You Gain Wealth, Don’t Forget Your Friends

David Carter looked at Brian Brooks, stunned for a while. “Bro, I meant I wanted to ask a police officer for help. Someone who’s been arrested can’t help with anything.”

“Then there’s nothing I can do,” Brian Brooks shook his head and asked further, “Did you encounter something really strange? What happened?”

“It’s nothing, nothing,” David Carter refused to say more.

Brian Brooks didn’t press further.

But he had a vague suspicion in his heart. Could the “strange” thing David Carter mentioned be that a countdown had appeared on his arm too?

Just then, a classmate playing on their phone suddenly exclaimed, “Whoa!”

It wasn’t class time yet, and there were only about a dozen students in Class 3, Grade 11. Everyone turned to look. “What’s up?”

“Check the trending topics! Jacob just held a press conference and said he traveled to a mechanical civilization world. There’s a full video of the press conference on the trending list,” the classmate who shouted said.

Jacob, an American, was one of the world’s most famous basketball stars, with a huge fan base.

The classmates immediately pulled out their phones to check the trending topics, all looking confused.

Only Brian Brooks froze on the spot, because he knew exactly what that so-called crossing and mechanical civilization was all about!

But he really hadn’t expected that people overseas were also experiencing things like crossing over and countdowns.