When Henry Clark finished his analysis, everyone frowned, feeling that Henry Clark was talking nonsense. Previously, James had already mentioned protecting the protagonist for three days, and now he was bringing up seven days—did that mean the three-day protection didn’t count? That sounded pretty ridiculous.

“I know you all think I’m talking nonsense.” Henry Clark looked at everyone’s expressions, but he wasn’t angry. He just smiled and said, “This is exactly the trap I’m talking about... Who says the Jared on the watch... must be the protagonist Jared from ‘Skyline’!?”

“The reason we know Jared is the protagonist is because we’ve all seen the movie ‘Skyline.’ We know what he went through, what made him special, and we saw the ending, so we know he’s the main character. But as an ordinary person in the movie, why would he think he’s the protagonist?”

Henry Clark raised his hand and looked at his watch, chuckling. “What a clever word trap. Just a single name, and we immediately fixate on the protagonist. But in America, or even just in this city, there are at least thousands of people with the last name Jared! How do we know who the Lord God wants us to protect? Are we supposed to protect Jared the dentist, Jared the elementary school teacher, or Jared the homeless man? Who can say for sure that this Jared is the protagonist Jared we know!?”

“For all we know... there could be some punk named Jared who, due to some sudden incident, gets shot or stabbed and dies in the hospital. If we’re supposed to protect Jared for three days... the mission would already be a failure!”

At this point, everyone was chilled to the bone. Almost no one could eat anything anymore; instead, they kept checking their watches, again and again...

Meanwhile, far away on another street, the bespectacled man and six others had already found a patrol officer. After asking the police for help, the officer immediately called the station, requesting a patrol car to take these seven people—who claimed to have been kidnapped—back to the station. A moment later, when the police arrived, the officer driving the car looked disgruntled.

After the patrol officer explained the situation, he casually asked, “What’s wrong? You look pretty upset.”

The policeman gave a wry smile and said, “Someone died in a nearby neighborhood earlier. A group of punks got into a fight, and someone got stabbed three times. I happened to be there, but I couldn’t stop it. I’m probably going to get chewed out by the boss...”

The patrol officer was silent for a moment, then said, “Was it those two gangs of punks again? Such a headache... Who died?”

“I don’t know, the name sounded like it started with ‘Jer’ or something...”

“Really? Whatever... Let’s deal with these seven first. They all say they were kidnapped, from somewhere in Europe, and it happened in early winter. It’s all so bizarre. Let’s just get them to the station first.”

Back at the hotel, everyone’s eyes once again focused on Henry Clark, and Henry Clark didn’t hesitate to say, “That’s exactly why I suspect the first mission is actually a trap. Of course, it’s possible I’m overthinking it and it’s just as it says—protect the protagonist for three days—but the chances are very low, maybe twenty percent at most... That’s my analysis. If any of you disagree, you can ignore what I said and do whatever you want. I have no objections.”

After a moment of silence, the bearded Osage suddenly asked, “What’s the point of setting this trap? Everything should have a purpose. If it’s just a meaningless trap, then it can’t really be called a trap.”

Henry Clark smiled again, nodded, and said, “Yes, that’s exactly the point of noticing and analyzing it. A so-called trap is inherently deceptive, trying to get people to do something or achieve a certain goal. Let’s look at it from another angle: what happens if we fall into this trap? We’ll spend these three days getting close to and following the protagonist Jared. In doing so, we lose the most important thing... preparation!”

“When the aliens from ‘Skyline’ arrive, humanity’s existing weapons are almost completely ineffective, even nuclear weapons. In that situation, trying to fight head-on, kill, or stop them is pointless. The only thing we can do is run and hide. But if we spend three days following the protagonist, our options for escape and hiding are severely limited. Once the aliens arrive, nowhere will be safe. By then, we’ll be stuck following the protagonist down a dead-end road. That’s the real purpose of the trap—to make us stick close to the protagonist.”

By now, everyone was starting to understand. They looked at the information on their watches, then compared it to Henry Clark’s analysis, and gradually a sense of realization dawned. At this point, Jenny also asked, “Henry Clark, according to your analysis, what should we do? Now that we’ve discovered the trap, does that mean the aliens won’t arrive in these three days? Are these three days a safe period for us to prepare a shelter?”

“No, it’s just the opposite...”