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Chapter 17 – The Countdown to Zero

Penulis: XiaoyenLi
last update Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-10-20 08:33:56

Arc II – The Curse Rewrites Itself

Chapter 17 – The Countdown to Zero

The sound began as a pulse in the walls.

At first, no one noticed.

The city was always alive; it hummed when people laughed, sighed when they slept.

But this hum was different—steady, mechanical, unblinking.

Adrian measured it.

> “Sixty beats a minute,” he said. “Exactly the same everywhere. Heart, stone, air.”

Mira touched her chest.

“And mine.”

The leaf inside her locket flashed in perfect time.

---

Within days, everything synchronized.

Waterfalls poured in rhythm; wind gusted like measured breath.

Birds paused mid-flight, gliding between beats, as though time itself had learned discipline.

The echoes called it The Great Alignment.

They built clocks that had no hands—circles of light counting each pulse in silent worship.

But Adrian saw the pattern behind it:

Every day, the rhythm quickened by one beat.

At this rate, it would reach infinity in less than a month.

---

They met in the living lib
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