Ding!

[The item "Ali’s Conch (Replica)" has been detected as expired, and the side effect halo is about to be activated. Please set the effect time on the system interface.]

When Zhou Wang put away the item, he suddenly heard the system prompt.

A string of question marks floated in his mind. He knew that items had side effects, but what did this prompt mean?

Unable to figure it out, Zhou Wang opened the system interface and saw a line of red-highlighted prompt.

[Please manually set the effect time for the side effect halo, not exceeding 72 hours.]

Hmm?

So does this mean I can decide when this "side effect" will kick in?

Zhou Wang checked and found a clock option, allowing him to delay the activation of the side effect.

Rather user-friendly...

Uncertain of what the item’s side effect could be, Zhou Wang naturally hoped for it to be as late as possible. So after thinking about it, he set the activation time to "72 hours later."

This way, he could mentally prepare in advance for any sudden situations.

...

"Mr. Zhou, we’ll be crossing soon."

After driving for about ten minutes, Lai Yuanbao, sitting in the front passenger seat, turned to remind him.

Zhou Wang looked up and saw an impressive building ahead, one of the five land ports for exiting Peng City to Hong Kong Island, Huanggang Port.

Among the several land ports to Hong Kong Island, most tourists tend to choose Futian Port and Luohu Port.

However, Huanggang Port is special because it is the only one among the five that offers 24-hour crossing services, leading to more trucks passing through here, which results in longer waiting times and more crowded conditions.

But this issue didn’t apply to Zhou Wang and his companions, as they were taking the priority inspection "green channel."

In just about ten minutes, the convoy passed through the checkpoint and entered Hong Kong Island in the administrative division sense.

But no scenery was visible at the moment; reaching Hong Kong Island’s city center would take nearly an hour’s drive.

During this process, Zhou Wang was not idle.

He was flipping through a thick stack of documents.

These documents were summaries of economic aspects concerning Hong Kong Island and Ao Island. They essentially contained the capital structures of these places, including information on numerous family conglomerates entrenched in Hong Kong Island and Ao Island, and their activities in recent years.

The documents were transferred to Zhou Wang by Mu Li via Lai Yuanbao, delivered timely, which should greatly assist Zhou Wang in his upcoming itinerary.

After quickly browsing the documentation, Zhou Wang captured a crucial piece of information.

About two years ago, a financial crisis occurred on Hong Kong Island. The apparent reason was some international situation fluctuations, causing the stock market on Hong Kong Island to enter a downturn. Many families were affected to varying degrees, and one or two illustrious families even fell from the upper circle on Hong Kong Island.

Later, several leading families suddenly came together, employing various means to rescue the market, successfully resolving the crisis. For this, the leaders of the families received official commendations.

There’s something very peculiar about this matter.

That is, the families involved had complex grievances among themselves, but at that time, they went from setting grievances aside to collaborating within a matter of a few days. No one knows how they efficiently united so quickly.

Zhou Wang tapped his fingers on the car window, instinctively feeling that this story might relate to "himself," which is also why several families hold him in high regard.

Another piece of evidence supporting his suspicion was the registration of Tyrant Security on Hong Kong Island around that time, with many companies associated with the Huo Family, Li Family, Huang Family, and others being Tyrant Security’s first batch of clients.

Suddenly, Zhou Wang remembered another unused item in his warehouse.

[Kieran’s Time Gear (编号009)]

But looking at its timeline, it addresses events in early 2024, which are well after, seemingly unrelated to the Hong Kong Island saga.

Since there were no other matters at hand, Zhou Wang instructed Xiao Lai not to disturb him and promptly activated this Time Gear.

...

Unsure of how much time had passed, when Zhou Wang awoke from his "daze," he found himself amidst high-rise buildings. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

The bustling atmosphere among the congestion and ubiquitous Cantonese signs indicated to Zhou Wang that they had arrived in Hong Kong Island’s city center.

"How long did I sleep?"

Seeing the Bentley pull up by the roadside, Zhou Wang couldn’t help but pat his slightly dizzy head and ask.

"About forty minutes,"

Sitting in the front passenger seat, Lai Yuanbao immediately turned around upon hearing Zhou Wang’s voice.

Forty minutes?

Thinking it over, Zhou Wang felt that it seemed about right.

The first time he activated the [Time Gear], he "slept" for nearly three hours, partly due to unaccustomedness and partly because the length of time he captured was as long as 20 days.

But this [编号009] Time Gear, covering only 7 days, is the shortest among the three Time Gears.

The story it tells is quite interesting; Zhou Wang hadn’t expected, after returning to the country, he wouldn’t be idle, and silently achieved quite a bit...