"Sudden Mission??" Upon seeing those four words, the first thing that flashed through Fang Senyan's mind wasn't an opportunity or a chance to cash in, but rather a realization of immense risk.

Yes, because the warning was laid out so clearly: accepting this sudden mission could cause the Doomsday to arrive randomly at a critical juncture. This meant being caught completely off guard, meaning the credibility Fang Senyan had painstakingly built up could be shattered!

The drawbacks of the world ending prematurely go without saying; even for absolute titans like Sun Yang or Super Dan, forcing them into a championship match without a proper warm-up or halfway through a meal, they might not even clinch the national title, let alone the world championship.

But the drawbacks of the Doomsday being postponed were even harsher! Think about it: initially, people would be stunned, then ecstatic, and immediately afterward, the vast majority would dismiss Dr. X and his cohorts as frauds, sending everyone back home to their own affairs... Okay, and then the end of the world strikes!

So Fang Senyan steeled his resolve, not intending to grant Mr. Jackson Klust his wish. But just then, they all felt a sudden jolt, followed by what sounded like a piercing shriek, and then an indescribable, majestic power and will descended upon them...

Then, to their astonishment, a series of notifications appeared across their retinas: "Ace Silver Team, you have chosen to accept the Sudden Mission: Jackson Klust’s Commission."

"Mission Content: Ensure Jackson Klust’s ex-wife, Kate, son, Noah, and daughter, Lili, survive the ensuing World Doomsday."

"Mission Description: This is undoubtedly a daunting task. It can be imagined that throughout this process, you will face astonishing challenges, perhaps even appearing as if fate itself is beginning to conspire against you, and the entire world might even grow enraged at your heaven-defying actions. However, we trust you can complete this challenge." "Mission Completion Reward: ????? (Unknown error occurred here, code unknown) None."

"Mission Failure Penalty: Deduct 50 points from all basic attributes (Unknown error occurred here, code unknown)."

"Warning: Having accepted Jackson Klust’s Commission Sudden Mission, the arrival time of the World Doomsday is no longer fixed but will randomly occur within a specific time frame."

Fang Senyan and his companions stared blankly at the prompt, almost unable to restrain themselves from cursing!

The inherent difficulty of this mission hardly needed mentioning, but just from the phrases "fate itself is beginning to conspire against you" and "the entire world might even grow enraged at your heaven-defying actions," one could deduce something terrifying!

That is, accepting this mission meant becoming "unwelcome in this world"—that is, inviting extreme bad luck where even drinking water could result in choking. Such a terrifying penalty was akin to the fate-weaving abilities seen in the movie Final Destination or that of Fu. Furthermore, the 2012 Doomsday was a global catastrophe film; in the Final Destination movies, Death often had to actively create opportunities. In this film, even if people were blessed with extreme luck, they would still face constant perils; to have enraged the entire world on top of that meant Fang Senyan's journey ahead might be an amplified version of the apocalypse!

More bizarrely, such a perilous mission yielded no reward!

It was like a famous line from Liu Qian: "This matter is quite incredible. Where is it incredible? The most incredible thing is the lack of applause." In fact, according to the principle that greater risk yields greater returns in the spatial realm, this mission should have offered at least something earth-shattering, if not heaven-defying. Zero reward for completion wasn't something an "unknown error code" could easily explain away.

As for the failure penalty—the deduction of 50 points from all basic attributes—that essentially rendered a person useless.

"What on earth happened?" This doubt must have surfaced in everyone's mind. However, just as Fang Senyan, holding the highest military rank, was about to inquire, they all received a series of inexplicable notifications: "Ace Team: All of your Awakening Skills have been upgraded."

"Survival Awakening Skill: Survival Mark can now affect two targets simultaneously."

"Offensive Awakening Skill: Predator's Eye, in addition to stealing the target's movement speed, will now additionally pilfer 10 points of Defense from the enemy within sight and bestow it upon your own body for a duration of thirty seconds."

"Awakening Skill: Shattered Utopia, casting range increased from thirty meters to forty meters, compatible spell capacity increased from five slots to six slots."

"Awakening Skill: Hand of God, casting consumes 50% less life force. When cast on an enemy, it will additionally inflict 10% damage (this damage cannot exceed 1000 points, nor fall below 150 points). When cast on an ally as a shield, it will grant them three seconds of invulnerability upon spell completion."

Gazing at the sudden enhancement of their Awakening Skills, everyone was stunned. They knew from the information within the Nightmare Imprint that upgrading these skills was anything but easy! The comprehension of an Awakening Skill was inherently difficult; one only needed to look at how Zi and Reef attained theirs. The difficulty of advancing them was nearly equivalent to advancing one's innate talent.

The fact that all three individuals' skills were simultaneously elevated meant the difficulty of this upgrade was comparable to advancing a Double-S ability by one tier. Yet, as confusion reigned, the subsequent notifications clarified the reason.

"Due to the appearance of an unknown reason, an error has occurred in the Sudden Mission: Jackson Klust’s Commission." "The root cause of the unknown error has now been located and successfully eliminated, but the Ace Team is still considered to have accepted this mission and must complete the Sudden Mission: Jackson Klust’s Commission."

"Considering the current situation violates provisions Article IV and Article XXXI of the Noah Space Joint Regulations, Noah Space C-Unit, as the Ace Team's Mother Nest, must intervene. Upgrade the Awakening Skill levels for all members of this squad. Furthermore, upon completion of the Sudden Mission: Jackson Klust’s Commission, the C-Unit reserves the right to offer compensation based on the mission's difficulty." "Ace Team, please commence mission execution immediately, as the material template for this mission has already been generated, thus you must see it through. Following emergency data recovery, the mission failure penalty has been reduced by 50%."

With these notifications, the entire puzzle fell into place. Clearly, that abnormal entity, Fu, was still plotting, using a bug he possessed to forcefully modify the Sudden Mission: Jackson Klust’s Commission that Fang Senyan's group had obtained, compelling them to accept it.

However, in the process of committing this wicked act, Fu must have been careless or perhaps gambling with his own life, as he was promptly discovered by Noah Space C-Unit, likely suffering severe damage or death from the Space's wrathful will.

But the modified Sudden Mission still had to be executed by Fang Senyan's team. To compensate the Ace Team for their losses, Space C-Unit had advanced partial rewards by upgrading their Awakening Skills, attempted to mitigate the failure penalty, and finally promised compensation upon mission completion...

Having sorted out the sequence of events, Fang Senyan and his three companions first looked at the smiling, relieved Jackson Klust, then exchanged wry smiles, knowing that misfortune was inevitable. Their current predicament could only be summarized by a famous saying: Life is like rape; if you cannot resist, just close your eyes and enjoy it...

Ten hours later, Fang Senyan and his group finally reached their destination: Manhattan Beach City, California.

Yes, that's right—it took a full ten hours.

Even though this damned city was only a two-and-a-half-hour flight from New York, including time for last-minute ticket purchases!

Evidently, the "World's Fury" mentioned in the mission briefing was in effect. The four of them encountered mishaps during their journey that made car accidents seem like child's play. They initially took three consecutive flights, each plagued by thick fog, mechanical failures, or the pilot fainting—a situation they dared not continue with, as delay was manageable, but an in-air disaster would have been a tragedy beyond tears.

They then naturally decided to drive the rest of the way. Consequently, during this drive, they encountered nearly every conceivable piece of bad luck. If not for Kurutgu’s supernatural abilities manifesting critically several times, their arrival time would likely have extended to fifteen hours!

A single instance of bad luck might not mean much to Fang Senyan's group, but ten, or a hundred such incidents stacked together were enough to wear them down to exhaustion!

More crucially, at this moment, exactly three hours and forty-one minutes had passed since the precise Doomsday prediction time Fang Senyan had announced!

Ever since accepting Mr. Klust's mission, Fang Senyan's group had been unable to contact any other plot-related characters; all calls resulted in a busy signal! Thus, their only source of information came from roadside televisions and similar media.

"Hmm, it should be the house up ahead," Fang Senyan sighed wearily. "That’s right, this is 14th Avenue, and over there is the home of Jackson Klust’s ex-wife: 19th Avenue. Heaven has eyes; it didn't unleash the Doomsday before we found them, otherwise, we would have surely failed!"