Chapter 402
Spreading Fear
Chapter 402 Spreading Fear
"Let's have some fun!"
In a shelter in Beixing, a young man woke up in the morning, ate his ration of food, and sat down in front of his computer.
Pick up the controller; today's battle is ready.
The young people were very happy after the rules were released.
He liked this kind of survival rule with low risk; as long as he stayed in the shelter and didn't go out, he didn't have to worry about getting hurt.
During the month-long rule period, I enjoyed spending every day in the shelter playing games.
A new game will be released today, which is something to look forward to.
It's important to understand that in the post-apocalyptic era, the entertainment industry is in dire straits. No one is producing new content anymore; people are consuming old, outdated material. Even classic games and movies will become tiresome after being played or watched countless times.
However, following the recent official announcement of developing the entertainment industry, not only did the government personally create variety shows like "Clash of Ascendants," but it also specially approved the distribution of Ascendant Coins as wages to the creators. As a result, some Ascendants have gradually begun to participate in the production of new content.
As for ordinary people, who make up more than 80% of the total population, they have no need for Ascension Coins, so the only way to incentivize them is with gold.
Most countries in the world today have two currency systems: those who have ascended use ascended coins to trade, while ordinary people use gold.
In the past, Ascended Coins were willing to accept gold, but now they basically don't want it anymore, only Ascended Coins.
As time went by, they came to realize more and more that for Ascended Ones, the most important thing was always spiritual power, followed by Ascended Coins.
What young people are looking forward to right now is the result of official support and development—a new masterpiece developed by a group of ascendants and ordinary people, an FPS game called "Apocalypse Frenzy".
The game content is very straightforward: players will play as armed soldiers fighting against the villainous organization led by the "Fire Stealers".
This is no longer an allusion, but a direct copy of the real world, only with a change to the setting that humans are powerless against fire-stealers.
This change is necessary. People have had enough of the fire-stealers in real life, and they don't want to suffer the same fate in the game. Even knowing it's fictional, being able to shoot the fire-stealers dead in the game is satisfying enough.
"It's now available for download!"
The young man timed it perfectly and immediately downloaded the game.
The internet speed in the shelter is extremely fast, and the game downloaded successfully in no time, with a notification indicating that a temporary update had been completed.
The young man ignored the "temporary update" notification and eagerly opened the game.
The screen went black, and then a large icon appeared.
A round sphere with a scarlet glow and a mottled surface floats quietly in the center of the image.
The young man's first thought: Is this the game developer's trademark?
The young man's second thought: Wait a minute, games are all free now, the concept of a company has disappeared, what's the point of a trademark? Is it just a cutscene? But why isn't it moving?
As soon as the third second arrived, what took over the young man's mind in place of his previous thoughts were rapidly changing, incredibly realistic, and terrifying images.
When I was a child, I lost my footing while climbing a tree and fell from a great height!
After reading a ghost story, I was so scared that I hid under the covers. Suddenly, a bloody hand pulled back the covers, and a ghostly face was right in front of me!
The parents argued over trivial matters, suddenly rushed to the kitchen, grabbed knives, and started stabbing each other. Finally, they both rushed at their child!
"Aaaaaah! Aaaaaah!"
The young man's terrified screams soon echoed throughout the entire shelter.
When the others arrived, they saw a face slumped on the computer desk, eyes bulging out and face contorted.
"What's going on?!"
"Look at his computer screen! That's—"
"Don't look!!"
"Get out of the way!"
One of the shelter's managers grabbed an iron bar and smashed it against the monitor.
Click! Click!
With one blow, the monitor shattered instantly, and the image on it flickered and then disappeared completely.
"Huh, huh..."
The manager glanced at the young man lying face down on the table, eyes wide open in disbelief, and roared angrily, "I told all of you not to go online or look at pictures posted by others so soon after the rules were released! Don't you remember?!"
According to the hidden information released by the official sources: During the rule period, in addition to looking directly at Scarlet Terra, viewing its images, refractions, reflections, etc., will be affected by the power of Scarlet Fear.
Therefore, to prevent malicious individuals from deliberately spreading videos or images of Scarlet Terra, officials in various countries have advised their citizens to avoid going online and only view local content.
Directly cutting off the internet at the official level is unrealistic. The "digital withdrawal" rule caused significant damage to human society, forcing many important production activities to halt. Moreover, the extent to which people voluntarily disconnect from the internet certainly wouldn't be as effective as a rule.
Therefore, the official advice is that if you must go online, only visit official websites and avoid visiting unregulated or illegal websites. Furthermore, do not chat online with strangers or receive files from them, as you do not know if they will send you images of Scarlet Terra.
"He said there's a new game launching today, and he wanted to try it out..."
"The young man's roommate, still in shock, said."
"That, that's clearly a single-player game, I thought it would be fine... But why would there be... a picture of Scarlet Terra in a single-player game?"
Upon hearing this, the managers were shocked: "Oh no! Someone has put its image in the game released today. This must be reported to the higher-ups immediately!" At the same time, a large number of players who had been paying close attention to the game "Apocalypse Frenzy" and had chosen to download it as soon as it was released were caught off guard and witnessed the ultra-high-definition image of Crimson Terra displayed on the game's opening screen.
Some people immediately fainted, suffered from stress, or died; others, under extreme fear, fell into mania and indiscriminately attacked those around them.
Only a very small number of people reacted extremely quickly, looking away and destroying the screen the moment they saw it, thus preventing the fear effect from taking hold.
But this extremely small number is far too few.
At least several million players worldwide have been affected, causing widespread chaos in various locations.
……
March 4, Yingqi Banzhen City.
Guan Tong and Shang Yuanzi met outside the administration building.
After Suzuki's funeral, Kanto returned to Hokusei, while she stayed with Sakura to investigate.
Although the two contact each other by phone from time to time, Guan Tong felt that it would be better to meet regularly.
"Your condition...has worsened again?"
Guan Tong looked at Shang Yuanzi, who was wearing a full-face mask. She hadn't worn a mask when they met alone before, and now that she was, the scales could only be spreading upwards.
“Yes, it’s already up to the upper half of her cheeks,” Shangyuan Zi said.
Are you feeling unwell?
"No, on the contrary, the natural growth rate of my mental power limit has increased. I seem to be gradually getting a clue about the ability that Misawa Jun mastered back then."
It's a good thing that my teammates are getting stronger.
However, Guan Tong was not particularly happy because the price Shang Yuanzi paid for becoming stronger was obvious.
If she continues as she is now, sooner or later she will be covered in scales from head to toe, and then she won't be able to show her true face anymore.
“Don’t worry about me,” Shangyuan Zi said. “I’ve gathered some intelligence these past few days.”
"Oh? What is it?"
"Do you remember when Misawa Jun wanted to deal with you, so he first had Suzuki use his ability to profile you? The goal was to find you and at the same time profile your ability."
Guan Tong nodded; of course he remembered.
“This isn’t the first time she’s profiled you,” Uehara Yuki said. “When I was investigating the files of the Sakuragi Police Department, I discovered that before Misawa Jun, there was a large-scale explosion in Antu City that destroyed half a street. At that time, Suzuki was working at the Antu Police Department, and the director ordered an investigation into the incident. She profiled the scene once and became aware of your existence.”
Guan Tong recalled that battle: "The Antu bombing... was perpetrated by a guy named Wu Wang. His ability is to detonate metal; he tried to take me down with him but failed. Is there any connection between these events?"
Uehara Yuki said, "The information I found is that Suzuki's two profiles of you were accessed by anonymous people some time ago."
"Someone's checking?" Guan Tong's heart skipped a beat. "You mean..."
“It’s possible that someone is trying to use her to deal with you,” said Uehara Zi. “Whoever that person is, they must be very powerful. They can anonymously access the files of the Sakuragi Police Department and operate in Hokusei, even finding the rehabilitation center where Suzuki is located.”
Guan Tong frowned. When he heard "very energetic," a name flashed through his mind.
Eldest sister, Jiang Lanying.
She undoubtedly wielded immense power during her lifetime. Even when she was forced to defect, she still had several loyal followers and even hired Lucifer as her accomplice.
However, that energy had long since vanished with her death.
With her death, those associated with her will naturally be purged.
So who would want to get back at me?
"Have you thought of anyone?" Shangyuan Zi asked.
Guan Tong shook his head: "I can't believe it. But I think it has nothing to do with the Countermeasures Research Office."
He is now working closely with the Countermeasures Research Office, and the collaboration is mutually beneficial. The Research Office has no reason to do anything against him; doing so would only result in a lose-lose situation.
"Then you should be careful; it's easy to dodge a spear in the open, but hard to guard against an arrow in the dark."
"The person behind this is the one we should be wary of," Guan Tong said. "Sooner or later, I will find them and make them pay with blood."
Uehara nods: "I will continue to stay in Sakura to investigate until I go to France later this month."
"Ah."
Guan Tong had already mentioned to Shang Yuanzi that she was going to Fahe to deal with the Fire Thief Cult, and the latter asked to go with her after learning about it.
After considering it, Guan Tong agreed, but he did not intend to let Shang Yuanzi join the joint action team of the Human Alliance. Instead, he wanted her to act alone to provide support.
This way, if anything goes wrong with the joint task force, she can avoid being affected and can provide additional assistance.
Just then, Uehara Yuki's phone rang. She picked it up and saw, "It's Yoshino."
She answered the phone: "Director Yoshino, what is it?"
After saying something on the other end, Shang Yuanzi quickly hung up the phone and looked at Guan Tong: "Something's happened. Someone is spreading images of Scarlet Terra on a large scale."
(End of this chapter)