102: Ignite the world

The rental house was as bright as day; the curtains were drawn tight, without even a crack showing.

The screens of two high-spec computers emitted a faint blue light, reflecting the faces of Lin Feng and Wang Dalong, which were twisted with excitement.

In the air, there was only the buzzing sound of the computer fans and the crisp crackle of the keyboard and mouse being hammered.

Wang Dalong looked as if he’d been injected with a gallon of adrenaline, a completely different person from the deathly state he was in at the airport a few hours ago.

Right now, he was like a berserker on the battlefield who had seen red!

His fingers flew across the keyboard so fast they left afterimages. On the screen, piles of video footage and data streams were being rapidly categorized, organized, encrypted, and backed up.

He carefully disassembled that dented, custom-made camera as if he were defusing a bomb, gently pulling out the solid-state storage core inside.

"Holy crap! Brother Feng! This is incredible! This thing is too powerful!" Wang Dalong roared with excitement as he processed the data. "That final footage of the Golden City disintegrating—every frame is so clear you can see the dust in the air! If we release this, those old geezers at the Oscars will have to get on their knees and call us daddy!"

Lin Feng sat beside him, also quickly scanning through the footage.

But his task was different; it wasn't editing, it was "labeling."

"Here, zoom in." He pointed at a corner of the screen. "This is an ecological modification unit of the Zhuojin Star civilization. Its function is to regulate the local oxygen levels and humidity."

"Stop on this frame. This is the city's central energy tower. Its power source is geothermal energy from the core, mixed with some kind of particle conversion technology."

"And here, look closely at the blade in that Golden Warrior's hand. It's not a physical object; it's a high-frequency vibrating energy field. Pay attention to the detail where it slices through the rock..."

Like a forensic doctor with a scalpel, he dispassionately broke down those terrifying images into cold technical points and knowledge.

Wang Dalong listened while frantically taking notes in a document, sweat dripping from his forehead.

He had always known Brother Feng was amazing, but he never expected him to be this incredible!

This wasn't just "knowing a lot"; this was like carrying a goddamn encyclopedia of an alien civilization around! Every word he spoke felt like a heavy stomp on Wang Dalong's worldview.

"Brother Feng... these... are we releasing all these details too?" Wang Dalong's hands slowed down, his voice a bit hesitant. "These are technical theories that could change the world! Are we just... giving them away for free?"

"No." Lin Feng shook his head. His face was expressionless, his calmness unnerving. "We only release the footage. We won't add a single word."

Wang Dalong was stunned.

Lin Feng held up two fingers. "We need to do two things."

"First, package all the raw materials, including the footage we took of those Osiris mercenaries and the complete flight path coordinates recorded by the escape pod. Use the highest level of encryption and send it anonymously to the Brazilian authorities and our relevant domestic departments."

He paused, his voice turning even colder. "This provides them with intelligence, but it's also to save our own lives. It tells them clearly that we were just passing by and filming, we didn't take a single thing, we didn't kill anyone, and the Golden City collapsed on its own. We'll muddy the waters completely and let them go at it with those mysterious people like dogs fighting over a bone."

Wang Dalong's eyes lit up instantly!

Brilliant!

Absolutely brilliant!

What do you call this? Shifting the blame and making a clean getaway! Throwing all the dirty water out and keeping themselves completely clean!

"Second," Lin Feng's gaze fell on the screen, which was frozen on the final collapse of the Golden City. He remained silent for a few seconds. "Edit a short film of just the footage and release it to the global internet."

"I've already thought of the title—"

"[A Civilization's Farewell]."

"We don't need to explain or prove anything. Let the footage speak for itself. Let the scientists, historians, and those conspiracy theorists who shout 'the big one is coming' every day see it for themselves and go crazy. We just need to light the fuse."

As Wang Dalong listened, his blood rushed to his head, and he felt like his heart was about to jump out of his throat!

This wasn't just as simple as posting a video!

This was about personally triggering an unprecedented superstorm that would sweep across the globe!

He nodded forcefully with all his might, his neck letting out a "crack."

"Understood!"

For the next few hours, the rental house was silent except for the noise of the machines.

The two had a clear division of labor, and their efficiency was at its peak.

An encrypted file capable of detonating global geopolitics slithered like an invisible venomous snake through over a dozen layers of complex network proxies, quietly slipping into the servers of the top intelligence agencies of two major powers.

Meanwhile, a video exactly five minutes and seven seconds long was also edited.

There was no narration or music in the video, only the rawest, most authentic ambient sounds recorded at the time.

The camera started from the deep, dark underground pipes, in a first-person perspective, leading the audience all the way down.

Then, the view suddenly opened up!

That massive underground cavern, so magnificent it left one speechless.

The sci-fi-esque escape pod resting quietly on its launch pad.

The silent guards cast in gold, protecting the blue energy core.

Then, the screen shook violently as the world tore apart! Boulders fell like rain!

Finally... in a silent, gentle, yet indescribably tragic golden light, that Golden City, which surpassed all human imagination, slowly turned into the most insignificant dust in the universe, inch by inch, like a beautiful dream.

Every frame was so beautiful it seemed unreal, so shocking it made one's soul tremble.

Wang Dalong stared at the final cut, forgetting to even breathe.

He would bet his happiness for the rest of his life that these five minutes would take all of humanity's knowledge from the past few thousand years and grind it into the dirt!

"Brother Feng... it's... it's done." His throat was parched.

Lin Feng turned his chair and looked at the backend of his long-dormant "the wind speaker" account.

The mouse cursor hovered over the red "Publish" button.

He didn't pause for a second.

He gave it a light click.

"Beep."

With a soft sound, the video was successfully uploaded.

After finishing all this, Lin Feng shut down the computer, stood up, and walked toward the worn-out bed covered in cigarette burns.

"Fatty, sleep."

"Huh?" Wang Dalong's head was still buzzing; he was completely dazed. "Sleeping already? Aren't... aren't we going to check the reaction? This is..."

"Let the bullet fly for a while."

Lin Feng left it at that, lay down without even taking off his clothes, and closed his eyes.

In less than three seconds, the sound of steady breathing could be heard.

He was asleep.

Wang Dalong stared blankly at his excessively calm profile, then looked down at his own hands, which were still trembling from excitement and tension. Finally, he could only crack a smile that looked worse than crying.

Sigh, compared to Brother Feng's psychological fortitude—remaining unfazed even if Mount Tai were to collapse before him—his own level was like a total noob who had just left the starter village.

He also turned off the computer and threw himself heavily onto the other bed, his eyes wide as saucers, staring fixedly at a yellow water stain on the ceiling.

Sleep?

Sleep my ass!

His mind was filled with images of nuclear explosions; he couldn't close his eyes at all.

He had a strong premonition that when the sun rose tomorrow—no, maybe even before tomorrow—the world would change completely.

A very faint glimmer of dawn peeked through the gap in the rental house's curtains.

Dawn was coming.

And a superstorm capable of upending human civilization had only just begun.