103: Global Storm

Inside the rental house.

Wang Dalong stared fixedly at his phone, rows of rapidly scrolling comments reflected in his pupils; his whole body seemed nailed to the chair.

Sleep?

Right now, he just wanted to look up to the sky and let out a long howl!

Only six hours had passed since the video was posted.

The account "the wind speaker," which had been silent for a long time, was like a nuclear bomb that couldn't be measured in TNT equivalent, detonating in the calm ocean of the internet.

In the first hour, the view count broke a million.

In the second hour, it broke a hundred million.

In the third hour, the servers of major video websites crashed for fifteen minutes due to overload. Technicians thought it was a hacker attack, but after investigating for a long time, they discovered that global traffic was surging toward the same video like crazy.

In the fourth hour, the title [A Civilization's Farewell] reached number one on the trending lists of all social media in every country globally.

Behind it was a blood-red "Explosion" tag.

This wasn't just a trending topic; this was a global internet tsunami!

"Holy shit... Brother Feng..." Wang Dalong's voice was trembling. He turned to look at Lin Feng, who was sleeping like a dead pig on the bed, with an expression like he'd seen a ghost. "Look! It's blown up! Everything's fucking blown up!"

Lin Feng didn't react.

Wang Dalong couldn't be bothered with him anymore. He clicked on the comment section, which was no longer just comments—it was a chaotic ocean of mental frenzy.

[My God! What am I seeing? This isn't CG! I repeat, this isn't CG! I'm a renderer for a top Hollywood special effects studio, and I swear on my thirty-year career that the lighting, particle collapse, and physical feedback in this video couldn't be rendered by any computer! This is real!]

[I'm a PhD in Physics from MIT, and I'm only focused on one point: the energy form of that blue core! That's not any kind of energy source known to us! It's a stable, restrained, nearly perfect energy body! If we could analyze even one-ten-thousandth of it, humanity would directly enter the interstellar age!]

[Stop shouting upstairs! I'm from the Ancient Maya Cultural Research Association! You physics people don't understand at all! That city! Those symbols! They are exactly the same as the residence of the 'Sky God' recorded in the oldest maya manuscripts we've decoded! Myths... myths aren't just myths after all!]

[The Brazilian authorities have gone crazy! My uncle works in Brasília, and he says the military has urgently cordoned off an area of over three thousand square kilometers in the lower Amazon, code-named 'God's Forbidden Zone'! Helicopters are flying in like dumplings being dropped into water!]

[Great God the wind speaker, we know it's you! No one but you could find a place like this! Please, tell us, what on earth is this?!]

Panic, doubt, fanaticism, worship... countless emotions intertwined and collided on the internet, eventually converging into an unprecedented, terrifying torrent capable of overturning the world's perception.

At this moment, people all over the world became like primitive humans looking up at the starry sky.

Only this time, what they saw were not stars.

But a god that had already perished.

"Ding-dong—"

Wang Dalong's personal phone suddenly rang, the caller ID showing an encrypted number.

His hand jerked, nearly throwing the phone away.

After hesitating for three seconds, he still pressed the answer button.

"Fatty?"

From the other end of the phone came a cold, intellectual female voice, but now it carried a hint of uncontrollable, heavy panting.

It was Jiang Wanqing.

"Dr... Dr. Jiang?" Wang Dalong's Adam's apple bobbed.

"That video... did you guys post it?" Jiang Wanqing's voice was urgent and fast, as if she were trying her best to suppress some emotion.

"...Yes." Wang Dalong couldn't lie.

On the other end of the line was a dead silence that lasted for over ten seconds.

Only Jiang Wanqing's increasingly rapid breathing could be heard.

After a long time.

"Where are you?" she finally spoke again, her voice carrying an unquestionable sense of command. "Immediately! Right now! Find the safest place to hide! Cut off all external contact! Don't see anyone!"

"We've already returned to the country, we're in the rental house..."

"The rental house isn't safe!" Jiang Wanqing interrupted him directly. "Listen, the impact of this matter has already exceeded your imagination! It's also exceeded ours! We received that encrypted data you sent us. The content on it... is shocking!"

She took a deep breath, her voice dropping even lower, as if she were speaking right into Wang Dalong's ear.

"Fatty, this time, it's not a hornet's nest you've poked."

"You've poked a hole in the sky."

"Now, every top intelligence agency in the world, all the massive forces hidden beneath the surface, are using every possible means to find you. The thing in your hands can no longer be described as 'precious'; it's a 'key' capable of changing the course of human civilization!"

"Do you understand? You are now two walking keys!"

Wang Dalong's scalp tingled as he listened, his back instantly soaked in cold sweat.

"Then... then what do we do?"

"Wait for my word!" Jiang Wanqing's tone was resolute. "I've already reported this to the highest levels, and they're taking it very seriously! Before the authorities find you, absolutely! Absolutely do not let anyone find you!"

"Beep... beep... beep..."

The call was disconnected.

Clutching the hot phone, Wang Dalong felt as if all his strength had been drained, and he slumped onto the floor.

He looked at the pale dawn light peeking through the gaps in the curtains, representing the start of a new day, only to feel his head spinning.

It was dawn.

But the world seemed about to go dark.

He turned his head and looked at Lin Feng, who was still fast asleep, a smile on his face that looked worse than crying.

"Brother Feng, oh Brother Feng..."

"You said to let the bullets fly for a while."

"Now they're not just flying; they've fucking detonated the entire armory!"