549: Chapter 549 Ignites Public Opinion

Konks waited for a few more days after returning home.

During these days, the debate on the internet regarding the Shankong Civilization grew increasingly heated, and the people on Zheng Huairen's side were still jumping around.

Although he had been disgraced after the incident at Shanhe University, internet memory is sometimes shorter than a fish's, and there were still corners spreading his brain-dead nonsense.

Konks didn't look at any of that; he knew it was coming soon.

Sure enough, on an ordinary Tuesday night, the Eastern Federation National Television's program 'Universe Perspective' suddenly adjusted its schedule and inserted a special documentary.

The title was simple: 'Origin'.

There were no teasers or warm-ups; it was aired directly during prime time.

Moreover, all live streaming platforms received notifications that they must broadcast it on their homepages.

The film began with the vast starry sky.

"The story of civilization begins with looking up at the starry sky, begins with the exploration of the unknown, and begins with the pursuit of truth."

"But some stories are written with lies and blood from the very beginning."

The scene switched to the capital of the 'Baishan Federation'.

Hovering traffic, clean streets, laughing children in parks, and Scholars debating fiercely in the squares.

The narrator briefly introduced this vanished civilization and its achievements in the fields of automation, artificial intelligence, and aerospace.

Then, the tone of the visuals changed abruptly.

A strange purple-red smoke surged from the city sewers, and crowds on the streets coughed in pain, collapsed, and their skin rotted; there were screams and wailing.

The camera shook; the person filming was clearly in fear as well.

"More than one hundred and forty years ago, a directional biological weapon, later known as the 'Wither Spore,' was used against the Baishan Federation's border city, 'Xinye'."

"This was a premeditated test; the testers were a military group from the Northwest Wasteland, which was then riddled with internal conflicts and on the verge of collapse."

"They were the founders of the later 'Shankong Civilization'."

Immediately following, there was footage of an internal rebellion at a research institute, with Shankong soldiers rushing in to steal data, kidnap scientists, and execute resisters.

It showed prisoners of war lining up outside the 'Modification Grounds,' machinery and operating tables vaguely visible in the factories, and thick smoke rising from chimneys.

It showed books and instruments piled like mountains being set on fire in the 'Science Palace' square, Scholars kneeling on the ground, the fanatical faces of Shankong officers giving speeches, and the flashes of weapons firing.

It showed large transport ships hauling away precious books and data from libraries.

It showed Shankong soldiers smashing sculptures in art galleries and stuffing gold and jewelry into sacks.

It showed that after occupying the palace, the Shankong leadership held ceremonies to give thanks to the high heaven, calling everything they had looted a miracle bestowed by the gods.

One piece of footage after another, accompanied by a calm narration, laid bare the decades-long, systematic war of national annihilation, technological looting, cultural destruction, and ethnic cleansing before everyone's eyes in a bloody manner.

"This is the truth behind what is called the 'Purification War' in current Shankong history textbooks, and what is glorified as a 'War of Unification' and 'high heaven purifying the faithless'."

"This was a genocide targeting multiple Advanced civilizations, with the sole purpose of total extermination and looting."

"After the war, the victors stole the name 'Void,' falsified all history, packaged the looted technology as a gift from the 'high heaven,' and established an extreme Rank System and ideological imprisonment System disguised by 'faith'."

The scene switched again, showing daily footage of Shankong androids working that Konks had filmed in the laboratory, as well as assembly line photos and design blueprints of the 'living android' factory recovered from that damaged storage array.

Although the critical parts were blurred, those naked human bodies lying on conveyor belts, those operators performing craniotomies, those brains soaking in nutrient solution, those faceless android shells waiting to be assembled...

Coupled with concise technical explanations, it was enough for anyone to understand what it was.

"In order to maintain the operation of the looted 'Black Box' technology while solving labor problems, the victors, unable to understand those technologies, developed a substitute method."

"They performed living brain modifications on prisoners of war and civilians deemed 'unclean' to create absolutely obedient android labor; this is the origin of the 'high heaven' perfect creations that are ubiquitous in Shankong society today."

"Under the shell of every android, an innocent soul who has lost everything is imprisoned."

The final part of the documentary showed the probe launched by Shankong that was received by the Eastern Federation, as well as the polished, bright, and peace-and-development-narrative-filled content inside the probe.

The narrator's voice was incredibly sarcastic at this moment.

"In order to cover up their bloody history of rising to power, whitewash the deformed status quo, and attempt to integrate into interstellar society, the Shankong Civilization meticulously crafted this resume."

"They beautified looting as exchange, slaughter as divine punishment, technological gaps as focused development, and ideological high-pressure as harmonious stability."

"All of this was to shape the image of an innocent, friendly civilization with unique wisdom, in order to gain external trust and strive for room to develop."

"And to find new sustenance and targets for shifting internal contradictions for their unsustainable System, which is built on endless lies and oppression."

"And our initial trust in this resume, and the subsequent exchanges, objectively provided soil and a springboard for the ideological backflow of certain people attempting to introduce Shankong's anti-civilization, anti-history, and anti-human values into the Eastern Federation."

"This is a lesson we need to keep in mind."

The screen froze on that promotional image in the probe full of friendly implications, then gradually faded to black.

At the end of the film, there was no stirring music, only a line of white text.

"History cannot be tampered with, and the truth must be remembered; the advancement of civilization should be based on reason, justice, and reverence for life, not on looting, lies, and the blood of the innocent."

The documentary ended.

A full ninety minutes.

Social media had already exploded halfway through the film.

#ShankongTruth, within three minutes after the film ended, directly landed at number one on the hot search lists of all platforms, followed by the word 'Explosive'.

Clicking into it, it was all astonishment and angry cursing.

"Holy shit... what the fuck did I just see???"

"That smoke... those people were real... they just rotted away like that???"

"Modification Grounds? Living androids? Using human brains as chips? Is this fucking civilization? This is Hell! Living Yama!!!"

"So the 'high heaven' gift that Zheng Huairen bragged about to the heavens was stolen? And harmonious stability is built on human lives and brainwashing?"

"No wonder I always felt their tech tree had problems; now it seems it's not crooked, it's just the result of stealing from others and being unable to digest it!"

"Everything in that probe is fucking lies! It was all made up from beginning to end!"

"I used to think they were a bit mysterious, a bit pitiful... fuck being pitiful! I should pity the people of the countries they annihilated!"

"Where is Zheng Huairen?! Professor Zheng, come out and walk a few steps? Explain yourself? Where is the 'wisdom' of the 'Advanced' civilization you admire?"

"@Zheng Huairen, speak up!"

"@Shanhe University, what kind of shit got into your brains to think of letting this guy fart on stage back then?"

"@Eastern Federation Academy of Social Sciences, why keep this kind of professor instead of firing him? If you're short of a New Year pig, I'll send you a truckload!"

Zheng Huairen's social media account was instantly bombarded.

Under his last post, which was still peacefully sharing 'Spirituality in Shankong Art,' the number of comments skyrocketed at a rate of hundreds per second.

They were all curses, and the words were all different.