Chapter 85

"Speaking of which, the singer of the background music sounds very familiar,"

Desdrobia frowned in thought, then asked, "Could it be Eden?"

"Of course, she also produced the music herself,"

Elysia proudly stated, "Although the film is short, it's undoubtedly a big-budget production!"

With super Artificial Intelligence handling the special effects, world-class singers creating the music, and someone like her...

"Actually, there are still some problems."

Kevin suddenly said, "Elysia, you used too many special effects in your entrance part; it looked a bit over the top."

"Oh dear, no way!"

Elysia's eyes widened immediately, and she began to explain, "That's how beautiful girls like her are when they make their appearance!"

"It does seem a bit like that..."

Cosmo, who was standing nearby, also recalled, "Was the filter too pink?"

"It seems that people still have aesthetic sense."

Ai Yue nodded, adding the final blow, "So we'll use a different version when we release it."

"Hey, how could this happen!"

19

Chapter Nineteen: Is this even broadcast?

"Hey, have you heard?"

In a school in a city in Shenzhou, a boy who was dozing off in a corner seat was suddenly awakened by a shaking. He groggily looked up and saw his friend looking at him with a mysterious expression.

"Huh? What did you hear?"

The boy rubbed his eyes, his senses gradually returning. "Oh, you mean the new game that's releasing next week?"

"Of course not, and the release date for that game was already announced a long time ago!"

Seeing the guy's appearance, his friend simply pulled up a chair and sat down. "You, you didn't stay up all night playing games again, did you?"

"Yeah, what's wrong?"

The boy casually propped his chin on his hand and looked out the window, "Anyway..."

Anyway, no one can care about him anymore—his parents had already perished in the tsunami that swept through the entire Canghai City several years ago, and their bodies have not been found to this day.

"Shouldn't you change your completely indifferent attitude towards reality?"

My friend sighed helplessly, "Never mind, anyway, someone posted a video online debunking the Australia bushfires—apparently, they weren't bushfires at all, but some other, far more terrifying disaster!"

"Really?"

The boy then turned his head with some interest. "Oh, but that's normal. After all, how could an ordinary bushfire burn down the whole of Australia? But there have been at least eight hundred or a thousand similar stories lately. What did they come up with this time?"

The Australia bushfires, though nearly a year has passed, are still shrouded in mystery. After all, any normal person can see that there are many suspicious points in this matter, and it cannot be explained simply by saying that the bushfires were out of control.

What kind of bushfires could spread across the entire Australia continent within a week, leaving less than 50 percent survivors? If it were just a bushfire, the initial response should have been firefighting, but why were there countless videos showing the military's intervention before the bushfires completely ravaged Australia?

Because of the numerous unexplained doubts surrounding this incident, coupled with the strict management by relevant agencies that have deleted all news and videos related to the Australia bushfires, numerous so-called "truth videos" about the Australia bushfires have been circulating recently.

The claims included, but were not limited to, "a new weapon developed in North America has gone out of control," "a volcano in Australia has suddenly revived and erupted," and "God wants to exterminate humanity." At first, people were interested in joining in the fun, but as more and more outrageous claims spread, people quickly grew tired of them.

After all, natural disasters are common in this world. In the past, there have been various tsunamis, storms, plagues, and the like. More recently, there was the massive explosion on the Mu Continent. People have obviously become numb to these things, and trying to grab attention with random things won't have any effect.

"This time is different, this time it seems to be for real!"

My friend lowered his voice, adopting a mysterious air, "I have a video here, take a look!"

As he spoke, he took out his phone and opened a video.

The boy initially wanted to refuse, since he had seen too many videos of people making serious-looking videos trying to analyze conspiracies, but this one seemed genuinely different, so much so that he was immediately drawn to it.

This is a very ordinary direct shot video. There is no narration or mosaic. Instead, everything is presented to the audience in a straightforward manner, using visuals to describe everything.

What comes into view is a raging fire burning in the city, and a monstrous torrent that seems to engulf everything.

They trampled vehicles, crashed into buildings, and destroyed everything in sight. In the video, the boy could clearly see the monsters killing and trampling the people who were fleeing in all directions. Life was as fragile as withered grass at that moment.

"What's this?"

The boy asked instinctively.

He desperately wanted to tell him that it was all computer-generated, special effects, and that it couldn't fool him—but a voice in his head had to tell him that it was all real.

"Have no idea,"

My friend replied quietly, "I saw someone in the comments section say that this is Honkai Beast."

"Honkai Beast?"

The boy paused for a moment, "Is it related to that Honkai Sickness?"

"Have no idea,"

My friend shook his head. "Don't say anything yet, this video isn't over yet."

The boy quickly shut his mouth as the video's perspective began to change, slowly shifting towards the direction from which the Honkai Beast were attacking.

As the camera panned, a figure came into the boy's view.

It was a blurry human figure, whose gender could only be barely discerned from her long hair and figure. Compared to the monsters around her, the figure appeared so small and delicate, as if any monster could easily touch her and she would be torn to pieces like those humans. Yet, no monster dared to approach her, and in fact, the opposite was true.

Even without any further explanation, the boy could clearly perceive from the image that the monsters were servants of this human figure, and that they were driven by this figure.

What happened next made the boy finally understand where the fire that burned the entire city came from.

The blurry figure waved her hand lightly, and a terrifying wave of fire spread outwards from her, triggering a series of explosions that reduced everything in its path to ashes.

Is this... the truth behind the Australia bushfires?

The boy no longer cared about whether the video was real or fake, because he had already made a judgment in his mind. He swallowed and moistened his dry throat, and said in a slightly trembling voice, "Send me a copy of the video."

"You can just watch it online, this video..."

My friend paused halfway through his sentence, then stammered out the rest of the sentence, his tone filled with realization, "This video hasn't been taken down."

The boy was stunned for a moment and realized the problem – whether in China or abroad, online discussions about the Australia bushfires and other disasters have always been strictly controlled. Not to mention videos, even a virtual avatar talking to the camera would be quickly banned and taken down. How could they let such a video go?

Unless, of course, the video itself was permitted.

The boy and his friend stared at each other in silence, both feeling a strange sensation.

It seems that some things have already changed quietly.

However, before they could even sort out their thoughts, a sharp and piercing alarm shattered the sky!

20

Chapter Twenty: Run, Boy Run.

"This is an evacuation alarm!"

The boy paused for a moment, then suddenly stood up, grabbed his backpack, and shouted, "Quickly, grab what you need and head to the evacuation point according to the drill route!"

In this era of frequent natural disasters, disaster prevention drills have become a compulsory course for everyone. From young children just starting school to retired seniors, everyone must participate in disaster prevention drills at least once a week under the arrangement of relevant units.

In schools, the grades for disaster prevention drills are even more important than those for regular courses, because life comes first, and good grades are useless if you can't save your life.

That is why even the most mischievous students would participate in the exercises diligently, without daring to slack off in the slightest.

As the evacuation alarm sounded, the once noisy and chaotic classroom quickly formed neat lines. Everyone walked out of the classroom in order, connecting with students from other classes, and ran quickly out of the teaching building towards the underground shelter in the school.

"Do you think this is a real evacuation, or just a drill?"

While waiting for the action to take place, the friend standing in front of the boy turned to the side and asked, "It can't really be that much of a coincidence, can it?"

According to Shenzhou's relevant regulations, in order to ensure the authenticity of the exercise, the weekly exercise is conducted without prior notice or a fixed time, but at a random time to simulate real situations. Therefore, you may encounter the exercise alarm whether you are eating, in class, or even after school.

Therefore, it's difficult for everyone to distinguish whether it's true or false this time.

"Have no idea."

The boy shook his head slightly, indicating that he couldn't tell whether the exercise was real or not, "But I hope it really is just an exercise."

The two people who had watched the video exchanged a glance, and both saw a hint of fear in each other's eyes.

Before watching the video, their understanding of disaster prevention was limited to phenomena such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and storms. But if everything in the video was real, could the disasters they usually guard against be related to the monster in the video?

"It's our turn,"

His friend wanted to say something more, but the group had already started moving. He then turned around and ran ahead, shouting, "Hurry up and keep up!"

"My physical fitness is much better than yours, okay?"

The boy rolled his eyes and followed closely behind his friend.

However, as soon as they stepped out of the teaching building, they heard a commotion in the line ahead. The once orderly line broke into chaos, and some people could even be seen running back and forth.

"What's wrong!"

The boy quickly grabbed the unfamiliar classmate who was running past him, "What happened up ahead?"

"No, don't grab me!"

The unfamiliar boy frantically shook off his hand, leaving only a few words before running into the teaching building. "Monster!"

There are monsters.

The boy and his friend exchanged a glance, both feeling a chill creeping up from their tailbone.

However, reality didn't leave them much room for wild thoughts, because with a loud bang, the cafeteria located on the edge of the school collapsed, and from the huge cloud of dust that rose up, a terrifying figure slowly emerged.

The moment the boy saw that figure, his mind went blank—because it looked exactly like a monster he had seen in a video!

The video is authentic; there is indeed a huge secret hidden behind the Australia bushfires.

At the same time, something he had been deliberately ignoring also came to mind.

So, could the tsunami that engulfed Canghai City and killed his parents be the same as the Australia bushfires?

"Everyone, don't panic!"

At this moment, the teachers were also doing their best to maintain order, "Maintain formation, change direction, and head to another shelter!"

Despite the teachers' own barely concealed fear, they reassured the students with trembling voices. "Don't be afraid, your teachers will protect you! Run!"

Run? Can you outrun this monster?

Looking at the monster, which was over five meters tall with incredibly thick forelimbs and could traverse four or five meters with a single movement, the boy had this question in his mind.

But then, an idea overwhelmed his doubts and took hold of his mind.

An average person could never outrun him, but... he might be able to.

"Hold this for me."

While everyone was running away from the monster with their backs to it, the boy suddenly tossed his phone to his friend, then ran past everyone towards the monster.

"Are you crazy!?"

A friend shouted from behind, "Come back quickly!"

"I'll distract it!"

The boy ran off without looking back, leaving behind only this one sentence.

Yes, at this rate, many people will die before they even reach the shelter. To avoid this, someone needs to distract the monsters.

The scene shown in the video, where people were being slaughtered by monsters, flashed through the boy's mind. He gritted his teeth, feeling his blood boiling.

Whenever he thinks of his parents, he goes for a run, venting his pain and longing in lap after lap until he is exhausted, at which point he can temporarily forget the emptiness in his heart and fall into a deep sleep.

That's why he was confident he was faster than everyone in the school, even faster than a monster!

"You fucking beast!"

Approaching the monster from the side gave the boy an unprecedented sense of exhilaration. He forcefully threw his backpack, smashing it onto the monster's head. "Look this way!"

The monster was indeed drawn to the sudden attack; it turned its head slightly and locked onto the little man who was attacking it in some way.

Prioritize eliminating threatening units.