Video Storm and Detector

"Alright, Brother Yi, give me a second. It's just a simple edit, won't take long."

As soon as he heard that the crystals were about to be distributed, Chen Yu's fingers flew across the screen. In no time, he had spliced Lin Yi's combat footage together with his later instructional video.

He thought for a moment and came up with a blunt, punchy title.

[Doomsday Survival Tutorial: Learn this, and kill monsters until they're too scared to get close! — Source Energy teaching from the front lines at Hongfu Tower, Helu City]

Chen Yu let out a long breath and pressed the publish button firmly with his thumb. In an instant, he pushed his Moyin account—which had over two hundred thousand followers and usually focused on gaming and toy unboxing—into the eye of the storm.

"Done! Everyone, search for 'A Yu Loves Playing' on Moyin and help me share this. Share it with as many people as you can."

In the banquet hall, almost everyone subconsciously pulled out their phones, searched for Chen Yu's account, and shared the video before even clicking on it.

After a brief network lag, the video began to load and play.

Soon, they saw Lin Yi appear on screen clad in Dark Armor. Then came the dull, piercing whistle of the Black Iron Long Staff tearing through the air, the sound of Corrosive Abyss Wolf bones shattering under the staff's shadow as they turned to ash, and the sight of Lin Yi strolling casually under the gaze of the surrounding Abyssal Beasts to pick up crystals and retrieve his weapon...

After watching the video, Zhou Jinghua's eyes were already bloodshot.

Although she had seen Lin Yi's armor damaged twice and witnessed the pain he endured during his training, those incidents had ended safely, so the impact hadn't felt quite as intense.

But this time, seeing her own son maneuvering and fighting for his life amidst a swarm of monsters on screen, it clashed violently with the image she had held for years—that of a quiet student who never caused anyone trouble.

She felt a strange, unfamiliar fear, mixed with an indescribable surge of pride and heartache.

The others were equally stunned by the bloody, violent, yet clean and efficient combat footage, and the entire Fujin Hall fell into a strangely eerie silence.

But soon, Chen Yu's voice broke the stillness.

"Holy crap! Holy crap! Brother Yi, this... this is too intense!"

Chen Yu naturally didn't need to watch the video again, so he had been monitoring the comment section ever since he posted it. Right now, he was pointing at the rapidly refreshing comments on his phone screen, incoherent with excitement.

"It's only... it's only been up for a little while, and the view count has already broken ten thousand! The comments are going crazy!"

"That fast?"

Lin Yi was also a bit surprised.

In his previous life, during the initial period when the monsters descended, he had focused on checking survival data and information about Abyssal Beasts shared by others online after resolving his immediate crisis, along with the rescue range of local police. He hadn't really paid attention to what the internet celebrities were posting.

Later, the signal was lost and the network went down; except for those with radios, everyone else essentially became an information island.

Hearing Chen Yu say this now, Lin Yi couldn't help but feel a bit curious, wanting to see what kind of impact his actions would actually have.

This was truly outside his realm of knowledge.

Thinking of this, Lin Yi lowered his head, took out his phone, and clicked into Chen Yu's Moyin account.

As soon as he entered, he saw the title of Chen Yu's latest video.

Lin Yi's mouth twitched. He clicked into the comment section, and a massive wave of comments instantly expanded, filling the screen.

[What kind of game CG is this? I just woke up and saw this. The special effects look good, but when did you become a clickbait artist, A Yu?]

[Did you sleep your brain away staying up late? You're lucky as hell to be alive! Why should someone like you be safe hiding at home sleeping?!]

[He's telling the truth! A monster was killed at our school too, and it dropped a Gray Crystal. Inside was something called the "Basic Source Energy Guidance Technique." We're hiding in the teaching building, and there are quite a few monsters wandering below. Coordinates: Shicheng No. 29 Middle School, help!]

[My family is all gone. They covered for me so I could hide in the room, and the monster is scratching at my door right now. Haha, I don't want to live anymore either; I'm getting ready to go out and fight that beast to the death.]

[Why did these monsters suddenly appear? Making it look like a game—are these Higher Dimensional Life forms just toying with us lower life forms?]

[Where is the military! Where are they? What about missiles and nukes?]

[Can you explain that guidance technique in more detail? What does the "tingling sensation like warm winter sun" actually feel like? I sat cross-legged for half an hour and my legs just went numb, I didn't feel anything.]

[To the person asking where the military is: do you think they don't want to save you? If they weren't tied up fighting, we wouldn't just be facing the monsters in front of us right now!]

[Stop calling the police, it's useless. They're already doing their best to rescue people; you just have to pray you're lucky enough to be near a station. The right way now is to check online to see who is near you and try to contact them. Coordinates: No. 445 Jinling Street, Linjiang District, xx City. Contact me if you're nearby!]

[I'm near Hongfu Tower! Help me, big boss! There are several wolves outside! I thought I was just waiting to die, but now I feel like I can live. Coordinates: 996 Convenience Store, diagonally across from Hongfu Tower. Big boss, please, you have to come save us!]

[Coordinates: Zi Feng Tower. The military has already been beaten back three times, so don't come here. I'm just waiting to die now, my mindset is very peaceful. I hope the military learns this Source Energy later and avenges us. Let me show you this Great Serpent—Image. Image.]

Lin Yi's gaze lingered for a moment on the comments asking for help and details about the guidance technique, and he sighed silently in his heart.

There wasn't much he could do right now, but the plea from the convenience store could be listed as his next target.

Then, Lin Yi put away his phone and turned his gaze back to the round table.

Seven gray, dull Spirit Shine Crystals were lying there quietly.

"Everyone."

Lin Yi's voice wasn't loud, but it drew everyone's attention.

"Seven crystals. I already knew what was inside when I picked them up. Three of them contain the Basic Source Energy Guidance Technique, another three are Level 1 Source Energy Crystals, and as for the last one..."

He paused for a moment before continuing: "It's a portable Source Energy Detector."

Speaking of this, Lin Yi's mood improved slightly.

After all, this thing has great utility in the early stages.

However, the Source Energy Detector is usually white and only produced by Green Crystals; the probability of it dropping from a Gray Crystal is extremely low.

Although the portable Source Energy Detector obtained from a Gray Crystal is the most basic model—not only is its detection range limited, but it is also practically useless against true experts—in the initial stages... especially when dealing with these low-level Abyssal Beasts, it is simply a divine artifact!

Positioning, communication, and most importantly, the detection of life-form source energy values... various practical functions make it even better than some items obtained from Blue Crystals during the early stages.

"A detector?" Chen Yu stretched his neck out in curiosity.

"What is it used for?" Zhou Jianjun immediately pressed, his military instincts making him extremely sensitive to the word "detection."

Lin Yi did not explain immediately; instead, he gripped the unremarkable Gray Crystal and, under the breathless gaze of the crowd, applied a slight amount of force.

Crack!

A crisp shattering sound rang out.

But this time, what burst forth from the crystal was not a gray mist, but a small, highly condensed Light Sphere flickering with faint blue-white electric arcs.

The Light Sphere was only the size of a billiard ball, hovering a few centimeters above Lin Yi's palm, emitting a faint "zizzing" sound.

It seemed to be composed of liquid metal and flowing light, its internal structure rapidly rotating, assembling, and collapsing. This process lasted less than two seconds before the unstable Light Sphere suddenly contracted inward and instantly solidified.

As the light dissipated, a delicate object lay quietly in Lin Yi's palm.

It was a device with a highly futuristic design.

Its shape resembled an ear-hook headset, with the main body appearing in a deep matte black with a subtle frosted texture.

Connected to the front of the ear hook was a miniature sensor module, slightly smaller than a fingernail and shaped like a flat teardrop.

The entire device looked simple, lightweight, and full of technological flair.

"This is... the portable detector?"

Zhou Yuxuan pushed up his glasses and leaned in for a closer look. "It hooks onto the ear?"

"How do you use it?" Chen Yu was eager to try.

Lin Yi did not answer. Pretending to be encountering this equipment for the first time, he carefully picked up the lightweight device with his index finger and thumb. He paused for a moment, as if recalling the information the crystal had transmitted to him, and then gently clipped the curved ear-hook part onto the upper edge of his right ear.

Following that, Lin Yi raised his Right Hand, his index finger pressing precisely on an extremely tiny, circular button on the side of the sensor module that was almost integrated into the casing.

Beep...

An extremely faint buzzing sound, as if ringing directly against his ear bone, reached him.

The next second, a nearly transparent, pale blue Light Screen appeared out of thin air in front of Lin Yi's right eye.

The size and shape of this Light Screen were exactly like a rimless spectacle lens.

Its presence did not affect Lin Yi's ability to observe the real world with both eyes at all, but the scene seen by his right eye was now overlaid with a clear layer of information.