As the saying went, once you took a step back, you kept retreating. The young Planetary Consciousness had no idea what kind of monster it had let in by opening the door. But even if it saw through Hogg's true nature one day, it would already be far too late.
As soon as the contract was signed, the apocalyptic scene vanished in an instant, as if it had never appeared at all—a joke that left the little runt questioning its life.
But a joke was still a joke, and those few short minutes of apocalypse had already caused astronomical economic losses and brought about some truly bizarre incidents.
Some people claimed it was the end of the world foretold by the Mayans, that a new great flood was coming and they had to flee at once, so they began pushing the Wandering Earth Project.
Others were less fortunate. Take the brother and sister vacationing in Hawaii: they had thought the world was ending and figured they could have one last fling, only for the apocalypse to never arrive.
There were many more incidents like that. In short, when faced with a cataclysm that looked like the end of the world, humanity always managed to come up with all sorts of bizarre behavior, and an inexplicable panic began to spread across the globe.
But those problems no longer had anything to do with Hogg. He had already ordered Valkyrie to block information across the world's networks. On top of that, the officials in various countries who had already been replaced made sure that anyone who dared spout nonsense got a physical visit.
The Planetary Consciousness, having found a way out, didn't hesitate. It immediately lifted the restrictions and welcomed Hogg in with open arms. But its behavior only annoyed Hogg.
"What's