"Sure thing, Brother Yi. Give me a second. It's just a simple edit; it won't take long."
At the thought of soon getting a share of the crystals, Chen Yu's fingers flew across his phone. Before long, he had spliced Lin Yi's battle footage together with the instructional video he'd recorded afterward.
After thinking it over, he came up with a blunt, straightforward title.
[Apocalypse Survival Guide: Learn This and Kill Until the Monsters Won't Come Near!--Source Energy Tutorial from the Front Lines at Hongfu Restaurant in Helu City]
Chen Yu let out a long breath and pressed the post button with his thumb. In an instant, his Moyin account, which had over two hundred thousand followers and usually featured games and toy unboxing videos, was thrust into the heart of the storm.
"Done! Everyone, search 'A-Yu Loves Playing' on Moyin and help share it. Send it to as many people as you can!"
Almost everyone in the banquet hall instinctively pulled out their phones and searched for Chen Yu's account. They shared the video first, then tapped to watch it.
After a brief network delay, the video loaded and began playing.
They soon saw Lin Yi appear onscreen in his Dark Armor. Then came the Black Iron Staff, tearing through the air with a deep, piercing whistle. The Corrosive Abyssal Wolf's bones shattered beneath its shadows, and it disintegrated into ash. Lin Yi then strolled past the Abyss Wolves watching from the perimeter, picked up the crystal, and retrieved his weapon.
After watching the video, Zhou Jinghua's eyes were already rimmed with red.
She had seen Lin Yi's armor damaged twice and had also witnessed the pain he endured while training. But he had made it through those times safely, so the impact hadn't been that strong.
This time, though, she saw her own son on the screen, weaving through a horde of monsters and fighting for his life. The sight violently clashed with the image she'd held for years: a quiet boy who studied hard and never gave anyone cause to worry.
She felt a strange, unfamiliar fear, yet at the same time, a pride and heartache she couldn't put into words.
The others were equally shaken by the bloody, brutal, yet clean and decisive battle. For a moment, the entire Fujin Hall fell into an eerie silence.
But Chen Yu's voice soon broke it.
"Holy crap! Holy crap, Brother Yi! That—that was incredible!"
Chen Yu didn't need to watch the video again, so after posting it, he had kept his eyes on the comments. Now, pointing at the flood of comments rushing across his screen, he was so excited he could barely get the words out.
"It—it's only been up for a little while, and it's already passed ten thousand views! The comments are going crazy!"
"That fast?"
Lin Yi was a little surprised, too.
Back when the monsters had first appeared in his previous life, after dealing with the immediate crisis, he'd mainly searched online for survival information, reports about Abyss Beasts shared by others, and the areas where local police were conducting rescues. He hadn't paid much attention to what internet celebrities were posting.
Soon afterward, the signal had disappeared and the internet had gone down. Aside from those with radios, everyone had basically become an isolated island of information.
So when Lin Yi heard Chen Yu say that, he couldn't help feeling curious about what effect his move would have.
This was certainly outside his area of expertise.
Thinking of that, Lin Yi lowered his head and picked up his phone, then opened 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 tapped into the comments, and a flood of them instantly spread across the screen.
[What kind of game cutscene is this? I just woke up and saw this. The effects look pretty good. A-Yu, when did you become such a clickbaiter?]
[Did you stay up so late you fried your brain? You're damn lucky you're still alive! Why are people like you fine sleeping at home?]
[He's telling the truth! A monster showed up at our school, too, and we killed it. It dropped a gray crystal, and it also had something called "Basic Source Energy Guidance Technique" inside. We're hiding in the school building, and there are a bunch of monsters wandering around below. Location: Shicheng No. 29 Middle School. Help!]
[My whole family is gone. They covered for me while I hid in a room, and the monsters are scratching at the door right outside. Haha, I don't want to live anymore either. I'm going out to fight that beast.]
[Why did these monsters suddenly appear? Why make it so much like a game? Are higher-dimensional beings messing with us lower life forms for fun?]
[Where's the military? Where are they? What about missiles and nukes?]
[Could you explain the Guidance Technique in more detail? What exactly does "a tingling sensation like the warmth of the winter sun" feel like? I've sat cross-legged for half an hour and my legs are numb, but I still don't feel anything.]
[To the person asking where the military is: do you think they don't want to save you? If the military weren't keeping them occupied, you'd be facing more than just the monsters right in front of you!]
[Stop calling the emergency hotline; it's no use. They're doing everything they can to rescue people. All you can do is hope you're lucky enough to be near a police station. The right thing to do now is check online for anyone nearby and contact them. Location: 445 Jinling Street, Linjiang District, xx City. Anyone nearby, contact me!]
[I'm near Hongfu Restaurant! Big shot, help! There are several wolves outside! I thought all I could do was wait to die, but now I feel like I can survive. Location: 996 Convenience Store, diagonally across from Hongfu Restaurant. Please, big shot, come save us!]
[Location: Zifeng Tower. The military has been driven back three times already. You'd better not come. I'm waiting to die now, and I'm at peace with it. I hope the military learns this Source Energy technique and avenges us. Here's a picture of this giant snake—image. Image.]
Lin Yi's gaze lingered for a moment on several comments asking for help and for more details about the Guidance Technique. He silently sighed to himself.
There wasn't much he could do at the moment, but he could make the convenience store that had asked for help his next target.
Then Lin Yi put away his phone and turned his attention back to the round table.
Seven dull gray Spirit Radiance Crystals lay there quietly.
"Everyone."
Lin Yi's voice wasn't loud, yet everyone's eyes turned toward him.
"There are seven crystals. When I picked them up, I already knew what was inside. Three contain the Basic Source Energy Guidance Technique, and another three contain Level 1 Source Energy Crystals. As for the last one..."
He paused, then continued, "It's a Portable Source Energy Detector."
At that, Lin Yi's mood lifted a little.
After all, this thing was very useful in the early stages.
Source Energy Detectors were usually dropped by white or green crystals, so the odds of one appearing in a gray crystal were extremely low.
Though the Portable Source Energy Detector from a gray crystal was only the most basic model, with a limited range and practically useless against true experts, it was practically a divine tool in the early stages, especially when dealing with low-tier Abyss Beasts like these.
Its many practical functions—locating targets, communication, and, most importantly, detecting living beings' Source Energy levels—made it more useful in the early stages than even some items from blue crystals.
"A detector?" Chen Yu craned his neck, curious.
"What does it do?" Zhou Jianjun immediately pressed. A soldier's instincts made him especially sensitive to the word "detection."
Lin Yi didn't explain at once. Instead, he pinched the unremarkable gray crystal and, under everyone's breathless gaze, squeezed gently.
Crack!
A crisp sound rang out.
But this time, what burst from the crystal wasn't a cloud of gray mist. It was a small, tightly concentrated ball of light, flickering with faint blue-white electric arcs.
The ball of light was only about the size of a ping-pong ball. It hovered a few centimeters above Lin Yi's palm, making a faint sizzling sound.
It seemed to be made of liquid metal and flowing light. Its internal structure spun, assembled, and collapsed at high speed. The process lasted less than two seconds before the unstable ball of light suddenly contracted inward and solidified.
As the light faded, a delicate object lay in Lin Yi's palm.
It was a device with an unmistakably futuristic design.
Its shape resembled an ear-hook headset, with a deep matte-black finish and a fine, sandblasted texture.
At the front of the ear hook was a tiny sensor module, a flattened teardrop shape just smaller than a fingernail.
The whole device looked sleek and lightweight, brimming with technological style.
"So this is the Portable Detector?"
Zhou Yuxuan pushed up his glasses and leaned closer for a careful look. "It goes on your ear?"
"How do you use it?" Chen Yu asked eagerly.
Lin Yi didn't answer. Pretending he was encountering this kind of equipment for the first time, he carefully pinched the light device between his index finger and thumb. He paused for a moment, as if recalling the information the crystal had conveyed to him, then gently hooked the curved part over the top of his right ear.
Next, Lin Yi raised his right hand and pressed his index finger precisely against a tiny round button on the side of the sensor module, so small it was almost indistinguishable from the casing.
Beep.
A faint chime sounded, as if it had rung directly against the bones of his ear.
The next second, a nearly transparent pale-blue display appeared out of nowhere in front of Lin Yi's right eye.
It was exactly the size and shape of a frameless lens.
Its presence didn't interfere with Lin Yi's view of the real world, but the scene seen by his right eye now had a clear layer of information superimposed over it.
Before you continue