277: Chapter 278 A chilling thought: Lin Qi is not human.

The seventh day of secluded cultivation.

Tianhai City.

If the Federation's focus over the past few days was still on Li Qingcang's treason case, then starting from the seventh day, a subtle shift began to occur in public opinion.

It all started with a video.

Someone performed a frame-by-frame analysis of the last three frames of the live broadcast from the Convention Center event before the signal cut out, and published a long article.

The article's title was explosive: "Is Lin Qi Not Human? A Frame-by-Frame Analysis of the Terrifying Details in the Final Three Frames."

The analysis in the article was written very professionally.

Frame one: Lin Qi's body showed signs of transparency; the texture of the floor tiles beneath his clothes was faintly visible.

Frame two: The entire lighting System of the Convention Center's ceiling went out, yet abnormal light spots that did not belong to any artificial light source appeared in the frame.

Frame three: The most critical frame—Lin Qi's right hand was slightly raised, his posture as if he were gripping something. About two centimeters above his palm was an extremely blurry five-colored light spot.

The author's conclusion was: What happened after the signal cut out was far beyond the scope of an ordinary person's understanding.

Within four hours, the article's view count surpassed two billion.

The comment section was in a total uproar.

Some said it was photoshopped, others said it was light refraction, but most chose to believe—because among the thousands of journalists present, over thirty had already published similar firsthand accounts with highly consistent descriptions.

"Five suns."

"The ceiling vanished."

"He was floating in mid-air."

"The skull of the old god was crushed by his bare hands."

Taken individually, each of these descriptions sounded like the ramblings of a mental patient. But when over thirty people said exactly the same thing, you had to reconsider.

Zhang Wei sat in his second-floor office at Huichun Hall, watching the constantly flickering public opinion data on the holographic screen, his temples throbbing.

"I can't suppress it anymore," he muttered.

He had spent most of his energy and money this week guiding the focus of public opinion toward Li Qingcang's treason case rather than Lin Qi's abilities. It had been effective, but today's frame-by-frame analysis article had torn a hole through a week's worth of effort.

His phone rang.

Instructor Su Qing.

"Did you see that article?" Instructor Su Qing's voice was cold.

"I saw it."

"Your control over public opinion has failed."

"I know, I know, I'm working on it," Zhang Wei said while rapidly operating the holographic screen. "Posts like this technical analysis are hard to suppress. Deleting it directly would cause an even bigger backlash. We have to use another method—"

"What method?"

"Dilution." Zhang Wei's fingers slid rapidly across the screen. "Right now, the core argument of that article is 'Lin Qi is not an ordinary person,' right? I don't need to deny that judgment; I just need to make the direction of the discussion chaotic."

He was already in action.

Within ten minutes, dozens of "analysis articles" appeared on all major social platforms in the Federation, covering a wide variety of angles.

Some said Lin Qi had awakened a hidden talent and was an unknown class above S-rank.

Some said Lin Qi was actually the product of a secret military project, and the anomalies at the Convention Center were side effects of a military experiment.

Others even said Lin Qi was an alien—this was Zhang Wei's favorite kind; the more outrageous, the better.

With dozens of theories mixed together, the originally clear direction of the discussion was stirred into a mess.

Average netizens took one look and thought: Which one of these is actually true? Forget it, I'm going back to my shows.

This was the basic skill of a water army—you can't control the spread of information, but you can control the signal-to-noise ratio.

"We can hold out in the short term," Zhang Wei told Instructor Su Qing. "But in the long run, Brother Qi's matters will be exposed sooner or later. It's impossible to silence the mouths of over a thousand journalists."

Instructor Su Qing was silent for two seconds.

"So he needs to get stronger as quickly as possible. Strong enough that he doesn't need to hide anymore."

"The Tongshen Realm?"

"Yes."

Zhang Wei scratched his chin. "Instructor Su, do you think Brother Qi can really achieve a Breakthrough within a month?"

The other end didn't answer immediately.

After several seconds, Instructor Su Qing finally spoke. "I don't know."

There was something in her voice that Zhang Wei rarely heard.

It wasn't coldness; it was earnestness.

"I only know that every word he has spoken has eventually become reality."

"He said he could destroy the Li family, and the Li family is gone. He said he could withstand the System Rejection, and he did. He said one month—"

She paused.

"Then one month it is."

The call disconnected.

Zhang Wei stared at the "Call Ended" text on his phone screen, stunned for a moment.

Then he slapped his own face.

"Fine. Brother Qi's business is for Brother Qi to worry about. Your job is to clean up this mess out here."

He sat back in his chair and opened another file.

It was what Chen Shu had sent over this morning—a detailed list of the Li family's fifty-three shadow networks.

Over two hundred pages.

Each shadow network was accompanied by a complete personnel structure, coverage area, historical execution records, and current status assessment.

Zhang Wei flipped through a few pages, feeling a chill run down his back.

These shadow networks had penetrated too deeply.

The Federation's six major administrative districts—the military, politics, business, the black market—the Li family's spies were everywhere. Some spies had been buried for over twenty years, to the point where even their own families didn't know their true identities.

"No wonder the Li family could be so arrogant for a hundred years."

He closed the list and sent a message to Chen Shu: "List received. Do not move against any shadow networks yet. Wait for the Boss to finish his seclusion before deciding."

Chen Shu replied: "Understood. Also, the mysterious person's encrypted frequency had two brief periods of activity today. No valid information was transmitted. The direction is still in the Eastern Federation."

Zhang Wei replied: "Continue monitoring."

After sending the message, he leaned back against his chair and looked at the ceiling.

Eastern Federation.

A three-thousand-kilometer margin of error was too large; it was basically equivalent to having no lead at all.

What was over there? The Eastern Administrative District, several mid-sized cities, a rift zone...

The rift zone.

Zhang Wei sat up straight.

The largest geographical feature of the Eastern Federation was that "Void Rift Zone" stretching for thousands of kilometers. It was a disaster area for Void Creatures invasions, permanently garrisoned by the military, and off-limits to ordinary people.

An entity that called this world a "cage," hiding near the rift zone?

Zhang Wei wanted to tell this speculation to Brother Qi, but Brother Qi was deep within the Earth Fiend Cave where communication signals couldn't reach.

He thought about it, then opened the encrypted group chat and synchronized this information with Instructor Su Qing and Chen Shu.

Instructor Su Qing replied with two words: "It's possible."

Chen Shu replied with a full sentence: "There are multiple areas with abnormal Law concentrations within the rift zone. Theoretically, it is suitable for high-level entities to hide. I will arrange for shadow networks to conduct perimeter investigations."

Zhang Wei nodded.

"Good. Keep an eye on it."