116: Chapter 116 You Broadcast the Truth, I'll Smash the Loudspeaker

As Chen Fan's boot sole ground over the broken bricks of the old city ruins, the bitterness of rock dust still lingered in his throat.

The data skiff stopped on a broken bridge three kilometers away, and Little Candle's anti-tracking rune crackled on the engine hood—the System's red light scan had just swept over their heads, slicing through the night sky like a red-hot iron wire.

"Thunder Sound Pavilion is here," Black Crow suddenly clutched his sleeve.

The blind youth's knuckles rested against the pale blue markings on Chen Fan's wrist—the brand left when the System 'protected' him back then. Now, it was faintly hot with Black Crow's movement.

Chen Fan looked up, through the half-collapsed wall, and saw several charred antennas stabbing toward the night sky, like bird bones stripped of their feathers.

The iron gate of the broadcasting station hung half off its hinges, and only half of the character 'Pavilion' remained of the rusted 'Thunder Sound Pavilion' inscription.

Chen Fan listened closely and heard a crackling explosion from inside the gate—flames licking metal.

He instinctively placed his hand on the tactical knife at his waist. The tip was only three inches out of the sheath when a figure cloaked in an ochre monk's robe rose from the shadows.

The Iron Tongue Monk.

This was the second time Chen Fan had seen him.

The last time, in the dry well of the Silver Instance, this man had used the blade hidden under his tongue to sever the throats of three rebels.

At this moment, he stood before seven arrays of loudspeakers. Each speaker had been doused with fuel, and the tongues of fire climbed the metal structures, flickering light and shadow across his face.

The hem of the monk's robe was stained with black ash. Every time he recited, "Sound is sin, broadcasting is punishment," a sliver of cold light flashed from his tongue, slicing toward the nearest speaker wire.

"He is destroying the transmission nodes," Little Candle whispered against Chen Fan's back.

The girl's fingers twisted the corner of her skirt, and the Anti-Contract Rune on her wrist glowed a faint blue. "Those speakers... they are crying." She suddenly stumbled a step. "Not human crying, but the sound of voices being burned to pieces, like glass shards stabbing the ears."

Chen Fan's temples throbbed twice.

The critical hit system vibrated lightly in his sea of consciousness, and a faint gold prompt appeared on his retina: [Residual audio fluctuation detected, frequency 0.3 Hz-12 kHz, recoverable via reverse extraction].

He remembered what Black Crow had said: the System's daily 'Soothing Broadcasts' were sent throughout the entire city from here—the lies like 'Players, please complete the Instance peacefully' and 'Death is just data reset' had taken root in these speakers being burned.

"Black Crow, the main console," Chen Fan lowered his voice.

The blind youth immediately reached for the metal cabinet at the base of the wall. His fingertip paused as it brushed over the scorched wiring: "Remnant souls of the Light Speakers... they hid the frequency band within the electrical static." He pulled down the bone disc hanging from his neck—it was ground from the spine of a System monitor. "It requires a living resonance source, something to bring the signal back to life."

Chen Fan's hand paused on his pocket.

The edge of the bronze coin dug into his palm, and the small fox engraving on the reverse felt painfully sharp—this was change from Su Shuang's Teahouse. He had ordered a bowl of red bean porridge that day, and she had said, "When you're out on the road, having some copper energy wards off evil."

At that moment, the System prompt exploded in his ear: [Illegal signal source detected, initiating physical purge—]

The Iron Tongue Monk's blade arrived.

The blade on his tongue wrapped in fierce wind, striking directly toward the back of Black Crow's neck.

Chen Fan lunged forward, his tactical knife blocking the attack. Sparks exploded where the blades met.

But the monk's strength far exceeded expectations. Chen Fan was jolted back half a step, his wrist bone nearly cracking.

In his peripheral vision, Little Candle had already charged toward the main amplifier. The moment the Anti-Contract Rune pressed against the speaker mouth, blue light clashed with the flames, actually shaking the Iron Tongue Monk back three staggering steps.

"Silent Bell Maiden!" Black Crow's voice was wild with joy. The bone disc had finally connected to the main console. "Give the frequency band a broken-chain rhythm!"

The church bell in the distance suddenly rang out.

It wasn't the usual melodious sound, but a chaotic triple strike, as if someone were smashing the bell with a hammer.

Chen Fan saw the waveform on Black Crow's terminal suddenly twist into garbled code. That was the Silent Bell Maiden calibrating the signal remotely—they had planned this; the System's monitoring program feared irregular rhythms the most.

"Done!" Black Crow hit the confirmation key.

When the first broadcast of the truth burst from the speakers, the entire broadcasting station trembled.

Chen Fan heard his own heartbeat drown out the sound of the flames—"Player [Late Lin], marked as 'Abnormal' on the 3rd day for reporting data tampering, memory wiped, body converted into an Iron Page Puppet." This voice felt like a steel needle piercing his eardrums. He remembered Late Lin, the girl who always handed out bread to newcomers in the Newbie Village. Just last week, he saw her squatting by the campfire counting her fingers, saying, "Once I gather ten loaves of bread, I'll go save my little brother."

The second announcement was harsher: "Player [Ink Seven], refused to sign the erasure order, the entire city's memory was deleted, leaving only three characters on the scorched paper—Chen Fan." Chen Fan's blood rushed to his head.

Ink Seven was the captain of the Gold Instance. They had fought monsters back-to-back in the tide of corpses. That guy always said, "When we get out of the Instance, I'm opening a bun shop, and I'll name it 'Fan Qi'…" The words 'Fan Qi' caught in his throat, and the hand reaching for the bronze coin was trembling.

The Iron Tongue Monk's roar drowned out the broadcast.

He ripped off the prayer beads around his neck, and every bead shot out a spark—they were self-destruct devices.

Chen Fan watched concrete blocks fall from the ceiling. Black Crow's terminal flashed red: "Evacuate! Thirty seconds left!" He bent down and lifted Black Crow, the youth's blood dripping onto his shoulder epaulet, scalding like fire.

"Wait!" Little Candle's hand suddenly clamped onto his wrist.

The girl's eyes shone astonishingly bright, the Anti-Contract Rune flowing in her palm. "Those speakers... they can still be used." She pointed out the window. Only then did Chen Fan realize that among the recent broadcast sounds, a few wisps of blue light had shot out along the earth's veins, vanishing into the night.

The System prompt sounded again; this time it was a warning from the critical hit system: [Detecting 'Ultimate Soothing Sound' pre-loading, remaining time: 5 hours 59 minutes].

Chen Fan looked at the gradually collapsing broadcasting station. In the firelight, the speakers that hadn't been completely burned were still vibrating. Every sound wave was like a nail driven into the city's arteries.

He laughed, laughing until his eyes ached.

The bronze coin was slick with sweat in his palm; the little fox engraving imprinted his fingerprint. "Burn them," he roared at the Iron Tongue Monk. His voice, mixed with the broadcast, carried toward the night sky. "You burn one, and I'll build ten!"

Deep within the earth veins, seven faint blue light traces were spreading along the fractured rock fissures.

They passed through the scrapyard, the unfinished buildings, the ruins of the elementary school erased by the System, and finally converged under a brick inscribed with the remnant character of 'Thunder Sound Pavilion'—half of a speaker coil, not entirely burned, was buried there, lightly trembling with the earth vein's resonance.