96: Exposing the shameless face of the "beacon of democracy"

"Is it over?"

Death God, pinned to the pipe, coughed up a mouthful of black blood, yet a bizarre and crazed smile appeared on his face.

"You think you've won just because you caught me? How naive!"

His blood-red eyes stared fixedly at Wang Yi as he spoke word by word, "That old man has a miniature bomb strapped to him. This bomb is directly linked to my heartbeat."

"As long as my heart stops, or falls below a certain threshold, boom..." He made an explosion gesture, laughing even more maniacally, "Your precious scientist will turn into a pile of shredded meat along with this cold storage!"

"You can't save him! Hahaha!"

His words were like a heavy hammer, smashing ruthlessly into the hearts of everyone in the Dragon Team.

The movements of Wang Yi and Chen Hu froze instantly.

Their hands were tied by the hostage!

This was the most disgusting and unsolvable open scheme!

"Despicable!" Li Bingyao trembled with rage.

"Damn it!" Chen Hu punched a nearby iron cabinet in anger, deforming it severely.

Wu Qiong's anxious voice came through the team channel: "Captain, I've found Academician Zhang! He's locked in the cold storage on the third basement floor. There really is something strapped to him, I don't dare move!"

The situation suddenly fell into a deadlock.

They could easily kill Death God, but if they did, Academician Zhang would certainly die as well.

Inside the Command Center.

Through Wang Yi's tactical goggles, Su Yuan saw and heard everything clearly.

There was no anger or anxiety on his face, only a coldness sufficient to freeze someone solid.

"Playing this game with me?"

He whispered to himself, his fingers lightly tapping on the virtual keyboard.

"Killing you would be too easy for you."

In Su Yuan's mind, a plan a hundred times crazier and more satisfying than simply killing Death God instantly took shape.

"Since you, the Lighthouse Country, love being the center of the world's attention so much, and love standing on the moral high ground and lecturing others so much."

"Then today, I will have you stripped bare and lose all face before the entire world!"

He looked up and spoke calmly to General Long and Major General Li Guodong on the other end of the communicator: "General Long, Major General Li, get ready to receive an unprecedented victory in public opinion."

Having said that, he ignored the astonishment of the two generals and completely immersed his consciousness into the administrator system.

[Reality Interference Module] activated at full power!

[Administrator Permissions] raised to the maximum!

Su Yuan's fingers turned into a blur of afterimages on the virtual keyboard.

He was no longer simply using the functions provided by the system, but was utilizing his supreme GM permissions to directly write segments of brand-new code possessing terrifying power!

His target—the global internet!

Firewalls? Before him, they were like thin paper.

Highest-level security protocols? Before him, they were like child's play.

He was the God walking in the world of data!

CNN, BBC, FOX NEWS... the satellite signals of the world's top media outlets were simultaneously and quietly taken over by an irresistible, mysterious power.

YouTube, Twitter, Facebook... the homepages and livestreams of the world's largest social platforms were forcibly tampered with at the same time.

North America, New York, Times Square.

Countless tourists enjoying the bustling night view suddenly discovered that all the giant advertising screens around them had turned black without any warning.

Europe, London, Piccadilly Circus.

Asia, Tokyo, Shibuya Crossing.

In every corner of the world, wherever there was a screen, the same eerie scene was unfolding.

Countless people looked up in shock, not knowing what had happened.

The next second, all the screens lit up simultaneously.

An image appeared before the eyes of billions of people across the globe.

It was a first-person perspective recording; the footage was somewhat shaky, and heavy breathing and noisy gunfire could be heard.

The owner of the recording was the mercenary whom Chen Hu had previously killed with a single punch.

A cold voice was giving orders in English: "Listen! The target is the Dragon Country scientist Zhang Qiming, an unarmed old man. The order from above is to capture him alive. If he cannot be captured alive, eliminate him on the spot! Understand?"

The screen switched.

It became the surveillance footage from inside the cold storage.

Academician Zhang, tied up with a cloth stuffed in his mouth, was being kicked to the ground by Death God, who was stepping on his head with a cruel smile on his face.

The whole world was in an uproar!

Countless people gasped, unable to believe their eyes.

Just then, a processed voice that sounded deep, majestic, and carried a hint of coldness resounded across the globe through all speakers.

"Good evening, people of the world."

"You may not know me, but that is not important. What is important is everything you are seeing right now."

"While the heroes of Dragon Country are shedding their blood and sacrificing their lives for the future of all mankind on the national destiny arena, what has a certain country, which calls itself the lighthouse of the world, been doing behind their backs?"

The screen switched again, becoming a real-time live broadcast of Death God using the bomb to threaten Wang Yi and the others.

"They kidnap unarmed scientists, and they wantonly slaughter innocent civilians."

"They attempt to steal cutting-edge technology that could benefit all of humanity, just to satisfy their own filthy, insatiable desire for hegemony."

"Is this the lighthouse you trust? Is this the so-called freedom and democracy they talk about every day?"

The scene suddenly shifted to the press conference at The White House of the Lighthouse Country.

The spokesperson was being frantically questioned by countless reporters, his face pale and dripping with sweat.

The screen then cut to the operations command room of The Pentagon, where a group of generals with stars on their shoulders were raging and panicking at the screens.

Su Yuan's voice rang out again, like a final judgment.

"Today, I will show you all what true justice is."

"When a country is so shameless that it discards even its last shred of decency, then someone will step forward to help them re-establish the rules!"

The moment the voice faded, global public opinion completely exploded!

The national credibility of the Lighthouse Country collapsed at that very moment!