15: System notification for Chapter 15: The next live stream will begin in 24 hours.

As Chen Wu's fingertips touched the patterns on the bronze tripod, the System notification pierced his mind like an ice pick, its cold, mechanical voice carrying an unprecedented sense of oppression:

【System Mandatory Task Generated: Global livestream to begin in 24 hours】

【Livestream Theme: Unknown (to be unlocked 10 minutes before the livestream)】

【Livestream Location: Unknown (System will pinpoint the location 30 minutes before the livestream)】

【Task Requirements: The host must complete the designated martial arts practice within the livestream range and must not leave the camera's field of view during this time.】

【Failure Penalty: Deprivation of "Qi Sense" control ability for 72 hours】

He jerked his hand back. The Taotie patterns on the tripod seemed to come alive, twisting into a hideous visage under the moonlight. This was the first time the System had given such a vague task; with both the theme and location shrouded in mystery, it felt like the Sword of Damocles hanging over his head—no one knew if it would fall as a sharp blade or a thunderbolt.

"Brother Wu, why is your face so pale?" Xu Hao walked in carrying a stack of martial arts textbooks. Seeing the cold sweat on Chen Wu's forehead, the books in his hands scattered across the floor with a clatter. "Did the System malfunction again?"

Chen Wu didn't speak, merely pulling up the System panel. The familiar points shop was now covered in a layer of grey, with only a few basic options lit up—《Basic Breathing Exercises, 《Detailed Explanation of Vajra Stance》, and Body Tempering Powder Recipe》. Those high-level Cultivation Techniques that required millions of points to redeem were all hidden in the mist, as if mocking his ignorance.

"The livestream is in 24 hours, but I don't know the theme or the location." Chen Wu rubbed his tight temples, his gaze sweeping over the world map on the wall, where the light points for every city were flickering frantically. "The System is playing games with us."

Zhao Mengmeng burst in, clutching her rabbit doll, which had a miniature detector clipped to its ear—this was the "Qi Sense Alarm" that Professor Li had made for her. "Grandpa said the ginkgo trees in the park suddenly started shedding leaves just now," she said, tilting her little face up, the doll's red eyes reflecting the police lights outside the window. "He said this is a problem with the flow of 'Qi,' like a major earthquake is about to happen."

Chen Wu's heart sank abruptly. He walked to the window. The night sky of Shanghai was dyed a purplish-blue by the neon lights, and lightning rods atop the distant skyscrapers were flashing with sparks. Using "Listening Energy" to listen closely, the reinforced concrete of the entire city seemed to be emitting a faint groaning, as if a giant beast were Awakening underground.

"Xu Hao, have the technical department monitor global abnormal energy fluctuations." He grabbed his jacket and headed out, the bronze tripod emitting a low hum behind him. "Mengmeng, come with me to the park to see your grandfather."

At three in the morning, Zhongshan Park was filled with ginkgo leaves falling with a rustling sound like yellow snowflakes. Old Master Zhao was standing by the Taiji Pond, his hands hovering over the water surface. The originally calm pond water was churning with eerie whirlpools, and water droplets were congealing into spikes in mid-air before suddenly bursting into water mist.

"Xiao Wu, you're here." The old man turned around, ice crystals clinging to the white hair at his temples. "Listen to the sound of this pond; doesn't it sound like something is gnawing on the stones underneath?"

Chen Wu closed his eyes, and his "Listening Energy" instantly spread out. The undercurrents beneath the Taiji Pond were indeed restless. The water molecules, which should have been flowing at a steady rate, were now like crazed ants, colliding and tearing at each other, forming countless tiny energy whirlpools. What alarmed him even more was that the vibration frequency of these whirlpools was perfectly identical to the resonant frequency of the bronze tripod.

"It's the System affecting the flow of 'Qi'." Chen Wu opened his eyes. The whirlpools in the pond suddenly surged toward him, gathering into a vague humanoid shape on the bank. "It is using the livestream countdown to adjust the global 'Qi' field, just like tuning a radio channel."

The humanoid water shape suddenly burst. The rabbit doll in Zhao Mengmeng's arms emitted a shrill alarm. "Warning! High-intensity energy body detected approaching!" The doll's electronic voice became distorted. "Coordinates: 31°14' North Latitude, 121°29' East Longitude, distance 0.5 kilometers!"

Everyone turned to look. A white light lit up in the direction of the park's west gate, accompanied by the shrill sound of metal tearing. Chen Wu immediately shielded Zhao Mengmeng behind him, the "Qi" within his body circulating rapidly along his Meridians—this was the opening stance of the 《Vajra Stance》, capable of forming an invisible shield on the surface of his body.

Three silver humanoid objects floated over. Their skin shimmered with a metallic luster, and their eyes were two glowing red dots. The one in the lead raised its arm, and its palm split open to reveal a gun barrel inside: "Chen Wu, we are the enforcers of 'Grey Shadow'."

"What do you want?" Chen Wu's "Qi" condensed into a pale golden ball of light in his palm. He could "hear" the gears inside these humanoid objects spinning at high speed, yet at their cores was a faint cluster of bioelectricity—they were not robots, but modified humans.

"To remind you to participate in the livestream on time." The enforcer's gun barrel aimed at the Taiji Pond. "If you fail, the global 'Qi' field will collapse, just like this pond."

As soon as the words fell, the whirlpools in the pond suddenly exploded! Huge splashes of water surged into the night sky, congealing under the moonlight into countless water swords that shot toward the surrounding trees. The trunks of the ginkgo trees were instantly pierced, leaking a milky-white sap; that was the trees' "Qi" rapidly draining away.

"You are destroying the balance of 'Qi'!" Old Master Zhao trembled with rage, stamping his cane heavily on the ground, causing the earth to crack with spiderweb-like fissures. "How dare you monsters trample on what our Old Ancestor passed down!"

The enforcer emitted a shrill laugh: "In 24 hours, we will come back to watch this good show." The three silver figures turned into streams of light, disappearing into the mist before dawn.

The meeting room of the Public Welfare Foundation had been turned into a temporary command center. The electronic clock on the wall was ticking second by second, the red numbers like a countdown bomb: 23:17:59.

Professor Li's team had filled the blackboard with formulas, marking the abnormal regions of the global "Qi" field with different colored chalk: "So far, 17 countries have reported similar phenomena—vines in the Amazon rainforest are growing wildly, piercing through three scientific research stations; the Sahara Desert has experienced sudden torrential rain, and the resulting lakes have been detected to have ultra-high concentrations of 'Qi' energy; most dangerous of all is the Mariana Trench, where data sent back from deep-sea probes shows that the seawater there is 'boiling'."

"What exactly does the System want us to do?" Xu Hao poked a hole in the world map, a bead of blood from his fingertip dripping onto the word "Unknown". "Could it be that it wants Chen Wu to quell these disasters?"

Chen Wu stared at the only high-level option lit up in the System shop—《Circulation of the Heavens Technique》. The 5 million points required for redemption felt like a massive mountain. This Cultivation Technique could form a circulation of "Qi" within the body, which theoretically could soothe the out-of-control energy fields, but he only had 1.87 million points right now, not even enough for a fraction of it.

"If we don't have enough points, we can earn them." Zhao Mengmeng suddenly raised her hand, and a USB drive popped out from the rabbit doll's ear. "Grandpa Li said we can open a global 'Qi' Sense mutual aid channel, allowing those who have undergone Awakening to share data on the flow of 'Qi' through the livestream. Each piece of valid data can be converted into System points."

Chen Wu's eyes lit up. He immediately opened the livestream room's backend and posted an emergency announcement:

【Emergency Call for Global Awakeners: If you discover abnormal vibrations in objects around you (such as paper floating without reason, water boiling automatically, glowing plants, etc.), please record a video and upload it to this channel. Each valid video will be converted into 100-1000 points, and all points will be used to deal with the unknown challenge in 24 hours.】

The moment the announcement was posted, System notifications rang out one after another:

【Received video from Brazil: Abnormal growth of Amazon vines】 + 500 points

【Received video from Egypt: Energy lake formed by desert torrential rain】 + 800 points

【Received video from China: Energy whirlpool in park pond】 + 300 points

The point total rose at a speed visible to the naked eye, like a river constantly being fed with water. Chen Wu looked at the flickering global map on the screen, where the coordinates of every Awakener were glowing. From the ice fields of Alaska to the research stations in Antarctica, from ancient castles in Europe to tribes in Africa, countless light points connected into a protective net.

"Still 2 million short." Chen Wu's gaze fell on the bronze tripod. The seal characters on the inside of the lid had changed— "Use the tripod as a medium, use the heart as a guide". He suddenly remembered an option in the System shop that had always been ignored: 【Temporary Energy Call from bronze tripod】, which consumed 1 million points to temporarily borrow the millennia of "Qi" energy stored inside the tripod.

"Xu Hao, contact Lin Xue and have the National Security Bureau make emergency preparations." He clicked the redeem button, and more than half of his points were instantly wiped out. "Professor Li, help me calculate the best path for 'Qi' energy conduction."

The sky outside the window began to turn a fish-belly white. Chen Wu walked to the bronze tripod, pressed both hands onto its body, and the "Qi" within his body flowed along his arms into the tripod. The energy that had been dormant for a thousand years was awakened, and the Taotie patterns on the tripod lit up with golden light, illuminating the entire room as if it were broad daylight.

"12 hours left." He looked at the electronic clock and suddenly smiled. "No matter what tricks the System wants to play, we will just take them on."

At twelve noon, reports of global "Qi" field anomalies exceeded 100,000. The torch in the hand of the Statue of Liberty in New York began to spew blue flames, the steel skeleton of Tokyo Tower was visibly twisting, and on the rose window of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, the glass automatically pieced together a Taiji pattern.

Professor Wang Hai's livestream room suddenly released a new video. He was sitting in a wheelchair, his neck wrapped in bandages—this was from when he was accidentally injured by his own excavator during the last public lecture. "I have received internal information," he coughed at the camera, with a laboratory full of instruments in the background. "Chen Wu's System is actually a surveillance tool for an alien civilization. The livestream in 24 hours is meant to screen Earth's 'superior genes'!"

The comment section below the video exploded:

• "I've felt that System was fishy for a long time! How can there be such a good thing as getting martial arts out of thin air?"

• "Look at the news, person above! Without Chen Wu, the tap water in your home would be boiling by now!"

• "Professor Wang Hai is chasing clout again, suggest banning his account directly."

• "Whether it's aliens or not, as long as it can resolve the crisis, it's fine."

Chen Wu's team was making final preparations. Zhao Mengmeng's rabbit doll had been modified into a portable "Qi" energy detector, Xu Hao was carrying a backpack full of first-aid kits and compressed biscuits, and Professor Li's team was debugging satellite terminals capable of real-time data transmission.

"Detected signal from Rex's team; they are over the Pacific Ocean." Little Zhang from the technical department suddenly shouted, and a flight route map of a private jet popped up on the screen. "There is a strong energy reaction on the plane, it looks like... an antimatter bomb!"

Chen Wu's heart sank to the bottom. He pulled up Rex's profile—this crazy modified human believed in "Mechanical Supremacy" and had always believed that "Qi" was a backward form of energy that must be thoroughly eradicated. If he really appeared at the livestream scene with an antimatter bomb...

"System Notification: Livestream location locked." The cold, mechanical voice sounded again, and a blue ocean popped up on the panel. "0° North Latitude, 160° East Longitude—Mariana Trench."

The meeting room was deathly silent. The Mariana Trench was the deepest place on Earth, where the water pressure was equivalent to 1,600 elephants stepping on a fingernail, and even the sturdiest deep-sea submersibles could not stay there for long.

"He wants us to livestream from the bottom of the sea?" Xu Hao's voice trembled. "Not even light can penetrate that place!"

Chen Wu, however, was staring at the 3D model of the trench, where the "Qi" field fluctuations presented a regular sine curve, like some kind of breathing. "I know what the System wants us to do." He suddenly stood up, the golden light of the bronze tripod flowing in his eyes. "Beneath the Mariana Trench, there is a massive 'Qi' energy node; it is Earth's 'Dantian'."

"You mean..." Professor Li pushed up his glasses, suddenly understanding something. "Those anomalous phenomena are all because this node has lost its balance?"

"Yes." Chen Wu looked at the constantly rising points on the screen—it had already exceeded 8 million. "The System wants us to go to the bottom of the sea to rebalance Earth's 'Qi'."

There was 1 hour left until the livestream. Chen Wu changed into a special anti-pressure suit; this equipment provided by the National Security Bureau could withstand 1,100 atmospheres of pressure. Zhao Mengmeng stuffed the rabbit doll into his pocket: "Grandpa said this can glow in the water and can also help you find the direction of 'Qi' flow."

Xu Hao hugged him, his eyes red: "We will wait for you at the ground control center; the livestream signal absolutely will not be interrupted."

Chen Wu nodded and turned to walk toward the helicopter. Outside the porthole, the outline of Shanghai was getting smaller and smaller, and the blue of the Pacific Ocean was spreading out on the horizon. He touched the rabbit doll in his pocket, suddenly remembering what his father had said: "True martial arts is not about defeating others, but about protecting what should be protected."

The countdown on the System panel turned into bright red numbers: 00:59:59. The location of the Mariana Trench was flickering on the screen, like a heart waiting to be awakened.

"1 hour left." Chen Wu said softly to the sea of clouds outside the window, the "Qi" in his palm beginning to heat up. "Ready."

The helicopter passed through the clouds, and the Pacific Ocean below shimmered with a deep blue, with countless glowing plankton floating on the sea surface like crushed diamonds scattered on black velvet. That was the manifestation of "Qi" in the water, the signal of Earth calling out to him.

30 minutes before the livestream, the System shop suddenly unlocked a new option—【Deep Sea "Qi" Energy Conversion Technique】, which cost exactly 8 million points to redeem. Chen Wu did not hesitate to click redeem, and a massive amount of information instantly flooded into his mind: how to circulate "Qi" in a high-pressure environment, how to convert the kinetic energy of seawater into his own energy, how to find the "Qi" energy node at the bottom of the trench...

10 minutes left. The System finally unlocked the livestream theme:

【Livestream Theme: Earth's Breathing—The Resonance Between Martial Arts and Planetary Energy】

Chen Wu looked at the words on the screen and suddenly smiled. So this livestream was never a test, but an invitation—inviting humanity to truly breathe in unison with the planet that nurtured them.

The deep-sea submersible began to descend. The light outside the window grew dimmer and dimmer, until finally, only a pure black remained. But Chen Wu knew that at the end of the darkness, there was light waiting for him.

Countdown: 00:00:01.

The System notification sounded right on time:

【Global livestream starting.】

The deep-sea submersible's searchlights suddenly lit up, illuminating the endless darkness ahead. In that pitch-black seabed, countless glowing "Qi" streams were surging upward, like a river leading to the stars. Chen Wu clenched his fist, and the "Qi" within his body began to resonate with the energy of the seabed, emitting the oldest heartbeat belonging to Earth.