67: Resist the smiling tyranny! Fire the first shot of the revolution!

Just as Gu Yanci's lips were about to curl into an uncontrollable smile, at the moment he was about to merge with this world, a hoarse, firm voice, as if burning with flames from the depths of hell, pierced his mind like a steel needle.

"Comrade, wake up. Our Long March has just begun."

This voice!

It didn't belong to this world!

It hadn't been contaminated by "happiness"!

Gu Yanci trembled violently.

That eerie smile froze on his face.

The confusion and emptiness in his eyes rapidly receded.

Replaced by boundless coldness and vigilance.

He saw a gaunt man in tattered gray clothes.

He had appeared beside them at some unknown point.

The man's face held no smile, only a deep-seated weariness and a near-burning anger.

He was mixed in with the jubilant crowd, yet he was like a ghost, completely out of place with everything around him.

"Follow me, if you still wish to retain the right to cry."

The man whispered, then turned and squeezed into the crowd.

The other members of the Joint Squad, stimulated by these words, forcibly gathered their dwindling willpower.

They suppressed the urge to assimilate and followed closely.

They passed through countless smiling faces, eventually being led into a dark, moldy sewer.

When the heavy iron door closed, the omnipresent, cloyingly sweet music and laughter were finally shut out.

The world fell silent for the first time.

Several people, also in tattered clothes, trembled and huddled in the corner.

They didn't smile; they just watched the newcomers in silence with numb, sorrowful eyes.

"My name is Chen Mo."

The man spoke, his voice carrying a long-suppressed emotion.

"Welcome, you prophesied outsiders."

"Welcome to the other side of the Land of Joy."

He lit an oil lamp, and the dim yellow light illuminated his bloodshot eyes.

"In this country, happiness is the law, and smiling is an obligation."

Chen Mo's voice was soft, yet every word was like iron.

"Our great Joy Empress, Xi Xi, wishes for every one of her subjects to be forever happy."

"Therefore, the God - or as you call them, the 'Guardians' - bestowed upon us the 'Eternal Blessing'."

He pointed to a water mirror in the corner.

Ling Xi immediately understood and injected a trace of energy.

A scene emerged in the water mirror.

It was a grand parade.

Everyone was throwing flowers and streamers, surrounding a coffin decorated like a gift box.

The fellow at the very front was a middle-aged man.

He wore the most luxurious formal attire and had the most brilliant smile on his face, waving to the crowd as he walked.

"That's Old Wang."

Chen Mo's voice turned cold.

"Yesterday, his wife choked to death on cake at a 'surprise party'. Today, he must smile and hold a 'graduation ceremony' for her."

"If he dares to shed a single tear, the Smile Guard will immediately label him a 'Sorrow Virus Infectee' and 'purify' him on the spot."

The scene shifted.

At a construction site, a worker's leg was crushed by a falling slab of stone, white bone shards piercing his skin.

But he didn't scream.

Instead, he lay on the ground, letting out hysterical, barbell-like laughter.

"Hahahahaha! This is great! What a surprise! I can finally rest! Thank you, happy slab!"

Everyone in the Joint Squad felt a chill run down their spines.

This wasn't hell, but it was more absurd and terrifying than hell.

"Her Majesty the Empress is innocent."

A complex emotion, almost pity, flickered in Chen Mo's eyes.

"She is the most pathetic among us. She naively believes that every smile is sincere, and every cheer comes from joy."

"She is imprisoned in the most luxurious cage called 'happiness', unaware that the common folk under her rule live in a country where even crying for a deceased loved one is a cardinal sin."

"Our true enemy is the God who made the rules!"

Just then, the cold system prompt sounded again in the minds of the Joint Squad.

This time, it carried an unprecedented, impassioned tone!

[Main Quest Updated: Liberate the Land of Joy!]

[World Background: The 'Guardian', Su Ke Ke, in order to keep the 'Avatar of Joy' forever happy, distorted the human nature laws of this world, constructing a smile tyranny centered on 'forced happiness'.]

[Quest Goal: Overthrow the smile tyranny and reclaim the right to cry for this world!]

[The flames of revolution shall be lit by you!]

Looking at the crimson, inflammatory words on the quest panel, light rekindled in the eyes of everyone in the Joint Squad.

It was no longer merely the light of completing a task, but a flame named "mission," mixed with anger, compassion, and determination!

Chen Mo watched the change in their expressions and slowly nodded.

He extinguished the oil lamp, plunging the entire space into darkness.

"In this absurd world, darkness is our only sanctuary."

His voice, in the darkness, was like thunder.

"To overthrow the God's rules, we must first make Her Majesty the Empress 'sad'. And to make her sad, we must first shatter this 'perfect world' in her eyes."

He paused, his gaze seeming to penetrate the darkness, seeing the resolute expressions on everyone's faces.

"The 'Laughing Broadcast Towers' spread across the country are key to maintaining this world's Happiness Field. They broadcast mind-assimilating music and laughter twenty-four hours a day."

"Our first step is to let this city hear the sound of silence again."

"Comrades, are you ready to fire the first shot of resistance for this world?"

These words were like a stone thrown into a deep pool, stirring endless ripples in the hearts of the Joint Squad.

Gu Yanci stepped forward, his deep eyes glowing astonishingly in the dim light, like two burning cold flames.

He didn't answer directly, but slowly spoke in a declarative tone.

"Gu Yanci."

He pointed to himself.

"Our arrival is to break the chains."

Behind him, Ye Liuli's figure merged with the shadows, her voice ethereal yet carrying a bone-chilling coldness.

"Ye Liuli. I walk in the shadows where light cannot reach."

Ling Xi, with her ethereal temperament, stood beside him. Her voice was like a clear spring, cleansing the polluted air.

"Ling Xi. I can see the stars obscured by dark clouds."

Cang Xuan leaned against the wall, an ancient copper coin appearing in his hand at some unknown point.

He tossed it gently, caught it again, his voice steady and mysterious.

"Cang Xuan. I decipher the twisted threads of fate."

Finally, there was Ye Qiong, like a ghost, with almost no presence.

He merely uttered a few words from the corner, yet they were more impactful than any lengthy discourse.

"Ye Qiong. A blade to cut down all sins."

Five simple introductions, like five towering peaks, instantly awed all the revolutionaries present.

They had the will to resist, but lacked true power.

And these five people before them, each exuded an aura capable of overturning the world.

The dead silence in Chen Mo's eyes was completely ignited.

It was the flame called "hope."

He nodded forcefully, straightening his back, which had been somewhat hunched from long-term suppression.

"We are the Grief Front."

He solemnly declared the organization's name.

"Here, we don't say welcome. We only say... we have gained another comrade who can fight alongside us."

He said no more, but carried the oil lamp, leading the Joint Squad to tour the humble stronghold.

They saw a gaunt mother kneeling before a broken table.

On the table, a crystal clear small bottle was enshrined.

In the bottle... there was only a single drop of murky liquid.

"That's her son's tear."

Chen Mo whispered.

"It's the only tear he shed at birth that hadn't yet been evaporated by the 'Happiness Field'. This is the only proof that her child... was once a 'human'."

The shadow beside Ye Liuli fluctuated violently.

They then saw several children, seven or eight years old, gathered around an old man.

The old man wasn't teaching them to read or fight; instead, he was teaching them... how to make "sad" expressions.

"No, the corners of your mouth need to go down a bit more, your eyes need to be vacant. You need to imagine... your most beloved toy being taken away."

The old man patiently guided them.

The children tried their best to imitate, but their innocent faces were filled with confusion.

For them, "sadness" was a "superpower" more distant than legendary magic, requiring more effort to learn and master.

Ling Xi closed her eyes, unable to bear watching further.

Finally, they saw a group of young people about to go out on a reconnaissance mission.

They weren't checking their weapons or planning routes.

Instead, they were practicing their smiles repeatedly in front of a broken mirror.

"Brighter! Eight teeth must show! Your eyes must be full of joy! Otherwise, you won't even make it three streets before the 'Smile Guard' spots you!"

The team leader sternly reprimanded them.

A young team member, unable to smile no matter how hard he tried, became so anxious that sweat poured down his face.

Finally, he collapsed to the ground, letting out suppressed, silent sobs.

This extreme absurdity made the accumulated anger in the Joint Squad's hearts almost burst forth.

This was no longer tyranny; this was the most fundamental trampling and insult to the species "human."

Just then, in the corner of the stronghold, a broken radio suddenly crackled to life.

The next second, an incredibly sweet, innocent, and pure child's voice clearly came through the city-wide broadcast.

It was the Joy Empress, Xi Xi's voice.

"Hehe~ Hello, citizens of the Land of Joy! I have some wonderful news to tell everyone!"

"To celebrate the upcoming 'All-People Celebration Day' and to ensure everyone's happiness never fades, I have decided... to give each of my beloved citizens a gift!"

"Ta-da~ A shiny 'Eternal Smile Corrector'!"

"As long as you wear it, it will help everyone maintain the most beautiful smile, always, always! You'll never have to worry about accidentally being unhappy again! Isn't that... super awesome!"

Empress Xi Xi's innocent and naive voice was like a death knell from the depths of hell!

The entire Grief Front stronghold instantly fell into a deathly silence.

Install a physical corrector to fix a smile?

That's not human!

That's completely, utterly, unable to even pretend to be human.

A puppet on strings, forever smiling and crying!

Chen Mo's face instantly turned pale.

He clenched his fists, his fingernails digging deep into his palms, blood dripping between his fingers.

"'All-People Celebration Day'...

He gritted his teeth, squeezing out a few words.

"It's in three days."

He suddenly looked up, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Gu Yanci.

"We have no time. We must capture the broadcast tower before then and expose the truth to everyone!"