46: Chapter 46 Countdown

July 31, 10:00 AM.

The Xia State official authorities released a brief notice: Tomorrow, August 1, at 9:00 AM, they will officially respond to the recent global abnormalities.

The wording was as restrained as ever.

No buildup, no preview of the content, just the time and a single sentence.

Yet, within minutes of its release, this message surged to the top of the trending lists on all platforms.

When Chen Mo finished his morning training and returned to the old house, the unread messages on his phone screen had piled up to over ninety-nine.

He unscrewed his water bottle and gulped down some cold water while opening the Family group chat.

Uncle, Chen Wei, and Chen Ting had been discussing it since 10:00 AM; he flipped through message after message.

Uncle had forwarded three news links in a row, Chen Wei had sent several stunned emojis, and Chen Ting had asked the most direct question: "What exactly are they going to say tomorrow?"

Uncle had messaged him privately.

"Little Mo, have you seen the trending topics?"

Then, a second message, eight minutes later.

"Tomorrow at 9:00 AM, the authorities are going to make an official response."

A third message, over an hour later.

"What do you think they will say?"

Chen Mo placed his water bottle on the table and replied to Uncle: "I saw it. We'll know tomorrow."

After replying, he set his phone aside and sat down in the chair.

His muscles, just finished with training, still carried a slight ache, and the Spiritual Qi was repairing the load in his body.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

It was finally coming.

From the start of the Spiritual Energy Revival on May 21 to tomorrow, August 1, it had been exactly 71 days.

71 days ago, no one in this world knew what Spiritual Qi was.

71 days later, the Xia State was about to announce the answer to the whole world.

Chen Mo opened his eyes, picked up his phone, and began browsing the online reactions.

The volume of discussion on major platforms surged after the notice was released. The martial arts and combat forum he frequented was filled with posts about tomorrow's announcement on the homepage.

Someone had compiled a timeline of all the anomalies from the end of June until now, some guessed if the authorities would directly acknowledge "human evolution," and others were urging everyone to stay calm—don't get your hopes up, it might just be a situation report.

A user named "Waiting for the Wind" posted a long thread that had been upvoted to the very top.

"From the earliest rapid growth of plants, to sports records being repeatedly shattered, to the inexplicable improvement of chronic illnesses in those around us—all changes point to one conclusion: this world is different from before. Tomorrow at 9:00 AM is the first answer we've been waiting for. Whether this answer is good or bad, I want to know the truth."

In the replies below, someone said they definitely wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.

Chen Mo exited and switched to foreign social media.

The reactions abroad were equally intense.

The Xia State's official notice had been translated into various languages and reposted, with discussions from netizens of different countries mixed together in the comment sections.

Some were excited, some nervous, and some were asking why their own countries hadn't made a move yet.

The group of people who had previously insisted on the "climate anomaly" explanation was rarely seen now.

In their place were various predictions about the content of tomorrow's announcement.

Chen Mo flipped his phone over, screen-down on the table.

Another question hung in his mind.

Had the Xia State discovered Spiritual Qi?

Currently, there was no instrument in the world capable of directly detecting spirit energy particles.

He was certain of this.

But could research teams at the national level infer something through indirect methods?

For example, by deducing the laws of the existence of some energy field through changes in plant growth rates?

How would they phrase it tomorrow—would they acknowledge the unknown, or provide a vague designation?

The answer could only be found by waiting.

Chen Mo stood up and walked to the window.

The trees on the back hill were a dark green under the daylight, the layered crowns squeezed together, their boundaries so blurred it was impossible to tell which was which.

In a while, looking out from this window in the old house, one might only see a solid green wall.

He turned and walked back into the room.

During the waiting time, he never did anything unnecessary.

The preparations he could make were already complete; the Human Breathing Method manual and the video memory card were sealed in a plastic bag, hidden in the most concealed corner of the old house.

He had already figured out Cheng Jian's daily routine; the time to deliver it would be in these next few days.

Now, the only thing to do was train.

Chen Mo walked into the backyard and began his afternoon Basic Muscle Tension Control Training.

The moment his muscles went from relaxed to tense, all his thoughts compressed into a single line.

There was only the conduction of power, only the Rhythm of breathing.

Time moved slowly in the gaps between every movement.

In the evening, the volume of messages in the Family group surged again.

Uncle had pulled a chair into the living room and spent a long time staring at the news on his phone; Aunt had urged him to sleep three times.

Chen Wei said in the group that the customers at his shop had been discussing tomorrow's event all day; someone told him it must be the end of the world, and he just laughed and replied that it was impossible, but in his heart, he had no bottom either.

Chen Ting sent a voice message saying she had spent the whole night browsing analysis articles from various media outlets, and the more she read, the less she knew who to believe.

Chen Mo finished reading them one by one and replied to Uncle: "Go to sleep early. No matter what is said tomorrow, life must go on."

Uncle replied with a sighing emoji, and then the Family group slowly quieted down.

But for countless people online and in reality, this night was not quiet.

Opening any social platform, there were real-time discussions about tomorrow's announcement.

Some had compiled tables of all possible directions for the official response, and some were analyzing every piece of news released by the authorities frame by frame, looking for clues.

More people hadn't analyzed anything at all, just saying the same thing: "Tomorrow at 9:00 AM, I want to watch it with my own eyes."

There was no panic in this waiting.

It was more of an expectation that had been suppressed for a long time.

For over a month of anomalous changes, everyone had felt it, everyone had been discussing it, but no voice from the highest level had ever given a response.

Now, this response had finally arrived.

No matter what the answer was, it would be humanity's first official confirmation of this brand-new era.

August 1, 8:00 AM.

Chen Mo finished his morning training earlier than usual. He took a cold shower, changed into clean clothes, and sat down in the living room.

The countdown on his phone screen had fifty-nine minutes left.

He noticed the number of reservations for the official live stream had already exceeded 300 million.

All mainstream platforms had broadcast portals on their homepages, and the comment sections were already being flooded with messages.

8:30 AM.

Chen Mo turned on the TV and cast the image onto the screen.

Uncle sent a message in the Family group: "Is everyone up? It's about to start."

Chen Wei and Chen Ting replied instantly.

8:50 AM.

The screen in the live stream lit up.

The background was the Xia State press conference hall, with blue curtains and the national emblem in the center.

There was no one on the podium in front of the camera yet, but the subtitles at the bottom of the screen had already appeared— "Press Conference on Recent Global Anomalies."

8:59 AM. Chen Mo sat up straight.

In the living room, there was only the light from the TV. The chirping of insects on the back hill became very distant at this moment.

The discussions on the screen scrolled too fast to see individual content, leaving only a torrent of constantly washing text.

At this moment, the eyes of eight billion people around the world were fixed on the same screen.