82: Chapter 82 Undercurrents Escalate

The mushroom cloud in Africa had dissipated, but the shockwaves were far from subsiding.

Four days had passed.

On the surface, the world had returned to calm.

Governments around the world no longer publicly questioned the Xia Kingdom about "whether they had obtained key information in advance."

The India retracted some of its strongly worded statements.

Everything seemed to be cooling down.

But Chen Mo knew otherwise.

His perception covered every city he passed through, and the signals he captured were more real than official statements.

In encrypted communication channels, analysis reports from intelligence agencies were piling up like mountains.

In high-level military meetings across various nations, the term "response strategy" was mentioned repeatedly.

In the hidden corners of cyberspace, a large-scale public opinion war against the Xia Kingdom was being meticulously planned.

Then, those messages began to pour out.

Like water seeping from cracks in the ground, they appeared simultaneously, as if by prior agreement.

The first post was published on the social media of a South Asian country, with the title: "The Xia Kingdom holds the key to the path of evolution."

That set of Basic Muscle Tension Technique, verified by countless people, was incredibly exquisite in every detail.

How could ordinary people possibly come up with such a method on their own?

The Xia Kingdom must have obtained it from somewhere.

A second post popped up on a European forum around the same time: "The Xia Kingdom's Secret Research: From Basic Muscle Tension to the Divine Domain."

This one was more specific, directly pointing to that "mysterious figure of power" in the Xia Kingdom, claiming that what that person left behind was not just training methods, but also a subsequent evolutionary system.

The Xia Kingdom had hidden the most essential parts, only giving the public the most basic ones.

The real secrets—the secrets that could allow people to fly or release nuclear-level power—were being monopolized by a few.

The third, fourth, and fifth posts appeared densely across different languages, countries, and platforms, as if coordinated.

There were long analytical articles, short conspiracy theory videos, and "insider leaks."

The sentiment in the comment sections was precisely guided: anger, greed, fear, and suspicion.

Then, the fuse burned into the interior of the Xia Kingdom.

Voices like this began to appear on domestic social media:

"Those training methods are the product of 'super-national treatment.' Those who train to the point of mastering Rhythm can increase their lifespan, while we ordinary people only get the basic techniques."

"Why can't it all be made public?"

"Why are there barriers?"

"Why hide it?"

"Is it because the state wants to keep the good stuff for the powerful and influential?"

The comment sections split into factions, arguing endlessly.

External pressure had turned into internal dissatisfaction.

Jing City, headquarters of the Aura and Evolution Investigation Department.

The conference room was not large.

It contained a dark brown long table.

Among those present were Minister Li Long of the Aura and Evolution Investigation Department, several generals from the military operations department, and several top leaders of the Xia Kingdom.

Minister Li Long was speaking.

"Currently, the number of people who have come into contact with the content of the Rhythm stage internally has exceeded seventeen thousand."

His voice was not loud, but every word was clear.

"Among them, about nine hundred people have achieved force output of over 1.5 times and entered the Rhythm perception stage, but currently, only Cheng Jian has mastered the entry level of the Human Breathing Method."

The conference room went quiet for a moment.

"But a scale of over ten thousand people is no longer a secret."

Minister Li Long continued, "Although we divided them into batches and implemented confidentiality controls, there are too many people."

A bespectacled general took over the conversation: "You mean that leaking is only a matter of time."

"It is not a matter of time," Minister Li Long corrected.

"It is already leaking. The extent to which we can currently control it is to prevent outsiders from confirming the specific content of the subsequent stages.

But the fact that 'the Xia Kingdom possesses the complete path' can no longer be denied."

The conference room went quiet again.

"More importantly, the original nationwide promotion plan is scheduled for next month. We were already prepared to make it public; now we just need to decide whether to advance the timeline."

There was a silence in the conference room.

Then the military representative spoke up.

"The most critical point is the source. How do we categorize the source of those notes and videos?"

This question was like a stone thrown into water.

Everyone knew what he was talking about.

The person in the video.

The figure who shattered trees with bare hands in the mountain forest.

The "The Forerunner" in Cheng Jian's submitted report.

"If the person in the video and the existence currently in the sky are the same person," the general said, enunciating each word, "if we take the initiative to disclose his information, will it provoke him?"

The silence grew longer.

Finally, the voice of the highest leader came from the end of the long table:

"Disclose it truthfully."

He said, "Regarding the notes and videos left by The Forerunner, do not conceal them, but the source of the subsequent stages needs to be handled appropriately.

At the same time, issue a statement inviting The Forerunner to the Xia Kingdom.

If he is willing to come."

The people around the conference table looked at each other.

"The statement must be clear: We are willing to communicate with The Forerunner and discuss the direction of human evolution. The top leadership is ready to meet with him at any time."

The weight of this sentence caused the air in the conference room to freeze for a moment.

"Because the answer is in the video."

A file was opened, containing the record of that conversation with Cheng Jian, with one line circled: "We will meet eventually."

"This is not us unilaterally tracking him down. This is a channel he voluntarily left for us. He said he would 'meet' us, and now that he has voluntarily revealed his power in front of the whole world, he should be ready."

No one in the conference room refuted this.

After a long time, Minister Li Long nodded on behalf of the department: "I will go draft the statement."

That evening, the Xia Kingdom released a short statement.

"The government of the Xia Kingdom sincerely invites The Forerunner, who displayed extraordinary power at the Hong Kong airport and in Africa, to come to the Xia Kingdom to jointly discuss the direction of subsequent human evolution.

The state's top leadership is ready to receive him at any time."

There was no ambiguity of diplomatic language, no equivocal "relevant parties."

The direct statement issued the invitation, and the six characters "state's top leadership" made this announcement feel like the detonation of a new nuclear bomb.

International public opinion completely exploded.

Encrypted communications from intelligence agencies of various countries reached their peak within three minutes of the announcement, with all sides scrambling to make their own judgments.

If that existence really had some connection with the Xia Kingdom, then the rules of the game for this world would not just be rewritten, but completely replaced.

Within a few hours, the foreign ministries of various countries quickly held emergency meetings to adjust their policies toward the Xia Kingdom, and several countries that had previously exerted public pressure secretly lowered their tone.

No one wanted to be on the wrong side in such a situation.

Meanwhile, Chen Mo was standing on a small hill on the west coast of North America.

Over these four days, he had walked a lot and seen a lot.

In Africa, deep in an abandoned mine, a secret team from a certain country was strapping evolved primates onto dissection tables.

Electrodes were inserted into skulls, and the recorded waveforms pulsed on monitors.

In the cryogenic freezers in the next room, tissue samples from different stages were numbered, sectioned, and stained, with the animal's capture location and evolutionary stage written on the labels of the glass boxes.

In an underground bunker on the South Asian subcontinent, another group of people was injecting serum extracted from evolved organisms into human bodies.

The handwriting in the experimental logs was scribbled and dense: "After injection, body temperature surged, blood was as scalding as magma, painful howling, death after two hours."

The next subject had already been wheeled in, serial number +1.

In a research institute sponsored by a pharmaceutical giant in Europe, the direction was more refined: telomeres of aging cells, mitochondrial function, and cellular autophagy mechanisms.

They were trying to extract active factors that could extend lifespan from evolved biological tissues.

They screened batch after batch of compounds, injecting each one into the test subjects before they expired.

And there were the hunters.

Those captured evolved creatures.

Eagles with two-meter wingspans, snakes with scales shimmering with metallic luster, wild boars with muscle density several times that of their ordinary counterparts.

Locked in cages, some were drained of blood, some were dissected, and some were raised as living biochemical factories.

In the underground black markets, organs and tissues of evolved animals were auctioned off at astronomical prices.

Chen Mo just watched.

Humanity's desire for evolution, fear of death, and greed for power.

All of this was laid bare in these laboratories.

He did not stop them.

This was part of human evolution.

Those experimental data, no matter how brutally obtained, would eventually accumulate into a deeper understanding of the human body.

Those wrong directions, no matter the price paid, would eventually force more correct choices.

He could destroy all the laboratories by himself, but he could not make all the choices for humanity.

Then he also saw the response strategies of various governments toward him personally.

The United States was formulating an "asymmetric deterrence plan," although the military itself had added a line of small print at the end of the evaluation report: "Currently, there are no effective means of deterrence."

The United Kingdom was conducting a "social psychological impact assessment," worried that his existence would trigger a crisis of public trust in the government.

Russia was more pragmatic; they were simulating the relationship between the Xia Kingdom and this existence, trying to determine whether the structure of the Alliance would change.

Chen Mo finished watching and didn't care.

His path was lonely, and there was only him on the road.

The strategies of those nations, the emotions of the public, the clamor of the internet—to him, they were like waves on the surface of the sea.

They were high and loud, but the true tides beneath had little to do with them.