142: Chapter 142 The Blood River Scripture on the Dark Web

The night in Donghai City had descended into total chaos.

What began as sporadic emergency calls had, in just ten minutes, escalated into a city-wide security disaster.

Inside a 24-hour internet café in the city center.

A college student playing a game suddenly threw down his mouse, his eyes bloodshot, a beastly growl rumbling in his throat. He stood up abruptly, and his frame, barely 1.7 meters tall, erupted with terrifying unnatural strength, flipping a heavy marble computer desk with one hand.

"Blood... I want blood..."

Amidst terrified screams, he lunged at the internet cafe attendant in the adjacent seat, opening his mouth to bite into the other person's carotid artery.

The same scene was playing out simultaneously in office buildings, subway stations, and even residential apartments.

A formerly gentle white-collar worker ripped open his shirt, revealing bulging veins; a housewife cooking dinner rushed out of her home wielding a kitchen knife, hacking at anyone she saw; there was even a delivery rider who drove his electric scooter directly into a crowd, then climbed up to bite passersby like a zombie.

This was not a viral infection, nor was it a biohazard crisis.

The testimonies of all witnesses pointed to the same eerie detail—these maddened individuals, in the final moment before their outburst, had all been staring intently at their phone screens, their faces showing an expression that was both greedy and intoxicated.

Bureau of Anomalous Affairs, Command Hall.

On the massive electronic screen, red alarm points were densely packed, almost completely covering the map of Donghai City.

"Boss! Found it!"

Chen Xiaobei's fingers danced across the Keyboard, leaving afterimages, his forehead beaded with sweat: "Every phone belonging to the maddened individuals has an app installed called 'Cultivation Simulator'! This software isn't in the app store; it's being spread entirely through viral links on social media!"

"That 'Instant Cultivation' post from earlier is the download portal!"

Gu Changan stood before the big screen, the cup of goji berry tea in his hand already gone cold.

"Analyze the software kernel." His voice remained calm, but everyone present could hear the suppressed rage within it.

"Parsing now... This code is too eerie!" Chen Xiaobei gasped, "The frontend is disguised as an ordinary idle game, but in the background, it forcibly accesses the phone's flashlight and speakers."

"The flashlight flashes at a specific frequency of 14 Hz per second, and combined with the infrasound emitted by the speakers, it can instantly induce deep hypnosis on a person's cerebral cortex!"

Chen Xiaobei pulled up an image extracted from the package.

It was an extremely complex dark red rune diagram, looking like an eye that was dripping blood.

"This is the digital version of that Demonic Seed." Gu Changan stared at the pattern, "Visual hypnosis combined with auditory induction, directly instilling a simplified version of the 'Blood River Scripture' Mind-Cultivation Technique into the user's subconscious."

"This isn't a game at all; it's electronic narcotics."

Gu Changan turned around, the hem of his overcoat stirring up a cold gust of wind.

"Where is the server?"

"Found it! There are multiple jump hosts, and the final IP points to an abandoned data center in Northern Europe, which is actually a node of the dark web." Chen Xiaobei gritted his teeth, "The other party used military-grade encryption algorithms, and the server's physical location is overseas. We have no jurisdiction, and a remote shutdown will take at least three hours!"

Three hours.

At the current rate of spread, in three hours, Donghai City could simply declare itself destroyed.

"Overseas?" Gu Changan sneered, "In the cyber world, as long as the network cable is still on Earth, there is nowhere I cannot reach."

He picked up the dedicated line phone and dialed a number.

"Connect me to the Cyberspace Administration and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. This is Gu Changan."

"Immediately activate the national firewall emergency response. Regardless of whether that app's server is in Northern Europe or on Mars, perform a physical cut-off of its data packets at the backbone network level for me."

"All mobile carriers, immediately push the highest-level security alert to all users across the network. Blacklist this app's signature code and force an uninstall!"

Hanging up the phone, Gu Changan glanced at the frantically flashing red dots on the screen.

This was just the first step.

Cutting off the source could only prevent more people from being affected, but those already parasitized by the "Demonic Seed" were still rampaging in the streets.

"Prepare the car." Gu Changan placed his peaked cap on his head, "We're going to the First Detention Center."

"I'm going to meet that 'Product Manager'."

...

Donghai City First Detention Center, High-Security Ward.

Those imprisoned here were all "extremely dangerous individuals" possessing special abilities.

Su Yang was locked in a specially designed solitary confinement cell, his limbs shackled to the wall by a pair of handcuffs equipped with an electric shock function.

But his current state was even more excited than it had been in the interrogation room just moments ago.

He closed his eyes; although his body was bound, the endless feedback of blood energy coming from across the city made him tremble with pleasure.

Every person who downloaded the app had become his "Blood Slave."

Their greed, their desires, through that tiny program, had turned into nourishment to nurture Su Yang's Divine Soul.

"This is the power of technology..."

Su Yang muttered to himself, the smile on his face twisted and ferocious, "A thousand years ago, if this Venerable One wanted to refine a thousand Blood Slaves, I would have had to slaughter ten villages and hide from the pursuit of the Righteous Path."

"But now? All it takes is a pop-up window, a gimmick like 'Click to receive a Cultivation Technique', and millions of people will scramble to sell their Souls to me."

"Gu Changan, what do you have to fight me with? You can catch my people, you can ban my account, but can you seal away the greed in people's hearts?"

Clang!

The thick alloy cell door was violently pushed open.

Gu Changan strode in. He didn't waste words, didn't even sit down; he walked straight up to Su Yang and grabbed him by the collar.

"Release the control."

Gu Changan's voice was low, but every word was like ice squeezed out from between his teeth.

Su Yang was forced to open his eyes.

Looking at Gu Changan, who was inches away, he laughed even more happily.

"Release it? Hahahaha!"

Su Yang laughed until tears came out, and even though Gu Changan's grip was strong enough to make breathing difficult, he didn't care at all.

"Director Gu, aren't you being too naive?"

"This is the Heart Demon Inducement. Once planted, it's like cancer cells spreading; it has already fused with their Divine Soul."

Su Yang stared into Gu Changan's eyes, the red light in his own eyes carrying a crazed provocation.

"Now, there are only two ways to make them stop."

"First, kill me. But I have already dispersed my Divine Soul Origin into every Blood Slave. If I die, the Demonic Seed within them will instantly lose control, and thousands of people will die simultaneously from cerebral vascular rupture."

"Second, kill them. Send out your pride-and-joy Special Police force and gun down all those thousands of innocent citizens. That shouldn't be too hard for you, right?"

Su Yang stuck out his scarlet tongue and licked his lips.

"Choose, Gu Changan. Do you let me live, or do you let them die?"

This was a dead end.

It was also Su Yang's final, most vicious revenge.

He was betting. Betting that an official like Gu Changan, who prided himself on justice, would absolutely be unable to bring himself to slaughter civilians. And as long as he didn't dare to act, this city-wide chaos would continue until they released him, Su Yang, to take charge of the situation.

Gu Changan let go.

He looked at the smug, triumphant face of Su Yang, and his expression suddenly turned somewhat peculiar.

It was the look one gives to an idiot.

"Heart Demon Inducement? Divine Soul Fusion?"

Gu Changan took out the confiscated phone belonging to Su Yang from his pocket and shook it in his hand.

"Old ghost, do you have some misunderstanding about modern medicine and neuroscience?"

Su Yang was stunned: "What?"

"What you call 'Heart Demon Inducement' is medically known as 'acute dissociative disorder accompanied by an adrenaline spike'. Your app uses visual and auditory stimuli to induce abnormal electrical discharge in the amygdala, leading to an excessive secretion of dopamine and norepinephrine."

Gu Changan tossed the phone to Chen Xiaobei behind him, his tone as calm as if he were reading an autopsy report.

"In other words, these people are now just a group of collectively drugged-up psychiatric patients."

"For a Demonic cultivator, this might be called an irreversible blood sacrifice."

"But here..." Gu Changan straightened his collar and turned to walk toward the door, "This is called mass hysteria."

"Since it's an illness, it can be treated."

Walking to the door, Gu Changan stopped and looked back at the stiff-faced Su Yang.

"You say it can't be undone? That's just because your skills are too lousy."

"Chen Xiaobei, notify the Municipal Bureau of Radio and Television to take over all outdoor large screens and broadcast Systems in the city."

"Also, have the Meteorological Bureau prepare rain-enhancement rockets, but replace the silver iodide inside with a high-concentration haloperidol aerosol."

Su Yang's pupils contracted sharply.

Although he didn't understand those chemical terms, he understood the disdain in Gu Changan's tone.

It was the disdain of a high-dimensional civilization looking down upon a low-dimensional barbarian.

"What are you going to do?!" Su Yang roared, "That is a forbidden technique of the Demonic Path! It's a contract on the level of the Divine Soul! How could your crappy medicine possibly work?!"

Gu Changan ignored the roaring behind him.

As he walked out, he gave his final order into the walkie-talkie.

"Technical Division, I want the reverse waveform of that audio. Get it done within five minutes."

"We're going to give this bunch of terminal chuunibyou patients a city-wide 'physical format'."

...

Donghai City People's Square.

This place, originally where citizens danced in the square, had now turned into a living hell.

Thousands of "Blood Slaves" who had completely lost their sanity were gathered here. Their eyes were blood-red, and eerie blood-colored veins appeared on the surface of their skin—a sign that their life force was being excessively overdrawn.

And in their subconscious, only one command echoed—

Self-detonate.

Sacrifice yourself, awaken the Old Ancestor.

The Special Police riot vehicles surrounded the perimeter of the square, not daring to approach.

Because these people weren't rioters; they were victims. Ordinary students, workers, fathers, and mothers who had been brainwashed by that app.

A young mother clutched her head, rolling on the ground, seemingly struggling against the murderous desire within her. But in the next second, her body began to swell like an inflated balloon, her skin turning a terrifying purplish-red.

"All back! They're about to explode!"

The on-site commander shouted in despair.

At this density, if thousands of people exploded simultaneously, the resulting blood-evil shockwave would be enough to raze all buildings within a five-kilometer radius to the ground.

Just at this critical moment.

Crackle—!

The giant commercial advertising screens around the square, the broadcast speakers on the streetlamp poles, and even the projections on the outer walls of nearby shopping malls all flickered at once.

The advertisement images that were playing disappeared.

Replacing them was a massive blue-background, white-text System warning window.

Immediately following that, a calm, majestic voice, amplified a hundredfold by the sound equipment, boomed from all directions, drowning out everyone's roaring.

"This is the National Bureau of Abnormal Affairs."

"System maintenance is currently being performed on the entire city."

"All unrelated personnel, please find cover and lie down immediately."

"Treatment, beginning now."