52: Chapter 53 The Demon List of Angel Island

That wasn't a simple list; it was a household register of Hell.

Thousands of pages of flight records, hotel surveillance screenshots, and even audio files.

Every single name belonged to a prominent figure in the Western world.

Politicians, members of royalty, Wall Street tycoons... and those "superhero" actors worshipped as gods by countless young people.

Ranked seventeenth was none other than the man who wore the Red and Gold Armor on the big screen and said, "I love you three thousand."

The video in the attachment finished buffering.

The footage didn't show the world being saved, nor were there any laser cannons.

There was only a pot-bellied middle-aged man pinning a girl who looked to be in her early teens onto a sofa.

That "Captain Eagle Country," who represented justice and courage in the movies,

Was currently holding a glass of red wine, sitting nearby, laughing and clapping.

"No... this isn't real..."

Dai Dai sat in the livestream room, the doll in her hand falling to the floor.

She was a die-hard fan of that male star.

Her room was covered with his posters, and limited-edition figurines of him sat on her bedside table.

She had once lined up all night at the cinema just to see his premiere.

She thought he was the light.

But now, the light had gone out, turning into a festering, pus-filled sore.

The voice in the video was clearly audible. That "superhero" was complaining: "This batch is too thin. Get me a fresher one next time."

"Blech—"

Dai Dai rushed into the bathroom and began to vomit violently into the toilet.

She vomited so hard it felt like her heart was tearing, as if she wanted to expel all the flies named "admiration" she had swallowed over the past twenty years.

The internet exploded.

It wasn't the lively kind of explosion; it was the dead silence after a nuclear blast, followed by hysterical collapse.

"I'll be damned, I actually worshipped a bunch of pedophiles for ten years?!"

"Is this the civilization they talk about? Is this the lighthouse? The foundation of this tower is buried under the bones of children!"

"Smith! Don't play dead! Is that 'Smith.J' on the third page of the list you?!"

"Holy crap, holy crap, my eyes! Brothers, I need to go to the dark web to watch something milder to bleach my eyes!"

"Wait, what are they eating? Don't tell me that's 'baby cabbage'!"

"Brother upstairs, it's not just baby cabbage; there seems to be 'clay pot boy rice' in the back! Even Hannibal would call them masters!"

"This is called Angel Island? Damn, if Satan came here, he'd think he belonged in Heaven!"

"So when Marx said capitalism eats people, it was a literal statement!"

"Wait? What do you mean 'eating female intimate carbohydrates for longevity'? Is this how words are supposed to be arranged in this world?"

"Hey, brothers, I recognize someone from the British Empire. I heard his name when I was studying abroad; he's even a children's philanthropist. What was he doing on the island! The more I think about it, the more terrifying it gets!"

"Damn, I recognize a name too. It's also a Prince of the British Empire. His email says: 'Wish I was still a pet in your family'?? I want to be your dog???"

"My god, how are there so many humanoid creatures barely resembling humans!"

"Are they even human??"

"Brothers, I thought it was three hundred pages. I flipped through it for ages, and then I saw the progress bar hadn't moved. I looked again—three! Million! I nearly had a stroke right then and there!"

"Wait, could the fruit of knowledge Adam and Eve ate have been their own children? Is that why they have original sin?"

"Brother above, you've found the key point! It turns out Old A didn't deceive me! I'm going to watch his Gundam collection videos to calm down!"

"Heavens, you guys should stick to feudal ethics and rites!"

"I feel like our Rites of Zhou are already too advanced for them!"

"..."

Smith wanted to run.

But he found his legs were as weak as noodles. The doors of the press conference venue were blocked by an angry crowd.

The reporters who had been respectful to him before now looked like they wanted to shove their microphones down his throat.

"Explain! What does that 'Hunting Game' mean?"

"Are your so-called universal values just treating minors as prey?"

On the screen, Su Yun did not stop.

He released a second wave of data.

It was information about those "savages" in the ice and snow world.

Comparison is the thief of joy, but here it was a killing blow.

One picture.

Su Yun only posted one picture, with a caption of only four words: [Civilization and Barbarism].

On the left of the picture was a luxurious banquet on Angel Island.

A magnificent hall, a flowing champagne tower, and gentlemen in haute couture suits.

They were chatting and laughing, yet on the carpet at their feet knelt several shivering, barely clothed young children.

On the right of the picture was a snow dugout at Chosin Lake.

Extreme cold at forty degrees below zero.

A group of Volunteer Army soldiers in thin cotton clothes, their faces covered in frostbite.

They huddled together around a pitifully small fire.

The Company Commander held something dark in his hand—it was a potato, frozen as hard as a rock.

He didn't eat it.

He carefully placed the potato under his armpit, using his body heat to warm it up.

Beside him, a young soldier watched expectantly.

"A layer has thawed."

The Company Commander broke the potato open and handed the soft outer layer to the young soldier.

"Eat quickly, don't drop any crumbs."

The young soldier took it but pushed it back: "Commander, you eat it. I'm not hungry; I just ate some snow."

The image froze at this moment.

On the left were demons in fine clothes, trampling on the weak.

On the right were mortals suffering from hunger and cold, desperately protecting their comrades.

Who is civilized? Who is barbaric?

This image was like a loud slap across the face of all humanity.

It slapped awake those pretending to sleep and shattered the filter of lies the Western world had carefully woven for a hundred years.

"I was wrong."

An overseas student who had previously mocked Jack's buzz cut on Twitter posted an update.

He took a photo.

He found a pair of scissors and, facing the mirror, cut his long gold-dyed hair into a messy mess.

"I always thought civilization meant wearing suits, drinking red wine, and speaking English. I thought barbarism was wearing cotton jackets, eating potatoes, and crouching in trenches."

"Now I understand. Civilization isn't what you wear; it's who you protect."

"That pack of animals in suits was playing with children on that island.

While that group of 'savages' in ragged cotton jackets,

Freezing to death in the snow, did so so that we, their descendants, could stand tall and never be sent to that island!"

This post was retweeted over a million times.

"Brothers."

Jack typed on the public screen, his hands moving fast, the keyboard clacking loudly.

"Now look at these bastards."

Jack posted a photo of Smith being pelted with rotten eggs at the press conference.

"They are human too. And they are filthier, more rotten, and more afraid of death than us.

Underneath those beautiful military uniforms, they're hiding a pile of rotten meat."

"What are we afraid of?"

Fear stems from the unknown, from looking up.

When you realize the deities you looked up to are actually a pack of swine wallowing in the mud, the fear vanishes.

In its place comes contempt, anger, and the urge to kick these hypocrites off their pedestals.

Su Yun looked at the data in the backend.

In the emotion value column, the previously gray "Shame" was receding, while a golden-red data point named "Battle Intent" was skyrocketing.

The foreign servers crashed.

Smith was cornered in a restroom by an angry mob; word was he had already been beaten and sent to the hospital.

The number of players online... had surpassed five hundred million.

Su Yun turned around and looked at the map on the wall.

His finger slid from Chosin Lake to a more southern, more perilous location.

"Since the filter is broken, let's strike while the iron is hot."

Su Yun's voice wasn't loud, but it carried a murderous intent of clashing steel and galloping horses.

"Tell everyone that Volume Three, 'The Battle of Iron Field,' has officially begun."

"This time, we're not fighting superheroes. We're fighting devils.

Stop these devils in human skin north of Iron Field. Not a single step forward!"

Outside the window, the eastern sky was turning the color of a fish's belly.

Dawn had arrived.

Those young men with buzz cuts,

Were picking up their rifles and crossing the Yalu River,

To teach that so-called "civilized world,"

What true civilization is.