Chapter 1178: Chapter 177: Messenger
The situation was dire, but there was still a chance.
AIM slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, calmed down, and ended the spell he had been releasing.
The next second, the citizens of New York who had become brain-eating worms suddenly came to their senses, looking a bit confused as they gazed at AIM ahead.
Other passersby in the vicinity also suddenly realized there was inexplicably a crowd gathered here, casting curious and puzzled glances.
AIM ignored the strange looks around him, lightly pushed off the ground with his feet, his body gracefully rising like a feather, suspended in mid-air.
Buzz——
An invisible and intangible force spread outwards, with him at its center,
The glass on the exteriors of the tall buildings around Times Square shattered abruptly and unexpectedly, scattering countless glass shards.
Passing brain-eating worm citizens screamed and dodged, but some bugmen were still hit by the falling glass, falling to the roadside with flesh and blood exposed,
While the cars hit by glass fragments erupted with piercing alarms one after another.
AIM did not care about these things; he ignored the panicked screams around him and the frightened gazes directed at him, closing his eyes to silently release his power.
His power system was unique not only within the entire Federal Bureau of Investigation but throughout all of America.
Its name was, [Electron Ghost]
This power system allowed his will to travel freely using electromagnetic waves as a medium.
Electromagnetic waves are oscillating particle waves emitted by electric fields and magnetic fields that are in phase and perpendicular to each other in space, spreading as electromagnetic fields in wave form, without relying on a medium for transmission.
When the electron ghost state was activated, AIM felt as if he had transcended the human body.
Power lines became his blood vessels and nerves, radio waves became his brain neurons,
Personal computers and servers became his neurons,
And ubiquitous personal phones and surveillance cameras became his eyes...
Crackle, crackle.
The streetlights along the street intermittently erupted with electric sparks,
Inside Manhattan’s stock exchange, countless traders stood up from their positions, staring dumbfounded at the rapidly flickering lights in the trading hall.
In a small office, a manager holding a desk phone and flattering a major client suddenly found the phone malfunctioning and producing static, just as he was about to stand up and start cursing, he looked through a one-way transparent floor-to-ceiling window and was shocked to find the entire exchange had come to a standstill, with all personal computers and even the giant screens going black.
"This, this..."
The manager felt as if all the blood in his body was rushing to his brain; Nasdaq was the heart of the financial world in America and the entire globe, and even a momentary halt would lead to extremely dire consequences.
In the 1970s, New York City had experienced a major blackout incident—a bolt of lightning first struck a substation south of Buchanan, causing the main transformer to trip, and then, like a scalpel strike, quickly took down a 345kv transmission line and the Yonkers substation, ultimately plunging all of New York into darkness, sparking widespread destruction and looting.
Back then, the brain-eating worms were still inside the mammoth corpses of Siberia, but as they completely replaced humanity, they absorbed human civilization’s memory and wealth,
Understanding the need to provide independent, uninterrupted transfer generator sets for those critical companies and institutions that cannot pause.
And yet, how could there suddenly be a massive blackout in the clear skies today?
Just as everyone was panicking and at a loss,
The chaotic currents suddenly calmed down.
In mid-air, AIM slowly opened his eyes.
I, have seen everything.
The [Electron Ghost] form he activated not only instantly seized control of all civilian networks in Manhattan District but also, through omnipresent electromagnetic waves, infiltrated and took over those intranets that were physically isolated from the outside world.
Such as, New York City’s administration network, the New York Federal Reserve Bank, the internal networks of New York’s major banks, the New York Law Enforcement Department (including but not limited to state police, prison guards, the District Attorney’s Office, FBI), Wall Street, United Nations Headquarters...
At this moment, as long as he wished,
He could make countless subway cars collide with each other,
Could make bank deposits instantly drop to zero,
Could make the stock market halt or skyrocket,
Could make all airplanes dizzy and crash into the sea.
He could open all the prison gates through the surveillance cameras and watch a fight break out between the prison guards and the prisoners.
He could turn a penniless homeless person on the street into a billionaire in an instant,
Could make an obese wealthy business magnate who owns countless companies lose everything in a snap,
He could infiltrate everyone’s cellphones, peeking into their lives and privacy, precisely grasping their loves and hates, even discovering hidden secrets they themselves didn’t know.
Marriage, love, promotions, financial matters, over-medication, exams, hit and runs, silent driving, smuggling contraband, secretly taking photos of classmates, distributing pirated media files, community volunteering, parental divorce...
Countless life stories, through computers and phones, laid out before AIM like books.
AIM’s handsome and striking features twitched slightly.
The power of [Electron Ghost] was too formidable; even though he had worked at the Federal Bureau of Investigation for over a decade, they still couldn’t believe him, only allowing him to use his power during scripted tasks or in virtual worlds.
This was his first time fully unleashing his capability in such a lifelike environment so close to the real world.
It was still not enough.
AIM took another deep breath, using Manhattan as a springboard, spreading across New York City, New York State, the American East Coast, and even, the whole of America.
If there was any software capable of accurately depicting the network signals across America,
Then on that map, one could clearly see a scene like this—a myriad of golden threads extending from the American East Coast, stretching towards the west side like bacteria growing in a petri dish.
These golden threads, conquering and capturing one data center after another,
Ruthlessly barreling across the entire central region, reaching the West Coast, turning all of America into a dazzling golden hue.
"Drop your weapon!"
A voice mixed with frantic and confused emotions called out from below.
AIM looked down indifferently, seeing at the intersection below the street, four police cars stopped haphazardly,
More than a dozen officers, wearing NCPD uniforms, hiding behind car doors, held their pistols in standard positions as they pointed at AIM floating mid-air.
Seeing the suspect looking down, a slightly young and inexperienced-looking NCPD officer frantically shouted, "Suspect, immediately drop your weapon! Do not move!"
Drop my weapon? Is there some fatal firearm in my hands?
Don’t move? Shouldn’t you be telling me to come down from mid-air immediately?
AIM blinked; in [Electron Ghost] state, his thinking speed was unprecedentedly rapid, although he was limited by his human body and limited spiritual power,
Unable to make use of all computers and data centers for his bidding,
But with just the network conditions in Manhattan District, he could multitask adeptly, splitting his mind into a thousand strands to quickly consider all the problems he faced.
There was no need to care about the bugs on the ground, not even if a few riot vehicles full of armed personnel were dispatched from key institutions like Nasdaq.
The technological level of this world is not much different from the real world before the arrival of the Battlefield Game. Ordinary Bugmen, relying solely on conventional weapons, could not even break the invisible barrier around him.
Now, it’s time for the mortals to know of his existence.
He lightly flicked the pinky of his right hand, and fifty of the thousand Divine Thoughts immediately retrieved thousands of computer viruses from the database in his mind and released them onto the international network.
Seconds later, hackers hired by various intelligence and security agencies across the United States were left dumbfounded, staring at their computer screens.
Something incomprehensible had occurred. The newly appeared computer viruses possessed unprecedented aggressiveness and spreading capabilities, almost instantly propagating across the World Wide Web, affecting key nodes of the global network thousands of miles away.
The computer viruses deployed by AIM were far beyond this era. Although the power of the Electron Ghost was limited by himself, unable to spread too far, restricted to the entire American East Coast and a small part of the West Coast of America,
it was sufficient for him to use these two places as springboards to remotely interfere with the network situations in East Asia, Central Asia, and Europe.
Hello, world.
AIM’s mouth curved upwards slightly imperceptibly. He lightly flicked the index finger of his left hand, and in the next instant,
a blue, highly humanoid face crafted by artificial intelligence appeared on hundreds of millions of electronic screens worldwide.
"Greetings, Brain-eating Worm Civilization."
The blue male face opened his mouth and emitted a gentle and soft voice that spread across the globe, "Citizens of the world, from now on, please do not panic, do not wander aimlessly.
Workers laboring in factories, please shut down the Mechanical according to regulations and leave the factory;
Railroad train drivers, please stop the vehicles you are driving;
Civil aviation pilots, please immediately head to the nearest airport and land—don’t worry about losing control of the airplane or airport congestion, just do as the voice in your headphones instructs.
Workers, white-collar workers, students, farmers, now please end your productive labor, stay in the building you are in, do not panic, do not run around, do not make trouble.
Do as I say, and no one will get hurt."
The blue face paused for a few seconds, seemingly genuinely waiting for civilians around the world to quiet down,
while AIM himself split off another hundred Divine Thoughts to take control of the presidential encrypted channel of the White House in Washington.
The next moment, the large screen television on the wall of the president’s office automatically displayed a video conference scene—the images of ten national leaders were divided into ten squares, arranged on the television screen.
Some of them did not even know they were being filmed—AIM’s Divine Thoughts had invaded the surveillance cameras in their offices and issued a sound through the personal mobile phones carried by security personnel, prompting them to look at the nearest television screen.
Driven by AIM’s will, such a high-level yet extremely hastily and informally organized global summit meeting was temporarily held.
"I apologize for meeting you all under such circumstances."
Without giving any breathing room, the faint blue face floated above the video conference, voice calm and expression gentle.
If it were in a different scenario, it would undoubtedly be well-suited as a promotional spokesperson for introducing new car driving systems by major automotive companies.
AIM’s face quietly waited for a few seconds, and no one questioned his purpose or intentions.
The expressions on the faces of all the leaders looked solemn and serious—they had already realized the severity of the current situation through reports from their subordinates.
"Alright, I am AIM. I believe you’ve all realized that I have control over 3,051 active nuclear warheads within the United States, including 1,210 strategic nuclear warheads, 951 non-strategic nuclear warheads, and 890 reserve nuclear warheads.
These nuclear warheads come from the United States’ ’Trinity’ and force plan, including but not limited to land-based ’Minuteman’ III intercontinental ballistic missiles, 14 Ohio-class Strategic Nuclear Submarines at sea, and the air-based B-52H and B-2A strategic bombers.
And this figure continues to increase as I deepen my control over the entire American network.
Thanks to the construction of American military bases worldwide over the years, as well as investments in carrier strike groups and submarine groups,
at this moment, if I wish, I can deploy the nuclear warheads to every corner of the globe via various platforms.
Moscow, Tokyo, Mumbai, London, Paris, oh, and also New York and Washington...
Admittedly, the missile interception systems in the hands of various countries remain beyond my control,
but I can fire a total of 3,051 rounds, and for each country defending, just one or two hits in a key city would trigger a massive societal collapse."
"You’ve already caused massive societal collapse."
A white-skinned leader said sternly: "Your Excellency, who exactly are you, and what do you wish to achieve from us?"
If thirty minutes ago someone said that an alien-initiated nuclear apocalypse was about to unfold, the leaders in the video conference would have surely dismissed it as insanity.
But now, they could not afford not to believe it—Moscow, Paris, Tokyo, these regions’ confidential intranets were under rampant virus attacks, and the security networks of some key military facilities were gradually losing ground.
This was something neither terrorists nor even the United States could accomplish.
The only explanation lies in... forces beyond understanding.
"Me?"
AIM’s face frowned for a moment, then smiled, "You could understand me as a Prophet safeguarding the world, a Messenger issuing a warning, the Protector of civilization."
"Protector?"
One leader pursed his lips, remaining silent,
yet AIM seemed to see through his thoughts and said directly: "Are you questioning whether I am commandeering nuclear warheads to initiate a nuclear apocalypse?
Heh, you got it wrong, the true apocalypse is coming.
Compared to him, I’m merely an insignificant prelude."
The screen flickered, immediately showing the scene of a modern city.
It was an exceptionally prosperous coastal city, the height of the skyscrapers in the city averaged over 500 meters, with some even exceeding 800 meters,
moreover, the city coast was lined with extremely majestic steel walls, full of unprecedented heavy firepower weapons, patrolled by Humanoid Standing Armors with technology far surpassing modern times.
The entire city appeared as if it were a military camp,
definitely not any modern city in this world,
however, what shocked the leaders present was that the city was under attack.
Rapidly proliferating white fungal mycelium was sprouting from the ground, from rivers, from skyscrapers, driving away panicking civilians,
submerging every obstacle in its path.
Streetlights, vehicles, street signs...
The ocean of white mycelium sprawled over the entire city, some armors mounted with heavy machine guns and flamethrowers trying vainly to stop the ocean of white mycelium, to no avail, swallowed like a mud ox into the sea.
Even defoliants contained in skull-branded bottles, or Solidified Gasoline Bombs dropped by bombers, couldn’t delay the white mycelium for even a moment.
The entire city was covered in a thick layer of white velvety coating,
but the white mycelium was still unsated, creating countless mycelium towers, continually emitting dandelion-like mycelium spores, spreading across the land, sky, and sea.
The end of the video showed scenes of major cities worldwide sprouting white mycelium, and at the center of the frame, stood Li Ang in a white lab coat.
"Besides this segment, there’s another footage of the Titan Giant yet to be played.
As you can see,"
AIM’s voice timely resounded, "I am not your apocalypse; he is."
