Player Reload

The bell rang, signaling the end of the school day, and the students filed out of the campus in an orderly line.

Luo Zhengxin, with cotton balls stuffed in his nostrils, slid into the backseat of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, shut the door, and leaned against the window without a word.

"Ouch, Zhengxin, what's happened to your nose? Nosebleed?"

His mother, clad in mink fur, looked at him with a face full of sympathy as she caressed her beloved son's cheek.

Luo Zhengxin shrugged off his mother's hand, not really wanting to answer her, and said gruffly, "It happened during basketball."

"Playing basketball did that? The skin on your nose is scraped; it might scar. Tell mom who bumped into you, I'll bring it up with the school board! This is unjust..."

His mother, who never allows herself to be taken advantage of even in business, couldn't stand her precious son being bullied. She immediately took out her cellphone to call the class teacher to find out what happened.

Luo Zhengxin was already used to this kind of family environment. He leaned against the car window, his eyes vacant, recalling the scenes on the basketball court.

Why couldn't he catch that slow-passing ball?

Why didn't he catch it?

Meanwhile, Li Cheng, who was constantly on his mind, was cheerfully riding his bike, entering an alley, and stopping in front of Zhao's dessert shop to start his part-time job.

A few hours later, after finishing his shift, Uncle Zhao asked Li Cheng to dispose of the day's leftover ingredients.

Cakes, desserts, and breads, which do not store well and have a short shelf life, must be thrown out if not sold.

Previously, Uncle Zhao couldn't bear to waste them and chose to give them away to others, but the results... were not always wonderful.

Li Cheng, carrying bags of cakes, walked to the back alley and suddenly stopped.

That morning's hunger returned, like waves, one stronger than the next.

"..."

Hesitating for a moment, Li Cheng looked up to see if there were any surveillance cameras in the alley, saw none, then lifted the lid of the cakes and began to gobble them down.

His stomach seemed like it could never be full. After eating enough sweets to spike his blood sugar, he still wasn't satisfied. He said goodbye to his boss and rode his bike to the night market, buying several boxes of fried pork cutlet and fried chicken cutlet.

"This kind of hunger is definitely not normal. A breakfast sufficient for several people satisfied me this morning, but by evening I needed massive amounts of fatty sweets and pork cutlets. If this keeps up, even binge eating compressed biscuits won't be enough."

He thought heavily, calculating how long his hard-earned savings would last.

Back home, Aunt Li Zhao was in the kitchen, somberly discussing with a colleague the company's upcoming introduction of a new leader over the phone.

Uncle Xue Jingming lay on the couch watching a soccer match on TV, while his cousins Xue Lingyu and Xue Luomeng were in the study, working on TOEFL practice tests in preparation for possibly studying abroad in the future.

"I'm back." Li Cheng called out nonchalantly as he changed into his slippers. Only his uncle responded.

Alright, he was used to it. Li Cheng returned to his room and plugged in the USB drive Yuan Zhixia had given him.

Yuan Zhixia, true to her reputation as a genius, had crafted a program that was simple in design and practical in function.

After pondering for a moment, Li Cheng deleted most of the software on his computer including the input method, then covered the computer's camera with sticky notes and muffled the speakers with soundproofing foam,

before finally setting up a VPN to access the internet abroad, starting his search with Prometheus Company.

Prometheus Laboratory Company, established ten years ago, was initially an obscure automotive parts company located in Maine, United States.

That changed five years ago when a vigorous new CEO took over and introduced an industrial robot named Daedalus.

This eight-axis industrial robot was affordably priced, equipped with sophisticated intelligent programs, and capable of performing all tasks including welding, assembly, painting, handling, gluing, and inspection.

It could reduce the number of workers needed on the industrial assembly line by 20%-70%.

The key point is, as long as Daedalus mechanical arms are provided with enough raw materials, they can replicate themselves!

By utilizing this industrial robot, Prometheus Laboratory Company achieved a breakthrough and rapidly surpassed the four major giants in the same field—FANUC Corporation, ABB (formed by the merger of Switzerland's Asiya Company and Braun Boveri), German KUKA, and Yaskawa Electric Corporation.

And one year later, they acquired Yaskawa Electric and officially entered Japan.

Afterward, Prometheus continued its rampant advance, constantly repeating the process of acquisition, expansion, and re-acquisition, involving increasingly broad fields.

Automobile manufacturing, electronics manufacturing, aircraft manufacturing, food and beverage processing, mining, energy, housing construction, infrastructure construction, aerospace, and brain-computer interfaces...

Furthermore, Prometheus also has its own police and prisons—they contracted with the U.S. government to deploy armed personnel into cities such as Birmingham, New Orleans, Memphis, Baltimore, and Detroit to combat crime and maintain law and order. A real-life version of "RoboCop".

In war-torn areas outside the United States, they even directly train militaries to protect their local branches.

If Samsung Group is a monopoly entrenched in South Korea, where ordinary people can spend their entire lives within the group,

Then Prometheus is like a gigantic octopus with its power stretching across every corner and every field globally. Using astronomical annual investment in scientific research to maintain its technological and industrial hegemony.

"No wonder that man in a suit known as Augustus, is allowed to carry guns in the city."

Li Cheng rubbed his chin, searching for Perez. He found that Perez was not a senior executive at the Yin City branch, but a mid-level security department head with a security manager above him.

"Try searching for Special Affairs Bureau?"

This search yielded less fruitful results. Regardless of whether Li Cheng input Chinese or English, whether it was the abbreviated or full name of the Special Affairs Administration, it was difficult to find details.

Instead, when he searched for "Shadow Realm", "Divine Calamity", and "Master of Insects", he unexpectedly found some chat screenshots in a niche anonymous forum about urban legends abroad.

Forum member HaccKer: Look what I captured, a Mothman!

The accompanying image was a blurry, hunched silhouette taken at dusk, with large wings on its back.

HaccKer: Last night, my father and I were driving back to our farm, and we captured this creature. It immediately grabbed a deer and fled into the woods after seeing our headlights.

CaLvo: This photo is so blurry, did you take it with your door lock?

BarKLe: This photo's blur reminds me of the 9/11 incident. I was standing right under the World Trade Center, capturing images of people losing their lives; my uncle was among them.

CaLvo: Bro, my condolences. May your uncle rest in heaven.

BarKLe: Thanks, he was once the best pilot in the Middle East.

CaLvo: ???

HaccKer: ???

HaccKer: Nevermind, I'll continue. I guarantee this photo is 100% real. There indeed is a Mothman near my farm. Mysterious large numbers of insects are dying in the fields, a sheep inexplicably vanished, and just today, a cow had wounds on its back like those from a vampire bite.

CaLvo: That story seems deceptively legit. Too bad it's not fifty years ago, otherwise, this photo could become famous on television.

DaVid: ...If I were you, I'd immediately hide in the basement. It's nighttime there now, right?

HaccKer: Yeah, what about it?

DaVid: Beyond Earth, there is an entity called the "Master of Insects". You can think of it as a decaying god from another world, also known as "Divine Calamity". Its half-torn body shattered into countless pieces, falling through the cracks into our world. Any creature infected by fragments of the "Master of Insects" enters a state of "Genetic Hunger", requiring periodic absorption of different types of biological genes and consuming large amounts of food to digest those genes. Then it absorbs new genes and eats massively again. This cycle repeats.

DaVid: Any delay, prevention, or interference with this cycle will cause significant mutations in the victim's body. They become mindless monsters seeking out other victims to spread the infection.

DaVid: The so-called Mothman you captured might have initially been a wild wolf or black bear. It got infected by the "Master of Insects", its body continuously mutating, starting from small insects to mammals like rats, then sheep, deer, and even cows. Eventually, humans.

DaVid: You mentioned living on a farm with hardly any neighbors nearby, and it's nighttime now. The FBI Special Incident Division won't make it in time. Better hide.

DaVid: It's coming for you.