Chapter 629 - Chapter 629: Chapter 629: When the Bell Rings (1/2)

Chapter 629: Chapter 629: When the Bell Rings

As time entered November 2020, it had just become winter according to the lunar calendar, but bizarre weather was frequently appearing around the world.

In many places, there was an unusually high temperature that was several degrees higher than the average for the same period in past years, making people unsure whether it was summer or winter.

In some places, even tornadoes, super thunderstorms, hail and other abnormal weather occurred, numerous unseasonal, irregular destructive weather events were frequently appearing. Thankfully, the areas affected were mostly sparsely populated places.

But even in densely populated areas of the continents, there were all sorts of anomalies, such as persistent high temperatures and dry weather that resulted in frequent fires.

Originally, because of the warm winter caused by El Niño last year, many people were guessing that there might be a La Niña this year, resulting in a rare cold winter in recent years.

But nobody expected that this year would be hotter than the last.

Of course, there were all kinds of theories on the Internet, stating that it’s not yet the time for true cold weather, so the occasional high temperature is normal.

However, as time went on into late November, more and more strange weather began to appear all over the world, and densely populated cities began to be “attacked”, some cities even directly suffered large-scale thunderstorm attacks, damaging many electronic devices. Moreover, these extreme convective weather phenomena had not been predicted by the meteorological department, it was as if the well-established weather prediction technology that humans had developed over so many years had all of a sudden malfunctioned.

However, in reality, several major countries had obtained special information through satellite remote sensing technology, knowing the abnormal global climate change’s source came from Antarctica.

From mid-October onwards, the temperature in some parts of Antarctica began to rise sharply, glaciers began to melt faster, and the various countries’ Antarctic expedition teams and other related personnel, who were just about to investigate the situation to find out what was causing these phenomena, received orders from their respective institutions to evacuate immediately.

Of course, initially not everyone was willing to leave, many people wanted first to investigate the situation, at least to understand what’s causing the massive temperature increase in Antarctica, but the following series of anomalies and dangers, made everyone realize that if they didn’t leave, they wouldn’t be able to survive, let alone investigate the cause of the temperature rise.

What was happening in Antarctica was not just a peculiar rise in temperature, but a variety of other phenomena. After the Antarctic researchers were evacuated from the research stations, a large number of black objects appeared that seemed to be a mixture of mineral and plant elements that could engage in material and energy exchanges with their surroundings and grow like vegetation, constantly spreading over the Antarctic continent.

However, what was strange was that once they appeared, the temperature in Antarctica no longer rose but instead fell sharply at an equally unusual pace, even lower than before the temperature increased.

As those black objects’ occupied area got larger and larger, related images and photos quickly circulated on the internet, and some strange thermal imaging photos taken by satellites were used for explanation by TV programs and internet media influencers.

So gradually, more and more “end of the world” discussions appeared on the internet, all kinds of gods, legends, reasons for the end of the world, and even theories about alien attacks and the awakening of ancient creatures were endlessly brought up, it was a dizzying array.

In fact, since early October, when abnormal temperature drops occurred simultaneously across the eastern hemisphere, similar discussions had appeared on the internet.

However, as the impact of the abnormal weather at that time was relatively minor and lasted only a short while, the similar “end of the world”, “doomsday” discussions didn’t cause much of a stir and quickly disappeared from the internet without attracting much attention.

However, in reality, Alice had been pulling some strings behind the scenes to intentionally reduce the chances of these discussions being searched and appearing on various social media platforms and interfered with the devices and operating systems of some people with ulterior motives, preventing them from releasing related information for a short period of time, and thus quickly stopping the spread and impact of these messages.

But now, because the weather changes were just too strange and severe, and there were inexplicable phenomena in Antarctica, all kinds of information was pouring out, various media platforms followed up on reporting, various experts came out to refute rumors and explain, it was too overwhelming.

Seeing this information, everyone had more or less similar thoughts, after all, there were too many movies like “2012”, “The Day After Tomorrow” etc. from the past, regardless of the level of education or belief system, there was at least some speculation, fear, and worry about the end of the world.

If Xiang Kun had let Alice interfere and mislead from a data point of view before someone broadcasted the strange phenomena in Antarctica, or images or videos of the spreading and expanding black substance, and prevented these “bombshell news” from spreading at the source, it would have been a lot easier.

But Xiang Kun didn’t do that.

At this point, unless Alice directly cut off the global network and all kinds of media, forbid any information from being transmitted, or carry out large-scale, severe falsification, using fabricated information to guide public opinion and public attention, was there a chance to suppress this wave of global panic.

Naturally, Xiang Kun didn’t do that either.

Because his original plan was to tackle the issue from the real root – from the abnormality itself.

Although, looking at the current frequent abnormal weather and drastic changes in temperature, it may seem like the end of the world is coming.

In fact, these changes had been intensifying since mid-October, but at that time, Xiang Kun and Alice were constantly using the “super-connected object matrix” they had deployed and connected in human-inhabited areas worldwide to exert reverse influence and limit the abnormal climate change, minimizing its impact.

If they could directly reduce the influence and duration of abnormal weather changes like they did in early October, naturally, they could mitigate people’s panic, decrease the attention it drew, and then confine the solution to Antarctica, making it much easier to keep the situation under wraps.

But Xiang Kun’s attempt to limit this ultimately failed. The climate anomaly was destined to intensify, and the ensuing panic from this globally impacting, severe weather change was virtually unavoidable. It was not something that could be kept secret by merely restricting the anomalies in Antarctica.

Therefore, Xiang Kun changed his strategy, from containment to diversion.

…

Xiang Kun was clear about why the global weather was undergoing such a drastic and abnormal change.

The root of it all lay in Antarctica, or to be precise, in the “Ultimate Predator” soon to reconstitute its physical form in Antarctica.

Xiang Kun’s previous plan was a success. He lured out the “Ultimate Predator” by fulfilling its blood requirements through Mr. Liang in a short amount of time. During its consumption and transformative period, they used “Dreamland” to format its primary consciousness, analyze and build its mental model, allowing Alice to reverse influence and damage its function of controlling other organisms’ specific factors, effectively paralyzing it.

Based on projections by Xiang Kun and Alice, the most likely scenario would be:

The “Ultimate Predator” getting outmaneuvered by them, losing control over the specific factors within other organisms, but clinging to life. Judging by the “Ultimate Predator’s” past behavior, it would struggle fearlessly but have limited impact, just buying time until Xiang Kun’s “super-connected object matrix” completely covers every corner of the globe, encasing it thoroughly and eliminating the threat entirely.

However, after the plan was successfully executed, a low probability situation occurred:

During the “paralysis” process, the stability of the “Ultimate Predator’s” high-dimensional factors was severely impacted. Already at the peak of its transformative phase, it was forced to the brink of collapse, unable to avert the imminent meltdown by feigning death. Consequently, it attempted a desperate final strike.

It might be that this impeding collapse state led the conscious of the “Ultimate Predator” into a frenzied and bloodthirsty mode. It rejected the lifeline Xiang Kun left through Xiao Luobo, not choosing to connect to Xiao Luobo’s “super-connected object platform” to dilute its transformation limit. Instead, it chose to gather its own form through the “high-dimensional factors” distributed within a large number of organisms worldwide.

After being outmaneuvered by Xiang Kun and Alice, the “Ultimate Predator” could not activate the specific factors within other organisms to control or influence them, but the characteristic of these specific factors was materializing through the “Ultimate Predator’s” “high-dimensional factors,” which connect consciousness despite space distance. This is why the connection between the “Ultimate Predator” and the specific factors within other organisms still exists.

When facing the threat of a transformative collapse, the “Ultimate Predator” chose Antarctica—the “vacuum” of Xiang Kun’s “super-connected object matrix”—as the site to establish its physical existence.

Indeed, having been “paralyzed” by Xiang Kun, the “Ultimate Predator” decided to take a high-risk move, using a more comprehensive form to battle for physical existence, or rather, attempt to take everything down with it.

While not able to actively control the specific factors within other organisms, it could, however, drive all “high-dimensional factors” to return through “mutant’ instinct” due to connection with the “high-dimensional factors.” It forced a transformation that did not involve blood consumption or transforming stages to establish a larger, stronger, and more tangible entity.

If we were to draw an analogy, Xiang Kun had taken from it the power to “control the body,” leaving it only with the ability to perceive the body whilst maintaining the capability to think and remain conscious. Now, it stimulated its”passive capabilities,” discarded its original body, and created a new physical form directly from the “brain” re-growing limbs or other body parts.

In fact, if Xiang Kun did nothing, the “Ultimate Predator” would self-destruct not long after attaining its physical form. The reason it could stimulate the instinct of the high-dimensional factors to help it re-condense into a physical entity was because it had chosen destruction.

It’s like a construction company deciding to go bankrupt and close up shop. As soon as the news breaks, all the external construction crews would naturally rush back to settle their wages before disbanding.

The purpose of gathering would be for a complete dispersion.

But the issue lies in the process of “condensation” itself – it’s already a disaster for the entire world.

Not only would it create a massive amount of energy exchange, but the influence of the high-dimensional factors would also reach across the world, affecting countless ecological communities.

Consider a colossal mountain of books, stacked layer upon layer, neatly and perfectly arranged to ensure stability.

If each book had a bookmark, removing one, several or even hundreds of them individually wouldn’t impact much. But if all bookmarks in every book were to be simultaneously pulled out through connecting thin lines, even if the whole mountain didn’t collapse, it would inevitably be severely affected, being distorted, skewed or even causing a local displacement and dispersion of books.

The “Ultimate Predator” is like someone pulling out all the bookmarks from all the books at the same time.