Chapter 640 - Software
Chapter 719 of "Player Reload" reveals: In the boundless net-space, Gray Rain pulled hard on the Eight Diagrams Demon Cannon, its... Keep reading!
In the boundless net-space, Gray Rain pulled hard on the Eight Diagrams Demon Cannon, its muzzle firing thick iron chains at high speed, seemingly endless.The other end of the iron chain, twisted and bent like lightning, shuttled through bubbles representing network devices.
Orbital communication satellites connected global internet nodes, and Li Chengâs chase with the Phase Change Demon was causing chaos and disaster in the real world comparable to a tsunami.
In the Vatican City, believers from around the world gathered at St. Peterâs Square, devoutly listening to the Shepherd Leaderâs broadcast preaching.
"At the holy moment of the Last Supper, our Lord Jesus took the bread with sorrow, gave thanks, broke it, looked at the twelve disciples at the table, and said..."
"The flavor is really rich, folks, I feel that the worldâs most fragrant is simmered food, that simmered block, really powerful."
The inexplicable intrusion of the broadcast sound left the believers bewildered as they looked up, only to see an airplane in the distance losing control and slowly descending.
"I canât show my face, Iâm a beauty anchor. Oh, thanks to the number one supporterâs super rocket meow, love you meow, wish the boss everlasting happiness and joy..."
With a face-covered filter special effect, the anchor talked on in the live broadcast, as two shadows moved at a speed undetectable by a 60-frame camera, crossing the screen, and shattering the filter, revealing the anchorâs original face on the picture.
Not only that, the live broadcast screen also spread widely along Earthâs latitude 30°, broadcasting to TV stations in cities like Chengdu, Cairo, New Orleans, with the screen echoing "forever happy happy happy happy" in a ruined image.
Li Cheng, with one hand, grasped the rapidly extending iron chain connected to the Phase Change Demonâs back, shortening the distance to the opponent.
Dragon Breath of the Red Dragon!
A giant dragon imagery appeared overhead, opening its bloody mouth to spew fiery flames, scorching towards the desperately fleeing Phase Change Demon.
The Phase Change Demonâs potato-shaped body automatically split open a gap, narrowly avoiding the Demon Dragonâs fire. Meanwhile, its body smashed through the network barrier, instantly crossing a distance of thousands of miles in the real world, appearing on the largest advertising screen in a bustling urban downtown, coming to a sudden halt.
"Why did it stop? Got tired of running?"
Li Cheng, holding the Disease Unclean Book, spoke calmly, and the surrounding did not seem to be within China, likely somewhere on the West Coast of America.
The Phase Change Demon stayed silent, just quivering its body, causing the large advertisement screens on both sides of the street to simultaneously change, synchronizing to display its and Li Chengâs images.
Passersby, clueless, stopped in their tracks, puzzled as they looked at the strange images on the continuous billboards. Drivers stuck their heads out of car windows, looking bewildered.
"Haha, if youâre trying to get me to refrain from acting, to make me retreat, then forget it."
Li Cheng scoffed internally; he had assaulted London solo, threatened millions with the Bell Tower; he was no naive saint influenced by altruistic beliefs.
However, the advertisement screen zoomed in, focusing on the self-flipping pages of the Disease Unclean Book in Li Chengâs hand.
âUh-oh.â
As soon as the thought arose, rumbling sounds came from both Li Chengâs and the Phase Change Demonâs stomachs simultaneously.
In theory, Li Cheng could pay double Spiritual Power to ensure the Disease Unclean Bookâs curse only affected the enemy, but unfortunately, having just summoned the Alpha Snake Head, his Spiritual Power was depleted, and he was currently slowly drawing Spiritual Power from the Hidden Backup Energy reserve.
Li Chengâs expression grew fierce; the ground wasnât a video camera-less wilderness, and battles erupting here would surely be clearly documented, stored as classic case study materials, and widely circulated on player forums.
He suddenly opened his mask, revealing a completely different face, then from the void, pulled out a plastic tube, pierced the skin, and inserted it into his intestines, shouting, "Isnât it just a minor bowel obstruction? I, Zhongtian Beiji, do not change my name whether standing or sitting!"
"Puh!"
At a luxury villa atop a mountain in Manila, Philippines, Zhongtian Beiji, watching in real time, spat out a mouthful of red wine, eyes wide in disbelief.
Not me, bro, how am I involved?! Donât single out one sheep to shear, hey!
The bowel obstruction brought equal discomfort to both players; Li Cheng raised his hand, releasing the Shadow Falcon, and with a thought, summoned hundreds of Forbidden Army War Cars.
At this moment, the two players were still in net-space, appearing only in screen images from the spectatorsâ perspective. But this did not mean they couldnât interfere with the real world.
Boomââ
The war cars simultaneously roared to life and fired, their bombardment causing overcharge on the advertisement screens on both sides of the street, exploding instantly.
MacBook computers in the cafĂŠ, phones in passersbyâs hands, even Bluetooth earphones and smartwatches were all collateral damage and destroyed.
Scorched haze hung in the air, sparks flew, and the scene was a mess; only a few large screens still alight depicted the Phase Change Demon being blasted hundreds of meters away, crashing into an office building,
with half of its oval head stuck into a personal computer at some workstation, the desktop filled with dozens of unfiled documents, PPTs, compressed files, and an even larger number of rogue software icons.
Unfortunately, these foreign software are so weak; if it were domestic rogue software,
like the p2p downloader sticking like adhesive, the never fully removable 2345 family bucket, or the brother-summoning fast-play game box,
Boost Master, 361, Worm Motion Elf, Jinshan Antivirus, Bird Wallpaper, ABC Image King, Speed Compression...
Merely touching these icons, the Phase Change Demonâs head would explode on the spot, three Buddhas would emerge, five Buddhas would ascend to heaven.
Bang!
The Phase Change Demon flew away from the office building, releasing some kind of Invisible Power. All networked vehicles on both sides of the street slammed on their accelerators, crashing with full force towards the advertisement screen showing Li Cheng.
Even the cars parked on floors three, four, and five of the parking lot were forcibly started, their alarms blaring one after another, falling like dumplings, a spectacular sight.
However, such attacks couldnât even faze the Gray Rain, let alone Li Cheng.
He ignored the crashing vehicles and charged forward, the Mantis Arm Bone Blade cleaving straight at the weakened Phase Change Demon.
Click.
A barely perceptible ticking sound of the clockâs hands echoed, and Li Chengâs faceâmore precisely, Zhongtian Beijiâsâchanged abruptly.
The Phase Change Demon hadnât intended to hinder Li Cheng with car collisions; instead, it used the blaring alarms to mask the sound of the clockâs hands.
Invisible Power spread outward from the Phase Change Demon.
Falling leaves instantly paused beside the street, exhaust fumes and smoke froze, and fleeing pedestrians with their spilled coffee were all caught in suspension.
The slanting sunset spread across the city streets, the glass exterior walls of skyscrapers reflecting fragments of golden light.
Having been severely injured by the Alpha Snake Head, the Phase Change Demon trembled exceedingly slowly, its surface continually spewing black mist that resembled blood.
This wasnât a simple time stop; the time flow in districts several kilometers away remained normal, it was more like... a Time Deceleration Domain.
Slow itself slightly, but slow external things significantlyâincluding the Pifu.
The Phase Change Demon multitasked, slowly pulling out a metal spear directed at Li Chengâs head,
while extending black smoke towards the computers in the office building.
As an invasion weapon crafted by advanced civilization, the Phase Change Demonâs ability to gather info far surpassed mere mortals.
In the span of a brief exploration in cyberspace, it quickly grasped Earthâs civilization and accurately pinpointed the most vulnerable and neglected node that could serve its invasion.
Cloudflare Technology Company, headquartered in San Francisco, California, though not as famous as Google or Microsoft, is one of the worldâs major DNS providers, defending sites against most cyber attacks, including DDos attacks.
Major global servers and Amazon AWS Cloud Computing Platform, critical internet nodes, have Whale Song Guild personnel stationed long-term,
and Cloudflare happened to be that weak node.
Once conquered, using Cloudflareâs inherent close ties with various sites, it could instantly send Phase Change Demonâs backups worldwide...
As time ticked by, federal agents of the FBIâs Special Incident Department stationed locally in San Francisco, now aware they couldnât keep the situation under wraps, rushed over, only to be blocked by the Time Deceleration Force Field.
And the seemingly ordinary metal spear was already aimed at Li Chengâs head.
The latterâs unique six-base genetic structure nervous system allowed Li Chengâs neural response rate to match that of the Phase Change Demon spellcasters, his eyeballs continually trembling.
If the Phase Change Demon had its own individual consciousness, it might even open up with sympathy and explainâit had always been calculating Pifuâs Spiritual Power consumption,
speculating that Pifuâs own Spiritual Power Value cap wouldnât exceed 1000 points, allowing for at most three consecutive uses of Light Speed Elbow Strike in a short period.
The summoning of the Mechanical Python undoubtedly consumed most of the Spiritual Power, meaning, apart from Light Speed Elbow Strike, the slowed-down-thinking-and-acting Pifu had no means to retaliate...
Hold on.
The Phase Change Demonâs actions suddenly paused; its perception organs, analysis modules, and logical deduction functions surprisingly couldnât find any trace of panic in Pifuâs trembling eyeballs.
It must have overlooked something, some crucial element that could turn the tide...
The Phase Change Demon realized, lowering its gaze towards the chain still attached to itself.
Within the Time Deceleration Force Field, the flow of air, propagation of sound, and sway of the chain were all slowed, so much that it hadnât noticed the chain was swinging left and right with an extremely weak and slow frequency.
And in the higher network space, Gray Rain had already let go of the Eight Diagram Alchemy Demon Cannon.
The Tripod Furnace itself, after a brief delay, flew out along the chain like a tightening metal tape measure, hitting the bubble, traversing rapidly between different bubbles, increasingly fast, ultimately reaching the streets of San Francisco City,
rushing violently into the Time Deceleration Force Field with overwhelming momentum.
âThe first law of the killing field, the mysterious will yield to a higher mystery...â
All players on Earth watching the battle scene simultaneously had this phrase appear in their minds.
In the next second, the Alchemy Demon Cannon pierced through the Time Deceleration Force Field unaffected, driving straight into the Phase Change Demonâs body.
Fortunately within the misfortune, the real battlefield was in the virtual cyberspace,
the shockwave from the collision didnât destroy surrounding buildings but instead violently swept through as an EMP pulse.
The entire San Francisco City, from northwest to southeast over a hundred kilometers, experienced a blackout and paralysis.