Chapter 533: Reset to Zero
They hadn't reacted yet, classifying Bai Mo as someone who walked the ruthless Dao.
Because among the few examples that had emerged so far, those who exhibited a strong inclination towards the ruthless Dao were all individuals who detached themselves from worldly affairs, spending their days in secluded chambers in arduous cultivation.
Even if humanity was on the brink of extinction, as long as the disaster didn't affect them, they wouldn't so much as frown, let alone get involved in matters. However, Bai Mo didn't display such characteristics.
Because the new society he had created made him appear to be a thorough idealist, and this point confounded almost everyone in the Federation.
...
"Just relying on these one-sided revelations from the stele, the persuasiveness seems a bit lacking."
Many secretly harbored this thought, but constrained by the overwhelming pressure from the other side, no one was willing to take the lead in questioning and drawing fire.
Although the Heavenly Orbit Defense Network constructed on the Moon could indeed withstand simulated seventh-stage attacks during tests, the various losses were astronomical.
On the verge of the Federation's impending expedition, they were unwilling to create further complications or unnecessary trouble.
...
"Light!"
A circle of light expanded outwards from Bai Mo as its center, its boundary rapidly stretching further.
The gentle rays of light carried no sense of threat, appearing as warm and harmless as ordinary sunlight.
As the light swept over them, everyone vaguely sensed that some subtle change had occurred, yet for a moment, they couldn't pinpoint what that change was.
The radius of the light circle continuously increased; within the first second, it had already encompassed the entire villa, then continued to expand outwards without pause, as if nothing could impede its surging advance.
Gazing into the distance, the increasingly dim halo rapidly advanced towards the horizon, seemingly intent on "devouring" the entire Moon.
...
"Why did my watch reset to zero?!" Yun Ru Yan, who was guarding the convoy far outside, instinctively looked at her watch and was astonished by what she saw.
The date display had automatically reset to January 1, 0000, and the time displayed on the watch had reset to 00:00:01.
"What just swept past seemed to be a ripple?" She immediately connected the anomaly she had just perceived with the issue on her watch.
This was only the beginning.
...
An office at a calendar factory on the Moon.
"Is my phone infected with a virus? Why has the time displayed on the screen changed to 00:00:01, January 1, 0000?"
"Mine too..."
"Call the police quickly, it must be a hacker intrusion."
"Immediately check company files to see if any confidential information has been lost!"
...
"The cal... calendars! Everyone, look at the calendars in the warehouse!" the secretary stammered in fright, speaking incoherently.
"How can this be? We can explain the messed-up times on phones and computers as a hacker intrusion, but how did the company's paper calendars also turn into January 1, 0000?!"
"Those are paper calendars! Can hackers crawl through network cables to modify them?"
"Is this world insane, or are we insane?"
"Contact the boss, quick!"
...
"How's the stock in the warehouse?" After hearing the news, the calendar factory director, on the other end of the phone, asked his secretary in a despairing, low tone.
He desperately hoped it was just a joke, that not all the calendars in the warehouse had become January 1st starting from today, and that misprinted calendars held no value whatsoever.
"My condolences..." The secretary didn't know what else to say.
"Oh." A thousand words condensed into one.
That sorrow, deeper than a dead heart, could be clearly perceived by others even across the phone line.
This batch of calendars was merchandise the company had painstakingly completed with overtime, ready for sale. Now, in an instant, they had all turned into waste paper. Any boss would break down in such a situation.
No one would spend money to buy a calendar that was entirely misprinted.
With the warehouse full of worthless calendars, they couldn't repay their upstream suppliers, and downstream sales orders would be breached due to failure to deliver. The factory's capital chain was on the verge of breaking, facing a crisis of bankruptcy and liquidation, two generations of effort turned into nothing.
"Which god is messing with me now..." The calendar factory boss, looking utterly dejected, squatted by the rooftop edge and lit a cigarette.
...
"Please don't panic, everyone. This incident is merely an accident. Trust the Federation, trust the government; we will certainly investigate the truth of the matter as quickly as possible and provide an explanation to everyone!"
The internet, radio, television—all public media outlets were repeatedly broadcasting the same message.
The sudden reset of clocks left even the emergency response team under the council's jurisdiction feeling somewhat bewildered.
Many among the higher echelons could guess that this might be related to the secret meeting of the council members, but all inquiries they sent received no clear reply.
The only order from the Joint Council was to maintain social stability.
Someone recalled the inexplicable "information storm" from more than a decade ago.
That catastrophe of the information age swept through every corner of modern society; bank account data was extensively tampered with, some people gained two zeros in their deposits, while others lost two.
It took a full half-year for the data to gradually recover, and some permanently lost data became unresolved cases.
Meanwhile, the perpetrator of that catastrophe was currently blankly staring into space, a lollipop in his mouth.
"Information Reshaping?"
In the garden of a certain villa, a little girl in a Gothic dress swung her white-stockinged feet, speaking with a vexed expression.
She was precisely the Creator, who had feigned death to escape, then infiltrated Leon's body to become his child.
In her third year on the Moon, she effortlessly took over Leon's first child, then unhesitatingly burned away all her remaining power to enhance her adaptability and aptitude with this body.
The reason for her desperate gamble was that she had witnessed Bai Mo's confrontation with the dark curtain from the other side of the Door.
In the brief moment the "Door" opened, the Creator understood all truths: those who prided themselves on manipulating everything were, in fact, merely pitiful food for higher existences.
...
"Miss, do you have any commands for us?" Noticing the change in their young mistress's expression, the maids behind her asked with trepidation.
Faleier, the young mistress of the Leon family, had displayed exceptionally powerful cultivation aptitude since childhood.
More importantly, she also possessed an exceptionally precocious intellect, easily taking firm control of everything within the back manor.
PS: PY recommendation, "Umbrella Wanders Through Worlds," a dark-themed novel..
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