Chapter 257
At the same time, the three major factions did not scatter like monkeys fleeing a fallen tree after the collective death of their hidden controllers. The high and mid-level superhumans within the various departments of these factions took away everything they could—people and resources alike. Lans was among them.
The energy sources and top-tier weapons, which were not easy to transport, were under the control of Ye Bai. The resources these individuals took with them mainly consisted of Rola gene serums and a substantial amount of the currency of Teda—chromium gold.
The collapse of a system is not so easily achieved. With the old tycoons eliminated, new ones emerged... or rather, future warlords eagerly sought to take the stage.
“Take it easy, darling.” After some contemplation, Lans, the former Minister of Armaments, was the first to lead his most trusted subordinates away from the Teda Tower. He wrapped an arm around his partner, who appeared unusually fragile, gazing at the neon lights of the deep night, a wild ambition rising within him that he had never felt before.
“At least we still have weapons, we still have money—money that could last for thousands of years! These are our tickets to do as we please anywhere in Teda.”
That night, amidst the chaos engulfing Teda, Lans slept particularly soundly.
The next morning, he was awakened by the sound of his partner’s laughter, a wild, unrestrained laughter that jolted him from his dreams.
Confused, Lans hesitated as he looked at his partner’s silhouette by the window. “What’s going on?”
She smiled at him, saying nothing, only gesturing for him to look for himself.
His heart raced like a drum as he approached, following her gaze—what met his eyes was a dazzling blue-gold.
The people of Teda loved to pursue towering skyscrapers, and at night, the neon lights reflected off these buildings, creating a unique urban landscape.
Now, however, the steel pillars that stood in the city had transformed, regardless of their original materials, into Teda’s hard currency—chromium gold.
But now, describing chromium gold required the adverb “once.”
The reason precious metals can serve as a universal equivalent is their rarity; no civilization’s currency is based on “stone” or “earth.”
Amidst the laughter that held an ambiguous meaning, the television was turned on by Lans’s partner. As expected, the monitor in this safe house, which had no access to external networks, was hijacked by a live broadcast from the Teda Tower.
Lans turned sharply at the sound, and there on the screen was the mysterious figure, smiling: “Good morning, aspiring new tycoons! Do you like the gift I’ve prepared for you? Endless ‘money.’”
In that moment, Lans’s ears buzzed, and he felt a wave of dizziness—a shock that even the news of the tycoons’ collective assassination the day before hadn’t brought him, or perhaps it was fear.
The impact of destroying individuals was temporary; what truly terrified Lans was the destruction and upheaval of a social system he had always believed to be as natural as the laws of nature.
...Perhaps, indeed, a harbinger of doom has descended upon our world?
**Chapter 175**
With a force that could shatter mountains, the tycoons controlling this world were killed, their energy and weapon reserves seized, and overnight, the ambitious of Teda emerged from the shadows.
Old tycoons like Lans, various gangs active at the grassroots level, mercenaries, and secret resistance fighters all began to stir.
However, the next morning, before these factions could take action, Ye Bai redirected the energy, using the energy generators transformed from the Teda Tower to turn all the skyscrapers in the giant city into chromium gold.
This meant the complete collapse of Teda’s financial system; money had become utterly ineffective, and the only things left to rely on were force and food.
Originally, due to the disintegration of the three major factions, many forces had fallen into a frenzy. In essence, no one truly cared about the doomsday declaration; even though Ye Bai had killed all the key figures of the three tycoons, it was merely seen as an “explosion” in Teda’s history.
Explosions bring great loss and shock, but ultimately, they fade with the dust; in the grand narrative of civilization, they are just significant events, with the broader populace forming the foundation of Teda society.
Until the financial structure, one of the foundations of social order, was genuinely shaken, more people began to frantically send messages to the Teda Tower.
The old tycoons said, “As long as you’re willing, we can join your ranks and form a stronger faction.”
The resistance fighters said, “I’m here to ally with you. If you’re dissatisfied with the tycoons, let’s rebuild a new system together.”
The mercenaries said, “Give us food, weapons, and gene serums, and we’ll be your people!”
Ye Bai stood atop the Teda Tower, overlooking everything, unable to help but shake her head: “I said I would bring about the end of the world; you don’t think I’m joking, do you?”
All these overtures and intentions were flatly rejected. Anyone attempting to approach the Teda Tower, regardless of their faction’s background, even those who crazily claimed to be doomsday believers wishing to follow the harbinger, would be indiscriminately attacked by the E5 weaponry below.
“Madman! This is a complete lunatic!”
“So what if blue gold becomes worthless? As long as there are people, we can establish a new order and currency. Before that, we must guard our food and weapons…”
“What?! All the supplies in the grain warehouses have vanished! My God! How could so much material be moved?”
Ye Bai’s palm struck every Teda person evenly. Aside from eliminating the tycoons to hasten the destruction of this planet’s order, she treated everyone on this planet equally, whether they were law-abiding or rebellious, regardless of their social standing.
This is a civilization. Even though Teda’s total population is only a billion, fewer than the Blue Planet in Ye Bai’s era, convincing the vast majority of its inhabitants that doomsday is approaching is no easy task.
There are too many people, each with different thoughts. The only thing that people instinctively believe in is the old social system they have grown accustomed to.
If one were to directly threaten the three tycoon factions to evacuate the planet, regardless of whether they had the power to control it, various factions within the tycoons would arise. Their social attributes made it difficult for them to relinquish the surplus value they had accumulated over centuries.
Ye Bai was pressed for time; rather than organizing a new system, she aimed to directly destroy the old one.
People only grasp at straws in desperate situations. Ye Bai needed to destroy the Teda people’s ‘ship’ both materially and spiritually to make them willingly board the vessel she had prepared.
While most of Teda’s populace remained oblivious, a plan called the “Future Ark” began to appear and spread like a ghost across the planet’s network.
However, just like the countless doomsday scenarios that had emerged in Teda’s past, this grassroots self-rescue plan, seemingly born from the harbinger of doom, was met with laughter from nearly all Teda people.
After negotiations bore no fruit, the various factions, each with their own agendas, began to move swiftly.
“The currency has collapsed, but we still have food and weapons, and most importantly, gene serums!”
The already chaotic Teda fell into even deeper turmoil. The mysterious figure remained unyielding, and the major factions would not unite; they began to recruit personnel and seize territory, with over ten skirmishes occurring in a single district in one day for various reasons or none at all.
However, this phenomenon lasted only a day.
On the third day after the arrival of the harbinger of doom, during a firefight, when both sides fired their weapons at each other again, their firearms suddenly jammed.
“Cough, cough, cough... What’s happening?”
Not just them, but all Teda people using firearms found themselves in the same predicament. Upon closer inspection, they could see a dust-like substance floating in the air, causing them to quickly cover their mouths in fear.
The firefight ended abruptly, and people returned to check their weapons, discovering that the dust was a type of special biological spore that could adhere to metal, forming a tight, sticky bond. This was the reason their firearms had failed.
And no matter whether they used oil, physical means, strong acids, or strong bases, they could not eliminate it without damaging the metal.
The same applied to the remaining heavy production and processing machinery.
These spores reproduced rapidly, and before they could corrode the firearms, they had already infested all the various metal devices that the Teda people still possessed in the city, now spreading throughout the air in every corner of the city.
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