Chapter 168: Global Broadcast

So that was it. Looking at the scene before him, Xu Yuan finally understood everything.

He quickly recovered from his initial shock, steadying his mindset to prepare for the second Super S-Level battle in Minghai City.

He absolutely could not fall here and lose to the Smiling Man.

If even he lost, the Smiling Man's premature birth might pollute this entire era.

Gao Tian.

Just what kind of thing awakened after your death? Did you even know?

Did you want humanity's apocalypse to arrive twenty years early?

Xu Yuan's memory drifted back to an afternoon many years ago.

At that time, still a living person, he had just escaped from the sixth floor of the Living Apartment. Hanging on by a thread, he had obtained a Red Jar containing a skull.

This jar had been left behind by an ancient ghost hunter named Master Yunshan. It possessed an ability similar to the Ghost Eye.

—

There was a difference between the two. The Ghost Eye saw the "future," while the Red Jar saw "destiny."

Destiny was illusory and incomprehensible to mortals, standing even above the "future."

Through Master Yunshan's relic, Xu Yuan peeked into the secrets of heaven.

He saw countless fragments of the future, all the possible lines of destiny.

In some worldlines, he won a total victory. He slaughtered all the ghost hunters and top figures in the world, leaving the governments and militaries of various nations powerless to fight back. The entire world entered a brand-new era.

In certain fragments of the future, he was suppressed by Old Man Sun.

In other fragments, he was suppressed by the Eighth Young Master of Shunjin City and a group of ghost hunters.

In some futures, his position was usurped by other powerful espers in the Galan Society.

In some futures, he was devoured by unspeakable entities from the Inner World.

In some futures, he was suppressed by a certain priest in the Vatican whose power rivaled Old Man Sun's.

In some futures, he was suppressed by reinforcements from the World Ghost Hunter Association.

In some futures, he was designated as an SS-Level Fierce Ghost by the Black Cross Exorcism Company and was ultimately hunted down by multiple world-class ghost hunters.

Countless fragments of success and failure intertwined. Every worldline was a possibility, but before destiny arrived, they existed like a quantum superposition—impossible to determine until they completely collapsed.

Among them, Old Man Sun suppressed him the most times. Across countless timelines, even the Artist was locked away behind the Ghost Gate alongside him by Old Man Sun.

But one day, after a certain variable was added to "destiny," the countless worldlines in the Red Jar collapsed into a single remaining path.

It left only one future: Xu Yuan standing victorious at the pinnacle of Minghai City.

That variable was him pulling an ordinary student named Gao Tian into the Galan Society Chat Group.

Simply because of Gao Tian's existence, the uncertainty of destiny was eliminated. All paths lay flat and straight, pointing toward a future of his inevitable victory.

Xu Yuan had tried to study the reason behind this shift in fate, but even with his brilliant intellect, he could not glimpse the underlying logic governing the secrets of heaven.

The Red Jar only displayed; it never explained.

Harboring a skeptical attitude, Xu Yuan pulled the ordinary student, Gao Tian, into the Galan Society Chat Group.

When Ghost Cave tried to hunt down Gao Tian, Xu Yuan did not stop it.

Because if Gao Tian was the destined person, he could not possibly die in such an inconsequential incident.

When the Burned Ghost wanted to save him, Xu Yuan also did not intervene.

He did not interfere with destiny. Everything was a pre-written script; heaven had its own arrangements.

The only time Xu Yuan modified destiny was when he sought out Gao Tian and told him to go to the Sapphire Mall to collect his dismembered corpse.

To tell the truth, any random ghost could have handled those body parts back then, but Xu Yuan still chose Gao Tian.

This was to close the time loop.

Many years ago, the older brother from the future that young Xu Yuan saw in the mall was surnamed Gao.

He had been holding the Ghost Transformation Spear, searching for the corpse in the mall.

Many years later, the adult Xu Yuan directed and acted out the scene himself, making it happen all over again.

In this way, the future seen by the Ghost Eye was completed. Destiny continued to unfold according to the script.

In his memories, he had told Gao Tian that he pulled him into the group because of young Xu Yuan. He had lied. The real reason was the destiny he saw in the Red Jar.

Up to this moment, everything had perfectly aligned.

The reason Gao Tian was so special—why his addition could completely solidify the unobservable quantum destiny—was because after his death, he would turn into the Smiling Man.

Xu Yuan already knew what destiny had arranged for him.

Minghai City, 5:17 AM.

The barrier above ended early. The Xia Country ghost hunters stationed on the periphery, along with the reinforcing ghost hunters from all over the world, smoothly entered Minghai City.

Entering alongside them were war correspondents from countless nations. Sitting in helicopters, they hoisted specially treated cameras capable of preventing Meme contamination, braving immense risks to enter the ruined Minghai City where hordes of ghosts ran rampant.

Even though they were fully equipped, and everything from their camera lenses to the aircraft fuselages was specially manufactured, facing this kind of Super S-Level contamination event where Killing Rules lurked everywhere, the risk of death for ordinary journalists was still incredibly high.

In order to broadcast the battle in Minghai City to the whole world, these dedicated reporters had already cast aside all regard for life and death.

Thousands of meters away, countless ultra-long-range cameras focused on a stretch of scorched earth in the center of Minghai City, locking onto the giant covered in human heads clinging to the Oriental Pearl, as well as the smiling corpse confronting it.

The instant they observed Xu Yuan's true body, despite the ample protective measures taken by the war correspondents, they inadvertently triggered several inexplicable Killing Rules. Inside the helicopters and broadcasting studios, over a dozen people had their heads spontaneously explode on the spot.

Splattered with blood, the surviving staff members maintained their fearless spirit. They nervously edited the footage they saw, removing the parts laden with Meme contamination and transmitting only the harmless shots to the rest of the world.

In a distant aircraft carrier's combat command room, upon seeing the safe footage transmitted from Minghai City, ghost hunters and high-ranking officials from various countries argued fiercely in a multitude of languages:

"What the hell is going on? Wasn't Old Man Sun, Xia Country's number one ghost hunter, responsible for dealing with this King of All Ghosts?"

"Where did Old Man Sun go? He couldn't have fallen, could he!"

"Then what is that eerily smiling corpse confronting the King of All Ghosts right now?"

"A ghost fighting a ghost?"

"Even Old Man Sun is dead. Our evaluation system only goes up to the S-Level. Shouldn't we adjust it higher?"

The United States, the White House.

After Senator Wilson finished watching the specially processed, top-secret footage sent from the Far East, he walked over to the wall-mounted telephone, picked up the receiver, dialed the rotary pad, and made an emergency call.

"Please connect me to the president of the Black Cross Exorcism Company, Mr. George."

Half a minute later, a deep-voiced man with an elegant London accent answered from the other end of the line. "Greetings, my most loyal friend, Wilson."

Senator Wilson did not waste words. He knew George had his own intelligence channels and was paying close attention to this fierce battle happening in the distant East.

After it was confirmed that the first Super S-Level Fierce Ghost in human history—the King of All Ghosts—had appeared in Shanghai City, the stock prices of every company in the world related to Fierce Ghosts went completely insane. The stock of the Black Cross Exorcism Company skyrocketed directly by ten times, surpassing the combined value of traditional giants like Apple, Nvidia, and Microsoft to become the most valuable company in American history.

Wilson tried his best to soften his tone. "The military analyzed the tens of thousands of heads on the King of All Ghosts' body and found the head of Xia Country's number one ghost hunter, Old Man Sun, among them.

"This also proves that Old Man Sun has been defeated and devoured by the King of All Ghosts."

This was devastating news.

No country in the world, not even those hostile to Xia Country, wanted to see Xia Country fall.

After all, those were internal disputes among humanity.

If there were conflicts, disputes could still be resolved through negotiations and consultations.

If a region with over a hundred billion living people turned into a Ghost Nation overnight, one could only imagine how massive the impact would be on the other countries of the Blue Planet.

Even the Black Cross Exorcism Company could not swallow such a massive "business."

Senator Wilson knew that Old Man Sun was the final safeguard. As long as he was alive, no matter how chaotic things got, he would never allow an S-Level Fierce Ghost to have a seat at the table, let alone wipe out an entire, intact city.

But now that even Old Man Sun was dead, the world was going to plunge into utter chaos.

On the other end of the phone, President George's voice remained relatively calm. "I met Mr. Sun once, twenty years ago. He was an optimistic, lovely little old man.

"If he had been willing to join the Black Cross Group, he would have become one of our top-tier ghost hunters. May God bless his soul."

Senator Wilson said, "Our most pressing task right now is to ascertain exactly what that thing confronting the Super S-Level Fierce Ghost in Minghai City is.

"Why was it born? Is it friendly or hostile toward humanity?

"And for what reason did it take over what should have been Old Man Sun's position?"

On the other side of the receiver, President George had also obtained the footage transmitted from the Far East.

"The Smiling Man's current level is still unclear. We are temporarily classifying it at the SS-Level, the same as the King of All Ghosts.

"The posture it is currently maintaining—one hand pointing to the sky, the other pointing to the earth—is mimicking the scene of 'I alone am the honored one' from the birth of the Awakened One, Shakyamuni, in Buddhism.

"This posture is very important. The birth of every ghost corresponds to a certain event that occurred in reality, a certain obsession. The Smiling Man wouldn't make this gesture for no reason.

"We can try tracking down this clue.

"As long as we find the reason behind it imitating the Awakened One's posture, we might just be able to discover its origins, its Killing Rules, and a way to successfully contain it if it goes berserk."

Professionals always had their specialties.

The president of the Black Cross Exorcism Company clearly understood paranormal events far better than the politicians in the White House. Even though he was internally just as shocked by the descent of two Super S-Level Fierce Ghosts in Minghai City, he still managed to sort out the clues and propose a solution in the shortest possible time.

Senator Wilson said, "Your database must definitely be more comprehensive than the military's.

"I expect you to present me with a report on this Smiling Man and the King of All Ghosts before this afternoon.

"I need to submit it to Congress and provide the President with a more complete memorandum."

President George replied, "There's no need to wait for the afternoon.

"I have probably already found the connection between the Smiling Man and the birth of the Awakened One."