Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

“It's out!”

When they cracked the encryption code of “Adam”, those in the technical department could not help but cheer. The group of representatives from all continents, the “s.h.i.+eld bearers”, gathered around the computer at once, waiting for the release of new information from “Adam”.

“What's the matter, isn't it encrypted information? Why was the technical department able to crack it?”

“Who knows, I heard that the technical department didn't spend any effort at all, but this matter has something to do with the super-intelligent Adam. Maybe there's some deep meaning behind all this.”

“This computer is amazing…”

Many “s.h.i.+eld bearers” gathered in the conference room and continued to talk anxiously and excitedly, until the chairman of the Quantum Deity Conference spoke and everyone quieted down.

“I think you all know the reason for this emergency meeting.”

This was an old man from Europe. He only said excitedly, “I won't waste your time. Now, as for the video information cracked by the technical department, please take a look…”

Following the old man's words, the screen in front of everyone suddenly turned on and a video of only ten seconds was played in front of everyone.

However, to everyone's disappointment, the image in the video was not some big secret but a statue of a woman with her back facing everyone, her head down, and her hands raised to cover her eyes.

The lines on the statue were smooth and the details were extremely delicate as if they were carefully crafted. What was more conspicuous was the pair of soft wings growing out the back of the statue.

Anyone who looked at it could understand at a glance that this statue was none other than an angel.

This video was only ten seconds long. It had ended before everyone could react. After watching this video, everyone glanced around at each other, feeling a great sense of disappointment.

What was this, a prank by “Adam”?

“That's it?”

One of the “s.h.i.+eld bearers” spread his hands and looked at the chairman of the Quantum Deity Conference. “Are you sure that the technical department didn't switch out the video?”

“The technical department is loyal. What you suggest is impossible.”

The old man shook his head. “Perhaps 'Adam' wants to tell us a secret through this video.”

“I guess so…”

Shortly after, the meeting room became noisy again.

However, this group of people did not notice that, when they turned away and started arguing loudly, on the frozen screen, the statue also turned its head slowly…

1

At the same moment, in the Los Angeles City Hall, Mayor Parsons was rubbing his temples furiously. A thick stack of files was in front of him.

A few minutes ago, the chief of the police department in charge of Los Angeles public security had been given a thorough dressing down and he ran away from the city hall and fled Parsons's angry roar.

“They are all pigs who are good for nothing. Not a single one is useful at this critical moment!”

At the thought of the horrible murders that had happened, Parsons was so enraged that he swept the reports off of the table, cursing in a low voice.

“Mr. Mayor, there's probably a vicious murderer hidden in the Herrank District.”

The aide on his side reminded in a low voice. “What we should do now is to seal off the warehouse area of ​​Herrank, get all the workers out, and conduct strict interrogation of everyone at the same time because there's a high probability that the murderer is also still hidden in the warehouse area.”

“Would they be so stupid?”

Parsons looked at his aide with an icy face.

“It's not like that, Mr. Mayor.”

The aide did not panic at all, but said solemnly, “Many people died at the hands of the murderer. This is beyond the scope of a vendetta. Therefore, I suspect that these killings are random killings, which means that the other side is taking pleasure in killing people. This kind of person's mind has long been distorted and cannot be judged with common sense.”

Hearing this, Parsons started to think. What the aide said made sense.

“Of course, I'm just speculating. Anyway, we can just try this. We can also send the police to do a sweep of the Herrank Warehouse District. Even if we can't catch our target, it'd be good if we can stop the murderer's actions.”

The aide continued to persuade.

Hearing the words, Parsons finally nodded. “Then we'll do as you say. We'll seal off the Herrank Warehouse District and dispatch…”

Before he finished speaking, the computer on Parsons' desk chimed and turned on by itself.

The two heard the sound and looked over at the same time. After seeing the computer turned on by itself, Parsons frowned. He stretched out his hand as if about to turn off the computer again but in the next second, a little girl's crisp voice unexpectedly came out from the computer —

“Sir Parsons, I don't recommend you do that.”

In the computer, the girl said in precise English, “If I were you, I'd directly close off the Herrank Warehouse District and wait for orders from higher authorities, instead of sending police to the Herrank Warehouse District to their deaths.”

“Who's there!”

Hearing that the computer started to speak, both of them looked stunned. The aide exclaimed, “It's a hacker, who is eavesdropping on our conversation!”

With that, the aide was ready to notify the guards outside but Parsons hesitated and finally stopped him. “Listen to what she has to say.”

Hearing Parsons' order, the staff glanced at the computer with some anxiety.

The computer at this time no longer had its usual Windows interface. Instead, there was a pure black screen and the screen had a red logo design, which contained specifically three lowercase “i”s.

The three “i” letters were laid out in a circle and there were two arcs between each pair, forming a radial ring with a structure that was like the sign of nuclear radiation.

Below the logo, there was a line of letters:

Infohazard.

This meant “information hazard”.

“Sir Parsons, I don't recommend that you send the police to the Herrank District.”

At this time, the little girl's voice continued to persuade. “Because it wouldn't help and it may cause more intense memetic infections.”

Hearing this, Parsons frowned. He waved his hand slightly and the aide seemed to understand this gesture immediately, hurriedly backing out as if he was about to get someone else.

“Memetic infection, what is that?”

Parsons' voice continued to remain cool and aloof, without mentioning what he had just done.

“Memes belong to a subject that hasn't yet been discovered by humans.”

The little girl's voice whispered, “I believe you should know that the essence of living things is continuation and continuation is the fundamental purpose of life. The reason life can go on is because of the continuation of genes, which undergo inheritance, mutation, and so on. They support the basic structure of life and store all the information about the race, blood type, gestation, growth, and apoptosis of life.

“At the same time, in addition to heredity, genes also have the characteristics of mutation and selection. Otherwise, our current biological world wouldn't be this ever-changing. But did you know that in addition to genes, there's something else in the world that has the three characteristics of transmission, selection, and mutation?”

“What is it?”

Hearing the question from the voice on the computer, Parsons' expression flickered and he asked calmly.

“It's a meme.”

The little girl continued. “A meme is like a special kind of information that is spread and mutated through human cognition. It can transform human cognition of things, change the structure of matter, and even change the rules of reality. A single malicious meme and even the entire Earth Federation will be destroyed because of it. What is happening now in the Herrank Warehouse District is a serious memetic effect.”

Hearing this, Parsons' expression s.h.i.+fted and he cracked a disdainful smile. “Is this an 'information hazard' then? So, what should we do?”

“My suggestion is to lock down the Herrank Warehouse District and at the same time, isolate all those who have entered the area to prevent the spread of the meme.”

As she spoke, the little girl suddenly changed her tone. “But it seems that you don't believe what I said, otherwise you wouldn't send your aide to mobilize the Los Angeles network reconnaissance team to track down my IP.”

Parsons' expression changed. “So, you think I'd believe a hacker who only deals in half-truths and wouldn't even show themselves?”

“You can only follow my advice.”

The little girl's voice continued to say without emotion, “Otherwise, all of you will die.”

“Would we be killed by the so-called meme you mentioned?”

Parsons turned cold, not susceptible to the threats from the computer.

“No, but because I've sent the Black Knights to install fifty plastic bombs in the city hall.”

The voice continued to say without any sentiment, “If you don't want to listen to me, then the entire city hall will collapse into ruins in an instant. I'm not kidding you.”

“You!”

After hearing these words, Parsons' expression changed. He was about to erupt in fury but right then, the phone on his desk rang without warning.

Parsons turned to the sound and saw that the caller information on the phone turned out to be the number of the President's office in the White House.

When Parsons picked it up and heard the order he was given, his face turned even gloomier because the White House only sent him one order:

Seal off the Herrank Warehouse District!

When Little X contacted the Northern American officials, Chen Chen was crossing multiple regions in Northern America at an absurd speed. In less than an hour, he had traversed 1,500 kilometers and arrived at the famous Yellowstone Park.

Surrounded by the Rocky Mountains on all sides, this was known as the “spine” of Northern America. It stretched from north to south for more than 4,800 kilometers. By this time, even Chen Chen's forehead was slightly sweaty.

Looking for a building in such a vast area of ​​mountains was like finding a needle in a haystack. Moreover, it was still dark. If Chen Chen was asked to search for it by himself, it would likely take him several months to find the headquarters of the Earth Federation Quantum Deity Laboratory.

Nonetheless, it was a good thing he had Little X's help in all this. In addition, day and night had little effect on Chen Chen's vision. Soon, Chen Chen arrived in the unnamed forest where the laboratory was located.

After arriving, Chen Chen began to lower his flight alt.i.tude. After all, as the top secret of the entire Earth Federation, this place was heavily guarded. If he flew too high, it was easy for him to be detected by radar.

After lowering his alt.i.tude, Chen Chen broke out from the supersonic state and flew at a low speed for ten minutes. After flying over several checkpoints and a military base, he finally found the goal of his trip — Quantum Deity Laboratory that could s.h.i.+eld all radiation.

The Quantum Deity Laboratory was a square structure as a whole, towering in the endless swathe of forest, but it was very inconspicuous because of the camouflage applied to its surface. It was only thanks to Chen Chen's eyesight that it could still be easily seen.

When Chen Chen approached the laboratory, his communication device also began to receive strong interference. As he flew closer and closer, the interference continued to intensify and he was finally completely disconnected from Little X.

“It's only been an hour since the meme was leaked. I hope I'm on time.”

As Chen Chen continued to descend, he soon came to a s.p.a.ce above the laboratory but after seeing the scene on the ground, Chen Chen's heart suddenly sank.

There was already a mess outside the gates of the laboratory. Dozens of guns were discarded on the ground and the regional flags of all continents were scattered all over the place. Several corpses could be seen even on the road.

Among these corpses were soldiers in military uniforms, researchers in white coats, and “s.h.i.+eld bearers” in suits and leather shoes.

However, the necks of these corpses were all twisted past three hundred and sixty degrees, like long twisted doughnuts.

The horror before death and the pressure from the twisting of the neck were shown in the eyes of the corpses. All the corpses had their eyes wide open. It seemed that the eyeb.a.l.l.s would fall from the sockets any time now and it looked terrifying.

However, this did not mean much to Chen Chen. He just looked gravely in the direction of the laboratory but saw that despite being the ultimate secret of the Earth Federation, this Quantum Deity Laboratory even had its doors thrown wide open. By now, the government dignitaries of various countries and also the researchers had abandoned the place like rats deserting a sinking s.h.i.+p, having fled into the depths of the forest one after another.

Seeing this scene, Chen Chen knew that he was too late and the meme had completely spread and infected the core center of the Earth Federation.

However, Chen Chen did not hurry into the forest to pursue them. At this point of the matter, the spread of the meme was inevitable. Currently, he focused on this most mysterious laboratory in the entire Federation. Perhaps there may be some clues related to the meme inside.

Thinking of this, Chen Chen went straight down the pa.s.sage and walked into the laboratory.

The doors of the laboratory were kept open as if welcoming guests. As soon as he entered the door, Chen Chen saw a long, narrow, and deep corridor. On both sides of the corridor were the police and medical rooms. Now all that remained were data sheets scattered on the ground and b.l.o.o.d.y handprints on the door.

Chen Chen did not waste his time here. He knew about the layout of this place from Little X. At this time, he walked by without stopping and went straight to the core of the laboratory, where the single most important object of the entire Earth Federation was located.