At the Lihua Hotel, a ceremony was underway, marking its transition from the Mutual Aid Sharing Sessions to the newly renad "Hall of Truth and Goodness."
Yesterday's organizer had today beco the Hall Master. At this mont, he stood in the center of the crowd with a smile on his face, sharing his insights on truth and goodness.
Ever since he survived the infection a few days ago and gained the ability to identify the infected, his status among the people had beco transcendent.
People didn't quite regard him as a god, but they all considered him a master with special abilities. The reason they revered him was also the hope that they could be like him, surviving if they ever got infected.
"...Therefore, we must love everyone and cannot harbor hatred. Hatred is a thief that steals all the beauty of life, we must..."
The Hall Master was speaking when he suddenly looked towards a woman on his left.
eting his gaze, she gradually showed a look of terror on her face.
She knew that whenever the Hall Master suddenly stared at soone, that person would be a new Blood Plague infected.
This had happened ten tis in the past week, and without exception, every single ti it had co true.
And of those ten people, not a single one had been able to, like the Hall Master, stay alone in their room for 24 hours and then walk out healthy and unhard.
"No, no!" the woman scread, "I pray every day, I yearn for truth and goodness, why is it !"
"It seems you are not pious enough, you still have selfish thoughts and distractions, that's why the virus found an opening." The Hall Master said, stepping forward to help the woman up. "Return to your room. I hope you can pass this trial."
"No... Hall Master, save , save ..."
The woman struggled, refusing to go. The Hall Master shook his head with a sigh.
At that mont, two young, strong n voluntarily stood up, forcibly took the woman away, locked her in her own guest room, and forbade her from coming out for 24 hours.
The others witnessing this were all terrified. They silently prayed that they would not be the next to undergo the trial.
Knock knock knock!
Suddenly, a series of urgent knocks sounded at the door. It was an employee from the Ergency Managent Bureau.
The Hall Master walked to the window to inquire, "What is it?"
"A new batch of virus protective gear has been produced. You didn't want it last ti, right? What, having regrets now!"
The visitor was indeed the staff mber who had delivered protective gear a week ago. That ti, the people at the Lihua Hotel had chosen to refuse, leaving him utterly perplexed.
Now that the new gear was ready, he ca with a sense of vindictiveness, specifically to see the look of regret on these people's faces.
To his surprise, the Hall Master still refused with a smile, "We still don't need it."
"What?" The person outside frowned, scanning the people in the hall through the window. "I can see there are clearly fewer people here than last ti, they must have all been taken by infection, right? Even in this state, you say you don't need it? What on earth are you thinking!"
"I need it! I need it!"
Suddenly, a person rushed out from the crowd to the window, shouting at the outside, "I want protective gear! I want to leave this place!"
The crowd was both shocked and furious at the sight. The smile that had been permanently fixed on the Hall Master's face also vanished.
Seeing this, the staff mber outside realized sothing was wrong and looked at the Hall Master warily. "What the hell is going on? Are you forcing people to refuse protection?"
The Hall Master shook his head and said to that person, "You are so impious. It seems you will be the next to be invaded by the virus."
"Nonsense! You're all crazy! I want out! I don't want to stay here anymore!"
The staff mber outside also said, "Open the door imdiately and let that person out!"
Unmoved, the Hall Master said calmly, "This is an internal matter of ours. Please, outsiders should not interfere."
"Bullshit!" The staff mber outside cursed, then imdiately pulled out a walkie-talkie. "Hey, soone's personal freedom is being restricted at the Lihua Hotel. Notify the Ard Squads to co resolve this imdiately!"
After the notification, the staff mber pointed at the Hall Master. "Do you even know you've committed a cri? You're a criminal!"
As soon as these words were spoken, the people of the Hall of Truth and Goodness angrily surged to the door, glaring furiously at the person outside.
"Don't you dare slander our Hall Master!"
"Our Hall Master yearns for truth and goodness. Not only is he unhard by the virus, but he can also detect those invaded by it. He is a true enlightened master!"
"With us here, no one will lay a finger on our Hall Master!"
The staff mber outside was shocked upon hearing this and stared at the Hall Master. "What? You survived infection and can detect other infected? There's actually a 'Blood Plague adaptor' here..."
He imdiately picked up the walkie-talkie again and spoke urgently in a low voice, "A 'Blood Plague adaptor' has been discovered at the Lihua Hotel."
As soon as he finished, a response ca through the walkie-talkie, "We're on our way."
Not long after, several fast vehicles arrived. There were staff from the Ergency Managent Bureau and also Ard Squads holding weapons, fully ard with live ammunition.
After learning the situation, the team leader ca to the door and said to those inside, "Listen, there's no such thing as an 'enlightened master.' He was just lucky to have antibodies against the Blood Plague Virus!"
"Nonsense!" soone inside retorted. "What antibodies? How would we know? If such a thing really existed, it would have spread all over the internet by now."
"That's right! The official accounts haven't released any news. You're just trying to trick people!"
For a mont, the team leader's expression beca extrely complex. He choked for a long ti, unable to speak.
He wanted to say, "It's not that there's no news, it's just not public," but the problem was they were all required to keep it confidential. Even if he wanted to say it, he couldn't in this setting.
However, his hesitation only made the people of the Hall of Truth and Goodness more convinced they were right, that the people outside had been rendered speechless.
The other staff mbers who knew the situation also looked conflicted.
They all understood that the reason for not publicizing the news was to prevent chaos, to prevent everyone from demanding serum and causing destruction if they couldn't get it.
But this led to the current situation: because the news wasn't public, people didn't know about the existence of "Blood Plague adaptors," which led them to regard anyone they encountered as a master, an object of worship.
It was even possible that this Hall Master himself genuinely believed he was so kind of "chosen one." Not pretending to be a charlatan to deceive others, but truly believing he was different from ordinary people.
The team leader steeled his heart and gave the order, "Break down the door! Take this Hall Master away!"
Once a Blood Plague adaptor was discovered, they had to be taken back to the bureau imdiately for proper placent. This was the highest order. For this, they couldn't care about anything else now.
The Ard Squads imdiately acted, blasting the wooden door open, intending to forcibly take the Hall Master away.
However, the other mbers of the Hall of Truth and Goodness panicked. So of them believed the only reason they hadn't been infected yet was because the Hall Master was present. If the Hall Master was taken away, they might soon be infected by the virus and die horribly.
"They won't let us live! Fight them!"
"Damn it, let's fight!"
"Protect the Hall Master!"
Dozens of people rushed forward. So were empty-handed, others summoned various Mind Power items, attacking the Ard Squads that had broken through the door.
The attacked Ard Squads chose to open fire in retaliation.
Rat-a-tat-tat, rat-a-tat-tat!
Bang bang bang bang bang!
After a burst of dense gunfire, the hall fell silent.
The Hall Master knelt with a thud before the slain crowd, turning his head to glare at the Ard Squads. "You... Heaven will surely punish you, make you die a horrible death!"
"...Take him away!"
At the team leader's command, several people forcibly took the Hall Master to a vehicle.
As for the team leader, his expression behind his mask was extrely grim. He hadn't expected things to develop to this point either. But what was done was done. There was no other way besides this.
"Team Leader, do you really think hiding the news is right?" The staff mber looked at the tragic scene in the hotel lobby and couldn't help but ask. "If they knew..."
"Would knowing an no one would die? I'm afraid even more would die." The team leader interrupted.
"..."
"Let's go. The higher-ups just issued an order yesterday, urging our Yunhua branch to provide more serum. Luckily, we found another Blood Plague adaptor today. Otherwise, relying on those already found... the serum extracted wouldn't be nearly enough for what the higher-ups want."
"Who are the higher-ups giving so much serum to?"
"Who knows. Big shots, probably."
"Really..."
"Alright, enough complaining. Don't forget, we are also eligible to use serum... Just based on that alone, we should all focus on doing our jobs well, to deserve the preferential treatnt given by the higher-ups."
...
Three days later, at the shelter.
"Success... online."
Guan Tong pressed the enter key. The website he created was officially live.
For now, he was temporarily using the laptop's built-in hard drive to store information. Although it couldn't store much, it was just for testing at the mont.
Besides, a newly launched website wouldn't have much traffic or many things needing storage anyway.
Looking at it, the website background was gray-black, the UI font was white, emphasizing high contrast.
As for the interface, to put it nicely, it was minimalist. But in reality, there was basically nothing there.
Apart from a few simple options to jump to other secondary interfaces, there was only a large logo with five easily understandable artistic characters: Ascendant Ho.
That's right, Guan Tong intended to build this website into a ho belonging to Ascendants. In the future, not only could they trade and commission tasks on it, but they could also chat anonymously and share so trivial matters.
He felt this kind of functionality was necessary. Because judging from the various Ascendants he had co into contact with so far—basically half of them had psychological issues, either prone to violence or prone to self-destruction.
So had both, two sides of the sa coin. Guan Tong had seen more than one or two similar news reports online, all about Ascendants senselessly arranging fights, killing each other, and so even collectively ending their own lives.
In short, under imnse pressure, people needed an outlet. So, on his website, Guan Tong wanted to create this little haven where Ascendants could let down their guard and chat with each other.
Unlike on so other communities or social apps, where Ascendants with even a little sothing were afraid to speak up or share, fearing that the mont they posted sothing substantial, soone would track them down.
After all, not every powerful person was a network expert who knew how to hide themselves online. In the long run, the strong among Ascendants would tend to remain silent online, which was actually detrintal to ordinary Ascendants.
It's like playing chess with a bunch of lousy players—you'll only get worse. But playing chess with a group of masters, even if the improvent isn't huge, over ti you can still learn so clever moves.
Guan Tong looked at the main interface, which currently had only four secondary section options.
They were: Intelligence, Items, Commissions, and Casual Talk.
The Intelligence section was for buying and selling information.
In the Items section interface, Guan Tong had set up a "Wanted" function, so people could write out their needs. Unlike the terminal market, which only allowed listing goods for sale, not precisely searching for one's own needs.
The Commissions section was exactly what it sounded like. An Ascendant had a need they couldn't handle themselves, so they offered a price and issued a commission. Other Ascendants who felt they could handle it would accept the commission and do it.
The Casual Talk section was what Guan Tong envisioned as a place for Ascendants to chat, share, and relax.
Guan Tong also planned to add another mysterious section later, tentatively nad "The Administrator's Domain."
The Administrator was naturally himself, and "Domain" represented that he would publish so relatively important things in that section. In the future, only qualified people would be able to enter this section and see the content.
The reason for setting up this section was also Guan Tong's attempt to see if he could use this model to attract so experts to help him. Or, if not help him, at least communicate so ssages with each other, which would be good too.
However, he hadn't fully planned out the specifics of this section yet, so he wouldn't launch it for now. It wouldn't be too late to launch it after the website had so traffic and users.
At this mont, looking at this rudintary website, Guan Tong felt a sense of satisfaction. The ti spent tinkering over the past few days hadn't been wasted.
He thought to himself, "Once the website runs smoothly, I'll have to launch a mobile version too. The goal is to have it running on every Ascendant's device!"
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