Chapter 239: The Spectator Seeking Fun

The Xia Nation's International Television Station announced to the world that the Punishment Organization's Arctic Base had been destroyed.

The news broadcast evidence of crimes committed by Wade and the Punishment Organization over the past year: high-definition coordinates and internal structural diagrams of seventeen hidden altars; over three hundred video clips recording the life-source sacrifice of ordinary people as sacrificial offerings; and intercepted, decrypted portions of internal communications.

Among them, the sacrifice of populations in more than a dozen cities was glaringly evident; some cities had even originally been classified as having encountered alien creatures. This news tore away the entire facade, revealing the cruel reality beneath.

Fredely City in the Jia Nation, Saint Miguel City in the Mo Nation, Orange City in Europe...

Due to its incompetent government and domestic caste contradictions, the Yin Nation had even had three or four cities sacrificed in succession before the government took notice.

Heizhou, due to years of poverty, war, and neglect by the international community, suffered the highest number of sacrificial offerings.

This news report also fully covered the Punishment Organization's public opinion attacks against Yang Yi, detailing the entire process of their planning, incitement, and manipulation, including the funding and information chains behind the Diego City protests, accounts in the network fabricating "expert" identities, and the infiltration and control of certain religious and capital groups.

Finally, there was that set of shocking news photos: on the Arctic permafrost, the huge, smooth, hemispherical vitrified crater.

The Xia Nation's official brief statement pointed out that this was one of the Punishment Organization's main bases located and destroyed by Yang Yi based on intelligence.

Online public opinion targeting Yang Yi temporarily fell silent; those who supported Yang Yi celebrated universally, launching hashtag topics on the internet such as #WeOweHerAnApology and #ThePunishmentOrganization'sSlanderOfTheSavior.

Media outlets that had previously questioned her loudly urgently retracted their articles and apologized, or hastily released analyses defining the Punishment Organization as "an anti-human cult parasitic on human fear."

In street-corner discussions, accusations against Yang Yi of being "inhuman" and "dangerous" were quickly covered by voices such as "She is the only one who can fight those true monsters" and "We almost had our eyes blinded."

Public opinion is like the wind, and the crowd is like grass blown by the wind, leaning east one moment and falling west the next.

Late at night, Zhang Zhang Qiang slumped in the creaking computer chair of his rental room, scrolling through his phone with utter boredom.

The daytime clamor had receded, leaving only the cold light of the screen and the occasional sound of cars passing outside the window.

Day after day of mediocre life wrapped around him like a greasy film, making him always want to find some excitement to puncture this dullness.

His fingers slid unconsciously, skillfully bypassing conventional social platforms to click open a corner accessible only via a special browser—a place hiding a "truer," more "vivid" world.

The dark web's interface was rough and gloomy; various information bubbled up like foam in a sewage ditch, mixed with transactions, secrets, and unspeakable curiosities.

He browsed aimlessly when a title, like a hook, suddenly grabbed his eye:

"The Youthful Past of the Human God? Exclusive Secrets, Enter with Caution."

His heart skipped a beat for no reason, then immediately struck his chest more violently.

His fingers moved faster than his thoughts; he had already clicked in.

During the few seconds of loading, he held his breath as adrenaline began to secrete.

The webpage popped up an old photo, low in pixel quality and clearly taken secretly; the background was a gray, dusty alleyway with odds and ends piled in the corner.

The protagonist was a young girl, sixteen or seventeen years old, wearing a school uniform washed white. She kept her head down, her full face obscured, but that shrinking, gloomy aura seemed ready to spill out of the screen.

Zhang Zhang Qiang squinted, examining closely—the contours of those eyebrows and eyes, that pressed-shut mouth... It was Yang Yi! That "Human God"!

It was the young Yang Yi, before she had revealed her inhuman power later!

Standing beside her was the back view of a roguish young man, wearing a cheap shirt, with one hand seemingly resting on the wall, his posture full of street-smart insolence.

Just this blurry photo was enough to explode countless associations in Zhang Zhang Qiang's mind.

Zhang Zhang Qiang felt a tremor mixed with the excitement of uncovering a secret and some kind of dark gratification.

Savior? Human God? So she too had such an ignoble past, struggling in the mud of the lower depths?

Below the photo was attached an audio link; he clicked it open impatiently, but worried the volume might be too loud, pressing his ear almost against the speaker.

A male voice came out, obviously processed through a voice changer, carrying a buzzing electric static, with a lewd and vulgar tone full of boasting and insult:

"Heh... Yang Yi? That woman who now pretends to be something?... Back then... hehe, she wasn't even eighteen yet..."

"Right in that room back in the hometown... crying? At first she cried, but it wasn't just that..."

"What damn Human God, back then under my..."

"... All bones, they were so hard..."

Filthy words poured down like dirty water, splashing over his head.

Zhang Zhang Qiang listened with a flushed face, not out of shame, but because of an indescribable excitement, the thrill stimulated by forbidden information.

His breathing became heavy and coarse; his eyes stared fixedly at the head of the young Yang Yi hanging low on the screen, his mind uncontrollably overlaying the scene described in the audio onto the photo.

So that's how it was... So that unreachable, ice-cold "Human God" had once also...

He felt a blasphemous pleasure, as if he had inadvertently acquired the ability to drag a deity down from the altar.

The audio cut off abruptly, leaving him scratching his heart and clawing at his liver.

Below was another link for an in-depth expose, labeled "Recollections from an Old Neighbor."

He clicked in without hesitation.

It was a long article, using vulgar language and bearing traces of a local accent; the poster claimed to be a neighbor from the hometown of the strongest Awakened One, "unable to stand seeing her now being pushed to the heavens, so I'll speak some truth."

The article detailed the Yang family's abuse of YY since childhood, and how they forced her to marry a fool for a bride price; Yang Yi's cousin YZ was described as a good-for-nothing hooligan; and the young Yang Yi was depicted as "scheming" and "precocious," how she "shamelessly" "seduced" her cousin to continue her studies in exchange for that meager "support"...

The post's details were very rich, interwoven with street names and local customs that only locals might know, adding even more authenticity to the post.

Zhang Zhang Qiang watched with great relish; at times he pursed his lips at the "abuse" described in the text, and at times he indulged in fantasies about the "seduction" part, a curve of disdain and curiosity forming on his lips.

"I told you so, there's no such thing as a born saint..." he muttered softly, as if proud of his own "clarity."

The screen's light reflected in his eyes, flickering with a turbid glow.

Just as he was watching, he suddenly chuckled twice, feeling self-satisfied like a prophet: "I knew she wasn't that clean..."

He did not question the source or authenticity of this information at all, immersed in the huge thrill of digging into the dark side of the "God."

Only after finishing reading did he still feel unsatisfied, insisting on sharing and discussing it with others to extend this excitement.

So he moved his fingers and immediately shared these explosive inside stories with several small groups he had specially joined, preparing to enjoy the taste of being amazed and questioned.

As for what impact this would have on that "Human God" currently struggling for the survival of humanity?

What did it matter to him? He was just a spectator who had found some fun.

In the dark room, only the screen reflected his excited face.