Chapter 842: Spread

No opposition.

Lin An nodded, a flash of weariness crossing his eyes.

Every suggestion Chu An made was fine.

He just didn't expect the problem to develop so quickly that he couldn't even take a brief rest.

But that's how the Apocalypse is.

After confirming he would go, Lin An turned and looked doubtfully at Colonel Chu:

"What does the spread of the three major events mean?"

"Are there large-scale meme outbreaks around us? Is it the white mist from the Wangjiang Military Region?"

Speaking first, Lin An could clearly see that almost all of Chu An's worries were related to the three major events.

"Whoosh—"

Pulling out the bottom half‑stack of reports, Chu An pondered for a moment, then handed the report to Lin An:

"This is the information I've gathered over this period."

"And... intelligence obtained from trading with the Capital Military Region."

Lowering his head, he saw the report in his hand was far more detailed than the one Chu An had given before—dense small text accompanied by pictures filling the white paper.

While Lin An read, Chu An explained again:

"As I said before, whether it's stopping the intake of survivors or controlling military satellites, the essence is to prevent the spread of events."

After a moment's thought, Colonel Chu seemed to be choosing his words, speaking only after a few seconds:

"Let me start from the beginning; although it's a bit long-winded, it's necessary."

"Lin An, you may not have noticed a phenomenon."

"That is, when you upgraded the Safe Zone, you once earned a mission‑difficulty reduction reward for the Huaxia War Zone."

Lin An nodded; that upgrade not only unlocked the Death Match and Cataclysm, but also came with a reward.

Facing each other, Chu An continued:

"A seemingly 10% difficulty reduction may seem trivial, but its actual impact is huge and is one of the roots of our current problems."

Meeting Lin An's slightly doubtful gaze, Chu An elaborated:

"The reduction in mission difficulty caused two subtle changes."

"1. Survivors find it easier to stay alive; a 10% difficulty reduction actually raises the survival rate far more than 10%. Likewise, it's a critical‑point effect."

"You should have noticed that the Huaxia Military Region dispatched the most trial‑takers worldwide this time."

"It's not just due to the region's own plans; this reward also played a crucial role."

"2. The difficulty reduction isn't simply lowering B‑rank tasks to B‑; in the system's judgment, even many special‑type tasks are waived and defaulted to a standard distribution. Likewise, this proportion far exceeds 10%!"

"It's like you could originally defeat Second Rank; in the system's view, a meme task only slightly harder than Second Rank would be assigned to you."

As he spoke, while everyone was still thinking, Lin An suddenly lifted his head, realizing what Chu An meant to convey.

"You mean the entire Huaxia War Zone, because of that reward, took on a large number of special tasks!?"

"And issuing tasks means generating memes, the supernatural, and the special. So the proportion of such events has surged in a straight line!?"

"Exactly..."

Chu An sighed, forcing a bitter smile onto his face:

"Not only that, but because more people survived, the number of tasks issued also increased. The two factors stack, leading to a massive generation of third‑class events."

"What's terrifying is that, in the system's eyes, these events aren't difficult; we should be able to complete them. But in reality... many who take them cannot finish at all."

"Against the huge population base, this causes many third‑class events to become ownerless tasks, freely 'moving' between war zones."

"There's another factor: the early opening of chat channels, which increases the rate at which memes spread among survivors' cognition."

"Many local 'ghost legend' meme events, once experienced by the parties involved, spread like a virus within the channels."

His expression grew even graver.

The few who had experienced meme events with Lin An were even more restless.

"Isn't the meme spreading in the chat channel unsolvable!? I've seen it too, but..."

Gao Tian came to his senses, barely able to endure the fear in his mind.

Taking meme events as an example, this thing seems something a child could dispel with correct thinking, but in reality its difficulty is so great it could kill a Third Rank.

Recalling the sudden surge of 'nonsensical ramblings' in the chat channel recently, Gao Tian instantly realized Chu An might be telling the truth.

"Asia... no, the Huaxia region's various ghosts and legends have accumulated for over five thousand years!"

"It won't be, but it's almost the same."

Chu An shook his head slightly, as if calming hearts.

"Chat channels won't spread memes; they aren't like broadcast permissions that directly touch thoughts."

"Otherwise, just tossing out meme dolls and using them on the spot would mean everyone would die."

"The extra information in the channel can only be said to give survivors who don't know this meme a rough impression."

"It's like putting a mark on them, making transmission easier."

Lin An's eyes flickered; he set down the report in his hand and tapped his fingertips lightly.

"So we can't accept more survivors, also fearing someone might be 'infected' with memes and slip into the city."

"Like a virus, this thing existing in thought logic always has a few unusually hidden forms."

"Once it spreads, it will be a disaster."

"As for military satellites..."

Glancing at Chu An, Lin An continued:

"With military satellites in place, we can at least detect large‑scale abnormal gatherings in advance."

High-risk memes, or supernatural incidents, usually have strong spreading ability.

As long as we discover abnormal human gatherings, we can prepare in advance.

Moreover, during catastrophes, we can also give early warnings.

Speaking calmly, Lin An also roughly understood what Chu Colonel wanted to convey.

The spread of the three types of special events is indeed the most troublesome matter.

As for what to do if we truly discover an abnormality, it goes without saying.

For small-scale cases we are confident in handling, we dispatch personnel.

For large-scale, unsolvable cases, we detect them early and eliminate them early.

As that saying goes.

(We discover, we resolve.)

(We contain, we protect.)

(If the meme gets out of control, we grab a bucket and run.)

In a brief silence, the usually quiet Jing Tian suddenly spoke, his expression somewhat bewildered:

"Brother Lin, why do I always feel... the system is targeting us..."

"According to Chu Colonel's meaning, it's precisely because we saved these people that we'll suffer more?"

"This isn't a reward; it's clearly a punishment..."

Seeing him somewhat lost and unable to imagine Jing Tian's future, Lin An replied lightly:

"Just as Chu An said, everything has two sides."

"The three major events are terrifying, but the rewards are also generous. If completed, the rewards far exceed those of ordinary missions."

"Putting else aside, Zhang Tie's combat strength isn't it granted by the Indestructible Asura?"

"Completing the meme task, even if the reward is merely part of the meme's characteristics, is enough to cause a qualitative change in the completer's strength..."

There's no way to comfort him further.

Lin An and Chu Colonel exchanged a glance, both understanding the underlying meaning behind the other's entire discussion.

The system never cares about human life or death; it seems only to care whether you can stand out amidst piles of bones.

Even if hundreds of billions, even trillions of humans perish in endless disasters, as long as one person can survive to the end.

Then, for it, that is 'worthwhile'.

To live, a cost is required.

The more people live, the greater the cost.