Chapter 96: Living in the Sunlight

On July 1, the internet in China’s Earth experienced a massive earthquake.

An unprecedented quake triggered by a video, a photo, and several Weibo posts, swiftly sweeping across the globe!

The video, photo, and Weibo posts revealed to netizens worldwide the biggest, most shocking, most unbelievable—but undeniable—news of this century!

A Chinese youth named Cang Luo had, two months ago, crossed over into another world called Yuanwu Continent and sent a distress signal back to Earth!

Netizens worldwide were stunned; media outlets from every nation rushed to report it.

Renowned Chinese media such as Tencent Dragon News, Today News, WebYi News, and Xinhua News Agency all gave Cang Luo front-page headlines.

The media primarily analyzed the video and photo Cang Luo posted, along with the massive Incident 501 that occurred in his residential community.

As reputable news organizations, they could not lightly draw conclusions about unconfirmed events.

Thus, they reported only that Cang Luo might have crossed over—or perhaps been kidnapped by foreign forces—or that this might all be a hoax.

At the end of their reports, media outlets all @ed and reposted Cang Luo’s Weibo, urging him to appear publicly and clarify matters to prevent global panic.

Besides domestic media, foreign outlets such as AP, Reuters, Planet Daily, and The Horn Daily also extensively covered the transdimensional traveler Cang Luo.

Yet, the focus of these foreign reports differed entirely from that of domestic media.

First, foreign media outright affirmed Cang Luo’s crossing, publishing expert evaluations from multiple world-class specialists on the video and photo he released.

The evaluations confirmed that Cang Luo’s video and photo were not faked—they were genuine recordings.

This indirectly proved the existence of the other world named “Yuanwu Continent.”

Then, foreign media focused their reporting and analysis on how Yuanwu Continent’s existence might affect Earth, listing numerous possibilities, roughly as follows:

One: Yuanwu Continent’s existence is a threat; it may soon launch an invasion of Earth. Earth must prepare for war.

Two: From the video, Yuanwu Continent appears to be a cultivation or magic civilization, but its technological level is low—it is no match for Earth’s nuclear arsenal. Thus, it poses no threat.

Three: If Yuanwu Continent poses no threat, what resources can Earth exploit? Could it become a colony planet?

Four: Will Earth’s nations go to war with each other over Yuanwu Continent’s resources?

Five: According to Cang Luo’s Weibo bio, his family appears threatened. By whom? Why? What is their goal?

From Incident 501, it seems the Chinese government long knew of Cang Luo’s crossing. Could the Chinese government be the one threatening him?

Is the Chinese government using threats against Cang Luo’s family’s freedom and safety to coerce him into providing intelligence on Yuanwu Continent?

We urge the Chinese government to explain this matter, and we also urge Earth’s first transdimensional traveler, Cang Luo, to answer our questions so we may offer help.

Compared to the cautious reporting by domestic media, netizens preferred the foreign media’s conspiracy-laden and apocalyptic narratives.

After global media coverage, people who previously ignored such news and foreign netizens flooded Cang Luo’s Weibo to follow and comment.

Soon, Cang Luo’s Weibo followers surpassed one hundred million, becoming the most-followed account in Weibo’s history.

Even though Weibo had not yet contacted Cang Luo, it forcibly verified his account.

Cang Luo: Earth’s First Transdimensional Traveler.

After verification, Cang Luo’s follower count surged again, reaching 120 million.

The comment count on his earlier Weibo post also reached a terrifying ten million, overwhelming the platform with traffic and nearly causing a server crash.

Weibo’s engineers had to perform emergency maintenance, eventually migrating Cang Luo’s account to a dedicated server named “Yuanwu Continent.”

This was the first and only server in human history created solely for an individual.

If Cang Luo knew, he would surely be proud.

After Weibo stabilized, global netizens once again frantically @ed Cang Luo, demanding he release more information about Yuanwu Continent.

Many also @ed the Chinese government, demanding an explanation for the threats against Cang Luo’s family and why Yuanwu Continent’s existence had been concealed.

Foreign netizens also frantically @ed the United Nations and several superpowers, demanding they respond.

They questioned why they had concealed Yuanwu Continent’s existence from ordinary people, and whether they intended to launch total war...

In response to global demands, the Chinese government had not yet replied; neither had the United Nations nor other superpowers.

Cang Luo had not replied to any comments—not because he hadn’t seen them, nor because he didn’t want to, but because he had no time.

At that moment, Cang Luo, on Yuanwu Continent, was on the phone with Li Weiguo, head of Fenglin Huoshan, listening to a stream of stern reprimands.

Li Weiguo shouted: “Cang Luo! Do you know what you’re doing right now?

Have you considered the consequences? Don’t you realize revealing Yuanwu Continent’s existence will cause global panic?

What are you doing to China?”

China and all nations understood: if Yuanwu Continent’s existence were made public, it would trigger global chaos and universal panic.

Because of the Dark Forest Law!

When Earth’s people learned of another world, after brief excitement and curiosity, they would inevitably wonder: does this world threaten Earth?

Does it threaten humanity? Will it destroy Earth?

Once these questions arose, people would panic, halt production, and obsess over how to escape the unknown destruction...

They would become demoralized, triggering countless problems: crime rates would surge, prices would rise, and so on.

Most critically, wars would erupt—over escape resources, over resources from the other world!

Before Yuanwu Continent even attacked, Earth would destroy itself through civil war.

Thus, all Earth nations firmly refused to allow Yuanwu Continent’s existence to be leaked—at least not before next year.

Because Earth’s nations had not yet prepared to defend against Yuanwu Continent’s invasion, nor to control global chaos...

After discovering Cang Luo had leaked Yuanwu Continent’s existence via video and Weibo, Fenglin Huoshan immediately initiated a network lockdown—but was blocked by a group of mysterious hackers.

Though they eventually repelled the hackers after a grueling cyberwar, they had missed the optimal window; the leak could no longer be stopped.

Yet Fenglin Huoshan had not given up. They planned to make Cang Luo cooperate in a staged performance, forcing him to publicly declare it a social media scam.

Li Weiguo took a breath and continued: “Cang Luo, it’s not too late to turn back. We need you to cooperate with us—label this as a social media marketing fraud...”

“Finished?” Cang Luo interrupted, smiling faintly. “Now you remember me?

Where were you when my company on Earth was ruined by that guy who called himself ‘Ben Shao’? Where were you when he threatened to kill my family?

You didn’t protect my private property—and when I demanded you arrest him immediately, you claimed you hadn’t identified him yet? Didn’t have evidence? Had no authority to arrest?

Ha! Is there anyone Fenglin Huoshan can’t investigate? I think you just didn’t want to—or were too afraid.”

“Little Cang, listen to me, it’s like this...”

“Enough!” Cang Luo cut him off, voice low. “I understand now. You only see me as a tool to extract intelligence from Yuanwu Continent. You never truly cared for me.”

Cang Luo took a deep breath and continued: “I won’t forget I’m Chinese, nor that I’m a descendant of Yan and Huang. I won’t do anything to betray China.

Also, because you once saved my family and still protect them, I’ll continue providing you with intelligence—I’m grateful.

But...”

“But what?” Li Weiguo breathed out in relief, yet tensed.

Cang Luo said firmly: “But from now on, I refuse to be manipulated by you. I will live in the sunlight. I will protect my family and my property my own way...”

Cang Luo had thought it through: others can never be fully trusted. Relying on others is worse than relying on oneself. His family and property must be guarded by himself.

Though Cang Luo was on Yuanwu Continent and could not personally protect his Earth-bound family and assets, he had thought of a solution.

He would reveal Yuanwu Continent’s existence to the entire world—make every human on Earth know it was a cultivation world, a civilization that might invade Earth.

Then, some would be thrilled, excited, eager—eager to become warriors, to gain superhuman power.

Others would fall into panic, fearing Earth’s invasion, fearing death at the hands of otherworlders...

Yet, whether thrilled or terrified, all would depend on him—for he was Earth’s only transdimensional traveler, the only human who could send intelligence from Yuanwu Continent.

Want to know how to become a warrior? Want to know Yuanwu Continent’s cultivation system? Want to know everything about Yuanwu Continent?

I can tell you.

Worried about Yuanwu Continent’s invasion? Want to know when it will come? Want to know what power its warriors wield?

I can tell you.

Thus, Cang Luo would become a global public figure—the most valuable person on Earth.

After that, he would no longer be manipulated by any nation, no longer coerced under the guise of “protecting his family.”

And under the pressure of global public opinion, under the looming threat of Yuanwu Continent’s invasion, no one would dare harm his family or property—instead, they would protect them voluntarily.

He could even profit from this, and use it to uncover the true identity of that man who called himself “Ben Shao.”

Li Weiguo fell silent for a long time, then said: “Little Cang, don’t you trust your homeland? Don’t worry—I’ll send specialists to investigate your company’s sabotage right away...”

“No need!” Cang Luo sneered. “I trust my homeland—but I don’t trust certain people. I’ll handle my company’s affairs myself. Just protect my family.”

With that, Cang Luo ended the call and opened Weibo...