Chapter 318: Silent Avalanche

A cold, emotionless, mechanical alarm tone,

Without any warning, it directly exploded in Sun Wukong's mind!

This sound came from the central AI of the Blue Star Federation—'Pangu'.

It was the absolutely rational civilization guardian he had created with his own hands!

"Blue logic circuit is showing abnormal entropy increase!"

"Consciousness-stability anchor is undergoing an irreversible shift!"

"Based on comprehensive data analysis, it is preliminarily determined to be: a collective, deep fatigue period."

"Fatigue period?"

Sun Wukong's brows knotted tightly.

The tranquil atmosphere was instantly shattered to pieces.

He didn't believe a word of it!

This damn, how could it possibly be a fatigue period!

Just a second ago it was full of vitality, the next second it collectively fell into fatigue?

You're kidding me!

He took a step forward.

His figure had already descended above the capital of the Blue Star Federation.

This city was still operating perfectly.

The unmanned hovercraft traffic flowed orderly through the steel arteries like blood.

The distant giant factories were still ingesting raw materials, and the robotic arms on the production lines waved precisely.

The massive energy core emitted a low, steady hum, providing power to the entire world.

Everything was perfect, like a painting.

A painting personally drawn by the AI, absolutely rational and cold.

But.

In this city, there was no sound.

Not a trace of sound belonging to 'life' existed.

Sun Wukong's gaze swept downward.

On the street.

All the people stood where they were.

They either lifted their heads or lowered their brows, gazing emptily at some illusory, nonexistent point.

It was as if their souls had been instantly sucked away.

A young mother kept her arms outstretched, before her,

was a child likewise reaching out; between them, only one final step remained for them to embrace.

But that step became eternity.

On the construction site of a high-rise, a worker stood with one foot on a suspended steel beam, body leaning forward, as if about to take the next step.

He also stopped there, like a weathered statue.

In restaurants, cafés, on park benches…

Everyone was frozen in the action they had been performing a second ago.

Sun Wukong felt a bone‑chilling chill surge from the soles of his feet straight to the crown of his head!

This deathly silence is even more terrifying than Hongjun's order!

Hongjun's order is a cage.

The bird in the cage at least still struggles, still cries out, still longs for freedom.

But here…

is a huge, silent tomb!

Inside the tomb lie buried hundreds of millions of walking corpses!

He instantly appeared before a man.

The man wore a crisp suit, still holding a briefcase, appearing to be an office worker.

Sun Wukong reached out, grabbed his shoulder, and shook him hard, wildly!

"Hey! Wake up!"

The man's body was like a puppet whose strings had been cut, swaying weakly with his shaking.

His head drooped, his limbs limp.

Yet his eyes showed not a ripple from beginning to end.

Empty.

Deathly silence.

Like two gray glass beads that do not reflect light.

"Wake up, Old Sun!"

Sun Wukong let out an earth‑shaking roar into his ear!

This roar could shatter stars!

It could make the Heavenly Dao Law tremble!

The sound wave, like a substantive shockwave, shattered all the surrounding building glass into powder!

However.

That man showed no reaction.

His eyelids didn't even twitch.

Sun Wukong let go.

That man, like mud, went limp and collapsed onto the ground.

Sun Wukong's chest heaved violently, golden flames flickering wildly in his eye sockets!

He refused to believe it!

A divine sense, like the sharpest steel needle, viciously pierced into that person's sea of consciousness!

He wanted to see what was wrong with this person's soul!

The next moment.

Sun Wukong froze.

The soul was still there.

It had not been destroyed, nor taken away.

It simply hovered, motionless, at the center of the sea of consciousness.

Like a lamp that had been extinguished.

No desire.

No emotion.

No thought.

Even the most basic survival instinct had vanished.

It merely maintained the body's most basic heartbeat and breath.

That was all.

Sun Wukong shot up into the high heavens.

Fiery Golden Eyes, activated instantly!

Golden light, like two world-ending divine swords, swept across the entire planet!

From bustling cities to remote villages.

From frozen poles to scorching deserts.

He saw it.

All of humanity, without exception.

They all fell into this strange state of extinguished souls.

A silent avalanche.

An ultimate avalanche targeting 'thought' and 'soul'.

It was sweeping across civilization with an unstoppable, crushing posture!

"No……"

"Impossible!"

Sun Wukong clenched his fists so tightly that his nails dug deep into his palms!

His created perfect 'gray' civilization that could deceive Hongjun Heavenly Dao!

This, in his eyes, was the exemplar of the new era!

Could it be……

It itself is a massive, fundamentally rotten…… error?!

The balance he pursued—'order as shell, freedom as heart'.

When 'freedom' had explored its limits and fulfilled all the missions bestowed by 'order'……

What remained……

All that remained was a desolate, hopeless void of deathly silence?!

Just then!

Sun Wukong's Fiery Golden Eyes suddenly focused!

He saw it!

In a remote corner of a city.

Inside a corner park.

A little boy, about five or six years old.

He moved!

Amid a deathly silent crowd, like statues.

He slowly raised his own hand.

Then he exerted all his strength.

He pointed toward that grayish sky!

Sun Wukong's heart suddenly burst with wild joy!

There is hope!

There is still hope!

As long as one person is not 'infected'!

As long as one 'variable' exists!

Then he will surely find a breakthrough!

His figure vanished instantly from the spot!

The next moment, he had already appeared before that child!

"Child! Look at me!"

Sun Wukong crouched, his voice carrying a trace, a tremor he himself had not even noticed, trembling!

He wanted to see the child's eyes!

He looked inside, to see if the flame of hope still burned!

However.

When he saw the child's face clearly.

The joy on his face instantly froze.

What replaced it was endless, icy despair.

That child still maintained the posture of raising his hand toward the sky.

His eyes were exactly the same as everyone around him.

Empty.

Deathly Silence.

There was not a hint of brilliance.

His final "action"……

It was not resistance.

It was not hope.

That was merely…… a complex system on the verge of total collapse.

Before falling into an eternal deadlock.

The last unconscious, futile…… twitch.

Despair.

Like the deepest sea water, from all directions, it surged frenziedly!

It would completely submerge Sun Wukong!