Chapter 459: Silenced

Rain streamed over the cobblestone pavement; the red sphere atop the octagonal observatory of Greenwich Observatory—nearly two centuries old, descending precisely at one p. m. to calibrate time for ships on the Taiwushihe—appeared like a blurred sunrise through the misty vapor.

No one at the scene spoke, but in the player forum's live stream, the barrage of comments had erupted into chaos.

"Where's the feed? Where's the video? Why's it blacked out?! Admins, do your job!"

"What the hell, I pay tens of thousands a month to WhaleSong for internet, and this is the signal I get?"

"Matrix (WhaleSong chairman), when are you gonna die?"

While Dr. Noah was still seated inside the rocket's descent capsule, he used GOC permissions to shut off the video signal from low-orbit spy satellites, causing the livestream to go black.

The forum players, who had been eagerly watching the spectacle, suddenly lost the feed—they were furious, screaming insults at WhaleSong Guild for being utterly useless.

【User ATXZc136032 has been silenced for 360 days】

The admin immediately acted, banning the player who had cursed the loudest—but this only enraged other users, who began typing en masse:

"Remember Matrix's statement four years ago: 'WhaleSong might go bankrupt, but we'll never lose our integrity.'"

"The admin's hilarious—he told me not to bring up Matrix's rhythm when I asked his opinion on early players who got rich and forgot their roots."

"After GOC Michael vanished, the Lv40 Transcendents gathering asked who the current top killer was. Everyone stayed silent—only Matrix waved his hand: No no no."

Dense barrage comments streamed across the screen like horizontal torrential rain, obscuring the view.

At the observatory, Li Cheng extended his palm, catching a handful of rain, and said calmly: "ADE effect."

The Illusion Master of the Zhong Lou Guild frowned. "What?"

"Antibody-Dependent Enhancement—full name: Antibody-Dependent Enhancement."

Li Cheng spoke plainly: "Viral infection begins with adhesion to the cell surface, achieved through interaction between viral surface proteins and specific receptors and ligands on target cells."

Under normal circumstances, specific antibodies against viral surface proteins inhibit this step—that is, after a patient is infected once, they won't be infected again."

But under certain conditions, the virus exploits this effect, deceiving antibodies into binding to immune cells, thereby enabling invasion."

In other words, after a patient is infected once, their subsequent resistance doesn't increase—it decreases, making them vulnerable to reinfection, even repeated reinfection."

The Zhong Lou group finally understood. The hot-tempered Pyromancy Master clenched his fists unconsciously and growled: "You've poisoned the rain with a lethal virus?"

"More accurately, not lethal—enhancing."

Li Cheng tilted his head slightly. "The virus was stripped from the primordial cells of the Insect Lord's divine corruption."

Through rainfall, it has been dispersed in droplet form across the entire city of London. Fog arose with the rain—every Londoner exposed to the air has now been infected."

Phase One: The virus invades the pituitary gland, triggering accelerated secretion of growth hormone and continuous synthesis of myosin to strengthen muscle and bone."

Infected individuals become ravenously hungry, eat rapidly, and grow stronger."

Phase Two: Muscle mass continues increasing, body temperature rises to 39°C, yet infected individuals feel exceptionally well—strength, agility, reaction speed—all superior to before."

Phase Three: Bone density surges, causing skeletal deformation; neural pain sensitivity dulls—massive viral targeting attacks the frontal lobe, inducing neuronal apoptosis, gradually shutting down the brain, which consumes 20% of daily human energy, redirecting all energy to enhance the body and primal instincts."

Phase Four: The infected's bones twist, forcing them to walk on all fours; intelligence regresses to the level of herd animals."

At this stage, the quantifier for them is no longer 'a person'—it's 'a beast.'"

Their sense of smell, hearing, vision, physical strength, self-healing speed, and hunting instincts are all greatly enhanced."

In the Killing Field's evaluation, this is an enhancement-type evolution—not classified as 【Injury】, 【Illness】, or 【Infection】; thus, the vast majority of healing skills and items originating from the Killing Field are ineffective against it—including Life Potions."

Estimated death toll: 850.

Unit: ten thousand.

Timeframe: 21 days.

I have named this virus: Primordial Epoch."

Humans living in modern cities will shed their wisdom and reclaim primal instincts in fifteen days."

The Pyromancy Master's eyes burned with fury as he roared: "You're willing to sacrifice eight million five hundred thousand people to achieve your goal?! Those Londoners are innocent!"

"Don't you find that statement strange?"

Li Cheng tilted his head slightly. "When Moebius rejected my initial proposal and insisted on turning this city into a battlefield, he already placed London's citizens in danger."

The Illusion Master turned to his colleague, specialized in Divination magic, who nodded reluctantly.

Master Pi Fu was not bluffing. So far, nearly all known methods—whether Killing Field tools and skills, or transcendent systems outside the Killing Field—have no effective counter against this virus, stripped from the Insect Lord's primordial cells."

Hohenheim extended a finger, adjusted his glasses, and said calmly to Li Cheng: "Won't this virus spread to other regions?"

"As long as I remain alive, it won't."

Li Cheng said: "Primordial Epoch has only one natural host: humans. The first wave spreads solely via rain and mist—it does not use hosts as vectors for secondary transmission through droplets or blood."

But when Primordial Epoch infection reaches Phase Four, the virus congregates in the lungs and can spread via respiration. Unless your side cuts off the limb decisively—evacuating all eight million-plus Londoners into the Killing Field's physical realm and letting them fend for themselves—the entire British Isles will suffer a secondary outbreak."

As for how to halt it…"

Li Cheng turned his palm sideways and poured the rain from his hand.

"A second rain must fall—containing another virus of the same origin, exploiting the ADE effect to easily invade cells and trigger synthesis of a special protein."

This will activate Primordial Epoch's automatic apoptosis mechanism, interrupting the infection and causing the virus to permanently self-destruct."

The Illusion Master's eyes flickered. Li Cheng seemed to read his thoughts and smiled: "Using illusion to control me and force me to reveal the antidote won't work."

Before coming here, I severed a portion of my brain containing the relevant memories—I myself don't know the antidote even when fully conscious."

Only when an automated email sends me a message revealing where I buried that brain segment can I retrieve the virus cure."

And the interval between the second rain and the Primordial Epoch outbreak concentrated in London is less than one day."

In other words, I have kidnapped these 8.5 million people."

Hohenheim gazed at the distant city. The Killing Field's script world and real Earth have different time flows—he had witnessed and experienced too much, accumulating far more memories than during his ordinary human life."

Along the way, even he felt his own humanity growing thinner."

But… this was still his homeland."

Thinking of this, Hohenheim pulled a parchment from thin air, waved his hand, signed his name upon it, and handed it to the nearby Pyromancy Master."

"This is the highest-tier magical contract in the Killing Field. This matter ends here. The Zhong Lou Guild's Mage Council shall not, by any means—including but not limited to pursuit, wanted notices, arrest, or control—target Master Pi Fu."

The parchment scroll was passed among the upper echelons of the Clocktower, each signing their true name in turn.

When it reached Edith's hands, she pressed her lips tightly together and said nothing. Only when Hornheim said, "Möbius will have a way," did she silently sign her true name and pass it to the next colleague.

The scroll bearing the names was handed to Li Cheng, but he did not take it. Instead, he grinned and said, "There's one more thing."

————

The west bank of the Taiwushihe, Whitehall, the underground bunker.

The EMP electromagnetic pulse released earlier by the mechanical swarm had been blocked by the thick rock layers, so the underground bunker still retained electricity. They could even reconnect to Starlink satellites through the signal station and restore communications.

The Cabinet Secretary pressed his hands on his knees, head bowed, staring at his phone screen. The player forum's livestream had picture again — one could clearly see that Hornheim and the other top-floor mages of the Clocktower had already returned to the Greenwich Observatory.

But the Pi Fu who had triggered all of this was not only alive, but swaggering through the air at low altitude toward Whitehall.

"Heh."

The Cabinet Secretary suddenly let out a laugh of relief. It was all over.

The underground bunker was in an uproar, with officials still trying to order security personnel to go up to the surface and see what the situation was.

The Cabinet Secretary quietly rose from his seat, walked to the corner of the chamber, patted a soldier on the shoulder, and before the man could react, drew the pistol from the soldier's waist.

Bang!

The gunshot echoed through the enclosed space, deafening. Some clerical staff screamed and ducked under the tables.

The Cabinet Secretary shot dead his intimate subordinate of over a decade with a single bullet, then turned the gun and blew away the Prime Minister's secretary.

The third shot hit the Defence Secretary square in the forehead.

The fourth shot struck the Lord Chancellor in the thigh.

"Gah! What are you doing?!"

The Lord Chancellor cried out in agony, clutching his bleeding thigh, sweating profusely as he shouted to the security personnel nearby: "He's gone mad, shoot him!"

"The Clocktower has already compromised. Everyone on the decision chain must die."

The Cabinet Secretary smiled bleakly, dropped the pistol, and with a frail frame bursting with strength, hauled up the Lord Chancellor — fat as a pig and barely able to walk. "Come on, if we go out now, we can still leave ourselves a shred of dignity."

"No, let go of me!"

The Lord Chancellor screamed in terror, struggling desperately, looking to those around him for help, but received no response.

"We made our choice long ago, didn't we?"

The Cabinet Secretary slipped his arms under the Lord Chancellor's armpits, hauling him step by step up the stairs out of the bunker, muttering: "This is a transformation unseen in a century for the world, a transformation for human civilization.

For the future and fate of Britain we made our choice. Now it's nothing more than — honouring the bet."

Bang!

He pushed open the last metal door. Through the corridor outside, one could clearly see the figures of Li Cheng and Grey Rain already standing before Whitehall.

"Huh? Is there a self-service option for feeding kills too?"

Grey Rain looked at the Cabinet Secretary who had come out on his own, smacked his lips, took out his camera, and snapped a grinning commemorative photo of himself with Whitehall's broken walls, then liquefied his arm into a blade and sliced off two heads.

Tumble, tumble—

Two heads rolled out of the corridor and dropped outside the gates of Downing Street, while the last remaining roof of Whitehall collapsed with a thunderous crash.