Chapter 134: Dongdao Internet Cutoff

Take over.

Xiao Yesi rasped, his voice sounding like two pieces of sandpaper grinding together.

Take over every screen in the nation—TVs, computers, phones, outdoor billboards... all of them, not a single one omitted.

I want... to speak to them, to the citizens.

It was 8:00 a. m. Dongdao Time.

Normally, this is the start of the day.

Housewives would be in the kitchen preparing miso soup and fried fish, office workers would be dozing on crowded trains, and students would be picking rice balls at a corner convenience store.

Shibuya District.

On the massive billboard at the intersection, a top idol faced the camera with a sweet smile.

The next second.

Zii—

Across the entire Dongdao, billions of screens were forcibly taken over at the same instant by an irresistible force.

Whether it was the TV at home, the phone in a pocket, the mobile TV on a train, or the giant LED on an office building's façade.

All the images switched to a disturbing cascade of colored ribbons.

Immediately after, a gaunt, hollowed‑out face appeared on every screen.

It was the Prime Minister, Xiao Yesi.

He wore a suit, his eye sockets sunken, looking like a soulless shell.

The whole nation fell into Weird silence at that moment.

"My citizens..."

Xiao Yesi spoke, his voice trembling yet carrying a resolute clarity.

"Everything I am about to say is true. Please, listen to the end."

"Our nation is facing an unprecedented disaster—a... curse that defies scientific explanation."

"Its name is the Laughing Demon."

He paused, and the screen behind him began frantically scrolling a string of crimson numbers.

Those were the death tolls updating in real time.

【4,874,551】

【4,879,102】

【4,882,437】

In the time that followed.

Xiao Yesi, with a shaking voice, revealed to all citizens the existence of the creature called Weird.

He also explained that the Smiling Demon had already caused millions of deaths.

"... Its infection rule is only one."

Despair filled Xiao Yesi's voice.

"It spreads through visual transmission."

"Anyone, in any form, who sees that Weird smile will be infected instantly, whether through video or by eye."

"The Infected will lose self‑control, self‑harm in extreme madness, or attack those nearby."

The whole Dongdao erupted into chaos.

People stared at the soaring death numbers on the screens while hearing the Prime Minister's fantastical speech; their worldview collapsed in an instant, shattering into dust.

"Lies, right? Is this some movie promotion?"

"But... that death count..."

"It's true, I'm in an office building and can see many people on the street committing suicide!"

Panic, like a virus, spread faster than the Laughing Demon's curse.

In a high‑end apartment, a man watching a live stream glanced out the window unintentionally.

He saw, on the rooftop of the opposite building, a man in a white shirt standing with his back to him.

The man slowly turned around.

A huge, rigid Weird smile hung on his face.

Then he spread his arms, laughed, and leapt off the rooftop.

"Ah—!"

The man let out a terrified scream.

In the next moment, a smile also appeared on his face.

And this scene played out simultaneously in every corner of Dongdao.

The live stream kept going.

Two streams of murky tears had already fallen from Xiao Yesi's face.

"... To curb the spread of images and cut the curse's chain..."

"In ten minutes, Dongdao will completely cut off internet service nationwide, including all mobile and wired networks."

"The only means of communication will be traditional telephone calls and text messages."

"Everyone, return home immediately, lock doors and windows, stay indoors, and avoid any contact!"

"Wait... wait for the government's next notice..."

"God..."

His final voice was almost a plea.

"Please protect this country."

The words fell.

All screens instantly plunged into darkness.

The world seemed to have its mute button pressed.

Ten minutes.

Yet it felt like a doomsday countdown.

When the final second ticks away.

The island-wide internet vanished in an instant.

The signal bars in the phone's top‑right corner went from full 5G to blank. The network icon in the computer screen's bottom‑right corner gained a red cross.

The world fell into an unprecedented, true deathly silence.

In the first few days, fear was the best order.

People curled up at home, daring not to make a sound, fearing that somewhere beyond the door, an unseen world harbored a monster with a Weird smile wandering about.

Meanwhile, food was being consumed rapidly; loneliness and hunger, like two beasts, gnawed at people's sanity in the darkness.

A few days later.

In a cheap rental room.

An unemployed youth named "Du Bian" had not eaten for two days.

He was so hungry his vision filled with stars, and his stomach felt like a fire was burning inside.

He cautiously edged to the window, opened a crack, and looked outside.

The street was empty, only newspapers and trash lifted by the wind swirling like wandering spirits.

Not far away stood a 24‑hour convenience store.

Du Bian's Adam's apple bobbed up and down; greedy desire overcame fear of the unknown.

He tiptoed out of the apartment, like a frightened mouse, hugging the wall and inching toward the store's entrance.

The automatic doors had long ceased functioning due to the power outage.

Du Bian looked left and right, confirming no one was around.

He picked up a slab of paving stone from the roadside and hesitated for a moment.

In the end, the malicious thought in his heart completely overrode the last thread of civilized restraint.

Bang!

He mustered all his strength and slammed the slab hard against the glass door!

Crash—!

The crisp shattering sound rang especially harshly in this dead silent city.

It also seemed like a signal.

Pandora's Box was opened to its second layer.

Du Bian rushed wildly into the store, stuffing bread, canned food, cigarettes, alcohol—everything he deemed valuable—into a huge shopping bag.

He had never felt so free and exhilarated.

No cameras, no clerks, no police.

He was the god of this world.

Just as he loaded up and vanished behind a street corner.

Behind a Second Floor window of a nearby apartment, another pair of eyes saw it all.

In those eyes, shock first, then hesitation, and finally, a greedy flame lit up, identical to Du Bian's.

A silent plague began.

The first person to smash glass appeared.

Soon, the second, the third followed suit.

Robbery, arson, violence......

When the reins of law and order were completely cut, when humanity no longer had any restraint.

A darkness even more chaotic and unpredictable than the Laughing Demon erupted, raging madly in the city's shadows.

On this isolated island, the true hell had only just begun.

ps:

The darkest part hasn't arrived yet.