Chapter 570: New S Ji

In the conference hall, the screen was still frozen on Lu Dou's data page.

White shirt, old ID photo, gentle professor.

A on‑site photo of Lu Chuan Manor was pressed on the table.

The two images placed together were so disjointed they made one's stomach feel clogged.

Wei Gong stared at it for a long time.

The tea in the cup had become completely cold.

He didn't drink, only snapped the cup lid back, and the porcelain made a faint clink.

"Determine the nature."

L tapped the keyboard twice.

A temporary assessment report popped up on the right side of the screen.

The code field remained blank.

In the danger level column, a red marker flashed three times.

S Ji.

No participant was surprised; you could see that the letter settled, and some straightened their backs.

The words "S Ji" inside the Investigation Bureau are not a rating.

They are a death quota.

Jiang Yuan stood by the table, his fingers pinching a dark‑colored poker, the edge of the card pressed against his fingertip.

He didn't put the card back.

In Lu Chuan Manor, the image of a Shadow Soldier being eroded by a smiling face still lingered in his mind.

That wasn't ordinary contamination.

Shadows can devour the weird, suppress resentment, and sever many Weird Domain structures.

Yet in front of that white‑background smiling face, the soldier couldn't hold on for even three seconds.

This shows that the rules Lu Dou engineered are no longer the original Dongdao Laughing Demon contamination.

It's cleaner, and also harsher.

The Laughing Demon drives people mad.

Lu Dou demands people be orderly.

The former is a disaster.

The latter is a project.

Qin Zhixia's mechanical prosthetic arm rested on the table, its metal joints slowly folding together.

She had endured Xiao Zhang's betrayal and had personally seen many people depart.

She isn't afraid of enemies going mad.

What she fears is enemies being lucid.

Lucid people calculate the cost, select samples, write murder into the plan, and can add a line at the end saying "for all humanity."

Such people are harder to handle than pure monsters.

Liang Wen leaned against the back row, his black Windcoat unbuttoned.

He usually, when encountering such venues, would add drama for himself.

Not today.

He stared at Lu Dou's paper title on the screen for a while before muttering lowly, "Ethical Revision of Shared Happiness and Single‑Consciousness Society. The title sounds scholarly, but in plain language it means, everyone stop being human and become group‑chat bots together."

Su Ming didn't look at him.

"You can still leave the group chat."

Liang Wen was startled for a moment.

"Your backstab is even more damaging than mine."

L looked up, his tone even.

"Technical correction. After being contaminated by Lu Dou, there is no option to leave the group."

Liang Wen raised his hand and pressed the spot between his eyebrows.

"Thanks, Master of Cold Humor. Your words make me want to clock out even more."

L: "The probability of clocking out is less than one percent."

Liang Wen closed his mouth.

On this day, there's no way to talk.

Wei Gong didn't interrupt them.

He let those short sentences circulate around the conference hall once.

If people are stretched too tight, they'll snap.

Being able to crack two jokes shows this team hasn't been scared off yet.

After a few seconds, he lifted his eyes.

In those aged eyes, the usual murkiness receded, leaving only sharpness.

"Target code, Martyr."

L's finger halted.

The code field was filled with three characters.

Martyr.

Wei Gong continued: "Danger level assessment is S Ji."

"Core Rules are similar to the Laughing Demon, equally dangerous."

"But Lu Dou is not the residual carrier of the Laughing Demon. He is modifying it."

"The current attack is an experiment."

"He is using relatively influential figures in society for experiments to perfect his ability."

In the conference hall, several analysts exchanged glances.

Someone couldn't help but ask, "Why Lu Chuan Manor? The people there may not have influence at a national level."

Su Ming took his hand out of his pocket and opened the manor's guest list.

"Vice President of the Southern Chamber of Commerce, a film and television company boss, two foundation directors, three new media group shareholders, one White Gloves from the liquidated Yujui family, and seventeen people who constantly buy trending searches."

He scrolled the list down.

"They aren't the highest level, but their dissemination ability is strong."

"Lu Dou chooses them; low cost, rapid spread. More importantly, these people like to film their lives and share them."

Liang Wen replied, "Got it, the first batch of happy samples, and they even come with their own promotion team. Professor Lu really gets the internet on this round."

No one laughed.

Su Ming continued, "Lu Chuan Manor is not the endpoint, it's a trial run."

Qin Zhixia looked up.

"If the trial run succeeds, he will switch to targets with higher weight."

Jiang Yuan said, "Political figures, religious leaders, top‑tier streamers, post‑disaster relief representatives, or Investigation Bureau spokespersons."

"The more people trust, the higher the dissemination efficiency after contamination."

L's typing speed increased.

"Building a model. Variables include social influence, public itinerary, live broadcast scale, psychological stress state, recent frequency of contact with Dongdao issues, security weaknesses, electronic device exposure levels."

On the screen, densely packed data boxes began to flicker.

A young analyst stared at the data, sweat beading on his forehead.

He had only recently transferred to headquarters; previously he mainly handled the Yujui case filing.

In his eyes, Jiang Yuan's batch of Core Captains were already absurdly strong.

One can open an S Ji domain, another can manipulate time, a mechanical prosthetic arm can tear down half a street, and there is Liang Wen, who may seem mentally unstable, but his battle record is there.

But Lu Dou, with just a smiling face, silenced all the core figures in the room.

This is S Ji.

It's not a question of whether one can win.

It's that you may not even have a window to act.

The young analyst placed his hand on the keyboard and entered the wrong command three times.

L turned his head and gave him a glance.

"You entered the hotpot restaurant address three times."

The young analyst's face stiffened.

Liang Wen immediately perked up a notch.

"Which one? Is it good?"

L: "Rating 4.9, negative reviews focus on long waiting times."

Wei Gong looked at them.

Liang Wen cleared his throat.

"I, this monarch, am only caring about grassroots food and livelihood."

Qin Zhixia said coldly, "Shut up."

Liang Wen raised his hand in surrender.

This little incident eased the pressure in the conference hall for half a second.

And only for half a second.

Wei Gong stood up.

The chair leg dragged a brief friction across the floor.

He placed both hands on the table, his back straight.

"In the past twenty‑four hours, we have just restored the Yujui's privileges back into the law."

"Ordinary policemen are, for the first time, qualified to capture monsters."

"Many people think order has returned."

"Lu Dou picking this time to act is no coincidence."

"He wants to tell all ordinary people that guns are useless, the law is useless, and the Investigation Bureau is useless."

"He wants to push the people who just stood up back into fear."

Wei Gong's palm slapped the table.

The cup lid trembled.

Tea splashed in a circle.

"Check!"

"Deploy 100% of the bureau's computing power!"

"We must find his next target!"

"I don't care whether he's a professor, martyr, or self‑proclaimed savior."

"If he uses people as samples within the Federation, cut off his hand."

After these few sentences were spoken, the red indicator lights outside the decision hall all lit up.

At the headquarters' underground third level, the data center entered wartime mode.

The cooling system was set to its highest setting.

Rows of server cabinets lit up with blue-white indicators.

The duty officer jumped up from his chair, the technician holding a cup of instant noodles shoved the fork into his mouth, mumbled 'My late-night snack is cold again,' then sat back at his workstation and typed commands.

The federation-wide public schedule database was accessed.

The security systems of 372 cities began to report back.

Branches across the country simultaneously uploaded recent group activities: speeches, press conferences, memorial ceremonies, post-disaster consolation, celebrity livestreams, religious gatherings.

All venues equipped with cameras, screens, and audio equipment were marked with red labels.

Beside L's projection, data streams piled up into a wall.

Her glasses reflected the screen information, her face still expressionless.

But her keyboarding frequency had already exceeded normal by thirty percent.

Su Ming stood behind her, fingers pressing the desk edge.

The beginning of many disasters.

Most are not heaven-and-earth shattering.

Just one person made a wrong judgment, one door left unclosed, one piece of news delayed by five minutes.

Against an enemy like Lu Dou, the contest is not individual strength.

It's about who can calculate the next step first.

Su Ming dislikes this situation.

Because any oversight will get people killed.

He lowered his head to look at the target pool in the model.

"Add high trust as well."

L: "Already added."

"Add another condition: recently publicly support the Suppress Spook Bullet and the new law."

L's fingers paused for a beat.

Qin Zhixia looked toward Su Ming.

"Do you suspect he'll slap the face of the new law?"

Su Ming nodded.

"Deer River Manor merely bypassed the Suppress Spook Bullet. Next, he will prove that the new order itself can be contaminated."

Jiang Yuan's facial lines tightened.

"That target will be the person who best represents the new order in public settings."

Duke Wei did not speak.

His hand left the desk, slowly moving behind his back.

This statement points too clearly.

Those who represent the new order are too few.

Jiang Yuan, Qin Zhixia, Su Ming, Duke Wei himself.

Also those who have been pushed to the forefront, giving the public confidence.

L added the condition to the model.

The candidate list on the screen began to dwindle rapidly.

1,327 people.

309 people.

66 people.

12 people.

5 people.

Only the sound of keyboards and equipment running remained in the conference hall.

Liang Wen stared at the list, unusually putting aside all his flair.

He wondered, if the target were himself, how would the contamination take effect?

Make the whole world follow in shouting 'Dark-Blooded King'?

Absurd.

But behind the absurdity lies more trouble.

His ability can rewind, but it cannot undo everyone's spread of awareness.

Once contamination enters the livestream, five minutes spells disaster.

Never mind hot and spicy pots; by then everyone will be forced to order the same happiness set meal.

He does not want to see such a world.

Too boring.

Also too tragic.

Jiang Yuan put the poker cards back into the card bag, and quietly ordered: 'Night Watchers, stand by. All remote teams switch to text commands. Without authorization, do not activate public video feeds.'

Qin Zhixia then said: 'All branches halt nonessential press releases. All scheduled public activities must have their security procedures re-reviewed.'

Su Ming added: 'Not enough. Have the Technology Department prepare delayed livestreams with at least a three-minute buffer. Upon detecting a smiley-face structure, cut it off directly.'

L: 'Sent.'

Duke Wei watched the main screen.

"Result."

L did not respond.

Her screen froze.

It was not a system lag.

It was data cross-checking.

Three minutes.

It was short.

So short that the tea in the cup had not completely stopped shaking.

It was also long.

So long that everyone in the conference hall had imagined the worst outcome.

Three minutes later, L's screen showed data jumping wildly, with red alarms piling up layer by layer.

Finally, the image froze.

A name.

A photo.

The person in the photo wore an administrative jacket, had graying hair, stood at a post-disaster reconstruction site, and was handing a box of medicine to an injured child.

Qin Zhixia's pupils contracted slightly.

As she stood up, her mechanical prosthetic arm crushed the chair back.

The fragments fell to the ground.

"How could it be him?"

She stared at the screen, her throat tight.

"He has a global public stability speech tomorrow morning for fifty million people!"

On the screen, behind the target's name, the red risk marker jumped to the highest level.

Federation Public Opinion Representative.

Global New Order Public Spokesperson.

Tang Guo'an.