The first day after the new rule's release, thirty minutes later.

Guan Tong received a private message from the hacker Mask.

Mask: "I carefully ran the surveillance data you sent me through specialized software and found that a roughly ten-minute video from half a month ago shows signs of having been replaced."

Guan Tong had previously handed over the surveillance data obtained from the withdrawal center and the medical department to Mask for analysis.

Compared to other relevant parties, he now trusted an independent third party with no conflicting interests more.

Now, he finally had the results.

He replied: "So, someone replaced a segment of the surveillance footage?"

Mask: "Yes. The replacer was very careful. If I hadn't used several different professional tools acquired from a few colleagues and performed multiple analyses, it wouldn't have been easy to spot. However, being able to detect the video was replaced doesn't mean we can retrieve the original data."

Guan Tong: "Understood."

If someone had already replaced the video, how likely would they be to keep the original video data in the surveillance system?

Mask: "The evidence of the replacement has been sent to you."

Guan Tong: "Alright. I'll send you the final payment."

After obtaining the evidence, Guan Tong carefully examined the segment of replaced video that Mask had marked.

The timestamp wasn't from the few days around Suzuki's incident, but from over half a month ago.

The video content was simply a corridor recording with no one passing through.

To the naked eye, there was no trace of replacement at all; only professional-grade tools could uncover the clues.

"In the original video, the corridor camera should have captured someone entering Suzuki's room. Could it have been that short ponytail woman who signed as 'Wei Huo'?"

Guan Tong wasn't sure, but he could be certain that surveillance video wasn't that easy to replace.

The fact that it took an expert like Mask several days to find the evidence indicated that the forger not only had the technical skill but also likely had the connections to manage things at the withdrawal center.

Guan Tong closed his eyes, and the visual feed from Shadow's surveillance appeared before him.

For the past few days, he had kept Shadow monitoring the doctors, nurses, and the center director related to the withdrawal center, but there had been no gains. He hadn't discovered these three people secretly contacting anyone.

Regardless, he had to investigate this matter thoroughly. Now that he had evidence of video replacement in hand, he could go to the withdrawal center again and press the director for an explanation. Perhaps the latter would know something.

However, doing so might alert the enemy.

Guan Tong pondered for a moment, then first sent the information he knew to Uenoshi, who was investigating in Sakura Prayer Country, to keep her in the loop.

...

One hour later, all purchasers received the intelligence Guan Tong had set to be sent on a timer.

Just as Guan Tong had anticipated, through other means of witnessing the crimson phenomenon, all purchasers had already grasped the information that it could cause effects.

Especially the Suroma Empire, which was the day-night opposite of Beixing. When the new rule was released, it was 9 AM in Beixing, but it was the middle of the night in Suroma.

One could imagine how many affected individuals would appear when Suromans saw Terra suddenly turn a deep crimson.

Fortunately, the smarter Suromans who cared about their own lives wouldn't be foolish enough to be outdoors when the rule was released, so most people avoided this calamity.

But the number of those idling outside, not taking it seriously, was sufficient to serve as a sample, allowing the Suroma authorities to reach a conclusion.

It wasn't just direct viewing of the crimson that caused effects. An ordinary vagrant wandering outside, who merely sat at a lane entrance and glanced a few times at the crimson reflection in a puddle of dirty water on the ground, also quickly descended into madness.

The commonality of the previous rules manifested once again: compared to Ascendants, ordinary people's resistance was far too weak.

During the [Extraterrestrial Parasitism] rule, ordinary people would quickly complete the transition from addiction to severe addiction, transforming into parasitized forms immediately after the rule ended. Yet some Ascendants with stronger Mind Power, even after becoming addicted, still hadn't completely transformed to this day.

Now, ordinary people lost their minds and fell into madness after just a few glances at the crimson reflection in water. This undoubtedly indicated the gap between themselves and Ascendants had widened further.

However, the Suroma authorities didn't care. That vagrant's only value was providing a set of test data for the data department.

What the Suroma authorities cared about was the "unknown hidden within the crimson fear" mentioned in the intelligence.

That unknown was very important in the eyes of the powerful.

Because danger and opportunity coexist... this golden rule from the investment field had already been verified by multiple rules.

For example, in the [Silent Hour] rule, killing a Sound Hunter could yield drop rewards. In [Fog Nightmare Beasts], venturing deep into the mist might lead to discovering fog gates and obtaining Kimos Star fragments within...

Now, a similar situation seemed to be appearing once again. Many people wanted to seize the opportunity this time, snatching the chestnuts from the fire, to claim whatever benefit that unknown represented for themselves.

Consequently, the official departments of various nations immediately prioritized discussions and plans on how to explore the "unknown."

...

Republic of Fahe, Central Square.

Previously, what stood at the center of the square was a memorial statue commemorating the resistance against the old king, composed of sculptures of various Fahe figures raising weapons. Besides commemoration, it also served as a constant reminder to the citizens to bravely resist tyranny.

Now, that memorial statue had long since vanished, replaced by a massive black stone monument erected by the Fire Thief Worship Cult.

This stone monument resembled an Ascendant's Terminal panel stripped of information, representing only the Fire Thief's unparalleled, magnificent power.

Beneath this stone monument stood two figures.

One of them had his left eye covered with a black cloth and wore a red sash around his waist. It was Hess, one of the bishops of the Fire Thief Worship Cult, who had previously claimed responsibility for the bombing attack at the Suroma competition venue in a video.

Standing beside Hess was someone who, by appearance, was actually a thirteen or fourteen-year-old boy, also wearing the red sash symbolizing a bishop around his waist.

Both looked up at the black stone monument, their gazes shimmering with the pure light of faith.

"According to intelligence gathered by our sleeper agents, the Human Consortium has decided to adopt a decapitation strike model to attack us. His Holiness and several of us bishops are all targets," Hess spoke up.

"Thanks to you," the boy chuckled. "Your bombing attack was too effective. Several thousand casualties?"

"That is not important," Hess said with a serious expression. "And I don't like jokes, Bake. You should be well aware that causing deaths was only a secondary objective of the bombing."

The boy called Bake nodded, withdrawing his smile. "Indeed. The main purpose of the bombing was still to allow our people to inconspicuously infiltrate Suroma. Judging by the results, it was very successful."

"In fact, we have people infiltrated into the key teams of all member nations of the Human Consortium. Except..."

"Except we can't infiltrate the team from the Beixing Countermeasures Research Office, right?" Bake said, as if it were expected. "We've known this for a long time. Beixing is different from other countries; their background checks on personnel are the strictest."

Hess said gravely, "Moreover, they almost exclusively use their own people. Even when they discover new talents with outstanding abilities, they set up lengthy observation periods. This has caused our several infiltration attempts to end in failure."

"Actually, I quite admire the meticulous, pragmatic attitude and the tenacious, unyielding will of most Beixing people. No wonder, with the second anniversary of our deity's descent approaching, Beixing can still maintain a very stable social order."

Bake's behavior of not stinting on his words of praise made Hess very displeased.

"Bake, get this straight. The ones you're praising are the enemy!"

"If we want to defeat the enemy, isn't it normal to first understand their strengths?"

"Hmph. No matter who it is, the result of deluding oneself to contend with the deity is only one," Hess said coldly. "To die insignificantly."

"Haha. Then leave dealing with the Beixing people to you, Hess, when the time comes. But speaking of which, shouldn't our allies contribute some effort this time? Without us sharing the pressure for them, they can only hide in mountain caves like rats."

"The 'allies' you speak of are also enemies. Not dealing with them is merely a matter of sequence."

"Of course I know that—a bunch of spore-controlled walking corpses, how can they be compared to us, the deity's devout believers?"

*Dong, dong, dong.*

At that moment, three bell tolls sounded from the distance.

The two exchanged a glance, then turned to look in the direction of the Grand Library.

"It's His Holiness summoning us," Hess took the lead in stepping forward. "Let's go."