Chapter 42 Supermarket 4 (Bonus Chapter with Nutrient Solution)
It took Wu Peng a while to calm down. He asked, "What do we do now?"
“The federal government will not let this situation continue,” Yunxin said. “Leave the rest to the federal government; you should go see a psychologist as soon as possible.”
A villain, even if he does bad things, can still sleep soundly every night.
A truly virtuous person, even if they make a mistake that indirectly causes others to fall into trouble, will feel so guilty that they cannot forgive themselves.
Just from listening to Wu Peng's tone of voice, Yun Xin felt that he really needed to see a psychologist immediately.
"What else?" Wu Peng pressed eagerly. "Is there anything else I can do?"
Honestly, no.
If the matter escalates and the government cannot come up with a reasonable explanation, angry citizens will direct their anger and blame the government, condemning its incompetence.
If the government, having given up all hope, decides to tell the truth... the entire Federation will have to welcome the "Evolutionary Era".
“Tell us everything about Gao Yang.” If Wu Peng couldn’t do anything, he would be even more frustrated. So Yun Xin only said, “Catch the murderer as quickly as possible, and maybe we can get away with it.”
"Good!" Wu Peng seemed to have received some important instructions and suddenly had a direction.
The phone was hung up.
Yun Xin leaned against the wall, looking dejected. "Actually, my intuition tells me that I probably won't be able to fool them this time..."
Relevant departments are still holding emergency meetings to discuss countermeasures, and the online comments are becoming increasingly outrageous.
"I've never had such a severe cold before! Is this really a virus that mutated naturally? I seriously suspect it was manufactured in a lab."
"Did the government know about the superpowers beforehand? If they did, why didn't they say anything? If they didn't, isn't that incredibly incompetent?"
"The guy who explained things earlier really scared me. With so many accidents happening these past few years, could it be that all the deceased had signed organ donation agreements after death?"
"The federation in propaganda: equality, freedom, democracy; the actual federation: corporations dominate, placing them above ordinary citizens. No matter what happens, the government keeps quiet and refuses to speak out. It's so hard to be an ordinary citizen!"
"Citizens have the right to know! We urge the federal government to tell the truth!"
"We want to march and demonstrate! We want to defend the legitimate rights and interests of citizens!"
So, halfway through a meeting, the relevant departments received an urgent notification—tens of thousands of people were demonstrating in every city, and the police had gone to suppress them.
Those who attended the meeting were completely bewildered after hearing this.
"Why don't you stop making up excuses and just tell the truth?" the deputy minister said in a deep voice.
This statement immediately drew numerous objections.
"No! This could lead to the extinction of all humanity."
"The consequences are too severe; no one can afford to bear them."
"Just seeing the information shouldn't be considered unauthorized access, right? But if all the information we currently have is released, everyone will be in danger."
There's another thing everyone here knows, but no one has said it aloud—don't be fooled by the public's clamor to "know the truth" now; once they actually find out, they'll definitely complain about why the government failed to keep the secret and why it had to be revealed.
Nobody wants to be the target, to be blamed by the entire Federation.
So everyone's thinking was to brainstorm and quickly come up with a plausible excuse.
"I believe that those who have seen the information are already unlawfully informed. Rather than continuing to conceal it, we should tell them the truth, teach them how to survive, and improve their survival rate," the deputy minister said slowly.
"But……"
Before anyone could say anything, the deputy minister posed another question: "Do you really think that those who have seen the documents are not considered unlawfully informed? Or are you subconsciously avoiding this possibility?"
Deathly quiet.
Everyone in the meeting fell silent.
Just then, three more urgent notices arrived.
"Hailstorm just hit a major grain-producing city in the south, resulting in 1 death and 32 injuries. The crops in the fields have suffered heavy losses, with an estimated yield reduction of more than 50%."
"Dense fog has appeared in the neighboring city, covering the entire city and reducing visibility to less than three meters. Due to this sudden natural disaster, more than ten car accidents have occurred since this morning."
"And in eastern cities, a blizzard is raging outside, temperatures are dropping to below -20 degrees Celsius, and the power is out inside..."
The entire room fell silent.
If this is a coincidence, it's too much of a coincidence!
Hail, fog, blizzard, and power outage all came at once, and so quickly and fiercely, catching everyone completely off guard.
“Let’s admit it,” the deputy minister urged again. “It’s not that we won’t be able to prevent disasters just because we refuse to admit it. Early education and preparation will save more lives.”
The minister let out a weary sigh, his voice laced with helplessness and despair. But he still wanted to make one last attempt: "The announcement will be the truth, but we won't mention the 'evolution game' yet. We'll hold a national referendum, letting everyone participate in the vote, and the final result will determine whether it's made public or not."
"The government's official Weibo account has issued an announcement!"
With more and more suppliers unable to deliver goods, workload has plummeted. Ning Lu, on the front lines of gossip, keeps a close eye on how things are progressing.
However, she was stunned when she saw the contents of the announcement.
"Humanity is currently facing a severe challenge. For various reasons, the matter cannot be made public. Please trust the government; it will definitely handle it properly."
"If you believe, please select 'I believe the government will handle it well' in the referendum."
"If you don't believe it, please choose 'I don't believe the government, I want to know the truth' in the national referendum."
"The referendum will close in three days, and whether or not the results will be made public will depend on the outcome of the vote."
“Every citizen has the right to vote; failure to vote by the deadline is considered an abstention.”
"What's going on? Why all this fuss?" Ning Lu was speechless. "All we're doing is asking them to come out and explain, and they're calling for a national referendum?"
Yun Xin seemed to understand something. "Since it concerns the fate of all mankind, it should be decided by all mankind together."
As for whether they will hold hands and embark on a deadly path together, that's hard to say.
In short, the decision to make public decisions is not made by the federal government, but entirely depends on public opinion.
"What are you planning to invest in?" Ning Lu asked.
"I vote with confidence," Yun Xin said with emotion. "This government has not had an easy time."
"It doesn't say anything, yet you still trust it?" Ning Lu felt something was off. "As a government, it should at least guarantee citizens' right to know."
"Didn't the announcement say that the incident couldn't be made public for various reasons?" Yun Xin said.
Ning Lu hesitated and struggled; deep down, she wanted to vote with Yun Xin. But in the end, with a mournful face, she cast her vote of no confidence, saying, "I choose to know the truth, even if I die knowing."
Yunxin did not blame her.
She knew that this was a normal choice for ordinary citizens.
She did not try to stop her.
Because she already had a premonition that the "distrust" option would win by a large margin. Ning Lu's vote, regardless of which side she cast, wouldn't affect the outcome.
Three days passed in a flash.
The "distrust" option accounted for 71%, winning by an absolute majority.
People were overjoyed when the voting results came out and spread the news far and wide.
"This is a victory for great democracy!"
"Citizens should have the right to know!"
"Now you have no excuses left! Be honest and tell the truth."
As Yunxin watched people cheering and jumping for joy in the streets, she couldn't help but think of the carnival before the end of the world.
Amidst the intense scrutiny of the public, government officials sat solemnly in front of the cameras, announcing, "Based on the voting results, the government has decided to reveal the truth."
"What follows may sound absurd, but please remember that I am not lying."
"Several years ago, the government had already noticed that the accident rate was soaring and the number of casualties was increasing year by year. After investigation, the government found that this was actually a selection process, an evolutionary game."
"If you survive an accident/incident and directly save ten or more people, you will generally get an A rating. After getting an A, a transparent panel will appear in front of you, and you will then be able to learn the truth of the game."
"If you learn through unofficial means that you will receive the 'Misfortune' debuff, the 'Misfortune' debuff will be automatically removed once or more with an 'A' rank (or higher)."
"The 'misfortune' debuff can cause a person to have a series of bad luck and frequent accidents. Moreover, it not only affects the person themselves, but sometimes it can also affect the people around them."
"There are four attributes in the game: Strength, Agility, Constitution, and Spirit. You can earn attribute points as a reward for escaping death."
"Standard adult female four-dimensional attributes: Strength 0.5, Agility 0.5, Constitution 0.5, Spirit 0.8. Standard adult male four-dimensional attributes: Strength 0.6, Agility 0.6, Constitution 0.6, Spirit 0.5. If a single attribute value exceeds 3, 6, or 9, special abilities will be gained."
People were all smiles, celebrating their victory.
As government officials explained the facts, people quieted down, their expressions gradually becoming confused.
What the hell is he talking about?
Are these really government officials? Or have some weirdos infiltrated the area?
Even though they were speaking the Common Language of the Federation, why couldn't I understand a single word of their sentences?
The science popularization activity is coming to an end.
A government official stated, "We will compile information about the Evolution game on our official website later, and everyone can check it at any time."
"Originally, to avoid everyone becoming unfortunate, the relevant information had to be hidden. However, the internal information of the Takahashi Group was accidentally leaked, and everyone became unlawful insiders."
"To help everyone survive better, the government will summarize the survival experience and put it on the official website. Please read and memorize it."
Finally, with a serious expression and an indescribable solemnity, he said, "Everyone, the age of evolution has arrived. Please strive to survive."
The news broadcast has ended.
People snapped out of their daze, pulled out their phones, and frantically searched online: "Is everything in the news true? Is there really an evolution game?"
"Why has life suddenly become so surreal?! Someone please tell me that all of this is fake."
"So, there are actually other superpowered people in real life who are just pretending to be ordinary people? Goodness, so you all knew about it, but you were just keeping it from me!"
The search engine malfunctioned for a time due to the large number of people online.
This further fueled public panic.
"The end of the world is coming!"
"Humanity is doomed!"
"The planet is about to be destroyed!"
Amidst the wailing, some complained to the government, "Why hold a referendum on this? They should have withstood the pressure and kept it tightly under wraps!"
Some people wept bitterly, saying, "Is this what the government wants to say? We forced them to do it! We are marching and demonstrating, calling on everyone to cast a vote of no confidence, and forcing them to explain things clearly."
Now that everything has been explained, all of humanity is on the verge of extinction...
(End of this chapter)
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