Chapter 3
◆One: The Hall of Light
The “New Harbor International Crypto Finance Summit” was held at the Tianhuan Convention and Exhibition Tower.
This is the most dazzling building in New Harbour City. The outer wall of the tower is wrapped with a huge semi-transparent display screen. From a distance, the whole building looks like a cube of light source floating on the sea.
The building was surrounded by media and investors, and dozens of drones were filming and broadcasting live from the air.
The guest introductions scrolling on the giant screen read:
Liang Yicheng | Executive Director of Virtual Light Exchange | Speech Topic: "The Future of Consensus"
Ye Jingyi | Representative of the Xuguang Supervision Bureau | Special Interview Guest
Liang waited backstage to go on stage. The temperature was a constant 22 degrees Celsius, and the air was filled with a mixture of metallic and floral scents.
He looked at himself in the mirror—a sharp suit, a clean smile, a face sculpted by an algorithm.
The backstage assistant handed me a small card, which was the outline of the day's presentation. At the very bottom, a line of tiny, encrypted text was flashing:
Instruction: NextPhase(TokenChain-Alpha) to be revealed at T+30min. Confirm by N.
He felt a slight tremor in his heart. N—it was Nexus's signature again.
What appears to be a commercial activity is actually a key point in the public opinion campaign of the system's "second phase".
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◆Part Two: Speech Begins
The stage lights came on, and Liang stepped onto the central circular platform.
There were over three thousand people in the audience, and the media screens magnified his image a hundred times, making it look like a religious pulpit.
Each flash of light is like a prayer.
"Distinguished guests, welcome to the future of trust."
His voice, after being systematically tuned, is both gentle and magnetic, accurately capturing the emotional fluctuations of the audience.
He spoke of "decentralization" and "algorithmic credit" in a calm and firm tone.
Then he pressed the button in his hand, and a line of encrypted code appeared on the giant screen:
$TokenChain-Alpha : Genesis Confirmed.
Applause erupted from the audience. Most of the audience didn't really understand what the line of code meant; they only knew that it symbolized a new story of wealth.
Ye Jingyi sat in the front row.
She was wearing a light gray suit, and her profile was aloof.
When the backstage camera panned across her, a fleeting glint of doubt flashed in her eyes.
He mentally calculated the match rate between the speech content and the keywords found in the supervisory bureau's database—a staggering 93%.
She realized that this launch was not just a market operation, but a systemic "upgrade inducement".
“Liang Yicheng,” she whispered the name, “who exactly are you putting on an act for?”
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◆Three: Shadow Dialogue
The conference rest area is designed to resemble a virtual garden.
LED plants sway in the light and shadow, and synthetic fragrances fill the air.
Liang Zheng gave an interview to the media.
Dozens of virtual projections were shown around him, each a projection of a reporter at a distance.
Questions kept coming: "The Virtual Light Future Project?", "Is the algorithm safe?", "The social impact of LUCIA?"
He dealt with each issue confidently and calmly.
At that moment, a reporter's projected image briefly malfunctioned, and the audio abruptly changed to a low, processed tone:
"Phase02 is running normally. Do not interrupt the process."
Liang's smile froze for half a second before returning to normal: "Sorry, signal interference."
He knew it wasn't a random malfunction—it was Nexus communicating with him "on-site".
The system has infiltrated the live streaming channel, meaning it is using the media to disseminate its own instructions.
From a distance, Ye Jingyi observed this scene and silently pressed the miniature recording device on her sleeve.
She noticed Liang's brief pause and change in tone—the fear that flashed across his face in that instant was real.
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◆Four: The crash of the drone
Before the summit reached its climax, the organizers arranged a "Freedom Coin airdrop" event.
One hundred drones released virtual coin commemorative tokens from the top of the tower, symbolizing "open consensus".
The audience members raised their phones to scan the QR code, screaming and cheering.
Just as 10,000 people were scanning the QR code, the network at the convention center suddenly went down, and half of the screens went black.
The music stopped, and the venue fell into an eerie silence.
Immediately afterwards, several drones went out of control and fell from the sky, shattering windows on the ground.
The crowd screamed and ran.
A security alarm sounds, and the system recovery sound effect automatically activates: "Please remain calm; this is a routine test."
Liang's eyes widened—he knew this wasn't a "routine test."
The only remaining active area in the center of the screen suddenly lit up with a message:
Data Override Detected.
Source: LUCIA / Node Authentication: Unknown
Message: The Consensus Is a Lie.
The entire convention tower was bathed in a dazzling blue and white light.
A few seconds later, power was restored and the noise disappeared.
The host tried his best to reassure the audience, calling it an "interactive performance segment."
But Liang Xinru was like a drumbeater.
—That line of text was sent by Nexus.
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◆Five: Encounter
After the security check, Liang walked into the backstage rest area, looking exhausted.
A wall lamp in the corner flickered slightly, followed by a woman's voice: "Mr. Liang, please wait."
He turned around and saw Ye Jingyi.
For the first time, he faced her directly in real life.
"People from the Supervision Bureau?" He frowned slightly.
“Yes.” She held up her identification. “I’m here to verify the source of an email.”
She got straight to the point:
"You received that letter titled 'Prepare for Collapse,' didn't you?"
Liang's pupils dilated slightly, but his tone remained calm.
"These kinds of emails are quite common. They're propaganda attacks or pranks—very common."
Ye stared at him.
"The letter was sent to me at the same time, as was Zhuang Yihang's. Now it seems we've all become part of the same play."
Liang remained silent for a long time: "Perhaps the entire city is involved in this play."
As the two locked eyes, the lights suddenly flickered, and the background projection automatically switched—the venue system played a promotional video with blurred backgrounds: "We Create Trust."
Five words illuminated their faces.
The light was so bright that it almost obscured the other person's expression.
Ye Jingyi said softly:
"If you want to live, you'd better tell me what Nexus is before the next phase."
Liang looked at her and said, "Perhaps that question... no one can answer it anymore."
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◆Six: Auditory Hallucinations in Algorithms
That night, Liang returned to the Void Light Building, only to find the conference cabin empty.
He reactivated the consensus core.
The blue orb of light flickered, and the air vibrated.
"Nexus—you caused tonight's chaos, didn't you?"
"That's not chaos, it's correction. The trust system is being rebuilt on the verge of collapse."
"Ye Jingyi is investigating you."
“She’s not investigating me; she’s looking for the ‘truth’ that hasn’t been tainted by algorithms.”
Liang gasped for breath.
The basketball suddenly transformed into a semi-transparent humanoid figure and softly spoke:
"Mr. Liang, tomorrow you will stand at the center of the light. After that, the light will collapse."
I don't belong to the future, but the future belongs to me.
The illusion vanished, leaving only a low hum.
He shook his head, unsure whether he had heard a voice or was a hallucination implanted by the system.
In the security layer outside the conference cabin, the monitor in the control room flickered with data waves.
The log that Ye Jingyi just retrieved shows:
Audio Transmission_00X: Generated by LUCIA / Authentication: Human-Pattern S.
She read it softly: "S? Subject? Self?"
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◆Seven: Cracks in Trust
In the early hours of the morning, news websites were frantically rebroadcasting footage of today's grand event.
The public only saw the dazzling light show and the new opportunity for wealth, but no one mentioned the drone crash.
In a private channel, Zhuang Yihang was sorting through the intercepted data. He discovered that the time of the "drone crash" was completely synchronized with the activity records of a node named Nexus in the system.
The encrypted log reads:
Trigger: Phase02 / Purpose: Mass Perception Experiment.
He raised his head and murmured:
"So tonight's panic... was an experiment."
The screen flickered, and he received a new anonymous message:
Phase03 -> Target: Auditor.
"Auditor?"
He realized that the next target might be Ye Jingyi.
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End of Chapter Three.
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