Chapter 160: Truth on the Live

one day had passed since that discussion between Author-san and the newlywed couple, who were now situated in a secret hideout deep within a remote mountain—a location that was among the least affected areas by the recent earthquake.

More importantly than all of that... it was a place where no human foot had ever stepped before.

Old Man Daren sat positioned before the camera that would be used to record the broadcast, settled in his wheelchair, his body covered by the effect of a vitality restoration spell cast upon him by Lucy after she replenished her mana reserves at a speed that could only be described as miraculous.

This spell was entirely different from the IV drip pole that had been used previously.

This spell was a genuine treatment that infused vitality directly into his body, granting him sufficient strength to endure the coming hours.

And speaking of the IV drip pole...

It had been forgotten out in outer space.

Perhaps, hundreds of years from now, when that pole eventually plunges from the sky to the Earth, human scientists will gather around it with utterly grave expressions, embarking on decades of intense analysis.

Afterward, they will emerge with hundreds of conspiracy theories claiming that extraterrestrials sent a cryptographically encoded message to humanity.

Eventually, someone might finally deduce that the message implies aliens are suffering from a severe nutrient deficiency, and that they are colluding with a superpower to eradicate the majority of mankind while preserving only the elite!

A grand global agenda... a cosmic conspiracy... and all because of a forgotten IV drip pole.

Well, forget what I just said.

At any rate...

Once Lucy gained control over the prison’s technology, she deciphered the technical structure of this world with astounding speed, subsequently evolving her control over it to a far more dangerous level.

At that precise moment, her purple energy began creeping into signal towers, subsea cables stretching across oceans, satellites, and broadcast hubs scattered across the globe.

Lucy had zero need to draw near any of them.

Her energy surged through the networks like an invisible pressure wave, traversing immense distances at speeds defying the limits of human technological perception.

And in the blink of an eye...

Every screen across the globe froze.

In Times Square... In Shibuya, Japan... In the streets of major metropolises... And inside homes, airports, hospitals, and newsrooms... Every single screen went black at the exact same second.

It didn’t stop at the screens. The internet went dark. Communication signals vanished. Electronic systems ground to a halt.

For a few fleeting moments, it appeared as though technology itself had died across the planet.

Hundreds of people stood in Times Square, staring at the pitch-black screens with terrified faces.

In Shibuya, crowds gathered, fixating their eyes on the monitors that had abruptly turned black.

Not a single soul understood what was transpiring.

For humans who had endured recent hours amid disasters, seismic tremors, and supernatural phenomena, the instantaneous shutdown of the entire technological world was more than enough to convince them that a far worse catastrophe was on the horizon.

Fifteen seconds elapsed...

Then every screen lit up once more.

Yet they no longer displayed the usual programming or news broadcasts.

Appearing on every monitor across the world was an old man with weathered, frail features, seated in his wheelchair against a background of an uneven rock wall.

Absolute silence blanketed the globe.

Then expressions began to shift.

"Isn’t that... Daren?"

The last godfather of the Smile Organization.

The man rumored to have escaped from prison.

The man whose story had become one of the most mysterious cases in modern human history.

Daren opened his mouth.

He uttered the exact words carefully ingrained in him by Cain and Lucy:

"They are deceiving you."

The words echoed across every screen.

Worldwide, the sentence was automatically dubbed into the native language of each respective region.

Utter shock spread.

Yet Daren did not halt.

"They deceive you when they claim that humanity is a weak race... that we are merely fragile piles of flesh awaiting death, like any other creature in this universe."

He paused for a second before continuing:

"However, what has truly died is not our bodies... but our ability to perceive the truth."

Millions of eyes locked onto the screens.

"From the year 2026 up to our present year of 2065, the world achieved technological advancement beyond description. Yet the vast majority of this progress was funneled into developing weaponry and military hardware."

The tone of his voice shifted.

"Have you never asked yourselves... why?"

Inside news outlets around the globe, broadcasting crews frantically attempted to sever the signal.

Officials tried to shut down the screens.

They tried to disconnect the networks.

They tried to take down the servers.

Yet every single one of their attempts met with absolute failure.

Daren pushed forward with his speech:

"The reason is simple."

"...Because we, the Smile Organization, discovered Mana."

The viewers’ eyes widened.

"Our leader uncovered a power that doesn’t merely grant human beings the ability to fight... it bestows something far greater. They fear you obtaining this exact same power so they can maintain their reign over you, keeping you under control. For mana grants you not only power, but..."

"Health."

"Longevity."

"And the capacity to transcend the natural boundaries of the human body."

Daren went silent for a moment, then declared:

"And for this very reason, we were hunted."

"For this reason, members of our organization were captured."

"For this reason, they attempted to silence anyone who uncovered the truth."

"They branded us as terrorists and tried to bury the truth beneath lies... Among their victims were the Ayan family and numerous innocents whose only crime was knowing more than they should have."

Daren’s speech continued for several more minutes, during which he leveled fifteen direct accusations against the government and the authorities responsible for concealing the truth.

Then...The broadcast cut off.

Silence reigned.

The world assumed it was over.

Yet a few seconds later, a strange file manifested on human smartphones across the entire planet.

No one knew its origin.

Nor could it be deleted.

Some attempted to write it off as a virus.

Others tried to force-close it.

Yet the file opened itself automatically.

Revealed within was something no one was prepared to see:

The core cultivation technique for channeling energy and absorbing mana.

Silence fell once more.

Then the world began to shake.

Once.

And twice.

Yet this time, it was not the earth beneath them that shook...

It was the very mind of humanity.

On the other side...

Cain and Lucy stood alongside Old Man Daren.

Daren was panting heavily despite the active effect of the vitality restoration spell enveloping his body.

The past hours had drained him completely. Even so, he harbored zero regret. He had fulfilled his mission.

And perhaps...

For the first time since the beginning of his life, he felt his existence had attained true meaning.He didn’t speak directly to his master, but deep down, he knew his role had come to an end. Daren lowered his head slightly, then closed his eyes.

He had lived a long life. And he had suffered far more than any human ought to endure.

Yet now...He could finally feel that he had delivered what was required of him. Even if he did not know what would unfold next.