Chapter 157: The Beginning

"Is this a new thought tide brought by the Angel?!"

Zhang Wenda watched in disbelief as the facial features of everyone around him began to Westernize.

Under the Angel’s powerful influence, a magnificent Kingdom of Heaven on Earth began to materialize on the back of the Cavalry. Even the giant computer screen flashed, displaying a massive cross.

"Haozi! What’s going on?" the young woman who had rushed over with a group of Black Cats shouted, standing beside Zhang Wenda.

Under the influence of the Angel’s thought tide, Song Jianguo’s black hair was rapidly turning golden, and her features were sharpening. Even the Black Cats at her feet were quickly transforming into Siamese cats.

Zhang Wenda tilted his head back but said nothing. He didn’t know what was happening, but he had a nagging feeling that he had just set something truly momentous in motion.

Meanwhile, the flock of crows that Tang Xingxiong had become led an assault on the golden ring above the Angel’s head, trying to tear it off.

"Don’t just stand there! Make a move!" she was still trying to direct Zhang Wenda, but this time, he completely ignored her.

’Under the circumstances, I can’t act rashly. I’ll watch and see what happens before I decide.’

After a glance around, Zhang Wenda saw Hu Maomao had arrived. He immediately leaned in and whispered, "Things are a complete mess. Isn’t it about time for you folks from the Third Line to make a move? There won’t be a better opportunity. Send in a combat team. With the Angel as a distraction, you could definitely wipe out the entire Cavalry."

Hu Maomao, wearing a tinfoil hat, slowly shook her head. "We can’t. There are two more Angel Engines inside, and they’re still powering up. We can’t make a move until we know what they’re charging. If it’s a wide-area-of-effect weapon, sending in the main force would be a death sentence."

"Damn it, at a time like this, can’t you just—" Zhang Wenda stopped mid-sentence. He had spotted a familiar figure floating in mid-air among the onlookers. It was Qianxi.

With a casual wave of his hand, three mouse cursors appeared above the Angel’s Holy Ring. Accompanied by two sharp clicks, the glowing golden circle that had been formed from the sun instantly vanished.

Without the support of its golden ring, the thought tide radiating from the Angel vanished in an instant.

His appearance immediately quelled the chaos.

The crowd, which had been watching from the sidelines, suddenly sprang into action. Unleashing their various abilities, they worked in concert to force the Angel back into the computer. Just like that, the chaotic scene was resolved.

Zhang Wenda stared at Qianxi in the air, aghast. He had always known Qianxi was powerful, but he’d never imagined he was this absurdly strong—strong enough to completely overpower an Angel.

’Any thought I had of stirring up trouble is gone now,’ Zhang Wenda thought, his restless heart instantly quieting. ’Forget me, even my uncle would be no match for him.’

"I know you rats have been secretly sabotaging my work, but it doesn’t matter." Hearing this, Zhang Wenda, who was part of the crowd, lowered his head even further.

Qianxi hovered in the air like a god, gazing down upon his Divine Country. "There will always be those who live in the past, those who think the old ways were better. But they are wrong!"

"The past deserves to be obsolete. We should all live in the new world of the future! A new world built with our own hands—that is the world that will belong to us! The fact that you rats want to stop me only proves that I am on the right path!" Qianxi’s words drew thunderous cheers from the sky above the Cavalry.

Amid the cheers, the enormous computer on the Cavalry’s back slowly booted up with a low hum. "Since you’re so desperate to stop me, very well. There’s no time like the present. We’ll do it today! I will launch our grand plan ahead of schedule!"

As the humming grew louder, the giant screen lit up, displaying the classic blue sky and white clouds wallpaper of an old computer.

After a few sharp clicks of a cursor, a file icon was opened. The green of a circuit board seemed to spill out from the screen.

The green light then flowed out from the screen, following a river of black-and-white static and merging with the thought tide of Internet World 13. At that moment, all the static that had been dripping onto the digital landscape over the past few days lit up, forming a long, twisting silver river. It flowed across the Aminos Prairie, under the great sycamore tree, through the digital ocean, and finally into the deepest trenches of the Dark Web.

Ultimately, all this silver light coalesced into an intricate Hexagram Array formed from Daoist Talismans.

Seeing this, Hu Maomao’s face became grim. With a sudden look of understanding, she tore the tinfoil hat from her head and began to raise her hands toward Qianxi.

Zhang Wenda saw this and lunged, grabbing her. Blood spattered as he forced Hu Maomao’s hands down. "Are you insane? If you attack Qianxi now, you’ll expose yourself!"

But Hu Maomao’s eyes were filled with panic. "I can’t worry about that now! Qianxi is insane! He’s planning to use Thought Tide 13, which can link to all other thought tides, to completely shatter the boundaries between them! When things from different thought tides collide, the consequences will be catastrophic. So many people will die!"

Before Zhang Wenda could ask any more questions, a black-clad figure suddenly shot out from the crowd, making a dash for the giant computer screen.

But with a quick copy-and-paste from Qianxi’s mouse cursors, a flood of horrific computer viruses materialized and instantly overwhelmed the figure.

Even so, Zhang Wenda saw several more people emerge from the crowd, charging toward the giant computer in perfect coordination.

’They’re obviously all Bureau 507 undercover agents, just like me,’ he realized. ’I never expected we had so many of our own people inside the Cavalry.’

"Let go of me!" Hu Maomao struggled, glaring at Zhang Wenda.

"If you go now, you’ll just be throwing your life away! You won’t be able to change a thing!"

Hu Maomao stared at the progress bar on the giant screen, her eyes filled with despair. "It’s... almost too late!"

No matter what consequences Hu Maomao spoke of, Zhang Wenda wasn’t about to let her throw her life away—especially not after seeing the others who charged get quickly swarmed and eliminated by the crowd.

But just then, the unexpected happened. A sudden explosion rocked the giant computer, and a plume of thick, black smoke billowed out from a newly formed crack. Drifting out with the smoke was a familiar laugh.

Zhang Wenda had heard that laugh for years. ’It’s my uncle’s laugh! He’s inside the computer!’