The Last 299 Days of Humanity

This brutal and direct attack was finally extinguished an hour later.

The interior of Shengtian was in ruins, filled with the smell of gunpowder and the acrid odor of energy overload. Rescue robots and medical teams moved silently and efficiently through the ruins, carrying the wounded and collecting the remains of the fallen.

Dozens of people were injured or killed, more than 10,000 agile birds were reduced to charred remains, and more than 900 highly anthropomorphic humanoids lay broken and lifeless on their posts, a tragic scene.

Fortunately, Shengtian's core servers, high-precision manufacturing plant, and deepest strategic backup warehouse were not affected, and its critical assets were not lost.

On the main holographic screen in the control center, the grid representing electricity and internal order was gradually returning from a warning red at the edges to a stable dark blue. Clearly, this was a lightning-fast attack, attempting to create maximum chaos with minimal losses, without any large-scale follow-up offensive.

But just as Yu Qing and his group caught their breath and confirmed the safety of the key members through holographic images, Sheng Tian's digital nerve center—the control center—suddenly faced another flood of data attacks. This time, the attack was even more insidious and deadly.

The screen in front of Yu Qing, which had been displaying a reassuring stream of green data, instantly transformed into a roaring, chaotic vortex of red and black, as if a gaping abyss had opened wide.

A huge, cracked sphere, resembling a rotten fruit, replaced Chang Sheng's calm image. In the center of the sphere, a hideous, bloodshot, devilish red eye slowly rotated, staring at everyone in the control center.

"Tianzhi's core has been attacked! Unknown source! Algorithm structure...never seen before! It's not regular coding, it's...it's growing! It's contaminating our core training dataset and is bypassing the 'Iron Wall' firewall!"

A senior engineer's voice trembled as his fingers frantically tapped on the virtual keyboard.

"It's not a virus, it's some kind of... digital cancer cell!" another person exclaimed, their voice filled with despair. "It's evolving, replicating, mutating! It's developing resistance to every cleanup command we give it, and it can even devour our data packets as fuel to charge forward!"

All attempts to isolate or eliminate it were in vain. The offensive data stream even began to reverse-engineer the operational habits and thought patterns of security personnel, launching extremely precise and vicious countermeasures, causing several engineers to briefly faint due to the psychological impact of the system's feedback.

One catastrophic message after another arrived, a cold, electronic voice reporting the bad news:
"Warning! The external data interface has been breached! A massive amount of forged data packets have been injected..."

It includes multi-angle 'analysis documents' regarding the fabricated valley inscription site, and... and the dissemination of false information about a targeted biological weapons attack, accusing us of planning to create panic to destroy the reputation of target companies and then acquire them at low prices!

"A highly forged video showing Chairman Yu Qing and President Chang Sheng 'privately celebrating' the plunge in the biotechnology company's stock price is being circulated globally! The video shows the two men clinking glasses with blood-red wine..."

Almost in real time, public network monitoring screens began to frantically pop up a torrent of guided insults and condemnations, and social media trending lists were instantly flooded with hashtags such as "#ShengtianConspiracy", "#YuqingEternalLife", and "#BiologicalWarfareFakeScam".

“Major news networks and social media platforms around the world… millions of anonymous accounts and controlled bots simultaneously released altered fragments of the ‘Shengtian Confidential Documents’! Accusing us of orchestrating this for profit…”

"Several well-known intelligence black markets have seen so-called 'desperate employees within Shengtian' peddling more unverifiable 'ironclad evidence'! The prices are extremely high, but buyers are eager to join in!"

"The company's global goodwill index has plummeted! Market fear index has soared!"

"We have received urgent inquiry letters and injunctions from over 97 city-states and regional regulatory authorities, demanding an immediate cessation of operations and acceptance of a full investigation! Our branch offices in multiple locations have been surrounded by local law enforcement agencies!"

The digital edifice that Shengtian Company has built up over decades is crumbling at an alarming rate. Public trust, the cornerstone upon which all giant corporations rely for survival, is being rapidly eroded and dismantled by the most dirty and swift means.

Amid the chaos, the security chief's hoarse and desperate voice came through the internal encrypted communication channel: "President! We've traced the source and found that three minutes and twelve seconds before the electromagnetic pulse attack, the IFF code of the air defense array on the west side of headquarters was overwritten by a set of high-level temporary permissions for a full ten seconds!"

The operation log shows... the authorization key traced back to... came from... an unidentified dormant account from the internal security console! It was activated!

A mole! And a very high-ranking one at that, with access to the most critical security commands! An atmosphere of suspicion and fear instantly filled the control center, and everyone looked at those around them with a scrutinizing gaze.

Before Yu Qing could process this devastating information, an extremely despicable fake video was suddenly forcibly inserted into the main holographic screen: in the video, he and his assistant Ya Shi were passionately intimate in what appeared to be a private lounge...

Ya Shi leaned against him, while he seemingly ambiguously slid his fingers across Ya Shi's bare back, giving orders to someone off-screen (hinting at Chang Sheng).

In the video, Yu Qing shouts in a nonchalant yet greedy tone: "Go for it! What are you afraid of? This is worth ten years of our profits. The accusations of those clowns are nothing but noise."

Chang Sheng's voice came from off-screen, filled with worry and a hint of barely perceptible (faked) resentment: "...The chairman's plan is too risky. Once the truth is exposed, our entire group will be dragged into a media storm and doomed..."

Immediately afterwards, Ya Shi turned around flippantly, and the scene quickly switched to a blurred and edited audio clip, which looked like Yu Qing letting out a low, lewd laugh, and then saying in an extremely cold tone:

"If necessary, we can sacrifice some members of the peripheral team, saying that they were traitors bribed by Shengdi Company to deliberately damage Shengtian's reputation, and push the blame onto them."

While these tricks may have flaws upon close inspection, their crudeness is nothing short of malicious. In such a high-pressure environment of life and death, the seeds of suspicion and fear can grow wildly with just a little moisture.

This video was not only aimed at the outside world, but also precisely targeted the heart of Shengtian, making employees feel insecure and fearful that they would become the "outer team" sacrificed by the upper management, and internal morale almost plummeted.

However, what the far-sighted opponents did not expect was that their almost perfect combination of moves would only bring Shengtian sixteen hours of extreme chaos.

This precious respite was thanks to the Yunshan administrative system, a legacy of Yu Yunshan's far-sighted planning. The old man's principle of "good enough" had been solidified over a century ago. It only accepted data input in a fixed format and never updated its operating system. Of course, the completely independent, physically isolated, parallel administrative system that Chang Sheng painstakingly built, originally intended to replace the Yunshan system, unexpectedly became a barrier.

The enemy's attacks, infiltrations, and contaminations are only targeting Shengtian's external, operational parallel system. The Yunshan system, on the other hand, is hidden deep within an underground infrastructure network, relying on an independent power supply and a non-IP network connection to maintain the smooth flow of core commands.

The Yunshan system quickly connected directly to the various terminal administrative systems, ensuring the company's normal operation.

Chang Sheng's holographic image lit up again within the Yunshan system. He whispered, "Temporarily physically sever all data input and output of the parallel system. Perform deep purification and source tracing on the data within."

The engineers first released the "digital antibodies" that they had prepared beforehand.

This is a series of targeted algorithms that do not directly combat the "digital cancer cells." Instead, they guide the cancer cells to replicate and mutate in specific patterns by injecting a large amount of specially encoded "decoy data," gradually causing them to deviate from their core target.

During this process, the system quietly records every evolutionary step and the characteristics of its source instructions.

Meanwhile, another team began a meticulous dissection of the injected forged data packets. Every video and every file contained hidden metadata, coding practices, and even minute flaws in the rendering engine.

Through comparative analysis, they quickly identified several key features: the lighting rendering algorithm used in the fake video originated from a little-known graphics library, rather than the complex scattering and luminosity changes in a natural environment.
Although the audio spoofing software was disguised, its noise profile highly overlapped with that of a certain tool; and the activation time patterns and network traffic curves of the massive number of anonymous accounts were strikingly similar to the propaganda campaigns of several suspicious think tanks previously monitored.

Evidence is rapidly gathering. But to completely reverse public opinion, what is needed is irrefutable, irrefutable evidence that even ordinary people can understand at a glance.

“Chairman, regarding the River Valley Inscription,” Chang Sheng’s image shifted to Yu Qing, “we have found something they cannot forge.”

The holographic screen displayed a high-resolution scan of the valley inscription that the enemy claimed was a forgery. Shengtian's geological exploration team provided crucial evidence:
They used commercial satellite remote sensing data of the incident location (from another company, unrelated to Shengtian) and, through multispectral imaging, clearly showed that the rock had existed in the valley for at least twelve years before the so-called "fake incident," and its surface weathering was completely consistent with the surrounding rocks.

More importantly, laser scanning revealed a very faint, almost worn-down symbol on the bottom of the stone, facing the ground. This symbol is 90% similar to a symbol found in some of the oldest existing human civilization relics—this symbol could not possibly be a forgery by modern people.

Yu Qing made a decisive decision: "Hold a global holographic press conference. It will not be a pre-recorded broadcast, but a live broadcast, allowing everyone to question and raise questions."

Hundreds of thousands of eyes worldwide watched Sheng Tian's sudden emergency live broadcast. Chang Sheng's holographic image appeared in the broadcast; he offered little explanation, directly presenting the evidence:

The inscription's historical imprint: clear and accurate satellite imagery comparisons, accompanied by real-time verification from a third-party geological authority. A close-up shot of the ancient symbol hidden at the base of the stone astonished all archaeologists.

Meanwhile, the inscriptions in Gurye script appeared on those stones at least fifteen years ago.

The technical team analyzed the fake video released by the enemy frame by frame, highlighting unnatural transitions in the graphics algorithm and traces of human modification to the audio waveform. They also displayed the results of metadata analysis and source code comparison on the side screen, accurately pointing to the source of the forgery tools.

The extremely insulting, fabricated video of Yu Qing and Ya Shi, with its fake time stamp, has been proven to be fabricated. Another genuine video shows that he was discussing strengthening headquarters security with Ya Shi, Chang Sheng, and several security supervisors at the time, completely contradicting the absurd content in the video.

The authentic audio recording shows him saying, "...it is imperative to ensure the safety of critical assets; any short-term gains are worthwhile." The contrast between the two reveals the forger's malicious intent.

Next, a stunning scene was displayed on the holographic screen:
One seemingly pristine and tranquil forest conceals a massive base beneath its surface, boasting extremely high energy signal and communication density; another lies a desolate Gobi desert, where the entrance to a cleverly disguised bunker slowly opens, revealing an advanced production line inside.

These holographic images were taken by Shengtian's reconnaissance unit at great risk, and they include latitude and longitude coordinates and timestamps.

“These facilities,” Chang Sheng’s voice was icy, “are conducting research and development on technologies including illegal gene editing, mind-altering, and next-generation cyber weapons, aimed at destabilizing the world. The attack on Shengtian was merely to seize our resources and technology and cover up the fact that they were conducting biological weapons tests.”

The live stream instantly went viral globally. Public opinion underwent another dramatic reversal.

Almost as soon as the live broadcast ended, Shengtian launched a full-scale counterattack. It was no longer a simple defense, but a precise physical strike.

Those think tanks and media outlets that were targeted for spreading rumors were subjected to a counterattack by Shengtian: the destructive data packets they had previously injected into Shengtian were returned to their systems.

Even more fatally, Sheng Tian anonymously sent the precise coordinates, structural diagrams, and defensive weakness analysis of the forest base and desert bunker to forces with long-standing grudges against those surrounding city-states.

In an instant, global attention shifted from questioning Shengtian to the various forces rushing towards the two suddenly exposed, mysterious bases. News channels began broadcasting live footage of the barely audible conflict: thick smoke rising over the forest, and unfamiliar armed convoys approaching in the desert.

Yu Qing and Chang Sheng stood inside the slowly repaired main control center, watching the chaotic messages displayed on the external screens. The enemy's lies had been exposed, and their stronghold was under siege.

"They underestimated Sheng Tian's resilience and overestimated the stealthiness of their own methods," Yu Qing said slowly, his eyes sharp as knives. "The chaos is over. Now, it's their turn to taste the bitter fruit of their own making."

The counterattack has only just begun. And the real mole has reached the point where it must be exposed. Inside the control center, Chang Sheng's gaze silently swept over every busy figure; a silent investigation had already begun. (End of Chapter)