Fate's Choice: Livestream at the Start Summoning Billions of Ravens

Rome, InterContinental Hotel penthouse suite.

The heavy blackout curtains completely blocked out the midday sun, while the room was filled with the distinctive hissing sound of vinyl records—a languid jazz piece.

Jiang Ming sank into the soft sofa, gently swirling a glass of amber-colored whiskey in his hand, the ice ball making a crisp sound as it hit the glass.

However, only he himself knew what a thrilling experience had taken place between the two worlds in those last five minutes.

It is a kind of "fault" that ordinary people cannot perceive.

Although time continues to flow in the real world, on all the observation screens, the dimension called the "Mirror World" has been forcibly paused by a supreme force.

Jiang Ming took a sip of the spicy liquor, his gaze not falling on the huge floor-to-ceiling window, but focusing on a point in the void where the system's backend interface, visible only to him, was suspended.

The originally dark blue control panel is now flashing a glaring red warning light.

A bold, high-priority log line appears at the very top of all data streams:

[Important Warning: Unauthorized contact detected!]

[Target: ID 'Saver-Jeanne' (Joan of Arc)]

[Objective: World Core Architecture / Special Item 'True Holy Grail']

[Status: Underlying logic mutual exclusion has been triggered, and the system has activated the emergency circuit breaker mechanism—physical time stop in the mirror world.]

Jiang Ming put down his wine glass, a playful smile playing on his lips.

When writing the code for the "True Holy Grail," to prevent this artifact, which contained the rules of creation, from being accidentally damaged or misused, Jiang Ming specifically wrote an absolute, unbreakable command into the underlying logic of the world:

"Unless final victory is achieved, any existence is conceptually 'immovable,' 'indestructible,' and 'indecipherable.'"

This is similar to a game where, no matter how high your attack power is, you can't just cut off the "texture" that forms the background of the map and take it with you. This is a limitation in terms of dimensions, an ironclad rule.

"However... since I personally placed you on the pedestal of 'savior,' wouldn't it make me lose face if I let you be unable to even lift a cup in front of the whole world?"

This is not just a matter of face, but also because Joan of Arc's current actions are carrying out her will to fight against the "Abyss".

As a GM, it's perfectly reasonable to grant temporary privileges to hardworking employees.

With a slight thought, Jiang Ming's consciousness instantly took over the system's backend.

Behind the access request marked "Denyed", he found an inconspicuous gray button.

[Authorize this operation]

……

At this very moment, the real world is in complete chaos.

A full five minutes!

All the simultaneous live broadcasts around the world were frozen at the moment Joan of Arc reached out to touch the Holy Grail.

It wasn't a network lag or a signal interruption; it was that time in that world had truly stopped.

Just when countless people thought the end of the world had arrived ahead of schedule in this bizarre way.

The screen moved.

Without warning, the static, gray-white images on all the screens regained their color and flow.

"It moved! It recovered!"

"My God! What just happened?!"

A wave of jubilation and exclamations of relief swept the globe. People's eyes were once again glued to their screens, their hearts pounding in their throats.

A mirrored world, above the Potala Palace.

Joan of Arc was unaware of what was happening outside; in her perception, everything occurred in the blink of an eye.

The moment her fingertips, encased in platinum arm armor, touched the outer wall of the Holy Grail, an indescribable, overwhelming force of repulsion surged from her fingertips straight to her spiritual core.

"reject."

Immediately afterwards, a virtual light screen made of pure golden rule runes, visible only to her, forcibly popped up in front of her, like a computer error warning.

The first line of text on the light screen coldly displayed:

[WARNING: User (Saver-Jeanne) has been detected attempting to move a special item (the Holy Grail)]

The second line of text refreshed immediately afterward:

[Permission verification in progress... Verification failed, user's permission level is insufficient.]

For the first time, disbelief appeared in Joan of Arc's golden eyes, which had looked down upon all living beings.

Insufficient permissions?

He was already the "savior" chosen by the world itself, the last line of defense for humanity. Was there any being in this world with higher authority than himself?

Could it be... the "master" who has never shown himself but has been guiding her in the shadows?

Just as she was about to give up, the golden light screen in front of her refreshed again without warning.

The originally glaring red warning light instantly turned into a soft green.

A simple line of text slowly refreshes:

[Note: The super administrator (Admin) has intervened.]

[Request approved. You have been granted 'temporary highest access' to the special item (True Holy Grail).]

Joan of Arc was completely stunned. A super administrator? Who was that?

But she could clearly feel that the arrogant and unyielding barrier of rules that had been there just moments before was now receding like a docile sheep, and was even actively accepting her presence.

"Is this...your will?"

Joan of Arc silently prayed to herself, and without further hesitation, reached out her hand again.

This time, there were no obstacles.

Her fingertips glided smoothly through the flowing, miniature galaxy and firmly grasped the cold stem of the Holy Grail.

Leaves no trace.

It had no physical weight, but the moment Joan of Arc grasped it, she felt as if her soul was stretched infinitely, instantly connecting with a complete universe.

The rules of creation and destruction contained within it, and the authority so heavy that it could crush even the gods, made her clearly feel her own insignificance.

Joan of Arc, regaining her senses, dared not linger. Holding the Holy Grail, her figure transformed into a golden streak of light that tore through the sky, vanishing instantly from above the Potala Palace.

Only then did the outside world's network, like a delayed explosion of a powder keg, instantly boil over!

The strange five-minute stillness that had occurred earlier now had a reasonable explanation—or rather, the most outrageous explanation.

On Twitter, YouTube, and Weibo, countless tech enthusiasts and data experts began frantically analyzing the footage frame by frame.

"Guys, we've solved it! It definitely wasn't a lag issue!"

A post highlighted in bold and red rose to the top of the global trending topics in just ten minutes, accompanied by detailed data analysis charts.

"I compared the movement of the clouds in the background with the trajectory of Joan of Arc's hair. For those five minutes, the physical laws of that world were completely frozen! Do you know what that means? It's true time-space freeze!"

"This is terrifying to think about! Guys, is it possible that that cup isn't equipment at all, but rather part of the game's 'physics server'?"

"Holy crap, the person upstairs is right! Jeanne's grab just now caused server overload due to the massive amount of data, forcing the GM to shut down for maintenance?"

"Hahaha, that's hilarious! Everyone else fights for gear in raids, but Jeanne just took the server case because she thought it was too much trouble?"

"Official warning: That's the map core! Put it down! Joan of Arc: Give it to me!"

Amidst the frenzy of "meme-filled" celebrations, only the top think tanks from various countries remained deathly pale.

What they saw was not a joke, but a deep sense of fear.

The ability to stop time and grant the power to "transfer universes" at will... what kind of terrifying being stands behind that savior?