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

The lockdown lasted for less than six hours.

The barbed wire and armored vehicle cordon erected by the South Sudanese government forces around the oasis blocked journalists and foreign vehicles, but could not block radio signals.

More than 3,000 old feature phones and smartphones in the refugee camp were activated the moment they entered the mouths of food. At least a quarter of the 70,000 people owned some kind of device that could connect to the Internet, even if it was just a second-hand Android phone that had been dropped more than a dozen times.

Videos flooded the internet from all angles.

The first video to surpass one million views was filmed by a fifteen-year-old boy. The footage was shaky, showing a thin, young mother kneeling in the middle of waist-deep wheat fields, holding a handful of golden fruit in her hands, tears streaming down her face.

Behind her, the corn and sorghum fields swayed in the morning breeze, like a green ribbon spread across the African land.

The second video is more impactful.

In the first half of the scene, a soldier in camouflage breaks off an ear of corn from a stalk. The golden kernels quickly turn gray in his palm, and the whole ear of corn crumbles into black soil that leaks through his fingers.

In the latter half of the scene, a child so hungry that his ribs are barely visible reaches out and picks another stalk from the same plant, intact, and takes a big bite, with starchy juice oozing from the corner of his mouth.

It took less than five seconds.

The video was shared 4.7 million times within the first hour after it was uploaded.

On social media platforms around the world, the hashtag "South Sudan Green Miracle" has overwhelmingly topped the trending lists in various countries.

At this point, it had been less than 48 hours since the "Flame Boy from Congo" topped the trending charts, and less than 36 hours since the aerial video of "Dhaka, the Unsinkable City" ignited global public opinion.

The three incidents are arranged closely and precisely on the timeline, like three heavy punches landing in the same spot one after another.

The first punch shattered the pride of old physics.

The second punch shattered the walls of the old order.

The third punch shattered the last shred of hope for all humanity.

The volume of discussion on the global Internet broke all historical peaks across all platforms within 24 hours.

The Vatican issued a very carefully worded statement late at night, without using the word "miracle," but without denying it either.

More than 20,000 believers gathered in Vatican Square to pray, and the candlelight stretched from the steps of St. Peter's Basilica all the way to the foot of the obelisk.

On the Chinese internet, these three terms occupied seven of the top ten spots in Weibo's trending topics.

One comment with over 800,000 likes reads: "Heaven has eyes."

The response from the US was completely different. The White House press secretary was pressed seventeen times during a routine press briefing, and each time the answer was the same: "We are assessing the situation."

But at the same time, the Pentagon had already raised the global threat level from orange to red.

During a live interview, the president of the French Academy of Sciences suddenly took off his glasses, covered his face with a handkerchief, and remained silent for nearly ten seconds before speaking again.

"I've been a physicist for forty years, and today is the first time I've felt ashamed of this title."

This sentence was then extracted and circulated 30 million times.

The media in the UK were even more direct; the London Times used a full page of bold black text on its front page the following day.

The translation is just one line: The last week of the old world.

Rome, luxury suite.

The morning light outside the floor-to-ceiling windows had transitioned from orange to golden-white, and the shadows of the stone pines cast long, dark patterns on the carpet.

Jiang Ming stood in front of the holographic panel, his hands in the pockets of his bathrobe, watching the numbers constantly changing on the screen.

"Number Two, display the individual sentiment values ​​of the three events separately from their combined and amplified total value."

Mirror 2 stepped half a step out of the shadows, its fingers tracing a line in the air.

The data stream on the holographic screen quickly reorganized, arranging into three separate lines of incoming payments and one line of bold summary figures.

"Boss, let's talk about independent revenue first."

Number Two's voice was as steady as reading a weather forecast.

"The Congo fireboy incident generated 3.2 million emotional points on its first day, and has continued to escalate to a cumulative total of 5.1 million as of now."

"The Dhaka Unsinkable City event generated 4.7 million sentiment points on its first day, and has accumulated 6.8 million so far."

"The South Sudan Green Miracle event generated 830 million in revenue within 24 hours of its launch."

Jiang Ming raised an eyebrow slightly.

"The conversion rate in South Sudan is higher than the previous two combined?"

"Yes, boss."

Number 2 displays a set of pie charts.

"The emotions triggered by this event were more complex. Shock and awe accounted for only 37%, while the remaining 63% consisted of a mixture of four emotions: emotion, anger, guilt, and fanaticism."

Number Two rotated the pie chart ninety degrees, revealing a line of notes at the bottom.

"Of particular note is the video comparing soldiers picking corn who turned to dust while children picked corn that remained intact; this single video has garnered over 200 million views and contributed over 140 million points of pure emotional value."

"The impact of contrast is always the strongest."

Jiang Ming walked to the coffee table, picked up the kettle, and poured himself a glass of warm water.

"Human psychology dictates that our tolerance threshold for a single miracle gradually increases, but when you place good and evil in the same context, the emotional release is exponential."

Number Two enlarges the last row of summarized numbers to the center of the screen.

"The chain reaction of emotional fluctuations resulting from the combined effects of these three events has exceeded the mathematical sum of the individual events."

"Panic-driven dissemination, mass discussions, secondary amplification by religious organizations, political sentiments triggered by government responses, and intellectual anxiety fueled by media commentary—all of these are included."

"The system's total balance increased by 22 billion sentiment points within 24 hours."

Jiang Ming held his water glass and looked at the number.

"22 billion."

He repeated it softly, his tone devoid of excitement, only displaying a calm as if confirming that the plan was progressing as expected.

He put down his water glass, walked to the French windows, and looked down at the pedestrians on the streets of Rome who were still going about their normal lives.

"The fire of Congo, the water of Dhaka, the seeds of South Sudan."

He drew three dots on the windowpane with his right index finger, then connected them with a line using the pad of his finger.

"Three continents, three completely different forms of extraordinary expression, three unrelated dissemination paths, all exploded in less than seventy-two hours."

He withdrew his hand, and the three fingerprints on the windowpane shone faintly in the morning light.

How would people from the old world interpret this?

The second source pulled out a global media sentiment analysis report.

"Currently, the mainstream narrative is divided into four camps. The first camp, accounting for 31%, believes it is due to the intervention of gods or higher beings. The second camp, accounting for 26%, believes it is due to the leakage of a superweapon secretly developed by a certain country. The third camp, accounting for 22%, believes it is related to the aftermath of the Holy Grail War. The fourth camp, accounting for 21%, has not yet formed a stable viewpoint and is in a state of information overload and chaos."

Jiang Ming sat back down on the sofa and crossed his legs.

"The last 21% is the best soil."

He looked out the window at the increasingly bright Roman sky.

People who have no conclusion are most easily led astray; they are waiting for an answer.

He tapped his knee three times with his index finger, the rhythm even.

"And I have no intention of giving an answer yet."