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

Thirty-five minutes later, the first buoy broke through the sea surface.

The sonar chief of the Tanyuan submersible was trembling as he held the data receiver in his hands.

It wasn't fear. It was something inexplicable in professional terms that was making his finger bones tremble.

In the decoding window, the red warning box flashed seven times in a row.

Chen Jianguo's voice came three seconds later than expected on the communicator.

"What is the content?"

The speaker pulled the chip out of the terminal, his gaze still fixed on the red warning box in the decoding window.

"...The signal density is two and a half times that of the data from the last dive. There are three non-linear jitters in the symbol repetition frequency within the interval. Over there in the deep sea, it's repeating something."

"What is that?"

"We don't know. But the frequency matching degree is 99.7 percent with the sphere instruction encoding."

Chen Jianguo did not respond immediately. Only the background noise of the electrical circuit could be heard humming in the communication channel.

Five seconds later, his words came through.

"It was divided into two parts. The first part, a secret document from Red Star, was sent directly to Academician Qi and Xishan in Xianyang. The second part was sent to Paris through unofficial channels."

The long pen stopped on the notebook.

"Sir, what do you mean by 'unofficial channels'?"

"The French Embassy's research liaison officer in Beijing told him that this was an academic sharing from a Pacific research team. He didn't mention the data content, only that it was semiotic material and that a certain institution in France needed to follow up."

"clear."

"Don't let any Chinese versions of the data enter European channels. Translate it into English."

"receive."

Chen Jianguo hung up the call.

In his Beijing office, the lights were bright. The screens in front of him displayed real-time information from three different locations. In Xianyang, Academician Qi was reviewing the first set of data. In London, the BBC's live broadcast studio was still running, with the latest outline of the force field of the sword in the stone marked in the corner. In Cairo, Hassan Mohammed Ali was still in the restoration hall, his equipment activating a new receiving channel.

Chen Jianguo opened one of his log files and started typing.

"20251407hrs, deep-sea signal upgrade for the second time. Sphere command encoding appears in Pacific paleontological communications. Preliminary assessment indicates that the Old World technology cluster is being fully awakened. The Sword in the Stone force field is expanding eastward in London, and six ancient artifacts are moving in the same direction."

He paused for a moment, his fingertips hovering over the keyboard.

Then continue typing.

"Jiang Ming's true form has not yet appeared. Five new artifacts have been deployed, but global tracking has yielded nothing. The balance of control has shifted. The old order has lost its initiative."

The executive committee meeting room at Morgan Stanley headquarters in New York.

Thirteen board members sat on either side of a long, black wooden table. A central screen was broadcasting a live questioning session from the House of Commons, with real-time translated subtitles scrolling across the bottom of the screen. Every word spoken by a member was hurting Morgan Stanley's share price.

The CEO tapped the table.

"We need to change our strategy."

His voice was flat, but no one in the conference room dared to respond.

"The nature of the John Cruz case is being rewritten. What happened in London has turned any lawsuit against 'conceptual financial instruments' into an international issue. If we continue down the path of 'financial terrorism,' we will be killed by public opinion."

He pushed a new document to the central government.

"The legal department recommended a shift. Instead of pursuing compensation, we should request a third-party organization to conduct a 'financial security heuristic' assessment of conceptual instruments. This way, we would transform from victims into early warning providers."

One of the directors spoke up.

"That means we surrendered voluntarily."

"It's not surrender." The CEO's gaze swept across every face in the conference room. "The chessboard has changed. When we were playing the first game, our opponent played cards from the second game. If we want to continue playing, we have to recognize the cards."

He turned off the central screen and turned to the head of the legal department.

"Notify the lead attorney in the John case to withdraw the 'financial terrorism' lawsuit. Instead, submit a written recommendation requesting the U.S. Treasury and the Bank of England to launch a joint working group to assess the systemic risks of extraordinary items entering the financial system."

The head of the legal department pressed his pen down hard on the notebook.

"This will be interpreted by outsiders as us selling out."

"Yes, it will." The CEO leaned back in his chair. "But a living seller is worth more than a dead litigant."

Inside the Stone Field in London, Arthur Griffin is reading Morgan Stanley's statement withdrawing the lawsuit.

The legal representative placed the tablet in front of him, waiting for him to speak.

He didn't say anything. He just tapped the screen with his finger.

The force field contracted inward by another 0.2 kilometers.

Isabella Long’s new article was titled “The opponent has surrendered, what are the Knights of the Round Table waiting for?” Within two hours of its release, the article was reprinted by two thousand media outlets worldwide.

The confidential letter from the Élysée Palace in Paris was delivered to Arthur's legal representative through special channels.

Only one word was changed in the content.

It has transformed from a "temporary impartial platform" into an "international arbitration tribunal".

On the deck of the Pacific Ocean Explorer, when Funina emerged from the passageway, Zhou Ruo had already prepared a blanket.

But Funina did not board the ship.

Her body stopped half a meter above the edge of the deck, her bare feet touching the blue water as if she were walking on glass.

Mirror One also stopped. It did not continue to ascend.

Zhou Ruo's hand froze in mid-air.

"Retrieve the buoys first," Furnessa said softly. "The data needs to be sent out immediately."

"Aren't you coming up?"

"We're attempting communication now." Furnessa turned to face the deep sea, her eyes unable to penetrate the darkness. "Some method we've never used before."

Mirror One sensed what she said.

The entire trench was filled with some kind of organic rhythm. Not sound waves. It was the pulsation of pressure, like a giant heart beating rhythmically in the deep sea.

Each jump raises the water temperature slightly.

"It needs to wake up," Mirror One said.

"Hmm." Funina didn't turn around. "There's not enough time."

She suddenly turned around and looked at Zhou Ruo.

"Report back to Beijing. Mirror One and I will remain on standby. All data from the second dive will be synchronized to the highest levels in Xianyang, Cairo, and the Chinese government as quickly as possible."

She paused for a moment.

"Also, tell Chen Jianguo what kind of promises I need from him from now on."

Zhou Ruo's notebook trembled slightly in her hand.

"What promise?"

"If the things below really start to rise, is the entire fleet willing to go down with me, or turn to escape?"

Zhou Ruo did not answer. She turned and rushed towards the communications room, the buoy data chip in her hand flashing red under the light.

The moment the communication channel was established, her voice was already transmitted.

"All data collection complete. The situation has changed. I need instructions from my superiors."

When Chen Jianguo answered the call, his fingers were already on the red keypad.

He typed out the first number before Zhou Ruo could finish speaking.

In the deep sea, Funina and Mirror 1 simultaneously turned to face the deepest part of the trench.

The pulsation transformed into resonance.

The entire Pacific Ocean began to breathe synchronously, unstoppably, and periodically at a certain frequency.