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

The young security guard named Xiao Wang secretly uploaded the video to a short video platform.

Within an hour of its release, the video was accurately captured by the platform's algorithm due to its eerily clear visuals.

Traffic began to explode, quickly climbing to the top of Shanghai's local trending search list.

The initial comment section was filled with various speculations.

"These special effects are amazing! Can you tell me the name of the software?"

"What's the latest immersive art performance at Global Harbor?"

"Don't be silly, upstairs. It's clearly a paranormal event. Didn't you see that water shadow?"

...

The video was widely shared, and its popularity quickly spread from short video platforms to mainstream social media such as Weibo and Bilibili, with the number of viewers increasing exponentially.

Just as the incident was about to be defined as yet another high-quality "urban legend," a turning point occurred.

A gaming content creator on Bilibili with a million followers posted a picture on their feed that was taken from a video and enlarged to the extreme.

In the picture, a peculiar golden coin lies quietly on the mobile phone display stand.

"Guys, I might need to see an ophthalmologist... This thing looks so much like Mora from Genshin Impact?"

This post was like a bomb dropped into a deep lake.

This line sparked a frenzy across the entire gaming community.

Countless Genshin Impact players who were just watching for fun suddenly surged back to the original video as if they were robots with their highest commands activated.

They analyzed frame by frame and compared them repeatedly.

"Holy crap! It really is Mora! The texture, the sheen, it's exactly the same!"

"So, the phone thief was... a water elemental? And the Caster who descended upon Shanghai was Furina?"

"The case is solved! Everything connects!"

The nature of the event underwent a fundamental change at this moment.

It's no longer "supernatural," but the latest plot of the "Holy Grail War."

The entire online public opinion field in China was ignited once again.

The hashtag #WaterGodStealsPhone# quickly rose to the top of Weibo's trending topics within just ten minutes.

Following closely behind were a series of absurd hashtags such as #648NotWasted# and #MiHoYoComeOutAndGetBeaten#.

The incident has been completely sensationalized.

"I declare this to be Apple's most successful cultural export ever! It is an honor for you, Water God, to purchase your products using the legal tender of Teyvat!"

"What do you mean by stealing? Lady Funina clearly paid! It's the Apple store clerk who's blind and doesn't accept hard currency from another world!"

"Hahaha, I finally know where my 648 yuan went! It turned out to be Mora buying Fufu a phone! Worth it! So worth it!"

"MiHoYo, I order you to update your payment channels immediately; they must support MoraPay!"

"Let's analyze this calmly. Why would the Water Goddess need to 'buy' a phone? Does a goddess who's hundreds of years old really want to watch short videos?"

"You don't understand! Lady Fou endured five hundred years of loneliness in Fontainebleau. The first thing she did after descending into our world was to connect to the internet and see us, her 'believers' who love her! She wanted to see our comments, our fan art, and she wanted to know that she wasn't alone! Waaah, just thinking about this makes me want to cry!"

This comment received hundreds of thousands of likes and was pushed to the top of all related videos.

Countless netizens commented "I'm heartbroken" below, interpreting what was originally a somewhat comical "theft case" as a heartwarming journey that transcends dimensions.

The entire internet is buzzing with discussion about why Funinga "bought" a phone and what she would use it to look at.

The discussion was so heated that it even overshadowed the sensational news of America's presidential abdication.

But in corners unseen by ordinary people, undercurrents have already begun to stir.

On the Discord server of the "Holy Grail War Folk Research Association", a new technical post was pinned to the top by the administrator.

The publisher's ID is "Geek_Master".

"Ladies and gentlemen, we may have overlooked a crucial blind spot: the phone that was taken away in the video, judging from its shape and size, is the latest iPhone Pro Max."

All Apple devices come with a feature called "Find My iPhone".

"As long as the phone is powered on and connected to the internet, its precise location can be tracked."

"FUCK! How come I didn't think of that!"

"Locate Caster! We can locate a Servant!"

"My God, this is way more exciting than finding the Holy Grail!"

The discovery of this astonishing blind spot drove everyone on the server into a frenzy.

Countless hackers and tech enthusiasts lurking within were instantly activated.

They began using every imaginable technical means to try and break into Apple's servers and locate the "iPhone bought by the Water God".

A global online manhunt for Caster Furnessa has begun.

Kyoto, China, Ninth Bureau Command Center.

On the huge electronic screen, the trending public opinion across the internet and the short video that has gone viral around the world are displayed in a split screen.

An intelligence analyst quickly walked up to Chen Jianguo and handed him an urgent report that integrated the trends of public opinion across the internet, especially the "iPhone location" scheme.

Chen Jianguo took the report, his gaze lingering on the line "Find My iPhone" for a long time.

The online frenzy and the tech geeks' excitement were all filtered out by him, leaving only the coldest, most essential intelligence.

A superhuman who can be tracked.

Chen Jianguo remained silent for a moment, then picked up the red internal telephone on the table.

"Contact the Shanghai branch."

"Get that gold coin."

...

One hour later.

Two black sedans with ordinary license plates were parked outside the employee entrance of Global Harbor shopping mall.

Several plainclothes, capable-looking field agents from the Ninth Bureau contacted the mall's security department and the police who had already intervened, citing the highest level of authorization for "investigating a special national security case."

After confirming the unusual stamp on the other party's identification, the local police department handed over all evidence and jurisdiction over the case without hesitation.

A gold coin, carefully stored in an evidence bag, was officially handed over.

The field agents from the Ninth Bureau's Shanghai branch successfully retrieved the Mora coin.

Three o'clock in the morning.

The Ninth Bureau's exclusive highest physics laboratory in the outskirts of Beijing.

The gold coins were immediately delivered to this location.

Several of the country's top materials scientists, physicists and energy experts had been waiting there for a long time, and the laboratory was brightly lit.

The preliminary test results came back quickly.

"The report states that the gold coin has a gold purity of 99.99%, but the proportion of trace isotopes inside it does not match any sample from any known gold mine on Earth."

"In conclusion, this object is an 'extraterrestrial creation'."

This conclusion did not cause much of a stir; everything was as expected.

The real testing is only just beginning.

"Perform mass spectrometry analysis."

"Report! An unidentified, unknown element has been detected besides gold! Its structure is extremely stable, and its atomic number... exceeds our current periodic table!"

"Conduct high-energy particle bombardment experiments, starting with the lowest power level."

Inside the laboratory, everyone held their breath.

When a weak beam of particles hit the gold coin, the reading on the instrument screen instantly spiked.

"Energy overflow! The trace energy contained within the gold coin has been activated, instantly releasing the full charge of a miniature capacitor! The energy form... is unidentifiable! It is not electrical energy, not magnetic energy, and not any known form of nuclear energy!"

An elderly professor with gray hair, his hands trembling, wrote down his hypothesis at the end of the experimental report.

"This new form of energy exhibits extremely strong characteristics of 'solidification' and 'stability,' and it is very likely a manifestation of a 'conceptual' force at the physical level."

"This attribute is highly consistent with the concept of 'Geo' symbolizing 'contract' and 'stability' in the game Genshin Impact produced by miHoYo."

Meanwhile, in the office of the Ninth Bureau's Network Technology Department, the atmosphere was equally tense.

After urgent negotiations with Apple's data center in China, they gained backend access to the stolen iPhone.

"The target phone is confirmed to be powered on and connected to the internet!"

"Signal source is stable!"

"Dual positioning using base station and GPS... Location successful!"

A technician suddenly stood up from his seat and pointed to the flashing red dot on the screen.

Location locked! Tomson Riviera, Lujiazui, Shanghai – Tower A, penthouse duplex!

.....

Two complete analysis reports, one about the physical composition of the gold coin Mora and the other about Caster Furyn's real-time location, were simultaneously encrypted and sent to headquarters.

Inside the Ninth Bureau Command Center.

Chen Jianguo placed the two printed reports side by side on the table in front of him.

One document, cold physical data, reveals a completely new element and energy.

One document is an address so precise it's down to the house number, pointing to a virtual deity who has descended into reality.

He fell into deep thought.

After a long while, Chen Jianguo picked up the red telephone again.

"Notify the National Security and Armed Police Special Forces to cut off all attempts to reach in from abroad or even within the country."

"Not a single one can be left."

After issuing this chilling order, Chen Jianguo paused for a moment before issuing a second order.

"No proactive contact will be made with the target 'Frinna' for the time being."

The most important thing right now is the duel between Advisor Jiang and the Azure Lotus Sword Immortal at the designated location of the Ninth Bureau in three days.

That was an excellent opportunity to assess top-tier combat strength and obtain firsthand combat data, and it must not be interrupted by any unexpected events.

As for Caster Frynn, her behavior pattern is completely different from that of a pure destroyer like Shuten-dōji.

Rather than rushing into contact without understanding the other party's capabilities and risking uncontrollable conflict, it's better to maintain distance for the time being.

Observation is the best option right now.

Gather more intelligence and wait for a more suitable opportunity.

Chen Jianguo's instructions were quickly transmitted via a dedicated line.