I fabricated myths to guide the revival of spiritual energy.

[Presidential Suite, penthouse, a five-star hotel in Changsha, Hunan]

Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, the banks of the Xiangjiang River are ablaze with lights, the bustling city nightscape and the muddy world still struggling deep in the mountains seem like two different universes.

Gu Qing stood by the window, wearing a bathrobe. Although his stomach cancer still caused him occasional discomfort, his mental state was more exhilarated than ever before.

"System, process the transaction."

[Host: Gu Qing]

[Current Status: Extremely weak physically / Extremely excited mentally]

[Confidence Points Balance: 128,500 (and continuing to grow as public opinion develops)]

[Achievements unlocked: The Writer with Only a Shadow, The Myth Reviver, The Rebel Against Heaven.]

"120,000..."

Gu Qing looked at the string of pleasing numbers on her retina, a cold smile curving her lips.

For a con artist who is always meticulous in his calculations and even needs to "faking accidents" to extend his lifespan, this money means—strategic freedom.

"Although the last performance of 'The God of Falling Flowers Cave' was grand in scale and even alerted satellites, it was too limited." Gu Qing shook the warm water cup in his hand (his current body couldn't drink alcohol), "It could only exert its power in a fixed area, and this kind of 'positional warfare' was too passive."

"749 Bureau has sealed off that area like an ironclad fortress. What I need now is not for them to break in."

"Instead, let the fear... flow out."

Gu Qing's fingers flew across the system shop interface in the void, bypassing the C-grade materials worth thousands of points, and directly locking onto the high-level options under the [Disaster/Mutation] category.

His gaze lingered on a script cover that emitted a faint purple glow, with icons that were constantly wriggling and making subtle gnawing sounds.

[Script Title: Ten Thousand Gu Devour the Heavens]

[Grade: B+ (Sustainable/Ecologically Destructive)]

[Type: Disaster/Mutation/Supernatural]

[Exchange Price: 60,000 Credits]

[Synopsis: Western Hunan has a long history of witchcraft and sorcery. When ancient witchcraft combines with modern biology, when the "King of Gu," dormant for millennia, awakens in a petri dish, the wind rises, and insects multiply. It is no longer a curse targeting an individual, but a annihilation of the entire food chain.]

[Core concepts: biological mutation, swarm parasitism, maternal consciousness, and the Golden Silkworm Gu.]

"Sixty thousand points, half of my fortune." Gu Qing's finger hovered over the exchange button.

This is not just a script, but a high-stakes gamble. He is betting on whether this "biological" supernatural power can force the authorities to shift from "blocking information" to "mobilizing the entire population."

"exchange."

The finger fell.

[Ding! 60,000 Faith Points deducted.]

The script "Ten Thousand Gu Devour the Heavens" has been loaded.

[Creating a key item: Gu Mother's Egg (dormant state).]

[Please select a deployment location.]

Gu Qing pulled up a real-time holographic map of traffic in Hunan Province.

In that intricate road network, a bright red dot is speeding along the G56 Hangrui Expressway from Jishou in western Hunan toward Changsha, the provincial capital.

That was a top-secret transport convoy from the P3 laboratory, heavily guarded.

The vehicle was carrying the "human-handed snake" specimen that had been frozen by liquid nitrogen, as well as a large number of soil and plant samples collected from the outside of Luohua Cave.

Scientists are always full of curiosity, and they wanted to take these samples back to a more advanced laboratory in Changsha for sectioning and research.

"Since you're so eager to study my work..."

Gu Qing gently tapped the moving point of light with her finger, a cold glint of "compassion" flashing in her eyes.

"Then I'll give you a... family bucket."

[Confirmed deployment location: G56 Hangrui Expressway, Fenghuang to Huaihua section, Xuefeng Mountain Tunnel.]

[Script, begin.]

……

[G56 Expressway, inside the Xuefeng Mountain Tunnel]

This is an exceptionally long tunnel, seven kilometers in length. Late at night, the sodium lamps inside the tunnel cast a dim, oppressive glow, and the only sound is the monotonous noise of tires rolling over the road.

A convoy consisting of four black riot control armored vehicles and a special refrigerated transport vehicle in the middle was speeding past at 100 kilometers per hour.

The atmosphere over the convoy's radio was extremely tense.

"Falcon 3 reporting: No anomalies at the rear."

"Be vigilant. This is the heart of the Xuefeng Mountains, with complex terrain. Beware of anyone trying to ambush your vehicle."

Inside the refrigerated truck, two fully armed 749 Bureau agents stared intently at the massive liquid nitrogen freezing tank in the center. The digital thermometer on it read -196°C.

"Is this thing really dead?" The young agent's hands, gripping the gun, were sweaty as he couldn't help but ask in a low voice.

"Even a god would die if his head were frozen solid by liquid nitrogen." The older agent said this, but his eyes never left the jar. "However... this thing is too eerie. When I was moving it just now, I felt like it was watching me through the jar."

Just then.

"Thump."

A dull thud suddenly rang out in the enclosed carriage.

It didn't come from the outside, but from inside that five-centimeter-thick titanium alloy freezer.

The hairs on the two agents' necks stood on end, and they simultaneously pointed their guns at the can.

"Thump!"

Another sound. This time it was louder than before, and a fist-sized bulge actually appeared on the hard surface of the can!

"Warning! Abnormally high pressure inside the tank!"

"The temperature is rising rapidly! -100... -50... zero degrees!!"

The alarm went off with a piercing blare.

"How is this possible?! Where's the liquid nitrogen?!" the young agent shouted in terror.

"Liquid nitrogen... liquid nitrogen is boiling!!"

Before they could react...

"Pfft—!!!"

A muffled thud. The pressure relief valve on top of the freezer tank was blown off like a bullet, and a burst of white, icy air gushed out like a fountain, instantly filling the entire narrow compartment.

"Put on your gas mask! Quick!!" the older agent yelled, pressing down on the mask.

But it was too late.

The terrifying "human-handed serpent" did not appear in the white, chilling mist.

Because the snake had already "disintegrated" the moment it thawed. It didn't resurrect; it hatched.

The snake's corpse exploded into countless tiny, golden-yellow flying insects with translucent wings, each the size of a grain of rice.

[Biocomprehension Update: Golden Silkworm Gu (Large)]

[Characteristics: Resistant to extreme cold and heat; feeds on flesh and blood; can instantly burrow into an organism to lay eggs.]

"Buzzing—"

The dense flapping of wings sounded like the Grim Reaper grinding his teeth.

"ah!!!"

The young agent let out a blood-curdling scream.

He discovered that the golden specks of light were not flying around randomly, but were consciously heading towards all the exposed openings on their bodies—eyes, ears, and even the gaps in the gas mask filters.

Kevlar body armor can stop bullets, but it can't stop insects that can get in anywhere.

"Sizzle..."

A golden silkworm gu pierced through the young agent's goggles, like a red-hot iron nail, and drilled directly into his eyeball.

There was no excruciating pain as I had imagined, only a maddening itch.

That was the tingling sensation of brain matter being sucked out.

"Stop! Stop!!!" The older agent pounded on the isolation door of the cockpit in despair, but the moment he opened his mouth to scream, a cloud of golden mist rushed into his throat.

……

[Cockpit]

The driver suddenly felt a violent impact from the partition behind him, followed by his teammate's distorted scream over the radio.

"What's going on?!"

Before he could react, a golden "smoke" suddenly billowed out from the ventilation opening between the refrigerated compartment and the driver's cab.

"What is this...?"

The driver's pupils dilated instantly.

He saw countless tiny golden snakes wriggling beneath the skin of his hand, and his veins had turned an eerie golden color.

His hands involuntarily jerked the steering wheel to the right.

"boom!!!"

A refrigerated truck loaded with classified specimens lost control in the middle of the tunnel and crashed violently into the tunnel wall. The immense inertia caused the vehicle to tumble and rub against each other inside the tunnel, leaving a trail of dazzling sparks before finally coming to a stop across the road.

The two escort armored vehicles behind were unable to brake in time and rear-ended each other.

"Boom!"

The deafening explosion echoed through the enclosed tunnel, and flames shot skyward. Traffic was instantly brought to a standstill.

……

[Ten minutes later, at the entrance to Xuefeng Mountain Tunnel]

Several highway patrol cars and fire trucks arrived at the scene.

"Quick! Put out the fire! Save people!"

The fire chief directed his team members to rush into the smoke-filled tunnel with high-pressure water cannons.

However, when they approached the overturned and burning refrigerated truck, everyone froze.

The fire has been extinguished.

Or rather, it was "eaten".

The still-smoking wreckage of the truck was covered with a thick, writhing layer of golden substance. It was like a living carpet, enveloping, consuming, and extinguishing the flames.

"What...is that?" A young firefighter instinctively shone his flashlight over.

In that instant, he saw a scene that would haunt his nightmares for the rest of his life.

That golden substance was made up of hundreds of millions of tiny insects.

In the center of the swarm of insects, where the human driver should have been, stood a "thing" whose human form was no longer discernible.

Its entire body was made up of golden insects, resembling a human-shaped beehive. Its skin had disappeared, replaced by flying insects constantly entering and exiting.

It tilted its head, looking at the rescuers rushing in.

Those complex eyes, composed of countless insect eyes, revealed a strange, collective "wisdom."

"Hungry……"

When the "hive man" opened its mouth, it didn't produce the sound of vibrating vocal cords, but rather the resonant sound of millions of insects rubbing their wings together.

"I'm so hungry..."

next second.

"boom!"

The golden swarm of insects that had been covering the vehicle exploded with a roar, transforming into a golden cloud that blotted out the sky and rushed toward the unprotected firefighters and police officers.

This is not an infectious disease.

This is predation.

……

[System Prompt:]

[The first act of the script "Ten Thousand Gu Devour the Heavens": The Insect Nest Awakens, is complete.]

Number of infections: 45 (and still increasing).

Fear Level: +3000... +5000...

Current threat level: B+.

[Please enjoy this...grand evolution.]

Inside a hotel in Changsha, Gu Qing elegantly sipped her water while watching the blurry footage from the news broadcast before it was cut off by the authorities.

"In round 749, this time, your opponents are no longer the monsters I imagined."

Rather, it is—nature's most primal and greedy malice.

"What would you do to survive?"

Gu Qing put down his cup, his eyes deep and unfathomable.

"Evolve, humans. Otherwise... you'll become insect food."