On my second playthrough, they were full of malice towards me.

Next, it was the turn of the Magic City Scholars Group to take the stage. Led by Professor Einstein, they began to provide some popular science information about the branding marks, explaining their origins and principles.

The complex ancient knowledge may be incomprehensible to the general public, but understanding just one concept—that the branding originated from the Old World—is enough for them, undoubtedly adding another layer of mystery to this technology.

Less than a minute after the branding technology was announced, Keltech's stock price skyrocketed.

"Saya, if I draw the same pattern as these brand marks, can I sell it too?"

"Fool, branding requires engraving techniques finer than nanometers. If it's even slightly off from the master template, the branding will look no different from a regular pattern. Are you even listening to Professor Mo Cheng?"

"Ugh, what I've hated most since I was a kid is listening to these professors rambling on and on, but... hehehe! Except for young, handsome professors, if that person goes up on stage to speak, I'll definitely listen more attentively than anyone else!"

At the press conference, the director's camera focused on the Magic City scholars on stage, with Professor Einstein naturally at the head of the group in front of the microphone, and the other scholars in a row behind them, serving as a backdrop.

The "person" Martha is referring to is a young PhD student in a gray trench coat among the scholars in the back row, whom Martha noticed immediately.

This young PhD, though clearly trying to keep a low profile, stood out among the group of scholars who were either wearing thick glasses or hunched over.

"Martha, stop swooning on the show and focus on your commentary."

"Saya, you don't understand. If you really wanted to see a proper commentary, who would come to our Night Love Channel? Our viewers come here to have fun, right? I think this young heartthrob has the feel of a male protagonist from a novel. My entertainment radar is going off like crazy. If I keep my eyes on him, I'm sure I'll have some fun! Director, stop focusing the camera on that old geezer. Give our female fans a treat!"

"Heh, do you really think a show hosted by a hot girl will have female fans?"

Obviously, the director didn't think so either, especially after many male fans in the live chat expressed their jealousy. They quickly adjusted the camera to deliberately exclude the young professor from the screen, which infuriated Martha for quite some time.

The subsequent press conferences proceeded smoothly with the demonstrations of the branding weapons, which generated considerable buzz and excitement for most people. However, the hosts of Night Love Radio seemed rather uninterested, as none of the unexpected entertainment they had anticipated materialized.

Thus, as Director Ellen announced that the first set of "three" branding marks would be shown to the public, the atmosphere in the venue was once again brought to a climax.

As everyone had already understood from Professor Einstein's previous explanation, the intensity of the branding is determined by the number of pieces in the kit. Now, Kyle Technology is directly presenting a finished three-piece kit, undoubtedly showing off the company's absolute leadership and advantage in branding technology to the public.

A box resembling a Rubik's Cube rose from beneath the press conference venue. After multiple unlocking and authentication processes, the cubes on the surface of the Rubik's Cube slowly opened, revealing three golden branding marks floating in the air and rotating inside, separated by a transparent protective cover.

This was the first time the audience had seen the branding marks on the original. Although the pattern of the branding marks could not be seen under the golden light, the light itself was already attractive enough to keep people's eyes glued to it, as if they were seeing some kind of divine object.

Even Director Ellen was stirred up. He took a deep breath, walked to the front of the stage, raised his arms and shouted, wanting to bring the press conference to a perfect close with a passionate speech.

"Indeed, our KEL Technology has encountered unfair treatment in China and lost a large number of orders due to force majeure. But I believe this is only temporary!"

"I feel incredibly sorry that the people of the Dragon Kingdom cannot use branding weapons. They have lost their most powerful means of self-defense. But even so, Kyle Technology will not abandon anyone. We will not forget our original aspirations and will continue to actively communicate with the Dragon Kingdom to strive for the early resumption of trade and deliver weapons to every person of the Dragon Kingdom!"

"Finally, I, Zelens Ellen, solemnly promise you all that I and all the company's employees will continue to innovate and break through, constantly producing excellent products, with branding technology as the cornerstone. We will definitely make Kyle Technology great again!!"

Following Ellen's impassioned speech, a thunderous roar echoed across Kyle Square.

Indeed, part of this applause came from the enthusiastic fans in the audience, investors who had bought large amounts of KEL Technology stock, and the thunderous applause.

But most of the "booms" came from

A string of missiles came straight down from the sky.

Chapter 232 Choice

Because it was so sudden, no one had time to react. Many people were still immersed in Director Ellen's "Make America Great Again" speech when, in the next second, the missile was already close at hand.

boom--

The missile struck the main stage of the press conference, and the violent explosion reverberated in the ears of everyone in the square. Large plumes of fire and smoke immediately rose from the point of explosion.

Ellen, the director on stage, was undoubtedly the most startled. Fortunately, the missile did not actually hit the stage, but instead struck the semi-transparent defensive barrier.

This is Keltech's backup plan. The actual press conference stage, which seems to be close to the public, is actually protected by a barrier that is airtight and completely concealed. The barrier is simply made invisible using optics.

However, before Director Ellen could even breathe a sigh of relief, to his horrified gaze, the protective barrier around the stage began to fade rapidly, eventually disappearing completely.

what! ?

Immediately following, another missile—no, a swarm of missiles—whistled through the air, its target being Director Ellen and the security team from Kyle Technology who had rushed over.

Looking at the missiles flying recklessly in the air, Director Ellen opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, the flames from the missile explosions engulfed him and the stage of the press conference.

"W-wh-what's going on?! Ladies and gentlemen! A major crisis has occurred at the Kyle Technology press conference! Is this a terrorist attack? Where are the drones? What are the company's security drones doing? Why aren't they intercepting the missiles?!"

"I just hacked into their company's internal system and discovered that Kyle Technology's security measures were completely paralyzed in an instant. Both the drones and the force field barriers were automatically deactivated, indicating that someone had pre-installed a virus."

I don't know when, but another gloomy female host, who was frantically typing on the keyboard, put on headphones, and her lifeless tone became a few decibels faster.

"A virus? This seems like a meticulously planned attack? Who's behind it? Rivals? Gangs? Or the Chinese government? But as a security company, Kyle Technology shouldn't be involved."

Before the sassy female host could finish her nervous words, the press conference took another unexpected turn.

From the already chaotic crowd in Kel Plaza, it suddenly seemed as if someone had detonated a bomb on their person. This bomb did not cause an explosion, but rather caused a large amount of red mist to rapidly spread and envelop the entire plaza.

"This fog, could it be..." Even Martha, who is usually the host of jokes, now sounded a little serious, and her usually lively and pretty face was now frowning.

"It's Turbid Evil. The Turbid Evil pollution index at the site is rising wildly, already exceeding the safe level by five, six, ten times, and it's still rising." Saya stared intently at the computer screen.

"How did they do that?! No, are they insane?! There are tens of thousands of people in the square right now. Such a concentration of turbidity would trigger a strong rejection reaction from the prosthetic bodies. Do they want to turn everyone into berserk, mad turbid turbid beings?!"

Not only was Night Love Radio in a state of extreme tension, but the press conference of Kyle Technology was also being reported and broadcast by major media platforms. In other words, almost everyone who turned on the TV could see Kyle Square shrouded in a murky red mist that exuded an ominous and calamistic aura.

"Mom, Mom?" David, who was watching the live broadcast at home, stared at the chaotic square on the TV, at a loss.

Just a second ago, the little boy was still holding the birthday present his mother had given him two days ago—a hero mech. With the mech toy, he enjoyed the envious glances of his classmates for the first time. Now, David is watching his mother on TV as she attends a press conference in the capacity of the "Dream Inspection Bureau."

The next second, the missile's flash filled the press conference, followed by a cloud of red mist. Young David, though unaware of what these things were, could sense the serious crisis from the host's panicked tone and the screams from the audience.

He rushed to the TV and called out his mother's name, because she was there too. But the next second, the screen went blank and he couldn't see anything. All David could do was clutch the toy his mother had given him tightly, tears streaming down his face.

High concentrations of turbidity are devastating to electronic equipment. Cameras used for live broadcasts simply cannot withstand the erosion of turbidity, and the live footage from major TV stations all cut off after three or four seconds.

at the same time.

At the top of the Demon Tower in the Demon City, a succubus also pushed aside all worldly affairs and watched the live broadcast of Kyle Technology's press conference.

When she saw the red mist spreading, the square descending into chaos, and the mental pollution spreading rapidly, she realized that such a dimensional attack had caught Kyle Technology completely off guard. They dared not send any more troops in, because the more advanced the cybernetic combat units were, the more likely they were to become cyber madmen, or berserk freaks, due to mental pollution.

The mastermind behind this terrorist attack was clearly using the tens of thousands of people in the square as cover. The purpose of doing so was obviously not simply to disrupt the press conference, but to take the opportunity to seize the only three-piece set of branding brought out from the public zero dream.

"so."

What would you do?

Lena abandoned her previous frivolous image and calmly watched the live stream, which was already cluttered due to the chaos. If it were Lord Ash, this would be a case of the two fighting and the third party benefiting. For Lord Ash, such chaos would undoubtedly be the best cover, since the chaos was no different from air to him and would not affect him in any way.

In this way, by taking advantage of the chaos created by the gang, and because of the existence of the turbid calamity, no one knows what actually happened inside the press conference. After taking over the branded gang from them, they can turn around and throw the mud at the gang, completely distancing themselves from the matter, thus achieving a perfect operation.

The price is nothing more than tens of thousands of people in the square suffering from the calamity. For Lord Ash, this is nothing, right?

Of course, Lord Ash—no, Lord Liao Ji—could choose another, albeit a rather foolish, path: to obtain Kyle Technology's mark by leveraging the power of the mafia.

Buzz. Hissing!

Just as Lena thought of this, the television screen in front of her seemed to have recovered some of the scene from the previous distorted display. The reason for this was that the concentration of turbidity at the scene was decreasing.

The reason for the decline

From the live sound on the television, some strange sounds could be heard intermittently; they were mechanical sounds from electronic synthesized audio.

"Unknown program detected. Initiating read and analysis."

"Check compatibility."

"Allocate computing power."

"Mecha model construction in progress: 13% 54% 76% 99%"

"Loading complete. 3, 2, 1"

"Pseudo-canonical Angel Reconstruction - Rideon, the Bright Leftover Woman!"

Chapter 233 Dawn

A glimmer of dawn appeared over the murky red fog that had enveloped the square.

This kind of light is familiar to people; it is the same radiant color as the finale of the press conference just minutes earlier.

Countless recording devices that had been restored to normal operation turned their lenses toward that ray of light, and then, in the light, a huge mech, about ten stories high, appeared and disappeared in the red mist.

People watching on television couldn't help but wonder if they were hallucinating, feeling tense and confused. The same was true for the people at the press conference in Kel Plaza.

"Hahaha, die, you bunch of company dogs!" The gang member, wearing a special mask and holding a rifle, laughed wildly and fired indiscriminately at the surroundings under the cover of the murky fog.

These gangsters who attacked the press conference had evaded AI's identity checks from the very beginning by using a virus program. They had already blended into the crowd in the square, waiting for Kyle Technology to actually produce the target's brand so that they could immediately tear off their disguises and create chaos.

Unfortunately, before he could laugh a few more times, a beautiful figure flashed in front of him and delivered a whistling whip kick, sending the gangster and his gun flying. He fell to the ground, unable to get up again.

"Miss Yilin, what skill!" Luo Xiaoji, standing beside her and with Yan Yan trembling behind him, gave a trembling thumbs-up to the girl who was standing on the unconscious body of the gangster.

"No problem at all, no problem at all."

Irene waved her hand, then instructed the group of scholars from the Demon City behind her to keep up.

After the press conference was attacked by terrorists and filled with a murky red fog, external support forces could not get in, and all the security robots inside the press conference were paralyzed, giving the gangsters an absolute advantage.

The remaining security personnel from Kyle Technology made a decisive decision: to abandon the other invited guests and people at the press conference and concentrate all their efforts to protect the final mark, no matter what.

For them, protecting the company's assets is the top priority; the lives of other people are completely unimportant.

The abandoned group of scholars from the Demon City, especially the old professor Einstein, couldn't help but curse and regret that they had only just seen the true face of the company. The unarmed scholars could only tremble and hide amidst the dense gunfire around them, but they were still discovered by the gangsters. Just when they thought they were going to die under the guns, the previous scene happened.

The scholars, like Luo Xiaoji, looked at Irene with shock, relief, and a sense of relief. No one expected that someone among them would actually step forward. Professor Einstein, with his keen eye, instantly realized the girl's identity as a jinx.

Moreover, if they remember correctly, this researcher "Irene" should only be...

Dr. Liao Ji's assistant?

Thinking of this, Luo Xiaoji was the first to realize that he had been too terrified and flustered to notice this. He quickly asked the girl:

"Where's Brother Liao! Miss Irene, we must go find Brother Liao quickly!"

Luo Xiaoji subconsciously thought that Liao Ji had gotten separated from them in the chaos of the explosion, and anxiously urged Yilin, but the girl pouted. Just then, a muffled electronic voice from 86 sounded. The others at the scene couldn't hear it, but Yilin heard it clearly.

Her eyes lit up with excitement as she looked toward the source of the sound. When the other scholars followed her gaze, they all saw a dazzling ray of light amidst the pervasive, murky red mist.

"Look, my PhD is over there."

"There? Where?"

As the light gradually dimmed, the people at the press conference, like the viewers watching on television, all saw the enormous mecha silhouette that seemed to appear out of thin air in the red mist. However, because they were there in person, they could see it more clearly.