Every second felt so long.
It wasn't just the moon and stars trapped in the island's basement who felt the time dragging on; now, all the forces around the world watching Chen Xu's challenge were on tenterhooks.
Just as Chen Xu predicted, a mysterious cloud of lightning appeared on Kaidan Island.
Is it a coincidence, or something else?
No one wanted to believe that this was the work of SMMH—controlling the weather? How could that be possible?
A few China experts, however, pulled out "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," specifically the chapter about borrowing the east wind at Red Cliff, and confidently asserted that even if this incident were true, it was SMMH deliberately using it based on their understanding of weather.
Consider Zhuge Liang, a man of extraordinary talent. His act of "borrowing the east wind" at the altar was, in essence, a result of his extensive knowledge of astronomy and military strategy. The so-called "borrowing the east wind" was simply Zhuge Liang's familiarity with astronomy and climate, allowing him to "predict" that particular southeast wind. As for the shamanistic rituals performed at the altar, that was purely a fabrication.
This argument immediately garnered widespread approval.
The SMMH's knowledge of climate is truly remarkable! As many people know, the SMMH issued a warning to the government about the blizzard at the beginning of this year... That's right, this guy must have known that the climate was going to change, so he deliberately created this mystery.
Leveraging existing resources is exactly what SMMH, which is used to getting something for nothing, loves to do!
Having found this reason, the anti-SMMH alliance suddenly became active again.
Prepare for war! Prepare for war!
Honestly, this is much easier than fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, at least those two are independent sovereign states... What's Tongchi Island compared to that? If we really need to explain to the media, we can just label them pirates, right? Then we can just find a few hired guns to pretend to be fishermen who have been robbed by pirates... It's too easy!
However, their thinking was a bit too simplistic.
Whether Zhuge Liang "borrowed" the east wind or "calculated" it is unclear. Later generations simply view the Battle of Red Cliffs from an ordinary person's perspective, labeling Zhuge Liang as a master strategist. However, they overlook one crucial point—who was Cao Cao? Although Guo Jia had died young and Jia Xu was far away in Chang'an, Cao Cao's subordinates, such as Xun Yu, Xun You, and Cheng Yu, were no ordinary men. How could they be ignorant of the weather? Conversely, Xu Shu, who had never offered any advice, seized the opportunity to expose Pang Tong's conspiracy, leaving Pang Tong terrified!
Why? It was Xu Shu who recommended Zhuge Liang in Longzhong that day! This also shows that Xu Shu and Zhuge Liang knew each other long ago and were very familiar with the man's abilities and tricks.
Since ancient times, worshipping Heaven has been a very important thing in China. From the Yin and Shang Dynasties to the Confucianism that unified the world in later generations, how can it be summarized as "feudal superstition and inflexible thinking"?
However, those mystical and fantastical things from ancient times have long been lost to the annals of history, and the specific truth remains unknown to anyone today…
Three hours later, the dark clouds finally dispersed, and when the moon and stars returned to the ground, they were horrified to find that the entire island had been almost completely razed to the ground!
Everywhere there were broken walls and ruins, and the area was charred black, as if countless bolts of lightning had ravaged the entire island in those three hours, leaving not an inch of land untouched.
Not to mention, the dock was also a mess. At a glance, there were countless fish floating belly up on the sea, but the ships and warships that were supposed to be docked had all disappeared.
The power of nature is truly formidable!
Looking at the horrific scene on the island transmitted by satellite, Chen Xu put down his teacup with satisfaction—it truly lived up to its reputation as a destructive weapon from the future—the weather control device. It could easily destroy an entire region, but it also gave the people there a chance to escape underground and avoid disaster. Its destructive power was immense, but if controlled properly, it wouldn't indiscriminately kill civilians, and it caused no pollution, no lasting damage, and wouldn't cause irreversible harm to the Earth.
Sure enough, this is the weapon that those countries that keep talking about human rights love to use the most!
Chapter 375 of the main text is being released ahead of schedule...
Human rights are something Western societies constantly proclaim. They are also a major symbol of civilized society. It must be said that many of the human-centered principles and the status of human rights in Western societies are indeed far superior to ours; this is something most people are aware of. However, let's leave politics aside and not discuss this further.
However, the West's emphasis on human rights has reached a point that is both laughable and pathetic, most notably in its approach to war.
Everyone knows that war inevitably results in death, but when the concept of human rights is exaggerated to the extreme, deaths during war provoke fierce resistance from human rights activists and anti-war groups. Look at the US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan; how much did the domestic media react when a few soldiers died? While this may seem somewhat morbid, it also reflects the importance that other countries place on human rights.
This "weather control device" was proposed within this distorted status of "human rights," and it received almost unanimous praise.
The main principle of a "weather controller" is to create electromagnetic fluctuations in a large energy field, thereby causing changes in cloud formation in a localized area, resulting in violent lightning clouds with powerful electromagnetic energy.
These lightning clouds are relatively close to the ground, and the collisions between cloud layers generate powerful energy currents, which are what we commonly call lightning. Since this powerful energy within the cloud cannot be released, it naturally needs an outlet. At this point, any protrusion on the ground can become a target for this energy release, resulting in a lightning strike.
This is somewhat similar to the Allied ultimate weapon in "Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2"—the Lightning Storm. Intense lightning can ravage and flatten everything on the ground that might attract lightning, almost completely obliterating an area. It can also generate small hurricanes, making its impact on a region devastating.
However, compared to other types of weapons of mass destruction, the biggest advantage of this "lightning attack" is that it can destroy the target's buildings, military equipment, and even the military force system, but as long as precautions are taken beforehand, it will not cause too many casualties!
The simplest way to avoid this attack is to hide in a safe basement.
In contrast, in "Red Alert 2," the Soviet Union's superweapon, the nuclear attack, is a "lightning storm" that has almost the same destructive power in destroying buildings, but does not cause nuclear contamination or too many casualties... This is already a very "peaceful" superweapon.
Therefore, the invention of this weapon often leaves some military strategists both amused and exasperated.
Only in this era could such a "distorted" strategic weapon emerge.
Although war should never involve civilians, in reality every general knows that civilians are the reserve force that supports a war.
Whether it's logistics or recruitment, without civilians, there is no army. However, the army is the primary force in executing wars, so the more modern the war, the more targeted it becomes—massacring civilians is the biggest mistake, but in reality, there is no war that doesn't attack civilians—it's just a matter of how many civilians are killed.
Ironically, civilians have ample time to hide with this type of weapon. This new weapon, capable of destroying buildings without causing significant casualties, has ushered in a new phase of warfare—perhaps also a way to further improve human rights in the future. After all, in the view of many Western societies that respect human rights, no amount of valuable or expensive inanimate objects can compare to the value of a living person.
Chen Xu used this weapon partly to teach the other party a lesson, and partly... for his own benefit.
Where did he get this weapon?
This brings us back to the day Chen Xu ordered everyone on Tongchi Island to evacuate...
"Condition triggered. Current time: March 2, 2008. Master's real-world strength level is rated as D-rank. Hostility towards the two key organizations, Tarot and X (both A-rank), exceeds 100. Situation: Extremely dangerous. Requesting backup. Requesting backup..."
Then, Chen Fei's image appeared on the screen.
It wasn't a fictional character, but a video.
"Grandpa, although I really don't want you to see this video, the current situation forces us to use this last resort." As soon as the video started, Chen Fei sat in front of the camera with a solemn expression and a serious tone.
“There are two conditions for activating this video. First, Grandpa, your power hasn't yet developed. Second, Grandpa, you've been threatened by a real-world force, a threat that could very well directly affect your life. When these two conditions coincide, that's when this recording will be played, and the backup plan will be activated. But to be honest…” Chen Fei's face showed a hint of helplessness: “I really don't want this to happen, because the price we'll have to pay is just too high…”
"The price?" Chen Xu's eyelids twitched.
"Enough with the nonsense, Grandpa. With your intellect and wisdom, you should be able to guess what this support is, right? That's right! It's us using the power of the time tunnel, just like sending you this supercomputer, to forcibly send you a high-tech war machine from the future!"
Upon hearing this, Chen Xu's eyelids twitched even more violently!
A high-tech war machine from the future?!
That's an awesome thing?
However, seeing Chen Fei's solemn expression, Chen Xu had a vague feeling that he would have to pay a considerable price to get his hands on these things.
Even if it costs him ten years of his lifespan, Chen Xu felt it was worth it to get revenge!
Then Chen Fei continued, "Grandpa, the equipment I provided for you this time was decided after a long period of consideration and calculation. You need to know that the space-time tunnel is subject to the constraints of the Heavenly Dao! So in order to avoid being rejected by the rules of the Heavenly Dao, many of the things brought back this time are not as advanced or as powerful as you imagine."
"Heaven and earth are ruthless, treating all things like straw dogs. Grandpa, you must have heard this saying from the Tao Te Ching, right? You probably understand what it means. It means that heaven and earth treat all things equally; this is what is called the Way of Heaven. If you violate the rules of the Way of Heaven, then you will be punished... Obviously, using such high-tech warfare tools from the future for war will be punished. It's like, in the legends of ancient times, there were immortals. You saw it in the Investiture of the Gods; a single strike of the Heaven-Turning Seal could kill tens of thousands of people without a problem. But why did the immortals almost never directly participate in battles against human armies in the entire Investiture of the Gods? I think it's the same principle: using such advanced technology is not allowed by the Way of Heaven." Chen Fei paused for a moment, then continued, "Grandpa, you might ask now, if the Way of Heaven doesn't allow it, then why does it watch such things happen?"
"This proves what Lao Tzu meant. The Heavenly Dao isn't the kind of good-natured firefighter you imagine, nipping everything in the bud. On the contrary, under its watchful eye, you can do whatever you want, but once you cross its line, it will put you to trial! To give you an analogy, the Heavenly Dao is like a judge. It won't pursue things like attempted murder; it will only wait until the event happens and then pronounce judgment according to the law! Of course... this also gives us an opportunity to take advantage of the situation. Otherwise, these weapons, and even the computer for you, Grandpa, wouldn't have been sent here."
"So you mean I shouldn't use this war machine to kill people indiscriminately?" Chen Xu asked subconsciously, but quickly realized... it was just a recording, and the other party couldn't hear his question.
But as if sensing something, Chen Fei said, "The weapons I prepared for you, Grandpa, were chosen after carefully considering their destructive power. The rules of Heaven are not without loopholes, and our method can be considered as exploiting those loopholes. First, there's the weather control device. We will use a time tunnel to directly transfer an artificial satellite to your era. But don't worry, the surface technology of this artificial satellite is the latest. With the space technology of your era, it will be impossible to detect it by any means. Moreover, besides being used as a defensive ultimate weapon, this satellite can also detect almost anything shielded by an energy network. In other words, you can use this satellite to observe the most secret military bases of the US military. Everything in this world will no longer be a secret to you, Grandpa."
"The Weather Control Device is a superweapon capable of massively destroying a region's defenses while minimizing casualties. But Grandpa, you should use it cautiously, or frankly... avoid using it if possible! After all, it's a superweapon. While it won't cause irreversible damage to Earth like other weapons, it's still not a good thing and will provoke a backlash from Heaven... Of course, I must clarify that this backlash isn't solely due to the number of deaths caused by this weapon! In fact, for Heaven, especially in today's overpopulated world, sometimes more deaths are actually..."
Chen Fei didn't finish speaking, but Chen Xu vaguely understood what he meant. Could this be the legendary "Heaven and Earth are ruthless, treating all things like straw dogs"?
This must be the reason why. Only humans consider themselves the pinnacle of creation, but they fail to realize that in the eyes of Heaven and Earth, humans are no different from pigs, dogs, or ants—all are life. In fact, humans, who have caused immense damage to the environment, may not necessarily be favored by Heaven like those ignorant animals.
"The destruction of the environment, the destruction of the earth... this is what Heaven cannot tolerate the most. Although the weather control device is the most 'benevolent' among superweapons, it is still a superweapon after all, and its energy usage range is huge, which can easily cause Heaven's backlash... Well, anyway, I have to talk about it, so I'll talk about what exactly is going on with Heaven's backlash."
"The Way of Heaven is a set of rules and constraints. I've already mentioned this in my previous videos. The Way of Heaven doesn't allow anything that surpasses it to exist; once it does, it's annihilated. This is the origin of the Tower of Babel. And this century-long hoax—no one expected that every research project capable of altering the course of humanity would ultimately become a killer of humanity. Before that, all the scientists conducted worst-case scenario tests but found nothing wrong… We attribute all of this to the Way of Heaven. The Way of Heaven doesn't allow these things to happen, so it exerts its power behind the scenes."
“There are several ways in which the will of Heaven manifests itself. First, for example, when researching a drug, it might secretly add substances that are harmful to humans to the drug. Of course, this is just our speculation, because on the surface, these side effects appear in a very ‘normal’ way, and the subsequent development of scientific research has also confirmed that this is an extremely ‘normal’ manifestation.”
Hearing this, Chen Xu nodded slightly. The intelligence drug and the physical recovery fluid were actually the same thing.
"Second, like in the movie 'Final Destination'. Some scientists who participated in research that violated the laws of nature and made outstanding progress died mysteriously before they could publish their key findings... This situation is relatively rare, with only a dozen or so cases in the past few decades. At first, we all thought it was the work of some conspirators, but after detailed investigation, we found that... they all died of natural causes, just like in the movie 'Final Destination', killed by a mysterious Grim Reaper."
"Third, the enemy will gain relative strength. This is something you might encounter, Grandpa... Because after the Heavenly Dao decides to punish you, your luck will probably not be so good. To put it simply, if you go to buy lottery tickets now, you might throw in hundreds of thousands and still not win a five-dollar ticket. That's the punishment... And your opponent may suddenly become lucky because of this incident."
"The century-long hoax began as a scientific research project to develop human potential. However, people's greed led them to ignore many side effects and focus solely on gaining power, without considering that in this world, you have to pay as much as you want to gain. The test subjects in the century-long hoax all met tragic ends, often ending up looking neither human nor ghost."
These words stirred something in Chen Xu's heart. Wasn't Miwad just like that?
"Although Organization X and Tarot's research directions differ, they share the same goal: to make the human body more powerful. One is pursuing the mechanization route, and the other is pursuing the gene therapy route... In any case, both routes are wrong. They just haven't realized it yet, or rather, they have realized it but are powerless to change it. Grandpa, so you must be careful, because this time, the punishment from Heaven for you may very well be to allow some of the research of these two organizations to be completed ahead of schedule..."
Chapter 376: War and Politics Are Irrelevant
"The Great Deception of the Century... In fact, it is a regret for humanity. It is a threshold, or a detour, that human technological development must pass through. In our time, whenever scholars look back on the Great Deception of the Century, they can't help but sigh with regret, because those decades of absurdity really caused enormous losses to humanity and the whole world."
"There are many specific details I can't discuss, but I can touch on some basics, like probability. Grandpa, you should know that most laws in the world now prohibit marriage between close relatives because such marriages greatly increase the risk of birth defects in the offspring. However, there's also a certain probability that the offspring won't be mentally challenged... or even exceptionally intelligent! The famous Adolf Hitler was a product of consanguineous marriage. That's probability. Many studies in the great hoax of the century, while failing over 99% of the experiments, occasionally produce one or two exceptional cases! These individuals become the 'perfect' result of the experiment, possessing immense power and achieving the experimenter's goal... But this probability is extremely small, almost negligible! It cannot be increased through any scientific means; it can only be achieved through luck!"
Hearing this, Chen Xu understood somewhat and muttered to himself, "So, you're sending these high-tech weapons from the future, which has triggered divine punishment. And this punishment might not directly affect me, but rather my opponents? It might have allowed some of their experiments to succeed, leading to the emergence of some formidable adversaries?" Chen Xu thought about it, and realized that this punishment had probably already occurred; Miwad was the best example—who could imagine that a living person could become a piece of data in a computer world?
On the screen, Chen Fei, oblivious to Chen Xu's self-talk, continued, "So, Grandpa, you need to be careful. You don't have much time left. Tarot's research focuses on human mechanization, while Organization X's research focuses on modifying the human body through drugs and genetics... Grandpa, you need to be careful, because Heaven still needs you to accomplish certain tasks. Therefore, the most likely way Heaven will punish you is by allowing these two organizations to achieve breakthroughs in their research. You might ask, since Tarot and X's research both violate Heaven's will, why would Heaven help them?"
Chen Xu was taken aback, then laughed. Sure enough, Chen Fei continued, "Because even a true 'perfect body' must pay an incredibly heavy price. In fact, those who become experimental 'perfect bodies' can no longer be considered human. This kind of research has violated the ethics and morality that humanity has long revered from the very beginning, and naturally it must be punished."
Chen Xu chuckled and added, "If Heaven intends to destroy someone, it first makes them mad. That's right. Speeding up their research isn't really a reward, but it's quite troublesome for me. It seems I really need to desperately expand my influence. However..." Chen Xu looked at the list of items Chen Fei had given him on the screen and couldn't help but chuckle, "But with these things, given three more years to develop, who in the world would I fear? I just hope Tarot and X won't be too boring by then..."
Now Chen Xu is absolutely confident, because looking at the things Chen Fei sent from the future, anyone would be envious!
Aside from the incredible weather control device and the three hundred fully equipped mechs, what excited Chen Xu the most was the complete production line that Chen Fei had directly brought over!
This is a cutting-edge, highly sophisticated production equipment!
With them, Chen Xu no longer needs to worry about his power not developing and facing the awkward situation of having technology but no productivity!
All that's needed is money.
Chen Xu had already made up his mind... It's just money!
However, for every gain, there is a loss... This loss is directly added to Chen Xu's enemies. So, how much "care" will Tarot and the X organization receive from the Heavenly Dao?
…………
The attack on Kadan Island went completely unnoticed by those blinded by greed, or perhaps they saw it as just a little trick by the SMMH... a trick of predicting strange weather phenomena.
It's nothing.
No one wanted to admit they'd been defeated by a "meteorologist," so they didn't hold back in pressuring Congress to order the Seventh Fleet to deploy directly—the very place where this legendary fleet had always swaggered around.
As for an excuse, that's even easier to find... a difficult bandit suppression mission!
While many were curious and puzzled by the Seventh Fleet's seemingly insignificant task of fighting pirates—akin to using an anti-aircraft gun to kill a mosquito—and wondered if the military budget had been oversupplied lately, leading these guys to waste their time on pirate raids, the final result surprised many...
The official result is as follows:
Due to extremely severe weather, this military operation had to be temporarily canceled. Meanwhile, this bizarre weather phenomenon in Southeast Asia also exposed some deficiencies in the US military's equipment… Then, an elderly man wearing glasses stood up and, in a string of words that almost no one could understand, listed a few points, finally demanding that Congress increase the Navy's budget so that they could better "maintain" their warships, as some ships had suffered "minor" damage in this storm that was beyond human control…
But those in the know understand that this is by no means a “tiny” injury.
If it weren't for the Rockefeller family's intervention, which led to a sudden change in the US military's strategy, the entire Seventh Fleet would likely have been disbanded... Even so, more than a third of the ships, large and small, sank into the vast depths of the Pacific Ocean, silently reflecting the cruelty of war alongside other World War II shipwrecks...