Back then, they all thought SHEEP was just a target of controversy, randomly chosen to take the blame. But this time, the appearance of another fake SHEEP made Yi Heye begin to suspect that this might not be a random selection.
Yi Heye wondered what Jian Yunxian was thinking. Looking at the guy in front of him partying with the music, he was suddenly speechless—how could this guy keep switching between looking very smart and very stupid, very reliable and very unreliable?
Even at this point, Yi Heye still felt that he didn't understand him at all. He couldn't figure out what this guy was thinking, and he could never predict his next move.
Sigh. Yi Heye rubbed his temples in frustration once again.
At this moment, the music in the video suddenly stopped, and the fake SHEEP bowed to everyone once again.
Every move he made was so familiar that Yi Heye could immediately tell which of SHEEP's previous public appearances he had taken the material from. He didn't even dare to speak, only daring to express his meaning through subtitles in the background.
But this group of drug-addled guys all thought this was their god, and none of them noticed anything unusual.
Yi Heye absolutely refused to admit that he was too devoted to being a hater and knew everything about SHEEP's every move. He was certain that it was because drugs had impaired his intelligence.
At this moment, the fake sheep, having completed its bow, stood in the center of the dance floor, its lines once again floating on the large screen behind it—
"My dear lambs, to celebrate our baby having a name, I'm here today to give you all an unprecedented treat!"
As everyone watched the screen, they cheered in sync with the rhythm of the subtitles.
Yi Heye and Jian Yunxian also focused their attention on watching, and the next second, the subtitles changed:
"After diligent research and development, Lost Lamb's new and improved product will soon be available to everyone—"
A new, improved product? Yi Heye and Jian Yunxian held their breath almost simultaneously.
Next, a small sheep-shaped file folder appeared on the big screen, and Yi Heye immediately recognized it as his original design.
Its eyes weren't as bright and lively as Sheep's, its fur wasn't as pure white as Sheep's, its expression wasn't as cute and lively as Sheep's, its horns weren't the right length, its ears were a different color, and even its little hooves were thinner and longer than Sheep's.
He doesn't know anything! Short legs are the essence of SHEEP's entire image. This slight change in proportion completely ruins that adorable image and is simply a disgrace to SHEEP!
Anti-counterfeiting activist Yi Heye couldn't help but give this product design a full thumbs down—piracy is piracy, and fake will always be fake!
Unfortunately, the audience below was blind; they all called themselves "believers," yet they couldn't even tell that their "god" was a fake.
Cherish life, stay away from drugs. Yi Heye was filled with mixed emotions.
At this moment, the file package was moved to the center of the stage, like a stiff ballerina in a crystal ball, twirling in place with a thin, eerie lamb leg raised high.
The subtitles behind him provided an explanation of the product concept.
"This improved version of Lost Lamb not only greatly improves the user experience, shortens absorption time, enhances stimulation, and prolongs the duration of efficacy, but most importantly, it takes a historic step forward in terms of its delivery method!"
This statement alerted Yi Heye.
"From now on, Lost Lamb no longer needs offline storage devices such as USB flash drives as a medium. Instead, it can be used directly for online input. From now on, family members no longer need to worry about the inconvenience of carrying it, its conspicuousness when using it, or the risk of being caught by customs for offline transactions. As long as you have an internet-connected computer and a brain-computer interface, you can enjoy the supreme happiness that Lost Lamb brings you anytime, anywhere!"
Amidst a cacophony of shrieks, Yi Heye stared at the lines of text before him. Though his mind hadn't fully registered the message, his keen intuition had already conveyed a profound sense of unease.
"The improved product will be available on the official online store this Saturday at 8 PM."
"At that time, 10,000 copies of the 50MB Lost Lamb file will be given away for free as a bonus. Everyone is welcome to come and grab them on time!"
This episode pushed the atmosphere to its peak, with the overwhelming cheers almost causing the high-end headsets on the helmets to malfunction.
At this moment, the shape of a USB flash drive appeared on the big screen.
"Now! Let's raise our hands!!"
Everyone raised their hands simultaneously, holding them upright in the air like rows of soldiers who had been resurrected, bayonets in hand, stiff and proud.
Some of them are not particular enough, holding an empty space without any projection in their hands, while others are more refined, not forgetting to create a model of the USB drive in the virtual world.
But everyone's poised expressions were like a burning flame, so fervent it was terrifying.
Yi Heye looked at Jian Yunxian's raised hand. Although it was just a ball of air that he had clenched with great acting skills, it did not diminish the atmosphere. It still made him so nervous that his heart was about to stop beating.
"three!"
As if they had rehearsed countless times, everyone instinctively reached for their brain-computer interfaces.
"two!"
Then, everyone eagerly reached for the USB drive near the port.
"one!"
Like a perfectly aligned electronic army, the faint clicking sounds, though numerous, created a thunderous roar.
"Let us bid this final farewell to this outdated ritual!!"
The line of flashing text appeared in the dark hall, and even though Yi Heye was off-screen, he was almost blinded by the light.
Amidst this visually stunning, almost Big Bang-like effect, as if before any sound could even reach the hall, an eerie silence fell.
In the scene, Yi Heye could see the body stiffening briefly from the intense inhalation, and also the eyes rolling back in ecstasy.
There were soft rustling sounds of fabric in the room, along with suppressed sighs.
Then, an exaggerated gasp was heard, like a spark falling into a highly concentrated alcohol solution.
A restless flame ignited, and madness, like a missile whose fuse had burned out, exploded on the screen with a deafening roar.
A roar! A convulsion! A throbbing!
Some people took off their underwear and threw it into the air, some went crazy and grabbed the people next to them, forcibly kissing and raping them, and some climbed to a high place and frantically masturbated naked in front of everyone below the stage.
For a moment, Yi Heye couldn't tell whether what was stimulating him was the tidal wave of screams and shouts, or the suddenly bizarre scene before him. In an instant, he even felt that the people in the scene could no longer be called human, but a group of indescribable demons existing beyond his imagination—
He saw men's and women's clothes flying everywhere, and saw them having sex in public like mad dogs. Because it was so lewd and violent, Yi Heye no longer felt ashamed, but felt endless horror amidst the blood and fluids splattering everywhere.
The screen was filled with faces of all colors: pale, flushed, bluish-purple... Some were so excited that their jaws dislocated, some were so agitated that their eyes bulged out, and some had their legs twisted behind their heads in bizarre postures, seemingly broken, but they didn't feel any pain at all.
Just as he frowned, unwilling to look any longer, a man in front of him suddenly opened his mouth and viciously bit the old man's face. Blood splattered everywhere, but the surrounding people seemed to be infected by the atmosphere, becoming even more excited.
While typical holographic games offer physical protection for players, the current unregulated situation makes it difficult to say whether it will cause any harm to people.
At this moment, Yi Heye's room was stained crimson by the projection of this image, and one could almost smell the nauseating stench of blood even through the screen.
To be honest, having walked the line of duty for so many years, Yi Heye had seen far more bloody and disgusting scenes than this, but seeing thousands upon thousands of people in a state of madness and frenzy still made him feel very uncomfortable.
This is a living hell that even people living in a garbage dump like Zone D would find hard to imagine.
Seemingly hearing Yi Heye's increasingly labored breathing coming through the earpiece, Jian Yunxian slightly averted her gaze. Then, a line of text appeared in front of Yi Heye:
"There's probably nothing more to see after this, can we end it now?"
While saying this, she was still mindful of Yi Heye's feelings. Yi Heye replied with difficulty, "Yes, come back soon."
Upon hearing this, Jian Yunxian turned around and walked out of the live broadcast room without looking back.
With a soft "click," the connection was broken, and the noise, terror, and waves in front of him all receded, leaving the walls of the room as white as snow. Yi Heye only felt a buzzing in his ears.
Sitting in front of the computer, Jian Yunxian slowly took off his helmet. Compared to Yi Heye's pale and ugly face behind him, his expression was as calm as ever, as if he had just watched a boring movie.
As expected, AI is just AI. Yi Heye thought to himself, feeling another wave of indescribable disappointment.
But this AI is a very intelligent and considerate guy. When he saw that Yi Heye looked unwell, he got up and went to the side to pour him a cup of hot water, watching him drink it.
His appearance made it seem as if Yi Heye was the one who had personally witnessed the terrifying scene.
Yi Heye recovered from the intense nausea and looked up to ask, "Are you alright?"
Jian Yun chuckled, "Your tie isn't even crooked."
Yi Heye breathed a sigh of relief, then sat down opposite him, waiting for him to recount the gains he had made from attending the live stream.
Jian Yunxian turned around and displayed a pile of application files and a long list on the screen—
"These are drug-using aids purchased from the marketplace, as well as lists of livestream participants captured by a super web crawler."
If the former was an exclusive resource acquired through financial power, then the latter truly proves that Jian Yunxian is an extremely skilled hacker.
One of the key characteristics of the dark web is its extreme secrecy. As mentioned before entering the live stream, personal information is absolutely confidential. Even though Yi Heye knew nothing about this industry, he knew that being able to compile everyone's list in such a short time was truly remarkable.
Yi Heye offered sincere praise: "Impressive, no wonder you are the world's number one hacker."
Just as Jian Yunxian was about to feel proud, he realized that the person who should accept the praise was "his good friend SHEEP," so he quickly changed his words and said, "Yes, as expected of him."
Yi Heye quickly scanned the long list, the dense text making his head throb. Jian Yunxian simply helped him highlight the key figures: "Liu Zhi, Sister Qin... and Chen Sang, their IPs are all involved."
Yi Heye was not surprised, but upon hearing the name Chen Sang and recalling the terrifying scene from earlier, he felt a sense of melancholy.
Seeing him lost in thought, Jian Yunxian snapped her fingers in front of him. Yi Heye snapped out of his daze, looked at him, and hadn't yet managed to hide the disappointment in his eyes.
"These are all personal choices," Jian Yunxian said with a hint of helplessness. "No one can turn back now that it's come to this."
Yi Heye understood, and could only nod: "Yes, I know."
“Speaking of which, there’s something else we need to pay close attention to.” Jian Yunxian said, while highlighting the icon of the online Lost Lamb. “This ugly sheep feels very ominous.”
Yi Heye also thought the sheep was too ugly, but then he realized that the person was talking about something else entirely.
That's the truth. When he announced this, he felt a strong sense of unease, but lacking analytical skills, he didn't know where the problem lay.
“It can be directly disseminated online, and if the premise is based on a purchase relationship, it’s not really a big problem,” Jian Yunxian said. “But what if this document is disguised and implanted in popular software, large games, public power outlets, and so on…?”
When Jian Yunxian got to this point, Yi Heye finally couldn't help but widen his eyes—
If it is only used as a "drug" and spread in a small area, its harm is relatively limited. However, once it is implanted into the surface network of the masses, the consequences are like putting a deadly poison into everyone's drinking water source, and almost no one can escape it.
At that time, the world will become a true hell on earth.
The terrifying scene from earlier flashed through Yi Heye's mind again, and he felt a cold sweat break out all over his body. He quickly asked Jian Yunxian to pack up the documents and then made a phone report to his superiors.
The higher-ups also attached great importance to this, but they discovered a clue in Yi Heye's reporting phone call:
"You mean, although you witnessed the entire event, you didn't learn anything about the identity of the event host or the person in charge of the live broadcast?"
Yi Heye was a little nervous—he had indeed concealed the information about the fake SHEEP from his superiors.
He didn't know how to explain it; he had no evidence that this SHEEP was not the same as that SHEEP, because his superiors had never once trusted his "intuition."
Of course, he couldn't tell his superiors that the person they were looking for was actually this seemingly reliable Mr. Jian Yunxian, who was sitting in the audience watching the imposters make a fuss and then came back to complain to me about how ugly the other party's trademark was.
Although Yi Heye knew all too well that lying to his superiors was a very unwise choice, at this moment, there seemed to be no better option.
He could only say, "Yes, the other party is hiding very well; we can't find any relevant information."
Fortunately, his superiors were focused on the major public safety incident, and Yi Heye hung up the phone with some skepticism, letting out a small sigh of relief.
Turning his head, he saw Jian Yunxian looking at him somewhat awkwardly. This person rarely showed such an expression, which made Yi Heye quite curious.
"What's wrong?" Yi Heye asked.
"Why don't you suspect..." Jian Yunxian hesitated for a moment, "Even if you always think I am SHEEP, it is entirely possible that I could appear in two places at the same time."