Chapter 202. Public Announcement

     Among Ye Mo’s relatives, only Ling Xiao was aware of the existence of the Survivors and the Spiritual Energy Recovery. But knowing was one thing, being able to call at this moment to reassure her—  

     “Did you join a dungeon?”  

     “No way! We weren’t even allowed to chat on our phones during training,” Ling Xiao quickly denied, then explained, “But some of the ‘outstanding’ students in our group were taken to the Rongcheng Special Operations Base this morning. We learned a lot—the Survivors app, the world’s top ten strongest survivors, and…”  

     He paused, his voice suddenly tinged with sorrow. “We also witnessed something… truly tragic.”  

     “So now, everyone’s calling their families like crazy, terrified that someone might disappear forever. Sis, you don’t need to worry, Grandma Ye will be fine, and Uncle Ye and the others are being watched over by my dad. As for Auntie… I’m not sure. Government employees were the first to learn about the Survivors app and the spiritual energy recovery. Sis, back then, the changes in you—”  

     “Were a bit obvious?”  

     Ye Mo knew there was no hiding it from Uncle Ling now. Once someone learned about the spiritual energy recovery, an experienced policeman like him would easily see through her past excuses her “disguise” back then was likely far from convincing.

     “My dad’s personality, you know…” Ling Xiao swallowed hard. “He’s always treated you like a little sister—no, more like a daughter. Compared to you, I might as well have been picked up off the street, haha… But—”

     “Just like Grandpa,” Ye Mo finished for him,  “When it comes to family versus country, they’ll always choose country. Don’t worry, I trust Uncle Ling’s integrity. And you can rest assured—I’m not doing anything illegal. I won’t be getting arrested.”

     “That’s good, that’s good.” Ling Xiao let out a sigh of relief. “Right now, I’m training at the Qingcheng Sect in Sichuan. The government is recruiting volunteers for team dungeons—they say it’s the safest kind, definitely a huge boost in strength. I, uh…”

     Ye Mo cut in, “I’m not Uncle Ling or Auntie Zhang—don’t try to dodge the issue. Joining a team dungeon means you’re officially a Survivor, which means you’ll be dragged into the next round of dungeons. If you want in, come back to Beijing and beat me first

     “You—!”

     Ye Mo: “You promised.”

     “…” Ling Xiao was left speechless by Ye Mo’s nonchalant attitude and the pit he had dug for himself. He had no choice but to agree once again—no dungeons, no Survivors app. At least, not yet.

     Wang Xue couldn’t help but snicker. “Looks like little brother Ling Xiao will never get the chance to enter the Survivors app in this lifetime

     “He is too impulsive, too immature, and too idealistic.” Ye Mo said flatly. “It’s too dangerous.”

     Wang Xue clapped her hands in mock amusement. “Sister Jing, I finally found a human flaw in you today, you’re a domineering, authoritarian guardian. With this attitude, little brother Ling might just rebel one day.” 

      That said, whether it was Ye Mo, Wang Xue, or Watson, having truly experienced life-and-death struggles themselves, how could they possibly feel at ease letting their own loved ones join?  

     They all understood.  

     Ye Mo set aside the matter of Ling Xiao for now. “He should be fine. They might even protect him. But my identity is exposed.”  

     Her tone was certain.  

     The glasses, the timing of her first dungeon, her engineering background—the government wasn’t stupid. The only reason she had managed to hide it for so long was because they had stopped investigating and even covered up for her against foreign spies.  

     But now, with the information practically handed to them on a silver platter, even Watson and Wang Xue wouldn’t be able to keep it under wraps much longer.

     Fortunately, given the trio’s current strength, there was absolutely no risk of them losing their freedom or being forced into anything against their will.

     Their biggest concern now was the safety of their loved ones—especially if rogue organizations or other nations caught wind of the situation…  

     Ye Mo, and Wang Xue exchanged a knowing glance, each already understanding the others’ thoughts without words.  

     …

     Meanwhile, Watson was still on the phone with his older brother.  

     On the other end of the line, his father, mother, grandfather, uncle, cousin, and others were gathered. Already, 30% of the Lin family knew about the Survivors app, and five of them had undergone aptitude testing and begun training.  

     Watson knew his family was deeply worried about him, so he reassured them while briefly describing his dungeon experiences—keeping his account objective, acknowledging both successes and hardships.  

     First, because he understood his family’s ability to handle the truth. Second, because he knew that misinformation in a life-or-death game only increased the danger, while accurate intelligence could save lives.

     Watson’s family called not only to report that they were safe, but also about their family business. The increase in the employee resignation rate was a foregone conclusion, and they also received an olive branch of reform from the national medical and health department this morning.

     They sought Watson’s opinion.  

     There was likely no one on Earth who understood medicine more deeply than Watson, nor who grasped the immense impact the Spiritual Energy Revival would have on the healthcare industry. His answer was unequivocal compliance with reforms.  

     But he insisted on reviewing the reform proposal first.  

     Then there was the matter of the Lin family’s overall future planning, as well as individual paths for each member.  

     The more Watson thought about it, the more his head ached. But now, it seemed the Supernatural Investigation Bureau finding out might not be such a bad thing after all.

     …

     Wang Xue was born in a small town in the southwest.  

     Given her only remaining relative’s, her mother’s anxiety-prone and fragile heart, she often sent many good things back home but never dared to tell her about the Survivors app.  

     She didn’t even dare to visit too often, lest her mother notice something amiss just from her presence.  

     Her mother might not be sharp with others, but when it came to her, she was as perceptive as Detective Di Renjie. Precisely because of this, her mother would never recklessly tap on some strange app like those “idiots” they’d heard about.  

     Listening Watson and Ye Mo answering and making calls, she also called home.

     Her mother’s voice, thick with a strong local accent, came through the receiver. A natural chatterbox, she didn’t even wait for Wang Xue to speak, launching into a long, rambling monologue of her own.

     From her mother’s ramblings, Wang Xue learned that their family had opened a new martial arts school, conveniently located next to a military compound. The town was now patrolled daily by uniformed officers, the seventh national census had begun, and prices for daily groceries like rice, oil, salt, and tea had all gone up. She heard about who had recently lost their job, which neighbor had quit theirs, how a flying thief was caught in the next town over, and how a construction site in the city was haunted by Ming dynasty ghosts, no less…  

     Wang Xue had no idea where her mother found so much to talk about, stringing together these completely unrelated events. Yet it was precisely this habit of oversharing, down to how many times she went to the bathroom a day, that put Wang Xue somewhat at ease.  

     But “somewhat” wasn’t enough.  

     Right now, keeping family members together was the safest option. So Wang Xue tentatively floated an invitation: “Mom, do you want to come to Beijing to see the flag-raising ceremony? It’s really impressive. Or we could go to Guangdong to watch the sunrise over the sea, it’s gorgeous.”

     “Well, why didn’t you kid say so earlier, of course we’re going to Tiananmen Square in Beijing.”

     Sometimes, you should never underestimate the wisdom of elders.

     Wang Xue’s dinosaur no longer had to stay cooped up in her storage space. On Earth, in the South China Sea, there was more than one island where it could roam freely, and even help guard the maritime borders.  

     Officers: “……”

     In the dinosaur dungeon, Wang Xue wasn’t the only one who had obtained a dinosaur egg. Online, videos of these creatures, whether labeled “404” or not, were everywhere. After all, their massive size made them impossible to hide. 

     …

     After finishing the discussion with the Supernatural Affairs Bureau, the Bureau gained a new SSS-level classified secret, while Ye Mo’s trio took another step forward in their collaboration with them.  

     The next day, a mysterious visitor arrived at Watson’s renovated villa, only to leave in haste shortly after.  

     Three days later, Maria’s Shop launched a new wave of products, this time in unprecedented quantities, with many entirely new items.  

     Wang Xue’s musical talents hadn’t been prominently showcased in the recent dungeon, so her secondary profession saw little growth. However, thanks to equipment upgrades, her products had expanded significantly, with calming/meditation-themed products remaining the most popular.  

     Watson’s pharmaceuticals, while still lacking the system’s variety due to material shortages, now catered to survivors of all tiers, low, medium, and high. Each able to find suitable remedies.  

     As for Ye Mo’s inventory, it had evolved far beyond cold weapons and standard gear. Attribute-infused firearms now lined the shelves, alongside equipment derived from dinosaurs and monsters: Long Ape Arms, Tiger Claws, Eagle Wings, and even Meow Shields.  

     The auxiliary selection featured space tents, dimensional scrolls, magic restraint arrays, psychic contract parchments, spirit-gathering formations, luminous rings, and other cultivation-assisting commodities.

     As well as products even ordinary people could use: disposable spirit-pattern talismans, basic attribute panels, an ‘Otherworld Knowledge Encyclopedia (—)’, single-player illusion-array VR games, defense needles, and hidden weapons.  

     Surprisingly, the best-selling items were precisely these civilian-accessible goods. Affordable enough for most survivors to purchase not just for themselves, but for loved ones.  

     Thanks to their simplicity, Ye Mo had already mechanized their production into assembly lines. High volume, low margin, yet the profits rivaled high-tier equipment. With ideal partners handling distribution, she could practically sit back and watch the points roll in.  

     One week later, the second product batch launched.  

     Around the time of Maria Shop’s Phase 2 release, nations including China, the U.S., Russia, the U.K., and India etc. officially announced the Spiritual Energy Revival and Survivors app to their citizens, a reluctant but calculated decision, born of exhaustive deliberation.  

      The changes brought by the Spirit Energy Revival were becoming increasingly impossible to conceal.

     If nothing else, mutated flora and fauna had already appeared, along with individuals awakening supernatural talents due to the rising spiritual energy concentration.  

     Moreover, there would always be bad apples among the Survivors, and with the Survivors app being untraceable by modern information technology, its spread was nearly impossible to curb. Rather than letting people stumble blindly to their deaths, it was better to give them the choice of whether to join. 

     Even if many had already guessed the world was changing, the true nature of the ‘Survivors app’ remained beyond their wildest imaginations.  

     The world erupted in uproar. 

     Some nations descended into riots. Some regions spiraled into doomsday frenzy. Others remained largely unchanged. A few countries had already shown signs of shifting from capitalism to “might-makes-right” rule even before the announcement…  

     China, with its massive population, faced particularly complex transformations.  

     Fortunately, the government had prepared extensively in advance. Bit by bit, the situation was being brought under control.  

     Without a doubt, the second batch of Maria Shop’s products was swept clean in no time, not a single defense needle remained.  

     One frustrating reality persisted: No matter how emphatically governments warned of the Survivors app’s dangers, no matter how desperately people pleaded or intervened, the ranks of new Survivors continued to swell visibly each day.  

     The team dungeon (1,000,000/1,000,000 slots) was activated on the third day after the announcement. 

     Watching Watson and Wang Xue vanish before her eyes, Ye Mo hadn’t even finished secretly downing the entire jar of Dukang wine before the two of them activated a Party Summoning Scroll– what a waste!

     Might as well take it with me.