Buzz—!
A low-frequency hum, like an invisible needle, pierced deep into the brain of every viewer. Even through the live broadcast signal, the energy impact originating from the scene was heart-palpitating!
Immediately after—
Rumble—!!!
A roar far more terrifying than any previous explosion instantly drowned out all sound.
In the live broadcast, the Skynet laser array equipment—the crystallization of Arasaka Heavy Industries' technology—erupted with blinding energy flashes from within the moment the EMP shockwave swept past, looking like ignited firework tubes!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
A chain reaction of explosions occurred with a destructive force. The live broadcast was instantly swallowed by blinding white light, violent flames, and alloy structures torn into countless fragments.
The violent vibration caused the camera to shake frantically, until finally, amidst a piercing noise of electrical static—
Zzzt—! Pop!
The live broadcast screen went completely black!
Only in the small window of the commentary booth, Lin Ran and Su Xiaowei were death-gripping the edges of the broadcast desk, their faces pale as they tumbled back and forth with the violent tremors shaking the building. The background wall behind them even showed faint cracks, and files and equipment fell to the floor with a clatter.
[Holy crap!!!! It exploded?! It really exploded?!]
[Black screen! Where's the picture?!]
[Didn't they say it wasn't afraid of EMP?! This blast is fiercer than setting off fireworks!]
[I'm in the Fifth District! I saw a huge hole blow open in the middle of the Apex building! Flames are reaching the sky! It looks like it was hit by a missile!]
[@Arasaka Tech Engineer! @Apex Security Technician! Come out and say something! Where's your 'itching'? Where's your 'MIL-STD-461G Level 5'?!]
[Don't run, the guy who said he'd eat excrement earlier! The whole internet is witnessing this! Start your stream quick!]
[What about Cifera? Is she still alive?! This explosion is too terrifying!]
The bullet-chat completely exploded! Shock, panic, schadenfreude, and frantic tagging—all sorts of emotions swept in like a tsunami!
In the commentary booth, the violent vibrations finally subsided slightly.
Lin Ran and Su Xiaowei stood up unsteadily, supporting themselves on the table. Looking at the completely black main screen and the frantically scrolling bullet-chat pool next to it, which was full of questioning and mockery, both of their expressions turned extremely ugly.
Although professional ethics forced them to suppress the surging waves in their hearts, the instinctive panic in their eyes was hard to hide.
"Quick!!" Lin Ran almost roared. He temporarily cut off the public broadcast signal, keeping only the internal communication of the commentary booth. "Drones! Mobilize all available drones immediately! Show me the situation on L16-L17! And find Cifera's location! Now!!"
The technical team behind him was already in a mess. Everyone was covered in sweat, fingers tapping frantically on the consoles, as various alarms and error prompts rang out one after another.
"Lin... Commentator Lin! The middle section of the building is severely damaged! Most of our internal monitoring nodes are offline! We are trying to launch backup drones!" A technician's voice was trembling.
Soon, a high-altitude drone that had been launched in an emergency transmitted an overhead view.
When that shocking sight was projected onto the screen in front of Lin Ran and Su Xiaowei, both of them gasped!
The grand glass curtain wall building of the Apex Entertainment Fifth District branch had an irregular, massive gap over twenty meters in diameter blown open near its middle! Steel and concrete were twisted and turned outward as if bitten by a giant beast, and raging flames and dense smoke were constantly spewing from the hole! Shattered building debris fell from the sky like rain! The entire area was a mess, and fire and security shuttles were rushing in from all directions!
"This... this..." Lin Ran pointed at the screen, his fingers shaking, his voice so dry he could barely speak. "This destructive power... how could this be caused by just a few EMP grenades?! Even a heavy aerial bomb might not..."
"Commentator Lin! The preliminary accident analysis report is out!" Another technician almost lunged at the console, reporting at high speed, his voice carrying disbelief. "The source of the explosion is confirmed to be the Skynet laser array clusters!"
"The reason?!" Su Xiaowei asked urgently, unable to accept this result.
"It's... the EMP impact!" The technician swallowed with difficulty.
"The internal energy confinement fields and core control systems of the array... suffered a... chain-reaction collapse under the EMP shock! The electromagnetic shielding of the protective casing... completely failed! The high-energy particle beams stored inside... instantly lost control and collided... which then triggered the ultra-high-yield energy secondary explosions!"
"Failed?! How could the protective casing fail?!" Su Xiaowei slammed the table, losing her composure.
"That protection was designed according to the highest military standards! It could even withstand a tactical-level EMP bomb! How could those little things in her hand contain such terrifying energy?! Not only did they penetrate the protection, but they also triggered an energy loss of control enough to blow up half a floor?! The energy levels don't match up at all!"
"We... we don't know either!" The technician was almost in tears.
"Now L16-L17 are severely damaged, and most sensors and black boxes have been completely destroyed! We can't collect the actual EMP peak outside the array at the moment of the explosion! Preliminary speculation... maybe her EMP grenades underwent some... unknown energy amplification? Or... or her ability itself has an extremely strong interference property with energy fields?" His voice was full of uncertainty and fear.
"Unknown amplification... energy interference..." Lin Ran muttered to himself in a daze, a massive sense of powerlessness and frustration instantly overwhelming him.
Their carefully designed traps, along with all their predictions and models, were as fragile and laughable as sandcastles in front of the other party's completely incomprehensible and varied powers.
"This... this completely exceeds all our contingency plans and understanding..."
The entire control room fell into a dead silence, save for the hum of operating equipment and the faint sound of fire alarms in the distance.
A heavy sense of defeat and fear of unknown power weighed on everyone's hearts.
"Lin Ran..." Su Xiaowei's voice carried a hint of exhaustion and bewilderment. She looked at the black main screen and the preview of the chaotic bullet-chat outside. "Like... like this... do we still... keep broadcasting?" Her voice was full of uncertainty, even a trace of retreat.
Now this livestream had completely lost control, becoming a live broadcast of a disaster scene.
Lin Ran suddenly snapped back to his senses. He glanced at the chaotic bullet-chat and the massive losses outside, then at the exhaustion in Su Xiaowei's eyes.
He took a deep breath. As the lead commentator, he had to make a decision.
"Wait for me." Lin Ran's voice was resolute. He quickly opened his encrypted personal terminal and, with slightly trembling fingers, dialed a top-priority number.
It was an emergency contact line directly to President Wu's assistant at Apex Entertainment Group.
The brief ringtone felt as long as a century.
Finally, the line connected.
Soon, a young and calm female voice came through:
"Hello, Commentator Lin Ran. I am President Wu's private assistant."
Lin Ran's heart tightened, and he spoke hurriedly, his voice full of urgency and a request for instructions:
"Assistant Shen! Emergency! A severe explosion occurred on L16-L17, the losses are massive, the live signal is cut, and Cifera's situation is unknown. We..."
"Commentator Lin," the female assistant's voice calmly interrupted him, without the slightest ripple, as if she had long anticipated all of this. "President Wu is handling related matters. She asked me to tell you and your team—"
Lin Ran's heart leapt into his throat.
"—Keep broadcasting."
"?!" Lin Ran and Su Xiaowei were stunned simultaneously, almost thinking they had misheard.
The female assistant's voice remained steady, clearly conveying the supreme command:
"President Wu said: 'She can afford the losses, but the hype must not drop.' So please, both of you, restore the live signal immediately, soothe the audience, report the situation on the scene in real-time, and continue to track Cifera's movements. No matter what happens, the livestream must continue."
With that, before Lin Ran could have any reaction, the call was decisively disconnected.