N-A-A Chapter 43 "Fans"! The Holy Grail, a treasure of modern civilization, begins to move.
Chapter 43 "Fans"! The Holy Grail, a treasure of modern civilization, begins to move.
Hu Biao didn't care much about campus melodramas. Given his personality, when Fang Wenyuan approached him, he didn't need to say anything; he could have just ignored him. In fact, Hu Biao initially ignored him, but, well, Fang Wenyuan's timing was just right.
The situation was that he talked a lot, attracting the attention of those around him. Perhaps out of curiosity, or perhaps simply out of gossip, he drew everyone's attention. It was this attraction that made Hu Biao keenly aware that many people were paying attention to him, including quite a few girls. The attention of these girls actually produced a kind of spiritual fluctuation similar to that of believers, and they successfully connected with the faith pool of the temple. This phenomenon had already appeared before. Through the temple system, he discovered that, in addition to his own believers, there were some girls in the school who had seen him who emitted similar spiritual fluctuations and connected with the faith pool, very similar to those of the general believers. This made him make some guesses, and Fang Wenyuan's appearance gave him an opportunity to confirm his guesses.
The Third Civilization is fundamentally different from modern civilization. Their civilization lacks a fan economy, idols, and comedians. Their understanding of civilization is simple and direct, a binary system of gods and believers. Therefore, neither their system nor the information Hu Biao obtained detected this kind of fan-like mental fluctuation. Now, Hu Biao has discovered it; this is the real reason he cooperated with Fang Wenyuan's performance today.
On his bed in the dormitory, Hu Biao closed his eyes. In his mind, the virtual interface of the Third Civilization Temple was floating, with lines of data refreshing like a waterfall.
[Non-standard faith links detected]
Current active links: 427
[Link strength range: 0.01~0.8 Faith Units/Day]
Hu Biao stared at the invisible spiritual connections and fell into deep thought.
Unlike the believers he had previously cultivated in Southeast Asia, the vast majority of these new connections were extremely weak, like candles flickering in the wind, ready to be extinguished at any moment. But they did exist, and were channeling an energy akin to the power of faith into the pool of faith.
Through the feedback from the temple system, he could vaguely sense the emotions behind these connections: curiosity, appreciation, envy, gossip, and even a slight fondness for the "refined scoundrel" persona.
These emotions are completely different from devout faith; they are shallow, fickle, and full of impurities, but in great numbers.
What Hu Biao was even more concerned about was that the difficulty of purifying these mental fluctuations was far lower than that of the original faith of the believers in Southeast Asia.
He seemed to understand something vaguely.
The faith of Southeast Asian believers stems from awe of supernatural forces, an escape from the hardships of reality, and a yearning for salvation through a "judge." These emotions are intense yet complex, mixed with too many personal desires, survival pressures, and cultural backgrounds, like muddy water that needs to be filtered layer by layer.
These mental fluctuations are now much simpler.
Most of them stem from superficial physical attraction, dramatic conflict scenes, or the thrill brought by a certain persona.
These emotions, though not without their impurities, are relatively simple in structure, more like... tap water mixed with coloring?
"So, in the system of the Third Civilization, the fan economy is actually a highly efficient but low-quality source of faith?" Hu Biao felt that this discovery was somewhat absurd, yet inexplicably reasonable.
He recalled the subtle emotional ripples he had felt in the library before, the faint mental waves that had arisen when several girls had secretly glanced at him. Those ripples were even fainter than those today, but they were "purer," lacking the gossip and instead reflecting a simple appreciation of his appearance.
"Holy crap, I think I've found a way to absorb a large amount of spiritual energy without any side effects?"
"To be an idol?! To be a K-pop idol?!"
This idea left Hu Biao somewhat puzzled for a moment.
If his guess is correct, then he has found a safer and more efficient way to acquire faith than developing a religious order.
After all, the Red October Cult is making a huge impact in Southeast Asia. I have to keep a close eye on it to make sure nothing goes wrong. Even so, there will be many troubles in the foreseeable future. But who would associate an idol with supernatural powers when they attract fans?
Why is he so interested in the power of faith in the faith pool? Because it's really delicious!
This is equivalent to a large-scale weapon of mass destruction that he can control at any time. He can call it up whenever he wants, and it can also promote the evolution of his brain and strengthen his mental power. Moreover, he has obtained the method of cultivating and using mental power from the information of the Third Civilization. It can be said that the larger the pool of faith is, the stronger his power will be. Who wouldn't like that?
"However, there's a problem with that too." Hu Biao calmed down. "The temple's filtering system is only basic right now. If too much faith floods in all at once, my spirit might be corrupted!"
Currently, the number of believers and suddenly appearing fans is not large, so the mental fluctuations they generate are still within the tolerance range of the temple's faith pool filtering system. However, once the number of believers increases significantly, the temple's current broken faith filtering system will likely be overwhelmed.
He needs to find a balance!
Hu Biao opened his eyes and sat up in bed.
In the dormitory, his three roommates stared intently at him.
"Sang Biao, are you back to your senses?" Sun Hao asked, panting, after finishing a set. "Lin Wanqing didn't do anything to you, did she?"
"What can you do?" Hu Biao chuckled. "It's just a little girl throwing a tantrum."
"You're really something," Liu Bo said. "But seriously, you're a celebrity on the forum now. I just glanced at it, and that 'refined scoundrel' post has already climbed to number one on the daily list."
"Let them be." Hu Biao waved his hand, got out of bed, and poured himself a glass of water.
But his mind was no longer on gossip.
The value of the fan economy in modern civilization has been confirmed, and that's enough. As for what happens next, let's just wait and see how things unfold!
...I am a dividing line...
Europa, the outskirts of the city of Eiffel Tower in the Republic of Gaul.
Far from the romantic spots featured in travel brochures, hidden amidst hills and forests lies a top-secret facility belonging to the North Sea Alliance.
The surface part of the facility is disguised as a research and development center for a biopharmaceutical company, while 30 meters underground lies the core area encased in layers of alloy and composite shielding materials.
Deep within the core area, in the sealed warehouse codenamed "Sanctuary," a sharp and continuous alarm was blaring, and red warning lights cast a blood-red glow on the silver-gray walls.
On a separate, isolated platform in the center of the warehouse, there was an object: a gold cup with an extremely simple, even somewhat rough, design.
It is not a smooth curve; the cup is engraved with indistinct twisted patterns, and the rim is irregular, as if it were a piece torn off from a larger whole by some enormous force. It stands quietly on a specially made shockproof base, surrounded by up to seventeen layers of binding fields, energy dampers, and physical restraint devices based on different principles.
At this very moment, this relic, one of only two known artifacts from the Third Civilization in the world, unearthed from the ruins of Africa, and called the Holy Grail, is slowly and continuously emanating a faint, almost tangible, black mist from within its rim. The mist is not dense, yet it condenses and does not disperse, swirling slowly within a foot or so above the rim as if it possesses a life of its own, with occasionally a tiny wisp of black smoke attempting to escape.
"Everyone back off! Avoid the fog! Researcher Nano, test results..."
"The energy leakage index is rising and has exceeded the safety threshold!" A researcher wearing a bulky protective suit and a fully enclosed helmet stared at the screen in front of him, which was displaying data that was jumping wildly. His voice came through the communicator, filled with barely suppressed tension.
"Spectroscopic analysis shows that the composition of the black fog matches that of the previous Louvre incident, but the particle activity is 40% higher!" A researcher quickly typed on the keyboard, bringing up a comparison chart.
Outside the observation window of the "Sanctuary," Dr. Alizee Lenore, the institute's duty supervisor for this period, had her lips tightly pressed together, her expression unusually grave. She was around forty years old, her brown hair neatly pulled back, and her eyes behind her gold-rimmed glasses were sharp as an eagle's. Standing beside her were several equally somber-looking senior advisors and security personnel.
"Dr. Lenore, it's been a year and seven months since it last reacted," an elderly advisor with graying hair said in a low voice. "According to the previous cycle model and energy decay curve, it should have remained dormant for at least another five years. What triggered it?"
"It's less about stimulating and more about overflowing!"
Alizee's gaze was fixed on the rising black mist. Nearly two years ago, an incident codenamed "Ash Wednesday" nearly reduced the Louvre, a gem of Gaul, to ashes. At that time, the Holy Grail unleashed black mist without warning, enveloping the entire Louvre and triggering a series of inexplicable spatial distortions and psychological disturbances. This resulted in psychological trauma to thirty-two tourists and a subsequent fire that nearly razed the Louvre to the ground. Research concluded that this was a regular pulsation of the Holy Grail, like the beating of a living heart. However, in recent years, this pulsation had become increasingly frequent. They had originally predicted that it wouldn't pulsate again for at least five years, but now, less than two years later…
"There's a problem. The energy in the Holy Grail has suddenly surged. We can't rule out the possibility of external interference. Seal it immediately and get on high alert. Everyone put on protective suits. I don't want to work with a madman anymore!"