I chose the safe house, and the Human Alliance regretted it.

The next morning, Wang Wei woke up and quickly washed up.

According to my memories from my previous life, the wind blades will begin their indiscriminate attacks at 10:00 AM today.

Judging by the time, it should be about time.

Wang Wei walked to the window, drew back the curtains, and looked at the scene outside.

The sky remained a reddish-yellow hue, and many residents in the neighborhood were strolling around "fully armed." On the road not far away, a few vehicles drove by sparsely.

Everything seemed normal.

No, it's not just as usual.

It's more ordinary than yesterday.

Under Wang Wei's watchful gaze, the wind suddenly stopped.

The branches that were swaying in the wind suddenly came to an eerie stillness.

This scene was noticed by many people.

"Has the wind stopped?"

"Are you alright?"

"Huh, the wind's gone!"

"Can we take off our protective suits now?"

In the residential area, dozens of residents stopped and looked up at the motionless treetops, smiles on their faces.

Someone posted a message in the residents' group: "Is the alarm lifted? I knew there was no doomsday scenario, it's just people scaring themselves."

The message had barely been sent when more than a dozen replies flooded in:

"Haha, I was just getting ready to go out too."

"That streamer Wang Wei made a killing last night, he'll probably be refunding his money today, right?"

"Refund? They tipped voluntarily; this is just a tax on their intelligence."

Wang Wei glanced at the time on his phone: 9:57.

He clicked on the live stream.

The live stream of "Apocalypse Records: Wang Wei" officially started at 9:57 AM.

Just one minute later, more than 10,000 people flooded into the live stream and the number was still rising rapidly, with comments pouring in like a tidal wave.

"Hey hey hey, isn't this the doomsday prophet?"

"Where's the wind blade we were promised? The wind has stopped, so where is it?"

"Hahaha, this is hilarious! The streamer received a ton of donations last night, and then immediately announced the apocalypse was canceled. What a shrewd business deal!"

"What do you know? This is called business acumen—first create anxiety, then harvest the韭菜 (a metaphor for easily exploited people), and once the韭菜 are harvested, the apocalypse will naturally not come."

"Damn it, I was so scared last night that I went to the supermarket and grabbed three boxes of instant noodles, and waited in line for two hours! Wang Wei, you owe me back my time!"

"Hey upstairs, the instant noodles aren't spoiled, keep them and eat them slowly. It's the end of the world, who knows? -- Of course, it could be the day after tomorrow, or the day after that, or the day after that."

"You know what, the wind has stopped today. The sky is a bit yellow, but there's nothing seriously wrong."

Wang Wei: I predict the end of the world will come today. Doomsday: Okay, I'm leaving get off work early.

"Hahaha, this generation of netizens is so mean! I love watching!"

"Where's Wang Wei? Why isn't he saying anything?"

"They probably didn't expect the wind to stop, and now they're in an awkward situation, not knowing how to smooth things over."

"........."

Wang Wei stared blankly at the comments; there were less than two minutes left.

The online mockery was overwhelming, even more intense than yesterday's criticism.

On the trending topics list, "Wang Wei's prediction backfired" has surged to the top spot, with the topic garnering over 100 million views.

Naturally, major bloggers wouldn't miss out on this traffic feast.

Starting at 8 a.m., a large number of outdoor live streamers appeared on the streets fully equipped to broadcast "the last moments before the end of the world".

"Listen carefully, everyone!"

A livestreamer named "Atao's Adventures" stood in the city center square, wearing a full transparent raincoat, making faces at the camera.

"I'm outdoors right now—come on, zoom in, let me see where the legendary wind blade is! Hmm? Where is it?"

He pointed the camera at the sky and turned it 360 degrees.

"Nothing! Absolutely nothing! Except for being a little yellow, the sky is just like my ex-girlfriend's heart—completely empty!"

The comments section was scrolling wildly:

"Hahahaha, Tao's so mean!"

Ex-girlfriend: Are you being polite?

"Ah Tao is awesome! Blow this liar to pieces!"

"Let Wang Wei see what real viewership is! What a real streamer is!"

"Atao really capitalized on this, I'm starting a live stream too! Today, everyone's exposing fakes!"

Atao was overjoyed to see that the number of viewers in his live stream had exceeded 10,000.

His live stream usually only has three or four hundred viewers, and sometimes it barely exceeds a thousand.

Riding the wave of "anti-counterfeiting" today, the number of items surged to 12,000 and is still rising rapidly.

"Thank you for your support, everyone!" He clasped his hands in a fist and bowed. "Today, we'll stay here in the square until ten o'clock and see what that wind blade actually looks like."

"Family members, please share this quickly so Wang Wei can see it!"

Just then, Atao suddenly discovered that Wang Wei had also started a live stream.

"Family, Wang Wei's livestreamed!" His eyes lit up. "How about I connect with him? I can ask him face-to-face where his Wind Blade went!"

"A direct hit! A resounding slap in the face!"

"Connect now!"

"Haha, I want to see the scammer get exposed on the spot!"

"Atao, we've got your back!"

The live stream was filled with shouts and cheers.

"Okay! I'll listen to my family!" Atao started requesting a connection.

He was actually a little nervous inside—after all, he was just a small-time streamer, while Wang Wei was a big streamer with millions of viewers yesterday.

Surprisingly, the connection request was approved immediately!

"Holy crap! Everyone!" Atao exclaimed, both surprised and delighted, "Wang Wei answered! He really answered!"

On the screen, two live streaming rooms appeared side by side.

On the left is Atao—wearing a plastic raincoat, standing in the square, with people coming and going behind him.

On the right is Wang Wei—standing by the window, his face calm.

In Atao's live stream, the chat was flooded with comments:

"Wang Wei really accepted!"

"Over a million viewers on the other side! Holy crap, Atao really hit the jackpot this time!"

"Quickly! Slap them in the face hard!"

Atao cleared his throat, about to speak.

Wang Wei spoke first.

He looked at Atao on the screen, who was wearing a raincoat and standing in the middle of the square, and spoke calmly as if he were stating a weather forecast:

"You'd better find a building to hide in right away."

"Huh?" Tao was taken aback.

The next second, the chat in both live streams exploded simultaneously.

"Hahaha, he's still acting!"

"This scammer is really too immersed in the role!"

"That's hilarious, still pretending at a time like this?"

"Atao: You think I'll just hide because you tell me to? Wouldn't that make me lose face?"

Atao laughed so hard he couldn't stand up straight, winking at the camera: "Teacher Wang, what are you saying—the wind's stopped today, what am I supposed to hide from? The sun?"

He deliberately pointed the camera at the sky, then rotated it 360 degrees: "Look, the wind has stopped! The trees are still! The sky is just yellow dots! What happened to the apocalypse you were talking about? What happened to the wind blades? Did you get the date wrong?"

He paused, then added, "Or is it—the apocalypse has been rescheduled? Tomorrow? The day after tomorrow? The day after that? Please give us a definite answer so we can make arrangements."

The comments section erupted in even more laughter:

"Hahahaha, Tao's mouth is so sharp!"

Wang Wei: You wait here, I'll go check the almanac.

"It's normal for a prophet to get a date wrong, everyone should be understanding."

"It could also be due to time difference; there are time differences in the doomsday scenario."

"Yes, yes, that makes sense!"

Wang Wei looked at the smug Atao on the screen, and then glanced at the overwhelming mockery in the comments section.

He gently shook his head.

"Thirty seconds left."

His voice was very soft, so soft it was as if he were talking to himself.

But the millions of viewers in both live streams fell silent for a second.

The next second, the live chat exploded:

"Thirty seconds? What do you mean?"

"He said the end of the world is in thirty seconds?"

"Hahaha, that was a perfect showmanship, I give it full marks!"

"Tao, run! You have thirty seconds to escape!"

"Atao: Why should I run? I'm waiting to eat shit."

"I've taken a screenshot! If nothing's wrong in thirty seconds, Wang Wei, you can forget about ever going online again!"

Atao laughed so hard that tears almost came out.

He pointed at the screen and shouted exaggeratedly into the camera, "Family members, did you hear that? Thirty seconds left! The end of the world is coming in thirty seconds! I'm so scared—what do I do, what do I do—"

He deliberately pretended to tremble, then suddenly stood up straight, ripped off the plastic bucket mask from his head, took off his transparent raincoat, and threw it on the ground.

"Family! To prove that there is no end of the world, I'm going to risk it all today!"

He stood shirtless in the center of the square, arms outstretched, head tilted back to look at the sky, like a groundhog ready to embrace the sun.

"Come on! Where's the wind blade?! Come and cut me down!"

The live stream chat went completely crazy:

"Atao is awesome!!!"

"A real man, Tao!"

"That was so satisfying to slap them in the face!"

"Haha, Wang Wei's face must be green with envy!"

Wang Wei: You have eight seconds left.

"Who cares how many seconds? There's nothing here anyway!"

However, no one noticed that the previously quiet branches suddenly moved.

It didn't sway in the wind; it fell down without warning.

Behind Atao's camera, a pedestrian suddenly stopped walking, his body cut in half at the waist.

Plop

Tao, who was live-streaming, subconsciously turned his head.

His smile froze instantly.

The first thing I saw was two pieces of a corpse and a pool of blood.

The live stream room fell silent instantly.

"ah--!!!"

Atao finally realized what was happening and let out a heart-wrenching scream.

He threw his phone down and ran away.

But the live stream continued—the camera fell to the ground, focusing precisely on his fleeing figure.

His live stream attracted hundreds of thousands of viewers, and he watched as Atao's figure suddenly stopped.

His upper body lunged forward two steps, but his lower body remained standing still.

Both body parts fell down at the same time.

The screen turned crimson.

The barrage of comments was deathly silent.

A few seconds later, the chat exploded:

"Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit!"

"Aaaaaaah!"

"Is that true?!"

"Is Atao dead?"

"What Wang Wei said is true!"

"Help! Help! Help! I'm outdoors!"

"Run! Run faster!"

"....."

Meanwhile, in a square, hundreds of live streamers and onlookers were instantly turned into pieces of flesh scattered all over the ground.

On the commercial street, screaming crowds scurried about like headless flies.

A mother carrying her child ran into a clothing store, but as soon as she crossed the threshold, the child in her arms went silent.

She looked down and saw that the child's head was gone, and steam was rising from the severed neck.

She opened her mouth but couldn't make a sound, and then she collapsed.

A man huddled under a bench, his eyes tightly shut, muttering "Amitabha, Amitabha."

The chanting stopped abruptly as a piece of the skull was shaved off, exposing the brain to the air, which was still trembling slightly.

Wang Wei stared at the live stream screen, at the more than one million silent viewers.

He spoke softly, his voice as calm as if stating a perfectly ordinary fact:

"Now, do you believe me?"