True Apocalypse Game

"I am... Ivanovic, a senior advisor in the Kremlin’s advisory group to Turkey, and the head of the Purification Society’s Middle East region..." Ivanovic’s consciousness seemed to be fading, his gaze dazed as he stated his identity. "Cthulhu... Cthulhu..."

At the mention of Cthulhu’s name, his face suddenly contorted as if he were in extreme pain. Beads of sweat broke out on his forehead, trickling down his cheeks.

"Shen Feng, strong neural signals are appearing in his pineal gland." Jingwei’s voice rang in Shen Feng’s consciousness, making him nod slightly.

"Cthulhu... Cthulhu is the leader of the Purification Society..."

Ivanovic didn’t reveal Cthulhu’s location, offering his identity as the answer instead.

"Who is the Whisperer?" Shen Feng asked in a low, rhythmic voice.

"The... The Whisperer..." He had barely uttered the two words when his eyes suddenly rolled back into his head. His entire body convulsed, and foam frothed from his mouth as if he were having an epileptic seizure.

"Strong neural signals, even stronger than before... dozens of times stronger!" Jingwei’s voice sounded again. The images on the surrounding walls changed to a real-time scan of Ivanovic’s brain, and his pineal gland, magnified hundreds of times, appeared before Shen Feng.

That blurry human face was now opening its mouth, as if it were speaking rapidly!

And the previously indistinct "eyes" now had a faint outline, as if they were slowly opening!

The next instant, the convulsing Ivanovic abruptly stopped. His rolled-back eyes returned to their normal position, his gaze perfectly clear. A polite smile even appeared on his face as he looked at Shen Feng and said:

"The Whisperer is you... and me. It is the warriors slaughtering each other on the battlefield, the passersby hurrying along, the mother making soup for her child, the lovers in the throes of passion... The malice between humans is like an Abyss, indescribable, ineffable. Open your eyes and look at everything around you. Filthy, ugly, false, ignorant—this is humanity... Soon, you will discover your own true heart, your disgust for humanity. Soon, you will destroy everything and purify this world..."

’Reverse Hypnosis?’

Shen Feng understood that it was all related to Ivanovic’s pineal gland. The mutation in the Purifiers’ pineal glands granted them powerful resistance to Hypnosis, and even the ability to perform it in reverse.

But this was his home turf.

’I’ve seen plenty of little tricks like this. The Master of the Void from High-dimensional Space is leagues beyond you, and I’ve had pleasant chats with him.’

He gave a faint smile and nodded at Ivanovic.

The next instant, the Nanomechanical Cluster and microelectrodes inside Ivanovic’s brain discharged, administering direct electroshock therapy to his brain!

A shrill scream erupted from Ivanovic’s mouth. He felt as if his cerebrospinal fluid was about to boil. The pain originating from the depths of his brain was beyond the limits of human endurance!

He wanted to pass out, but discovered that under the electric shock originating from inside his own brain, his body’s natural failsafe of losing consciousness was completely useless!

Shen Feng was expressionless, his fingers steepled under his chin, as he watched the constantly struggling and convulsing Ivanovic.

He only stopped the electric shock when he detected signs of a minor hemorrhage within the man’s brain.

The Nanomechanical Cluster inside Ivanovic’s cranial cavity quickly went to work, devouring the dead cells and transporting them through his bloodstream to various parts of his body, to be expelled as sweat and urine.

Besides construction, one of the original intended purposes of the Nanomechanical Cluster was micromedicine.

’It’s certainly proving to be very useful.’

Ivanovic was on the verge of collapse. Although he was strapped to the operating table, he was completely unable to support his own weight and could only hang from the restraints.

He was drenched in sweat, as if he had been doused with water.

But his face was twisted in an excited, maniacal laugh as he continued:

"You’ve already become brutal... Soon... Very soon you’ll be one of us... one of the ineffable things that whisper in the darkness... Seemingly noble, but truly resentful. Seemingly steadfast, but truly ruthless... This is you..."

On the projected walls around them, the facial structure on the surface of the magnified pineal gland also seemed to be twisting in a maniacal laugh.

The mouth-like fold was also trembling, as if it were Ivanovic’s true self, and the man strapped to the operating table was merely a puppet.

This scene couldn’t help but remind Shen Feng of Heinlein’s *The Puppet Masters*.

Shen Feng, however, remained surprisingly calm. He continued to direct the Nanomechanical Cluster, making it swarm swiftly through the blood vessels and brain tissue to surround the exterior of Ivanovic’s pineal gland.

It enveloped the face that had grown on the pineal gland.

The next instant, the Nanomechanical Cluster acted in unison, beginning to devour Ivanovic’s pineal gland!

Ivanovic, who had been in the middle of his tirade, froze for a moment. Then, his expression twisted into a mixture of pain, rage, and mania. He began to struggle desperately once more, as if he wanted to break his restraints, smash his own skull open, and clear out the Nanomechanical Cluster.

"GNNH... GNNH..." A beast-like growl escaped his throat. Tears and snot streamed down his face; he was clearly in immense pain.

This pain was incomparable, far worse than even the electrocution from before.

Shen Feng remained unmoved. The Nanomechanical Cluster continued to gnaw away. In a short time, it had eaten away at Ivanovic’s pineal gland, shrinking it to about one and a half times the normal size.

The original face on its surface had now completely disappeared. In its place was a shape giving the middle finger!

Ivanovic’s gaze was now vacant, as if his soul had been ripped out. He cautiously raised his head to glance at Shen Feng, but the moment their eyes met, he trembled like a frightened animal and dropped his head, all of his earlier madness and darkness gone.

’He finally looked like a normal person ought to.’

Looking at the middle finger shape on the projected walls, Shen Feng nodded in satisfaction.

Then he snapped his fingers, and on the surrounding projected walls, all sorts of gory and brutal images began to flash again in a unique rhythm.

The white noise of ocean waves and wind filled the air.

Shen Feng’s Silicon-Based Brain emitted gentle brainwaves toward Ivanovic. At the same time, he controlled the microelectrodes and Nanomechanical Cluster inside the man’s head, making them slowly release a soft current to stimulate his brain.

Shen Feng lowered his voice and spoke in a unique rhythm:

"...You are a Purifier, a believer in the Whisperer... a member of the Purification Academy... You once believed humanity deserved to be destroyed... but now, you’ve had enough... Is destruction really the only fate for human civilization?... Will destroying everything really make things better?... Perhaps civilization should be given time... let time bear witness to all... What is the Whisperer? Is it humanity’s malice, or some high-dimensional entity with ulterior motives? You’ve never known... You’re tired... You’re beginning to question the meaning of it all... If the world must truly be purified, then shouldn’t the Whisperer and the Purification Society also be purified?... Can an almighty God create a stone so heavy He cannot lift it?... If destruction is the meaning of everything, then why was anything ever born..."

Ivanovic’s expression kept changing, at times relaxed, at times conflicted, at times filled with sublime purpose.

All of this was penetrating deep into his brain, not just in the form of sound, but also as electrical stimulation signals.

As Shen Feng observed the changes in Ivanovic, he found the process quite fascinating.

’Human consciousness is so complex, and yet so simple. The act of Hypnosis shares a striking similarity with the ’brain in a vat’ thought experiment.’

Soon, on the projected walls, the terrifying patterns gradually transformed into beautiful things: breathtaking landscapes, touching scenes of love, mouth-watering food, adorable animals, and so on.

Ivanovic’s gaze also began to soften.

"...You love this world... You are a Savior..." Shen Feng continued.

Just then, his wristband suddenly vibrated, and the "True Apocalypse Game" icon flashed once again!