Chapter 714 - 447: Celestial Mandate (Part 2)
"Me too!"
"Are we having a collective hallucination?"
Hearing this, Wang Wu’s expression froze.
"You’re saying you guys got bound to a system too?!"
After they all confirmed it, the group stared at one another, seeing the same shock and confusion in each other’s eyes.
...
Wang Wu’s situation was not an isolated case.
It was a microcosm of what was happening to countless people on Kapu Star.
At that very moment.
On Kapu Star.
Every human.
No, to be more precise, any being with sufficient intelligence was granted the ’Celestial Destiny System’.
This system had only one goal: to search for and capture beings known as ’Alien Origin Bodies’.
Whenever an Alien Origin Body was successfully captured, the system would grant the captor a reward.
The capture process itself wasn’t difficult.
As long as one made physical contact with it, the Celestial Destiny System would activate and perform the capture.
The only difficulty was that Alien Origin Bodies were extremely dangerous, possessing all sorts of bizarre abilities.
A moment’s carelessness upon meeting one could result in death.
In the beginning, people were still wary.
They suspected something was wrong with the whole situation.
Some self-proclaimed experts even came out of the woodwork.
They began to "educate" the public.
They claimed it was a collective mental illness affecting all of humanity.
The so-called ’Celestial Destiny System’ did not exist.
It was a case of mass hysteria.
Similar illnesses had appeared before, but they typically occurred within specific groups, and the number of people affected was nowhere near the current scale.
The cause was attributed to psychological stress, emotional contagion, environmental factors, and the like.
As for why this illness had become a global phenomenon, current research suggested a possible link to a special type of cosmic radiation.
The public was urged to remain calm and not to worry excessively.
Medical science was advancing day by day, and it was believed that this illness would surely be overcome in the near future.
Hearing this explanation, most people felt both disappointed and relieved.
After all, everyone had seen the sky turn red earlier.
It fit perfectly with the description of a strange phenomenon caused by some kind of radiation.
The world is a bizarre place; it wasn’t out of the question that such radiation could exist and cause this kind of mass hallucination.
The only good news was that this ’Celestial Destiny System’ didn’t seem to interfere with people’s normal lives.
Thus, the public was temporarily placated.
But this calm didn’t last long.
Less than a day later, an online livestream shattered it all.
The streamer was an influencer with around a million followers.
On screen was a Young Man with a buzz cut, wearing a black tank top.
A fierce wolf head was tattooed on his arm, and his flushed face revealed an uncontrollable excitement.
"Fam!"
His voice trembled slightly with excitement.
"There have been a lot of rumors flying around about the ’Celestial Destiny System’ lately, but I’m here to tell you.
That’s all bullshit! The Celestial Destiny System is real!"
The Young Man took a deep breath, his chest heaving as he tried to calm his surging emotions.
After a moment, he said, "I know you might not believe me, so I’ll prove it to you!"
Before the words had even left his mouth, a cluster of reddish-orange flames suddenly erupted from his palm.
The fire danced in his hand, scorching the surrounding air until it shimmered and warped.
Seeing this, the livestream chat instantly exploded:
"HOLY SHIT! Those special effects are way too realistic!"
"With effects like these, the streamer should change careers. This is wasted talent."
"Did the streamer rub phosphorus powder on his hand?"
...
The Young Man ignored the doubts in the comments, his voice deep as he spoke.
"This is my Ability, Flame Manipulation."
As he spoke, searing tongues of fire suddenly burst from every pore of his body.
In an instant, his entire body was transformed into a blazing figure of fire.
What was most horrifying was that the Young Man, engulfed in flames, seemed to feel no pain at all.
The next second, with a deafening BOOM, he shot into the sky, propelled by the flames like a reverse meteor.
The livestream fell into a brief, dead silence, before the comments erupted like a volcano.
"Mommy, I saw a Superhuman!"
"My guess is the streamer was on a wire harness, then doused himself in gasoline and lit himself on fire to create this effect... MY ASS! This is a Superhuman!"
"I knew there were Immortals in this world! Look, an Immortal is flying, and I’m still stuck pedaling a bike on the ground."
...
The Young Man carved a dazzling arc of fire through the sky, completing a perfect loop before slowly descending.
However, the intense flames had incinerated all his clothes, revealing his naked body.
This sudden turn of events immediately triggered the livestream platform’s sensitive content detection system.
The stream instantly went black, leaving only a system message: [This broadcast contains content that may violate our terms of service and is currently under review.]
After a brief silence, the streamer’s video section completely boiled over with comments:
"The ban came at the perfect time!"
"That move was so hardcore! He went full commando!"
"UNCENSORED VERSION, PLEASE!!"
"Is that really the point here? Shouldn’t the point be that he can actually breathe fire and fly?!"
...
Soon, the first human to complete the capture of an Alien Origin Body appeared and revealed the Ability they had obtained online.
It was like dropping a torpedo into a lake that was already turbulent beneath the surface.
At first, some still questioned if the footage was just special effects.
But soon, as time went on, more people completed the capture of Alien Origin Bodies.
They demonstrated their new abilities online, though each one was different.
Some could turn their bodies into steel, others could travel through the ground, use Mind Sensing, and more...
Instantly, a series of related topics blew up the trending lists across the entire planet:
#TheTruthAboutAlienOriginBodies#
#DoGodsReallyExist#
#CaptureAlienOriginBodiesToGetSuperpowers#
#CelestialDestinySystemChangesHumanity#
...
As time passed, more and more people announced that they had indeed received rewards from the Celestial Destiny System.
Those who had been observing from the sidelines could no longer hold back.
They began a frantic, planet-wide search for Alien Origin Bodies.
As for the risk of death? What did that matter?
For money, people would captain fishing boats to battle storms on raging seas. They would descend into dark mines thousands of meters underground. They would exhaust their lives working day and night in sweatshops.
Which of these professions wasn’t a dance with death?
And all they sought was a meager wage to survive.
Now, Extraordinary Power was right in front of them.
Once obtained, power, status, and wealth would all be within reach.
This was an eternal truth, whether in the primitive era of eating raw meat and drinking blood, the modern age of steel and concrete, or the vast, boundless interstellar epoch.