While busy with his own affairs, Li Ang did not forget to pay attention to the outside world.
Ever since officials announced the existence of the Slaughter Game and proclaimed their intention to establish the Global Occult Coalition, the resulting turmoil had never ceased.
First came the unrest.
The turmoil in major European cities, initially suppressed by local officials, quickly rekindled.
All sorts of troublemakers emerged: devoted doomsayers, opportunists looting wealth under the guise of apocalypse, individuals with ulterior motives claiming to be prophets of disaster, conspiracy theorists who firmly distrusted officials, and the superstitious general populace.
In Europe, the number of such people was substantial. They either paraded on the streets with signs advocating their beliefs or spread shocking rumors online.
After European officials arrested a batch of the most radical individuals, many still remained. These people, having learned their lesson, no longer dared to provoke the armored vehicles guarding the main city streets. Instead, they now wandered in small groups, carrying signs and ambling about—truly, in a rather Zen fashion—mostly asking others to sign petitions.
The demands on these petitions were varied:
Some called for unity to form community alliances for self-protection;
Some demanded that authorities disclose more about the inner workings of the Slaughter Game;
Some demanded that authorities find a way to make them players;
Some demanded official recognition of their status as prophets of the apocalypse;
Some demanded lower oil prices and increased taxes on capitalists (the imagination of the European people is indeed quite extraordinary);
Some demanded protection for women's rights and solutions to gender discrimination in the workplace (God knows how these Europeans connected the slightly lower proportion of female players in the Slaughter Game with gender discrimination in the workplace).
These individuals caused disturbances of varying degrees in major European cities. However, the situation currently seemed to be under control.
As for the United States, civilian gun sales reached a new high, and sales in gun shops across various cities skyrocketed as if on stimulants. Private security companies experienced a resurgence, with many affluent neighborhoods hiring more professional security teams for round-the-clock patrols.
Books on mysticism, especially those on defending against black magic, became bestsellers. Sales of salt, iron rods, crosses, and amulets of dubious origin were also brisk; mysticism purportedly claimed salt could prevent demons from invading homes, and pure iron was said to kill devils.
The once-popular nuclear fallout shelter projects in the United States saw a revival. Many rural American families began stockpiling supplies, digging cellars, and buying radiation protection gear, believing that the prevalence of supernatural elements could potentially trigger a global nuclear war.
Of course, churches were the most popular destinations. Priests joyfully observed a drastic increase in the number of people coming to pray daily, and Holy Water was in high demand.
Moreover, doomsayers in the United States also emerged, proving even more extreme than their European counterparts. Some even proclaimed themselves Noahs of a new era, flocking to remote mountains and forests in groups to establish survivor colonies or doomsday arks.
Regions like Africa and South America remained as turbulent as ever; they had already been living in Purgatory even before the official acknowledgment of the Slaughter Game, so little changed—except that some player-led armed factions grew more audacious.
Incidentally, some massive Western financial conglomerates, such as pharmaceutical companies, actually expanded their laboratory operations in Africa and South America amidst the chaos, hiring security firms to protect their assets. The Slaughter Game would bring all sorts of novel technologies to the world, with medical advancements being the most lucrative and offering the quickest returns. To fully exploit these medical technologies, large-scale experiments were necessary. The chaotic situations in Africa and South America, ironically, provided ideal environments for such medical laboratories.
How much is a human life worth?
Among these pharmaceutical monopolies, the most discreet yet rapidly advancing was Gen-Sys Biotech Company. This company appeared to have assimilated some technology from the Slaughter Game. They claimed breakthrough progress in synthetic stem cells and announced that soon they could officially launch commercially viable preventive treatments for diseases like stomach ailments, heart conditions, hyperglycemia, and hypertension. Furthermore, they hoped to use stem cells for mass-cultivating artificial organs within a few years, aiming to replace any diseased organ.
Other monopolies, not to be outdone by their pharmaceutical counterparts, also made moves. Companies in the United States specializing in automated robotic arms, for instance, significantly expanded their factories. This expansion completely displaced numerous workers from other industries, triggering large-scale protests.
Silicon Valley's interest in weak artificial intelligence and Strong Artificial Intelligence also surged. Many companies with existing research foundations in these areas received substantial investments or were acquired outright, leading to impressive stock market performances.
Prometheus Laboratory Company, a firm that had risen rapidly in recent months, officially announced that a new building material they developed was ready for commercial use. This material was extremely lightweight yet sturdy, durable, cost-effective, and easy to manufacture. It made constructing buildings over a kilometer high effortless and could even be used to build a massive, modern metropolis capable of housing a million people.
Concurrently with Prometheus Laboratory Company's announcement, a government-backed laboratory in Yin City also revealed a similar material. Undoubtedly, both entities had likely acquired this new technology from the same Slaughter Game scenario world.
The global uproar did not impede the establishment of the Global Occult Coalition. This organization was headquartered at the United Nations in New York, under the jurisdiction of the Worldwide Special Events Coordination And Management Committee. Its primary members were official supernatural agencies from various regions, including the Special Affairs Bureau, the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Supernatural Accident Place, the Germany Anomaly Investigation Bureau, and the Japan Anomaly Investigation Bureau.
Additionally, the Global Occult Coalition absorbed several clandestine organizations from around the world, such as the Golmorg Ancient Saint Sect, the Holy Temple Knight Clergy Regiment, the Tribunal, and Whale Song.
This wasn't to say that official organizations were willing to stoop to collaborating with these clandestine groups. Rather, these secret societies varied wildly in structure, membership, and objectives. Instead of allowing them to develop unchecked in the shadows, it was deemed better to bring discussions into the open. The aim was to foster cooperation, share intelligence, and prevent the Slaughter Game from further disrupting human societal order.