Player Reload-Chapter 642 - 557: Girl Group (4K)_2
"It’s not a commercially oriented girl group."
Zhongtian Beiji, knowing more insider information, added, "Behind it is an official South Korean agency. Each of the three members is a Transcendent, capable of absorbing and utilizing the adoration from fans to enhance themselves, akin to a version of Faith Sealing God without Divine Fire, yet weakened."
Faith Sealing God is a great thing—low cost, quick results, and high potential. It doesn’t conflict with other power systems like Original Force or Inner Strength. When cultivated deeply, one can even have a personal Divine Country, accommodating millions or even tens of millions of followers.
The more followers, the more abundant the Power of Faith, and the stronger one’s own power becomes.
The only problem is the essential demand for "Divine Fire" and "Divinity."
As a small country, South Korea naturally couldn’t produce extremely precious Divinity, so they chose to develop a power system named [Zhaomu Liuxin] by rallying the power of the entire country,
fully leveraging their entertainment industry’s first-mover advantage internationally to launch boy and girl groups, harvesting fans’ adoration and affection.
If the Faith Sealing God system utilizing Divine Fire and Divinity has a 100% efficiency in utilizing the Power of Faith, then the South Korean-developed monkey version [Zhaomu Liuxin] probably operates at around 5%-7% utilization efficiency.
It benefits from a lower entry threshold, turning small amounts into a whole. Fans attending concerts, buying posters, voting, or pasting tattoo stickers, all recharge their idols.
As for why the United States allows South Korea to promote the Korean wave in its territory, there are three reasons. First, South Korea is a loyal ally of the United States and naturally bends to them.
Second, the Korean wave mainly targets the American youth demographic, who typically don’t attend church services, and won’t compete with Christianity for followers.
As for the third point...
The Korean wave is only loud globally, but the market isn’t actually large. Companies like SM Entertainment, JYP Entertainment, YG Entertainment, and HYBE, together contribute to a revenue of 3.6 trillion Korean Won, equivalent to 17.5 billion RMB.
Boy and girl groups work hard singing and dancing all year, practically jumping until their legs break, only to turn and see Mihoyo’s 27.3 billion revenue and Honor of King’s 37.7 billion.
Aish, what can I say.
Back on the streets of San Francisco, Li Cheng’s eyes were expressionless, even though among the girl group members in front of him, there was someone familiar—ICEY Jin Huixing he had encountered in the mission [Oh no! I’m Surrounded by Beauties!] long ago.
She seemed to be at Level 18 or Level 19 now.
Speaking of which, compared to the Side of Truth, Cold Water Stone and others at Level 40, wasn’t his own growth curve just as impressive? After all, the times are advancing, back when the Side of Truth was still in its slum beginnings, there wasn’t such a convenient trading system either...
While pondering, the three girl group members wielding a Guan Saber, a Longsword, and Short Stabbing weapons charged forward. They were so fast that in the glass reflections there were only afterimages left.
The clash of metal was intense and noisy. The Mantis Arm Bone Blade severed the Longsword, chopped the Short Stabbing, and with a casual kick, killed Jin Huixing’s teammate.
However, Jin Huixing and the only remaining teammate had already used their hands to grab and hold onto Li Cheng’s arm.
This was the backup move of the Phase Change Demon. It had lost too much of its bodily share and had to use a human form to confront the enemy.
But the human form had its advantages; as long as it touched Li Cheng, in close proximity, it could exploit the corrosive assimilation trait of the Phase Change Demon...
Bang! Bang!
Li Cheng’s arm armor suddenly released and ejected, flinging outward.
He had long known what tricks the Phase Change Demon might have, so how could he not prepare in advance? Besides the outermost layer of armor, there were also several layers hidden beneath, much like wearing thermal pants over leggings over woolen pants over underpants, each layer capable of explosive rebound.
Next...
Li Cheng freed his hands and embraced the Eight Diagram Alchemy Demon Cannon, preparing to load shells of extraordinary materials into it.
"This is the [Open Your Eyes] Anti-Memes Special Combat Team under the FBI, lay down your weapons."
Just then, a broadcast sound came from far to near, San Francisco, being one of the large cities on the West Coast of the United States, also had Transcendents stationed there. Previously, they had been barred by the time deceleration domain of the Phase Change Demon but now hurried over to assist as the domain dissipated.
Li Cheng nonchalantly glanced at the dozen or so Transcendents of varying strengths with the corner of his eye, averaging around Level 20, wait...
"Damn, you guys better not come over here!"
One of the Transcendents had a body fitted with [Manassas]-type smart tactical prosthetics produced by Prometheus.
All these tactical prosthetics were networked with the Prometheus Company Headquarters...
As expected, upon sighting the Special Combat Team, the Phase Change Demon abruptly abandoned its entanglement with Li Cheng and once again transformed into a black smoke form, rushing straight at the mechanical prosthetic user.
The battle between Li Cheng and the Phase Change Demon occurred in the network domain, with the real world being parallel lines.
At this moment, those networked smart prosthetics just provided the Phase Change Demon a chance to completely enter the Real Earth.
The vast black smoke turned into a long straight line, with most of it penetrating the top of the head of the Level 23 Transcendent, who instantly froze in place, silver-gray prosthetics around him spewing thick steam, and black 01 codes cascading down the surface of the prosthetic eyeballs like a waterfall.
"Buddy, what’s happening to you?!"
"He’s being possessed!"
The surrounding companions, at a loss, hurriedly stuck a cross-shaped prop into his body, attempting to halt the corruption.
"You guys are here to mess things up, aren’t you?"
In the glass reflection, Li Cheng laughed angrily. Although during the heydays of political correctness, the FBI, in an effort to meet quotas, had recruited many LGBT minorities, people of color, and environmental and animal rights activists, causing a decline in combat capability,
he still found it hard to believe they could be this unprofessional, making Li Cheng hold his head in disbelief.
With his hair in dreadlocks, the Transcendent known as Buddy opened his eyes wide, with the eyeballs already dyed black by the Phase Change Demon.
He raised his left hand and forcefully pulled out the cross prop, kicked away a companion who was trying to help, and with his right hand, swung it backward against the joint, launching a black energy cannon from the palm of the [Manassas]-type tactical prosthetic, blowing the others away.
Not just that, the pit created by the energy cannon blast was also contaminated with the mold-like black substance.
These substances evaporated and rose on their own, transforming into tangible mist, surging toward the San Francisco citizens who couldn’t escape in time,
turning their muscles, bones, and skin black wherever it passed. They were evidently assimilated and possessed by the Phase Change Demon.
"So many ’Black people’, if I summon a plantation owner, I reckon he would be willing to give me Spiritual Power value, using a whip to whip the top and have a blast."
Li Cheng internally mocked and complained; he almost had the Phase Change Demon pinned down, but the FBI’s interference made the situation deteriorate further.
Earth is, after all, the planet on which Li Cheng relies for survival; if it were to be corroded and assimilated by the Phase Change Demon, it would be troublesome. He couldn’t exactly hide in the slum and become an Island Defense soldier for life.
Li Cheng’s Insect Transformation body surged with fiery exhaust from the vector nozzles on the back, propelling him forward in a "Z" pattern trajectory, left hand grabbing the last wisp of black smoke of the Phase Change Demon that hadn’t yet fully entered Buddy’s mind,
right hand retracting the extraordinary materials that were about to be loaded into the Alchemy Magic Cannon, replacing them instead with [Steel and Victory Flag Spear].
Sssh!!!
Through the glove armor, Li Cheng grasped the black smoke, exerting all his strength in pulling backward, forcibly wrenching the Phase Change Demon away from Buddy’s body,
simultaneously inserting the Victory Flag Spear into the Tripod Furnace, melting it into a pure brightness.
The brightness gathered at the cannon’s muzzle of the Tripod Furnace, seemingly slow but in reality quick, coagulating into a red and gold two-tone Siege Spear.
The Steel and Victory Flag Spear, crafted by the Toy Factory, used relic materials related to the Soviet War of Resistance, which is also reflected on the Siege Spear.
The spear tip front has a sickle and hammer emblem, the back is engraved with CCCP, and all over the spear body are printed graphics in the style of propaganda posters.
The Siege Spear pointed under the Phase Change Demon, from the perspective of the FBI and others, they could not directly see Li Cheng and the Phase Change Demon, only through glass reflections could they glimpse their figures.
Charging completed, then, fire.
The Siege Spear and the Phase Change Demon vanished instantly, the San Francisco skyscrapers only stood two to three hundred meters, invisible on the outer wall glass, only in the puddles on the ground could one see the Phase Change Demon seemingly transformed into a star, being blasted by the Siege Spear out of the atmosphere.
