Shen Feng’s eyes narrowed at Jingwei’s words.
’Become a god, huh...’
According to Arthur C. Clarke’s third law, any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from Magic. With the Gray Tide Technology and Quantum Force Field Technology he now possessed, coupled with this mass Hypnosis Technology, it would be no trouble at all to pose as a supernatural Divine Spirit in this Dark Apocalypse, a world where civilization had been lost.
He could even grant control of the Nanomechanical Cluster to mass-produce lesser "divine spirits" to act as his helpers and servants.
Of course, he would also have to destroy all books left over from the pre-technological era on a massive scale. This would completely obliterate the world’s scientific spirit, plunging everyone into superstition and ignorance, leaving them with nothing but endless worship and blind obedience for him.
Using the Cloning Technology and powerful Biotechnology he commanded, he could constantly replace his body, even perform a Consciousness Upload, and thereby achieve immortality.
At that point, he could become the one and only Divine Spirit of this world, ruling over the entire Earth.
All new technological inventions and creations would be strangled in their cribs by the omnipresent Gray Tide and artificial intelligence.
Perhaps things like the Steam Engine and Internal Combustion Engine would be rediscovered, and even Electric Energy might be rebooted in the ruins. But Shen Feng would quickly snuff out these things, like stamping out a flame that had just sparked in a house.
As the sole deity in control of the light, he would stand high above, looking down upon the countless masses. Perhaps he could continue this way for billions of years, until the day the Sun became a red giant and devoured the entire Solar System, bringing everything to a final, utter end...
’But is this really what I want?’
Shen Feng chuckled softly. He looked through the Reverse Dyson Sphere’s Space Telescope at the endless, vast starry sky.
If he truly wanted to control the entire Earth, to content himself with this one small corner of the cosmos and become a Divine Spirit in the eyes of humanity, it would be the same as trapping himself on Earth.
Leaving aside whether powerful, indescribable entities like the Whisperer, the Master of the Void, or the Myriad Wills would spare this world, the mere thought of imprisoning himself on Earth forever was unacceptable to him.
Once you’ve seen the magnificent vastness of the ocean, you naturally have no desire to be the king of a pond.
What he valued were the boundless, myriad stars and the mysteries of the endless Parallel Cosmoses.
’Being the top dog in a tiny world like Earth... is just plain boring...’
As he pondered these things, he also shared his brainwaves with Jingwei.
After sensing the ideas forming in Shen Feng’s mind, Jingwei couldn’t help but praise him sincerely:
"As expected of you, Xiaofeng. Even your power fantasies are this extra! Anyway, let’s continue the Hypnosis. We need to adjust the light and shadows of the Reverse Dyson Sphere to create a wave-like hypnosis pattern, deepening the subjects’ memories. We’ll call the process ’Wave Induction’ for short."
Shen Feng laughed. His Consciousness Antennae quickly moved to coordinate with Jingwei, and they began adjusting the hypnotic light.
This was his first time attempting a global-scale mass Hypnosis, so he was extremely meticulous. He constantly adjusted the details and played the video content over and over, striving to etch it firmly into the depths of everyone’s minds.
Shen Feng even planned to use the Gray Tide to perform craniotomies on a select group of people with leadership potential after the mass Hypnosis was complete, directly altering their memories through minimally invasive brain surgery.
A day passed quickly. Once he confirmed that everyone had entered a state of deep Hypnosis, Shen Feng finally turned off the flashing lights from the Reverse Dyson Sphere in the sky.
The white noise and music that had spread across the world faded away completely, and the images in the sky also disappeared.
The people on the ground remained standing in place, as if they had turned into stone statues.
A voice emanated from the Reverse Dyson Sphere once again, much gentler this time:
"Wake up. You will begin a new life and rebuild the great human civilization..."
As the wake-up call sounded, the survivors around the world who had been plunged into deep Hypnosis all shuddered violently, blinked their eyes, and awoke.
Down below, at the base of the Tower of the Gray Tide in the Hai City Ruins, the first to wake was, unexpectedly, Xiaocao, who was still holding her Exorcism Staff.
She jolted, her eyes widening in the soft light from the sky as she looked at Shen Feng. She took a step forward and said in a trembling voice:
"S-Savior, sir? Commander?"
She felt as if she had just had a nightmare. In that nightmare, the Salvation Army was an evil organization that had caused the destruction of Earth, while the Purification Holy Assembly had actually saved the world.
In that nightmare, the entire world was still trapped in darkness. Humans were hunted by terrifying Evil Ghosts and lived in eternal fear.
Fortunately, it was all a dream, and now she had woken up from it.
This world had been led and saved by the Salvation Army under the Commander’s leadership all along. The Purification Society was just a bunch of petty, scheming scoundrels. And now, the reborn Savior had defeated that terrifying collective of Quantum Life Forms, regained control of the Reverse Dyson Sphere, and brought light back to the world.
Under the Commander’s leadership, human civilization was about to be reborn.
The young man before her smiled slightly and nodded.
"Hello, Xiaocao."
At this, Xiaocao could no longer hold back. She raised a hand to cover her mouth, tears of joy welling up in her large eyes.
She was so glad she had woken from the nightmare. Reality was just too wonderful.
Humanity had hope once again!
By now, the surrounding survivors had also awakened. With faces full of fanatical reverence, they all bowed to the young man before them.
"Savior! Long live the Savior!"
"Thank you for saving us! Thank you for saving human civilization!"
"I swear to follow you until death!"
"Humanity is saved! Human civilization will finally be revived! Long live humanity!"
"Long live the Salvation Army! May the warriors who died in the apocalypse be immortal!"
"Thank you! Thank you, Mr. Ivanovic! Thank you, Salvation Army!"
Everything they said was a memory they now believed without a doubt. For the human civilization of today, this was the real history.
Just then, someone suddenly shouted:
"The sky! There are stars falling from the sky!"
Everyone looked up at the sky.
In the twilight-like sky, which glowed with a faint light, tiny, brilliant points of light were slowly descending, falling toward every corner of the earth.
Trailing behind these meteor-like points of light were long tails that shimmered with a silver radiance.
The crowd immediately turned their gazes back to the young man before them.
Faced with this unknown, wondrous sight, they understood that only the resurrected Commander of the Salvation Army, their great Savior, could give them the true answer.
Shen Feng smiled faintly and said with a calm expression:
"Those are space elevators descending from the Reverse Dyson Sphere. They will be responsible for transporting energy and resources from space to the ground. Welcome, everyone, to the end of the dark age and the beginning of the space age. Long live humanity."