Chapter 11: Chapter 4: Surviving in the End 4.2 Seize the market
4 AM, Digital Wall Street
Chen Xing's mechanical keyboard tapped out the first string of code on the dark web, and the electronic screens of global financial markets suddenly flickered. An Ran's virtual currency, "PureCoin," invaded exchanges like a virus – each coin generated was linked to the coordinates of a ton of nuclear waste purified by Plutonium Bacteria.
"Within three minutes of opening, the market cap exceeded ten billion," An Ran stared at the holographic trading chart. "But Junyao is short-selling us through shell companies."
Lin Mo dripped fluorescent serum from a test tube into the trading terminal: "Then let them taste 'reverse contamination.'"
Data Plague
Chen Xing's hacker program reverse-injected a virus along Junyao's short-selling links. Whenever Junyao sold a share of PureCoin, the associated polluted asset data would be publicly disclosed on the dark web:
A private island owned by an oil tycoon was actually a nuclear waste landfill;A tech giant's "clean energy" project was leaking Plutonium-238;Fund flows in an overseas account of a politician were tied to Junyao's climate weapon research and development.The scandals of the wealthy spread like radioactive dust, and the price of PureCoin surged 300%. Su Wan's mycelium tattoo connected to the data stream, converting pollution evidence into real-time 3D projections – in New York's Times Square, Junyao's billboard was replaced with a boiling pool of nuclear waste, with skeletons labeled with shareholder names sinking to the bottom.
Physical Battlefield: Occupying Polluted Zones
Li Feng led mercenaries in a raid on Junyao's uranium mine in Africa. They used modified Plutonium Bacteria spraying devices to transform radioactive surfaces into fluorescent farms. For every hectare of land purified, a laser projection advertisement automatically appeared on the ground: "This area's energy output is connected to the PureCoin system – polluters have no right to trade."
Junyao's armed helicopters attempted to bombard the area but found their fuel had been remotely replaced by purified Plutonium Bacteria metabolite liquid by Chen Xing – after the engines inhaled the "clean energy," the propellers bloomed into giant fluorescent mushrooms, forcing the pilots to eject.
Penetration into Daily Life: Air as Currency
Su Wan designed a household Plutonium Bacteria purifier that looked like an air conditioner. Once installed, the device automatically absorbed radiation particles from the air and converted them into redeemable PureCoin points. The roofs of slums were instantly covered with silver cases, as if Earth had been fitted with a respirator.
An Ran's advertising slogan blazed across the graffiti walls of the slums: "Every breath of toxic air you take can become a dagger stabbing at Junyao."
Within three days, sales of Junyao's air purifiers plummeted 900%, and warehoused products were repurposed into Plutonium Bacteria cultivation chambers – using the enemy's weapons to nourish their own army.
Junyao's Counterattack: Clone Wars
Junyao held an emergency press conference to launch a pirated Plutonium Bacteria product, "Scavenger 1." But Lin Mo had already embedded a genetic lock in the original strain – all pirated bacterial colonies, upon contact with radiation, would actively seek out and corrode metal products bearing the Junyao logo.
Inside the New York Stock Exchange, Junyao's gilded bull statue was engulfed by mycelium, turning into a pool of blue-glowing slime. When An Ran live-streamed this scene, the headline read: "The Ultimate Form of Capitalism – Liquid Ruins."
The Birth of a New Order
On the latest global wealth list, the icon for "Dawn Biotech" was a fluorescent mushroom entwined around a dollar bill. Lin Mo stood atop the purification tower rebuilt from the ruins of Junyao's headquarters, pouring the last vial of serum into the rainwater harvesting system.
Torrential rain poured down, and black raindrops were dyed a brilliant blue by the bacterial colonies mid-air, turning into drinkable pure water upon landing. Children in the slums caught the rain in iron cans, and the Plutonium Bacteria crystals settled at the bottom of the cans sparkled under the moonlight, more dazzling than any currency.
"The market has never been a battlefield," Lin Mo's pupils reflected countless streams of trading data, "it's a breath."
Behind him, Su Wan's mycelium tattoo had spread to her neck, weaving together with the circuit board on Chen Xing's wheelchair, the radiation map in Li Feng's cybernetic eye, and the world's scars captured in An Ran's camera, forming a fluorescent web that enveloped the Earth.