Latent Syndrome

Chapter 43 43. Dark Invasion

Three days have passed since the rescue of popular movie star Eva.

Located in the St. George District in the south of Los Angeles.

Eugene found Colin's coffee shop and prepared to talk to him about something important.

As soon as he entered the door, he saw Hoshino Manatsu talking to Colin, and secretly handed Colin a palm-sized box, which he hid in his arms.

"Your colleague is here, I'm leaving first."

Hoshino Manatsu discovered Eugene, said goodbye to her in a fake way, and left the store directly.

This made Eugene confused. He didn't know what kind of plane the two men were working on and what they were hiding.

Although Eugene was curious, he didn't want to reveal anything, as it might be related to the privacy of the two of them, but she still couldn't help being sarcastic.

"The world is about to be destroyed, and you still have an underground love affair."

She sat across from Colin and looked at Colin angrily. During this period, he always liked to act alone, as if he was deliberately avoiding her. Although the possibility of collusion with SCT could be ruled out, he must be doing something bad in secret. .

"Is there anything important?"

Colin was speechless as he lit up a cigarette. Ever since he had ridiculed her last time at a banquet in Beverly Hills, she had quickly learned to treat others the way they were treated.

"I don't know what you have been busy with these two days. Haven't you looked at the communication terminal? Do you still remember SCT's entry into the film industry? Yesterday, on the night of the holiday, SCT people killed a large number of theater workers and removed the movies that were being screened. The other movies were directly replaced with horror movies they shot. According to rough statistics, no less than 20,000 people in Southern California have watched that movie."

Eugene ordered a Coke and drank it in one gulp.

This explosive news made Colin confused. He originally thought that they would control the puppet company to release the film that had been censored, and then edit some other content.

It's wrong from the root...

SCT has no bottom line at all. While they have the financial power to influence the world, they are not bound by any rules.

Colin then turned on his phone and looked at the news. This matter seemed to have been suppressed. Searching for theater attacks, he could not find any clues. Only the news that all theaters in Southern California were temporarily blocked due to fire inspections caused a lot of dissatisfaction and public dissatisfaction among citizens. Outcry.

He also found some forums to see if there were any rumors from netizens, but what was very strange was that all the forums were only blocked by some non-nutritious things, such as wanting to raise a dog but not knowing what breed to ask for advice, or asking for advice. Some hamburger meat recipes, there are corresponding replies below.

Everything seems normal, but it is extremely inconsistent, because it is too normal. It seems that those guys hiding behind the screen and pressing buttons to kill have disappeared. There is no erotic violence or dangerous remarks. It is too harmonious.

When searching for terms about movies, the results are even more terrifying. They are all recommendations for old movies or reviews of classic movies. The online atmosphere is more utopian than utopian.

Colin knew that this was the work of the Countermeasures Bureau to prevent the situation from deteriorating further, so he adopted this desperate strategy as a last resort.

"But in this way...their follow-up actions have also been partially restricted."

Colin made this judgment. This was a strategy of injuring the enemy eight hundred and damaging himself a thousand, but he had no choice but to cut off his wrist like this. There was no other way.

SCT mainly relies on the dissemination of information to shake up the symbolic world, but the right to speak out and the absolute right to manage information are in the hands of the authorities, and they cannot make a difference online.

"Do you really think that's the case?"

Eugene took out a CD from his handbag and continued to add: "This movie has been copied into countless CDs, and data files are also circulated on the dark web. Coupled with USB flash drives, SCT doesn't care about the number of people in the theater at all. , they don’t care about the cost, they just want people to watch the movie. Although it has been listed as contraband by the supervision department, it cannot resist the spread at all. This video will only spread like a virus to the world."

Colin looked at the CD on the table solemnly. It turned out that he had underestimated the pattern of SCT. They were criminals who didn't care about anything including human relations and moral rules. Just like the stock exchange and Beverly Hills, they would only do shocking things. of terrorist incidents.

Although what he said to Eugene before, that the world was going to be destroyed, was somewhat of a joke.

But at this moment, he truly realized that this was what was happening, and that the Countermeasures Bureau... might not be able to withstand this group of crazy lunatics.

"Have you read the contents on the CD?"

Now that Eugene has taken it out, here is a movie shot by SCT. The production cycle is much shorter than expected, maybe even less than a month.

Eugene shook his head. Although she was not the type to get scared after watching horror movies, and she had ridiculed Colin for thinking that the previous apartment was unlucky, she still had no idea about some ghost movies that created psychological pressure, and this was shot by SCT. Maybe there is something extremely twisted.

"Do you have a CD-ROM drive at home?"

Colin asked. In this era, optical discs are about to be eliminated due to their capacity and inconvenience to carry. Even many desktop computers are not equipped with optical drives.

Eugene still shook his head, which was why she came to Colin.

"Is there any USB flash drive data or something?"

Colin didn't want to bother buying a DVD or anything.

Eugene still shook his head.

"Can you just give me a fucking nod?"

Colin took a long drag on his cigarette.

"Have you noticed that the intelligence database of the communication terminal has not been updated at all during this period of time." Eugene was extremely worried.

"So what? Maybe the people at the headquarters are too busy."

"I don't know either...but I have a guess that there is a traitor in the countermeasures bureau."

Eugene finished.

"Hold."

Colin finished his coffee and called Eugene to go to the electronics store to buy a DVD. He didn't know if he could buy it. This thing is now very expensive.

He wanted to see what amazing artistic talent SCT had.

…

…

…

At home in Eugene, Colin tinkered with audio cables and other output connections.

If you want to use something like DVD, you have to spend some time. After all, it is a product of the last era, and you need a TV with a round hole input interface.

"Don't you have a very high degree of education? You can't even handle this."

Eugene was eating potato chips and supervising the work.

Colin: "..."

This LCD TV did not have a round-hole input interface, and buying an old TV would take more time. He spent another ten minutes going downstairs to buy a converter.

Finally, everything is ready and all that remains is to insert the disc into the DVD.

"What are you doing standing still?"

Eugene urged Colin and continued to eat potato chips on the sofa.

Colin took a long puff of cigarette, and if Eugene were a man, he would have slapped him away.

He inserted the disc into the DVD and pressed the play button on the remote control.

With darkness, the movie officially begins.

Both of them sat on the sofa without talking, the atmosphere was a little quiet, and then pictures started to appear on the TV.

The first thing that appeared was SCT Pictures, and their LOGO, which was an extremely solemn statue of a goddess meditating. The ugly thing like scars or scales on the arm was the split Liberty Alliance flag.

Then the video starts.

[This story is adapted from real events. 】

This stunt made the two of them a little uneasy.

…

…

…

The story is surprisingly short and cliché.

Seventy minutes later.

Although the bizarre abstraction of characters in the movie in order to deliberately create an atmosphere is indeed chilling, in other respects it can be said to be a bad movie.

It can't arouse Eugene's empathy at all. The women in the film are pitiful, but there is a huge problem with the casting. No one wants to see someone who is not photogenic at all starring in a movie. No matter how bad it is, there must be someone, otherwise it is true It was taken by SCT, and she passed it immediately.

But as the saying goes, movies are judged by their aftertaste.

In this regard, Eugene was indeed very uncomfortable after reading it.

Because the invisible abuse shown in the movie is too horrifying, the protagonist did not receive any abuse or beatings, just some unintentional pranks, and sometimes even well-intentioned help, but under the atmosphere, it became mental abuse.

In the end, she became a psychopath. It was not until many years after graduation that she became seriously ill due to excessive plastic surgery due to her desire for beauty. All the people who had abused her had grown up and changed their minds, exuding infinite brilliance of humanity. They raised funds for her, apologized, and contacted the most recent Good doctor. Her parents were extremely guilty for not giving her more care and tried every means to atone for their sins.

In the end, she seemed to have received some kind of divine revelation, which was too abstract. She was talking to something like God, and felt her own essence.

When the ambulance was on its way, she crawled over wearing a pure white wedding dress and was crushed into... an extremely ugly thing that cannot be described in words because the expression was too exaggerated.

This is the end of the whole movie.

But it's not over yet.

"Why is there still more?"

Eugene was speechless.

That word appeared again.

[This story is adapted from real events. 】

Next, one after another gruesome corpses appear on the screen, with some majestic urban buildings or decaying factories passing by in a montage. There are no less than a hundred corpses.

One of the female corpses died in a miserable state, with her whole body torn apart by wild beasts.

It doesn't look like special effects at all, it's too real.

Two more sentences flashed out at the end.

[Beware of countermeasures. 】

[This is SCT. 】

Click.

The disc was ejected and all content was played.

"It's a fucking bad movie, aren't you right? I thought SCT had something new."

Eugene poked Colin's elbow. Because he was focused on watching the movie, he didn't pay attention to Colin's expression. It was rare that he didn't say a word throughout the whole process.

"Hey...what's wrong with you?"

Eugene shook Colin's shoulders, and she found that Colin was possessed, his eyes were distracted, and he was staring at his own hands, completely entering a fugue state.

"Hey Hey hey……"

This made Eugene a little scared. Is this Colin playing a trick on him?

Colin is hallucinating.

Maybe it's not an illusion.

He doesn't know anymore, he can't tell the difference between illusion and reality, and he can't tell the difference between the stock index lines and the ugly bug.

He looked at his hands, and there was a steady stream of extremely foul and filthy blood flowing out.