The command center on the top floor of Fisk Tower now resembled a lighthouse battling an invisible storm.
Replacing the usual calm data streams, the massive curved main screen flickered with light points from all over the World at an unprecedented frequency and density.
White (Wolf-Class), blue (tiger-level), purple (ghost-level), red (Dragon-level)... as if afflicted by a data plague, more and more "lesions" were appearing on the World's skin.
ALERT: Tokyo, Japan, Shinjuku District.
High-intensity sonic pollution detected, source is "Karaoke Grudge" aggregate (tentatively tiger-level).
Has caused widespread glass shattering and temporary hearing loss among the populace.
ALERT: London, Britain, along the Thames River.
"Dense Fog Slime" (tentatively Wolf-Class+) appeared, generated by the coupling of industrial pollution and specific meteorological conditions, possessing corrosive and hallucinogenic effects.
ALERT: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
"Carnival Mask" parasitic phenomenon (tentatively tiger-level-) appeared in the favelas, causing those infected to fall into perpetual carnival dancing until exhaustion.
ALERT: Detroit, Michigan, U.S..
"Rusty Monster" (Wolf-Class) activity intensified in the abandoned factory district, has devoured three abandoned cars, body size increased by 15%.
...The cold electronic synthetic voice reported one shocking piece of information after another with an almost cruel calmness.
On the statistical chart to one side of the screen, the curve representing the frequency of global wack events soared almost ninety degrees vertically in the past seventy-two hours.
The average energy level also steadily increased, with tiger-level events jumping from single-digit percentages to nearly twenty percent.
"Frequency increased by 430%, average energy level increased by 0.7 standard units."
An analyst's voice, with a hint of imperceptible dryness, reported to Kingpin, who stood silently before the screen, "Pattern analysis shows no clear geographical correlation for event occurrences, and the triggers are diverse, but there's a weak similarity in the 'activation mode' of energy surges, possibly indicating some kind of... global background energy perturbation."
Kingpin stood unmoving like a mountain, his sharp eyes scanning every flickering light point on the screen, like a general overseeing a battlefield.
He did not ask for reasons, nor did he show any surprise, only calmly ordered: "Increase global monitoring network sensitivity to Level 2.
All branch offices enter Level 2 combat readiness.
Logistics Department, activate emergency material allocation plan."
"Yes!"
The order was swiftly executed.
The entire association, like a precise machine with its acceleration button pressed, saw its various departments operate with unprecedented efficiency.
More monitoring resources were directed to areas with frequent anomalies, reserve heroes were required to be on standby, defense systems of various branches began self-checks, and in the warehouses of the Logistics Department, the originally ample equipment, medical supplies, and emergency devices were being consumed and replenished at a visible rate.
At the same time, S.H.I.E.L.D., Trident Headquarters.
Nick Fury's single eye also gazed at a screen displaying a map of global anomalous events, where the distribution of light points was strikingly similar to the screen inside the association, only with slight differences in labeling and details.
"Frequency abnormally high, no clear directivity, energy characteristics chaotic but with underlying correlation..." Maria Hill stood by, her tone grave, "Officer, this doesn't look like an organized attack, it's more like... some kind of environmental pressure reaching a critical point."
"Or rather, some 'catalyst' unknown to us is taking effect," Fury's voice was low, and he pulled up a report, "Our scientists have discovered an unexplained weak fluctuation in the global background zero-point energy field over the past month.
The peak values of these fluctuations show a high correlation with the timing of some high-level anomalous events."
He looked up at Hill: "Tell the World Security Council, these are not isolated incidents.
We may be facing a... global anomalous ecological change.
Have them prepare for larger-scale chaos."
And in various corners of the World, changes were not only present in official reports and covert monitoring data.
In London, an old-school taxi driver grumbled at the perpetually lingering, now eerily fluorescent green fog outside his window: "This damned weather is even more sinister than my Grandpa's 'pea-souper' (referring to the 1952 London Smog event)."
In Tokyo, the owner of a high-end audio store looked at the tragic situation in Shinjuku reported in the news, then at the several speakers in his shop that had inexplicably cracked because customers sang too poorly, and fell into deep thought.
In Rio, the continuous carnival atmosphere seemed to become more... mandatory, with tireless, ever-dancing figures always seen in the streets and alleys, their faces adorned with colorful masks that seemed to grow on their skin.
The internet also gradually became less peaceful.
Although most wack events were quickly handled by officials or the association, there were too many witnesses, and blurry videos shot on phones, along with bizarre personal experience shares, began to quietly circulate on various social platforms and forums.
"Don't you guys feel like there's been an unusual amount of strange news lately?"
"My neighbor's stray cats howled at the moon all night yesterday, and this morning I found they had scratched through the neighbor's security door..."
"Location Chicago, the sky seemed to flash green last night, and then my dog started barking wildly at the air, and now it's still hiding under the bed and won't come out."
"Is the end of the World coming? (Just kidding)"
A subtle unease, like a silent tide, began to spread among the general populace.
Although it had not yet triggered widespread panic, the vague premonition that the familiar World was becoming "strange" and "uncontrollable" had already been sown like a seed.
The head of the Logistics Department of the association, an efficient middle-aged woman, was now holding a tablet computer and walking quickly towards Kingpin's office.
The screen displayed inventory and consumption curves for various materials.
"Mr. Fisk," her tone was urgent but orderly, "At the current rate of consumption, our standard energy cell inventory will fall below the safety line within ten days; reserves of special protective materials and rapid repair gel can only last two weeks; medical antagonists for mental pollution and energy erosion are being consumed at three times the expected rate... The pressure on the global supply chain is also increasing, and the procurement cycle for some raw materials has been extended."
She looked up, a hint of worry in her eyes: "We need to increase procurement efforts, at least 300% of the previous plan, and we need to use more reserve funds to cope with a potentially continuously worsening situation."
Kingpin turned around, his gaze falling on the head of the Logistics Department's face, a gaze as calm as an abyss, strangely soothing her inner anxiety.
"Approved," his voice was devoid of any fluctuation, "Use all available resources to ensure material supply.
Priorities: maintain basic association operations > ensure hero mission requirements > stabilize existing social services.
If necessary, non-public channels can be enabled."
"Understood!" The head of the Logistics Department took a deep breath, nodded heavily, turned, and walked away quickly, beginning to execute this silent "logistics war."
Kingpin refocused his gaze on the main screen.
New light points continued to emerge, like a worsening rash.
His finger gently tapped on the control panel, bringing up the system interface.
Global anomalous event frequency and energy levels continue to rise abnormally.
Background energy field perturbation index: +1.7 (continuously rising).
WARNING: If the current trend continues, it is estimated that in 15 days, the potential incubation warning threshold for a "ghost-level disaster" will be triggered for the first time.
RECOMMENDATION: Accelerate resource reserves, elevate global response level, prioritize investigation of high-energy concentration areas.
ghost-level warning.
Kingpin's pupils contracted almost imperceptibly.
He silently watched the cold countdown, as if he could see through the screen, that in the deepest trenches of the Pacific, on the highest peaks of uninhabited snow mountains, or deep within the earth's veins of some prosperous city, an unimaginably colossal being was slowly stretching its body, nourished by some invisible force, about to break out of its shell.
A heavy storm was approaching, and the air's electric charge was already suffocatingly thick.