Chapter 501: Different Opinions
Naypyitaw was a new city, built specifically for the government to move the capital from Yangon to here. Its infrastructure was severely inadequate and was often referred to as the last city to have internet.
However, there were over a hundred thousand people that had witnessed the battle.
Therefore, try as Myanmar might, they couldn’t cover up the news. It was not only the Myanmar citizens who had seen what happened but also a few hundred tourists and many journalists.
These tourists and journalists were beyond the control of the government and they could upload the images or videos they captured during the battle to the internet and share them with the world.
Even though the images and footage were grainy, this was the first time that the world had seen Chen Fan in action.
These images first appeared on popular social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
“OMG, what am I seeing?”
“Is he a sage, or a demon? Some kind of mystical being of the ancient orient? Whatever it is, it’s insane.”
“Look at this, this is real. I saw it with my own eyes. A dark smoke came out of a mountain and then an azure light flew into the sky. The two seem to be fighting. I think they are enemies. In the end, the person in the azure light won the battle.”
Many tourists didn’t have the professional lenses to take pictures so far up in the sky, but they eagerly shared the grainy pictures they took on their cellphones.
Their posts quickly got many replies, some from their friends, and the other from strangers.
“Anny, Myanmar made you superstitious. I thought you are an atheist.” Someone said.
Other people were much more direct in voicing their suspicions.
“The qualities of these pictures are so poor that these images can prove nothing. We could be looking at anything: spirits, gods, and even Aliens.”
“I saw a picture of an alien once, and I thought it was real until my boyfriend told me that it was a hoax. Gosh! I couldn’t believe how stupid I was.”
“Just a wash of azure light and some smoke. What made you think it’s a battle between gods? They look like fireworks to me.”
Most people found the story implausible
People had been tired of fake news. They could often see news headlines such as these:
“Dragon Tracks Found, click To Find Out More.” “XX Deity Performed Miracle At XXX, Click To Receiving Blessing.” “Jesus Is Reborn, Click to Be The New Apostle.”
In this day and age, even the fake pictures created by CG looked more convincing than these grainy images and shaky camera recordings.
This tourist tried to convince the others, but to no avail.
A few hours later, someone said, “I heard on the news that war has broken out in Myanmar. Maybe it was a military coup?”
When this picture first surfaced on the internet, they were brushed off by the public.
However, things changed once a person called Wegener got involved.
Wegener was a famous Norwegian explorer.
He has a tourist blog where he posted stories during his travels to share with the world. Over time, he and his blog had become famous among travelers and had many fans on the internet.
“It’s an unusual day.”
“I left Yangon and arrived at Naypyitaw. This is an awful city. Messy and badly managed. Cell phones have just started to become a thing here and only expensive hotels have internet access. My cell phone bill for this month is not going to make me happy.”
That was the first journal entry on his blog when he arrived at Naypyitaw.
The comments below suggested he should not stay in Naypyitaw for too long since there was really nothing to do there.
Since this was a new city, it lacked the tourist attractions such as ancient villages or ruined temples.
However, his second journal entry had piqued everyone’s interest.
“OMG! What is happening? Why are there so many soldiers in Naypyitaw? They have surrounded the city, I can see armed soldiers, tanks, and even fighter jets. Is there going to be another military coup?”
Wegener also added a few pictures he snapped on his post.
In the picture, fully armed Myanmar soldiers sat on armored vehicles and were gathering just outside the city. A few pictures showed fighter jets flying close to the ground as if surveying the land. All soldiers in the picture held a gloomy and solemn cast on their faces.
“OMG. There are helicopters and fighter jets.”
“Dear Wegener, I think it’s time for you to leave the country. It’s too dangerous there. ”
“Myanmar is one of the poorest countries in the world, and on average they have one military coup every three years. It was not a good place for tourists such as Wegener. I really feel for him.”
Comments poured in as soon as Wenger posted the pictures.
Many people urged Wegener to leave the city to avoid becoming collateral damage.
“No, I won’t leave.”
Wegener replied in the comment section and kept on posting updates.
“It’s an army of about ten thousand. They have gathered just outside of Naypyitaw. I think something big is about to happen.”
“I can hear it now. They fired their guns and cannons. It’s really loud. I really hope the National Guard could fend off the rebels and stop them outside of the City.”
“Strange… the firing stopped. Is the war already over? What was that sound? That… that sounds like Chinese. I don’t understand Chinese—OMG! What the heck is that?”
Everyone watched his live update attentively.
Each of Wegener’s comments had hundreds of replies. After all, it was rare to watch a military coup unfolding live. However, after Wegener sent out the third update, he went silent.
“Where is the update?”
“Dear Wegener, what had happened?”
“Please update, or else I am going to have a heart attack.”
The comments soon reached a thousand.
A few minutes later, Wegener finally posted an update
“It’s a MIRACLE!”
Then he posted a long list of photos.
The first picture showed a plume of dark smoke coming out of a dormant volcano. The meaning of the picture perplexed the viewers, and a lot of people thought the volcano was about to erupt.
In the second picture, a wash of azure light rose from the city and flew into the sky.
“Is that a new kind of firework or is it a hot air balloon? Maybe it’s a flare from a flare gun.”
Someone put in.
The third picture answered all questions in the viewers’ minds.
The wash of azure light rose to the same height as the plume of the dark smoke. Although the lighting was bad because the pictures were taken during dusk, the viewers can clearly see the outlines of two men in the azure light and the dark smoke.
“OMG, what is that?”
“Are those UFOs? I feel like that azure light is a flying saucer.”
“Maybe it’s the missile. Some of the missiles’ exhaust gas can create an illusion like this. That’s why ninety percent of the UFO sightings were actually missile tests.”
As people argued about what they were really seeing, more pictures were uploaded.
These new pictures depicted a battle between the azure light and the dark smoke.
The great distance between the camera and the battle, as well as poor lighting, didn’t produce crystal clear images. However, the viewers could still see flashes of lightning and burning flames.
“Where did the lightning come from?”
“Is it storm season in Naypyitaw right now? Why is there lightning?”
“Could it be a new kind of weapon that attacks using lightning? Oh.. never mind. I forgot we are talking about the Myanmar government. I doubt they have the money to invest in new weapons.”
Comments kept pouring in as more pictures were uploaded.
The last picture showed golden energy shoot out from the Azure glow and banished the dark smoke. However, from where Wegener was standing, he didn’t capture any footage of Chen Fan cracking open the mountain.
That being said, what he had posted so far was already shocking enough for his followers on Facebook and Twitter.
“This is incredible!”
“We have just witnessed history in the making!”
“I bet it is an assault from the rebels. They must have used some kind of new missiles and that explains those UFOs we saw.”
People posted their guesses and discussed with one another about the event.
For the first time, Wegener’s Facebook comments reached 3000 and it was still increasing.
“You are both wrong. It’s a fight between two men.”
Wegener finally put in.
“What?”
“You are joking, aren’t you?”
“Is it April Fool’s day?”
Wegener’s comment was ridiculed by his Facebook fans.
“Dear Wegener, we understand that you are scared because you are in a terrifying situation. But what you said just didn’t make sense. In your photo, it was evident that the strange sighting occurred a few hundred meters above the ground. Can you name anyone who could fly to such a height and remain airborne? Iron man? Superman?”
Many netizens mocked him.
“He is chicken shit, He is scared out of my wits, literally. Go back to you mommy, boy. You are not tough enough for a war.” Some people even started bullying him.
“It’s true. I have seen it with my own eyes. He is a Chinese man named Chen Beixuan, and he flew into the sky while his body glowed azure.”
Wegener tried to explain but no one seemed to believe him.
Not even anyone of his fans and followers believed him.
“A sage from China? What a load of crap.”
Wegener was not the only person being ridiculed. Most eye-witnesses experienced the same mockery when they recounted what they saw. Most people thought the event would soon be forgotten until a journalist from BBC posted a short video on her own Facebook page.
The title of the video was: “Do Deities Really Exist In This World?”
The video had quickly become viral on the internet.