Doomsday Rules Counterasures Research Office.
Zhang Minglu stood before a table, holding a stack of experintal statistical data, giving a eting report.
"Based on our experintal results over these past few days, it is now confird that there is no possibility of the Mind Network being breached or of locating the identity and position of speakers within it."
"Once a Mind Network is established, mbers can begin speaking within it without consuming Mind Power. However, if soone speaks for an extended period within a unit of ti, they will begin to experience Mind Power drain. This ans it is impossible for an individual to speak continuously and endlessly."
"Next is regarding the number of connections. Currently, the largest known Mind Network has reached a scale of six figures, and it has not yet reached its upper limit. In a Mind Network of such scale, when multiple people speak simultaneously, it becos nearly impossible to distinguish individual voices. Only a very few individuals possess brains capable of processing such complex information simultaneously."
"Finally, regarding tests with ordinary people... unfortunately, the laboratory used over twenty different thods for attempts, and the participants in the experints were changed dozens of tis. In the end, we were still unable to allow ordinary people to connect to the Mind Network."
"And I must add one more point. Currently, we cannot determine whether the Mind Network will continue to function after the conclusion of the twelfth rule. But even if it shuts down, this function will definitely be reactivated in the future, just like the Social Group Function that appeared during the second marathon rule."
After Zhang Minglu finished reporting the experintal results of the past few days and took his seat, the expressions of everyone in the conference room who had listened were very serious.
If the decentralized nature of the Mind Network posed an unstable challenge to the authorities, potentially leading to the ergence of many secret organizations or criminal activity coordination unknown to the authorities, becoming a powerful latent threat to urban security.
Then the characteristic of ordinary people being unable to access the Mind Network was the truly massive iceberg hidden beneath the surface of the water.
Soone said with concern, "Looking at the population ratio, the proportion of ordinary people to Ascendants is around 7:1, and this ratio will definitely continue to expand as the number of rules increases... The ergence of this thod of using Mind Power that isolates communication between the two sides is really not a good thing."
Others nodded in agreent.
As this person said, there are only cases of Ascendants whose Mind Power upper limit decays to zero and they beco ordinary people, but there are no cases of ordinary people opening the terminal panel a second ti to beco Ascendants.
This ans that as the Doomsday Rules advance one by one, if there are no large-scale natural disasters to reduce the population, the number of ordinary people will only continue to increase, and the ratio compared to Ascendants will grow larger and larger.
Over the past year or so, the contradictions between ordinary people and Ascendants have already beco very prominent. So countries have even experienced large-scale conflict events.
But in Beixing, due to the authorities' strong suppression, prohibiting any form or language of division or discrimination, the situation is still manageable for now.
However, the ergence of this new communication thod, the Mind Network, will undoubtedly lead to increasingly sharpened contradictions.
Furthermore, there is another situation that makes ordinary people feel their sense of security decreasing: the strength of Ascendants is getting higher and higher.
Before, ordinary people thought Ascendants were just like that. So what if they had so small skills or small items? A bullet to a vital spot would still send them to the afterlife.
Although ordinary people have no special abilities, they can always fire guns, even operate heavy weapons, and even things like planes, tanks, artillery, missiles, etc... They felt that with these modern weapons as ballast, no matter how powerful the Ascendant group beca, it would remain within controllable limits.
But slowly, people discovered this view was wrong.
Because the strength of Ascendants is not like a ga character leveling up linearly, level by level. It's more like breaking through a certain critical point and then leaping forward in a non-linear way.
Videos on the internet showing off exaggerated abilities and items, and previous news about Ascendant groups fighting for power and profit in so countries, have all deepened the anxiety of the ordinary population.
And recently, the Ascendant variety show "Battle of the Ascendants" launched by the authorities to divert people's attention has ignited the emotions of this group.
Although this show received widespread praise within the academy, that's because the students in the academy are all Ascendants. They imagine themselves becoming powerful too, and possibly appearing on the show in the future to beco celebrity Ascendants.
However, the vast ordinary population, seeing this show, will only feel deeply uncomfortable—because no matter how strong the mbers on the show are, it has nothing to do with them, and they no longer have the chance to open the terminal panel and beco one of them.
"This rule seems like it can be passed easily, but in reality, its intentions are malicious."
Gao Liangwei slowly began to speak.
"Ascendants cannot use the internet, resulting in only ordinary people being active online. Without the voices of Ascendants, their frequencies resonate with each other, and negative emotions are greatly stimulated."
"And the Ascendants' self-contained 'Mind Network' will further breed fear among ordinary people."
"The director is correct," an expert said. "Recently, there have been many rumors online. So ordinary people spread rumors saying that Ascendants are secretly discussing in the Mind Network about eliminating ordinary humans, leaving only Ascendants. This rumor has caused panic among many people, and the impact is quite severe."
"The rumor-mongers must be arrested! They are simply sowing discord and disturbing people's minds!"
"While that's true, this rumor is indeed a reflection of the fear within the ordinary population. Because ordinary people cannot access the Mind Network, they have no way of knowing what Ascendants are saying within this black box."
"If this continues, the divergence between the two groups will grow larger and larger, and antagonistic sentints will beco increasingly inflad. The headache is that this problem is a global one; every country that still exists is troubled by it."
The degree of antagonism between ordinary people and Ascendants is still relatively low in Beixing.
But in so other countries, like the Black Flag Country, it has already reached a point of irreconcilable hostility.
This populous country, before the era of Doomsday Rules, was extrely stable, relying on "Reincarnation Theology" to keep the lower classes content, firmly believing that suffering in this life would lead to great wealth and honor in the next.
But with the arrival of the Doomsday Rules, accompanied by the demise of a large population, many lower-class Ascendants who gained powerful abilities also changed their thinking.
Since they have power now, why wait for the next life?
Moreover, the power of the Fire Thief and the cruelty of the Doomsday Rules have made most people disbelieve that there could be any "next life."
Therefore, the Black Flag Country experienced the world's most intense conflict between lower-class Ascendants and powerful ordinary people.
In the early stages, the powerful ordinary people, relying on their advantages in weapons and equipnt, completely crushed the opposition. They didn't even need to deploy fighter jets or tanks; just sending one ard squad could easily suppress multiple Ascendants.
This caused so of the powerful to let their guard down, leading to a reversal later when the lower-class Ascendants' strength increased.
From one ard squad, to large numbers of troops, to armored tanks, planes, and artillery, gradually they had to use everything.
Now, over a year later, the internal conflict in the Black Flag Country is still ongoing, and there's no end in sight in the short term.
Beixing absolutely does not want the sa thing to happen dostically, so they are vigilant against any speech or behavior that incites antagonism, nipping problems in the bud. But now the situation is getting worse and worse; they must proactively do sothing to cool things down.
"Actually, when it cos down to it, what needs to be solved is the issue of ordinary people's sense of security and sense of existence," a sociologist said. "The country should employ more ordinary people, promote ordinary people more, rather than focusing all the attention on Ascendants. We cannot let ordinary people develop a sense of disparity—feeling useless, left behind by the tis."
"Yes," a philosopher also said. "People need to confirm their position in society, otherwise they will beco lost, fall into nihilism, becoming an extrely unstable factor for others and society."
"Making ordinary people feel a sense of existence." Gao Liangwei frowned in deep thought. "This problem indeed needs careful study."
...
Sunday noon.
Guan Tong and that Teacher Chen arrived early at the city's entry and exit managent office. To avoid being recognized by students, they showed their identification to the on-duty personnel at the managent office and explained the situation.
As Zhou Qinfeng had previously notified them, the personnel knew what was going on and let the two into a small booth within the managent office, from where they could see the entry and exit gates through a window.
"Listening to the dean's timing, those students should be arriving in another ten minutes or so... The number of people entering and leaving the city is really huge."
Teacher Chen looked at the dense crowd at the gates, her face showing lingering fear. "If we hadn't gotten the information in advance, those students might really have taken the chance to sneak out of the city today."
"Mhm."
Guan Tong could also see that there were far too many people entering and leaving the city; the managent office personnel couldn't carefully check each person's identity.
Especially so people coming from abroad, their identities were even harder to verify.
He thought that those three assassins from the Xisiya Empire probably snuck into Pinglu this way.
"It seems the dean's arrangent for counselors to infiltrate the students' Mind Network for surveillance is still necessary," Teacher Chen said. "Before, I actually didn't really approve of this matter. I felt that once this was exposed, it would psychologically harm both the students and the counselor."
As the lecturer for the "Psychological Counseling Course," Teacher Chen naturally paid more attention to the psychological state of everyone involved in any situation.
"Especially that counselor. If her identity were exposed, she would definitely be collectively isolated by the students. Her work at the academy in the future would definitely be impossible to carry out."
"..."
After Teacher Chen finished speaking, seeing Guan Tong silent, she asked, "Teacher Guan, do you think what I said is wrong?"
"No... I think you're absolutely right."
If the matter were exposed, there's no doubt that Fang Qian, this counselor, would definitely be unable to continue in her role. This job involves the most contact with students on a daily basis. If in the future the students don't give her a good look, oppose her in everything, then how could this counselor continue to work?
But this task was sothing Fang Qian took on herself. If problems really arise, she would have to bear the responsibility.
Hearing Guan Tong's words, Teacher Chen nodded and continued, "It's precisely because of this potential hidden danger that I didn't approve. But this is, after all, the dean's decision, and judging from the information surveilled this ti, it is indeed very important... It seems that for the greater good, sotis sacrifices must be made."
"Sacrificing for the greater good... Teacher Chen, do you know? Actually, to join the students' Mind Network, you don't need to go through so many twists and turns. Find a student, offer a few hundred Ascension Coins, and that student would most likely agree to pull soone in."
Teacher Chen was stunned for a mont upon hearing this, not expecting Guan Tong to say such a thing.
"I don't believe the dean wouldn't have thought of this, but he had the counselor play the emotional card to do this..."
"Teacher Guan, what are you trying to say?" Teacher Chen felt inexplicably sowhat nervous.
Guan Tong said, "Nothing."
Teacher Chen looked at him, hesitating, wanting to speak further, but her peripheral vision caught sight of several young figures appearing before the gates of the managent office.
"They're students from the academy, I recognize a few of them! Two have attended my class."
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