"Load them up."
At the Joint Force's frontline base, an officer gave the order, and the soldiers began loading the captured parasitized forms into transport vehicles.
Once a vehicle was full, an operator pressed a button, activating the spray devices installed inside the compartnt. They slowly emitted a specially formulated anesthetic mist from their nozzles.
Its purpose was to put the parasitized forms inside the vehicle into a deep sleep. When the vehicle reached the transfer station, an additional safety asure would be taken: each parasitized form would be injected with a powerful sedative to ensure they wouldn't wake up upon arrival at the Landing Site.
The goal of this, naturally, was to prevent conscious parasitized forms from resisting once they reached the Landing Site.
Even if they were utterly powerless to resist, rely causing a loud commotion would create significant trouble.
Just like during the previous question session, when the nearly thirty thousand parasitized forms were devoured by the alien intelligence... if they had been conscious then, all shouting and screaming, the scene would have been unimaginably chaotic.
If, on top of that, many of them had loudly proclaid they were actually humans, forcibly captured and mistaken for parasitized forms, it would have severely impacted the morale of the soldiers on site.
Regardless of which aspect you considered, having the parasitized forms devoured as food while unconscious was the best outco.
"Hurry it up, the higher-ups are constantly pushing!"
"Is the gap over in Xisiya that big?"
"They ask a lot of questions, so they definitely need food."
"Xisiya itself probably has plenty of parasitized forms, right? Why don't they catch so to make up the numbers, instead of just waiting for us to transport them?"
"Can't tell them apart. If you go to arrest soone and they say they're human, what do you do? Forcefully claim they're a parasitized form and take them away?"
The Joint Force soldiers discussed as they worked.
"But isn't it the sa here? Every single one loaded onto these trucks claims to be human."
"There's a huge difference. After the parasitized forms over in Black Flag Country declared their nation, the Human Consortium held a eting and classified the vast majority of people here as parasitized forms—at least the ordinary folks."
"What if ordinary people really get mistakenly captured?"
"Tough luck, what else can they do? It's their own fault for being the first to fall, their Black Flag Country, and not so other Human Consortium mber state," an old soldier snorted heavily.
"You're really naive, kid. Haven't you been online these past few days? Many people online have analyzed this to death. Everyone knows that after figuring out the alien intelligence's Q&A function, the Human Consortium would inevitably need a stable 'source of goods' that could provide food while avoiding humanitarian crises.
And just at that ti, the parasitized forms announced their occupation here in Black Flag Country and established that 'Seli Divine Nation' thing. Talk about a pillow arriving when you're sleepy. The Human Consortium was bound to use this as the source... Didn't our Joint Force also suddenly intensify its offensive after that live stream?"
"Oh, oh! That seems to be true!"
The young soldier had a sudden realization.
"So you see, you..."
"Finish the work before chatting!"
The officer's voice ca from behind, and the soldiers imdiately shut their mouths.
Just then, the officer's communicator rang. After answering, a new command was relayed.
"Add a drug resistance testing procedure to the parasitized forms before loading?" the officer asked, puzzled. "Commander, why is that?"
"It's the latest order from the Human Consortium. They're worried so parasitized forms might pretend to be unconscious and cause trouble at the Landing Site when the opportunity arises."
"But won't they receive an additional sedative injection during transit? How could they pretend to be unconscious under such a strong drug effect? And adding a procedure will consu a huge amount of manpower and resources."
"That's not for us to consider. Just follow orders."
"Yes, sir!"
In another containnt area within the frontline base, the Ascendants who had been resisting the parasitized forms within Black Flag Country's territory were currently being held.
Although they were resisters, because it couldn't be determined whether any parasitized forms were mixed among them, deciding how to handle these people also posed a difficult problem for the frontline base commander.
Leaving them unattended indefinitely was certainly not an option. There were many of them, and they were all Ascendants. Being detained for a long ti would inevitably lead to resistance.
However, integrating them into the Joint Force's Ascendant combat units wasn't entirely appropriate either, as it carried potential risks.
In the end, the commander decided to implent a resistance evidence screening process.
Selecting those Ascendants who had genuine video records of them bravely fighting parasitized forms should yield relatively trustworthy resisters.
After the order was issued, from footage captured by combat recorders carried by Joint Force soldiers, Ascendants who had verifiably fought parasitized forms were selected.
These individuals would be ford into a separate combat unit, distinct from the Joint Force's own Ascendant combat teams.
When Lu Cheng learned he had been assigned to the Resister combat team, he took a deep breath, his eyes turning gloomy.
"The Prophet's plan is brilliant. The 'bitter flesh' strategy indeed worked. Arranging so cannon fodder parasitized forms in advance, and then
relying on combat footage of killing those parasitized forms to gain the trust of the Joint Force officers... at least partially."
Not being assigned to the Joint Force's own Ascendant combat teams to operate alongside Adam, Bai Xuewu, and the others indicated the commander still couldn't fully trust them.
"But having passed this hurdle, I probably won't be suspected for now. I need to obtain enough valuable intelligence as quickly as possible. Only then can I gain the Prophet's favor..."
Lu Cheng secretly clenched his fist. This was the task the Prophet had given him, and it was also the 'letter of commitnt' he needed to submit.
He didn't want to exist purely as cannon fodder and a tool, like other humans who had turned into parasitized forms.
He wanted to ensure that even if he later beca a parasitized form, he would occupy a high position, like the Prophet... He even vaguely suspected that before his transformation, the Prophet must have been an extrely powerful Ascendant.
Precisely because of that, after being modified by the spores and receiving significant enhancents, he could beco the Prophet. Moreover, from hints in the Prophet's previous conversations with him, it seed to subtly suggest his consciousness hadn't been replaced by the spores...
This was the greatest temptation for him!
Lu Cheng knew he was severely addicted to the spores and had killed multiple people along the way; there was no turning back. His fate seed to be to continue absorbing more spores until he reached the critical point of transformation, where his consciousness would be replaced by the spores, becoming a parasitized form.
He had originally accepted this fate, but the appearance of the Prophet gave him a glimr of hope—if he could beco an existence similar to that, could he retain his self-awareness after transformation?
This glimr of hope drove him to make up his mind to complete the task the Prophet had assigned him: infiltrating the Joint Force base and gathering intelligence.
Now, having passed the test using the footage, he could move around non-classified areas of the frontline base, which greatly assisted his mission.
He soon noticed that the parasitized forms originally scheduled to be loaded and transported to Xisiya were now lining up to enter a building, though he didn't know what they were doing.
When he approached, he was imdiately stopped by the soldiers on guard duty, who forbade unauthorized personnel from entering.
Can't get suspected due to recklessness...
Lu Cheng imdiately left, planning to slowly find an opportunity to investigate.
Landing Site.
One transport vehicle after another arrived, bringing more elite soldiers to bolster the defenses.
This deploynt, like adding an extra drug resistance test for the parasitized forms, was related to Guan Tong.
After communicating with Uenoshi, Guan Tong judged that the previous actions of the Fire Thief Worship Cult followers were rely a feint, designed to divert the attention of the Human Consortium and Xisiya.
He believed the enemy's true goal wasn't a frontal assault on the defenses, but rather to play tricks with the parasitized forms being transported into the Landing Site.
In other words, it was a strategy of feigning an open attack while secretly advancing elsewhere.
After explaining his speculation to Sigaochin and Yelanka, both found it highly plausible and imdiately took action.
Yelanka notified the Human Consortium to conduct further inspections on parasitized forms transported from the frontline. She then dispatched more soldiers to reinforce the on-site defenses.
At that mont, after one of the transport vehicles stopped, Sigaochin turned her head and signaled to Guan Tong beside her.
"Your companion is in this vehicle."
"Right."
Guan Tong walked over. Soon, a fully ard soldier got off the vehicle and approached him.
She slightly lifted her goggles, revealing the familiar vertical pupils beneath—it was Uenoshi.
Originally, Guan Tong wanted her to wait for him in the nearest city, but after their discussion, he changed his mind. With Yelanka's permission, he had her co to the Landing Site.
Based on the various signs so far, it seed the Fire Thief Worship Cult was secretly colluding with the parasitized form group. The two sides had likely plotted so sche, wanting to use the alien intelligence to harm humanity.
Just in case, Guan Tong still called Uenoshi to stay with him. This way, if any sudden situation arose on site, having her there would give them more confidence.
"Alright, co with ."
"Mm."
Uenoshi lowered her goggles and went with Guan Tong to Sigaochin's location.
"So this is your companion." Sigaochin looked at Uenoshi. "If you had imdiately inford the Xisiya authorities after overhearing those cultists' conversation last night, perhaps we could have dealt with it in advance, and those people today wouldn't have been incited to their deaths."
Uenoshi remained silent, but Guan Tong spoke up, "There's no point saying that. No one can foresee the future. Moreover, if the soldiers on your outer periter defenses had been sufficiently calm, they wouldn't have panicked and opened fire indiscriminately because of a few cultists with guns, causing more casualties."
Sigaochin was slightly taken aback, not expecting Guan Tong to rebut her like that.
"...Fine. I hope your companion here follows the rules like you do and doesn't wander around here."
After saying this, Sigaochin left angrily. Guan Tong shrugged at Uenoshi, "Don't take what she just said to heart."
"I'm not." Uenoshi looked toward the center of the site. "So, that's it."
This was her first ti seeing the alien intelligence with her own eyes since arriving.
"Any feelings seeing it in person?"
"Feels a bit disgusting."
"Disgusting is right. This thing definitely doesn't align with human aesthetics."
Uenoshi withdrew her gaze and asked, "Apart from asking questions, doesn't humanity plan to conduct more research on it?"
"It seems many people are trying to decipher its language, but I don't think it's very aningful. However, Sigaochin—the one just now—told
the Human Consortium has decided that during the next question session, they will place Mind Power lenses of the filming type inside the food bodies."
"Mind Power lenses? What are those?"
"I'm not sure either. It seems they want to film the alien intelligence's devouring process from the inside, trying to analyze its physical structure. They've previously tried placing miniature caras on the food, but couldn't transmit any images. It seems the alien intelligence's body interior has so interference function."
"I see. Mind Power items are quite special; they aren't limited by effects like electromagnetic interference."
"Right. For the Human Consortium to procure such items probably wasn't easy."
"When will the next question session be?"
"I estimate within two or three days, after the next sufficiently large batch of parasitized forms is transported." Guan Tong paused. "After the Human Consortium asks its next question, it will be about ti for
to ask mine."
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