Suroma Empire, secret research lab.
Dr. Haisen stared at the dozens of screens plastered with complex formulas, a look of intoxicated satisfaction on his face.
"No wonder this is the integrated plan an advanced civilization offered, it's practically perfect for humanity's current technology…"
"It looks like the plan has beco feasible."
The king's voice suddenly ca from behind, and Haisen snapped back to attention and turned around.
"Your Majesty, when did you arrive?"
"Do you care so much about such trivial things?" the Suroma King said indifferently.
"No, of course not…" Dr. Haisen felt a chill in his chest. "This entire experintal base was approved by you, so of course you may co whenever you wish…"
"What did the alien intelligence's answers say?"
"Very good!" Haisen imdiately replied, since it concerned his field. "After analyzing its one-and-a-half-hour-long responses, we've compiled a complete plan. If we implent this plan, we'll soon get the results you want…"
"Soon ans how long?"
"Um, we estimate results within six months."
"Six months? That's your 'soon'?"
The king frowned, his voice hardening. This answer clearly did not satisfy him.
Dr. Haisen answered cautiously, "Even if we obtain a complete, feasible theory, going from theory to practice requires ti for verification. And to ensure Your Majesty's 'Angel' has no chance of failure, we need to run a lot of experints to guarantee success probability."
"…Fine. I'll give you six months. Also, prepare a technical dossier to submit to the Human Consortium."
"It's because of that open-source agreent, I understand. Your Majesty, do you want us to submit a misleading version?"
"Do you think Beixing's technical experts are idiots?" the king said coldly. "Over the next six months, I don't want Beixing using this as an excuse to cause trouble for Suroma."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
…
January 26.
The fifteenth Doomsday Rule was about to conclude, and public attention on the alien intelligence was waning.
Even though the earlier breach during the live broadcast had sparked a public uproar, the Human Consortium quickly squashed the controversy by releasing the investigation results afterward.
The investigation stated that five followers of the Fire Thief Worship Cult had infiltrated the crowd that day. These people had concealed firearms and fired to provoke clashes between soldiers and civilians, causing casualties.
The Human Consortium said these cultists were likely acting on orders from higher-ups within their cult, such as bishops or the cult leader, and had infiltrated Xisiya to instigate riots.
The Consortium promised to pursue the matter to the end and to strike the cult's headquarters in Fahe as soon as possible.
In this announcent, Suroma also for the first ti released footage from the previous battle showing the Annihilator's devastating strikes against the cultists.
Although so mber states of the Consortium had known about this, few people in the public had. Seeing those two- or three-story-tall war machines in the footage, mowing down tens of thousands of black-robed cultists like slicing through lons, left viewers stunned.
This unquestionably deepened people's impression of Suroma's military might, which was precisely what Suroma wanted. This country had long used displays of overwhelming force to attract strong individuals from around the world, creating a reinforcing cycle of power aggregation.
The Human Consortium, worried about copycats rushing Xisiya's defenses, also reiterated and answered public concerns.
The reason ordinary people are not allowed to approach or question the alien intelligence is the sa as why you wouldn't hand missile launch buttons to the public: to prevent a tiny number of irrational actors from harming the rational majority.
Each question submitted to the Consortium must satisfy the condition of benefiting humanity as a whole. Allowing the public free access to ask would lead to total chaos and massive casualties, so it is impossible.
Regarding the accusation that people from Black Flag Country were forcibly turned into parasitized forms and sent to Xisiya, the Consortium responded.
This ti they did not deny or evade.
The Consortium bluntly stated: even if the Joint Force tries its best to avoid capturing the wrong people, to only designate those confird to have attacked the Joint Force as parasitized forms, mistakes are still unavoidable.
This is a limitation of human capability; whether it is reasonable or not, such errors will exist. But humans cannot let fear stop progress, we must seize opportunities and move forward.
After the Consortium made these statents, people gradually accepted reality.
Reality is harsh: what can humanity do if we simply cannot distinguish parasitized forms? Many people's argunts for "not asking" also fell apart after the answer to the recent question about converting brainwaves into digital signals was released.
That answer hinted at possible technologies like "digital life" and "mory transfer," which many people desperately want.
If those technologies can be realized and combined with the space migration plan, humanity might not only escape the Fire Thief's control but also achieve an alternative form of immortality. The allure is obvious.
This also gave the Consortium's next question more significance.
If the upcoming question about the future gets answered, it would suggest the Doomsday Rules were preset, which would give humanity a chance to find loopholes.
If it cannot be answered, then whether rules change would depend solely on the Fire Thief's whim, which is not what humanity wants to hear.
That would an the Fire Thief can always patch any loophole humans exploit. That fact could be more dispiriting to clever people than the rules themselves.
…
"Questioning will start at 5 p.m. sharp. Everyone prepare."
With Sigaochin's order, every person at the Landing Site returned to their assigned duties.
Soldiers began unloading the parasitized forms from transport vehicles and placing them in the food area.
Guan Tong watched the sleeping parasitized forms. Sigaochin walked over and asked, "Any concerns?"
"No."
"Are you worried so of them are faking sleep? The Joint Force added another inspection step, so it should be fine. But to be safe, I doubled the number of snipers and drone operators today. Any suspicious individual will be eliminated imdiately."
Guan Tong nodded. Because Sigaochin not only enjoyed Yelanka's trust but was also cautious by nature, she had been given the heavy responsibility of managing this site.
So far, the Landing Site had operated without incident in recent days, which proved Sigaochin's competence.
Still, he believed the enemy wouldn't give up; he just didn't know what they might do specifically.
"However," Sigaochin paused, "while I don't expect trouble, if anything unexpected happens, I hope you and your companions can lend assistance."
"Of course," Guan Tong said.
He intended to wait until the Consortium finished its question before asking his own. If anyone tried to cause trouble, he would be the first to refuse to comply.
The parasitized forms were arranged in circles within the food area, an even larger number than last ti.
Last ti nearly thirty thousand were used; this ti, each country brought their final stockpiles, plus the Joint Force transports from the front, totaling nearly one hundred thousand parasitized forms.
There wasn't enough space to display them all, so only a portion was placed out while the rest stayed in vehicles to be moved out if needed.
Once everything was set, they only had to wait for the appointed ti to begin questioning.
Uenoshi stood to the side, arms crossed, fingers lightly patting her shoulder as if eager.
"You want to know the answer too?"
"Yes."
Guan Tong had already told her the Human Consortium's second question. She wanted to know whether the alien intelligence could reveal future rule content in advance.
But she didn't know what Guan Tong planned to ask.
It wasn't that she thought he wouldn't ask.
"If you had the chance, is there anything you'd ask?" Guan Tong asked.
Uenoshi shook her head.
She had originally only wanted to learn about her biological parents. After Guan Tong helped her get that answer, she had no more burning questions.
She joined Guan Tong's group rely to repay his help and to eliminate more evils like Yuzawa Jun. Her thirst for truth wasn't as strong as his.
"That's fine," Guan Tong said. "No questions ans no worries."
"…"
"It's almost ti. We need to stay alert."
"Mm."
As five o'clock approached, the questioner climbed down from a vehicle and stood before the alien intelligence.
The live broadcast began; the Human Consortium and the Top Levels of every country watched.
The scene fell silent as tens of thousands waited in hushed anticipation.
When the ti ca, the questioner began, "May I ask—"
Boom!!!
A massive explosion suddenly erupted from behind, cutting off the question mid-sentence.
Everyone was stunned and looked toward the sound. Several transport vehicles carrying parasitized forms were engulfed in roaring flas and thick black smoke.
"Nobody move! Hold your positions!"
Sigaochin shouted, disbelief on her face. Why had those transports exploded? From the Joint Force base to Xisiya there were multiple checkpoints; if bombs were on board, they should have been detected.
Could it be…
She thought of a bomb that could bypass inspection equipnt.
"It's a Mind Power bomb!" Guan Tong's voice crackled over the Comms Channel. "There are parasitized-form Ascendants mixed in!"
Only then did he understand: the parasitized forms had exploited humanity's heuristic that most parasitized forms are ordinary people.
Indeed, the vast majority of parasitized forms are ordinary people; Ascendants are extrely rare. But if the parasitized forms' leaders concentrated these rare Ascendants and had them pose as ordinary parasitized forms that the Joint Force captured and transported to Xisiya…
No sooner had Guan Tong finished speaking than Ascendant parasitized forms in the food area and around so rear transport vehicles rose up and launched an attack.
The snipers Sigaochin had prepositioned opened fire imdiately, and other soldiers and the on-site Ascendant teams engaged at once.
However, the rear attacks were a diversion; the real threat was the Ascendant parasitized forms in the food area, which numbered around a hundred at first glance.
They were clearly well prepared. So imdiately used barrier tools to block snipers' bullets and assaults from military Ascendants, while others charged at the alien intelligence and the questioner at top speed!
Guan Tong flashed forward, appearing at the barrier. He condensed a Small Space in his palm and smashed the barrier; a large number of Shadows poured out of his body and quickly strangled the parasitized-form Ascendants.
"Shadows?!"
"Damn, how is he here!"
"Ignore him, complete the mission!"
The parasitized-form Ascendants were thrown into confusion by Guan Tong's attack, which bought the questioner a fleeting two or three seconds.
For ordinary people that would have been nothing, but the questioner had been chosen for one reason above all: absolute loyalty and a steady nerve.
Seizing that vanishing chance, the questioner shouted his query, "What is the sixteenth Doomsday Rule?"
Pft!
A mont after the questioner finished speaking, a speedily moving parasitized-form Ascendant killed him, but even then it was too late.
The question had been asked, and the feeding began.
The parasitized-form Ascendant that killed the questioner hadn't even withdrawn before the alien intelligence enveloped and consud it.
"Crap! They still got it asked!"
"We didn't expect the Shadows to interfere… fall back!"
The remaining parasitized-form Ascendants scattered and retreated. Guan Tong likewise pulled back quickly; he did not want to beco the alien intelligence's food.
Yet the sudden appearance of several hundred parasitized-form Ascendants in total had pushed everyone into extre danger, plunging the scene into utter chaos.
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