"Hello, I would like to talk with you."
The individual, who had a human appearance but whose true nature was unclear, said with a smile.
Everyone watching and listening through screens felt a strange sensation rise in their chests. Each person could sense that although this entity was weird, it did not radiate strong malice. Instead, people inexplicably believed it only wanted to "talk."
At that moment, the entity sat cross-legged in place and lightly closed its eyes, as if waiting for someone to come speak with it.
Guan Tong stared at the "person" on the screen, opened the Terminal Panel, and looked at the hidden rule for this round.
[Hidden Rule Nineteen: The Might of Words]
[Hidden Rule Effect: Any conversation between a human and the Special Individual will be simultaneously broadcast on every electronic screen in the world. The conversation carries no cost to initiate, but the words themselves are an extremely destructive force.]
[Note: If you think saying the wrong thing online will bring you harassment, you should consider what happens if you say the wrong thing in front of the entire world. Or perhaps it's better not to speak at all?]
Guan Tong thought: under the Fire Thief's power, conversations would be globally live-streamed in real time. That meant every word and action from anyone who spoke with the Special Individual would be exposed without reserve to hundreds of millions of watching eyes.
As the note suggested, saying the wrong thing under such circumstances could have terrible consequences. Maybe it would be better not to engage in any conversation at all.
Guan Tong couldn't decide. He didn't know what the Special Individual wanted to tell humanity. And the hidden rule was right—words are power. A highly inflammatory speech can sometimes cause more destruction than a war.
As before, he sold the intelligence on the hidden rule. The price remained five hundred thousand, but this time two buyers were gone, leaving only six.
He guessed those two clients considered this rule's lack of penalties and rewards to mean it wasn't worth taking too seriously, so they saved their fifty thousand each.
That left Guan Tong with only three million, enough for about half a month of expenses.
As the Special Individual appeared, all parties who obtained the hidden rule's information began to discuss it immediately.
In the Countermeasures Research Office's conference room, attendees hesitated as they watched the image of the Special Individual sitting on the ground on the large screen.
"It looks like it's waiting for humans to approach it. It won't go elsewhere. And aside from that initial greeting, it won't talk to humans through electronic screens."
"Should we send someone to talk to it?!"
"I don't agree! Whatever this thing says will definitely bring negative effects. It's extremely dangerous if we can't block the spread of information!"
"But this is a Doomsday Rule. If we do nothing..."
"Have you ever traded stocks?" an economist asked, "When the market is bad, holding cash is often the wise move. Since this rule has no failure penalty, why bother go out of our way to talk to it?"
"You're not accounting for potential gains. Like with the nano-intelligence earlier: if humanity had chosen to play it safe and not ask any questions, how would we have discovered that our materials science hit a wall because we lacked some special substance? How would we have obtained the key to memory digitization?"
"Those two things are completely different. I bet this weird thing that looks like a 'fused human' would never answer our scientific questions!"
Supporters and opponents of talking to the Special Individual were evenly split among the attendees. Neither side had overwhelming advantage.
So the final decision still fell to the person in charge, Gao Liangwei.
Gao Liangwei said they needed to wait for the highest decision-making body.
"Whether we decide to talk or not, we must first teleport the conversation candidates to the site. Suroma is already doing that; we cannot fall behind."
Everyone nodded. At that moment, a shout suddenly came from the large screen.
"Found it. Here!"
"Is that the one from the rule?"
People looked at the screen and saw a group of soldiers in mixed foreign military uniforms emerging from the woods.
Zhang Minglu recognized their attire at once. "Those are local warlord faction members! The Special Individual was placed near them. They have the local advantage to reach it quickly."
The Tulip Federation is not part of the Human Consortium. After civil war and decline, it lost much international presence. But the assorted warlord groups that formed the federation did not all perish. Just as Lucifer once fled and became the leader of a small warlord group in this area, some local strongmen survived by force of arms.
The rules here were still the same, and the survivors tended to be capable warlord groups.
"Hello, everyone."
Noticing humans approaching, the Special Individual opened its eyes, stood, and greeted them with a gentle smile.
Several warlord soldiers stepped forward, exchanging glances of fear and curiosity.
Because the rule's release explicitly stated that the deployed Special Individual had no aggression, the soldiers weren't overly terrified.
One brave soldier asked, "Who are you?"
"Strictly speaking, I'm not human," the Special Individual admitted. "I chose this appearance because it facilitates communication with you. If you mean my name, that isn't particularly important. Names are labels given by a collective. If you insist, you may call me the 'Dialoguer.'"
When the word "Dialoguer" fell, not only did the on-site soldiers react with shock, but viewers across hundreds of millions of electronic devices felt shaken.
This "Dialoguer" directly admitted it was not human!
Meanwhile, several Suroma senators were furious.
"How could you let a bunch of ragtag warlord filth go talk to it first? Where are our people? Haven't they been teleported over yet?"
"We don't even know the Dialoguer's rules. If it only agrees to speak with a fixed number of people in three days, we must seize the opportunity."
"Just send people to the site and eliminate those savages! If the Dialoguer lacks aggressiveness, it won't care if we do that."
"Everyone be quiet," Bruce said, frowning. "If you keep yelling, how will you hear what it says on the screen?"
.....
On the screen, after the initial shock, the first soldier asked again, "You're not human? Are you an alien?"
Dialoguer: "I am an alien intelligence, not an alien 'person.' You have already gone through eighteen Doomsday Rules. You should understand the existence of alien intelligence. You have asked me two questions; I will ask you one: who are you?"
The soldiers exchanged glances. One spoke for them. "We are under King Saman's command. King Saman was our leader... but he is dead now. There are maybe twenty or thirty of us left."
Dialoguer: "I understand. It sounds like you are members of an armed faction and your leader is dead. Should I congratulate you?"
"Congratulate?!" The soldiers immediately bristled, one even raising his gun halfway in anger.
Dialoguer: "Please do not be angry, and do not attempt to attack me—such action would be meaningless. Perhaps I was too blunt. Let me put it another way, with a question: in an apocalypse like this, how should you, as humans, continue to survive?"
The Dialoguer's words carried a strange soothing power. The soldiers' outrage diminished significantly as they listened.
"What do you mean how to survive? Surviving means staying alive. We fought alongside King Saman against other warlord tribes. If we win, we live. If we lose, we die. Now that King Saman is dead, we're probably done for."
Dialoguer: "Survival is indeed a biological instinct. But it also reflects another facet: the fear of death. This fear acts not only on humans' biological nature but also on the spiritual level. For example, your attempts under the Doomsday Rules to preserve and rebuild civilization stem from a fear of civilization's end. Yet just as individual death inevitably arrives, civilizations too ultimately reach an end."
The soldiers were stunned and confused.
Many viewers in front of screens, however, already realized what the Dialoguer was doing.
"It's a debate," a think tank member from the Xisiya Parliament declared. "Just like the rule's name, the Dialoguer wants to debate with humanity. The topic will likely concern survival and civilization."
Yelanka furrowed her brow watching the screen.
"Those warlord soldiers aren't up to this. They probably lacked formal education and survived on the streets. Getting those people to debate the Dialoguer is no match. We must send highly educated, logically trained professionals!"
"Really?" Sigaochin scoffed, "I've heard 'silence is golden.' Debating this alien intelligence—I think it's better to concede and stay silent."
The think tank members were surprised by her comment, but on thought, it made some sense.
Yelanka said, "Suroma and Beixing have already sent people. We must send representatives too. Whether we choose silence or active debate, multiple nations' decision-makers must reach a consensus first."
Think tank members nodded. If decision-makers did not agree on a unified stance of silence, one country's silence alone would be meaningless. Every electronic screen would display others' conversations with the Dialoguer; avoiding exposure would be impossible.
On site.
Hearing the Dialoguer speak of civilization's end, the soldiers caught on to the implication. One asked, "Are you saying our human race will eventually be annihilated? That human civilization will end?"
Dialoguer: "Yes."
"What are you?!" The soldier cursed, furious. "How dare you, alien freak, curse humanity!"
At that moment, among the billions watching, some thought the soldier was too hot-headed, some thought the outburst was justified, and others felt embarrassed, believing the outburst lacked decorum—especially in front of an alien intelligence.
The Dialoguer, insulted, remained unperturbed. It kept a faint smile, which made the soldier's curse feel like a punch landing on cotton—utterly unsatisfying.
Dialoguer: "I can understand your anger. Yes, I can understand. Your present is part of my past, and another part of my past will become your future."
The soldiers stared blankly, not knowing how to respond.
Then seven or eight more people appeared. They looked like soldiers too, but each was highly equipped, even with exoskeletal assist armor. They were on an entirely different level from the warlord soldiers.
"The conversation is over." One of the newcomers, a slick-backed man, looked coldly at the warlord soldiers. "You lot, get out of here now."
Seeing the newcomers' gear, the warlord soldiers knew better than to argue. They muttered and left with bowed heads.
They had survived by knowing when to be arrogant and when to back down. Faced with what looked like future soldiers in powered suits, surrender was the wise choice.
The Dialoguer did not try to stop the warlord soldiers from leaving. It naturally turned to the newcomers. "Would you like to talk?"
The slick-backed man said, "Sorry. Until orders are issued, we will not speak with you. Nor will we allow others to speak with you."
The Dialoguer nodded, then sat cross-legged again and closed its eyes to rest, as before.
Back at the Countermeasures Research Office.
"Suroma moved fast," Zhang Minglu said as he watched the men surrounding the Dialoguer and the soldiers on alert.
"Their equipment looks impressive," Li Meng said, surprised. "Is that a full set of exoskeletal devices?"
Gao Liangwei: "Individual exoskeletal units have existed for some time, but judging by their uniforms, these appear to be the newest military-powered variants."
"Is it okay for them to clear the area like that?"
"Now we must wait for multiple nations' decision-making bodies to discuss whether to debate the Dialoguer."
Li Meng asked Zhang Minglu: "What do you think the result will be?"
"If it had been three minutes ago, I'd say they would refuse to debate. But after the Dialoguer said that line, I lean toward the leaders permitting a conversation. Don't you think so?"
Li Meng nodded.
It wasn't just him—almost everyone in the conference room thought the same.
Because while the warlord soldier might not have understood the Dialoguer's final sentence's nuance, everyone else had.
[Your present is part of my past; another part of my past will become your future.]
In their understanding, that meant the Dialoguer admitted its civilization had also suffered devastation from Doomsday Rules. Based on what it previously said about "the living," it seemed its civilization had ended.
This was not humanity's first encounter with such a thing. The Kimos Star Chronicle, compiled after assembling the Kimos Star fragments, already recorded a civilization's end.
But that earlier case involved huge alien beasts—possible survivors of Kimos Star—who never communicated with humans, whether by inability or unwillingness.
This time was different. The Dialoguer could actually "dialogue"... If it had experienced its civilization's end, humanity would desperately want to hear from it what had happened.
Gao Liangwei's earpiece buzzed. He pressed it and a voice came through.
"The leaders of multiple nations unanimously agree to initiate a conversation with the Dialoguer."