“The current speed has increased to about four points per day.”
Inside the shelter, Guan Tong finished checking the increase in his Mind Power's natural growth rate, knowing it must be related to those millions of Manchidon people.
If the new decision-making layer of Manchidon awarding him the “Sacred Crown” — the highest honor in Manchidon — still carried some undertones of ingratiation, then this accelerated natural growth of his Mind Power now represented the people's recognition of him.
Perhaps not the entirety of public opinion, but among those millions of Manchidons, over ninety percent were deeply grateful to him for saving their country. This heartfelt gratitude condensed into a manifestation of faith energy, which fed back to him.
Guan Tong had originally only wanted to eliminate the “Prophet” and remove this threat to humanity. He hadn't expected such an unexpected gain, and it truly surprised him.
“Though it sounds a bit cliché, this is probably what they mean by good deeds bringing good rewards...”
He didn't stay excited for long; before long, he calmed down again.
For him, the parasitized form's “Prophet” was only one threat. An even more troublesome threat lay ahead.
“Han Qiu...”
Guan Tong spat out this name, his expression somewhat solemn.
Based on what he had observed, if there existed an “axis of evil” composed of the parasitized form Prophet, the Fire Thief Cult's Your Holiness, Han Qiu, and others, then the one responsible for strategy and planning within that axis seemed to be Han Qiu.
This man was scheming and hid his talents well. If he hadn't been dragged down by terrible teammates, he might still be lurking within the Beixing Countermeasures Research Office as a respected young academician.
Moreover, Han Qiu had been very conscious about hiding his strength. After his defection, the Countermeasures Research Office reviewed past records and judged that his registered abilities were entirely fabricated, disguised through items.
This wasn't unusual. Guan Tong himself, back when he was keeping Shadow's secret, had deliberately let others think that the Silver Hunt was his exclusive item.
But what was unusual was that Han Qiu had managed to keep his secret for a full two years! That was absurd, suggesting this guy had made long-term plans not long after the Doomsday Rules were declared.
Additionally, when the “Big Sister” fell and Beixing's authorities purged her faction, he hadn't been implicated, showing he was equally excellent at risk isolation. Guan Tong thought this was more likely Han Qiu's personal arrangement rather than something Big Sister had individually authorized.
Guan Tong still remembered Zhang Minglu telling him that after resigning, Han Qiu had waited to pass the Declassification Period before leaving the base. In the end, because Wei Huo's case was discovered and he faced exposure, he had to leave early. This was the only crack Han Qiu had shown during his long infiltration.
This crack lay in the fact that his ability to extricate himself from the Countermeasures Research Office must be related to his real ability or exclusive items. Under the premise that teleportation-type items couldn't be used, being able to leave the base silently suggested that ability was likely some kind of transfer-type.
“Unlike the Prophet, whose pseudo-intelligence is still bound by instincts, this Han Qiu guy is extremely cautious. Finding him probably won't be easy... But as long as I keep strengthening myself and maintaining my lead in strength, there's nothing to fear.”
In this era where power resides in oneself, as long as one keeps getting stronger, one can maintain a positive advantage. Any schemes or plots pale before an absolute gap in strength.
“Teacher Guan Tong, is it convenient to talk?”
Suddenly, Yelanka's voice rang out abruptly in his mind. She was contacting him through the Mind Network.
Guan Tong responded, “What's up, Yelanka?”
Yelanka: “Did you kill the parasitized form leader, the 'Prophet'?”
Guan Tong: “Strictly speaking, I killed a type of spore worm. This thing is a bit like a 'central processor.' Attached to a human host, it receives information transmitted by other parasitized forms. That's why it's called the 'Prophet.'”
Yelanka: “So that's it... After that spore worm died, shouldn't the other parasitized forms lose control? Since yesterday, there have been multiple incidents of parasitized forms going berserk in Xisiya.”
Guan Tong: “I don't think they lost control. Rather, after losing the 'Prophet,' the hosts with lower intelligence, lacking command, had their behavior start to align with their intelligence level.”
Parasitized forms had always had an extremely high tendency to attack humans. This was very obvious during the 【Extraterrestrial Parasite】 Rule period and right after the rule ended.
Later, parasitized forms collectively went into hiding within human society, trying to disguise themselves as humans. Part of it was because hosts with higher intelligence were smarter, and the other part was due to the “Prophet” remotely commanding and issuing orders to suppress those lower-intelligence parasitized forms.
Now that the “Prophet” was dead, those low-intelligence parasitized forms, having lost their suppression, naturally began to follow their instincts to attack and convert humans, thus exposing themselves.
Yelanka: “That actually sounds like a good thing.”
Guan Tong: “Of course it's a good thing. I think for the next period, every nation will be able to vigorously hunt down exposed parasitized forms, thereby reducing the overall threat level. It won't be long before, even if some parasitized forms remain in the world, they'll only be a few smart enough to hide. But a handful like that probably can't pose a threat to humanity.”
Yelanka: “That's great. Then humanity has one less major threat... No wonder Manchidon awarded Teacher Guan Tong the 'Sacred Crown' honor. I think with such a huge contribution, every country in the world should award you the highest honors.”
Guan Tong: “Forget it. A lot of people in other countries probably still resent me over the Demon Race business.”
Yelanka: “... How can they blame you for such an unfounded guess? Even if the Demon Race really exists, it was they who came to harm humanity first. What fault is it of yours for representing humanity's counterattack?”
Yelanka's tone sounded quite indignant. It seemed the massive wave of negative public opinion directed at Guan Tong back then over the Demon Race matter still made her very angry.
Guan Tong chuckled: “Let others say what they want. As long as I have a clear conscience, that's enough.”
Yelanka: “Mm... By the way, what do you think about the array?”
Guan Tong: “Array? What array?”
Yelanka's tone was surprised: “Does Teacher still not know? It's a proposal for getting through this rule. The Human Consortium officially announced it a few hours ago.”
Guan Tong: “I haven't seen it. Is there a problem?”
Yelanka: “The cost of this plan is enormous, and its success is uncertain.”
Guan Tong thought to himself, after his trip to Manchidon, he had vaguely conceived a method to resolve this current rule. He just hadn't made up his mind to try it yet.
If the Human Consortium could come up with a feasible solution, he wouldn't need to go to the extra trouble.
After the two ended their call, Guan Tong immediately turned on his computer.
He didn't even need to search. As soon as he opened the website, the screen was full of keywords about the array.
Guan Tong went to his Ascendant Home forum to take a look. In the Casual Chat section, a statement released by the Human Consortium a few hours ago was pinned at the top. He clicked to open it and understood what was going on.
The Human Consortium's statement mentioned that to stop the “Bright Moon” from rising, conventional weapons were almost useless. Humanity had even used one of the few remaining super nuclear bombs, but it only caused slight damage to the sphere's surface.
Therefore, the only way to stop it had to come from Mind Power abilities and items. Under these circumstances, Suroma selected one of its native Ascendants whose held item could gather the power of multiple people to fire a special high-energy laser.
However, this method came at an extremely high cost. Besides the item's owner, all other participating Ascendants would die from the high-energy laser's backlash. Furthermore, to unleash the item's maximum power, a total of three thousand Ascendants with a Mind Power upper limit exceeding five hundred points were needed.
After discussions and a vote, the Human Consortium decided on the selection method for these three thousand Ascendants, using two methods sequentially by time.
The first was to open a three-day voluntary registration period.
During these three days, qualified Ascendants from each nation who wished to participate could sign up voluntarily.
The second was that after the three-day voluntary registration, any shortfall, after subtracting the volunteers, would be filled by Human Consortium nations according to the proportion of their total Ascendants.
“Sacrificing three thousand Ascendants with a Mind Power upper limit exceeding five hundred points...”
After reading the statement, Guan Tong was completely speechless. This loss for humanity as a whole was far too great.
Moreover, the three-day voluntary registration period was also absurd. Who would volunteer for a mission where participation meant certain death?
Even those selfless individuals with a genuine spirit of sacrifice would hesitate, because this plan was not one hundred percent successful!
If their sacrifice could ensure the resolution of one rule, perhaps many people would be willing to do it. This had been demonstrated during the earthquake rule back then.
But now, this plan was only “expected to succeed.” What if the operation failed? Wouldn't those three thousand sacrificed high Mind Power Ascendants have died in vain?
And then there was the matter of each nation filling the gap proportionally after voluntary registration. This meant that Beixing, Xisiya, and Suroma would have to provide the most, with Beixing being leagues ahead of the others.
Why would Beixing's authorities agree to such conditions?
Guan Tong couldn't quite understand. He scrolled down the interface, and many replies under the post shared his sentiment.
“Only an idiot would volunteer for something like this!”
“An Ascendant with a Mind Power upper limit of 500 is considered a powerhouse in any country. They'd be treated like honored guests in official or major private organizations. Why would they enjoy their high welfare and benefits, and then go seek death out of sheer boredom?”
“What was Beixing's government thinking, agreeing to provide people proportionally?”
“Comment above, probably lost the vote inside the Human Consortium... Minority submits to majority.”
“Minority submits to majority? There are over 700 million people globally now, and Beixing accounts for 600 million! Beixing's people are the majority; people from other countries are the minority. Who should submit to whom?!”
“Exactly! If we're voting, why not give everyone on earth one vote? Can two countries with a few million population each outvote Beixing with their two votes? That's bullshit.”
“All Beixing folks, let's firmly resist! Even though I'm just an ordinary person, I don't agree with sending so many of our big shots to die!”
“This isn't about ordinary people versus Ascendants. Any Beixing person should firmly oppose this!”
“I smell something fishy... Is that Suroma array thing even reliable? Don't tell me they're deliberately trying to screw us over...”
The comments section was overwhelmingly one-sided. Almost all of them were Beixing people opposing it.
Occasionally, someone from another country would post a rebuttal, but they were immediately drowned out by a torrent of criticism.
After reading a bit, Guan Tong closed the webpage, thinking that under such a fervent public opinion environment, this plan would be very difficult to push through and implement.
Just as one netizen had said, an Ascendant with a Mind Power upper limit exceeding five hundred points, no matter what organization they joined, would be treated with courtesy. In other words, this group had “bargaining power” beyond that of ordinary Ascendants.
If they themselves were unwilling, forcing them was useless. If pressed too hard, they could just leave. Forcibly obstructing them would only trigger more conflict and produce worse results.
Guan Tong himself belonged to this group. Standing in his position, he certainly didn't want to challenge and fail, reducing his Mind Power upper limit. But if succeeding in the challenge meant losing his life... then he might as well fail.
Choosing between one's own life and successfully challenging a non-survival-related rule, the relative importance was clear.
If everyone refused to cooperate, this plan would only be stillborn.
“Could the authorities have intended this from the start...”
Guan Tong thought to himself. The authorities weren't short of smart people. What he could think of, they certainly could too.
Just as he was thinking, his phone vibrated. It was a call from Li Meng.
Li Meng asked, “Guan Tong, are you free this afternoon?”
“What's the matter?”
“Head Gao wants to meet you, and Adam too. Head Gao wants to see both of you at the same time.”
“Oh?”
After Guan Tong and the others left Manchidon, Uenoshi went to Sakura Prayer Country to continue running her Serpent Hair Society, while Silver Fox and Chen Na returned to the base.
Adam, however, hadn't returned to Base 2. Instead, he came to the shelter in Pinglu with Guan Tong and was currently resting in a guest room on the first floor.
The two had previously agreed that after this rule ended, they would travel together to the Algan Grasslands to find the Moon Key. Ye Dang thought staying in Beixing's base was boring, so he might as well hang around Guan Tong's place.
Now that Gao Liangwei wanted to see both of them, it must be something important.
Guan Tong thought of the post he had just read and said suspiciously, “Section Chief Li, don't tell me Head Gao wants us to volunteer for that array plan. You should know that's impossible, right?”
“What? Of course not! People at your level... They could send anyone, but not you.”
“Then what is it?”
“I don't know that either, but it should be related to this rule. If you're free, come to the base for a visit.”
...
After hanging up, Guan Tong went downstairs to wake Adam.
Earlier, in Manchidon, he and Uenoshi had held off several hundred parasitized forms, which took a huge toll on him. He had been sleeping since returning yesterday.
Adam woke up. When he heard they were going to the Countermeasures Research Office base, he was very surprised. “The main base? That Head Gao guy actually wants me to go to the main base? Isn't he worried I'll leak secrets as a spy?”
“With your temporary clearance, you probably can't access any real secrets,” Guan Tong said. “Besides, I'm guessing the reason he specifically called you has to do with your ability. Anyway, let's go check it out. I also want to talk to Beixing's authorities about an idea I have.”