This wasn't the first time Guan Tong had used a public post to expose the truth behind certain events.
Every time he did this, the results were a mixed bag. Sometimes people believed him, sometimes they doubted him, and other times they mocked and attacked him.
But looking back with the benefit of hindsight, time had proven that those who believed him were right, while those who doubted or disbelieved him were wrong.
That was why he insisted on posting through public channels. Even if it meant facing slander, he still had to speak out. He knew that if he fell silent out of disappointment, that would be exactly what his enemies wanted to see.
And in matters like this, he had a unique advantage: a significant number of people around the world trusted him; and he personally controlled "Ascendant Home," a public channel he didn't have to worry about any faction blocking or silencing.
With these two advantages, every public statement he made drew massive attention.
This time was no exception.
With the foundation laid by his previous posts, the moment his long post went live, it sparked a global frenzy of discussion.
The post was logically clear, laid out the facts, included a strictly chronological timeline, and provided verifiable evidence... Even the most critical readers would acknowledge the factual portion after reading it.
And even if the "heartfelt words" section at the end was Guan Tong's personal opinion, his subjective views aligned with the simple feelings of the vast majority.
As a result, all platforms exploded with an enormous wave of condemnation targeting Suroma's King Bruce.
"This is insane. I can't believe any of this is real! Bruce's actions scare me more than the Doomsday Rules themselves!"
"If everything in that post is true, then Bruce is beyond evil. A hundred death sentences wouldn't be enough."
"Adam is actually dead?! Suroma knew this, and they still included him in their warrant. What does that mean?"
"Playing dumb, obviously..."
"I met Adam once when I was with the Joint Force. He was a great guy, incredibly capable. Someone like him could have gone all the way, and he ends up like this? There's no justice in the world!"
"Shadow God is right. The Human Consortium should do something. Every nation should unite. At the very least, Bruce needs to step down!"
"I'm Suroman. There really have been a lot of powerful Suroman Ascendants who disappeared from public view.
I used to follow a strong Ascendant from my community. She'd often share her challenge experiences, and then suddenly, there was no word from her.
I thought she died to a rule or an enemy, but now it looks like she was probably selected by Bruce for modification. This is like a nightmare. We Suromans cannot let him keep doing whatever he wants!"
As public opinion continued to ferment, serious unrest erupted within Suroma.
Demonstrations condemning Bruce broke out in every major city. In the capital, New Covenant, people gathered in a human sea, crowding before the Hall of Halls and chanting in unison, "Bruce, step down!"
Bruce seemed prepared for this. He immediately dispatched a large number of robotic peace officers and modified Ascendants to maintain order. For more radical destroyers, he didn't hesitate to deploy war weapons to suppress them.
But this violent crackdown only had the opposite effect, making Suromans even more resistant. Even if they couldn't directly confront Bruce's mixed force of smart machinery, they could sabotage things in countless ways.
Many people, out of disappointment, simply left the country altogether, heading to Xisiya, Beixing, or even smaller nations like Lury. Those smaller nations welcomed them with open arms, since what they needed most right now was population.
As long as Suroma insisted on abandoning the common people and pursuing a purely smart machinery path, many nations were willing to take in the departing Suromans.
Facing the torrent of public opinion, the Suroma government quickly held a press conference to respond.
What surprised the world was that the respondents at the conference weren't Bruce or some official department head, but several modified Ascendants.
Those modified Ascendants publicly displayed the modification consent forms they had signed in front of the cameras, stating that the modification was voluntary, not forced, and explaining why they had chosen to do so.
One of the most important reasons was that modification would increase their chances of survival.
Yes, it seemed counterintuitive at first glance. How could modifying the body increase survival odds? In reality, these modified individuals believed that after modification, they would possess the advantages of both "Ascendants" and "mechanical bodies."
Keeping the brain intact meant the mind and memories wouldn't be affected, allowing them to continue as Ascendants, taking on rule challenges and earning rewards.
Modifying the rest of the body with smart machinery allowed them to swap out parts to adapt to different dangerous environments.
These people used the "Nightmare Beasts" rule as an example, arguing that if they were already modified at that point, their metallic bodies would have far greater resistance to the corrosive fog than human flesh and blood.
Other benefits, like conserving food resources and gaining greater strength and speed, were too numerous to list.
The most important factor was the "memory backup pre-adaptation theory" proposed by Dr. Haisen and widely endorsed by the modified.
The key point of this theory was that, at this juncture where memory digitization technology had succeeded, if humans uploaded their memories and later needed to download them into a mechanical body, a rejection reaction would likely occur.
This was because the uploaded memories were all from when the person still had a human body, but the downloaded memories would be experienced within an intelligent mechanical frame.
The old memories would inevitably struggle to immediately adapt to this completely different new body, requiring a long period of correction to master it.
But the problem was, this was an era of extremely dangerous Doomsday Rules. No rule ever waited for anyone, and there wasn't enough time for people to slowly adapt.
In this situation, Dr. Haisen proposed an idea: what if they started letting the memory adapt to the mechanical body in advance?
By mechanically modifying the body ahead of time, gradually increasing the modification ratio, the brain and memory would slowly acclimate to the transition from flesh to metal.
After maintaining this for a period, the modified individuals would upload their adapted memories. Then, even if the original body was destroyed, downloading those uploaded memories into a mechanical shell would allow for rapid adaptation and mastery, achieving a seamless transition.
This theory was undoubtedly accepted by many modified individuals, but it wasn't the biggest reason driving them to finally sign the consent form.
The biggest reason was a benefit they could obtain after modification.
In the "modification benefits" section of the consent form, the most eye-catching item was: "After modification, you may upload your memory to the cloud for free, and download it to a carrier for awakening when needed, also for free."
If the other benefits were still at the "nice, pretty good" stage, this one was a direct nuclear bomb!
Everyone knew that uploading and downloading memories consumed massive resources, something ordinary people, or even top-tier Ascendants, couldn't afford. Only the powerful and wealthy from various nations could meet the conditions.
But now, just by signing a modification consent form, you could get a free "rebirth" opportunity. It was easy to see how tempting this was for some Ascendants.
So, every modified Ascendant who appeared at that press conference stated with conviction that the modification was one hundred percent voluntary and free from any coercion.
At the end of the press conference, a representative from the Suroma government also stated that while the "Modification Plan" was prioritized for Suroman Ascendants, Ascendants from other nations could also apply.
As long as they met the conditions, passed the application, and signed the consent form, they would receive benefits identical to Suroman Ascendants.
After the press conference, a fierce tug-of-war in public opinion immediately began.
Originally, after Guan Tong's long post was released, everyone assumed the modified were being forced. Now it seemed that wasn't the case.
If it wasn't forced, but rather a voluntary signing obtained through generous benefits, did outsiders really have the right to criticize or intervene?
From the standpoint of those modified individuals, their bodies were their own business. Whether to modify or not was their own choice. What right did outsiders have to chatter on and on?
Under this logic, some of the content in Guan Tong's long post seemed to become untenable.
This was undoubtedly Bruce's counterattack, and to some extent, it was effective, significantly weakening Guan Tong's accusations against the modified.
And it had to be said, the "free memory upload and download" as a core benefit for the modified held a strong appeal for many Ascendants outside of Suroma.
Many people who were originally furious and cursing began to subtly shift their mindset after learning this, abandoning their original uncompromising condemnation.
Without a doubt, these people had been tempted. They were considering modification in exchange for those benefits. Where you stand depends on where you sit. If their stance changed, their attitude naturally would too.
But while many might call this a "plot twist," Bruce implanting his son Gaelid's consciousness into a little girl's body and forcibly seizing control of her was an act no amount of sophistry could justify.
In response, the Suroma government released several more documents.
These documents were the ones signed by the Ascendants who had participated in the "Eden Project" back then.
The documents clearly stated that for children born on Eden Island, custody would belong to the Suroma government agency, not the biological parents.
These documents were all originals bearing the signatures of the plan's participants, including the one Ye Dang had signed.
The Suroma government argued that by signing these documents back then, those Ascendants had agreed to the children being managed by government agencies after birth.
That being the case, how these children were raised and handled would be determined by circumstances and had nothing to do with the parents who had no custody rights.
With this, Ye Dang's subsequent series of actions were, in essence, a breach of contract and not in the right.
When this signed document was released, public opinion was once again in an uproar.
Although the clause depriving parents of custody was inhumane, the signatures of Adam and the others were genuine.
This meant that Adam's identity as the "perfect victim" was no longer tenable.
Many voices, instigated by Suroma, began to attack and settle scores on this basis.
These voices accused Adam of being nothing more than a fickle and petty man. He enjoyed the benefits and cultivation the plan provided when he signed the documents, but once the child was born, he started disregarding the contract and forcibly demanding custody.
When that failed, he resorted to violence, causing bloody deaths and casualties. Was that really reasonable?
Aside from responding to these two matters, the Suroma government also vehemently denied any collusion between King Bruce and the Fire Thief Cult's Your Holiness, as well as any deal involving his daughter Yishan and Han Qiu.
After the Suroma government's maneuvers, while it couldn't completely overturn all the accusations in Guan Tong's long post, it found counterattack points from different angles and sounded the horn for a comeback.
For a time, two opposing voices clashed violently on the internet. Neither side could completely overwhelm the other. The unified condemnation of Bruce was heavily deconstructed, and countless bot accounts muddied the waters.
This left many professionals feeling deeply impressed. Suroma truly was an expert in the art of online warfare during peacetime. Even in this kind of "headwind," they could still stage a comeback. Their skill was simply astonishing.