Underground laboratory in the Hall of Halls.
When Bruce came down, Dr. Haisen immediately stepped forward to greet him, somewhat surprised: "Your Majesty, why have you come?"
After the previous Doomsday Rule ended, Bruce had not come down here for a long time, spending most of his time in the combat command center, dealing with the civil war.
"Any progress in the research?" Bruce asked.
Dr. Haisen nodded: "The 'Gaia' system we envisioned earlier is currently under construction. In about another month, we should be able to conduct small-scale testing."
The Gaia system was a derivative, or rather formal development direction, newly formulated by Suroma after mastering memory-upload technology.
The principle was to take the massive amount of memories stored in the cloud and use some kind of super algorithm to connect and merge them, ultimately forming a colossal memory aggregate, which Haisen called "Gaia."
The ultimate purpose of this system, in Bruce's own words, was to "achieve the final sublimation of humanity." Haisen did not fully understand this statement, but he followed orders and devoted himself to the research.
It was just that this technology was far more complex than simple memory uploading.
Storing one person's memories separately was one level of difficulty. Merging two people's memories into a single memory field caused the difficulty to increase exponentially in an instant.
And merging thousands upon thousands of people's memories into the Gaia system... In Dr. Haisen's view, unless they could break through material and energy limitations, even the combined strength of all humanity would be nowhere near enough.
When he told Bruce this, Bruce told him to take it one step at a time, first conduct the minimal feasibility test, and expand the scale when the opportunity matured in the future.
"Very good, keep up the good work." After Bruce finished speaking, he asked about the child's condition.
"How has Gaelid been these past few days?"
"Much more stable than before," Dr. Haisen said. "As long as there are no violent emotional fluctuations, Gaelid's consciousness is basically in control of the body. Preliminary assessment suggests Ai Ya's consciousness has fallen into deep slumber."
"Is that so? That works out well."
"Works out well?"
Bruce said: "I'm going to send him on a suppression mission. Although he possesses a super talent, only through extensive real combat can he improve rapidly and turn that talent into actual strength."
Upon hearing this, Dr. Haisen's face showed concern: "Your Majesty, with all due respect, although Gaelid's consciousness is stable right now, going to the battlefield might still be somewhat of a stretch."
"In this era of Doomsday Rules, even if he is my son, there isn't that much time for him to adapt slowly. Besides, his opponents are just a bunch of stupid, weak rebels. Bring him out."
Bruce's decision brooked no opposition, so Dr. Haisen could only agree and go fetch Gaelid, who usually lived in the observation room.
Gaelid followed behind Dr. Haisen, gripping the latter's clothing with his hand, seemingly very dependent on him.
Bruce frowned slightly at the sight. He felt that he had been so busy suppressing the internal rebellion lately that he hadn't had time to come down and see Gaelid. As a result, Gaelid might have spent too much time with Dr. Haisen and developed some feelings for him.
That was absolutely unacceptable.
"Gaelid, come here."
After Bruce spoke, Gaelid glanced at Dr. Haisen, who smiled and nodded at him.
"Dad..."
Gaelid released his grip on Haisen's clothing and timidly walked over to stand before Bruce.
"Bruce, you will dispatch a troop to accompany him to eliminate the rebels."
"Eliminate... rebels?"
Gaelid's dazed, bewildered expression irritated Bruce somewhat.
He knew he couldn't blame his son. The memories that had been transferred to him were all fragmented, and he had also instructed Haisen to delete content that was unfavorable to him or filled with hatred toward him.
This had resulted in Gaelid's current cognition being completely unlike that of a normal adult.
But Bruce knew he needed to be more patient. A tragedy had already befallen Gaelid once; there could not be a second time.
"Don't overthink it. Just do as I say. After reaching the target location, eliminate all resisters, understand?"
Gaelid nodded: "I understand, Dad."
Bruce quickly took Gaelid away. Dr. Haisen watched their retreating figures and let out an almost imperceptible sigh.
...
"Troupe Leader, you're going to help Suroma's rebel forces?"
In the Serpent Hair Society headquarters room, after Guan Tong finished explaining the whole story, Shangyuan felt that this didn't seem too reliable.
"Could this be a trap? What if this rebel force is actually planted by Bruce to lure you in?"
"That's unlikely," Guan Tong said. "Bruce knows about my reconnaissance abilities. Such traps are basically useless against me.
Besides, what that Camp Leader who sent me private messages said is right: the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Also, I'm very interested in that spy they captured. We might be able to learn some inside information about the Hall of Halls."
Guan Tong had not forgotten the "Shadow Kill Order" he had issued. As long as Bruce remained alive, his hostile operations would not cease.
Right now, several thousand rebels were in mortal danger. He could make a trip to help them and, in passing, try to obtain some intelligence about the Hall of Halls.
That airtight, impenetrable fortress was very difficult to breach from the outside. If there were some internal leads, it might become somewhat easier.
"Then should I go with you, Troupe Leader?" Shangyuan asked.
"No need. Shangyuan, you should lead the Serpent Hair Society in preparing for the upcoming new rules."
"Alright."
As the two were talking, Moon Key walked into the room.
Seeing her enter, Shangyuan took the opportunity to ask: "The Troupe Leader is going to Suroma to support the rebels. Do you want to make a prophecy about how things will go?"
"Shangyuan..."
Guan Tong shook his head at her as a signal.
He knew that Moon Key had some psychological trauma when it came to prophesying about friends. If she really saw something bad, it would only add to her mental burden.
Moon Key looked at the two of them and said to Shangyuan: "I do want to prophesy for the Troupe Leader, but unfortunately, his fate is completely shrouded in mist within my crystal ball."
It wasn't that she had never tried to prophesy about Guan Tong. Back when she was still living in Suroma, she had attempted it once. Not only did she fail to see any results, but her fingers had even been broken by the backlash.
After that, she understood that Guan Tong's fate must be very special, something she could not peer into through her crystal ball.
"So that's how it is..."
A flicker of surprise passed through Shangyuan's eyes, but she wasn't too shocked.
She had felt for a long time that Guan Tong was special. It was hard to pinpoint exactly what made him so, but the more time she spent with him, the stronger that feeling became.
"That's fine then." Guan Tong joked. "I wouldn't want someone spoiling my future for me anyway."
"...The reason I came to find you two is that I've prophesied something else."
This time, Moon Key did not draw a prophecy painting but described it directly in words, which meant the meaning of what she saw in the crystal ball was very clear.
Guan Tong and Shangyuan looked at her, silently waiting for her to reveal the new prophecy.
"I saw... a massive explosion happening in space."
Moon Key's voice trembled slightly. The image must have been truly shocking for her to still feel shaken when recalling it now.
"After the explosion, countless pieces of building debris scattered through space, and there were bodies... so many bodies, drifting in space with dead, unseeing eyes. And none of these bodies were wearing spacesuits."
Upon hearing this, both Guan Tong and Shangyuan showed expressions of shock.
Shangyuan looked at Guan Tong: "A massive explosion in space, buildings, and a large number of corpses of people not wearing spacesuits... This sounds like the explosion might be at Beixing's space survival base?"
"...Correct."
Guan Tong's expression was grave. After hearing Moon Key's prophetic vision, he had immediately thought of the space survival base built under Beixing's "Tiangong Project."
Currently, only Beixing was constructing a space base. If many people were going to enter space in the future, their destination would inevitably be that survival base.
Moreover, the base's goal was to establish a permanent ecosystem, so the people living there naturally wouldn't need to wear spacesuits at all times like astronauts.
But why would it explode? Who did it? And for what purpose?
Guan Tong did not ask Moon Key. He knew she would never hide anything from him. If she had seen more, she would have said so directly.
The fact that she didn't say more meant she had only seen the explosion and the terrifying consequences it caused.
"This is very serious... I will find an opportunity to communicate with Beixing's officials." Guan Tong said solemnly.
Although the survival base was not yet fully completed, Moon Key's prophecies had always been accurate.
Since she had seen the explosion in space, if Guan Tong did nothing to intervene, the explosion would inevitably happen.
No one, except for the perpetrator, would want to see such a tragedy occur.
"Mm, then I'll head back first." Moon Key did not stay long, but paused at the door before leaving.
"Troupe Leader, be careful on your trip to Suroma as well."
"Got it. Thanks."
Guan Tong watched Moon Key leave the room, then bid farewell to Shangyuan as well.
"Well, there's no time to waste. I'm setting off now."