Soon, Beixing announced the hidden information about the purchased rule.
Unlike previous times, when the officials typically released public information along with recommendations on how citizens should approach the rule, or published mandatory regulations related to it, this time the officials simply released the information itself, without advising the public on what to do or how to do it.
This was not because everyone other than the "Awakened One" was an outsider.
In fact, no one was an outsider, because the choice made by the Awakened One could very likely affect every single person on Tianshui Star.
Precisely for that reason, the officials refrained from making any value judgments at first, simply providing the information and letting the public debate freely.
And upon learning of the hidden intelligence, the public predictably split into two factions, passionately tearing into each other in the comments sections.
"Oh my god, if we show up on the cosmic star chart, alien civilizations will see us, right? That's terrifying!"
"Why does merely querying a database get us marked as a contactable civilization? What's the connection between those two things?"
"I think it might have something to do with the 'Authority' mentioned in the rules. Maybe in the Star Sea Court's regulations, once a civilization grasps Authority, it permanently belongs to the interstellar community and can no longer 'seclude itself,' but must play with other civilizations."
"Can someone tell me what the hell Authority even is???"
"We absolutely cannot query! So many sci-fi works have said it—exposing your own existence is the beginning of civilization's downfall!!!"
Those opposing the query were numerous, but those in favor were equally plentiful, and they had their own theories as well.
"Why do so many people automatically assume other civilizations in the universe are evil? If every civilization that gets exposed immediately starts fighting each other, then how exactly was the Star Sea Court built in the first place?"
"Exactly. The existence of the Star Sea Court and the cosmic star chart itself represents some kind of order among civilizations in the universe. Maybe humanity is still in the 'newbie protection period.'"
"Here's how I see it—maybe a friendly alien civilization will come spread advanced technology, or like in sci-fi movies, establish interstellar trade routes. Wouldn't that be a good thing?"
"I support the query. How many people here actually think they'll live to see all the Doomsday Rules end? Might as well gamble. What if a benevolent high-tier civilization sees our suffering and decides to eliminate the Fire Thief? Or directly moves us to another safe planet to live on."
The two factions argued endlessly, spilling from one comments section to another, and no social media platform escaped the chaos.
Moreover, sharp-eyed observers noticed that no platform was restricting these debates. This suggested that even the official think tanks and decision-makers of various nations were still undecided, which was why they weren't steering public opinion in any direction.
However, compared to the two contending factions, there was a relatively sparse third faction.
The attitude of this third faction could be summed up in four words: "None of my business."
Their comments were strikingly similar, roughly along the lines of: "What's the point of all this arguing? In the end, the Awakened One makes the decision anyway. What that person thinks is what matters most. Everyone else should just lie down and wait for the result."
The third faction's chill philosophy sounded quite reasonable, but very few people could actually lie down and wait for results.
Meanwhile, the two debating factions quickly shifted from arguing about whether to query, and converged on speculating about the identity of the Awakened One.
As the third faction had said, the Awakened One's own thoughts mattered most.
Determining that person's identity first, then getting them to endorse one's own faction's theory—that was the real reason both factions wanted to identify the Awakened One.
...
In the underground laboratory beneath the Hall of Halls, Dr. Haisen sat in a chair, staring blankly at the massive screens covering the walls.
The screens were filled with densely packed points of light, each one representing a memory. Combining them all into the "memory grid" required to construct the Gaia System was his current primary task.
But from the very start, this work had progressed at an agonizingly slow pace.
Even with the [Emergence Acceleration] rule massively upgrading and iterating the efficiency of computers and artificial intelligence, this enhanced computational power was still a drop in the bucket before the monumental project of the memory sea.
"Doctor." An assistant walked over to remind him, "Should we begin the 'G Plan'?"
Haisen snapped back to reality: "Oh, alright. You all go prepare first."
"Understood."
Watching his assistant's retreating figure, Haisen let out a deep sigh.
The "G Plan" was the Gaelid memory carrier plan. His memories had long been uploaded and stored, and after the body containing his original memories was taken away by Guan Tong, Bruce had ordered the initiation of this plan.
In simple terms, it involved downloading Gaelid's replicated memories onto multiple carriers and testing to find the most suitable one.
Although the replicated memory bodies couldn't use Mind Power, for Bruce, as long as his son was "alive," that was enough.
Haisen privately couldn't agree with this. Deep down, he felt Bruce wasn't truly acting in Gaelid's best interest. He believed everything Bruce was doing was just self-consolation.
Gaelid's vengeful inhalation of a massive amount of alien spores back then must have shaken Bruce to his core.
He never imagined his own son would rather become a parasitized form than follow the path he had laid out. That act in itself was the most absolute form of rejection.
Haisen knew Bruce couldn't accept that, so everything he had planned afterward was an attempt to put things back on the "right track."
But a train that had already derailed and crashed could never return to the tracks, no matter what.
"Haisen."
Bruce's voice suddenly came from behind, startling Haisen.
He turned around to see Bruce standing not far away, holding the scepter.
Haisen quickly walked over: "Your Majesty."
"How is progress today?"
"There's been some progress, but completing the entire system construction will still—"
"Never mind. Just keep pushing forward." Bruce said, "You've seen the hidden information about the new rule, haven't you?"
"Yes, the intelligence has been synchronized to me."
"The Awakened One." Bruce said slowly, "If Gaelid hadn't been taken away, perhaps he would have reached that level very soon."
"This..."
Haisen instinctively felt Bruce was being overly optimistic. Even with that body's powerful talent, there was no way it could reach that still-mysterious Awakened level so quickly.
But he didn't voice this. Instead, his mind stirred, and he seized this opportunity.
"Your Majesty speaks the truth. So I was thinking, perhaps we could try to get the person back through exchanging interests or other means."
Bruce let out a cold snort: "Don't get ahead of yourself. That's impossible."
"It may seem impossible at first glance!" Haisen quickly added, "But if we offer enough stakes, such as the core technology of the memory domain, or..."
Before he could finish, Bruce's icy glare stopped him cold.
"Haisen, you seem to have some inappropriate feelings toward Gaelid, wanting to use our most important technology as stakes."
"...No, Your Majesty, I just thought—"
"I've already said it. What we lost is just one Gaelid who could use Mind Power, but we can create thousands upon thousands of ordinary Gaelids. And besides..."
Bruce sneered: "If simply taking the person back would solve anything, then what was the point of the contingency plan we left behind?"
Haisen froze, a look of dawning realization crossing his face.
Only now did he remember that when Gaelid's memories had been transferred into Ai Ya's brain, Bruce had indeed made an additional request.
That request was to "fuse" Gaelid's memories with portions of Ai Ya's memories, mixing them together.
At the time, he hadn't understood why, feeling it would only cause confusion in Gaelid, requiring constant adjustment and maintenance—which was evident from Gaelid's frequent emotional outbursts and memory confusion, necessitating regular intervention.
But looking back from the present...
Haisen stared at Bruce in shock: "Your Majesty, did you... did you anticipate that the person would be taken?"
Bruce said impassively: "I couldn't predict it, but I knew Shadow would go to any lengths to snatch the person. So even if he took him, I wouldn't let that power serve his purposes... What I can't have, no one else will have either."
Haisen was momentarily speechless. He realized he had truly "underestimated" Bruce, never imagining the man would lay contingency plans even for something like this.
And as things stood now, that contingency was certain to take effect.
Even if Guan Tong took the person back, he couldn't solve the problem of one brain containing two tangled, mixed memories.
Even if he sought help from Beixing's officials, their technical expertise in the memory domain couldn't match Suroma's, so they wouldn't be able to separate Gaelid's memories on their own.
And if he chose to eliminate instead, due to the partial mixing of the two memories, doing so would likely kill both consciousnesses at once... No matter what, this power would remain unstable. If Guan Tong tried to use it, he could suffer backlash at any moment.
If Gaelid's memories suddenly took dominant control, then the modified portions of his memories—the ones programmed with absolute loyalty to Bruce—would activate, and he would immediately stab Guan Tong in the back.
This was almost an unsolvable problem.
Haisen wondered to himself how Guan Tong would handle it. If he just locked the person up after taking him back, that wouldn't work in the long run.
"Back to the question of the Awakened One. Haisen, do you think that person could be Shadow?" Bruce asked again.
"...The probability is very high. I watched his battle footage from the Mangja Mountains town. That ability to casually control his body and fly was extremely strange, because according to previously collected data, there was never any indication that Shadow specialized in body control or possessed abilities in that area.
I specifically consulted several top-tier Ascendants with flesh-related abilities, and they all said they couldn't maintain a stable body position in the air for extended periods."
"I see." Bruce nodded, a thoughtful expression on his face.
"With no prior records of any kind, Shadow—who was originally not skilled in close combat—suddenly possesses body manipulation abilities even more powerful than top-tier flesh Ascendants. This could only have been granted to him by 'Awakening.'"
Dr. Haisen nodded at first, then helplessly spread his hands: "Your Majesty, speculation on our part is useless. As long as he doesn't admit it, no one else can see his Terminal Panel, so—"
"So what if he denies it?" Bruce said coolly, "As long as people suspect it's him, whether it's true or not, it doesn't matter."
Haisen was taken aback: "Your Majesty, you mean..."
"That rule pertains only to the Awakened One, so the Awakened One's choice is what everyone cares about most. When that choice concerns the fate of everyone, that person will inevitably become a target for all."
Haisen realized that Bruce seemed to be mobilizing one of Suroma's greatest strengths from the peacetime era—using cognitive warfare against Guan Tong.
"But in any case, Suroma must produce an Awakened One as soon as possible." Bruce glanced at the scepter in his hand. "The power to decide humanity's fate should be held in my hands."