"Guan Tong, you remember him, right? You spoke with him at the academy last time."
When Guan Tong stepped closer, Silver Fox introduced the young man who had come with her.
"I remember, Zhao Ming, right?" Guan Tong said.
"Yes." Zhao Ming nodded.
"He's one of Dr. Zhang's key protégés," Silver Fox smiled, "You two should be in contact often from now on. Consider this a first meeting to get acquainted."
Guan Tong's first impression of Zhao Ming was fairly good; at least the young man seemed grounded and aware of the harshness of the real world.
Not like some people who never left the official system and, even after entering the Doomsday Rules era, were still well protected and had never experienced the brutal jungle society... No matter how high their status or how clever, their perspectives could become completely detached from reality.
Who he met didn’t matter as much as the matter itself.
"Silver Fox, why did the Countermeasures Research Office ask you to summon me? If it's still about the explosion prophecy, I already told Zhang Minglu I couldn't clarify it."
Hearing this, Zhao Ming looked at Silver Fox with some curiosity. At his level, he apparently still lacked the authority to know details about the explosion prophecy.
Silver Fox was different. Don’t be fooled by her usual joking demeanor — she, along with Dragon Soul and others, was among Gao Liangwei’s inner circle and was one of the Ascendants the Countermeasures Research Office had invested resources in from the start.
Not to mention her rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Unlike other Ascendants who only had honorary titles, hers was a real, substantive military rank with actual authority.
Given her background and resume, she naturally had the qualification to know about the explosion prophecy concerning the space survival base.
"It's not that matter." Silver Fox brushed it off and then looked to Zhao Ming. "You should speak."
Zhao Ming didn't refuse. He said directly, "Hello, Guan Tong. This meeting is mainly for two issues. First, the memory problem involving Ai Ya and Gaelid. The research office cannot currently accomplish a solitary separation."
Guan Tong frowned when he heard that.
He had expected this wouldn't be straightforward, but figured with the official technical level they could gradually restore Ai Ya to normal.
Now it seemed not to be the case.
"Suroma has left a contingency, and their related technology in this field is far ahead of ours, so this is difficult," Silver Fox said helplessly.
"Unless we can obtain the core technology from Suroma's research labs," Zhao Ming continued, "then it's still possible to complete a single-memory separation in the short term."
Guan Tong fell silent.
Bruce was banking on memory technology to deceive the world, luring people like Zhou Qinfeng with promises of body replacement, immortality, or mechanical ascension — of course they wouldn't loosen secrecy around their core tech.
"Two consciousnesses, with memories intertwined — wiping out Gaelid's alone is dangerous. It could very likely kill Ai Ya's sleeping consciousness at the same time."
"What does your tech division say?"
"I heard from the doctor that the head of the memory department proposed sending in a psychology expert to try to convert Gaelid. If Gaelid cooperates, the situation might change."
Guan Tong's expression immediately darkened at Silver Fox's words.
"Did I hear that correctly? Convert him? Even if conversion succeeded, would the Countermeasures Research Office allow Shi Jingyi to continue using Long Yun's body?"
"Well..."
Silver Fox and Long Yun had expected Guan Tong to change his expression instantly, and the atmosphere suddenly grew heavy.
"It was meant like this." Ai Ya had explained back then, "That was only a makeshift measure given technical limitations at the time."
Silver Fox tried to soothe him: "Guan Tong, I know it's hard for you to accept. But have you considered this — the research office can keep Gaelid asleep indefinitely, but what if in the future some survival-type Doomsday Rule requires the challenger to be conscious to complete it... If Ai Ya cannot control her body then, should we let her die in her sleep because she failed the challenge? Besides letting Gaelid control her body to get through the Rule, what other options are there?"
.....
Silver Fox spoke realistically, but emotionally he had trouble accepting it.
Seeing Guan Tong's discomfort, Silver Fox didn't press further and signaled to Zhao Ming to change the topic.
Zhao Ming nodded in understanding. "The other matter is that the research office discovered public opinion online about you is becoming extreme.
There are clearly Suroma government forces pushing this from behind, likely aiming to make you a global enemy and wash away the earlier public relations crisis you caused them."
Guan Tong showed no expression. Zhao Ming couldn't tell whether he cared or not, so he continued,
"The office believes that if you truly are that so-called 'Awakened One', you could cooperate with the research office to jointly investigate the best way to deal with this Rule and to quell the public attacks against you."
Silver Fox knew Guan Tong better and knew what he hated.
"Guan Tong, you don't need to worry about having your 'Awakened One' identity exposed and being targeted by the authorities in any form. I won't lie to you on this — I think we still have that level of trust between us."
"Whether I'm an Awakened One isn't that important; I just don't want to say," Guan Tong said.
.....
Silver Fox and Zhao Ming fell silent, unsure what to add.
"But I can tell you this: if in the future someone publicly claims to be an Awakened One, it's very likely a fraud."
Silver Fox asked, "What do you mean by that?"
Zhao Ming reacted even faster. "You mean someone will pretend to be an Awakened One to profit? If you say that, you must have some leads, right?"
Guan Tong said nothing more, only said, "Let's end it here for today," and turned to leave.
After he left, Silver Fox couldn't help rubbing her forehead and sighing.
"Although Guan Tong's basic nature has always been good in my eyes, I have to say — talking to this guy is sometimes like talking to a brick wall... still so hard to communicate with."
"I can understand. Hearing about Ai Ya's situation must have put him in a bad mood; he didn't want to continue the conversation," Zhao Ming said.
Silver Fox thought that made sense. She wished she had switched the order and brought up the second issue first.
She turned to Zhao Ming, asking, "You said earlier someone would fake being an Awakened One to profit? How does that work? Guan Tong already faces a whirlpool of public opinion online simply because he was recognized as an Awakened One."
"But the bigger the public opinion whirlpool, the more traffic it brings and the higher the attention," Zhao Ming said.
"If that traffic is used well, it can make someone the most famous person in the world. Leaving benefits aside, at least they would gain a lot of faith power from believers. Also..."
Zhao Ming rubbed his temples. "I've been thinking these past few days. If this Rule symbolizes our human civilization officially stepping into the cosmic community, then the identity of an 'Awakened One' might carry other connotations in the universe."
Silver Fox mused thoughtfully.
"Other meanings? Maybe the doctor and the head noticed this too and increased the cultivation of Ascendants at the base again."
Bandzhen, Serpent Hair Society headquarters stronghold.
After Guan Tong returned, he found Uenoshi and asked her a question.
"Recently have your people discovered anyone spreading news about Awakened Ones in Bandzhen or Antu?"
Uenoshi thought for a moment. "There have indeed been reports. Yesterday one of my subordinates reported that someone said it at a few public gathering points."
Does Han Qiu's organization also have a branch in Sakura Prayer's Twin Cities?
Guan Tong thought this wouldn't do. This place was basically his permanent stronghold now; he wouldn't allow others to spread roots beside his bed — it had to be dealt with quickly.
"Troupe Leader, is there something wrong?"
"Yes. Listen to me."
Guan Tong told Uenoshi what he discovered in Xisiya. She became serious after hearing it.
"I see. These overlooked fringe people do like to cluster in city corners. If Han Qiu silently sent people to recruit them, it would be hard to detect."
Uenoshi paused. "But Troupe Leader, how should we handle these people?"
Those who accepted Han Qiu's deception might not seem harmful when idle, but if Han Qiu remotely activated them at a critical moment, they could cause major trouble.
Right now this Sakura Prayer branch is in an 'idle' state; immediately eliminating them would be somewhat cruel and lack sufficient evidence.
"Disperse them." Guan Tong said. "Send them to different gathering points. Without groups of the same people resonating together, their thoughts won't drift toward extremism."
Uenoshi objected: "That won't work. These people were excluded by society and left normal groups behind, so they gathered with others who had similar experiences. If you scatter them into normal groups, they'll still be rejected and will soon repeat the same cycle."
Guan Tong realized she was right.
The issue of mainstream society rejecting these fringe people is hard to fix; forcing them into groups won't make the mainstream accept them, and would only create more conflict.
"...You're right. I was simplifying it."
He was helpless but understood Han Qiu's motive for recruiting these people: essentially, these people, because of their own traits, could no longer return to normal life and had nowhere to go, so they were forced to believe in the beautiful future Han Qiu spun.
"Then do this," he said. "Assign reliable people to monitor them. If any show abnormal behavior, warn and handle it immediately."
"Okay, I'll arrange it now."
Uenoshi stood up to leave, and Guan Tong called after her.
"By the way, Uenoshi, remember what I told you earlier? Don't just focus on Serpent Hair Society affairs and neglect improving your own Mind Power... you haven't forgotten, right?"
If earlier, when he first broke through to the Awakened level, Guan Tong had lacked this awareness, then after Shi Jingyi obtained the powerful Chaos Return to Origin Authority and with this Rule now released, he realized that the 'Awakened' layer would be crucial in the future.
He certainly hoped that the few people close to him would reach that layer quickly and awaken any destined Authorities.
"I haven't forgotten." Uenoshi's gaze was serious. "I train every day. I'm currently pushing to break the two-thousand-point Upper Limit."
"Good." Guan Tong nodded. "Maybe soon you'll start dreaming of a Starry Giant Tree in the cosmos. That's a sign you're about to breakthrough — at least that's how it was for Shi Jingyi."
Uenoshi suddenly asked, "If I ever acquire an Authority, will you help protect me as a guardian then, Troupe Leader?"
"Of course." Guan Tong said without hesitation. "If you need to go into seclusion like Shi Jingyi, just do it in my shelter. It's the safest place and won't be disturbed."
A trace of reassurance appeared in Uenoshi's eyes. She nodded and left the stronghold.
Guan Tong hurried back to his shelter to begin writing the eighth page of his Wordless Book.