Chief Justice?
One of the leaders of the Star Sea Court, one of the representatives of the seven Level 10 civilizations, the Chief Justice?
Guan Tong's heart jolted at the administrator's words, and he turned around to look.
He didn't see a "person," only a floating, mirror-like disc hovering in mid-air.
The surface of that disc was absolutely smooth, reflecting the shock on Guan Tong's face in perfect detail.
Guan Tong naturally understood that the physical forms and modes of existence of different civilizations could be radically different.
The administrator who had been speaking with him for so long couldn't possibly have a human child as its true body; that was merely a form conjured for convenient communication.
And this "Seventh Chief Justice" before him, as one of the leaders of the Star Sea Court, clearly wouldn't bother shapeshifting into a human form just to make Guan Tong feel at ease.
In fact, when it "saw" Guan Tong, the reflection of Guan Tong in the mirror seemed to come alive and speak: "A new Awakened One of human civilization?"
Guan Tong found it deeply unsettling to watch the "himself" in the mirror addressing the administrator.
Administrator: "Yes, Seventh Chief Justice."
"What is his Authority?"
"Well..."
Before the administrator could finish, Guan Tong spoke up: "I've obtained enough information. Can I leave this place now?"
He knew the administrator didn't know his Authority, because his Mind Power signature code was already hidden.
If this "Seventh Chief Justice" found out, could some uncontrollable risk arise? He had to be cautious.
The administrator replied: "This psychic hyper-sensory space has no departure restrictions. Visitors may end their Deep Dive of Consciousness and return to reality at any time."
"Alright, thank you."
With that, Guan Tong immediately and consciously withdrew from the Deep Dive of Consciousness. The next moment, that sensation of being pulled away surfaced again.
Before his consciousness left this space, the last thing he saw was the reflection of himself in the "mirror" becoming expressionless, and the entire psychic hyper-sensory space undergoing earth-shaking changes.
Those bookshelves and books, all rapidly vanished as he withdrew, transforming into patches of luminous clouds.
The administrator in the form of a human child also completely transformed into an entirely different shape, but Guan Tong had no chance to look closely before his consciousness fully departed from the space.
After he left, only the administrator and the Seventh Chief Justice remained in the space.
"What is his Authority?" the Seventh Chief Justice repeated the question from earlier.
"Unknown," the administrator said. "He has hidden his Mind Power signature code. But he carries the power of the Demon Race, so it is speculated that his Authority is related to the Demon Race."
"Hiding one's Mind Power signature code."
The Seventh Chief Justice repeated the phrase but didn't press further.
The administrator spoke with deference once more: "Then please make yourself at home."
The administrator vanished from the space. Subsequently, on the mirror surface of the Seventh Chief Justice, the entire conversation between Guan Tong and the administrator began to play back.
The display paused when it reached the moment Guan Tong was viewing the Civilization Convention.
The edges of the mirror faintly flickered with blue light, as if this Chief Justice was deep in thought.
The reason it had come here was that a sealed core protocol had shown signs of anomalous invocation earlier.
But that protocol wasn't listed in any data records, and external parties had no way to invoke it. Logically, it didn't make sense.
The blue light at the mirror's edge flickered for a moment before stopping. The image of Guan Tong in the center twisted into a single point before dissipating into the mirror's surface.
The next moment, the Chief Justice vanished on the spot, and this database space fell back into silence.
...
Whoosh!
Guan Tong's eyes snapped open. Before him, Shi Jingyi was looking at him with concern.
"Xiao Tong, you're back?" Shi Jingyi was extremely surprised. "How was that so fast? Only... one second has passed?"
After taking a few deep breaths, Guan Tong said, "No, it was probably only a few dozen milliseconds."
Shi Jingyi looked puzzled, but she didn't rush to ask questions. She knew Guan Tong must have experienced a great deal and needed some time to sort things out.
Guan Tong organized his thoughts and said, "That was a psychic hyper-sensory space. In there, 126,400 seconds equal one second in the real world. I was there for less than an hour, so naturally, almost nothing changed in the real world."
"I see," Shi Jingyi said with sudden realization. "No wonder you closed your eyes right after starting the Deep Dive of Consciousness, then opened them again the very next moment."
Hearing this, Guan Tong knew it must seem strange to Shi Jingyi, perhaps even a little amusing. But everything he had experienced in that psychic hyper-sensory space made it hard for him to laugh.
He gave her a general rundown of the information he had obtained there, but he didn't mention the existence of the "core protocol."
It wasn't that he didn't trust Shi Jingyi, but rather that the mirror-shaped Seventh Chief Justice's sudden appearance seemed to be related to that protocol.
Because he remembered that the first clause of the core protocol stated: "May only be cited and activated under specific conditions."
So did his act of reading that protocol count as a form of "citation and activation"?
If the Seventh Chief Justice's sudden appearance in the database was truly related to the core protocol, then perhaps repeating the contents of that protocol to others would itself be an act of "citing the protocol."
A Level 10 civilization was practically godlike compared to humans, and they might very well have a specialized "protocol citation detection" mechanism. If Guan Tong spoke about it, Tianshui Star might be located in the next instant...
To be safe, he wouldn't tell anyone the contents of that core protocol.
Aside from that unspeakable core protocol, the other five clauses of the Star Sea Court's Civilization Convention were still shocking enough.
After listening, Shi Jingyi experienced the same cosmic worldview shock that Guan Tong had felt when he first learned of it.
So there really was a "sociological system" in the universe, but it was far less sentimental than humanity had imagined.
The Star Sea Court's convention was actually fairly decent, as it restricted registered civilizations from bullying the weak and also guaranteed that low-level civilizations had the right to refuse when facing medium and high-level civilizations.
But this convention could only bind registered civilizations within the Star Sea Court's sphere of influence. Outside that sphere, beings like the Demon Race were essentially unconstrained.
Moreover, the convention made no mention of whether other high-level registered civilizations would come to the aid of a registered civilization attacked by an unregistered hostile civilization from outside.
Modern people all knew that verbal agreements not written into a contract didn't count in business.
So in the context of the Star Sea Court's convention, if the clause "helping low-level civilizations resist hostile external civilizations" wasn't written in, it meant it didn't exist.
Therefore, human civilization couldn't possibly rely on the Star Sea Court's protection to live in peace and comfort, as some previous online public opinion had suggested.
As for hoping the Star Sea Court would help the humans of Tianshui Star break free from the Fire Thief and the Doomsday Rules, that was nothing more than naive fantasy.
But what worried Shi Jingyi the most were the Abyss Civilization and the great Demon Pain Dominator.
She worried about the former because she knew that Guan Tong would go to any lengths to obtain Netherworld Flower Essence to revive Uenoshi from petrification.
Yet this specialty product of the Abyss only existed in life-prohibited zones like black holes. According to what the administrator had said, only Level 10 civilizations could traverse the Abyss, and the human civilization of Tianshui Star was merely Level 1...
She was afraid that Guan Tong might act impulsively if he saw no hope for a long time.
The great Demon Pain Dominator needed no further explanation. When it eventually came to Tianshui Star to reclaim its origin, if humanity had no power to oppose it, extinction would be the only outcome.
"...No matter how difficult it gets, we'll face it together," Shi Jingyi said. "Since my Authority is effective against Demons, I'll go all out from now on to use it and increase my power."
Her words gave Guan Tong considerable confidence. He nodded firmly. "I'll work hard too."
"And one more thing." Shi Jingyi's expression turned serious as she grasped Guan Tong's hand and said solemnly, "Xiao Tong, promise me, don't use the Demon's power anymore. Really."
"Yeah." Guan Tong agreed earnestly.
He knew he couldn't just act recklessly on a whim anymore. Continuing to use this power without restraint would lead to severe consequences.
If his right eye couldn't control it either, that would be his own problem. But if it attracted the Pain Dominator, that would become a matter for the entire civilization of Tianshui Star.
Having been through so much, he didn't want to cause the people around him to suffer because of his own choices. Even if the culprit were someone else, that pain was still real.
"In a few more hours, the rules will end," Guan Tong said.
"After it ends..."
Shi Jingyi actually had a premonition of what Guan Tong would do.
"Yeah." Guan Tong said calmly. "I'll avenge Uenoshi and the others first."
There was no gnashing of teeth or blazing fury. Right now, Guan Tong was simply going to do what he needed to do, what he should have done long ago.
It was precisely because he had overthought everything, wanting to make the plan absolutely flawless while delaying action, that Bruce had gotten the first move the day before the actual operation.
He would never make that kind of fatal mistake again. Once these rules ended, he would make blood pay for blood without a moment's delay.