After Chen Na finished setting up her room, she saw Guan Tong bringing Heisen back from the forest.
Heisen was still bound by Shadow, and the moment they returned, Guan Tong locked him into a small room generated within the shelter specifically for detention.
"Brother Guan, how did the interrogation go?"
Chen Na knew Guan Tong wanted to save Ai Ya, which was why he had spared Heisen's life. Otherwise, given the heinous crimes the latter had committed in assisting Bruce, he would have been executed long ago.
Guan Tong didn't hide anything. "He's willing to cooperate, but he's requested that Gaelid's life be spared as a condition of the exchange."
"Gaelid... is Bruce's son."
"Mm."
Guan Tong held no particular animosity toward Gaelid himself. He knew the boy was just a victim of Bruce's twisted desire for control, and he agreed with Heisen's description of him as a "poor child," but that was as far as it went.
If he had to choose between Gaelid and Ai Ya, he wouldn't hesitate for even a second.
From the conditions Heisen had proposed, it was clear he held some affection for Gaelid and wanted the boy to survive.
Guan Tong didn't care either way. As long as Ai Ya could be restored to normal, he couldn't care less whether Gaelid lived or died.
"Brother Guan, you agreed?"
"I agreed. I'll contact Beixing's officials afterward and carry out the memory extraction with all three parties present."
Chen Na glanced at Guan Tong's slightly weary expression and said softly, "I hope Sister Ai Ya gets better soon, so you won't have to keep worrying about her all the time, Brother Guan."
"Let's hope so."
"Oh right, that alien merchant group's live stream seems to have started. Brother Guan, let's watch it together!"
"Sure."
The two of them went to the computer and entered the live stream room.
The broadcast had just reached the part where the alien civilization's individual was descending and the human reception team was there to greet them.
"Whoa." The moment Chen Na saw the Yinluo Civilization individual on screen, her face showed discomfort. "Their outer shell is pretty, but they look... really ugly."
Guan Tong looked at the alien individual that resembled a mantis-person. He wasn't particularly surprised.
The universe was vast, and the forms of life were beyond counting. This one was actually not bad, at least it was a carbon-based civilization like humanity.
He recalled the "Seventh Chief Justice" he had seen in the Star Sea Court database. That mirror-like unknown form of existence was far stranger than this "mantis-person."
The conversation between the human reception team and Mr. Ga was also being transmitted through microphones.
When Chen Na heard Mr. Ga say that Awakened Ones were usually civilization representatives and leaders, she turned her head and blinked her big eyes at Guan Tong.
"Brother Guan, you're an Awakened One, right?"
"Mm." Guan Tong admitted it directly. He trusted Chen Na quite a bit.
"Then according to what this Mr. Ga is saying, you should be the one representing Tianshui Star, right, Brother Guan!"
Guan Tong shook his head slightly. "I must be."
"Why is that?" Heisen didn't understand.
"A civilization's representative isn't necessarily determined by strength. Human civilization has its own developmental model. Just like how some organizations and groups currently have administrators who aren't all Ascendants. Besides..."
Guan Tong paused. "There's more than one Awakened One on Tianshui Star. I'm wondering, if a civilization has multiple Awakened Ones, then who gets to be the representative?"
What he voiced was a surface-level question, but in his heart there was a deeper one.
That was, based on the information he currently knew, the forging and obtaining of "Authority" was extremely difficult.
If a civilization had to pay a tremendous price to forge a single Authority, then the individual who ultimately obtained that Authority would surely be someone widely recognized and expected by all, so it would be perfectly normal for that individual to become the civilization's representative and leader.
But the current situation on Tianshui Star was not like that.
As things stood, any Ascendant who broke through the two-thousand Mind Power upper limit would have the opportunity, after passing the trial, to obtain the Authority destined for them.
The only ones Guan Tong could currently confirm as possessing Authority were himself and Shi Jingyi.
But what if time moved forward?
There were quite a few Ascendants sprinting toward the two-thousand Mind Power threshold. Chen Na beside him was one of them, and other top Ascendants were all working hard as well.
If in the future many people passed the trial and obtained Authority, then multiple Awakened Ones would appear on a single Tianshui Star.
According to Mr. Ga's logic, who would be the leader? Or would all the Awakened Ones just fight it out, and whoever won would lead?
But that was essentially no different from humanity's various nations choosing a planetary leader based on strength.
Unless...
Guan Tong thought to himself, unless Tianshui Star's human civilization was rather special.
After all, the Star Sea Court database administrator had mentioned something: newly registered first-level civilizations were very few now.
That meant the number of native civilizations capable of obtaining an Authority was extremely limited.
If Tianshui Star's humans could obtain Authority one after another, it would inevitably be a special case.
Hearing Guan Tong's words, Chen Na also fell into thought. "That's true. If there are more and more Awakened Ones, it would get really troublesome..."
As she spoke, she looked at Mr. Ga in the live stream video. "Brother Guan, how many Awakened Ones do you think there are in the Yinluo Civilization that Mr. Ga belongs to? Is it just him, or are there many?"
Guan Tong shook his head and smiled. "How would I know that? But this kind of information should be classified, I think. Even if the reception team asks, this Mr. Ga probably won't say."
"True..."
"Also, we can't fully trust what this Mr. Ga says." Guan Tong said cautiously. "Humanity knows nothing about their origins. We don't know the location of their civilization's Mother Planet. It's hard to judge whether he's deceiving us."
Chen Na strongly agreed. "Exactly! Since they're aliens from the Doomsday Rules, there's a good chance he's a huge liar. Humanity must be extremely careful when trading with them, otherwise we could be sold and still help them count the money!"
Guan Tong rubbed Chen Na's hair, quite approving of her words.
And in his heart, he had another major question.
Why hadn't this Mr. Ga provided the document "Star Sea Court Civilization Convention" when meeting and making first contact with humanity?
Back when he had used the Deep Dive of Consciousness and checked the Convention, he clearly remembered that Article Three, the "Principle of Civilization Contact," stated: "When first contact occurs between civilizations of different levels, mid-level and high-level civilizations must provide the content of this principle to low-level civilizations."
The level-1 Tianshui Star human civilization was undoubtedly a low-level civilization. So what level would this Yinluo Civilization be?
If it was level 3 or above, it would be a mid-level civilization, and according to the Convention, it would be necessary to provide the Convention's principles upon first meeting humanity.
But if it was level 2 or 3, it would also be a low-level civilization, and it seemed providing the document wasn't mandatory.
Yet if this Yinluo Civilization was a mid-level civilization, then not providing the document would seem somewhat deliberate...
Guan Tong wondered whether he should inform the officials about this information. He probably should.
After he had ended the Deep Dive of Consciousness, the information he obtained from the Star Sea Court database had only been told to Shi Jingyi alone.
And Jingyi naturally wouldn't spread it around, which meant the officials had no idea the Convention even existed.
...Wait.
Guan Tong furrowed his brow, suddenly realizing something.
Aside from individual strength, perhaps this information gap was also one of the important reasons why Awakened Ones could become civilization leaders?
Since only Awakened Ones could initiate the Deep Dive of Consciousness, this meant only Awakened Ones could obtain a series of important information from within the Star Sea Court database.
By monopolizing this information, those skilled at maneuvering could quickly use this information gap to package themselves as "Prophets" or "seers," thereby gaining the worship of other individuals, and being elected as group leaders would follow naturally.
If Awakened Ones in civilizations across the universe all did this, then it would be no surprise that most civilization spokespersons and leaders were Awakened Ones.
"Brother Guan, what are you thinking about?" Chen Na noticed Guan Tong spacing out and asked curiously.
Guan Tong snapped back to attention and looked at the screen.
Inside, the human reception team and Mr. Ga had already walked beneath the aircraft and were about to enter it to begin trade negotiations.
"Xiao Na, I need to contact the officials." Guan Tong said.
If this Yinluo Civilization intended to deliberately conceal the existence of the Convention in order to deceive humanity into unfair trade, then as a member of humanity, he certainly couldn't just stand by and do nothing.