Chapter 424: The Unspeakable Reason |
March 24th, roughly one week left until the end of this rule period.
Three weeks had passed. People's initial curiosity and fear towards the rule had gradually shifted to adaptation.
Humans were creatures with a strong capacity for adaptation, which was one of the reasons they could stand at the top of the food chain.
As long as you didn't go out at night, didn't access the internet, and obediently stayed indoors engaging in some offline entertainment, you could block 99% of the possibility of encountering the Scarlet Fear. The remaining 1% only happened in extremely unlucky situations.
This caused the attention on this rule to plummet significantly. Instead, retro devices like radios and other pure audio equipment experienced a small surge in popularity.
Because people had a need for news, but watching TV or using smart devices to go online risked being "ambushed" by Scarlet Terra photos, just like that maliciously implanted single-player game before. This gave rise to a significant demand for "audio-only reception without video."
Official bodies in various countries did their best to meet this demand. Shelters across Beixing also distributed radios and other pure audio devices in bulk. People could use them to learn about the latest developments.
Inside one shelter, a young man got up, picked up his radio, and went to the bathroom. He turned it on, tuned to the "Daily Hot News" channel, and listened while brushing his teeth.
"Breaking news: The Joint Force base of the Human Consortium on the Black Flag Country front was attacked last night by a legion composed of a large number of parasitized forms. The base was severely damaged, and there were numerous casualties among Joint Force soldiers..."
The young man sprayed a mouthful of toothpaste foam onto the bathroom mirror in front of him. His shocked expression was reflected on the glass surface.
"Now for the detailed report..."
As the news was released, the information quickly spread across the nation and the world.
This undoubtedly dealt a heavy blow to many people — because past news about the Joint Force had been about continuous victories.
In people's understanding, the large force of parasitized forms that had declared the establishment of the so-called "Seli Divine Nation" had already been scattered, leaving only small groups hiding deep in the mountains. Even if they couldn't be completely eradicated immediately, with the passage of time and regional lockdowns, they would eventually die out on their own due to issues like lack of food supplies.
People had already forgotten the threat of the parasitized forms, yet these creatures suddenly pulled a double back, severely damaging the Joint Force base. This was truly baffling.
On the Ascendant Home forum, related discussions had already flooded the boards.
Nowadays, almost everyone who dared to use internet-connected devices would come to this website, because everyone knew it was the safest.
Since the Administrator announced the suspension of picture and video functions during the rule period, he would definitely enforce it. It wouldn't be like some other social media apps that, despite also announcing they would only retain text functions during the rule period, were still breached by hackers and had images appear.
When it came to life and safety, one breach of trust and users would never trust it again. As a result, Ascendant Home's daily traffic was astonishingly high.
"Everyone knows about last night's attack by the parasitized forms, right? I heard the scale was terrifying, at least tens of thousands of parasitized forms emerged from the deep mountains!"
"Under normal circumstances, even a hundred thousand parasitized forms couldn't severely damage a Joint Force base. The firepower of both sides' weapons isn't on the same level. The parasitized forms utilized the rule power of the Scarlet Fear to wage an asymmetrical battle."
"I thought the parasitized forms were finished. I didn't expect they still had such significant mobilization strength..."
"As long as their leader, the 'Prophet,' remains alive for a day, the parasitized forms won't be finished. I think instead of conducting an assassination mission against the Fire Thief Worship Cult, we should behead this Prophet first."
"The assassination mission against the Fire Thief Worship Cult actually failed... internal information. However, over ten thousand cultists of the Fire Thief Worship Cult were eliminated afterwards, so they probably won't be able to cause trouble in the short term."
"Regardless, the parasitized forms are the most dangerous! Don't forget they aren't human! They are monsters possessed by spores!"
Compared to worrying about the rules and the cultists, the news undoubtedly made people more concerned about the parasitized forms. The level of worry even surpassed that for the Doomsday Rules.
Even though many experts and scholars believed the Fire Thief possessed subjective will and wasn't a pre-programmed "rule-issuing machine," because the Fire Thief had never shown itself and had never communicated with humans in any form other than through the rules, most people still viewed it as a "program."
For humans, no matter how terrifying a program was, it wasn't as frightening as spore monsters that occupied human bodies, like the parasitized forms. It was like missiles and venomous snakes. The former's destructive power was a hundred or a thousand times greater than the latter's, but more people would actually be more afraid of the latter.
The public's anxiety over this matter would similarly be magnified among the higher-ups of various nations.
The Human Consortium held an emergency remote meeting early in the morning.
The meeting began by presenting the combat situation from the previous night. Since a large number of Scarlet Terra images had appeared on the battlefield, all current summaries were presented in text form.
Representatives and committee members from various countries looked at the data and collectively gasped.
"Total casualties actually exceed nine thousand? That serious?!"
"The Joint Force's frontline base was almost completely destroyed, and the frontline Commander was actually killed..."
"Even more troublesome is that a large number of captured parasitized forms were rescued!" Xisiya committee member Torafuto frowned deeply. "This means the parasitized forms' effective forces have recovered somewhat."
One committee member couldn't help but slam the table. "We shouldn't have formulated a policy of taking prisoners in the first place! All parasitized forms should have been executed!"
"That's not entirely fair to say. Didn't the [Third Contact] rule make use of parasitized forms? What if future rules have similar uses..."
"What if, what if, you know it's a 'what if'? Now a large number of prisoners have been rescued. Whether your 'what if' will happen is unknown, but the fact that they will pose a greater threat to us humans has already happened! How foolish!"
"Let's stick to the facts. There's no need for personal attacks!"
The casualty figures were too ugly. Feeling annoyed, the committee members started arguing within a few sentences.
Gao Liangwei intervened. "Everyone, calm down. Now is not the time for arguments."
Suroma representative committee member Mary spoke coldly at this point. "I think too many victories made the Joint Force arrogant and complacent, letting their guard down. Otherwise, how could they suffer such a crushing defeat when the Human Consortium had already issued advance warnings?"
"Looking at the summary report, there seems to have been a situation of collusion from within," Gao Liangwei said, not mixing in personal emotions, only sorting through the logic based on the text report. "A large number of parasitized forms were lying in wait within the Joint Force, and this operation also involved cultists. This indicates that the leaders of both sides, the Prophet and Your Holiness, had already planned and schemed, intending to deal a double blow to human confidence."
Gao Liangwei nodded. "I suspect their plan was likely to first destroy a Suroma city with a population of one million. This step would definitely shock the world. When everyone's attention was focused on Suroma, they would then launch a surprise attack in Black Flag Country, aiming to completely annihilate the Human Consortium's frontline Joint Force."
Everyone felt a chill in their hearts and broke out in a cold sweat on their backs.
If what Gao Liangwei said had become reality, the consequences would be unthinkable.
"They planned quite well and successfully infiltrated agents into the Suroma Action Team. The problem was in the execution phase," Gao Liangwei continued. "The advance of the cultist legion was delayed by several brave Ascendants from our Beixing, which allowed the 'Annihilators' to arrive and take over the battlefield."
Upon hearing this, Mary's expression, though not exactly pleased, still nodded in acknowledgment. "This time, we really must thank those few Ascendants from your Beixing. However, after the cultist legion failed, did the parasitized forms side still launch their attack according to the original plan?"
"This series of plans was very large-scale. Once set in motion, it couldn't be stopped just because you wanted to," Gao Liangwei said. "We should be grateful that the failure of the cultist legion's operation also indirectly affected this operation of the parasitized forms legion... Regardless, the Joint Force wasn't completely wiped out and still preserved some effective forces."
The total number of Joint Force troops the Human Consortium sent to Black Flag Country was about twenty thousand. This time, there were over nine thousand casualties, and about ten thousand retreated. Once they regrouped, it wasn't impossible for them to win again.
"Those ten thousand who retreated probably don't have much fighting strength left either," Torafuto said. "According to statistics, one or two thousand of them were affected by the Scarlet Fear and exhibited stress reactions. The others also need psychological counseling and personnel rotation."
Gao Liangwei said, "We need to reorganize a Joint Force, but this time, the focus shouldn't be on quantity but on quality. We must learn from our lessons and select soldiers we can trust."
As he said this, his gaze fell on Mary.
Mary shifted uncomfortably and spoke proactively. "I know everyone is very concerned about the betrayal incident in our Suroma Action Team. Some results have been uncovered in the investigation so far, and I will tell you now."
She organized her words and began explaining. "Peter, he is Suroman. He previously lived in Fahe for a long time before returning to the country. We believe that before returning, he had already been secretly brainwashed or mind-controlled, becoming a believer of the Fire Thief Worship Cult, and relying on his powerful lightning manipulation ability became one of the four bishops."
"As a bishop, he was lying in wait within Suroma territory. His purpose was likely to provide important intelligence to Your Holiness. After the [Death Race] rule was released, perhaps on his own initiative or perhaps under Your Holiness's orders, he seized this opportunity to continuously advance relying on his strength all the way to the finals, successfully attracting a lot of attention."
Everyone listened attentively. When Mary reached this point, the Luruiguo committee member asked, "Several people survived that match. Why did you specifically select him to join the Action Team?"
Mary hesitated, seeming like the reason was somewhat unspeakable.
But she seemed to hear something through her earpiece and still stated the reason.
"There were two reasons for letting him join the Action Team. First, a Senator from the Senate made a proposal. Afterwards, our investigation revealed that this Senator secretly contacted a middleman and received huge benefits from a mysterious client. Looking at it now, that mysterious client was most likely the cultists."
"There is another reason... because of Miss Yishan's various activities. Miss Yishan took a liking to him. After contacting him privately, she was deceived. She wanted him to participate in this operation to gain merit and obtain an important position."
"Yishan?" A committee member looked suddenly enlightened. "Yishan Bruce? Isn't that your king's daughter?!"
Mary nodded silently.
"..."
Everyone was speechless for a moment.
No wonder Mary had shown an unspeakable expression earlier. It turned out both the Suroma's highest decision-making body, the Senate, and the king's daughter had problems, which led to a cultist entering the Action Team. This was undoubtedly a major scandal.
Mary took a deep breath. "We, Suroma, are willing to admit our mistake and will also provide compensation to the Action Team members from various countries."
As soon as her words fell, she noticed Gao Liangwei was looking at her with a scrutinizing gaze.
This made her instantly feel uneasy.
Sure enough, the next moment, Gao Liangwei said, "I believe what you, Suroma, need to clarify isn't why you selected a spy to join the Action Team. Rather, it's why you had your team secretly teleport inside the cathedral. Was your purpose to make early contact with Your Holiness?"
Mary's heart tightened.
She had intended to avoid the important and dwell on the trivial, using the scandals of the "king's daughter" and the "Senate" to divert the attention of the committee members, but she didn't expect Gao Liangwei to still see through it.
Upon hearing this, the other committee members also came back to their senses.
Right! Letting a spy into the team could still be considered an unintentional mistake, but the Suroma Team having a different teleportation location from the other teams was clearly a deliberate arrangement by Suroma!
"...Indeed, we wanted the team to find Your Holiness in advance," Mary had no choice but to continue under everyone's gaze.
"Because we believed that if Your Holiness could lift the mind control over the cultists, they could be turned back into normal people."
"If that's the case, why wasn't it discussed within the Human Consortium? If mind control truly exists and can truly be lifted, I believe everyone would agree to capture Your Holiness alive rather than beheading him on sight," Gao Liangwei said.
"We definitely would have agreed too."
Mary apologized. "We were too cautious, which is why we acted privately. We have realized our mistake. Please forgive us."
"..."
Gao Liangwei always felt Mary was hiding something, but with things having reached this point, without evidence, nothing more could be asked.
But regardless, with this incident, a trace of discord was inevitably born again within the Human Consortium.
After a moment of silence, Gao Liangwei broke it.
"Aside from the issues with the cultists and parasitized forms, our Beixing has a plan to notify everyone at this meeting. During the final week of the rule period, we intend to conduct a closed test, making a final effort to explore that unknown Source of Fear."