Chapter 459: The Second Day's Conversation (1) |
The few million Ascension Coins the Three Beasts Army extorted meant nothing to the Human Consortium; the real loss was the delayed communication time.
In the remaining time, the Xisiya delegation focused their discussion on the space migration issue.
The Dialoguer believed this plan was pointless, because with humanity's current spaceflight capabilities, it was impossible to even leave the star system, let alone reach the farther planets within it.
The Xisiya delegation's counterargument centered on "technological explosion": although human technological progress had stagnated after entering the era of Doomsday Rules, as Ascendants continued developing Mind Power items and abilities and feeding them back into technological development, humanity had gradually achieved a corner-cutting leap forward. This was also the Super City Alliance's greatest confidence in being able to build one Super City per year—utilizing Flowable Mind Power and massive quantities of construction-type Mind Power items to drastically shorten traditional construction timelines.
However, the Dialoguer's reply completely shattered humanity's confidence in the space migration plan.
Dialoguer: "Humanity has already observed from past rules that the trials are not limited to your Mother Planet, but will also affect other planets within this star system."
Dialoguer: "Under this premise, continuing to invest substantial resources is a behavior detrimental to survival. Even if 'technological explosions' continue to occur, humanity does not have sufficient time. Given the pace at which the Doomsday Rules are advancing, humanity would struggle to even develop and build planetary-class spacecraft before the final trial arrives, let alone stellar-class ships capable of interstellar navigation."
These words from the Dialoguer broke through many people's psychological defenses.
Yes—since the Fire Thief's power could affect the entire star system, if humanity couldn't build stellar-class ships, how meaningful was the space migration plan anyway?
Many felt these resources would be better spent building more power grids, which might secure more qualification slots for memory digitization in the future.
After the Xisiya conversation ended, the Dialoguer rested again.
The next twenty-four hours belonged to Beixing. Excluding rest time, only about a dozen hours remained for actual dialogue.
During the rest period, many people also rested, but many others couldn't sleep at all, filled with agitation.
This agitation came directly from the impact the Dialoguer had brought.
In just the first day of conversation, it had nearly destroyed humanity's confidence in two major long-term plans they had formulated for themselves.
Confidence was important. Only when people were fully confident could they invest themselves completely. Once doubt began to grow inside, it was like a crack appearing in hard stone—that crack would eventually spread and split the stone apart.
However, everything had two sides. While humanity's confidence had been shaken by the Dialoguer, they had also gained information and understood the purpose of this rule.
As some foresighted people had speculated, the purpose of this rule was for the Fire Thief to have the Dialoguer converse and debate with humanity, refuting their collective self-rescue plans and steering them toward so-called "individual awakening."
This wasn't the first time the Fire Thief had done this, nor would it be the last.
Many had long believed that, from a dialectical perspective, so-called individual awakening and collective cooperation could be developed compatibly.
The Beixing Countermeasures Research Office was adopting exactly this strategy, which was also the reason why official policy had shifted from the initial strict control to the current partial control plus partial cooperation.
The cooperation between the research office and Guan Tong and his people was one example. Such cooperation would have been unimaginable in the early days of the Doomsday Rules, when the authorities had nearly enforced wartime survival regulations, requiring all Ascendants to either register and enter shelters or leave the cities to live unsheltered wandering lives.
Later, the authorities gradually changed their attitude, no longer rejecting Ascendants operating outside the organization, actively establishing cooperative relationships with them—non-interference in normal times, solving problems through communication and collaboration when needed. This was essentially the compatible development of collective and individual.
So when the rest period ended and the Beixing delegation began their conversation with the Dialoguer, the delegation's strategy was to focus on information gathering, avoiding value-oriented debates unless necessary.
Among the delegation was someone Guan Tong considered an acquaintance: Ouyang Shanyue, one of the academy's main lecturers. As the primary instructor for "Philosophical Reflections on Mind Power," he raised a related question from the start.
Ouyang Shanyue: "I want to know what the essence of Mind Power is. Is it some kind of creation controlled by the Fire Thief, or is it a universal energy present in the universe?"
Dialoguer: "Unfortunately, this question I cannot answer."
The delegation members showed surprise. This was the first time since day one that they had heard the Dialoguer say this.
Ouyang Shanyue changed his question: "Then I want to know—you previously said you were a 'qualified one' who had passed the trial, and you called the Fire Thief the 'Divine Oracle.' Are the rules it released in your civilization consistent with those released on Tianshui Star?"
Dialoguer: "Its trials are not the same for every civilization. At least during our civilization's trial, there was no such 'Dialoguer' as myself. However, some of the trials different civilizations face may share certain consistencies."
The Dialoguer seemed to have made a dark joke, but no one laughed.
It was right—when the Dialoguer's civilization underwent its trial, as the ones being tested, they naturally wouldn't become part of the "trial" itself.
But some rules would repeat. For example, the "fog" trial that had destroyed the Kimos Star civilization had also appeared on Tianshui Star, released as the Ninth Doomsday Rule.
Ouyang Shanyue raised this question merely to confirm this point.
Dialoguer: "Now it's my turn to ask. Based on my observations and understanding, your Beixing Country places great emphasis on collective survival strategies. So how do you view the 'individual awakening' issue I discussed with the previous delegations?"
This was exactly the type of value-oriented topic the Beixing delegation had discussed avoiding—keeping debates with the Dialoguer to a minimum. Because the previous two delegations had both been trapped; once you engaged in deep discussion with it, you were very likely to be led astray.
One member of the delegation replied calmly: "Beixing respects individual survival and development strategies and adopts a composite coexistence model of collective plus individual. We do not lean extremely toward one and completely abandon the other."
Dialoguer: "This sounds like placing chips on both red and black, but the roulette wheel only stops on one number. From a practical standpoint, a composite coexistence model will result in an inability to concentrate resources for breakthroughs, causing unnecessary losses. Betting on both sides likely means losing twice."
Delegation: "Perhaps you are right, but this is the strategy we have chosen. We hope you will respect this."
Dialoguer: "I completely respect it."
Beixing Delegation: "We want to know—why, after passing your trial, did you come to Tianshui Star as part of the Doomsday Rules? You said earlier this was voluntary. We want to know the reason."
Dialoguer: "There is a saying among humans: 'Because I have been rained on, I want to hold an umbrella for others.' As one who has been through it, I too wish to become an 'umbrella holder' to help other intelligent civilizations through their tribulations."
Help...?
The Dialoguer's choice of words confused the billions of viewers both at the scene and watching on screens.
A Doomsday Rule, yet talking about help—wasn't that ridiculous?
But considering this rule's characteristics... short duration, no punishment for failure, non-aggressive rule entity... it really didn't seem like the previous rules. And from the perspective that it provided a lot of key information, it could indeed be considered a form of help.
Beixing Delegation: "Did you participate in formulating this rule? Did you define the rule's content, rewards, and punishments?"
The Dialoguer smiled and shook its head: "Trials can only be set by the 'Divine Oracle'—oh, I'll use the term 'Fire Thief' that you humans are accustomed to. Only it can formulate them."
This only deepened everyone's confusion.
Dialoguer: "Then my question is: When collective survival and individual survival modes conflict and cannot coexist, how will your strategy change?"
Beixing Delegation: "We will make specific arrangements according to specific circumstances. We won't make rigid provisions in advance. Moreover, we believe that even in the face of such contradictions, we can definitely find a solution that takes both into account."
Hearing this, the smile that had been on the Dialoguer's face disappeared.
Under the gaze of countless eyes, people saw for the first time an expression resembling sadness appear on its "perfect" face—its eyes mixed with complex emotions of sympathy, sentiment, and regret.
But it didn't explain anything. Soon it returned to normal, waiting for the Beixing delegation's next question.
The Beixing delegation then raised their key question: "Based on your experience, how can human civilization pass all the Doomsday Rules?"
Dialoguer: "I have already given the answer to this question. Reduce all 'friction' unrelated to survival, and pursue only individual awakening. The reason you don't believe this is that you haven't fully experienced the changes awakening brings. But some pioneers within your civilization are already walking this path. I believe these people will strongly agree with this view."
Beixing Delegation: "What do you mean by 'pioneers'?"
Dialoguer: "The one using his power to lurk beside me right now is one of them."
As the words fell, everyone at the scene was shocked. They looked around but found no "lurker" anywhere.
But far away in Pinglu, Guan Tong's heart violently shook. He abruptly stood up.
He knew the Dialoguer wasn't referring to anyone else—it was him.
Because part of his Shadow, at this very moment, was buried deep underground at the scene in a virtualized state...