Chapter 460: The Second Day's Conversation (2) |
At the conversation site, after the "Dialoguer" finished speaking, everyone searched for that hidden infiltrator.
But because the Shadow was buried deep underground and existed in an ethereal state, it was nearly impossible to detect or perceive under normal conditions. People simply couldn't find it.
The Beixing delegation then asked: "May I ask who you refer to as the pioneer? Is it among us?"
Dialoguer: "That pioneer is not here."
In front of the screen, Guan Tong knew the "Dialoguer" was most likely referring to him.
Ever since the rules started yesterday, he had been sending his Shadow over bit by bit, lurking at the scene. His goal was exactly as he had initially planned—to be ready at any moment to use [Body Swap] to switch positions, then unleash the power of his [Civilization Observer] title to devour and absorb the "Dialoguer."
Whether he ultimately chose to do this depended on the "Dialoguer's" attitude toward humanity. From what he could see so far, Guan Tong didn't sense much hostility from it, so he hadn't made any ulterior moves.
He just hadn't expected the "Dialoguer" to have already discovered the Shadow lurking deep underground. Even if it wasn't showing aggression, this still demonstrated that its power was far from ordinary.
If the trial its civilization had faced was also the same "Forty-Nine Doomsday Rules," then its strength after clearing them was easy to imagine. However, based on what it had said earlier, the Fire Thief seemed to test each intelligent civilization differently, making it difficult to judge.
"It seems it noticed my Shadow but has no intention of exposing my identity... Can it not, or does it not want to?"
Guan Tong wasn't sure. He watched the screen as the conversation on-site continued.
Seeing that the "Dialoguer" wasn't going to reveal what that lurking power was or who held it, the Beixing delegation stopped pressing and went straight to the core question: "Is the boundary distinguishing pioneers based on the upper limit of Mind Power?"
Dialoguer: "In a certain sense, yes. The power you call 'Mind Power' is a key catalyst for personal awakening."
The delegation members exchanged glances. The word "catalyst" was somewhat unexpected, as if Mind Power wasn't the fundamental factor for "awakening" but rather a non-essential condition.
Ouyang Shanyue couldn't help but press further: "May I ask what the method is for accelerating the increase of Mind Power's upper limit? Since you are a qualified being who has passed the trial, you should have more experience in this area than humanity."
Dialoguer: "I will defer answering this question because it's now my turn to ask. My question is: If you knew that eventual destruction was inevitable, would humanity still continue all its current efforts?"
Destruction inevitable...
The "Dialoguer's" words sent chills down countless spines.
Why would it say that? Could it foresee the future? That was impossible.
Was it trying to scare humanity? That didn't seem likely either...
The Beixing delegation exchanged glances, discussed for a moment, and then one member replied: "Humanity has no future sight. We don't know what will happen. But we don't agree with what you call 'inevitable destruction.' We will do everything in our power to prevent it."
It was a very standard answer, but the "Dialoguer" wasn't satisfied.
Dialoguer: "You haven't directly answered my question."
Beixing delegation: "...If destruction were truly inevitable, I think at least we would have no regrets at that time, because humanity would have done everything it possibly could."
The "Dialoguer's" eyes grew moist. No one knew what these words made it think of.
But just like before, when it briefly showed a sorrowful expression, it quickly returned to normal.
Dialoguer: "I will answer your previous question. How to accelerate the increase of Mind Power's upper limit? Based on my observations, you humans have already discovered that this is a power rooted in 'belief.' Following that principle, obtaining strong 'belief' is one way to accelerate growth."
"Obtaining strong belief..." One expert from the Beixing delegation muttered, "Doesn't that... sound like something similar to religious faith?"
Countless people at the scene and in front of screens were utterly stunned.
Over two years into the era of the Doomsday Rules, the idea that "Mind Power" was a special force that "twisted reality through willpower" had gained widespread acceptance.
But the "willpower" in that concept referred to each Ascendant's own will.
Yet the answer the "Dialoguer" had given was "obtaining belief."
And "obtaining" meant receiving it from others... making others believe so strongly that it coalesced into conviction. Wasn't that exactly what fanatical religious followers did?
If this could accelerate the increase of Mind Power's upper limit, then wouldn't it mean...
Many people realized a terrifying truth: The Pope of the Fire Thief Worship Cult and the Prophet, leader of the parasitized forms—these two public enemies of humanity undoubtedly possessed the key foundation for this enhancement channel!
The general public might believe in some celebrities, some experts, but that belief was nowhere near the level of "strong conviction."
What was conviction? To put it nicely, it was unwavering loyalty and commitment, firm resolve, and unreserved trust.
To put it bluntly, it was blind worship, disregard for facts, mindless support regardless of right or wrong, and never allowing others to question or oppose... The fanatical followers of the Fire Thief Worship Cult and those parasitized by "spreading" spores undoubtedly fell into this category.
On the other hand, the normal human side, led by the Human Consortium, currently had no truly "global leader." Even some famous Celebrity Ascendants like Shadow, Adam, Bai Xuewu, and others didn't have "conviction-level" fans.
Because this situation didn't exist among normal people, no one had mentioned this method of accelerating the Mind Power upper limit in any public channel over the past two years.
"No wonder that mysterious Pope of the Fire Thief Worship Cult is so arrogant, daring to openly oppose and wage war against the Human Consortium. He must have been extracting conviction power from a massive number of fanatical followers to accelerate the increase of his own Mind Power!"
"So there's a method like this? Then from now on, all the powerful figures will want to become famous, right?"
"I think the authorities should strongly promote positive Ascendants! The power of conviction must be given to good people. We can't let some malicious individuals become famous and exploit it!"
"Personally, I'll never deify anyone. In my eyes, everyone has flaws. The more the authorities try to create idols, the more I hate it. Anyone hoping to get my conviction power can save their energy."
Everyone had their own thoughts. Some thought simply, believing that as long as someone was famous, they could obtain others' conviction power and apply it to themselves.
Others thought more carefully, reasoning that if it were that simple, humanity would have discovered this secret long ago. Therefore, the generation of conviction power must be extremely stringent. It definitely wasn't the case that a celebrity with a bunch of obsessive fans could gain massive amounts of conviction power.
The delegation members on-site were all quite excited.
Regardless, this was an extremely critical unknown piece of information for humanity. As long as they could obtain this kind of information from the "Dialoguer," it was a guaranteed profitable deal for humanity as a whole.
The Beixing delegation said: "Thank you for telling us. This is very important to us. Please go ahead and ask your question."
Dialoguer: "I have no more questions to ask about human civilization."
The Beixing delegation members were surprised: "Are those all you wanted to know about our civilization?"
Putting themselves in its shoes, if humans were playing the role of "Dialoguer," they would have countless questions to ask an unknown intelligent civilization—enough to last ten days and nights!
Dialoguer: "Yes, that's all."
Beixing delegation: "You're not curious about our history, culture, biological evolution, and so on?"
Dialoguer: "Unfortunately, I have seen too many civilizations with brilliant cultures meet their destruction. Only civilizations that survive have the chance to preserve their culture and history among the stars."
Beixing delegation: "...Then what about our mode of communication?"
Dialoguer: "It doesn't matter. You can continue asking questions."
The delegation members' previously excited mood turned heavy again because of the "Dialoguer's" words.
Unknown destruction was like a sword hanging over their heads. No one knew when it would fall. Its very existence was a constant reminder that before humanity could shatter that sword, they could not afford to be complacent. They had to keep striving.
Beixing delegation: "We want to know what substance is missing on Tianshui Star for breakthroughs in basic materials science, and where the nearest source of it is located?"
This question had troubled humanity ever since the [Third Contact] rule was established. Without breaking through the limitations of materials science, most ultra-advanced cutting-edge technologies in various industries would find it difficult to achieve significant breakthroughs.
Even if some fields could use special Mind Power items to take shortcuts, those were just shortcuts. Limited by the total amount of Mind Power, such shortcuts could never be scaled or mass-produced.
Breakthroughs that couldn't be scaled could only create wonders—they were utterly useless for driving actual societal development, let alone helping all of humanity survive better.
Therefore, finding, scaling up development, and utilizing that substance was the key.
This question had been raised by a previous delegation, but the "Dialoguer" hadn't given an answer then. This time, the Beixing delegation wasn't going to let it go.
Dialoguer: "There are many substances missing on Tianshui Star, and countless could be used for breakthroughs in basic materials science. I cannot precisely determine which one you refer to. However, one such substance exists within this star system. It is a special particle that our civilization calls 'magnetic substrate.'"
Beixing delegation: "Where is it?!"
Dialoguer: "Located on the planet you humans call 'Meltstar.'"
Meltstar!
Humanity should have been happy to receive this crucial information, but most who had some knowledge of astronomy wore grim expressions.
Meltstar was a planet in the star system neither too close nor too far from Tianshui Star. But this "not too far" was relative. Its average distance from Tianshui Star still exceeded 200 million kilometers, and at its closest, it was nearly 100 million kilometers.
With humanity's current level of space travel, there was no way to reach it under normal circumstances. Unless they used shortcuts—massively gathering and utilizing usable Mind Power items and abilities—there might be a sliver of a possibility. But...
The Beixing delegation asked with hopeful anticipation: "Could that special particle enable a leap forward in humanity's current technological level?"
The "Dialoguer's" answer was less than satisfying, as if it saw through humanity's concerns.
Dialoguer: "Perhaps it can, perhaps it cannot. I cannot say for certain. But if humanity takes this as its goal, please seriously consider whether your overall resources can withstand the losses caused by failure."