Chapter 482: The Sacred Crown Honor |
June 16, the sixth day of the Rule Period.
The Bright Moon had risen more than two thousand meters.
Above the Lanyang sea area, the Human Consortium had already enforced a complete clearance of the relevant waters, forbidding any vessel from approaching.
This was not only because they feared some clueless fool going to their death, but also because any ship that ventures close would add mass to the Bright Moon, accelerating its growth.
On the deck of a large observation ship several kilometers from the target waters, Andrew stared into the distance, his face a mixture of excitement and anticipation.
A few days earlier he had dined with the Dean of Suroma’s First Research Institute and, after one actual props test, finalized the cooperation.
They signed a hire contract stipulating that during this Rule Period Andrew would unconditionally follow official arrangements for the use of the prop. The Suroma government’s payment was a large cash sum in Ascension Coins and a qualification to join a parliamentary council under the Senate.
That Senate’s subordinate council had only a few hundred members. If the king and the Senate were the country’s “brain,” then the council that implemented and executed the brain’s decisions was its “hands and feet,” a body with enormous status and power.
Andrew accepted the terms gladly. Beyond the payment, he wanted to be a hero. As Dean Joiessen had said, by resolving one of the forty-nine Doomsday Rules, he could earn the world’s admiration and worship.
“New here?”
Someone nearby spoke. Andrew turned and saw a Suroma Ascendant.
“Yes,” he said.
“An observer?” the man asked.
“Uh...you could say that.” Andrew answered vaguely. The contract required strict confidentiality; he could not leak a word until the plan succeeded.
“Heh, I’m an observer too. You look like you’re not used to this,” the man said with an easy laugh. “Don’t worry, our observation ship adjusts its position daily according to the Bright Moon’s gravitational influence range. We’ll keep a safe distance, we won’t get drawn into the gravity vortex.”
Andrew asked curiously, “I saw the news saying the Bright Moon is below the abyssal layer, deep under the sea. It should be hard to observe, right?”
The observer sized Andrew up and down, seeming to think the man was a bit slow: “You didn’t know it’s been rising constantly? The rules have been active for six days. Today it has left the abyssal layer and is in the deep-sea area, much easier to observe.”
“Deep-sea area...how many meters?” Andrew asked.
“Probably less than four thousand,” the observer pursed his lips, staring toward the distance. “You can tell just by looking at the sea surface.”
Andrew turned to look. He had actually noticed earlier that the waves inside the gravity-affected area moved much slower than those outside it.
Normal sea waves undulate, but within the gravity range the sea surface arched like an earthen mound, and around it drifted patches of fog, flickering and strange.
“It started the day before yesterday,” the observer said. “As the Bright Moon rises, the gravity vortex begins to affect the sea surface. Water in the vortex is sucked down layer by layer. The high-speed rotation of the outer water colliding with the mid-layer creates temperature differences that form those fog banks...they look no different than ghosts in a graveyard.”
Andrew was amazed. Seeing it in person was far more shocking than any pictures or videos online.
He couldn’t help asking, “So, what happens next?”
“Next?” the observer sounded helpless. “There are professional researchers on the ship below. Based on our estimates, in a few days—maybe by the tenth day—that ‘mound’ will be lower than any skyscraper under the gravitational effect. Ocean currents a thousand kilometers away will all be disrupted. By then it won’t be possible for observation vessels to get close; ships won’t be able to dock directly.”
“So.” The observer patted Gao Liangwei’s shoulder. “He’s hoping the Human Consortium comes up with an effective countermeasure soon. If the Bright Moon actually rises to the surface, causing a direct rupture, no one can fully predict the disaster that would follow.”
“Right, we must delay and stop it!” Gao Liangwei said, chest proud. “If you want to stop it—”
“Stop it...?” the observer looked puzzled.
Fan Wenruo, momentarily flustered and misspeaking in the heat of the moment, quickly laughed it off and excused himself to go to the restroom!
He returned to the cabin and contacted Joiessen to ask when they would act. The reply was only a few words: wait for arrangements.
......
A remote Human Consortium meeting was underway. On the large screen was a headshot of Andrew and an introduction to his Carrier Array prop, along with field-test footage.
In the video, Andrew and four others jointly operated a machine that looked like a radiator. There were five metal handles on the back, each person holding one. At Andrew’s shout of “Activate,” all five handles simultaneously triggered an electric current.
Among the five operators, besides Andrew the prop owner, the other four wore pained expressions. The front panel of the machine glowed an orange-red, and each “plate” emitted a faint ribbon-like high-energy laser.
These high-energy lasers fired at different angles but converged at a point after a distance, that point precisely contacting the foremost plate of a row of specially reinforced steel sheets. The instant contact was made, that plate and the dozen or so behind it were pierced through in succession.
The video froze at that moment.
Mary spoke: “Everyone saw it. Each plate of this Carrier Array is a high-energy laser emitter. The whole machine has three thousand plates. According to tests, each plate can support a maximum Mind Power output of 500 points.”
The committee members understood why Mary had previously said three thousand Ascendants with over 500 Mind Power upper limit would be sacrificed—she meant exactly this machine.
A member asked, “Is there more footage after this?”
All the members wanted to know. If the cost were only a Mind Power expenditure, Mary wouldn’t have used the word ‘sacrifice.’
Mary nodded and continued playback.
After the high-energy lasers ceased, the video showed that besides Andrew, the other four Ascendants convulsed and fell to the ground. Medical personnel immediately carried them away, but the video still showed their hair and eyebrows turned to ash, and exposed skin had obvious carbonization marks.
Gao Liangwei said in a low voice: “It seems that apart from the prop owner, anyone else who uses this machine will be burned to death by the high-energy lasers.”
“Yes,” Mary said regretfully. “Reluctant as we are to accept it, that is the cost. The burns are transmitted directly into the Ascendants’ bodies through the metal handles by the machine, synchronized with the high-energy lasers, making them completely unavoidable.”
Torafuto asked, “So your plan is to have people take turns operating the machine?”
“That won’t work. The three thousand high-energy lasers must fire simultaneously and converge into a single point to have a chance of penetrating the Bright Moon’s gravity field and damaging its core,” Mary said. “We will link three thousand people via other special ability users to exert force simultaneously, bypassing the Team Formation limit.”
Linking many people’s abilities?
Gao Liangwei thought Suroma must indeed have special ability users hidden deeply.
Everyone fell into thought.
From the video alone, the aggregated high-energy laser created by just five Ascendants could easily pierce a dozen specially thickened steel plates. Imagine the single-point explosive force formed by three thousand people—it might truly have a chance to pierce the Bright Moon’s core and stop it from rising.
But the cost was enormous, too great to announce publicly.
“The plan requires three thousand Ascendants, each with at least a 500-point Mind Power upper limit...If we announce this decision, wouldn’t it provoke fierce opposition?”
Worldwide, the total number of Ascendants only reached a few tens of millions. Those with Mind Power upper limits of 500 points are extremely rare—saying one in a thousand might already be conservative.
Even at that rate, there would be fewer than a hundred thousand. Selecting three thousand for a one-time suicidal mission from that population would be a daunting challenge.
The committee members nearly all looked at Gao Liangwei at the same time. Mary said: “Commissioner Gao, everyone knows Beixing has the most Ascendants and the highest quality. If this rule is to be resolved, we must ask Beixing to make sacrifices.”
Gao Liangwei replied expressionlessly: “Even if this operation must be carried out, each country should provide people proportionally, not have whichever country has more be forced to provide more.”
“Proportional contribution?” A delegate from the small country Heilanja looked troubled. “Our nation only has just over two hundred thousand Ascendants. Those with Mind Power over 500 may be fewer than a thousand...If we average it out, each country would need to send over three hundred people for three thousand total. That would nearly exhaust our advanced combat force in one shot. Impossible!”
Several other small-country delegates echoed him.
If those with Mind Power upper limits above 500 are counted as high-end forces, then countries like Lury’s, Hanlis, Heilanja, and even Sakura Prayer average under a thousand high-tier forces each.
In such a situation, sacrificing more than three hundred at once would be a national extinction-level crisis for those small countries; they couldn’t bear it. They would rather accept failing this Rule challenge than suffer such catastrophic losses.
“Average distribution is indeed asking too much,” Mary said. “I think proportional distribution is better—those with more give more, those with less give less—that’s the fairest.”
Torafuto was silent. He keenly sensed that Suroma, represented by Mary, might be using this opportunity to weaken Beixing politically.
As the West Sisiya delegate, he appeared like he should support Mary, but his Administrator had grown close to Beixing since taking office, so he was not in a position to make a clear stance.
“Commissioner Gao, why are you silent?” Mary asked. “Do you oppose proportional contribution? But as a great power shouldn’t you show great-power responsibility? When Commissioner Gao was the committee chairman, Beixing always advocated this...If there is still disagreement, then we must revert to the old rule and vote.”
......
In the capital of Manchidon, once the spore worms and their information-receiving conduit, the Prophet, were removed, the remaining parasitized forms collapsed completely.
There was no need for the Human Consortium to form a coalition; Manchidon, relying on its own Ascendants and soldiers and with Guan Tong’s help, had eradicated most of the parasitized forms in just a few days. Those who fled fled, those who hid hid, and they no longer posed a unified threat.
The key few who made this possible, led by Guan Tong, were known to the people of Manchidon—this was related to the final battle, some bystanders captured parts of the fight, and the footage triggered a massive public discussion.
Many Manchidon citizens thought their country’s decision-making had been inept. If not for those foreign Ascendants led by Shadow, millions in the country might have been taken hostage by the parasites or even largely converted.
The previous decision-making body having been swept away was, in some eyes, a blessing—it allowed smarter, more responsible people to make decisions that would better secure the nation’s future.
So several Ascendants who had killed many parasitized forms and gained public renown were elevated. In just a few days, they formed a new management team.
The new leadership’s first decision was to award high-level honors to the foreign Ascendants who had helped Manchidon.
Although these Ascendants had already left Manchidon, the honors were still conferred regardless of distance.
Chen Na, Silver Fox, and others were granted the “Manchidon Hero” title, an honor reserved for a few who made huge contributions to the nation, one that earned universal reverence.
As for Shadow, the leadership unprecedentedly awarded him the “Manchidon Sacred Crown” honor. The news stunned everyone; the Sacred Crown had only ever been bestowed once before—to the country’s founding figure.
Now, this title, previously only given to the founder, was being awarded to a foreigner. It was earth-shattering. Yet surprisingly, while Manchidon people were astonished, there was little opposition.
After the Prophet’s phone speech, many Manchidon citizens had fallen into despair. Some extremists, after hearing the speech, chose to end their own lives rather than be converted into parasitized forms, refusing to suffer the fate that had befallen Black Flag Country.
That despair was quickly dispelled by Shadow and his compatriots. The sense of redemption they brought, combined with Shadow’s renown, led people to credit him with saving the nation from annihilation. Granting him the Sacred Crown honor did not seem excessive.
Moreover, in this era national boundaries had grown blurred. Many people felt: what does it matter if he’s a foreigner or not? In the face of Doomsday Rules, those who help others are the ones truly deserving of respect.
At that time Guan Tong, back in Beixing, was very surprised to learn of the news—he hadn’t expected Manchidon to elevate him to the status of their founder.
But that wasn’t the most surprising thing. What most shocked him was that, soon after hearing the news, he discovered the natural growth rate of his Mind Power upper limit had increased!
