Chapter 361 - 336: An Unexpected Answer

Chapter 361: Chapter 336: An Unexpected Answer

Three seconds after the question was asked, the alien intelligence began to move.

It surged rapidly toward the nearest circle of Parasites and began to devour them.

Three, five, ten, twenty, fifty...

Beads of sweat had formed on the questioner’s forehead. He knew the price for this question would be much higher than for something like, "What is your name?"

But watching the speed at which the alien entity devoured the Parasites, it seemed they had still underestimated the cost.

In just a few short minutes, all two hundred-plus Parasites in the inner circle were devoured. The alien entity’s speed didn’t slow in the slightest as it immediately began to sweep through the next circle.

This made even the soldiers on the outermost perimeter feel a little panicked, their palms slick with sweat.

As for the members of the contact delegation, their scalps tingled with fear. The more timid ones didn’t even dare to watch any longer.

The on-site Commander, Sikokun, watched the rapidly diminishing number of Parasites and began to worry they might not be enough.

"Quick, get more Parasites from the truck!"

The circles of Parasites placed around the alien entity totaled about one thousand, but there were over four thousand Parasites in total that had been transported to the Landing Site.

The alien entity had already devoured two circles and there were two left. They had to place new ones in front of it before it finished, or it would very likely attack the soldiers or the members of the contact delegation.

Thinking of their own safety, the soldiers didn’t dare to delay, moving the Parasites out of the truck with all possible speed.

The live feed from the site was broadcast to the screens of the Human Federation’s remote conference. Even though the committee members from various nations were safe behind their screens, most of them wore tense expressions.

"It’s already devoured over five hundred Parasites! Is the price for this question really that high?"

"Judging by its trajectory, it doesn’t show any signs of stopping."

"Those few thousand Parasites we shipped over were meant for several questions. Don’t tell me a single question is going to use them all up?"

"As long as we get an answer, it’s worth it!" Gao Liangwei said in a low voice. "Once we have a way to distinguish them, we’ll have a food source that we can be sure isn’t a misidentification."

Mary stared at the screen. "Chairman Gao is right. Even if all those thousands of Parasites are consumed by this one question, it’s fine as long as we get an answer in exchange."

"The number devoured has exceeded one thousand."

The scene on the screen was horrifying. Even knowing that the beings devoured were Parasites, their appearance—inherited from their human hosts—still filled anyone who witnessed it with an unspeakable dread.

"Fifteen hundred, and it still hasn’t stopped!"

"It’s almost two thousand!"

"What if the thousands of Parasites on site aren’t enough? Will the soldiers...?"

"Those soldiers look highly disciplined; they must be Sisiya’s elites. Surely your new Governor wouldn’t be reluctant to sacrifice them?"

Everyone looked toward Toravt, the commissioner from Sisiya. His expression was stern, and he remained silent.

At the Landing Site, Sikokun gritted her teeth.

Just then, a private channel opened in her earpiece, and Yelena’s unquestionable voice came through.

"Sikokun, if it devours the three-thousandth Parasite and still hasn’t stopped, you are to lead the mobile team away from the Landing Site at top speed, immediately."

"We’re pulling out?"

Sikokun glanced toward the several hundred people in the contact delegation. "Governor, if we do that..."

"That’s an order."

"...Yes, ma’am."

There were about five thousand Parasites in total delivered to the Landing Site. Since the question was asked, the alien entity had been devouring them continuously. Now, nearly half of those five thousand had vanished into its black, slime-like body.

Sikokun calmly calculated the numbers. If the amount devoured broke three thousand, she would immediately lead all soldiers of the mobile team in a retreat.

As for what would happen to the contact delegation, or whether the alien entity would travel long distances to find the nearest food source once it had consumed everything on-site... she couldn’t say.

But she would carry out Yelena’s order without fail.

Twenty-six hundred, twenty-seven hundred, twenty-eight hundred...

Sikokun took a deep breath, her shoulders tensing slightly.

Just as she was about to raise her hand to give the order, the black ooze that had been devouring everything in a frenzy finally stopped.

Twenty-nine hundred...

Sikokun paused, her hand half-raised. The alien entity had stopped at twenty-nine hundred.

She realized at once: it was about to speak.

The site fell deathly silent. The very few people with clearance to watch the live broadcast were also waiting with bated breath, wherever they were.

Everyone wanted to know: after paying such a heavy price, what would the answer be?

A series of incomprehensible gurgles began to issue from the black sludge’s body.

For a moment, despair washed over many of them.

’Is the answer something that can’t be expressed in human language? Then even if we get it, what value would it have for humanity!’

But at the very end of this incomprehensible string of sounds, a term that humans could understand actually emerged.

"Mind Network."

...

At the Human Federation conference, after the alien intelligence finished giving its answer, the committee members were all plunged into a brief, stunned silence.

They each took a moment to digest the information before starting the discussion.

"Mind Network? I didn’t mishear that, did I? The last thing it said was ’Mind Network’?"

"That’s right. Of that whole string of sounds the alien entity made, I only understood the last two words: ’Mind Network’."

"I remember the Mind Network was a special product of Psychic Power that appeared during the twelfth rule, [Digital Detox]? How could that thing say it! Could it be... could it be that they—the home world of this alien intelligence—also had a Mind Network?"

"You’re not suggesting this puddle of black sludge is also an Ascender, are you?"

"Well..."

"It’s not impossible! Don’t forget Qimo Star. Wasn’t that a planet destroyed by the Fire Thief using the strange fog from the [Foggy Nightmare Beast] rule? This shows that the rules happening on our Celestial Water Star have likely appeared on many civilized planets throughout the universe. In that case..."

"All right, let’s not get sidetracked! If that’s what it said, it means the Mind Network is probably the key to identifying Parasites—at least, until we can analyze and decipher that string of alien language that came before it."

"But the Mind Network shut down as soon as the [Digital Detox] rule ended. Ascenders can’t use it anymore!"

"Exactly. The Mind Network has been unusable for a long time. What’s the point of knowing this answer? It’s completely useless..."

The cost was nearly three thousand Parasites, such a heavy price, and in return, all they got was a string of incomprehensible language and a method they couldn’t use. A deep sense of frustration washed over everyone.

"Regardless, we still got an answer... a partial answer," Toravt said, now adopting an optimistic tone.

"Also, it spoke a long string of alien words before that, providing a lot of linguistic data. Our linguists might be able to crack it with AI assistance. If we can decipher its language system, that would be an even greater reward!"

No one thought it would be that easy to crack an alien language, but it was, at least, a glimmer of hope.

Besides, now that they knew one of the answers was the Mind Network, humanity had a direction and a line of thought to pursue.

"Hey, what do you all think..." Mary began, "about this for the next question: ’How can humans activate the Mind Network?’"

The committee members were taken aback. At first glance, it did seem to make some sense.

Since the Mind Network was one way to identify Parasites, asking how to activate it would be like committing fully to this path.

But humans had activated the Mind Network before. The conditions to open it then were simple: as long as the Psychic Power of two Ascenders came into contact and they both simultaneously had the idea to form a Psychic Power Connection, they could establish a minimal Mind Network.

After the [Digital Detox] rule ended, this method stopped working. But humanity still didn’t understand why, though they suspected it might be related to the Fire Thief.

Gao Liangwei said, "If we ask that question, the answer the alien entity gives might be just like the hidden information for that previous rule. For us, that would be almost meaningless."

"Exactly. The method failing after the rule ended seems like the Fire Thief itself is forbidding humans from continuing to use the Mind Network... Even if we got the method, regardless of whether it’s the same as the one from during the rule, we probably wouldn’t be able to use it."

"That would be a waste of a precious question, and a question like that is sure to come with a hefty price."

Seeing so much opposition, Mary huffed lightly. "It was just a passing thought. Now that I think about it, it’s indeed not well-conceived."

The moment she finished speaking, her expression changed drastically.

As if something major had suddenly happened, she urgently disconnected from the remote link.

The other committee members were startled, unsure what was going on. Just then, a communication came through a private channel in Gao Liangwei’s earpiece as well.

A shocking piece of news arrived: the Fahe Country had actually launched an attack on the Soloma Empire!