Chapter 379 - 347: 2 Astonishing Questions

Chapter 379: Chapter 347: 2 Astonishing Questions

「January 23rd.」

The Rule Stage was more than halfway over. It would end in another week, at which point the Fire Thief would retrieve the Alien Intelligence it had deployed.

For the Human Federation, this final week was the crucial period for asking questions.

They hadn’t been able to ask questions freely before because of a food shortage that had sparked protests from Sisiya.

As Governor, Yelena had taken a hard stance on this matter; she was responsible for the lives of her nation’s people.

If the Human Federation didn’t transport enough Parasites to the Landing Site, she would never agree to unlimited, repeated questioning.

Anyone who disagreed was welcome to try moving the Alien Intelligence to their own country.

The Human Federation, though frustrated, understood her position.

Therefore, in recent days, the allied forces on the Black Banner Country front lines had been launching constant operations, capturing large numbers of Parasites every day to be transported to Sisiya.

This practice, however, gradually began to provoke numerous protests.

「Human Federation Meeting.」

As soon as the meeting began, one commissioner said with a worried expression, "Everyone must have seen the storm of public opinion online, right?"

The other commissioners nodded in agreement.

In the past two days, a large number of accusations had appeared online.

These accusers claimed that the Human Federation’s allied forces in the Black Banner Country were acting with unchecked brutality, indiscriminately capturing all Black Banner People they found as Parasites and sending them to Sisiya as food.

There were many such accusations. It was unclear if there were truly that many cases, or if Parasites were pretending to be human, trying to muddy the waters and use the power of public opinion to force the Human Federation to slow its offensive.

But as these hard-to-verify claims multiplied, it was inevitable that people in other countries would grow sympathetic, while also feeling a sense of personal risk.

If it was true, as the accusers claimed, that the allied forces were arresting people arbitrarily and declaring all Black Banner People to be Parasites, then how many innocent humans would be killed, becoming food for the Alien Intelligence?

If there weren’t enough to capture in the Black Banner Country, would the allied forces move on to another country and do the same thing?

This feeling that everyone was at risk caused public opinion to ferment rapidly.

And this public outcry quickly coalesced into a single question.

"That question is..." a commissioner began.

"Why must we ask the Alien Intelligence questions at all?"

’Yes, why? Knowing the heavy price, why did they have to ask?’

’It would be better for humanity to just turn a blind eye, leave the Alien Intelligence where it is, and let it wait quietly until the end of the Rule Stage to be retrieved by the Fire Thief.’

’Why did they absolutely have to question it?’

Toravt picked up the thread, saying, "The overwhelming opinion online is that humanity should not be asking questions. The reasoning is that the Fire Thief has malicious intentions. It deliberately deployed this intelligent being that feeds on humans not to help humanity gain knowledge, but to deplete our numbers and incite conflict among us."

"The public’s voice isn’t without reason. Humanity is indeed in a state of war right now."

"Absurd! Even without the Alien Intelligence, wouldn’t the Human Federation have formed an allied force to wage war on the Parasites and the Fire Worship Cult? This is just forced reasoning."

"Exactly. Besides, we have indeed gained knowledge. Without asking questions, how would we have known that the Mind Network can identify Parasites? How would we have known that humanity’s technological breakthroughs are being held back by a missing, unknown material?"

"But is this really knowledge? The Mind Network, the unknown key material—these are all things humanity cannot currently apply. It’s like the carrot dangling in front of a donkey. If you can only look at it but never eat it, what’s the point?"

"If we don’t ask, you won’t even be able to see the carrot! Even if humanity can’t apply the knowledge now, it points us in the right direction. If a person lost in the desert suddenly learns which way to go to get out, is that meaningless?"

"If that lost person is about to die of thirst, knowing which way to go is perhaps less meaningful than being given a glass of water."

"You’re just being sophistic!"

KNOCK KNOCK.

Gao Liangwei rapped his knuckles on the table, silencing the commissioners who had begun to argue among themselves.

"Everyone, now is not the time for debate. The purpose of this meeting isn’t to decide whether we ask questions, but what questions to ask."

The majority of commissioners who favored asking questions relaxed, while the one or two who opposed further questioning said no more, their faces grim.

"The last question was about energy. Judging by how the amount of food the Alien Intelligence consumed was far less than expected, it seems the answer wasn’t very difficult for it."

"Our country’s Strategy Research Room analyzed it and determined that the simple answer indicates that the special material related to materials science is likely common in the universe. Humanity must increase its investment in space exploration. Perhaps asking a related question would be better."

"If that special material is really so easy to find everywhere in the universe, how is it that we don’t have any here on Celestial Water Star? Is humanity really that unlucky?"

"I think we should just pick a few questions from the previous list of candidates. No need to think of new ones."

The commissioners couldn’t agree. Just then, Gao Liangwei proposed, "We at North Star would like to propose a new question."

"Oh, what a coincidence?" Mary said. "We from Soloma have also prepared a new question."

"Please, you go first," Gao Liangwei said politely.

Mary didn’t demur, stating directly, "The question we want to propose is related to the neural network of the human brain. To be precise, it’s about how to interface the human brain with an intelligent chip."

Hearing this, the commissioners all showed expressions of surprise.

Mary continued, "As you all know, our Soloma’s Intelligent Robot technology is number one in the world, and our research into intelligent brain-computer interfaces has reached a critical stage. Compared to other, far-fetched dreams, this question undoubtedly has greater practical value and a higher chance of being implemented."

A commissioner asked with a strange look, "Commissioner Mary, is Soloma trying to pave the way for digital life?"

Shortly after the Apocalypse Rules were first announced, there had been widespread discussion in society.

Could humanity, as depicted in some sci-fi movies, back up memories digitally to circumvent the Apocalypse Rules.

If successful, a person could back up their memories onto a digital chip. Even if their original body died due to the Rules, they could achieve a different kind of "rebirth" by installing the chip into a robotic body.

But the hype around this discussion quickly faded as people realized the gap between reality and sci-fi movies was still vast, and achieving this was nearly impossible.

Now, Mary’s sudden proposal of a related question indicated that Soloma’s research in this area had already made huge progress.

"Digital life would certainly be one of the byproducts of this technology. If it succeeds, humanity would have another path to preservation besides space colonization," Mary said. "However, our current goal is for development and salvation."

"Development and salvation?"

"Development is simple. A chip’s logical processing speed far exceeds that of the human brain. Interfacing them would make smart people even smarter, greatly aiding technological advancement.

As for salvation... in all of your countries, there must be a great number of people suffering from severe psychological trauma or physical disabilities because of the Apocalypse Rules, right? If brain-computer chips are successful, implanting them could help these people overcome their difficulties and get back on their feet."

The commissioners fell into deep thought upon hearing this.

Sisiya’s commissioner, Toravt, calmly pointed out, "It sounds like this question would only benefit your Soloma Empire. The other nations of the Human Federation don’t seem to stand to gain from it."

Mary looked at him. "Did you not hear me when I mentioned salvation?"

"I heard you, but this would result in Soloma monopolizing the relevant technology," Toravt said. "If we are to ask this question, Soloma needs to make the related technology open-source for the Human Federation."

The other commissioners remained silent.

They agreed with Toravt, but even if the technology were open-source, their countries’ current situations would prevent them from mass-producing digital chips.

Currently, only the three nations of Soloma, Sisiya, and North Star had the resources and capability.

’Open-source, huh.’ Mary turned to Gao Liangwei. "Chairman Gao, I assume you share this opinion?"

"Yes," Gao Liangwei replied without hesitation. "If ’digital life’ were to truly succeed, not making it open-source would mean that the ’memory backups’ of every nation’s citizens would be in the hands of the Soloma Empire. I don’t think any sovereign nation would agree to that."

"Heh, Chairman Gao, you really cut right to the heart of the matter." Mary smiled, then said seriously, "As long as the Human Federation agrees to this question, Soloma is willing to make the relevant technology open-source."

The commissioners exchanged glances. For Mary to say this, she must have already received authorization from the King of Soloma.

"Soloma has stated its question. So, Chairman Gao, what new question does your North Star intend to propose?"

Everyone’s gaze focused on Gao Liangwei, wondering if he too would propose a shocking question.

The result did not disappoint.

Gao Liangwei said, "The question we want to ask is, ’What will the sixteenth Apocalypse Rule be?’"

WHOOSH!

As his words fell, several commissioners leaned back in shock.

"Wh-what?"

"Ask the Alien Intelligence what the next rule is? How is that possible!"

"Chairman Gao, you can’t be serious?"

Gao Liangwei’s expression was grave. He was not a man who joked, and everyone knew it.

After his initial surprise, Toravt was filled with confusion. "Chairman Gao, may I ask your reasoning? No matter how you look at it, this question seems... inexplicable."

The other commissioners nodded in agreement. How could the Alien Intelligence possibly know the next Apocalypse Rule? What was the point of such a question?

Gao Liangwei met their gazes and began to explain.

"This question was proposed after a meeting in our Strategy Research Room."

"First, we believe that since this Alien Intelligence was deployed by the Fire Thief, what it knows and what questions it can answer are all within the Fire Thief’s control. In other words, its ’knowledge base’ is already fixed.

This leads to the question of whether its knowledge base includes the Apocalypse Rules. The previous question about identifying Parasites seems to suggest it does, but we can’t be certain, because that special spore was once a hot commodity in the universe, meaning it’s quite common.

The experts at the Strategy Research Room believe there are only two types of valuable questions: those related to the past and those related to the future. The ’past’ refers to the lingering problem of the Parasites caused by the alien spores, which humanity has already asked about and received the answer ’Mind Network.’ The question related to the ’future’ is this one—by asking for the content of the next rule, we can make two judgments."

Gao Liangwei paused, then said in a low voice, "The first is whether the Fire Thief has set all the rules in advance, like a fixed program running on predetermined code. The second is whether this Alien Intelligence possesses the ability or authority to ’predict the future.’ From this, we can discern the upper limit of its true value."

"This is why we at North Star wish to propose this question. I wonder if the other commissioners agree."