Chapter 440 - 395: The Principle of Identification

Chapter 440: Chapter 395: The Principle of Identification

Based on past experience, the Mind Network could only be established between Ascenders. Ordinary people couldn’t use it.

Furthermore, both parties had to consent to establishing the connection. If one party was unwilling, the other couldn’t force it.

The Parasite before Guan Tong had also been converted from an ordinary person, not an Ascender.

And it certainly had no desire to form a connection. Guan Tong was curious to see how the Mind Network would function under these circumstances.

Psychic Power surged forth at his command, touching the Parasite’s forehead.

The instant it began to operate as a Mind Network, a powerful feedback surged back.

Guan Tong felt a series of images flow into his consciousness along with his Psychic Power.

The fragmented, chaotic images were filled with towering, circular halls, with countless human figures flitting between them.

A series of whispers arose, accompanying the images.

"Join us..."

"Join our wonderful family..."

The voices were similar to those he’d heard during the era of the Outer Heaven Parasite rule. To his surprise, however, he found that this time, his own thoughts could be transmitted back.

Just like... two Ascenders who had established a connection.

In that instant, Guan Tong understood!

’The connection isn’t with the Parasite’s body... it’s with the spores...’

With a single thought to "disconnect," the images and sounds in his mind came to an abrupt halt and vanished.

Guan Tong withdrew his palm and Shadow. The Parasite, freed from its restraints, fell back onto the bed. It had fainted the moment the connection was made.

"What did you discover?"

Zhang Minglu asked. He could tell Guan Tong had discovered something crucial.

Guan Tong turned around and looked at the two of them.

"The Mind Network can indeed identify Parasites. But the connection isn’t made with the Parasite’s body—it’s made with the spores."

Zhang Minglu and Dragon Soul were both visibly shocked.

Guan Tong continued, "As we all know, after these Alien Spores occupy a host’s body, they retain the original host’s memories. I didn’t pay it much mind before, but now I understand. The spores themselves possess no intelligence, only an instinct to spread—their actions rely entirely on logic constructed from the host’s past memories. This means that when an Ascender capable of using the Mind Network attempts to connect with it, it will immediately agree. Because..."

"Because spreading is its instinct!" Zhang Minglu exclaimed, unable to contain his excitement. "When a connection is offered, its instinct makes it think it has an opportunity to spread, but either party in a Mind Network connection can sever it at any time! So that’s it. That’s the method for identifying them with the Mind Network!"

When an Ascender uses the Mind Network to connect with a Parasite, the spores controlling it will agree out of their instinct to spread. Once the connection is established, the spores will attempt to assimilate the Ascender by transmitting those images and whispers... The moment the Ascender receives that transmission, they can confirm that the being before them is a Parasite.

"Hahaha!"

Zhang Minglu let out a rare, booming laugh.

"I see! This way, the Parasites can’t hide anymore. They can’t defy their own instincts. Humanity can root every last one of them out!"

Dragon Soul knew that Zhang Minglu had long been plagued by the Parasite problem. His research had yielded no results for a very long time.

It was no surprise he would lose his composure a little now that a solution had finally been found.

But he was more concerned with another question.

"If I may ask," Dragon Soul said to Guan Tong, "how did you restart the Mind Network?"

Zhang Minglu calmed down at his words. "He’s right. Even though we can identify Parasites with the Mind Network, their numbers are massive. It would take a huge number of people to identify them all."

"To restart the Mind Network, your Psychic Power limit needs to reach one thousand points." Guan Tong didn’t hide it. "It’s a hard requirement."

A one-thousand-point Psychic Power limit!

Zhang Minglu and Dragon Soul were both stunned.

That number was a bit too high, even for the members of the Official Team who received priority training.

"You’ve already broken the thousand-point limit... That’s incredible."

Zhang Minglu looked at Guan Tong with utter disbelief, wondering how he had possibly managed it.

But his expression quickly shifted, his brow furrowing deeply.

"Reaching a thousand-point limit is hard! Only a handful of people in the Official Team are even close, and the rest are a long way off. As for civilian Ascenders, it’s not even worth mentioning."

Dragon Soul, standing beside him, deeply agreed.

He was one of the "handful of people" Zhang Minglu had mentioned. And while he was considered "close," in reality, it would still take a very long time for him to reach it without some kind of breakthrough.

"The requirement is so high that too few people can meet it." Zhang Minglu’s expression soured. "It seems that even though we’ve mastered the identification method, it’ll be impossible to identify all of them in the short term."

Guan Tong said nothing, thinking that perhaps he could do it himself.

’My Shadow-splitting ability is unparalleled. I can spread out hundreds, even thousands, of Shadow Lines, each infused with my Psychic Power. Every line that touches a Parasite can establish a connection.’

’Once I receive the images and sounds from the connection, I can make a judgment. Then, the connecting Shadow Line can carry out the extermination.’

’If I do that, I could easily identify and eliminate more than a thousand Parasites in a single day.’

"In any case, we’ve gained more than enough today."

Zhang Minglu reached out and clapped Guan Tong on the shoulder.

"We owe you a great deal. I’d guess you’re the only person in the world who’s reached this level."

’Shi Jingyi probably reached it even faster than I did,’ Guan Tong thought. ’She just hasn’t revealed it.’

"Dragon Soul and I are heading back to the main base. I’m going to work through the night to compile a report on this," Zhang Minglu said. He paused, then added one more thing to Guan Tong.

"Once this information goes public, the Parasites will surely go on a frenzy, targeting any Ascender who has broken the thousand-point Psychic Power limit. For your safety, we’ll keep your name out of it. You should also do your best not to expose your ability."

Guan Tong nodded.

’That’s what I thought, too,’ he reflected. ’It’s why I told Jingyi not to take the risk of trying to identify them.’

’If one of us had to take that risk, it should be me. My movements are unpredictable, which makes me better suited for it.’

The three of them left the cell and arrived at the base’s main gate.

"Where are you headed? I’ll have Dragon Soul give you a ride."

"That’s not necessary."

"Alright then. Be careful not to be affected by the Crimson Fear."

"Crimson Fear... That’s a fitting name."

"That’s what we call it in the strategy room," said Zhang Minglu. "You’d best leave using a Teleportation Item. It’s safer that way."

’Teleportation Items...’

Guan Tong’s brow suddenly furrowed as a thought flashed through his mind.

’The swapped recording at the rehabilitation center... What was the goal of the person who swapped it in such a short amount of time?’

’What if they entered Suzuki’s room to set up a Teleportation Item? Then they could use it to get back inside later, bypassing the security cameras.’

’There are no cameras in the patients’ rooms, which would create a perfect blind spot.’

...

「The next morning.」

The Human Federation convened for a remote conference.

Mary, the representative commissioner from Soloma, was the first to speak. "The Soloma Space Agency believes the failure of the previous space colonization mission on Terra Star, and the deaths of so many astronauts, is related to this rule. The astronauts must have been affected by the crimson force on Terra Star."

Gao Liangwei stated, "North Star has reached the same conclusion."

Toravt, the representative commissioner from Sisiya, asked in surprise, "Are you saying the astronauts were harmed by the rule before it was even announced?"

"Yes," said Gao Liangwei. "We speculate that the Fire Thief deployed the crimson force for this rule on Terra Star long in advance. But it can’t predict the future, so it didn’t know humanity would launch two manned rockets to land on Terra. That’s what caused this accident."

"I can’t believe it..."

"If this theory is correct, it seems the Fire Thief isn’t as omnipotent as we imagined."

"Predicting the future is next to impossible anyway."

"This reminds me of the last question humanity asked the nano-lifeform—wasn’t it a test to see if it could predict the future, or if it knew whether the Fire Thief had prepared the rules in advance? We didn’t get an answer at the time, but now it seems..."

"Yes, we have our answer. The Fire Thief can’t predict the future, but it can prepare the rules ahead of time."

The commissioners were all excited by this new discovery about the Fire Thief, but their excitement was short-lived.

This new understanding, however, had no immediate practical application.

"In that case, I believe it’s imperative for the Human Federation to cooperate in exploring the unknown element within this crimson force," Gao Liangwei said.

"Cooperate?" Mary asked, surprised. "Why?"

"If this unknown is anything like the ’Qimo Star Fragment puzzle,’ shouldn’t the information be shared with all of humanity? Acting separately will only reduce efficiency and waste more resources."

"Chairman Gao is right."

"We also agree that the Human Federation should cooperate on the exploration of this unknown."

Several commissioners from smaller nations spoke up in support, and Toravt also expressed his agreement.

Seeing this, Mary tilted her head as if listening to an earpiece. Someone from Soloma’s national leadership was likely speaking to her.

A moment later, she nodded. "Very well. We at Soloma also agree to a joint exploration of this unknown."

"Now then, before we discuss specific actions against the Fire Worship Cult, I have an important piece of intelligence to share with all of you."

Gao Liangwei sent the document Zhang Minglu had compiled overnight to the other commissioners. As they read it, they were all stunned.

"What?! The condition for restarting the Mind Network is a one-thousand-point Psychic Power limit?!"

"That requirement is far too high... How many Ascenders in the whole world could possibly meet it?"

Gao Liangwei said, "Our purpose in disclosing this intelligence is to encourage all nations to accelerate the training of their top Ascenders so they can break through as soon as possible. Only by increasing the number of Ascenders who meet this condition can we efficiently root out the Parasites hiding within human society and purge this poison from our midst."

After he finished speaking, he noticed that Mary didn’t seem surprised.

"Commissioner Mary, had Soloma already discovered this information?"

"No... Soloma does have someone who has broken the thousand-point Psychic Power limit, but we have not attempted to use this ability to identify Parasites."

’Hmm?’

Gao Liangwei didn’t understand what Mary meant.

’According to the report Zhang Minglu wrote, the Mind Network automatically restarts after an Ascender breaks the thousand-point Psychic Power limit. Combined with the fact that the nano-intelligence had already stated that the Mind Network was a method for identifying Parasites... why wouldn’t they try it, since they have someone who broke through?’

Gao Liangwei looked at Mary’s odd expression. ’Perhaps Soloma’s Ascender has some special characteristic that makes such an attempt inconvenient?’ he wondered.

Mary seemed unwilling to elaborate on the topic. "The conditions are so strict, it means wiping out the Parasites in the short term is impossible. For now, humanity’s highest priority remains eliminating the leadership of the Fire Worship Cult and dismantling that evil organization."