Chapter 352 - 327: The Fifteenth Apocalypse Rule

Chapter 352: Chapter 327: The Fifteenth Apocalypse Rule

January 15th, 7:00 AM.

The new rule was set to be announced in two hours, but Guan Tong and Shangyuan Zi were currently browsing through some confidential files.

These were backup files sent over by the Countermeasures Office, confiscated from the Mizusawa Clan.

A portion of the content was related to the "Orochi Bloodline." It was clear that after Mizusawa Chun obtained the bloodline ability, he had conducted a great deal of research to better master it.

As the ruling family of Sakura Prayer, the Mizusawa Family had access to more historical secrets and weren’t limited to the myths and legends known by the common person.

After looking through the documents, they discovered that the key lay in Shangyuan Zi’s discovery.

When the Mizusawa Clan found her and learned that her bloodline’s name was "Tooru," they immediately used that information to cross-reference the data they had already collected.

It was like having several historical documents on hand without knowing which one recorded actual history—or if they were all simply fakes.

Shangyuan Zi’s appearance, however, made it possible to piece together the history of Tooru and the Great Serpent. Her bloodline was named "Tooru," yet her abilities were related to the Great Serpent. Only one of their records matched this specific scenario.

Thus, the Mizusawa Clan determined that this document was authentic.

"...According to legend, the hero Tooru who defeated the Great Serpent was not actually human," Guan Tong read aloud. "He was also a great serpent, but one that was friendly toward humanity."

"To protect humanity, it fought and ultimately defeated Orochi, driving it back into the sea. Out of gratitude, the people named it ’Tooru,’ after the local fishing village, hoping it would remain the village’s guardian deity..."

Having read this far, Guan Tong and Shangyuan Zi exchanged a glance.

"If Tooru was also a great serpent, that would explain your situation."

"Yes. People didn’t want to believe that the one who defeated the Great Serpent was another great serpent, so the legend was changed to ’Tooru was a human warrior.’"

"After Mizusawa Chun learned of this, he chose to keep you by his side. Even if none of the recent events had happened, he probably would have killed you one day..." Guan Tong trailed off, then shook his head.

"No, his plan was likely to wait until his genetic experiments were fully mature, then transform you into part of his Snake Servant Army. Whether he forced you to fight for him or activated the ’Ten Thousand Serpents Realm’ to absorb your power into himself, the benefits would have been immense."

Shangyuan Zi nodded. She had suspected as much.

If he hadn’t wanted her power, Mizusawa Chun wouldn’t have kept her under house arrest back then. Killing her outright would have been the simplest option.

"But he never expected the tables to turn," Guan Tong said with a smile. "In the end, you were part of the effort that killed him. It’s as if the ancient legend replayed itself: ’Tooru’ defeated ’Orochi.’" 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Shangyuan Zi touched the new scales covering her chin. "So you’re saying that by participating in his death, I acquired a portion of his power?"

"It’s possible. It doesn’t sound like a conventional way to grow stronger, but we still know so little about Psychic Power. It could have many strange methods of advancement, so we shouldn’t be completely bound by past experience."

"Right."

After they finished reviewing the documents and their discussion ended, it was nearly 9:00 AM.

At this point, they both fell silent, quietly waiting for the new rule to be announced.

[The fifteenth Apocalypse Rule has been announced.]

[Apocalypse Rule Fifteen: Close Encounters of the Third Kind]

[Rule Details: Three hours after this rule’s announcement, a special Extraterrestrial Intelligence will be deployed on Celestial Water Star. This is a special rule with no reward for success or penalty for failure. Duration: fifteen days. After fifteen days, the Extraterrestrial Intelligence will be retrieved.]

[Success Reward: None]

[Failure Penalty: None]

[Note: In the universe, humanity is not alone.]

...

The announcement of the new rule sent the whole world into an uproar.

The mere fact that this rule had no failure penalty was enough to make countless people cheer. It was the first time they could finally "lie flat" and get through a rule without any pressure.

But even more unprecedented was the Fire Thief’s explicit mention of an "Extraterrestrial Intelligence." The key wasn’t that it was extraterrestrial, but that it was intelligent.

In truth, humanity had already encountered various alien creatures in previous rules.

From the "Mother Transformer" that turned human corpses into the Living Dead during the [Night of the Living Dead] rule, to the "Sound Hunter" that preyed on humans who made noise during the [Silent Moment] rule, to the giant monster that guarded the Qimo Star Fragment during the [Foggy Nightmare Beast] rule, and even the Alien Spores from the previous [Outer Heaven Parasite] rule... all of them were undoubtedly from other worlds, not native to Celestial Water Star.

This time, however, was different.

Judging from the Fire Thief’s rule description and the note... the Extraterrestrial Intelligence being deployed on Celestial Water Star was very likely capable of communicating with humans!

The ability to communicate—that was the crucial part.

The various alien creatures from previous rules had shown almost nothing but hostility toward humans and were completely incapable of communication.

Only the Giant Beasts that guarded the Fog Gates and the Qimo Star Fragment seemed to hold some other sentiment toward humans besides hostility, but they too were unable to communicate.

But this time, if it was an intelligent being that could be communicated with, the implications for humanity would be monumental.

Just a few minutes after the Fire Thief announced the rule, the Human Federation convened an emergency remote meeting.

The attending commissioners had all received instructions from their respective national leadership.

"Everyone."

Gao Liangwei, in his capacity as Chairman, reiterated the regulations and obligations of the Human Federation.

"According to the Human Federation’s principle of equal cooperation, every member nation has the right to dispatch designated personnel to form a representative team from the Federation to make contact with this Extraterrestrial Intelligence."

"Furthermore, all communication and interaction with this Extraterrestrial Intelligence must be conducted in an open environment. Regardless of which country the Fire Thief deploys it in, that nation has no right to monopolize communication with the entity."

"Agreed."

"Agreed!"

The fewer than ten remaining member nations of the Human Federation all supported Gao Liangwei’s decision.

The smaller nations were especially worried that major powers like North Star, Soloma, and Sisiya would use their national strength to forcefully control and monopolize the right to contact the Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

If that happened, there would be nothing they could do.

Yet, contact with this Extraterrestrial Intelligence was critically important, and no sovereign nation wanted to miss out.

What if this Extraterrestrial Intelligence came from a highly advanced civilization?

What if it held scientific theories beyond human imagination?

For humanity, a single advanced mathematical formula could lead to a quantum leap in technology.

This was no mere fantasy. Even if this individual wasn’t particularly distinguished on its home planet, if its civilization was highly developed, any random individual could still completely overwhelm humanity.

It was like taking a modern person with only a middle-school education and dropping them into an ancient society that still used knotted ropes for record-keeping. The knowledge they possessed would be more than enough for them to become a Priestess in that society.

Therefore, every nation harbored an intense desire to make contact with this yet-to-be-deployed Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

Gao Liangwei’s statement was intended to ensure fairness as much as possible.

He didn’t want greed to cause internal conflict among humans first.

"I wouldn’t celebrate just yet if I were you."

Seeing the joyful expressions on the faces of the commissioners from the smaller nations, Mary threw a bucket of cold water on their enthusiasm.

"There’s no guarantee this Extraterrestrial Intelligence will be benevolent toward us. What if it’s malicious? Have you forgotten that this is also brought to us by one of the forty-nine Apocalypse Rules?"

"That..."

Everyone’s heart skipped a beat.

Indeed. This rule seemed special, with no reward for success or penalty for failure, but no matter how special it was, it was still one of the "Apocalypse Rules."

"That’s right," said the new commissioner from Sisiya.

The previous bald commissioner had been replaced after Yelena became Governor. The new appointee was a calm-looking, middle-aged man named Toravt.

"We cannot assume this intelligent being comes from a highly advanced civilization, nor can we assume it’s here to help humanity. The reason is simple: this individual was brought by the Fire Thief. What reason would the Fire Thief have for doing such a thing?"

Toravt’s words made a lot of sense.

If the Fire Thief wanted to help humanity, its own power would be sufficient. There would be no need for such a roundabout measure.

And judging from the Fire Thief’s past actions, there was no indication it wanted to help humanity. On the contrary, it seemed determined to torment the planet’s human population to the point of extinction.

Mary nodded slightly, a wry smile on her face. "Instead of preparing flowers for a welcome, I think we should be preparing shotguns."

"We will prepare both flowers and shotguns," Gao Liangwei said. "But regardless of the Extraterrestrial Intelligence’s nature, the purpose of this meeting is simply to establish the right to fair contact."

Toravt spoke up. "Chairman Gao, given the current uncertainty surrounding this rule, I propose that the coalition’s operations against the Seri Divine Kingdom be temporarily suspended. We can decide how to proceed after we have assessed the situation with the Extraterrestrial Intelligence."

"Agreed." Gao Liangwei had been thinking the same thing.

No nation would let its guard down just because the Fire Thief was only deploying an "individual."

Who knew if there were super-races or super-individuals in the universe capable of destroying an entire planet on their own?

Previously, humans would have dismissed such individuals as fictional, things that could never exist in reality. But as the Ascenders grew stronger and stronger, the concept of a "super-individual" seemed to be becoming a reality.

After speaking, Gao Liangwei glanced at the time. "There are two hours and ten minutes until the Fire Thief’s deployment. We can begin our preparations."

After the Human Federation meeting concluded, all the nations began to actively prepare.

Since no one knew where the Fire Thief would deploy the Extraterrestrial Intelligence, or in what manner, satellite monitoring personnel in every country had to remain on high alert.

In addition, led by the three great powers of North Star, Soloma, and Sisiya, rapid-response armed forces were also being urgently deployed.

Just as Mary had said, if this Extraterrestrial Intelligence harbored malicious intent toward humanity, then humanity wouldn’t be greeting it with flowers, but with shotguns.