Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 331 Conclusions and Problem Selection
December 1, 15pm.

Three hours have passed since the Fire Stealers released the alien individuals.

Three hours is a short time; it would be over in the time it takes to watch a longer movie.

Three hours is a long time, enough for the delegation to make their first contact with the alien individual.

After paying a total of twelve lives, the delegation at the scene has reached several conclusions:
1. Alien entities can be communicated with, but must be provided with food.

2. Humans can serve as food.

3. Although not yet verified, the amount of food required may vary depending on the specific problem.

4. Once a question is asked, the alien entity will automatically begin searching for food, rather than waiting for the questioner to provide it.

5. The alien entities do not appear to regard the "questioner" as food.

Some people think it was worth it to exchange more than a dozen lives for these few conclusions, while others find it absurd.

Louis, the representative of the group who felt it was worthwhile, was now surrounded by several soldiers from the Sisian Mobile Force, who formed a human wall and strictly guarded him, preventing him from approaching the alien individual.

"Why are you stopping me?" Louis tried to go out, but was firmly held down by several soldiers.

Sgorchin, standing nearby, said, "Our Governor Yelenka has issued an order that no one is allowed to ask any more questions to alien individuals before the latest Human Alliance meeting concludes. If we don't stop you, you won't be able to control yourself, will you?"

Louis pushed up his glasses and glared angrily at Scoutin: "I am from the Soma Space Agency, and your Sisian soldiers have no right to restrict my personal freedom!"

Sgorchin said coldly, "This is the land of the Kingdom of Sisya. Since you are standing on this land, we have the right to govern you."

"you!"

Louis tried to argue back, but was reprimanded by his colleagues from the Solomon Space Agency who were also part of the delegation.

“Louis, shut up! It was all your fault for asking those wrong questions that killed those ten people. If you didn’t know about it before, I could at least excuse you for ignorance, but now that you know, do you still want to ask questions and kill even more people?”

"The sacrifices of those people were worthwhile! At least we gained useful information!"

"You bastard!"

A young man rushed up to hit him, but was stopped by soldiers under Stochastic's command.

The young man roared, "My friend is one of those ten! Next time someone else asks the question, we'll treat you like food and leave you aside. Let's see if you still dare to say that!"

Louis was taken aback by his words and stopped trying to break through the human wall. After a moment of silence, he said, "If I can get valuable information in return, I'm willing to go and make food."

"..."

"Stop arguing, let's wait for the meeting and decision from the other side."

"Damn it!" The young man clenched his fist. "What useful information did we get from the deaths of these ten people?"

After the alien entity devoured ten people, the meaning of its gurgling sounds was completely incomprehensible to the others, leading them to believe that they had gained nothing.

Louis, however, thought differently.

He began by saying, "I believe it answers the question I raised. It's just that the answer cannot be expressed in our human language."

"You mean..."

"I just asked it its name and where it came from. I guess its name and hometown can't be expressed in human language, which is why we couldn't understand its answer!"

Although Louis made people want to punch him, what he said at this moment made sense to everyone.

On a grand scale like the universe, the differences between civilizations would naturally be enormous. The fact that this alien entity could communicate with humans in the form of "language" is already an extremely rare occurrence, suggesting that it was deliberately "selected" by the fire-stealers.

Even among humans, there exist some unique ancient languages. Some words or intonations in these ancient languages ​​require special vocal physiology to pronounce, and can only be learned from a young age. Once the physiology is fixed after adulthood, it becomes impossible to learn to pronounce them again.

If Louis is right, it is definitely not good news for humanity.

Its name and hometown cannot be expressed in human language, so can the answers to other questions all be expressed in human language?
Those present weren't stupid. Upon learning that they could ask questions by paying a price, their first thought was the same: give it food and ask the most important questions.

The top experts and scholars in any field would be eager to get started.

Some scientists, for example, can come up with breakthroughs in key scientific and technological areas that have long plagued humanity, such as how to miniaturize nuclear fusion and how to achieve room-temperature superconductivity.

Some biologists might want to know the origins of humankind and how it evolved. Even historians in the humanities might wonder how different the actual history is from current records.

The general public and officials are more likely to ask about the Firebringers and the rules of the apocalypse.

There are so many questions I want to ask, but there are also too many unknown limitations.

One problem is that some of the alien beings' answers are incomprehensible; to solve this problem, we must first decipher their language system.

Secondly, it is just an alien entity, not an omniscient and omnipotent god of the universe, and it is impossible for it to know the answers to all questions.

For example, it probably doesn't know as much as humans about the fire-stealers—if it had the power to fight the fire-stealers, why would it have been captured and sent to Tianshui?
In addition, there is an even more critical issue.

This issue is currently being discussed at the Human Rights Council meeting.

"Thump, thump..."

A roaring sound approached from afar, breaking people's thoughts.

Everyone looked up and saw several large transport trucks from Sisia driving towards them.

Those who came into contact with the delegation initially thought the vehicle contained more Sisyan soldiers as reinforcements, but when the transport vehicle stopped and the doors opened, they discovered that it did not.

Inside the carriage were many cages containing a large number of animals such as cattle, sheep, and pigs.

Everyone suddenly realized: So this was an attempt to see if animals from Tian Shui, other than humans, could be provided as food for alien individuals.

……

At the People's Federation Conference, each representative and committee member represents the will of the nation behind them.

Before each meeting, the committee members would first obtain the decision results from the highest decision-making level of the country, and then act as their representatives to communicate with other committee members at the meeting.

Therefore, although Gao Liangwei's military rank was only senior colonel, in the meeting room of the People's Alliance, he represented the will of the Beixing decision-making body. The other committee members were in the same boat.

"Questions posed to alien entities must be carefully considered," Gao Liangwei said. "Ignoring other factors, if other organisms cannot be used as food for humans, then rashly raising major questions could lead to massive human deaths!"

The other committee members nodded in agreement.

If the amount of food needed by alien beings varies depending on the difficulty of the question, then posing a difficult question to them would come at a significant cost.

"The information has not yet been made public," a committee member said worriedly. "If people know all this, there is a possibility of strong protests."

"Yes. Who wants to be the price of the problem?"

“If only your Sororo robots could be eaten,” one committee member joked with Mary. “Then the humanitarian problem would be solved.”

Mary didn't laugh, but merely glanced at the committee member and said, "If we don't want to create humanitarian problems, aren't there readily available food to provide for it?"

Commissioner Sisyah Toraft immediately understood Mary's meaning.

"So, you're feeding on parasites?"

“That’s right. Parasites are humanity’s mortal enemy anyway. Killing them is the same as killing them, so why not use them to contribute to humanity?” Mary looked at Gao Liangwei. “Chairman Gao, what do you say?”

Gao Liangwei paused for a few seconds and said, "If other animals cannot replace humans, then this is the only way. However, I must also mention that, apart from those who admit to being parasites, we still do not have a scientific way to identify who is a parasite."

Mary smiled. "You mean, you're worried that someone might kill innocent people and claim credit for it?"

"This word is not appropriate here."

"Hehe, anyway, the meaning is pretty much the same."

Toraft then said, "If you're worried about misjudgment, then let the Allied Forces transport the people captured from Black Flag Country to Sisia. Since Black Flag Country has been occupied by parasites, then the people fighting the Human Allied Forces there can at least be identified as parasites."

"Yes, you're right." Gao Liangwei nodded, and the other committee members also expressed their agreement.

"Now, let's discuss the specific plans for questioning the alien individuals. It's necessary to impose certain restrictions on the questions we can ask," Gao Liangwei said.

“Agreed.” Mary was the first to agree, glancing around at everyone. “Our Emperor specifically instructed me that he doesn’t want any fools from some country to ask questions like ‘What is the truth of the universe?’”

“Indeed,” Torraft added. “It is pointless to pursue answers to overly grand questions; in fact, it may kill humanity. The best questions we should ask are those that are small and large, but can actually solve humanity’s current predicament.”

(End of this chapter)