Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 332 The Hidden Threat

1 PM on April 15st.

Nine hours have passed since the alien intelligent beings were deployed on Tianshui.

Since the live stream was cut off, so much time has passed, and the official reason has still not been explained.

In response to online questions, the official response was simply, "We are assessing the situation; please be patient. We will release the information at the appropriate time."

This vague statement only fueled public curiosity.

On the Ascended's Home forum, related discussion threads have been flooded with posts, with everyone speculating about the official reasons for not disclosing them yet.

Some people think there might be some benefits, while a small minority want to keep it all for themselves;
Some believe this alien entity poses a threat to humanity, and the authorities are currently handling the situation.
Strangely, during previous rule-breaking periods, "insiders" often leaked information.

However, this time no one has come forward to claim to be a member of the "contact delegation" to explain what exactly is going on.

This makes many people wonder: Will those people be restricted from communicating with the outside world?

They guessed correctly.

"Damn it, there's no signal at all in this crappy place."

Inside a vehicle resembling a large RV, a Somali man was fiddling with his portable computer.

The person next to him said, "Save your breath. There are hardly any people living on this vast ice field, where would you find a signal tower?"

"My network is a direct satellite connection, so it doesn't need any ground signal towers."

“You two are complete idiots,” another person in the car said. “The signal around here must have been blocked a long time ago.”

On the Senantata Icefield, not far from the alien spacecraft, several large insulated trucks that had arrived that afternoon were parked.

These insulated vehicles were provided by Sisya to the delegation for temporary accommodation, so that their bodies could not withstand prolonged exposure to the biting cold of the icy plains.

Since Louis's question that afternoon led to the deaths of ten people, they have been restricted and have not been granted permission to approach the alien intelligent beings since.

This makes many people feel irritable.

Louis and a group of others desperately wanted to make contact with and study the alien beings; preventing them from doing so was torture.

Others simply want to leave, to leave as far away as possible.

This alien entity was so different from what they had imagined that staying near it was extremely dangerous.

However, neither of these demands was permitted.

They cannot touch, but they also cannot leave.

Some people tried to sneak away, but they were caught by the mobile unit led by Scrooge and put in the same place as the soldiers.

All they can do now is wait for further notice.

"Don't you find it strange that you're blocking the signal?"

"They're afraid of the information being leaked, is that even a question?"

"What's there to be afraid of? This can't be kept a secret forever."

"That's true..."

Those who had contact with the delegation discussed the matter inside the insulated vehicle.

They knew that the decision to block the signal must have been made by the Human Alliance, and not by the Sisyah governor on his own initiative.

But such things can be kept secret for half a day or a day. It's very difficult to completely hide them from the public during the two-week rule period. Even if it were possible, it would provoke strong public dissatisfaction.

“I don’t think the conjoined twins are trying to hide from humans,” one of the people in the car said calmly. “What they really want to hide from the parasites.”

"Hiding the parasite? Why is that?"

"Oh! I see. If we use parasites as food, we can resolve this dilemma. But the problem is, we can't let the parasites know about this."

"Yes. The parasites inherit the host's memories and intelligence; they're not stupid. Once information about alien intelligent beings is made public, they'll surely realize they'll be used as food... So, what will they do?"

"...They will definitely refuse to admit that they are parasites."

“That’s right. Humans currently cannot distinguish parasites. If they refuse to admit it, it will be very troublesome for humans. We will worry that they might have made a mistake and mistake humans for parasites.”

"Why don't we just ask it!" someone blurted out, pointing towards the alien intelligent entity outside the window. "Ask it how to identify parasites, and once we know the identification method, we can catch them without making a mistake!"

“That’s right. I think if we can think of this, the think tanks behind the People’s Federation and the committee members must also be able to think of it… The parasites must be able to think of it as well, so the reason for not disclosing the information now…”

Everyone was suddenly startled, realizing a serious problem.

"If the parasites knew that we could ask extraterrestrial intelligent beings how to distinguish them, what would the parasites do?"

In the North Star Countermeasures Research Room, when asked by Gao Liangwei, Zhang Minglu replied without hesitation: "Launch a sabotage operation."

How to destroy it?

"A large number of parasitic armed forces were assembled and deployed to the ice field to attempt to kill the alien intelligent beings."

“That’s right.” Gao Liangwei nodded. “While humans can certainly deploy a large force to protect us, there will be problems… namely, could there be parasites mixed in with our ‘large force’?”

“This is indeed a problem,” Zhang Minglu said seriously. “If there are parasites mixed in with the crowd at the scene, and we cannot kill the alien intelligent beings, they may cause trouble by asking random questions.”

"Yes."

Armed forces composed of parasites may not be able to compete with humans, and any large-scale operation would inevitably be discovered.

However, they can approach alien individuals by taking advantage of the chaos and suddenly ask an extremely difficult question.

Since the alien entity will not attack the questioner, the others present will pay the price for this extremely difficult question and die, which is exactly the result the parasite wants.

“Therefore,” Gao Liangwei said, “the People’s Alliance meeting has decided that not only should the questions asked be limited, but the specific personnel responsible for asking the questions must also be strictly screened.”

"We must not let our guard down until we have the answer to the question of 'how to identify parasites'."

Zhang Minglu nodded emphatically: "Understood."

Gao Liangwei then asked, "Did the site administrator post anything?"

"No."

"Have someone contact Shadow. He may not be the station chief, but he must know him. Perhaps we can get some information from him... Now that we have established a long-term cooperative channel with Shadow through the last operation, we should make good use of this channel."

"I understand, I'll have someone contact them right away."

Zhang Minglu left Gao Liangwei's office and immediately contacted Silver Fox.

He knew that Chen Na and Guan Tong had a closer relationship in the base, but the former was still a child after all, so it was more appropriate to let Silver Fox, an adult, make the contact.

After Silver Fox arrived at his location, he contacted Guan Tong via remote video. The request was sent and the call was connected very quickly.

"Silver Fox, Dr. Zhang."

“Hello, Shadow,” Zhang Minglu said directly. “I would like to ask you to contact the stationmaster of the House of Ascended and inquire about the hidden information in this rule.”

Guan Tong's heart skipped a beat, and she nodded slightly: "Okay. I'll give you an answer in five minutes."

"it is good."

Five minutes later, the video connection was restored.

"How is it?" Zhang Minglu asked impatiently.

Guan Tong: "The station chief has intelligence, but it needs to be exchanged."

"Exchange? What do you mean?"

"He wants to know what happened in the hours after the alien intelligent entity arrived, and why the authorities cut off the live broadcast."

It turned out to be the case.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Minglu thought to himself: So, even the mysterious stationmaster who could obtain hidden information about the rules couldn't spy on the situation on-site after the signal was blocked.

only……

"Dr. Zhang, is this inconvenient?"

Guan Tong noticed that Zhang Minglu looked hesitant, as if there was a problem.

Silver Fox, standing beside Zhang Minglu, knew what the former was hesitating about.

She began, "Shadow, can you guarantee that the station chief isn't a parasite and won't intentionally or unintentionally leak information to the parasite?"

Zhang Minglu glanced at Silver Fox; this was indeed what he was worried about.

He didn't doubt Shadow, but he was worried that the mysterious stationmaster might be connected to the parasite... If he learned about the "question and answer" situation at the scene, wouldn't the parasite possibly find out?

“A parasite?” Guan Tong asked, puzzled, but immediately replied, “That stationmaster is not a parasite; I can guarantee that.”

Zhang Minglu and Silver Fox exchanged a glance.

“Since it’s ‘Shadow’s’ guarantee, I can trust it,” Zhang Minglu said. “I agree to exchange intelligence.”

(End of this chapter)