Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 356 Essence and Attempt

Inside the meeting room of the People's Federation, the committee members were all somewhat uneasy.

The situation at the landing site has remained unclear since the parasitic attack occurred.

Before the screen cut off, they confirmed that the questioner had asked the question, but they hadn't had a chance to hear the answer yet.

The news that Cissia recently sent out was also not optimistic.

The Parasite Ascendants kill large numbers of ordinary parasites in an attempt to deplete the food supply for the alien intelligent beings, thereby killing humanity.

This kind of tactic, which kills a thousand enemies but also loses eight hundred of your own, is something the Human Alliance never expected to see.

All they know right now is that the Sisian soldiers suffered heavy casualties and have withdrawn from the core area. The uninjured soldiers on the outer defenses will be replaced, but there's been no word yet.

"This was our mistake."

Amidst everyone's anxiety, Gao Liangwei was the first to acknowledge his shortcomings.

"We made two cognitive errors due to our habitual thinking. First, we thought that the number of sublimators in the parasites was extremely small and difficult to organize. Second, we thought that even if these parasite sublimators were organized, they would be used as valuable combat power. But we were wrong."

Toraft clenched his fist: "That prophet gathered all the parasitic ascendants on Uze's side, and instead of letting them fight the Allied Forces head-on, he sent these guys on suicide missions. That's ruthless!"

"The prophet is very clever. He knows that these few hundred Ascended Ones alone cannot determine the situation on the main battlefield, so he sent them to act as a surprise attack force."

"The Prophet's plan has almost succeeded." Another committee member was overjoyed. "If the world's first Ascended being, 'Shadow,' hadn't been there and intervened immediately, they would have killed the questioner right away and then taken the opportunity to ask other questions."

Mary looked at Gao Liangwei and asked, "Chairman Gao, did 'Shadow' really not authorized by Bei Xing to appear at the landing site?"

"No, we are unaware of that."

Mary then looked at Torraft.

"And what about you Sisya? 'Shadow' is wearing your Sisya soldiers' uniform. How do you explain that? Did he steal a set from the warehouse and wear it, and your elite troops on the scene didn't notice that there was an unfamiliar comrade in the ranks?"

Upon hearing this, Toraft frowned and shook his head.

Only Yelena and Scoutin knew about Guan Tong's entry into the landing site in Sisia; Toraft was unaware of it.

"Regardless of his purpose, his intervention was crucial and may have saved many innocent lives," Torraft said. "For that reason alone, I, as a member of the Cissia committee, am very grateful to him."

At this moment, a new message arrived from the conjoined twins.

It wasn't an update on the situation on-site, but rather the result of the previous action of placing the "psychic lens" prop on the food.

The research team successfully obtained, albeit a very brief, but invaluable, internal video recording of an extraterrestrial intelligent entity devouring food.

After analyzing the video, they made a startling discovery.

An analyst who connected remotely to the conference room projected a video onto the screen, which showed a dense array of tiny black particles, smaller than ants, moving at high speed.

The movement of these particles is extremely harmonious, giving people a wonderful sense of rhythm, as if it were a meticulously composed symphony.

However, the video was extremely short, lasting less than 3 seconds, leaving the committee members completely confused.

The analyst's voice then rang out: "Distinguished committee members, what you are seeing is a cross-section of an alien intelligent being devouring food, slowed down 1000 times."

"What? Slow down a thousand times!" one committee member couldn't help but exclaim.

If you didn't know, no one would imagine that the fast-moving black particles in the video were actually a visual effect of slow motion a thousand times.

Mary exclaimed in surprise, "It's still this fast even when slowed down a thousand times? At the original speed, it would be completely invisible to the naked eye."

“Yes,” the analyst said, his voice tinged with barely suppressed excitement. “And in addition to being slowed down, this video has been magnified nearly ten thousand times.”

The committee members were surprised again.

The analyst continued, "Based on our analysis of these black particles, we believe... we believe that these black particles are actually very likely..."

The analyst took a deep breath.

"It's very likely a nanobiology or robot! This alien intelligent entity is probably an entity composed of hundreds of billions of nanobiology or robots! Its feeding process is actually the process of completely decomposing its target in the instant it comes into contact with it!"

……

In the core area of ​​the landing site, the huge spherical black shadow had not yet dissipated.

Within the shadow realm, Guan Tong was deep in thought.

The alien intelligent being had already become abnormal because of the questions it asked about the rules of the apocalypse.

After he asked about the "Wordless Book," he underwent a complete transformation, no longer even adhering to the fixed logical process of "asking a question - eating - answering."

However, it seems to still retain the rule of not eating the questioner. Guan Tong misunderstood earlier, thinking that it wanted to eat him, but what it really wanted to eat was... the wordless book.

After Guan Tong stored the [Wordless Book] in the panel's storage box, the alien intelligent entity deflated like a punctured balloon, slumped to the ground, motionless, as if it had crashed. This anomaly was truly peculiar, and the reason was difficult to fathom.

"The fact that the wordless book attracted it is enough to prove that this thing is indeed extraordinary. Perhaps even more special than I imagined."

Guan Tong thought to herself.

"But I didn't gain any new information. Not only did I not gain anything, but I also invested a huge amount of money. It would be a huge loss to give up like this."

He had indeed invested a huge amount of effort this time. Not to mention the time cost of the past two weeks, the final battle with the parasitic ascendants alone consumed a lot of his mental energy, and his internal organs were also injured.

Just now, in order to evade and test, he used up the one-time item [Silver Clone Talisman], and now, in order to maintain the Shadow Domain, his reserve of mental energy is being rapidly depleted.

Giving up and leaving now would mean all his investment had gone down the drain, which was really hard for him to accept.

What he found most unacceptable was the failure to obtain any valuable information—knowing that the alien parasite craved the "Book Without Words" might count, but it wasn't of much significance to him.

After a moment of thought, he suddenly realized something.

"Tear off a page...and try it?"

To feed the entire "Wordless Book" to an alien parasite in an attempt to obtain information, Guan Tong must be insane.

But what if you just tear a page from the book?

When Guan Tong first got the wordless book, she was so bored that she kept flipping through it, but she couldn't reach the end at all; the pages seemed to be infinite.

So it's worth a try to tear off a page and let the alien parasite eat it to see what happens.

...However, we need to be prepared first.

Guan Tong first increased the distance between them, and then sensed the shadow lines left on Shang Yuanzi.

This was a preparation he made when he parted ways with Shangyuan Zi, so that if necessary, he could immediately use teleportation to get to her.

After confirming that everything was correct, he took out the "wordless book," turned to a blank page, and tore it off.

Although writing on it is difficult, tearing pages seems easy. However, Guan Tong doesn't know if the torn pages still have any effect, and she has never tried it.

However, as soon as he took out the [Wordless Book], the alien life form that had been lying motionless on the ground began to stir again. Guan Tong immediately manipulated a shadow hand to grab the torn page and send it to the creature.

Like a tiger pouncing on its prey, the clump of black mud leaped down, instantly swallowing the torn pages of the book without a trace.

Upon seeing this, Guan Tong immediately put the [Wordless Book] back into the storage box, and then stared intently at the alien life form to see if it would change.

His attempt seemed to work; the alien life form that had devoured a page of the book was visibly changing. What was originally a puddle of viscous black mud was rapidly transforming into a gigantic creation.

This is... a spaceship...?
Guan Tong looked at the spaceship-like outline and didn't quite understand why this change had occurred.

The next moment, intermittent sounds came from its body.

"God... Starship..."

What is it saying?
Guan Tong was puzzled.

Is this answering my question?

"...out of control...fragments..."

The brief exchange of words abruptly ended, and it immediately transformed from the shape of a spaceship back into a pool of black mud.

Guan Tong didn't understand at all. Just as she was wondering whether to tear off another page and feed it to it, a small part of its body suddenly split off.

Then Guan Tong watched as that small part of the alien intelligent being's body transformed from a "lump of mud" into a page of a book.

This is……

Guan Tong couldn't believe it—had it eaten and then vomited it up?
But why?
This thing has already eaten nearly 100,000 parasites, but I've never seen it vomit one up.

He manipulated his shadow to try to pick up the page, but out of caution, he did not bring it to his side, but had his shadow hold it at a distance.

He then took out the "Wordless Book," but this time the alien intelligent being remained still, unlike before when it immediately tried to chase after him and devour him.

Guan Tong was filled with doubt. Just then, he heard a commotion outside the Shadow Domain. It was Si Gaoqin returning with his men.

...Let's leave here first.

Now that the alien intelligence has stabilized, there is no need for him to summon the undead again.

His immediate priority is to leave this place with the "page" formed from a part of the alien intelligent being's body, and to think carefully about what has happened.

(End of this chapter)