Clash of Ideas

Long Ao's question caused the atmosphere around the stone table to pause for a moment.

Even Santai's swaying light-shadow stilled, becoming serious.

This was a question every newcomer would ask, and had to ask.

Chen Guan did not make a sound; he adjusted himself into a more comfortable position, ready to listen to the story.

He didn't care what the Return to Origin Group wanted to do. As long as their goals didn't conflict with his aim of reviving his main body, and could even provide help, he would be the most loyal corporate slave.

Beidou's gentle gaze swept over the light-shadows of the two newcomers, his voice transmitting clearly into Chen Guan's mind.

"Our philosophy is very simple."

"To survive."

This answer made Long Ao's light-shadow twitch again, clearly vastly different from the answer he had expected.

Beidou did not give him a chance to press further, continuing his narration in that steady tone.

"This world is sick with an incurable, constantly spreading terminal illness. Everything we do is not to cure it, because that is impossible. We are merely delaying its death, preserving the parts of it that are still healthy as much as possible."

"Preserving it until, in the future, a cure can be found."

He paused for a moment, as if giving the newcomers time to digest this.

"For example, the Great Wall and the Superpower Association, they are like the world's doctors. They use mild medicine, trying to maintain a superficial peace, telling everyone that everything is fine. But we are scavengers, or rather, surgeons."

"When a certain part becomes completely diseased, in order to prevent the cancer cells from spreading, we will not hesitate to excise it. Even if what is excised, in the eyes of ordinary people, is a city, a hero, or even a piece of history."

Beidou's words carried more impact than any impassioned declaration.

Long Ao's side fell completely silent.

White Tiger spoke up lazily at this moment, adding a bit of seasoning to the heavy topic: "To put it bluntly, we do the dirty work. Doctors save lives on the operating table and are revered by all. We clean up garbage in the sewers and are despised by everyone. But without us, the entire hospital would be blocked up by trash."

"Before the painting completely rots away, what's wrong with removing a few discordant blocks of color?" Santai's brisk voice rang out. She had been attracted by this very philosophy to jump ship: "Saving the world in secret is pretty cool. At least it's much more interesting than my previous life."

Looking solely at her appearance, it was hard to imagine that Santai used to be a professional assassin.

Day after day of boring slaughter had made her weary. An inevitable chance encounter led her to meet White Tiger.

White Tiger explained the philosophy to her, and Beidou showed her the future.

At that time, she thought that if she was destined to do dirty deeds, she might as well do something meaningful.

Southern Dipper provided the final summary in his own unique way.

"My work is based on the Doomsday Clock countdown model, conducting necessary interventions to continue the spark of civilization. But I don't have selfless thoughts like Santai. I simply feel that incorporating the entire world into an algorithm is a very challenging job."

Although he wasn't particularly optimistic about Long Ao, Southern Dipper didn't want to lose this colleague either.

Chen Guan understood.

This was a group of absolute rationalists. They didn't believe in miracles, only in the scalpels in their hands.

They weren't out to destroy the world, but to preserve it. This generally aligned with Chen Guan's previous speculations.

Although Beidou hadn't presented any evidence, Long Ao's worldview was probably already shattered into pieces.

It was indeed shattered.

Long Ao's light-shadow shook violently. He spoke in a muffled voice, carrying suppressed confusion: "How can the world get sick?"

"Because the capacity of this world is about to reach its limit."

He raised his hand, and a speck of light gathered at his fingertips, then expanded into a slowly rotating star map, displayed above the round table.

"You can understand our world as an instrument. It has its own operating rules, but now, this instrument is overloaded. Go and see for yourself. Over the past two years, haven't the students in the academy become more numerous and stronger year by year?"

In the star map, the light of some stars was dim, while others twinkled abnormally. Visible cracks even appeared at the edges.

"Every birth of a high-level ESPer, every appearance of a spatial rift, every deciphering of forbidden knowledge is accelerating the wear and tear of the instrument. More importantly, there are things applying pressure from outside the instrument, trying to squeeze in."

Beidou didn't explicitly state what those things were, but a heavy implication had already enveloped the entire meeting space.

The light-shadow on Long Ao's side stopped shaking and became completely still.

"Data supplement," Southern Dipper's voice sounded at the right time. The light screen in front of him projected onto the star map, labeling it with cold numbers.

"According to the calculations of the Doomsday Clock model, the stability threshold of the world's rules decreases by 0.03 percent every year. The frequency of anomalies has increased by 21 percent over the past ten years. If strong intervention is not carried out, it is estimated that within 74 years, the world will enter an irreversible stage of silence."

"The so-called stage of silence is a complete collapse, where all rules become invalid and all life perishes." Southern Dipper's tone was as flat as if he were broadcasting the weather forecast. If it weren't for Beidou, he would never have been able to obtain these shocking data.

This was also one of the reasons why he stayed here. He had always been grateful to Beidou for giving him such an opportunity to go down in history.

"You make it sound so complicated." White Tiger yawned and leaned back in his chair: "Keep it simple, Vermilion Bird kid. Think of the world as a phone that's about to run out of battery. Those guys at the Great Wall have just turned on power-saving mode, dimmed the screen to the lowest, and closed all background apps, trying to make it last a little longer."

"And us? We directly uninstall the apps that consume the most power. Who cares if that app is a fun game or an important file? As long as it drains the battery, it has to be deleted."

"Then, there are viruses outside trying to invade your phone, and you still have to run an antivirus."

It was like hearing celestial music that momentarily cleared the ears.

Chen Guan nodded to himself. Beidou and Southern Dipper had just rambled on about a bunch of things that gave people a headache to listen to. Our Brother Tiger was still the practical one.

However, on Long Ao's side, the light-shadow representing him began to tremble violently.

The silence on the stone table was broken by his voice, suppressing anger.

"Matters of life and death, how can you..."

White Tiger retracted his lazy posture. This kid's personality was too stubborn. Was letting him join really the right decision?

A perfect aptitude was good, of course, but it wasn't an absolute necessity. He himself was a prime example. The original White Tiger was completely useless, which was why Zero and the boss had found him to be the new White Tiger.

Well, he still had to thank that predecessor.

"Vermilion Bird." Beidou's voice sounded, gentle as always: "On a sinking ship, emotion is a luxury. What we consider is not how to make every passenger feel comfortable, but how to plug the biggest hole as quickly as possible, even if the price is sacrificing a few cabins."

"But..."

Long Ao was about to say something else, but he was cut off by another calm voice.

"What do I need to do?"

Chen Guan spoke up.