Chapter 1 The Mountain Road

The mountain road of Little Barren Mountain.

A wheelchair slowly rolled over withered leaves.

Time slowed, the glow of the setting sun stretching shadows long.

"Always wanted to come here and take a look..."

The old man sat in the wheelchair, watching the withered and desolate scenery on both sides of the mountain forest, murmuring softly, "Actually, it's not that I didn't have the time."

As a councilor holding the greatest power in the Capital District, twenty-four hours were filled with various agendas. Every day, when he closed his eyes and opened them again, countless large and small trivial matters were lined up waiting for him to deal with... But the real reason for not coming to this Little Barren Mountain was not because of busy affairs.

It was because of the shame in his heart.

No one in this world would understand Zhao Xilai's mood at this moment.

He watched the trees on both sides slowly receding. This was the desolate grave of his old friend. Many years ago, the two had agreed to bring Huazhi to the top of the world together.

Years passed in a flash, and they reunited.

He had a full head of white hair, while Lu Cheng was already a mound of yellow earth.

The world is always like this.

Most things in this world cannot be as promised, nor as desired.

Joy at meeting, sorrow at reunion.

After the Lion Lane massacre, the Zhao family took over Huazhi Building in full... There were many mysteries surrounding Lu Cheng's death, and opinions varied, but in reality, only a few people could probably guess the real reason.

Zhao Xilai was one of them.

"Qin Ye is dead."

"The intercontinental judgment has been canceled."

"The Source Tower said it knew nothing about the contents of the old case files."

Lu Nanzhi pushed the old man and slowly walked towards the top of the mountain. She whispered, "Everything seems to be over... but is it really like that?"

The Lion Lane massacre seemed to have come to light.

But in reality, the mysteries hidden within had not been answered.

When escaping the pursuit... the bronze box left by Old Lu was destroyed. At the time, it seemed like a good thing, but looking at it now, all the technical information from Lion Lane was lost after the bronze box was destroyed.

This was a major loss.

It also made the secret that Lu Nanzhi wanted to explore the most impossible to trace.

"I'm not going to beat around the bush." Looking at the last rays of light hidden on the top of the mountain, the lady asked seriously, "You should know what Lion's Roar technology is... The 'Awakening Act' that the federal government is about to implement, is it based on this?"

"..."

The old man was silent for a while.

"The ninth floor of Huazhi has been conducting related experiments... After today, your authority will be enough to go in and see for yourself."

The lady was stunned.

What... does this mean?

Was he handing over Huazhi's authority to her?

Zhao Xilai just smiled and continued, "Whether you believe it or not, I actually don't know much about Old Lu's Lion's Roar technology. I only know that it was the life's work of a genius, and also the biggest regret of Dongzhou. It died before it was born. And Huazhi received the Awakening technology transferred by the federal government several years later... After this project was handed over to Zhong Gui and a professional research team, all we could do was invest money and wait for results."

Now, he had nothing to lie about or hide.

This was also why Huazhi was fighting with its back to the water, desperately trying to promote the Awakening Act in the Dongzhou region.

"Huazhi has invested too much financial resources in the promotion and preparation of the Act... This is the guidance and warning given by [Deep Sea] regarding the crisis of the destruction of the Five Continents, and it is also a desperate gamble on the future fate of all mankind. As you can see, the number of black spots appearing in the Five Continents is increasing and the speed is getting faster and faster. This is due to the proliferation of a large amount of free-roaming transcendent source matter."

After a low cough, Zhao Xilai said, "If we can control Awakening, then it means... that transcendent source matter will be absorbed in large quantities."

"Then... human social civilization will be pushed to an unpredictable state." Lu Nanzhi calmly retorted, "Once it starts, there's no turning back."

The old man shrugged and said, "If the Act passes the audit of the council, before it is officially promulgated, it will first be put into a controlled range for experimentation. We will establish a closed-loop ecosystem with fault tolerance... and then control the survivors in this ecosystem to gradually awaken. [Deep Sea] needs further data to calculate and deduce what level the overall human society needs to awaken to in order to cope with the danger of the collapse of order."

Lu Nanzhi fell silent completely.

"Incomprehensible... it's simply madness, right?" The old man smiled in a hoarse voice, "This is an answer we can't imagine... perhaps this is the difference between a super brain and humans. It only considers the results. If sacrificing a small part to save a larger group is acceptable."

Without looking back.

He also knew what kind of expression Lu Nanzhi had on her face at this moment.

"For the Five Continents, Dongzhou is a small part that can be sacrificed."

"For Dongzhou... there is also a small part that can be cut off."

"The real difficulty of the so-called 'trolley problem' lies in the fact that the number on both sides of the track is not fixed. Humans have to make countless choices, and the two ends of the scale always have weight and lightness."

"So... sometimes, we have no choice, or in other words."

"Your sacrifice, what does it have to do with you?"

This was the cruel part of the Awakening Act.

"Using the word 'sacrifice' is not accurate, perhaps changing it to 'change' would sound better." Zhao Xilai smiled softly, "I remember seeing it in the library a long time ago... Before the birth of humans, there lived very strong reptiles on this land, with strong limbs, long tails, and huge bodies. For some reason, they were all destroyed."

Lu Nanzhi frowned.

"What changed them... it is said to be a stone that fell from the sky."

"The sad thing is that they had no right to control their own destiny, nor could they refuse the arrival of that stone."

"Of course, these may just be stories and cannot be taken seriously, but the same thing is happening today, except that we are stronger and more intelligent than those things."

"That stone... we have the right to decide when it falls, where it falls, first a part, then another part..."

Zhao Xilai murmured softly, "Although it will be very ugly when this stone falls... at least, we can escape the fate of 'extinction'."

Speaking of this.

He asked seriously, "So... after hearing this, do you still firmly oppose the Awakening Act?"

"Yes."

Lu Nanzhi did not hesitate at all.

She said the words from the alternate councilor ceremony.

"I... object."

"Why?" The old man sighed softly.

He couldn't understand why the young man he admired most was so hesitant and compassionate when facing such a choice of community destiny. Did he not want anyone to be sacrificed?

"It's very simple."

Lu Nanzhi said calmly, "I believe that the stone hanging over the fate of mankind... is a lie of [Deep Sea]."