Chapter 406: History's Course and the Bet

Blue Ocean Domain, Covadillas.

Caroline felt a pang in her heart, as if sensing something, and closed her eyes slightly underwater. “Merlina…”

“Has it begun?”

Haidall smiled. “This is not a coincidence. It’s not that he appeared just as I was telling you about him; rather, he was born long ago and has been plotting and waiting for a long time.”

Caroline took a deep breath, understanding his meaning.

They had just spent four years away, meticulously planning and exploring for the killer hidden in human society, invading the entire societal network mechanism to lay the groundwork for today’s assassination.

Upon their return, Caroline happened to go to the Merfolk, while Merlina was in the research institute, organizing data and information collected from the vacuum, providing the assailant with the perfect opportunity for an attack.

Caroline said, “I believe they will resolve this crisis. Humans free from the Guilt-Death mechanism are not invincible. I have simulated this countless times and long ago anticipated the possibility of this happening. Although the losses will be heavy, we can defeat him. I believe the resilience of the Ishdarian people, just like in previous crises, will overcome this one and achieve ultimate victory!”

A faint gust of wind swept by.

Suddenly, a flawlessly handsome young man with an aristocratic bearing appeared in the ocean.

“An ancient deity?”

Haidall was astonished, his mind going blank.

This mysterious hyper-ancient human left a deep impression on him. He had killed the magical beast Fenba, and naturally saw the memories of this beast-god. In the distant ancient era of lava, this being had tamed Fenba, feeding it and shaking a bell, treating it like a domestic dog in a pen. It was more like some kind of life experiment…

This filled him with immense awe for the hyper-ancient deity.

Perhaps not only humans, but also magical beasts, were created by his hand?

What exactly happened to the ancient civilization!?

And why was it destroyed?

Haidall, a robust, handsome, and sturdy figure, tentatively asked, “Are you also here to witness the destruction of the Ishdarian people?”

Xu Zhi merely smiled, feeling a degree of admiration for the resolute woman who occupied her husband’s body. He looked at Caroline, immensely curious about the unfolding events. “How do you view this?”

Caroline bowed slightly in deference. “Hyper-ancient deity… we Ishdarians will surely overcome this! The Ishdarians will never be destroyed; this is absolute certainty! Even without me, they can function autonomously, and I will not remove the Guilt-Death mechanism. The benefits of the Guilt-Death mechanism far outweigh its drawbacks. Without Guilt-Death, a human society with divine power would be like a society without laws, free to do anything.

Every member of our race is too powerful, easily possessing immense power to destroy civilization. Each person could break into malls, banks, and shops, easily destroying the social structure…” Caroline sighed, “This is the drawback of civilization developing to such an extreme level of advancement. Can such a human society, having lost its genetic constraints, be stopped? It would only collapse!”

This would no longer be a matter of frequent criminal incidents, but rather utter destruction.

Such a “divine race” without moral or legal restraints, where every member possesses power beyond ethics, nature, and life, capable of casually altering life and tampering with memories… that would be terrifying.

Without checks and balances, powerful Ishdarians could even enslave their own kind, modifying their memories, adding programs to them, treating them as livestock to serve themselves… Entering a slave society would be a blood-red twilight, leading only to widespread corpses and eventual self-destruction.

Xu Zhi merely sighed.

Perhaps this was an inevitability of history.

Earth’s civilization is not yet that advanced; it is still a low-tech society. It is unknown whether future Earthlings, if they develop to a similar stage of civilization, capable of consciousness communication and brains as fast as computers, would face the same predicament as them.

Caroline began, “The Guilt-Death mechanism is a major step forward for humanity; it is like inscribing traditional laws, formerly written words, deep into human genes… It established a firewall, and also dismantled the mental barriers and walls of mistrust between people. It is only when a civilization has no internal strife that we can develop to such an astonishing degree!”

“But this also brings you to the brink of destruction.”

Haidall stood respectfully by, smiling faintly.

He and Caroline were at loggerheads, the supreme leaders of two races maneuvering against each other in front of the hyper-ancient deity.

“Haidall! This is why your civilization, and all your magical beasts, have stagnated!” Caroline spoke calmly, her voice resonant. “You are born with brain cores, and magical beasts are also born with them. We, however, only develop brain cores by stimulating our pineal glands much later, countless times later than you. So why have we Ishdarians advanced our civilization countless times beyond yours?”

“It’s because of Guilt-Death that people among us are filled with trust, unlike you, who would never dare expose your brains to others, fearing they might modify your memories, attack your minds, or enslave you… Our scientists can ‘link up,’ performing multi-core calculations. This is the sole reason our civilization has developed so rapidly.”

For a moment, Haidall was unable to retort.

“Alas!”

Haidall suddenly sighed, forced to admit Caroline’s wisdom and foresight.

Without Caroline, and her establishment of the “Guilt-Death mechanism,” the Ishdarians would never have reached this point!

Other Merfolk, including other magical beasts, are like unconnected computers, isolated islands in the vast ocean, sealed off, each researching independently.

The Ishdarians, however, can connect freely, forming a network, collectively performing “multi-core processor” simulations.

“‘Replacing the mental walls between people with a firewall… is indeed astonishing,’” Haidall marveled, still somewhat unwilling to concede defeat. He gazed into the distance, “‘Current temporary prosperity does not make one the true winner; eternal future does. Let us compete in a historical contest of civilizations!’”

“How do you wish to wager?” Caroline asked, still simmering with anger, having just painfully lost her beloved disciple and future successor.

“‘Whichever of our civilizations is destroyed first must pass on all the accumulated wisdom of its civilization to the other, so it does not vanish from history,’” Haidall stated.

Caroline merely smiled. Although she knew his intention was to leverage her anger to gain access to all the accumulated wisdom of the Ishdarians, she still chose to wager everything. “Then, let the deity witness the wager between our two races!”

Both are super-intelligent civilizations based on brain cores…

But is this a clash between the radical and conservative factions?

Xu Zhi stood quietly by.

He watched the two advanced technological races that dominated the vast lava world, possessing black technologies and inventions that astonished even Xu Zhi. He smiled immediately, “I will remember your wager in a corner of my memory.”

Both bowed slightly in gratitude.

Xu Zhi’s gaze also stretched far into the distance.

He wondered how the crisis involving the netizens and the Ishdarians would ultimately unfold. The simulations and future of the civilization sandbox were full of unknowns, and he was eager to find out.