According to past experience, the Mind Network could only be established between Ascendants, ordinary people were unable to use it.

Furthermore, both parties establishing the connection must have a subjective intention simultaneously; if one party was unwilling, the other could not forcibly complete the connection.

The parasitized form before Guan Tong was also transformed from an ordinary person, not an Ascendant.

And it certainly had no intention of establishing a connection. How the Mind Network could function under these circumstances was precisely what piqued Guan Tong's curiosity.

Mind Power surged forth with his will, making contact with the parasitized form's forehead.

The moment it operated in the form of the Mind Network, a strong feedback appeared.

Guan Tong felt a series of images entering his consciousness along with his Mind Power.

In those fragmented, chaotic scenes, there were tall, circular halls everywhere, and countless figures shuttling between them.

Accompanying the images, whispers sounded one after another.

"Join us..."

"Join the wonderful big family..."

These voices were similar to those heard during the [Extraterrestrial Parasitism] rule period, but he was surprised to discover that, unlike before, his thoughts could be transmitted this time.

Just like... two Ascendants who had established a connection.

In an instant, Guan Tong understood!

"It's not establishing a connection with the parasitized form's shell... but with the spore..."

As the thought "disconnect" formed in his mind, all those images and sounds in his head abruptly ceased and vanished.

Guan Tong withdrew his hand and Shadow. The parasitized form, losing its restraints, collapsed onto the bed, having fallen unconscious the moment the connection was made.

"What did you discover?"

Zhang Minglu asked, able to tell that Guan Tong had found the key point.

Guan Tong turned around, looking at the two men.

"Using the Mind Network can indeed identify parasitized forms. But what connects with a human is not the parasitized form, but the spore."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Minglu and Dragon Soul both showed expressions of shock.

Guan Tong continued, "As is well known, after this alien spore occupies a host's body, it retains the original host's memories. I never paid much attention to this before, but now I understand that the spore itself, or rather the individual spore, has no intelligence, only the instinct to spread—its actions rely entirely on the logic constructed from the host's past memories. This means that when an Ascendant capable of using the Mind Network attempts to connect with it, it will immediately agree. Because..."

"Because spreading is its instinct!" Zhang Minglu couldn't help but exclaim excitedly. "When a connection appears, its instinct makes it think it has an opportunity to spread, but either party in the Mind Network can sever this connection at any time! So that's it, that's the method of using the Mind Network to identify it!"

When an Ascendant uses the Mind Network to connect with a parasitized form, the spore controlling the parasitized form will agree out of its spreading instinct. Once the connection is established, it will attempt to assimilate the Ascendant, transmitting those images and whispers... The moment the Ascendant receives the transmission, they can confirm that what's before them is a parasitized form.

"Hahaha!"

Zhang Minglu laughed heartily, a rare occurrence.

"So that's how it is! This way, these parasitized forms can't hide themselves. They can't defy their own instincts. Humans can root them all out!"

Dragon Soul knew Zhang Minglu had long been troubled by the parasitized form problem, researching for a long time without results.

Now that a method was finally found, it wasn't strange for him to lose his composure a little.

But what Dragon Soul was more concerned about was another issue.

"I'd like to ask," Dragon Soul addressed Guan Tong, "how did you restart the Mind Network?"

Hearing this, Zhang Minglu also calmed down. "Yes. Although we can rely on the Mind Network to identify parasitized forms, their numbers are vast. Completely identifying them would require a lot of manpower."

"Restarting the Mind Network requires a Mind Power upper limit of one thousand points," Guan Tong did not hide this. "It's a hard requirement."

A Mind Power upper limit of one thousand points!

Both Zhang Minglu and Dragon Soul were stunned.

This value was too high even for official team members who had always received focused cultivation.

"You've already broken through the thousand-point upper limit... truly remarkable."

Zhang Minglu looked at Guan Tong with an expression full of disbelief, wondering how the latter had managed it.

But then, he deeply furrowed his brow.

"Reaching a thousand-point upper limit is difficult! In the official teams, only a handful are close. The rest are still a significant distance away. As for civilian Ascendants, don't even mention it."

Dragon Soul beside him deeply agreed.

He was one of the "handful" Zhang Minglu mentioned. Saying he was close, but in reality, without a special opportunity, successfully reaching it would still take a long time.

"Such a high hard requirement means too few people can meet it." Zhang Minglu's expression turned somewhat grim. "Looking at it this way, even though we've mastered the identification method, completely identifying all of them in the short term is likely impossible."

Guan Tong didn't speak. He was thinking that he might be able to do it.

His shadow splitting ability was unparalleled. Hundreds, even thousands, of shadow lines could spread out, each carrying his Mind Power. Each one that made contact with a parasitized form could establish a connection.

After connecting and receiving the images and sounds, a judgment could be made, and then that connecting shadow line could execute the elimination of the parasitized form.

If done this way, he could easily identify over a thousand parasitized forms in a single day and eliminate them.

"Regardless, our gains today are already more than enough."

Zhang Minglu reached out and patted Guan Tong's shoulder.

"Thanks to you. I estimate that in the whole world right now, you're probably the only one who has reached this level."

Guan Tong thought to himself that Shi Jingyi had reached it faster than him, she just hadn't exposed it.

"Dragon Soul and I will return to the main base now. I need to organize a report on this matter overnight." After saying this, Zhang Minglu paused and added to Guan Tong, "Once this matter is made public, the parasitized form group will definitely go crazy targeting those Ascendants whose Mind Power upper limit has broken a thousand. For safety's sake, we will omit your name. You yourself also better not expose it."

Guan Tong nodded.

He had thought the same thing initially, which is why he told Shi Jingyi not to try to take the risk of identifying them.

If one of the two of them had to take risks, it was definitely him, with his unpredictable whereabouts, who was more suitable.

The three left the cell and arrived at the base entrance.

"Where are you going? I'll have Dragon Soul give you a ride."

"No need."

"Alright, be careful not to be affected by the Scarlet Fear."

"Scarlet Fear... that name is quite fitting."

"That's what we call it in the Countermeasures Office." Zhang Minglu said. "You'd better leave using a teleportation-type item. It's safer that way."

Teleportation-type item...

Guan Tong suddenly frowned, something flashing through his mind.

The replaced surveillance footage at the withdrawal center... such a short time, what was the replacer's purpose?

If it was to enter Suzuki's room and set up a teleportation-type item, then later using the item to enter could avoid surveillance.

Because patient rooms had no surveillance, this would create a blind spot.

...

The next morning.

The Human Consortium remote meeting was convened.

Suroma representative committee member Mary spoke first, "The Suroma Space Agency believes the reason the previous space migration operation on Terra failed, with many astronauts dying, is related to this rule. The astronauts must have been affected by the scarlet power on Terra."

Gao Liangwei said, "Beixing has reached the same judgment."

Xisiya representative committee member Torafuto said in surprise, "You mean the astronauts were harmed by the rule before it was even announced?"

"Yes." Gao Liangwei said. "We speculate that the Fire Thief deployed the scarlet power to be used in this rule on Terra a long time in advance. But it cannot foresee the future. It didn't know humans would launch two manned rockets to land on Terra, hence causing this accident."

"Such a thing actually happened..."

"If this speculation is correct, it seems the Fire Thief isn't as omnipotent as imagined."

"Foreseeing the future itself is something rather impossible."

"I recall the last question humans asked the nano lifeform—wasn't it testing whether it could foresee the future, or know if the Fire Thief had set up rules in advance? We didn't get an answer then, but now it seems..."

"Yes, we have an answer. Although the Fire Thief cannot foresee the future, it might set up rules in advance."

The committee members were excited by the new discovery about the Fire Thief, but soon calmed down.

Because this understanding currently couldn't be translated into practical use.

"Then, regarding the exploration of the unknown within the scarlet power, I believe the Human Consortium has a necessity to cooperate." Gao Liangwei said.

"Cooperation?" Mary said, surprised. "Why?"

"If that unknown is similar to the previous 'Kimos Star fragment puzzle,' shouldn't this information be shared by all humanity? Acting separately will only reduce efficiency and consume more resources."

"Chairman Gao is right."

"We also agree that the Human Consortium should cooperate in exploring that unknown."

Several committee members from smaller nations spoke up in support, and Torafuto also expressed agreement.

Seeing this, Mary made a gesture of listening attentively; likely, Suroma national decision-makers were speaking to her.

After a moment, she nodded in agreement. "Alright, our Suroma also agrees to jointly explore that unknown."

"Then, before discussing specific actions against the Fire Thief Worship Cult, I have another important piece of intelligence to share with everyone."

Gao Liangwei sent the report Zhang Minglu had compiled overnight to each committee member. Seeing it, they were all greatly shocked.

"What! The condition for restarting the Mind Network is actually a Mind Power upper limit of one thousand points!"

"That requirement is too high... how many Ascendants in the whole world can meet it now?"

Gao Liangwei said, "The purpose of us disclosing this intelligence is to hope that each country accelerates the cultivation of their top domestic Ascendants, allowing them to break through as soon as possible. Only when more Ascendants meet the condition can we efficiently root out the parasitized forms lurking in human society and expel this poison from human society."

After speaking, he noticed Mary didn't seem surprised.

"Committee Member Mary, has your Suroma already discovered this information?"

"No... Suroma indeed has someone who broke through the thousand-point Mind Power upper limit, but they haven't tried using it to identify parasitized forms."

Hmm?

Gao Liangwei didn't understand the meaning behind Mary's words.

According to the report Zhang Minglu wrote, after an Ascendant breaks through a thousand Mind Power upper limit, the Mind Network automatically restarts.

Plus, the previous nano intelligence entity had clearly stated that one method of identifying parasitized forms was the Mind Network.

Under these circumstances, since Suroma had someone who broke through, why wouldn't they try?

Gao Liangwei looked at Mary's strange expression, thinking perhaps Suroma's breakthrough individual had some special circumstances, making it inconvenient to attempt something similar?

Mary didn't seem to want to say more on this topic. "Such a harsh condition means it's impossible to round up all parasitized forms in the short term. The highest priority task for humanity now is still eliminating the higher-ups of the Fire Thief Worship Cult and dismantling this cult organization."