49 Apocalypse Rules

In mid-September, the second offline meeting of the Human Federation was held in the Soloma Empire.

The main purpose of this meeting was to confirm the results of their previous cooperation and to establish regulations for the next phase of their partnership.

As the host, Mary, the commissioner representing the Soloma Empire, arranged for a grand steak dinner to entertain the commissioners from the other nations before the meeting.

This struck the commissioners from the various nations as rather strange. As they sat in the restaurant, they exchanged perplexed glances.

"It wasn’t easy for me to get to Soloma. To think we’re not spending this precious time in the meeting, but instead leisurely waiting for some steak dinner... It’s just..."

"Exactly. We didn’t come here on vacation."

"What on earth is that Mary from Soloma up to?"

Most of the commissioners were displeased. Gao Liangwei was also present, his brow slightly furrowed.

He had traveled a great distance from North Star, and not for a steak dinner. However, he suspected Mary had some other motive for arranging this meal; it couldn’t be as simple as just eating steak.

Before long, the host, Mary, appeared.

She didn’t arrive alone; two attendants followed behind her. To everyone’s surprise, though the male and female attendants both wore server uniforms, their mechanical heads, which glinted with blue lights, revealed that they were robots.

"Sorry to keep you all waiting." Mary smiled as she walked to the table. The male robot attendant behind her elegantly pulled out her chair, while the female attendant arranged her knife, fork, and other utensils.

These actions seemed ordinary, yet they were so impossibly smooth that they were indistinguishable from human movements. If these two robots were to wear masks over their heads, no one would ever suspect they weren’t real people.

The commissioner from the Black Banner Country remarked in admiration, "Soloma’s robotics have always been advanced. I never imagined they’d reached a point where such detailed movements are indistinguishable from a human’s."

Mary smiled. "I’ll have you all know, everyone serving us today is a robot. That includes the chef grilling the steaks in the kitchen, the bodyguards outside the door, the drivers, and so on. They’re all robots."

Everyone was stunned for a moment, then looks of astonishment appeared on their faces.

From the moment they got off the plane, rode in the cars, and were escorted to the restaurant under the protection of those bodyguards, they had never once suspected any of them were robots. They all looked like real people!

"Commissioner Mary, are you saying the drivers and bodyguards outside are also robots? But they—"

"That’s right. We’ve fitted them with a complete set of lifelike silicone skin, which is why they look just like real people."

"..."

The commissioners from the various nations looked at one another, a vague guess about the purpose of this dinner forming in their minds. It was supposedly an invitation to a steak dinner, but it felt more like a show of force.

Gao Liangwei thought to himself, ’I can’t believe Soloma’s robotics technology has become so widespread. And they’ve actually gone and made them anthropomorphic.’

’Every nation, including North Star, has some reserve of robotics technology. But due to various restrictions and risks, the law stipulates that robots must be clearly marked. Even if the technology exists, they are not allowed to be made so realistic as to be indistinguishable from real people.’

’But looking at Soloma now, they’ve completely broken through that legal barrier.’

Gao Liangwei asked bluntly, "Won’t doing this cause confusion?"

"Haven’t you heard, Chairman Gao? If robots become indistinguishable from humans, then they can be treated as humans. Besides, without them to populate the cities, wouldn’t people feel even more sorrow over the current state of our dismal population?"

The bald commissioner from Sisiya, holding his knife and fork, burst out laughing. "Using robots to boost your population count? Only you Solomans could come up with something like that!"

"Indeed. That’s just deceiving yourselves. It doesn’t solve any real problems," another nation’s representative added.

Mary didn’t refute them, merely offering a smile without a word.

Before long, robot attendants served the steak dinner.

"Please, begin."

Everyone picked up their knives and forks and started eating. The steak was certainly delicious, but no one was in the mood to savor it. They were all wondering what Soloma’s objective was in making such a high-profile display of its robotics technology.

After the absent-minded meal, the group went to the conference hall on the second floor to begin the meeting.

The commissioners first discussed their handling of the secondary disasters that followed the earthquake over the past few months, as well as the results of their cooperation.

Then, before they moved on to discussing future cooperation, Mary finally revealed her true intentions. She announced that the Soloma Empire was willing to gift a large number of embodied Intelligent Robots to the other nations to help them solve problems caused by their population shortages.

Since they were being offered for free, everyone was naturally willing to accept. That included Gao Liangwei; although North Star wasn’t short on them, he felt it was necessary to acquire some to dismantle and study.

Afterwards, the nations also discussed the issue of population.

After the "Earth Dragon Flipping Over" Rule, all nations were busy with disaster relief, evacuations, and dealing with secondary disasters, so they couldn’t immediately tally the casualties.

Now, several months later, the initial tallies have been completed.

Although all nations had always published their population data annually, there were often discrepancies between the public figures and the actual numbers.

The Human Federation had been established for nearly half a year now. While the organization hadn’t completely replaced the official institutions of each country, it had certainly played a significant role, bringing the member states much closer together.

For the sake of deeper cooperation, it was inevitable that they would have to disclose some real data to one another, and that included population figures.

Mary was the first to announce her nation’s figures, stating that the Soloma Empire’s current population was around forty million. However, if robots were included, the total reached one hundred million.

The moment she said this, Commissioner Sisiya couldn’t help but retort, "How can you count robots as part of the population!"

Mary chuckled and said, "If robots can do everything a human can do, what’s the difference between them and humans? And if there’s no difference, why can’t they be counted as part of the population?"

"How can you even compare the two!" After saying this, Commissioner Sisiya paused for a few seconds before shouting, "The most important human ability is procreation! Do robots have that?"

Hearing this, Gao Liangwei looked at Mary. Her expression became a little unnatural, as if she were trying to hide something. A sense of dread washed over him.

’Could the Soloma Empire be secretly...’

"Even if robots can’t procreate, that makes them no different from humans right now," Mary said flatly a moment later. "During the current Apocalypse Rules, how many people in the entire world are giving birth? The number is probably approaching zero."

"...That’s only temporary," the Sisiya representative argued. "Once all forty-nine rules have ended and the environment stabilizes, people will start having children again. It’s just a few years of a generational gap; it’s not enough to drive humanity to extinction."

"Then for these next few years, there shouldn’t be a problem treating robots as humans, right?"

"Arguing about this is pointless. Let’s get back on topic," another commissioner said, also announcing his country’s data. "Our population is around ten million."

The commissioner from the Sakura Prayer Country said with a pained expression, "Because many of our citizens refused to leave their homes on the islands and migrate, our population losses have been catastrophic. Our current total is probably less than five million."

A population in the hundreds of millions just over a year ago was now less than five million, a mere one-twentieth of what it was. The loss was indeed tragic.

But the situation in the Black Banner Country was even more extreme.

Before the Apocalypse Rules descended, this nation’s population exceeded two billion. Now, it was less than twenty million—a mere one percent of its former size. Moreover, this one percent was widely dispersed. The population that the Black Banner Country’s government could effectively govern probably numbered only a few million.

Among the other nations, Sisiya’s population was around twenty million.

The North Star Country’s population was about six hundred million.

Looking at the population data, North Star had the largest population, and a large number of people from other countries were continuously migrating there.

Although there were no concrete statistics, a massive influx of people had been pouring into North Star ever since the era of the Apocalypse Rules began. This trend only slowed after North Star declared a state of wartime administration.

But after the Human Federation was formed and member states opened their borders, North Star experienced several more waves of mass immigration.

Of course, this was people voting with their feet. North Star had first achieved a record of low casualties, which in turn attracted people from all over the world. Although the governments of other nations were displeased, there was nothing they could do. Even many of their own officials and wealthy merchants had relocated to North Star, so what was left to be said?

"Having a large population is certainly nice," Mary said to Gao Liangwei. "No wonder North Star recently sentenced an outstanding Ascender to life in prison."

Gao Liangwei hadn’t expected Mary to bring that up. He said, "Whether they are Ascenders or ordinary people, no one is allowed to act with impunity in North Star."

"I know, he accidentally killed some ordinary people. Heh. If that had happened here, we certainly wouldn’t waste an outstanding Ascender over a few dead commoners."

Gao Liangwei frowned, unable to agree with Mary’s words.

At this, the bald commissioner from Sisiya also spoke up nonchalantly, "We wouldn’t do that in Sisiya, either. Ordinary people... to put it bluntly, they’re going to be weeded out sooner or later."

"Everyone, let’s not forget the name of our organization," Gao Liangwei reminded them in a grave voice. "It’s the ’Human Federation,’ not the ’Ascender Federation.’"

A silence fell over the table. It was the commissioner from Sakura Prayer Country who broke it, changing the subject. He asked Mary, "By the way, regarding the matter of Fahe Country, how is your country’s investigation progressing?"

At the last Human Federation meeting, it was mentioned that something was amiss in Fahe Country. This once-great world power was now suspected of being controlled by Cultists from the Fire Worship Cult, which was absolutely unacceptable.

Unlike the warlords in the Tulip Federation who fought and killed for their own self-interest, their internal struggles had little to do with other nations. Thus, the Human Federation, lacking spare resources, had little desire to intervene.

But the Fire Worship Cult was different. These Cultists weren’t fighting for personal gain, but for a twisted belief. An organization like this was undoubtedly a common enemy of all humanity. If it grew powerful, it would threaten all humankind and could not be allowed to develop unchecked.

The moment Fahe was mentioned, the relaxed expression on Mary’s face vanished, replaced by a dark look.

"Fahe Country... It has now been confirmed that it is under the control of the Fire Worship Cult. To be frank, we launched a decapitation strike in early September, hoping to destroy the group’s organizational structure by eliminating its leader. But the result..."

"What was the result?"

"It must have failed," Commissioner Sisiya said. "Otherwise, you wouldn’t be making that face."

Mary shot Commissioner Sisiya a displeased glance and said, "The operation succeeded, but it also failed."

"What does that mean?"

"We successfully assassinated the leader, but the organization didn’t collapse. Instead, they promptly installed a new one. This means either the real leader is hiding behind the scenes and we only killed a body double, or..."

Mary took a deep breath.

"Or... the entire population of Fahe Country has become believers of the Fire Worship Cult—and fanatical ones at that. If that’s the case, this is no longer a problem that can be solved by eliminating a few individuals."