Chapter 162

"The more you know, the more dangerous it becomes; this is no exception for us."

"Furthermore, regarding our personnel turnover rate, there has never been an exact figure—"

O5-8 (bbcj) interrupted him, not letting him diminish the importance of this issue.

"Very well, I need an answer, if only to satisfy my curiosity. Number Three, do you know?"

"Hmm… I know," the voice came from the computer, "it is… uh…"

A number jumped onto the screen, and the other O5 Council members stared at it.

3,496,974,222

"…"

The conference room fell into a deathly silence, as if before the birth of the universe, or as if after the universe's extinction.

O5-5 coughed twice:

"To some extent, is the outside world still completely ignorant of anomalies?"

Here, "anomaly" is a collective term for all supernatural-related events and objects, not referring to any single one among supernatural events, containment objects, anomalous items, etc.

But… when half the people in the world have become employees of the Foundation, even if a significant number of them are temporary workers…

Is there still a need for secrecy?

"I don't know," O5-8 replied, the corners of her mouth tight, "but I intend to find out."

The first question was answered.

Now for the second, larger question.

…

"Holy crap, civilization hasn't even entered the interstellar era, and the Foundation already has nearly 3.5 billion employees? That's more than the entire population of our Vidyadhara race…"

"I can't hold it anymore. The Foundation originally developed as a secret organization, but after developing for a while, it turns out that everyone in this world seems to be Foundation personnel…"

"Foundation Agent: The opposing organization, except for the big boss, is entirely our people. When are we going to replace the big boss on the other side with one of our own?"

"Is this the O5 Council? How come they seem so much worse than the Administrator? Did they not notice the Foundation's budget skyrocketing?"

"Sitting on so many containment objects, the Foundation must definitely not be constrained by the financial system."

"Is there a possibility that the Administrator at this stage isn't ridiculously strong either, just like a mortal who hasn't ascended to an Aeon, possessing at most some extraordinary abilities?"

…

As the will of the O5 Council was issued, an invisible storm was gathering energy, conducting from the top down.

The outcome of this operation will determine how humanity faces the anomalies that are everywhere.

Whether to continue covering up the existence of anomalies to protect the potentially ignorant;

Or to let people turn a blind eye to it and directly disclose things that do not need to be kept secret.

This order might be quite unfavorable for the readers of a certain library—

No matter where they were, as long as they held a library card, they were startled by an incomparably terrifying voice.

That voice sounded from above their heads:

"All library readers from Blue Star, timeline B-173, please raise your hands; the Librarian needs to conduct a personnel survey."

The Librarian pushed up his glasses and hurriedly scanned the letter in front of him.

Then, he raised his tail and began to point:

"Now let us see…"

"1, 2, 3…"

When the number reached five digits, looking at the remaining count, he wished he had a few more fingers.

…

And in another part of this planet.

A critic named Jack Dawkins observed the information displayed in front of him, then turned to the fax in his hand.

"Are they all here?"

The painter in front of him replied:

"Yes, Critic. Every dot on the map represents an active artist in the world. This conclusion is based on your 2009 【data deleted】—"

"Yes, I see it." The critic's tone clearly indicated that he was not satisfied with what his work had spawned.

The painter hesitated for a moment:

"Uh… theoretically speaking, when you press this button, it will kill some artists, or at least render them incapable of creating, those without our…"

"Damn it!"

The critic flew into a rage.

"How many times have I told you not to do that, for f***'s sake? Is there any f***ing point in killing the people who appreciate them?"

"Pure art is meant to convey information to people! How could your audience be so stupid as to get information from a piece of work that can snap their heads off and shove them into donkey or dog s***?"

"That's not art, that's f***ing nonsense!"

Drowned by Jack Dawkins's spit and startled by his not-so-pleasant roar.

After several full minutes, the painter tentatively asked, pitifully and cautiously:

"Then…"

"Then… should I use it to get rid of those who use art to hurt the audience?"

The critic's expression changed instantly, and he buried his head in his palms:

"No, I have a bad feeling that if we do that, there might be less than three digits of people left…"

"I would rather live in ignorance, merely hiding the lethal memes and sending them out."

"…"

Instruction after instruction, message after message, were issued by the various executive agencies under the O5 Council and delivered to every corner of the world.

And this was merely a small twist in the process of answering one question.

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