Chapter 669

"... I am very glad that you are willing to agree to my request and take the risk to contact us, Professor."

The room behind Adrian was a bit dark, the lights were dim, casting deep shadows.

"It's nothing."

O5-7 sat upright behind the desk, his expression calm.

Since the establishment of the "Insurgency," he had taken countless risks.

—From the first time he acted behind the O5 Council's back, to sharing "Containment Object-8260-EX" with the Allies.

Apart from sharing technology, if the O5 Council knew about a few more things, even if he were an O5 councilor, he should have been demoted to D-class.

Contacting the "Chaos Insurgency," this kind of behavior that sounds a bit anti-Foundation, was already something he didn't worry about because he had too many debts.

"I am also a part of the 'Insurgency Project,' it's just that I still belong to the Foundation."

"Yes... indeed. So, you want to know what happened in the year ▇48, right?"

"Yes."

Adrian organized his language and began to introduce:

"Regarding 'Paradox Insurance'... they will receive 'Paradox Insurance' sent from December ▇48."

"The situation you observed will tell you, and even if you ask other Foundations, you will get similar answers—"

"In the year ▇48, a certain country in the war independently discovered a certain anomalous technology—it could be thaumaturgy, it could be nuclear physics, it could be reality theory..."

"In short, they used this technology to reverse the war situation and won the war, but normalcy has been irreversibly destroyed since then."

"Indeed so." O5-7 nodded in response.

Adrian looked at O5-7, his expression serious:

"Something did happen in the year ▇48, but it will not lead to the immediate destruction of humanity."

"Generally speaking, before this technology develops to the point of destroying the world, one side has already achieved victory in the war."

"In other words, just like this, no one would send 'Paradox Insurance' at all."

"The real disaster is:"

"The Foundation has since actively intervened in the operation of the entire society, spreading like slime to every corner of human society, monitoring every move of human society, and firmly shaping the future development of humanity into the way the Foundation hopes to see."

"There is no more uncertainty, no more possibility. The future has become a 'certainty'."

O5-7: "So, the 17th 'Paradox Insurance' is—"

"A message sent by the 'Resisters'," Adrian said, "It could be a Foundation member, it could be the 'Chaos Insurgency'."

"Stop trying to monitor every corner of human society, and return the future that humanity deserves to humanity."

O5-7: "However, anomalous events did break out; shouldn't we deal with them?"

"What is an anomaly?" Adrian asked back, "Professor, what is an anomaly?"

"We defined what an anomaly is in the 'Normalcy File.' Things outside the 'Normalcy File' are anomalies."

"Then, what is the basis for your updating the 'Normalcy File'?"

O5-7 opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but suddenly realized he had no words to use.

He calmed down and recalled everything related to this file, and finally realized that there was no basis at all.

—Unless the will of the O5s can also count as a basis, just like the policy guidelines of most countries.

"... I don't know."

Adrian was not surprised.

"We have always thought that we could control or even define normalcy."

"Don't forget, the reason for letting the Foundation intervene in everything and eliminate uncertainty is precisely the so-called maintaining normalcy."

"—In fact, there have never been any anomalies."

"Nothing happened in the year ▇48; it should have been a normal part of human history."

"Humanity should have invented nuclear weapons, or thaumaturgy weapons, or narrative theory technology at that time."

"If you have to say what happened, it is that the Foundation—or rather the current 'normalcy'—controlled the fate of humanity."

Undoubtedly, this is an extremely severe accusation.

It fundamentally denies the legitimacy of the Foundation's existence.

—The Foundation just found a high-sounding reason to control humanity as a whole.

"No, the Foundation fights for humanity," O5-7 instinctively retorted, "Normalcy and humanity have never been in an opposing relationship."

"Of course not," Adrian nodded gently.

"Are humans and the cells in their own bodies in an opposing relationship?"

"But the immune system will also clear out aging and diseased cells, right?"

O5-7 showed a thoughtful expression; he gazed at the figure on the other side of the screen for a long time, and after a long while, he confirmed softly:

"You mean, the Foundation will oppose humanity?"

"I come from a timeline where human civilization has been destroyed," Adrian said slowly, raising his hand and showing O5-7 photo after photo.

Those were cities that had been destroyed, corpses piled up like logs—there were all kinds of people, and there were also agents wearing Foundation uniforms.

Only the cold expressions and emotionless eyes of the Foundation agents were exactly the same, as if they were worker bees in a swarm.

While showing them, Adrian explained:

"In our world,"

"The Foundation discovered the secret about normalcy and its own mission three hundred years in advance,"

"And then personally released all the anomalies and carried out an extermination plan against humanity."

This time even O5-7's voice changed:

"... The Foundation destroys humanity? How is this possible? What secret could make the Foundation destroy humanity!"

"Deep in everyone's soul, something is hidden—"

"Something? Hidden in... the depths of the human soul?"

Adrian nodded calmly:

"Curiosity, fear, expectation, reason—driving us to explore, discover, and utilize the roots of the unknown."

"Humanity is like a child walking forward nervously and expectantly with a candle in the dark night, not knowing what is ahead."

"On the journey, humanity will discover gold and treasure, but it is also inevitable to touch taboo knowledge."

"However, no matter what, they are all dismantling the boundaries of 'normalcy'."

"—After all, according to their definition, things that transcend normalcy are anomalies."

Adrian continued:

"Humanity explores uncertainty bit by bit, which means normalcy is being destroyed bit by bit."

"All humans are born as creators of normalcy, and at the same time, they are born as rebels against normalcy."

"As long as uncertainty still exists, normalcy can never be maintained forever as the Foundation hopes."

"In an accidental exploration of the human mental space, the Foundation discovered such a thing."

"They discovered that the human self—and the desire to explore uncertainty—is the source of all anomalies."

"Desperate emotions permeated among the Foundation members."

"Some realized that they had been betraying humanity all their lives, and others refused to face reality, attributing this to fragments that invaded human consciousness in ancient times."

"In the chaos, quite a few chose to end their lives."

"Finally, the Overseers were forced to realize that the only way to ensure the eradication of anomalies and the maintenance of normalcy was—'hardening the heart'—selecting a group of special people."

"They invented an 'antidote'."

"It can eliminate a person's self, turning people into puppets who lose free will under the control of normalcy and only follow instructions and instincts."

"Then they will eliminate all humans in the world who still have self-awareness."

"In this way, they can eliminate the root of all pain and all anomalies in their eyes—uncertainty, and let normalcy continue forever."

"Apart from Foundation members, the only ones who survived were some resisters, including us."

"We have been fighting the Foundation, but our failure seems to be irreversible."

This sounds even more absurd than the most absurd novel in the galaxy, even crazier than the craziest person in the galaxy.

Normalcy is difficult to maintain.

—Then give the organization a new mission, and give new meaning to "Secure," "Contain," and "Protect."

—Or switch targets, from maintaining normalcy to maintaining humanity.

Since the final goal is for the survival of "humanity," why add an extra intermediate link?

The choice of that world's Foundation.