What appeared on the screen was a smooth, clean, egg-shaped yellow stone, about half the size of a palm, looking quite ordinary.

Bai Haozheng said: "After the incident, the Transcendent on the United Fleet immediately activated the Dimensional Anchor to completely seal off the area of sea,

and activated the highest level emergency procedure,

first storing the stone into an interdimensional space,

then using a spell similar to time freezing to freeze all the scientists present, responsible for monitoring the Star Gate,

and sealing all alloy boxes.

In an isolated interdimensional space, they conducted a thorough inspection and observation of the stone and the scientists.

Finally, it was determined to be an ordinary pebble, with 96% silicon dioxide content, and the rest being trace amounts of iron oxide and compounds of manganese, copper, and other elements.

It was not carrying deadly biochemical weapons, nor hazardous memes with high infectiousness.

The scientists present at that time also showed no changes in mental and physical condition, without any indication of mind manipulation, betrayal of human civilization, or becoming traitors of humanity."

Bai Haozheng paused and said, "Under the current situation,

it’s possible that the other side of the Star Gate is in a similar state of mutual suspicion, mutual distrust, and mutual fear, just like us.

Making any move without gathering enough intelligence is extremely dangerous and reckless.

Unless, the act of throwing the pebble itself has deeper implications.

For example, a test."

Bai Haozheng’s expression became serious as he said in a deep voice: "The evidence we obtained through communication with other organizations shows that all Star Gates have transmission functions.

Putting items from World A into World B on the other side of the Star Gate will consume the energy of the Star Gate’s holder,

and retrieving the items back into World A also consumes the holder’s energy.

These two rules restrict the behavior of wanton colonization expansion through the Star Gate.

But these two rules have a loophole.

Suppose a war breaks out between World A and World B connected by the Star Gate, and the Star Gate is in the hands of a Transcendent from World A,

then World B doesn’t need to do anything, they just need to continuously throw massive amounts of sand and seawater into the Star Gate,

to exploit the rules to continuously deplete the energy of the Star Gate’s holder in World A, exhausting them alive and forcibly closing the Star Gate.

This phenomenon is obviously unreasonable,

the Star Gate holders, who receive rewards from the killing field game, has instead become the weakest party in the triangular relationship."

Li Ang felt his heart move upon hearing this. He had deployed a fully functional insect hive in his own Star Gate World,

and by now, the hive there had expanded to all nearby islands, hunting native species of the planet, utilizing new genes to endlessly produce various types of soldier insects.

But due to the rules, he couldn’t take out all the soldier insects from the Star Gate World at once, otherwise, he would exhaust his energy and die from overwork.

To prevent excessive energy consumption,

he would either shut the Star Gate or maintain it at its smallest scale,

usually relying on the spiritual energy communication network to pass simple instructions to the other side’s insect hive to reduce energy consumption.

To prevent unexpected events, he also had a floating carrier hover around the area of the Star Gate,

using the belly of a floating ship to encapsulate the location where the Star Gate appeared—just like the United Fleet near the Mayotte Archipelago was doing.

"Through meticulous experiments, we discovered,

that although a Star Gate holder cannot perceive every single object passing through the Star Gate,

they can sense the fluctuation when using the Star Gate, and roughly feel what kind of objects are passing through the Star Gate.

And they can use their privilege as a Star Gate holder to block certain objects from entering or exiting the Star Gate.

If blocking is enabled, then no energy will be consumed."

Bai Haozheng said in a deep voice: "In this situation,

if the holder of the Star Gate refuses to pay the toll,

then the responsibility of paying the toll falls on the entities from World B.

If an individual creature from World B wants to pass through the Star Gate into World A, they need to pay the energy toll themselves.

Because they are not the Star Gate holder,

their cost is significantly higher than if the toll was paid by the Star Gate holder.

It’s double, triple, or even higher.

Specifically, it depends on the energy level and the mysterious degree of the object or being.

In other words, if a conflict erupts around the Star Gate,

World A might have a slight upper hand, but World B may not necessarily lack a chance to counterattack."

Li Ang furrowed his brow,

assuming the hive on the other side of the Star Gate pays the toll fee,

he himself wouldn’t have to consume energy,

but the hive units passing through the Star Gate would become weak and fragile due to energy depletion.

From an efficiency standpoint, it’s better for him to pay the toll himself.

"The act of throwing the pebble on their part is likely a test.

Due to the type, size, quality, and the world it leads to,

as well as the user’s state, power system, and proficiency in controlling energy,

each Star Gate consumes slightly different amounts of energy when transmitting the same object.

This difference may not be apparent for a single Star Gate holder. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

However, if planning to wage an interdimensional war and throw massive manpower, weapons, and resources into the world on the other side of the Star Gate,

this tiny discrepancy would be infinitely amplified, possibly determining the outcome of a war.

The pebble itself is ordinary, not revealing more information about the world it originates from.

The A world on the other side of the Star Gate likely intends to calculate the specific energy consumption for transmitting a material by throwing the pebble,

to prepare for a possible upcoming war."

Bai Haozheng smiled wryly: "This is, in a sense, a way of probing."

The atmosphere in the conference room froze again, no one was willing to wage a war of civilization survival with unknown gains and immense risks, and the expressions on everyone appeared a bit oppressive and gloomy.

Only Chaichai was still carelessly nibbling on his candied hawthorn.

Li Ang pondered for a moment and asked, "So, what is the United Fleet’s reaction going to be?"

"Uh... I am not too sure about that either."

Bai Haozheng hesitated for a moment, with his current level of clearance, he didn’t know the real-time situation on the side of the Mayotte Archipelago.

It’s possible they would reciprocate by throwing pebbles of the same size and weight into the Star Gate World to measure the exact toll cost,

or possibly do nothing and continue to observe the reaction on the other side.

He only knew one thing, that the strategic weapons carried by the United Fleet have all been adjusted,

each intercontinental missile contains enough transcendent elements to pay the toll fee,

and the power of all the weapons is sufficient to destroy the civilization structures on the planet’s surface.

"Alright."

Li Ang nodded. He was accustomed to and enjoyed a peaceful daily life, and interdimensional warfare didn’t align with his interests either, "What do you want me to do?"

"..."

Bai Haozheng looked toward the head of the conference table,

seeing Cold Waterstone, dressed in a suit and still wrapped in dark cloth, silent for a moment. His elbows pressed on the table, fingers interlaced, and his hands propped up his chin,

slowly spoke, in a low voice, "We are saying these things to seek a commitment from you."

"What kind of commitment?"

Li Ang slightly furrowed his brows, even after ascending to a Demigod, he still felt the distant and long-lasting energy fluctuations from Cold Waterstone, like a waveless ancient well, inscrutable.

"When war breaks out, protect the continuation of human civilization."

Cold Waterstone slowly said: "One of the Star Gates we possess indeed leads to an inhabitable Blessed Land for colonization.

But due to the toll mechanism and the various issues arising from relocation,

it’s impossible to quickly move all the people into the Star Gate World in a short period.

If war cannot be avoided, I hope you will stand on the side of human civilization..."

"You don’t need to say that, I would do so anyway."

Li Ang waved his hand nonchalantly,

he was also a part of human civilization, and when he created the insect hive, he inscribed a dense array of underlying codes in its DNA sequence.

Even if he really did fall, or, like in the last script mission, is separated from the real world for a long time,

Chaichai can still ensure that the hive doesn’t lose control.

Li Ang thought for a moment and said, "If war with another world breaks out, I will grant partial access to the Star Gate to transfer Earth’s population."

"...Thank you."

Cold Waterstone nodded solemnly, "This means a lot to us, and we are willing to pay the corresponding reward..."

Before he could finish speaking,

Li Ang furrowed his brow sharply, and slowly said, "Let’s talk about rewards later."

He slowly exhaled a breath of stale air,

as the System’s script mission notification sounded.