"We actually know quite a lot about the people at Peace Prison falling ill. After tomorrow, you and I may all go mad."
The Grand Elder sat in Orange Star's highest seat of authority, speaking earnestly, an inscrutable grief on his face.
In this position, he cared for the whole world and did not want to see Orange Star descend into madness.
"If I go mad, I will step down and leave the position to the next scholar. I have already prepared the list. If the first candidate on it also goes mad, the position will pass to the second. If the second goes mad too, it will pass to the third, and so on until we reach someone who is still sane."
The Grand Elder had written a list of scholars containing a thousand candidates.
"What if all thousand candidates go mad?" Li Shen raised his hand. His voice was quiet and a little timid, but his words startled a number of people, who all turned their grave gazes on him.
The Grand Elder fell silent for a long moment before giving his instructions. "If all thousand go mad, let Orange Mother choose, ranking them according to the data on their academic achievements. Those with the highest rankings will be selected."
The Grand Elder's list of candidates did not take only academic achievements into account. It also considered factors such as their ability to manage affairs in the interstellar era, their foresight, and their thinking.
Having Orange Mother choose based on data rankings would lack the Grand Elder's human touch.
Orange Mother possessed near-human intelligence, but artificial intelligence's greatest strength was its absolute rationality. The Grand Elder did not really want Orange Mother to select people with absolute rationality.
Someone chosen that way might be an academic giant, but