The two sides argued until the very end, but no conclusion was reached.
Seeing this situation, Song Pinxuan and the others couldn't make a decision, so they let the children's parents leave first.
Soon, the dispute spread throughout the entire metaverse world, and then to the four underground cities.
More and more people joined the argument.
After all, the authorities had stated that this method might be used for future offspring.
Due to the various natural disasters, the population had already dwindled to less than 100 million.
And this great plague had already claimed a quarter of the population.
And the number of deaths would continue to increase.
Among those still alive, over 99% were unable to conceive healthy offspring because the delta particles had damaged their genes.
To maintain the current population, each person would need to have an average of 100 children, and each woman would need to have 200 children.
This also did not account for those who had already passed their reproductive age.
And this was clearly impossible.
The four official underground cities would also adopt artificial wombs for childbearing in the future.
This way, women whose genes were not damaged by delta particles, and those who had passed their reproductive age but were still producing eggs, could provide eggs and save their reproductive cycles.
In the various underground cities, the surviving women were already fewer than men.
Among those whose genes were not damaged by delta particles, women accounted for only 30%.
Furthermore, eggs were more difficult to obtain and had longer waiting periods than sperm.
Therefore, for human civilization to continue, women whose genes were not damaged by delta particles must participate.
When the debate over surname rights arose, it immediately sparked discussions among many women.
Indeed, if they had no sense of participation in childbirth, why should they provide eggs and participate in the artificial womb reproduction plan?
Was it merely for rewards?
But men received rewards, gained a sense of participation, had children with their surnames, and didn't even have to raise them. Why?
With the same rewards and the same contributions, why couldn't the children bear their surnames?
Many men also joined in, supporting the tradition of paternal surnames.
Especially husbands whose wives were not genetically damaged by delta particles.
For them, even without artificial wombs, a child born from their wife's ten-month pregnancy should bear their surname.
How could it be that with artificial wombs, children who could originally bear their surname could no longer do so?
Moreover, women wanted participation, and men wanted participation too.
A child wasn't born by just one person.
Nowadays, most people, regardless of gender, take their father's surname. Why should this generation deviate from the paternal surname?
This way, if people in the future traced their ancestors, wouldn't it be a mess?
Of course, many people were indifferent, saying anything was fine, it didn't matter.
Some even suggested, upon seeing such a debate, that surnames should be abolished altogether.
Or, names could be assigned according to the order of the Hundred Family Surnames, without using either parent's surname.
Since these children would be raised by the underground cities, parents wouldn't need to worry about them or assign them surnames.
Some also said that since the children conceived in artificial wombs were not a single batch, some could take paternal surnames and some maternal surnames.
But some still opposed, saying that this way, children of the same parents might have multiple surnames, and siblings would have different surnames, making identification confusing in the future.
Directly abolishing surnames would also affect many customs and traditions, hindering the inheritance of human civilization.
When the news reached Tang Li, she found it somewhat amusing.
She hadn't expected such a debate to arise.
"So, are you fighting for the right to name, or the right to the surname?" Tang Li asked.
Lin Xi shook her head and explained, "Actually, I don't care about fighting for the surname. After all, even if I fight for it in this generation, if it's not passed down to the next, it's useless."
"At first, I just wanted the right to name. But that person wouldn't budge, so I said I had to have either the surname or the name."
Hearing this, Tang Li found Lin Xi's request reasonable.
After some thought, she said, "Perhaps, we can use both surname and clan name."
Lin Xi asked curiously, "Using both surname and clan name? How?"