Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 64 Settlement and Development

Guan Tong walked from the development zone all the way to the city center and witnessed firsthand some of the situations she had previously seen in videos.

The most striking feature is the complete collapse of the shops along the street, but some workers can be seen carrying out demolition, cleanup, and loading of debris onto trucks to remove it. It's estimated that the streets will soon be quite empty.

Witnessing the ongoing changes in the city, Guan Tong was also wondering where she should settle down.

He had contacted Xu Xiaotian several times in the past few days. According to the latter, the Limei Hotel is currently severely damaged and the water and electricity problems have not been completely resolved.

Moreover, the current residents are very resistant to outsiders. After the fourth rule was passed, the long-term residents held a meeting and decided that permanent residents would be assigned their own rooms, and any outsiders who wanted to stay would have to be approved by a vote of the long-term residents.

After learning about this situation, Guan Tong decided not to go there.

"Maybe I should go home," he thought.

He moved out of his home after the kidnapping and hasn't gone back since. Now that the kidnapping gang led by Shen Zuohu in Yunhua has been apprehended, he no longer needs to worry about going home.

If he had to be worried about anything, he should be worried about whether his own building had been completely crushed by these regulations. If it had been completely crushed, then he wouldn't be able to go back.

Guan Tong decided to go and take a look first.

And as he walked, he remembered something.

That is, he didn't exchange contact information with Wang Yan and Chen Na, the mother and daughter. But thinking about it, it doesn't matter. They were just strangers who went through the rules together once, and even if they had exchanged information, the probability of them contacting each other again was not high.

If we're truly destined to meet, we might meet again someday.

After walking for more than three hours, Guan Tong arrived at her residential compound.

As expected, the security booth and gatehouse of the residential area collapsed into the floodwaters.

The situation inside the residential area is also far from optimistic. When Guan Tong first lived here, there weren't many residents. Now, after the snow disaster, it's reduced to ruins.

He found his apartment building, and sure enough, the roof had collapsed under the weight of the snow. The melting snow water was causing water to flow out of many windows, turning the once-perfect building into a water curtain cave.

Seeing the situation, Guan Tong knew that his house must have been flooded and uninhabitable. He walked around the neighborhood and found a small house that was still standing—it was the property management storage room where lawnmowers and other equipment had been stored.

The small storage room didn't collapse because the canopies of several large trees nearby were positioned high up.

The snow had settled on the treetops, and the broken branches greatly relieved the pressure on the roof of the storage room, making it the only surviving house in the neighborhood.

Guan Tong immediately decided to settle down in this property storage room first.

It wasn't that he didn't want to go to the officially designated centralized shelters, but rather that he felt living in such places was very inconvenient.

As seen at the Limei Hotel, large numbers of people gathered and slept on the floor in the lobby. As a result, there was virtually no privacy between people.

With so many people in one room, whatever you do will be visible to everyone. Not to mention others, if Guan Tong herself wanted to take out the "Wordless Book" and do something, it would definitely be seen by others and arouse their curiosity.

So whether it's for privacy or comfort, Guan Tong prefers to live alone. Even if the living environment is a bit worse, it doesn't matter to him; he doesn't have high requirements in that regard.

He cleaned up the storage room and spread his sleeping bag on the ground. This loyal companion that had helped him through the fourth rule was now somewhat "battle-worn." "Looks like I'll have to go to the supply depot to get a new one... As for food, I can just scavenge around the neighborhood."

Guan Tong has no food in her bag right now. There is a basic food box in the storage box, but that is for emergency use and she certainly won't waste it.

And you don't need to go to the supply point to get food. With so many apartment buildings and so many residents in the community, how could you not find some food with a long shelf life?

Leaving aside other people's homes, Guan Tong himself still had quite a bit of food left. When he hurriedly left with the police car, he didn't take any food with him; the food he had stored before was still at home.

Without hesitation, Guan Tong immediately went to the "dangerous building" where his home was located. In case he was accidentally hit by something falling, he specially summoned his "shadow" to transform into shadow armor and put it on before entering the building.

The shadow armor lasted only a short time. Guan Tong quickly went in and out, running to his house. He waded through the water to the kitchen, opened a high cabinet, and found it filled with biscuits, instant noodles, canned food, vitamin pills, and the like. He stuffed them all into his bag and left.

Back in the property storage room, Guan Tong took the food out of her bag and placed it in the corner of the room, letting out a slight sigh of relief.

With basic food and lodging provided, we can now focus on development.

He took out the wordless book and turned to the third page.

Of the goals he set for July during his earlier walk, the first—the transformation of the shadow—had been achieved. The second goal, stockpiling ammunition for the Silver Hunter, was also underway daily. The third, the writing of "psychic powers," was not progressing well at the moment.

Guan Tong stared at the character "heart" on the third page. In ten days, he had only managed to write this one character. This was because writing on the third page consumed far more mental energy than on the first or second page.

His current mental strength limit of 124 points seems like a lot, but he still struggles to write on the third page.

Moreover, he attempted to exploit the characteristic of "vague needs" by injecting mental energy to materialize the word "heart" into the "mental energy" he desired. However, the injected mental energy was like a clay ox sinking into the sea, producing no reaction whatsoever.

This left him slightly frustrated, thinking that this attempt might be his first failure. But he decided to persevere and finish writing it, and based on the current progress, he should be able to complete it by the end of July.

As time passed, Guan Tong's daily life returned to its previous monotony. Apart from developing her mental abilities, she would go out for a few strolls around the deserted neighborhood every day, which felt quite nice.

During this time, Xu Xiaotian called him to tell him that transportation had partially resumed and that he had taken a car to the capital.

Since the Mind Power Development Academy had announced that it would officially open on August 10th, Xu Xiaotian wanted to go there early. He wanted to avoid any unforeseen problems caused by the fifth rule announced on August 1st that might disrupt traffic and delay him further.

On the phone, Xu Xiaotian asked Guan Tong if he wanted to come along, but Guan Tong declined after thinking about it. He still wanted to develop at his own pace.

In addition to this incident, Guan Tong also saw two official statements published online.

One announcement stated that major cities would undergo large-scale survival-oriented reconstruction, involving the demolition of numerous buildings and the construction of many new buildings conducive to human survival. People with relevant professional knowledge were welcome to join, and generous compensation was offered.

The other statement was a very strong one. It reads as follows: Any forced trading of items or Ascension Coins by Ascensionists will be severely punished and will not be tolerated. Those who have been coerced should immediately contact the official authorities, who will dispatch dedicated armed forces to deal with the situation as soon as possible.

After the second statement was released, many organizations and groups that had previously been actively promoting and recruiting "sublimation" advocates on the internet became much quieter and more discreet.

Many Ascended individuals, upon seeing this, felt that seeking official protection in such situations would bring them safeguards. Consequently, some Ascended individuals who had previously acted alone proactively approached official departments to report and register their spiritual abilities and other information in exchange for asylum.

As July 24th arrived, amidst the ever-changing external circumstances, Guan Tong steadily and quietly wrote the three words "Spiritual Power" on the third page of the "Wordless Book."

(End of this chapter)