Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 92, Rule Six of the Apocalypse

Guan Tong immediately conducted some tests on things like online tracking.

He randomly logged into a few websites and selected to check the location of his IP address, but the results all showed "unknown location".

He then tried several other methods to test the IP address and location, but all of them either returned an unknown value or could not be displayed.

He even opened a map app, selected location, and a few seconds later the app popped up a message saying "Service is not available in the current area".

"...Why do I feel like my shelter is in another world, as if it's completely disconnected from reality?"

Guan Tong conducted an experiment: she took her phone outside, pressed record, and then went back inside and closed the door. A while later, when she went outside and checked her phone, the house was still visible in the recorded video; it hadn't disappeared.

This indicates that the shelter exists on a physical level, but its function, or more precisely, its energy, is generated by itself, or rather, by mental energy, so it has no connection with the outside world.

Electricity, water, and even this unlocatable wireless network are all products of the mental power transformed by Guan Tong, who uses the shelter.

This discovery made Guan Tong realize for the first time that this shelter was much more powerful than he had imagined.

He certainly couldn't convert his mental energy into water and electricity... No wonder it's called an all-around shelter? Did I underestimate it before?
"This makes going online much more convenient."

Guan Tong thought to himself that he rarely spoke online, mostly just observing. He was worried that if he revealed any important information, someone with ulterior motives would track him down online.

Now that it's confirmed he can't be tracked, if he gets any crucial intelligence later, he can confidently post it online, which will at least help some people.

buzzing...

The phone vibrated, and Guan Tong picked it up to see that it was a call from Xu Xiaotian.

"Hey, Xiaotian, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing, Tong-ge. The challenge is over, right? Let me tell you, our team ran into a bunch of illegal teams and got wiped out right away," Xu Xiaotian sighed.

"It's the Wolf Pack, isn't it?"

Guan Tong also saw online that many contestants were angrily criticizing the Tulip Federation's Wolf Pack team. Other countries operate in teams, but this Federation Wolf Pack team has dozens of teams operating together. How are others supposed to compete?
However, Guan Tong himself didn't encounter them, and he didn't know whether the Wolf Pack team came to compete for the Holy Grail later. He only knew that no matter who entered the smoke, he killed them all without discrimination.

"That's right! I really don't know what they're thinking. Even if they wipe out all the teams from other countries, they'll still have to fight each other to determine the top ten in the end, won't they?"

"They probably think that this way, the top ten rewards will all go to their own federation's teams."

"Yeah... but it still feels really awful. Oh, and there's something important." Xu Xiaotian's tone became much more serious. "Brother Tong, did you know that Yong'an might be restricting people from entering?"

"is it?"

"It seems like it's because so many people from all over the country are coming to the capital every day. You can't believe how exaggerated it is. Now, many newcomers have nowhere to stay and have to sleep on the streets. A classmate of mine told me that Yong'an's population has now exceeded 100 million!"

"...That's a lot."

Guan Tong knew that after the heavy snow and the rules of the living dead, megacities had been rapidly siphoning off the national population, and the number of new entrants to the city, including Yunhua, had increased dramatically.

However, thinking back to Wang Yan's longing for the capital city and her hope that her daughter Chen Na could study and live there... many people across the country must have had similar thoughts, which naturally led to the population explosion in Yong'an.

"Yes. That's why I called to tell you, Tong-ge, that if you don't come soon, it might be difficult to enter the city after the restrictions are lifted. If you're worried about not having a place to stay when you get here, I'll make room for you in our dorm!"

"Thank you, Xiaotian, but I really don't plan to go to Yong'an anytime soon. Just focus on your studies at the academy and don't worry about me."

"Alright then, give me a call whenever you're planning to come, and I'll throw you a welcome party!"

"no problem."

After hanging up the phone, Guan Tong thought that apart from megacities, there probably wouldn't be many people in other places in the future.

This situation isn't unique to Beixing Kingdom; it's likely similar in other countries. Faced with disaster, people tend to band together to resist it.

"Let's watch some online class videos instead."

There's no use in overthinking, so Guan Tong focused her attention on online classes.

For the next ten days or so, he mainly watched Shi Jingyi's online courses, followed along to learn and memorize the acupoints on the human body, and tried to learn the methods of spiritual energy flow.

According to Shi Jingyi's lectures, to learn the basics of Qi cultivation, one would need to study diligently every day for about three to six months. However, this experience was based on knowledge gained before the apocalypse.

In this era, if you have enough talent, things will definitely be much faster than before. What used to take six months might now only take three months. What used to take three months might now only take one month.

The reason for this is that people's bodies are being subtly and gradually transformed due to the emergence of mental power.

The effects of psychic power on the human body have been the subject of ongoing research by various experts, who regularly publish their findings.

Publicly available reports clearly indicate that individuals with higher levels of mental strength experience a 30%-50% improvement in various bodily functions within just a few months.

Moreover, this is an increasing trend. According to research estimates, after another 3-4 rounds of rules, the physical functions of people with high mental strength will generally be 80%-100% higher than before the apocalypse rules.

This means that even excluding abilities and tools, if we only consider physical qualities and functions, the high mental strength at that time would be about twice as strong as before.

While doubling the power may seem like we're still just mortal beings, the most important thing is this growth trend. If this trend continues, sooner or later humanity will reach a level we never dared to imagine before.

No one can predict what society will be like then. So all people can do now is stop thinking about such a distant future and focus on the rules they need to face now.

More than ten days passed in the blink of an eye.

On the evening of September 14th, Guan Tong lay in bed, with her black cat, Coal Ball, lying beside her, lazily stretching.

"The new rules will be released tomorrow..."

Guan Tong opened the terminal and accessed the Ascension Shop.

No new products have been added to the shelves.

Prior to the Ascendant Challenge, the store listed drones and lockpicks, which were clearly items added in preparation for the challenge.

However, since the end of the challenge, Sheng Hua Store has not added any new products.

This makes it difficult for people to make a general prediction in advance about what type of rule the sixth will be.

"I bet the research department will be even more frustrated than me."

If you can't predict the rules in advance, you won't know what preparations to make or what resources to mobilize. If you wait until the rules are announced to start preparing, it will definitely be too late.

Guan Tong closed the shop and then opened the trading market.

Since the rules for the living dead were implemented, the prices of items on the market have remained high, and have only dropped slightly since then.

If Guan Tong had cared a lot about it before and really wanted to buy it, after experiencing the challenge, he felt that many of the props were actually quite useless.

Especially offensive and defensive items.

If your own mental power items or abilities can provide these two things, then you might as well save your Ascension Coins and buy some special items.

Just like Guan Tong himself has a dual nature of offense and defense, then ordinary attack and defense items are not very important to him.

There are actually quite a few people who think this way, which is why the prices of some props with special effects in the market are extremely high.

The panacea that Guan Tong had previously found selling for 15,000 is no longer available; he doesn't know if it's been sold or removed from the market. After browsing for a while, he found another piece of equipment with an outrageously high price.

[Mind Pendant]: Reduces the consumption of Mind Power by 15% when equipped.
Price: 500000 Ascension Coins

The effect is indeed good; the more you use, the more you save. But the price is outrageous—500,000 Ascension Coins. I estimate that even some small and medium-sized organizations can't afford it; only official and large non-governmental organizations can afford it.

"It seems the market has no connection with unorganized individuals like me..."

Guan Tong didn't look any further and closed her eyes.

Tomorrow is the day the new rules will be released, so I should go to bed early tonight and get some rest.

……

The following morning, just like before the last rule was announced, all the sounds of excavators, transport vehicles, and other equipment outside stopped, as if the entire city had been put on silent.

I don't know when it started, but every time a new rule is announced, the city becomes unusually quiet. Everyone stays alone or with a few others, silently waiting for the new rule to be implemented.

Some people don't just wait silently; they also perform all sorts of strange "welcoming ceremonies," and most of them are religious personnel.

Guan Tong had seen online that after entering the post-apocalyptic era, some religions similar to "the fire-stealers" were established in various countries.

Believers believe that the fire-stealers are incarnations of gods or messengers sent by gods to purify this filthy world.

Every time the rules are announced, these believers gather together to hold ceremonies and sing hymns. Some of the leaked videos of these ceremonies are very disturbing to ordinary people.

This is not surprising. Even in an era when gods were merely ethereal concepts, religious power was still so formidable. How much more so now that the fire-stealers have truly demonstrated the power to manipulate nature at will and plunder life?

For believers, isn't such a living, breathing "god" who periodically displays his power more real and more worthy of worship than any god who previously existed only in legends?
Guan Tong didn't care much about these things, and most of these religions were expanding wildly abroad, but they had basically no place to survive in Beixing.

But he felt that the authorities might have some concerns. If the followers of the fire-stealers were to aid and abet the evildoers, instead of resisting the rules, they were to help the fire-stealers enforce them more effectively, which would undoubtedly be a disaster for humanity as a whole.

Time ticked by, and it was 9 o'clock.

As always, the voice of the fire-stealer arrived on schedule, resounding in everyone's minds.

[The sixth rule of the apocalypse has been released]

[Apocalyptic Rule Six: Deadly Blood Plague]

[Rule Details: Upon the issuance of this rule, an airborne and blood-borne virus will begin spreading throughout the world. This virus is highly lethal; infected individuals will bleed to death within 24 hours. This rule will last for 15 days.]

[Success Reward: 300 Ascension Coins, Silver-Tier Survival Chest]

[Failure penalty: none]

[Note: Disease has been a constant companion since the dawn of humanity. Fortunately, humanity has survived each major pandemic. Will you be able to continue your luck this time?]

When the fire-stealer's voice ended, the entire city was filled with a chorus of curses.

"A contagious virus! And it's airborne! Those damned fire-stealers, how many people are they going to kill?!"

"Why is it another survival-related rule?!"

"This is it, as soon as I saw the 'Survival Chest' in the rewards, I knew that a lot of people would die this time..."

(End of this chapter)