Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 99 The House of Ascended

The ceremony for the renaming of the Limei Hotel from a mutual aid and sharing association to "Zhenshantang" is currently underway.

Yesterday's host is today's leader. He stands smiling in the center of the crowd, sharing his insights on truth and goodness.

Ever since he survived the infection a few days ago and was able to identify infected people, his status in everyone's eyes has become extraordinary.

People didn't regard him as a god, but they all believed he was a highly capable person with special abilities. The reason they revered him was that they hoped they could be like him and survive if they were infected.

"...Therefore, we must love everyone and not hate. Hatred is the thief that steals all the beauty from life, and we must..."

As the hall master was speaking, he suddenly looked at a woman on his left.

The latter met his gaze, and gradually a look of fear appeared on her face.

She knew that whenever the leader suddenly stared at someone, that person would be a new infected with the blood plague.

This has happened ten times in the past week, and without exception, it has all come true.

None of these ten people were able to stay in the room alone for 24 hours like the leader, and then walk out of the room healthy and unharmed.

"No, no!" the woman screamed. "I pray every day, I yearn for truth and goodness, why me!"

“It seems you are not devout enough, and you still have selfish thoughts, which is why the virus took advantage of your weakness.” The hall master said, stepping forward to help the woman up. “Go back to your room. I hope you can pass this test.”

"No... Master, please save me, please save me..."

The woman struggled and refused to leave, and the hall master shook his head and sighed.

At this point, two strong young men got up and forcibly took the woman away, locking her in her own guest room and forbidding her from leaving for 24 hours.

Everyone else who witnessed it was terrified. They silently prayed that they wouldn't be the next ones to face the test.

"Tuk Tuk Tuk!"

Just then, there was a rapid knocking on the door; it was an employee from the Emergency Management Bureau.

The hall master walked to the window and asked, "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"A new batch of virus protection equipment has been produced. Didn't you guys not want it last time? What, are you regretting it now!"

The person who came was the same staff member who had delivered protective equipment a week ago. He was puzzled by the fact that the people at the Limei Hotel had refused to deliver it that time.

He came here with a vengeful mindset, wanting to see how these people would regret their actions after the new equipment was produced.

To his surprise, the hall master still smiled and refused, saying, "We still don't need it."

"What?" The person outside frowned and scanned the people in the hall through the window.

"I see there are significantly fewer people here than last time. They must have all left after being infected, right? With all this, you still say it's unnecessary? What are you thinking?!"

"I need it, I need it!"

Suddenly, someone rushed out of the crowd to the window and shouted, "I need protective gear! I want to leave here!"

Everyone was shocked and furious at the sight, and the smile that had been on the hall master's face disappeared.

Seeing this, the staff outside realized something was wrong and looked at the leader warily: "What's going on? Are you forcing people to refuse protective measures?"

The hall master shook his head and said to the man, "You are so undevout, it seems that you will be the next one to be infected by the virus."

"Nonsense! You're all crazy! I want to get out! I don't want to stay here!"

The staff outside also said, "Open the door immediately and let them out!"

The hall master remained unmoved and said calmly, "This is an internal matter, and we ask outsiders not to interfere."

"Bullshit!" the staff member outside cursed, then immediately pulled out a walkie-talkie. "Hey, someone at the Limi Hotel is being held against their will. Notify the armed squad to come and handle this immediately!"

After giving the notification, the staff member pointed at the gang leader and said, "Do you know that you have committed a crime and are a criminal!"

Upon hearing this, the members of Zhenshantang rushed angrily to the door, glaring at the people outside.

"You are not allowed to slander our leader!"

“Our leader yearns for truth and goodness. Not only can he not be harmed by viruses, but he can also discover people who have been infected by viruses. He is a true enlightened master.”

"With us here, no one can lay a finger on our leader!"

The staff outside were shocked upon hearing this, staring at the leader: "What? You didn't die after being infected, and you can even find other infected people? There's actually a 'blood plague adaptor' here..."

He immediately picked up the walkie-talkie again and said urgently in a low voice, "A 'blood plague adaptor' has been discovered at the Limei Hotel."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a response came through the walkie-talkie: "We're coming right away."

Shortly afterward, several express cars arrived, carrying staff from the Emergency Management Bureau as well as an armed squad with weapons and live ammunition.

Upon learning of the situation, the team leader went to the door and said to the people inside, "Listen, there is no such thing as an 'enlightened master.' He's just lucky to have antibodies against the blood plague virus!"

"Nonsense!" the person inside retorted. "What antibody? How come we don't know anything about it? If such a thing existed, it would have been all over the internet by now."

"Exactly, the official account hasn't posted anything. You guys are just trying to fool people!"

The team leader's expression was extremely complicated, and he couldn't speak for a long time.

He wanted to say, "It's not that there's no news, it's just that it hasn't been made public," but the problem was that everyone was required to keep it a secret, and even if they were to speak out, it wouldn't be possible in this kind of setting.

However, his hesitation only made the people of Zhenshantang feel that they were right and that the outsiders were speechless.

The other staff members who knew the situation also looked conflicted.

They all knew that the reason for not disclosing the information was to prevent chaos and to prevent everyone from wanting the serum, which could lead to sabotage if they couldn't get it.

However, this has led to the current situation: because the information is not public, people are unaware of the existence of "blood plague adaptants," and as a result, when they encounter one, they regard him as a superior person and an object of worship.

It's even possible that the head of this sect genuinely believes he is someone "chosen." He's not pretending to be a charlatan to deceive others; he truly feels he is different from ordinary people.

The team leader steeled himself and ordered, "Break down the door! Take this leader away!" Once a blood plague adaptor is discovered, they must be immediately brought back to the bureau for proper care—this is the highest order. There's no time to worry about anything else now.

The armed squad immediately sprang into action, blasting open the wooden door in an attempt to forcibly take the leader away.

However, the others in the True Goodness Hall were panicked. Some of them believed that the reason they hadn't been infected yet was because of their leader. If the leader were arrested, they might soon be infected with the virus and die a horrible death.

"They're not letting us live, let's fight them!"

"Damn it, let's go for it!"

"Protect the Hall Master!"

Dozens of people rushed forward. Some were unarmed, while others summoned various mental energy artifacts to attack the armed squad that had broken through the gate.

The attacked armed squad immediately opened fire in retaliation.

Da da da, da da da!

Bang bang bang bang!
After a burst of gunfire, the hall fell silent.

The gang leader knelt down with a thud in front of the dead men, turned and glared at the armed squad: "You... God will punish you and make you suffer a terrible death!"

"...Take them away!"

At the leader's command, the group forcibly took the leader to the car.

As for the team leader, his face behind his mask was extremely grim; he hadn't expected things to develop this way. But since things had come to this, there was no other way but to do this.

"Team leader, is it really right to keep this a secret?" The staff member couldn't help but ask, looking at the horrific scene in the hotel lobby. "What if they knew..."

"Does knowing that would prevent deaths? I'm afraid even more people would die," the team leader interrupted.

"..."

“Let’s go. The higher-ups just issued an order yesterday, urging Yunhua to provide more serum. Fortunately, we found another blood virus adaptor today, otherwise the serum extracted from what we’ve already found wouldn’t be enough to meet their requirements.”

"Who's going to use all that serum that the higher-ups are asking for?"

"Who knows, probably a big shot."

"Really..."

"Alright, stop complaining. Don't forget, we are also qualified to use the serum... Just for that reason alone, we all need to do our jobs well to live up to the preferential treatment given to us by our superiors."

……

Three days later, at the shelter.

"Successfully launched..."

Guan Tong typed on the keyboard, and the website he created officially went online.

He is currently using the laptop's built-in hard drive to store information, although he can't store much, it's just for testing purposes.

Moreover, a newly launched website will not have much traffic and will not need to store much data.

At first glance, the website has a gray-black background and white UI fonts, emphasizing high contrast.

As for the interface, it's to put it nicely as minimalist, but in reality, there's practically nothing there.

Aside from a few simple options to jump to other secondary interfaces, there is only a large logo with five easy-to-understand artistic characters: House of Ascendants.

That's right, Guan Tong wants to make this website a home for those who aspire to higher levels. In the future, not only can they trade and entrust others, but they can also chat anonymously and share trivial matters.

He felt this function was essential. Based on his experience with various sublimated individuals, almost half of them had psychological problems, either exhibiting violent or self-destructive tendencies.

Some people exhibit both traits, representing two sides of the same coin. Guan Tong saw similar news stories online, not just one or two, all involving individuals who had transcended their current status engaging in pointless fights and battles, some even ending their own lives together.

In short, under immense pressure, people need an outlet. That's why Guan Tong wanted to create this little space on her website where those seeking self-improvement could let down their guard and chat.

Unlike some other communities or social programs where even slightly accomplished individuals dare not speak or share, for fear of being tracked down and attacked the moment they post something of substance.

After all, not every strong person is a cyber expert who knows how to hide themselves online. If this continues, the stronger members of the Ascendant class will tend to remain silent online, which is actually detrimental to the average Ascendant.

Playing chess with a group of terrible players will only make you worse. But playing with a group of experts, while not guaranteeing a huge improvement, will at least allow you to learn some clever strategies over time.

Guan Tong looked at the main interface, which currently had four secondary section options.

These are: intelligence, props, commissions, and casual conversation.

The intelligence section is about buying and selling information;

In the item section interface, Guan Tong has set up a "Request to Buy" function, so you can write down your needs. Unlike the terminal market, which only allows you to list items and doesn't allow you to precisely search for your own needs.

The delegation section is exactly what it sounds like. An Ascendant has a need that they can't fulfill themselves, so they offer a delegation. Other Ascendants who believe they can handle the task will accept the delegation and do it.

The casual chat section was envisioned by Guan Tong as a place for Ascended Ones to chat, share, and relax.

After closing Tong, he plans to add another mysterious section, which he will call "Webmaster Domain".

The site administrator is himself, and the "domain" represents the section where he will post important content. Only qualified individuals will be able to access and view the content in that section.

The reason Guan Tong set up this section was to try and see if he could attract some experts to help him. Or even if they didn't help him, just exchanging information would be beneficial.

However, he hasn't finalized the specific plans for this section yet, so he won't launch it for now. It's not too late to launch it once the website has some traffic and users.

Looking at the website that was beginning to take shape, Guan Tong felt a sense of satisfaction. The time she had spent working on it for the past few days had not been wasted.

He thought to himself, "Once the website is running smoothly, we'll need to launch a mobile version. The goal is to make it work on every Ascendant's device!"

　Day 7 of my daily 10,000-word writing challenge; today's update is 10212 words.

　　I'll keep working hard tomorrow. Thank you for your support, everyone.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)