49 Apocalypse Rules

Guan Tong was already well acquainted with the wonders of the Wordless Book.

The time he broke through the Mind Lock’s confinement, in particular, convinced him that the Wordless Book’s power could truly overcome the blockades and restrictions set by the Fire Thief.

He didn’t know why this was. He had acquired the item the same way everyone else got their exclusive items: an initial search in the Sublimation Store. It wasn’t obtained through any special means.

This meant the item was likely brought by the Fire Thief in the first place.

As the saying goes, for the right price, capital will sell the rope to hang itself. So what did it mean for the Fire Thief to bring something that could be used against it?

Guan Tong couldn’t figure it out, and he didn’t need to right now. It was enough to simply use this characteristic to fight the rules.

’The words written in the Wordless Book can be interpreted loosely. Interpreting the word "open" as "crack open" should be no problem at all... Still, to be safe, I’d better find an Earth Vein Pillar and test this as soon as possible.’

Without trying it firsthand, Guan Tong couldn’t be sure if his idea would work.

But he had undoubtedly missed his chance with the level 1 earthquake. To test his theory, he would have to wait for the level 2 quake.

Rushing to an epicenter, finding the Earth Vein Pillar, and using the Wordless Book’s power to try and crack it—all within five minutes of the level 2 earthquake starting—was a tall order.

’It’s not just me; even the authorities can’t predict the location of the epicenter. They can probably only respond by deploying personnel across multiple regions. So how am I supposed to get to an Earth Vein Pillar within five minutes of an earthquake?’

Guan Tong thought for a moment and quickly came up with an idea.

The idea revolved around making good use of his Body Shifting ability. But before that, he had to spread out as many Shadow Lines as possible, letting them diffuse near the country’s major cities.

This wasn’t difficult. Since a Shadow Line was as thin as a hair, the Psychic Power cost to materialize it was very low. He could therefore afford the total cost of casting a wide net to cover a large area.

But this was just the first step. The second was getting real-time information on the earthquake’s origin.

And it was perfectly clear where that information would originate: the National Earthquake Monitoring Bureau.

Guan Tong guessed that once the sensitive seismographs detected an earthquake, the data would first be sent to the central bureau before being reported to the higher-ups.

Therefore, if he deployed a wisp of shadow to infiltrate the main earthquake monitoring bureau beforehand, he could eavesdrop when the information came in and get the location of the origin.

He could then use Body Shifting to swap places with the nearest Shadow Line, allowing him to reach the epicenter instantly and interact with the Earth Vein Pillar.

He would do just that.

Having made his decision, Guan Tong opened a map to plan his Shadow Line distribution. He needed to determine where to place each strand and which locations had the highest probability of being an earthquake’s origin.

Knowing the Fire Thief’s style, high-probability locations would certainly be densely populated areas. With the start of the inland migration, people from large coastal cities were rapidly moving to major inland cities. Therefore, he had to focus his Shadow Lines primarily around those inland hubs.

Still, he had to send some to the coastal cities as well. He couldn’t rule out the possibility that the Fire Thief might set the origin near the coast to trigger a tsunami—a secondary disaster—as quickly as possible.

It was better to be safe than sorry. In the early hours of the morning, once Guan Tong had pinpointed several key locations, he released hundreds of Shadow Lines at once. They spread out from his position, fanning across the entire country.

’I hope this works as planned.’

’If my plan succeeds,’ Guan Tong thought, ’at the very least, it could prevent the Ascenders from having to sacrifice themselves to lessen the earthquake’s destruction. On a grander scale, it could save millions of lives that would otherwise be lost.’

Over the next three days, the initial public excitement gradually gave way to a focused calm. Everyone became incredibly busy, with little time for idle speculation.

Several large coastal cities were moving inland, and the people in the inland cities naturally had to help receive them. With the city populations swelling, housing and food issues required a great deal of coordination.

In addition, people themselves also had to prepare for high-magnitude earthquakes. The shelters currently built by the authorities should be able to withstand earthquakes below level 7, but anything above level 7 was uncertain.

But even so, it was definitely better to be in a shelter than outside. Therefore, the existing shelters had to undergo modifications. Non-essential areas, like recreation rooms and gyms, were all converted into living quarters, just to accommodate more people.

Besides North Star Country, other countries were also making their own preparations. Among them, several island nations were the busiest, using all sorts of vehicles to transport people out 24 hours a day, without interruption.

Nearby inland countries provided some assistance. For example, because North Star Country was relatively close to Sakura Prayer Country, it also sent many ferries to help transport people. This was crucial for Sakura Prayer; without North Star’s help, it would be completely impossible for them to move tens of millions of people off the islands on their own in just over twenty days.

As for where the residents of Sakura Prayer Country would be settled after leaving the islands, adhering to the principle of proximity, they chose the former territory of the Andai Kingdom as their new homeland.

The Andai Kingdom had been destroyed as a nation under the tenth rule, its government incapacitated. Even important military officers like Prince Lado were killed in a bomb attack, a clear sign that its power was completely wiped out. Even if a remnant population remained in the territory, it wasn’t enough to form a country again.

Thus, with Sakura Prayer Country migrating there, it could be considered putting the land to good use.

The North Star authorities weren’t too worried about having a new land neighbor whose comprehensive strength was several times that of the Andai Kingdom.

This was because only people and essential survival resources were being transferred; weapons and equipment were not part of the deal. Sakura Prayer Country initially wanted to transport a batch of weapons, but North Star refused, and they had no choice but to give up the idea.

This way, a population of tens of millions without weapons and equipment posed no threat to North Star.

Although all countries had joined the Human Federation, the organization had only just been established. The vigilance between nations could not be let down immediately; it would take time to settle.

On the 4th, at the stroke of midnight, Guan Tong’s eyes snapped open, and he sat up in bed.

From this moment on, the level 2 earthquake could happen at any time. To stay alert, he had deliberately slept from the previous afternoon until now.

He pushed open the door and stepped into the small courtyard, letting the cool night mountain breeze clear his mind. He closed his eyes, checking the status of his scattered Shadow Lines.

The most important were the few he’d placed at the main earthquake monitoring bureau. After two days of "covert surveillance," he had figured out the bureau’s operating procedures and knew which room would receive the report when the information came in.

It was now the early hours of the morning, yet five staff members were still on duty in the instrument room. This showed how seriously the authorities were taking things. They wanted the origin’s location immediately so they could dispatch teams to the Earth Vein Pillars, gather more data, and refine their statistical models.

’This means I’ll need to get to the scene even faster than the official teams,’ Guan Tong thought. ’That’s the only way I can run my test without interference.’

More than two hours passed. Just before 3 a.m., a piercing alarm suddenly blared from within the main bureau.

"WARNING! WARNING!"

"Earthquake detected!"

The staff at the earthquake bureau scrambled into action. Guan Tong, meditating on a tree stump, instantly focused his mind. He tapped into his shadow’s sense of hearing, ready to catch the location of the origin from the staff’s conversation.