49 Apocalypse Rules

"The men are gone?"

"Yes. We did track down a few assassins from Sisiya, but after they went out four nights ago, they never came back."

Early in the morning, in the courtyard of her residence outside the academy, Yelena was slightly surprised to hear what Sikokun said.

She didn’t doubt Sikokun’s investigative skills; if this was her report, then it had to be true.

"Princess, I believe the assassins your brother sent have all been secretly executed," Sikokun speculated.

"Who could have done it?"

"There are no clues at the moment. It might be related to that teacher you mentioned, Princess."

Guan Tong?

Yelena pictured his somewhat cold face and frowned slightly.

She had no doubt that Guan Tong was a formidable fighter. Anyone who could teach the *Psychic Power Flow* course couldn’t possibly be weak. In fact, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he was the strongest combatant among all the academy’s instructors.

The previous instructor for this course, Shi Jingyi, was also widely acknowledged by last year’s students as "the toughest teacher" in the academy.

This was related to the nature of the course itself. Someone proficient in using Psychic Power for Energy Transformation could be incredibly powerful, integrating offense and defense without relying on other abilities or items.

But being a good fighter and being a killer were two different things.

A top soldier could be killed by a street thug in a brawl. Did that mean the soldier’s combat skills were inferior? No. It was just that the thug had killing intent—he was out to kill—while the soldier didn’t.

Yelena had been worried about Guan Tong because she felt that, as a teacher, he couldn’t compare to a professional assassin when it came to "killing intent." Even if he was a good fighter, he could still get into trouble if caught off guard, which was why she had asked Sikokun to handle the situation.

But now, it seemed her efforts had been completely unnecessary.

Besides, she had trained with Guan Tong in combat many times, and she had never once seen him use any power other than Psychic Power Flow.

She had no idea what abilities or items Guan Tong possessed. And it wasn’t just her; it seemed no one in the entire academy knew. Many students had discussed it, and even some instructors had supposedly mentioned in passing that they knew very little about him.

"Princess, would you like me to conduct a detailed investigation into your teacher? Perhaps his background is problematic and not as simple as it appears."

Sikokun seemed to sense Yelena’s curiosity about Guan Tong and posed the question.

"No." Yelena shook her head. "He is my teacher, not my enemy. Why investigate him?"

"Understood."

"Sikokun, send a message to my brother for me. If he tries anything like this again..." Yelena paused, her eyes turning cold. "Then I won’t mind if someone close to him has a little... accident."

"...I understand."

"I’m heading to the academy."

"Please be careful."

Watching Yelena leave, Sikokun’s face gradually broke into a gratified smile.

’The Princess seems different from how she was back in Sisiya,’ she thought.

The Princess from back then would never have said something like that.

But if you weren’t ruthless enough, if your methods weren’t firm enough, you’d be at a disadvantage in any competition, left to be disgusted by the dirty tricks of your rivals.

’Was the Princess influenced by someone at the academy? Could it be related to that young teacher?’

Sikokun pondered for a moment. ’Our faction was against the Princess leaving our main base at such a critical juncture in the competition to study at some academy on distant North Star. But now, it seems her decision might have been the right one after all.’

...

After arriving at the academy, Yelena went to the classroom for *Psychic Power Flow* and took a seat in the front row.

Due to her special status, she had met with some officials after arriving on North Star. Once they learned of her objective, the North Star authorities conferred and decided to grant her certain "privileges."

Of course, these privileges were limited to not having to live in the academy dorms and, as a student, being exempt from all mandatory courses.

Her purpose for this trip was clear: to increase her strength as quickly as possible. Therefore, she only took the *Psychic Power Flow* class. She spent all her other time practicing, which was a key reason for her rapid progress.

As for making friends, wandering around, and other such activities, she had neither the time nor the inclination. Even when classmates showed her kindness, she could only respond politely but distantly, because she couldn’t stay here for a full year like the other students.

There were still over ten minutes until class started. Guan Tong usually arrived right on time, rarely early. The students in the classroom took the opportunity to chat and pass the time before he arrived.

"We finally made it to the last week of the Apocalypse Rules period. These past three weeks, aside from the few days we watched those disc recordings, have been pure torture."

"You think that’s bad? I’ve had it way worse. Not being able to go online these past few days, I swear it feels like ants are crawling all over me. I’ve even lost my appetite and can’t sleep well."

"That’s nothing. I heard there’s some god-tier guy in our academy who raises a virtual pet. He only lasted three days before he gave up on the rules and went online just to feed his pet."

"For real? That’s true love!"

"Hey, have you all heard about Shen Yun and the others?"

"Who hasn’t? I heard they were locked up, but there’s been no word on what’s happening with them."

"I’ve got the latest news. According to the people who failed the rules challenge and are back online, the public outcry is insane. They’re fiercely demanding a life for a life—the death penalty!"

The other students in the class looked shocked upon hearing this.

"The death penalty? No way. We’re academy students. We’re all assigned to public service after graduation. How could they possibly sentence one of us to death?"

"Yeah, besides, wasn’t it self-defense?"

"Most of the people online are just ordinary folks. Of course they want the death penalty."

"Shen Yun and his group were idiots, too. They were wishy-washy and soft dealing with a bunch of ordinary people, and they even let someone film it. If it were me, I would’ve just gone all the way and wiped out everyone in that camp. The officials probably wouldn’t have even cared. Isn’t that how they always handle it when they find a wiped-out camp in the wilderness?"

"That sounds... a little extreme."

"Well, if it had been done without anyone knowing, maybe it could have worked. But the problem is, the academy teachers got there so fast. Shen Yun and his group never had a chance to silence them."

"Speaking of which, how did the academy even know Shen Yun and the others went to Cangying Ridge? Didn’t they plan to leave the city in the Mind Network? Did someone snitch on them to a teacher?"

"Anyway, I’m sure the officials won’t go for the death penalty, but I bet they won’t let them off easy, either, just to appease public opinion. Man, Shen Yun and the others are just unlucky, getting into trouble at such a sensitive time."

"If the officials make an unfair ruling, we should all sign a petition to oppose it! We’re all academy students; we have to stand up for our own, right?"

Yelena listened to the discussions in the classroom. Although she wasn’t connected to the students’ Mind Network, she knew about Shen Yun’s group; the notice board in front of the main building was plastered with announcements about it.

She was actually somewhat concerned about how the North Star officials would deal with Shen Yun and the others.

She knew that if the same thing happened in Sisiya, Shen Yun’s group would most likely face no punishment at all. Their status as exceptional Ascenders would be the perfect shield.

However, the North Star government had always advocated for equality. She was very curious to see if, in this era of Apocalypse Rules, an era where Ascenders were clearly more valuable than ordinary people, the North Star government could adhere to its long-held principles.

For a Princess like her, this was of great reference value.

RING RING RING—

As the class bell rang, Guan Tong strode into the classroom.

The students fell silent, looking at him with curiosity.

In the incident involving Shen Yun’s group, Guan Tong had been the first teacher on the scene. They wondered if he would bring it up in class.

"You should all know what happened with Shen Yun’s group of five at Cangying Ridge."

Guan Tong did not disappoint the expectant students, bringing it up as soon as he spoke.

"The dean has asked all of us teachers to remind our students not to follow their example. Making trouble leads to messy situations."

"The incident became so serious mainly because Shen Yun overlooked the fact that he was dealing with a group of ordinary people and used a highly destructive item, causing so many casualties. So, if you ever find yourselves in a conflict with ordinary people in the future, remember that their bodies are fragile. Your attacks can easily cripple or kill them."

After Guan Tong finished, a student couldn’t help but ask, "Mr. Guan, Shen Yun might have gone a bit too far, but it was still self-defense, right? When we’re attacked by ordinary people, shouldn’t we fight back decisively?"

"That’s up to you. Whatever you do, you have to bear the consequences yourself."

"..."

The students were speechless. They hadn’t expected such a perfunctory answer from Guan Tong.

But Yelena could tell that this was, in fact, Guan Tong’s true opinion.

’Similar things... has he done them before?’ she wondered.

She wasn’t wrong. Most of the people Guan Tong had killed to date were, in fact, ordinary people—like the armed militants from Yongzhou Base, the warlord thugs in the Andai Kingdom, and so on.

But unlike Shen Yun, he felt no psychological burden. As long as he believed he should do something and could bear the consequences, he just did it, without any internal conflict.

These students, however, were different.

Guan Tong could act as he pleased because even if he were wanted on a national level, he could still rely on his special abilities to hide and protect himself.

If these students tried to imitate him, they would crash and burn quickly. That’s why Guan Tong had given that one piece of advice: what mattered was being able to bear the consequences.

"However, in this situation, if Shen Yun and his group had mastered this course—mastered Psychic Power Flow—they could have used that power to handle the threat."

"For instance, when your opponent uses a firearm—something that threatens you, but you don’t want to kill them, and you don’t have any good defensive items on hand. In that case, you could mobilize your Psychic Power to form a shield and block the bullets. That way, you wouldn’t even need to attack, and your opponent would be too scared to mess with you again."

Hearing this, the students nodded unconsciously, feeling that it somehow made a lot of sense.

Just then, the same student raised his hand again. "Mr. Guan, if you were in that situation, would you do that?"

"Me?" Guan Tong said. "I’d probably just exercise my right to self-defense."

"..."

"Alright, let’s begin the lesson."

Whether it was because of Guan Tong’s words or not, the students were exceptionally attentive during class.

After class, Yelena went up to the lectern. "Mr. Guan, are we still having combat training today?"

"Yes, but let’s postpone it by half an hour. I have to go to a meeting first."

Yelena nodded slightly and left first.

Just then, the voice of Dean Zhou Qinfeng sounded in Guan Tong’s Mind Network.

(Mr. Guan, are you done with your class? Please come to the conference room. The officials have reached a decision regarding Shen Yun and the others.)