49 Apocalypse Rules

In a forest park in the Soloma Empire, a doorway quietly materialized amidst the dense mist.

Adam and his four companions emerged from it, his face alight with excitement.

"I never thought we’d get to see an alien story from this rule. It’s amazing. A shame it’s only one-fifth of it, though."

He had obtained [Qimo Star Chronicles · Fragment 2].

"Adam, do you plan to get the other four Puzzle Fragments?" asked Amanda, one of the four women.

"Of course," Adam replied, nodding without hesitation. "Aren’t you all curious? About what exactly happened on Qimo Star."

The four women exchanged glances, clearly not sharing Adam’s excitement.

Compared to what happened on some Alien Planet, they were more concerned with their own safety. They felt that someone as important as Adam shouldn’t be risking his life by venturing deep into the Mist.

Adam sighed softly, then smiled. "Let’s go. Time to head back. I imagine these five Puzzle Fragments are randomly scattered across the world. Collecting them all won’t be easy."

...

"Whoa, whoa whoa whoa!"

In a cave somewhere, a dark-skinned young man stared at the [Qimo Star Chronicles · Fragment 4] in his storage chest, his eyes glued to the single word: "Tradeable."

"I’m gonna be rich! Haha, if I list this thing on the market, it’ll start at a million coins, easy!"

The young man could never have imagined he’d get this lucky. A Fog Gate had appeared out of nowhere, and after stepping inside, he had actually managed to obtain such a precious, tradeable item.

He didn’t really understand the mural’s content, nor did he much care. What he did know was that the rich and powerful would definitely be interested, so he was already planning to sell it.

Seeing the Fog Gate appear before him, the young man immediately stepped through it and reappeared at the location where he had originally entered.

"First, I’ll find a room, then I’ll put this thing on the market... Huh?"

The young man had just finished making his plan when he saw a massive, cylindrical object, like a giant foot, descending from the sky toward him.

The sight of the giant, cylindrical foot, more than ten meters wide, made the young man freeze in place. He snapped out of it two seconds later and turned to sprint away, but it was too late.

BOOM!

The giant foot came down, and the young man beneath was instantly crushed.

The giant foot then lifted. The gory remains on the ground were swiftly devoured by the Mist, leaving behind only a single, glittering Puzzle Fragment that shimmered with a brilliant light...

...

Somewhere in Sakura Prayer Country, inside a cave, three figures stood before a mural.

One person stood at the forefront, in the center, flanked by the other two who stood slightly behind and to the sides.

"Team Leader, this appears to be some kind of record," said the woman standing behind and to the left.

"It doesn’t look complete," said a masked woman standing behind and to the right.

"Mm," the young woman at the front replied, staring at the mural with her snake-like vertical pupils. In the next moment, the mural glowed and transformed into a Puzzle Fragment.

[You have obtained: Qimo Star Chronicles · Fragment 5]

Snake Eyes finished reading the fragment’s details just as a Fog Gate materialized before them.

The three of them walked through it. When they emerged, a large contingent of people was already waiting for them.

A scruffy-bearded man in his fifties stepped forward. "Did you find anything?"

"Yes." Snake Eyes showed him the fragment’s details.

The man’s face lit up with excitement after he read it. "The story behind this planet is very likely connected to the Apocalypse Rules! The Chosen Team must collect the other four fragments!"

The woman nodded slightly, an inexplicable glint of sorrow flashing in her vertical pupils.

...

Deep in a jungle somewhere in the Andai Kingdom, a Fog Gate appeared without warning.

Four young people ran out, their faces filled with anticipation and excitement.

"We actually got one! This must be a hidden item!"

"We’re so lucky, hahaha."

"Hey, why don’t we sell it?" suggested a short, scrawny man among the four. "A tradeable hidden item like this has to be worth at least a million Sublimation Coins, right? If we split it, we’ll each get several hundred thousand!"

"What are you talking about! This is a hidden item we found, a symbol of our good fortune! How could we sell it?!" another, taller man snapped.

The other two quickly chimed in to agree.

"That’s right, we can’t sell it. This fragment might be really important later."

"This must be the will of the Celestial Lady! She guided us to it. Not only can we not sell it, but we must also find the other four fragments and complete the puzzle!"

Having been shot down by his three companions, the short man gave an embarrassed laugh and nodded repeatedly. "Right, right, you’re right. My mistake."

However, as he lowered his head, a flash of cold fury crossed his face.

...

’The other four fragments seem to be really far away.’

Guan Tong was in his shelter, holding the [Qimo Star Chronicles · Fragment 3] in his hand.

The moment he exited the Fog Gate, he had used Body Shifting to return to Mingdao Mountain, where he summoned his shelter and went inside.

For him, collecting the fragments was now his top priority.

Of course, continuing to try and break the Mind Lock’s restriction was equally important.

As Guan Tong held the fragment, a strange map surfaced in his mind, displaying four flashing points that indicated the locations of the other fragments.

’The one closest to me seems to be to the south. And according to the map, it’s already outside the country... in the Andai Kingdom, it seems?’

The Andai Kingdom was a small nation bordering the North Star Country. It was still primarily an agricultural society, and its overall national power was relatively weak.

However, its people were world-renowned for their ferocity and love of combat. Before the Apocalypse Rules began, many world-class fighters had come from their country.

It wasn’t just the closest Puzzle Fragment; the other three were also outside the country’s borders.

Guan Tong wasn’t surprised. Celestial Water Star was a huge place; the odds of two fragments appearing in the same country were incredibly slim.

Out of five fragments in total, it was good enough that one had appeared within the North Star Country.

’Looks like I’ll have to leave the country for this.’

Since the fragments were abroad, Guan Tong would have to venture out if he wanted to collect them.

This was for the best. He’d been feeling a bit constrained within the country anyway. Out in the wide world, he could finally let loose and get things done.

However, he didn’t plan on leaving during the ninth rule.

During a Rule Stage, the entire world was blanketed in a dense mist, which would make travel extremely difficult.

Therefore, his plan was to wait for the ninth rule to end and head out during the interim period before the tenth rule was announced.

’In the twenty-odd days until then, I have to break this Mind Lock.’

With a plan in place, Guan Tong began to execute it step by step.

He spent a day waiting for his Psychic Power to fully recover, reaching its cap of 309 points.

He then opened the [Wordless Book] to the fifth page and poured all 309 points of his Psychic Power into it, activating the character for "Open" that was written there.

Just as with the first activation, the "Open" character absorbed the 309 points of Psychic Power and transformed into a data stream that slammed into Guan Tong’s body.

THOOM!!

He immediately felt the "shackle" of the Mind Lock deep within his mind suffer a powerful impact, and it showed signs of loosening.

’It’s working!’

Guan Tong was overjoyed. He wasn’t afraid of how much Psychic Power it would consume; he was only afraid it would have no effect, just like his first attempt.

This impact from 309 points of Psychic Power had clearly loosened the shackle. This meant that if he just kept hitting it enough times, like water dripping through stone, he could break through the Mind Lock’s restraint!

And so, for the next several days, he did nothing else. He focused solely on recovering his Psychic Power and using the [Wordless Book] to batter the Mind Lock’s shackle.

Three days, five days, ten days...

Time flew by. Half a month later, Guan Tong could clearly feel that the Mind Lock in his mind was on the verge of shattering.

He was confident that with another seven or eight strikes, he could break through the restraint and allow his Psychic Power cap to start growing naturally again.

Over the course of that half-month, he also went online from time to time to stay updated on the situation.

Unlike in previous rules where humanity had been overly passive, this time, during the ninth rule, humanity was on the offensive, acting with extreme proactivity.

With modern weaponry now usable, the world’s governments had dispatched their armies, unleashing a wide array of firearms on the Nightmare Beasts. The combat situation was completely one-sided.

Just one week after the rule was announced, the North Star Country declared that the Nightmare Beasts in the Mist over its major cities had been suppressed by the military. However, because the beasts seemed to be continuously spawning from the Mist, ordinary people were still advised to remain in sealed locations.

Otherwise, if the Nightmare Beasts had finite numbers, they would have been wiped out by the "iron tide" of military might long ago.

However, as time went on, the intelligence Guan Tong had first released—that humans could be corrupted into Nightmare Beasts—began to be confirmed in various locations.

The government even conducted special research on the matter. They found some humans who were severely corroded by the Mist, recorded the changes they underwent, and published the findings in a report.

When first exposed to the Mist, humans feel a painful, corroding sensation on their skin. If not treated in time, inhaling the Mist for a period will cause hallucinations and a loss of self.

The speed at which one loses their sense of self is related to their physical constitution. An ordinary person with a weaker constitution might become lost within a few minutes, or perhaps ten. But for powerful Ascenders, especially those with high Psychic Power, the process is several times slower.

Once they become lost, humans are no longer human; they become Nightmare Beasts. After transforming, it takes about three days for their facial features to be completely corroded away, leaving them with a terrifying appearance.

Reading the report, Guan Tong couldn’t help but think of Yu Hong, as well as the human face that had been pressed against his shelter’s window that one night as he slept. Yu Hong’s features hadn’t been completely corroded yet, but the other one’s probably had been, which was why it had left a flat, featureless facial imprint on the glass.

Furthermore, once a human becomes a Nightmare Beast, they will, just like the others, explode into fragments upon death and be absorbed by the Mist, leaving no corpse behind.

After the report was published, it sparked widespread discussion.

Many people speculated that the Nightmare Beasts in the Mist were not originally monsters, but rather ordinary creatures from some Alien Planet. They had only become Nightmare Beasts after being corrupted by this bizarre Mist.

Some deduced that the true monster wasn’t the Nightmare Beasts, but the "Mist" itself. The Nightmare Beasts were merely its byproducts, or perhaps something akin to the "Blood Servants" created by vampires, their sole purpose being to capture more prey for their master.

This also explained why Nightmare Beasts attacked humans by destroying their homes, wrecking their vehicles, and tearing their protective suits... Their fundamental goal was to expose humans completely to the Mist, allowing the Mist to "feed."

Everyone who read the report felt a deep, instinctual fear of the "Mist," but at the same time, a sense of relief.

They were relieved that human-made weapons could destroy the Nightmare Beasts, and that sturdy, man-made shelters could withstand the Mist’s corrosion. In this way, even if the Mist could claim some lives, it surely couldn’t deal a devastating blow to humanity as a whole.

After reading these reports and combining them with the contents of the [Qimo Star Chronicles · Fragment 3] he had seen, Guan Tong had a faint suspicion... The bizarre ecosystem of Qimo Star, with all its strange creatures, had likely been utterly destroyed—or even driven to extinction—by this same "Mist."

Perhaps the creatures on that planet, though massive, had never developed technology. And no matter how powerful a physical body might be, how long could it withstand the corrosion of the Mist?

’The complete Qimo Star Chronicles might record the destruction of that planet and its creatures. Could it be related to the Fire Thief and the Apocalypse Rules?’

Guan Tong couldn’t wait for the Rule Stage to end so he could begin his new journey abroad to collect the fragments.