49 Apocalypse Rules

Guan Tong felt that there weren’t many people in this world with whom he had a real connection. So if he had a choice, he wouldn’t want these precious few to take such risks.

People like Shi Jingyi, Chen Na, and Xu Xiaotian. This, he had to admit, was a selfish thought.

But seeing the message from Shi Jingyi, he knew he couldn’t do anything about her decision.

He silently locked his phone, his feelings complicated as he watched the screen go dark.

But he had no time for distractions. His focus quickly returned to the conversion of Psychic Power.

By using items that restored his energy and eliminated fatigue, he went without sleep or food for the next seventy hours straight, constantly teleporting to the Gathering Points of various Ascenders to receive their Psychic Power.

Meanwhile, the Strategy Research Room was busy coordinating logistics on one hand, while on the other, they were gathering the Ascenders who had volunteered to protect Guan Tong.

The number of volunteers wasn’t large—about a hundred people. Gao Liangwei met with them personally, once again emphasizing the risks involved and asking each one if they were truly joining of their own free will.

Every single person gave an affirmative answer.

The words of one young man spoke for them all.

"We just want to do our part for the people of this land."

This moved Gao Liangwei deeply.

Most of them exhausted themselves day in and day out for the sake of that very sentiment, wanting more people on this land to survive the cruel era of the Apocalypse Rules.

Afterward, before the magnitude 9 earthquake struck, the Strategy Research Room showed these hundred people the complete recordings of the situation at the epicenters of the previous quakes.

These recordings were made by response personnel like the Dragon Soul Squad, and they offered a direct view of the impact that the intense seismic waves had on people.

"This is live footage from the epicenter during the last magnitude 8 earthquake."

Zhang Minglu personally served as the narrator, explaining the footage to the hundred people in the large conference room.

On the screen, the devastation at the epicenter was staggering. Fissures in the earth, dust storms, and the ground undergoing significant liquefaction until it resembled water—the visual impact was immense.

But even more astonishing was the unmoving Earth Vein Pillar at the epicenter, and the figure standing atop it.

"Is that Shadow?" someone whispered. "How is he standing so steadily up there!"

"Shadow uses numerous methods to stabilize himself," Zhang Minglu explained. "For example, manipulating shadows into ropes to tie himself to the Earth Vein Pillar, and constantly using various defensive items to reduce the impact of the seismic waves."

"That’s just too dangerous..."

"It is. That’s why we’re recruiting you volunteers to help. The protection provided by abilities is usually much more effective than that from defensive items."

"..."

For a moment, everyone fell silent.

It had to be said, watching the first-person footage from the epicenter instilled a great deal of fear.

Zhang Minglu said, "It’s not surprising that you all feel afraid. After all, this video material has never been made public, so you didn’t know what the situation at the epicenter was like."

His expression turned serious as he continued, "What I want to tell you all is that this was the epicenter of a magnitude 8 earthquake. The upcoming magnitude 9, and the magnitude 10 after that, will only be more terrifying! If, after watching these videos, you want to back out, it’s not too late."

Gao Liangwei had already tried to talk them out of it once, and now Zhang Minglu was doing it again.

And by using live video footage, his attempt was much more effective.

Of the hundred-strong group, where not one person had left before, quite a few were now wavering.

Zhang Minglu was only doing this to retain the most steadfast volunteers. Otherwise, if they were hesitant, they might choke on site and compromise the entire operation.

A moment later, someone silently took the lead, stood up, and left. A few others followed with their heads down. In all, about thirteen or fourteen people departed.

"I originally thought half of you would choose to leave after seeing the footage. I didn’t expect so many to stay. On behalf of the Strategy Research Room, I thank you."

Zhang Minglu gave a deep bow to those who remained.

After straightening up, he said seriously, "Alright, next I’ll explain the specific operational arrangements to all of you."

...

After the previous transfers, the authorities had gained considerable experience in mobilizing personnel. As a result, within these 72 hours, the number of people mobilized to transfer Psychic Power to Guan Tong reached the tens of millions.

There was also a method to selecting these tens of millions of people. Previously, they had transferred power from entire shelters or Gathering Points, but this led to inconsistent Psychic Power levels and lower efficiency.

So, this time they made an improvement: the people selected to transfer Psychic Power to Guan Tong were all Ascenders with a Psychic Power limit exceeding 100 points.

By the time Guan Tong had finished converting and absorbing all of it, his reserve of Psychic Power broke the one hundred million mark for the first time.

With over a hundred million in reserve Psychic Power, Guan Tong truly felt like he was sitting on a mountain of gold. However, that feeling didn’t last long. The magnitude 9 earthquake struck without warning.

At 12:14 a.m., less than fifteen minutes into the new day, the Seismological Bureau detected the eruption of a super-quake.

And when the coordinates of the epicenter were confirmed, everyone was stunned.

"This time, the epicenter is in the center of Yunhua City!"

The coordinate information was transmitted to Guan Tong and the others immediately. As planned, they began their group teleportation.

Only this time, in addition to the regular operation team, there was also a fifty-person "volunteer team." They had only one mission: to use their abilities to reduce and share the impact of the seismic waves for Guan Tong.

These fifty people were now surrounding Guan Tong. Several dozen others did not participate this time; they were being held in reserve for the final magnitude 10 earthquake.

Guan Tong noted that Shi Jingyi, whom he was particularly concerned about, was not in this volunteer team. She undoubtedly knew that the final magnitude 10 quake would be the most dangerous, and so had chosen to participate in that one instead.

BZZT!

The large Teleportation Array activated, and everyone vanished in an instant, appearing the next moment in the epicenter zone.

The moment the teleportation was complete, everyone deployed their full defensive measures as planned.

The volunteer team, in particular, immediately used their abilities, constructing a Domain centered on Guan Tong to resist the seismic waves.

However, the immense power of the magnitude 9 earthquake manifested in the cruelest way possible.

Barely two seconds after the teleportation, more than ten people were killed outright, their internal organs pulverized by the seismic waves. Others were impaled by mud pillars, dozens of meters high, that erupted from the ground.

Furthermore, this earthquake occurred in the heart of a major city. Skyscrapers collapsed with a thunderous roar, kicking up a wall of dust over a hundred meters high that instantly engulfed many, blinding them.

"DEFEND! DEFEND!"

People were screaming, but they couldn’t even hear their own voices.

In the epicenter of the magnitude 9 quake, the underground roar was like thunder, leaving everyone dizzy and disoriented. Some immediately fell in their daze, plummeting into bottomless fissures or being "swallowed" whole by the asphalt roads that buckled and undulated like waves.

No one had any experience of being deep within the epicenter of a magnitude 9 earthquake, so even with ample preparation, they were caught completely off guard upon arrival.

More than half of the volunteer team meant to protect Guan Tong died within seconds of teleporting. The rest were stunned by the apocalyptic scene. All thoughts of the mission and plan were driven from their minds, leaving only the animal instinct exposed in the face of a natural disaster. Boundless fear seized their hearts.

Guan Tong himself was also shaken by the horror of the magnitude 9 earthquake, but he didn’t forget his mission. He located the Earth Vein Pillar at once and began to struggle toward it.

If he had found it difficult to maintain his balance during the magnitude 8 quake, this time he was like a kite, buffeted about wildly by the seismic waves. Only by anchoring himself with thousands of Shadow Lines was he able to keep from being flung far away.

As for his other teammates, he couldn’t see a single one. He didn’t know where they had been thrown, but he knew many of them were likely already dead. He didn’t have the ability to rescue them.

After a few seconds, he painstakingly pulled himself to the edge of the Earth Vein Pillar with his Shadow Lines. The instant he made contact, he unleashed all one hundred million-plus Psychic Power, holding nothing back.

With a disaster of this magnitude, the damage caused by every passing second was terrifying. Guan Tong had to commit everything at once; he couldn’t afford to test the waters with half his power as he had before.

Perhaps because he had unleashed too much at once, he felt the [Wordless Book] pressed against his chest grow incredibly hot for the first time. Then, a violent [Power of Rupture] surged into the pillar.

Accompanied by a deep RUMBLE as the very earth shook, Guan Tong could see large chunks of the pillar’s outer shell falling away. The effect was remarkable.

But even so, he could still feel the intense vibrations from within the pillar. This meant that, just like last time, even after using up his entire reserve of Psychic Power, he still couldn’t completely destroy the Earth Vein Pillar—only partially weaken it.

This meant the earthquake would continue for several more minutes, but Guan Tong’s Psychic Power was almost depleted. He could no longer continuously reform his Shadow Armor, which undoubtedly put him in a perilous situation.

The Ascenders who were supposed to protect him had long since vanished; Guan Tong couldn’t be sure how many had survived. This left him dejected. He felt the plan could be considered a failure.

Just then, another wave of seismic shockwaves hit. Even though the Earth Vein Pillar was damaged, Guan Tong, with barely any Psychic Power left, could not withstand the impact.

’This is bad. If this continues, my life will be in danger!’

Realizing the urgency, Guan Tong could only use his last dregs of Psychic Power to activate Body Shifting and swap places with a distant Shadow Line.

Once he was out of the epicenter, a feeling of exhaustion washed over him. He quickly took out and used the remaining stamina-restoring item he had, which made him feel slightly better.

’A magnitude 9 earthquake is too terrifying. Human strength is completely powerless against it,’ Guan Tong thought. ’The epicenter, in particular, is an absolute ’death zone’.’

Thinking of this rule’s hidden rule, he felt for the first time that rather than weakening the disaster, it was more like a trap, luring more powerful individuals to their deaths.

Even he had barely survived, let alone an ordinary expert. If many Ascenders thought they could save their countries and compatriots through sheer self-sacrifice, they might be completely wrong.

More likely, the moment they entered the epicenter, they would face an immense threat of death, making it extremely difficult to even reach the Earth Vein Pillar successfully.

Was this the Fire Thief’s deliberate act? What was its purpose? Was it truly angered by humanity’s formation of the "Human Federation," causing it to design this rule to eliminate most ordinary people with super-quakes and then use the hidden rule to lure a large number of experts to their deaths?

Guan Tong couldn’t figure it out. He was certain of only one thing: the Fire Thief was definitely not some fixed, pre-set program. It had to be a being with its own consciousness.

The mural it had previously painted for Qimo Star, the "Qimo Star Chronicles," was proof. That mural had even evoked an emotional resonance in Guan Tong, which meant the Fire Thief must also possess emotions.

...But thinking about this now was meaningless.

For humanity as it is now, trying to deeply understand or even make contact with the Fire Thief was still unrealistic. It would take time.

Guan Tong took a deep breath, pulled out a [Mind Candy], and ate it. After the five-minute earthquake duration ended, he once again activated Body Shifting and returned to the epicenter.

By now, some of the dust filling the sky had dispersed. Everything around him was exceptionally clear under the bright moonlight, laid bare for all to see. And yet—this was the downtown core of a bustling metropolis. Was gaining a panoramic view, as if standing on an open plain, really a good thing?

Guan Tong looked around, and a desolate truth lay before him.

His hometown, the once-great metropolis of Yunhua, had been utterly destroyed in the earthquake, razed to the ground.