49 Apocalypse Rules

A spacious two-bedroom apartment was the standard accommodation for the academy’s single lecturers.

Guan Tong toured the apartment. It was fully furnished, and the refrigerator was even stocked with all sorts of food.

Looking out the living room window revealed a view of rolling mountain ranges—an expansive and beautiful vista.

It was a wonderful place to live, but Guan Tong, having spent so long living alone on a desolate mountain, wasn’t quite used to it.

Besides, compared to his Book Page Sanctuary, the dorm didn’t offer a secure network. He could only access the Ascender’s Home website from within his sanctuary.

With his accommodations settled, all that was left was to wait for the school year to begin.

Dean Zhou Qinfeng had told him the academy would start around mid-July. It was only mid-June now, leaving a full month to wait.

The delay was partly because the academy needed time to handle various logistical matters after its relocation.

The other reason was to await the arrival of the international students.

That’s right. Zhou Qinfeng had told Guan Tong that the new class, including the international students, would be arriving early, and the senior class would be graduating early as well.

Normally, under the one-year program, new students would enroll and seniors would graduate in August, but the date had been moved up to mid-July because of the recent earthquake.

The disaster caused by the earthquake was so immense that the academy’s students—who were being trained to be pillars of the nation—were all drafted and assigned to various government departments to begin their work.

Once these assignments began, it was unlikely they would ever return to the academy. Thus, this inaugural class had, in effect, graduated two months early in June.

This meant that Guan Tong, as a temporary lecturer, would be teaching the incoming first-year students from the very beginning.

This was probably for the best. The senior students had been learning from Shi Jingyi, and a sudden replacement would likely be met with some resistance.

Shi Jingyi was especially popular among the students; a male teacher suddenly parachuting in to replace her was bound to cause a great deal of dissatisfaction.

That said, the new students would only be marginally better.

Although they were called "new students," they had surely been watching Shi Jingyi’s online lectures for a long time and had already learned a great deal from her.

When they arrived and discovered she’d been replaced, they’d feel it was a bait and switch and would likely have their own private misgivings.

Of course, Guan Tong just had to fulfill his responsibilities. He didn’t need to worry too much about anything else.

After spending some time in the dorm, Guan Tong turned his thoughts back to his Wordless Book.

The recent "overheating" incident had been on his mind. It had effectively revealed the book’s current maximum output: one hundred million units of Psychic Power.

If a single output exceeded one hundred million, it would enter a state of overload, triggering both internal and external backlash.

The external backlash manifested as extreme heat, while the internal backlash was a psychic tearing sensation that sent his Psychic Power into turmoil.

In this turbulent state, his Psychic Power became extremely unstable.

For instance, when Guan Tong fought off his attackers, the shadows he created with his Psychic Power were almost all twisted, monstrous figures.

This hadn’t been his intention; he had only wanted to create humanoid shadows for combat. Their transformation into grotesque monsters was a direct result of his turbulent Psychic Power.

Even the Shadow Realm he deployed later showed signs of spiraling out of his control.

For Guan Tong, these discoveries helped him understand another hidden mechanism of the Wordless Book.

Although he likely wouldn’t have another occasion to output over a hundred million units of Psychic Power anytime soon, it was still valuable to know the book’s limits.

’It’ll probably be a while before I can write on the seventh page of the Wordless Book. I should focus on developing the earlier pages for now.’

Guan Tong had tried several times over the past half-month and discovered that writing on the seventh page required a Psychic Power cap of over one thousand. He was still a long way from that number.

Therefore, he planned to use this time to further explore and refine the concept he’d written on the sixth page: "Domain."

He had written that word at the time simply because his enemies were scattering, and he hadn’t wanted to let a single one escape. He had wanted to control a large area.

The Wordless Book, in response to his state of mind and desire at that moment, had manifested the Shadow Realm. It came with the ability to launch long-range attacks anywhere within its bounds, as well as a flawless reconnaissance and Perception Ability that could instantly lock onto and track the position and movement of all targets inside.

Analyzing it in retrospect, he realized that besides its use in large-scale combat, the Shadow Realm could have other applications.

For instance, it could be used for defense, not just offense.

If he needed to protect someone, enveloping them in the Shadow Realm would create a flawless defense, one far superior to his Shadow Armor.

It could also be used for transportation. Guan Tong considered that, if necessary and with enough Psychic Power, he could expand the Shadow Realm as wide as possible, encompass everyone inside, and transport them to another location.

Guan Tong also had another idea.

It concerned the source of its energy.

He had considered this issue before, but it became glaringly obvious after he first used the Shadow Realm: the ability’s energy consumption was enormous.

Using the Shadow Realm over a large area would cost him tens of thousands of units of Psychic Power each time. Without his reserve of Psychic Power, he simply couldn’t afford to use it.

’So, besides supplying the energy myself, could there be another way to obtain the Psychic Power needed to sustain the Shadow Realm?’

Over the past half-month of intermittent contemplation, Guan Tong had drawn upon the theory of Psychic Power Flow and Jiang Ming’s abilities to come up with a faint idea.

’Why can’t I just take it from my enemies?’

’If I’m deploying the Shadow Realm on a large scale, it must be because I’m facing enemies. The Shadow Realm itself is composed of high-density Psychic Power. If I incorporate the theory of flow, could I absorb the Psychic Power of enemies within the domain to replenish the domain itself?’

If he could achieve that, he would be weakening his enemies while simultaneously strengthening the Shadow Realm. Guan Tong felt it was a concept worth spending time to develop.

...

"Guan Tong... so he’s the lecturer replacing Shi Jingyi."

Inside the Strategy Research Room, Gao Liangwei glanced at the file. The first page was a photo of Guan Tong, who looked incredibly young.

"Yes," Zhang Minglu said. "He was recommended by Shi Jingyi and has already been approved by the dean. We’ve also done a background check; his identity is clean. But he learned everything from the online courses... His talent must be off the charts."

Gao Liangwei nodded. That wasn’t surprising.

Since the beginning of the era of the Apocalypse Rules, many previously unremarkable people had displayed extraordinary talents, suddenly finding themselves at the forefront of the times.

Gao Liangwei flipped to the next page and was somewhat surprised by its contents. "He was almost kidnapped once?"

"Correct. In Yunhua. The lead on that case was Li Meng."

At the mention of Li Meng, Gao Liangwei put down the file. "Speaking of that massive nationwide kidnapping case, I just received an update today. We’ve identified the mastermind."

Zhang Minglu froze. "Identified? Is it... one of them?"

"Yes," Gao Liangwei said gravely. "The other members were reportedly shocked, unable to believe that person would do such a thing."

"So... have they been caught?"

"No. After the failed attack on Shadow, the person knew they’d be found out and went into hiding. They may be planning to defect. But every department is currently busy dealing with the secondary disasters from the earthquake, so we can’t devote all our resources to a manhunt."

Zhang Minglu fell silent for a moment before speaking. "Should we tell Shadow about this? He was the victim, after all."

"What’s your assessment?"

"I think we have to. We may need to cooperate with him in the future, and it’s essential that he knows the Strategy Research Room is trustworthy."

Gao Liangwei nodded slightly at his words. "My thoughts exactly. I’ve already submitted a formal request to my superiors."