49 Apocalypse Rules

"Adam, they’re all down below."

"Okay, I’ll handle it."

In front of a collapsed high-rise in the Soloma Imperial Capital.

Adam raised his hands. Under his control, an invisible Gravity field lifted a massive amount of rubble and debris into the air.

The many survivors below saw daylight again, their eyes instantly welling with tears. Those with strength left hurried out, while the exhausted were quickly carried out by rescue workers.

Once everyone was saved, Adam released his power, and the hundreds of heavy building fragments in the air immediately crashed to the ground.

"Thank you for saving us!"

"Thank God!"

The rescued people crowded around Adam to thank him. A little girl looked at him with adoration and asked, "Mister, are you an Angel?"

Adam smiled and wiped the dust from the little girl’s face. "I’m not an Angel, you are. Go get something to eat."

The rescue team took the survivors to a supply station. They had been trapped under the collapsed building for several days and needed to replenish their energy as soon as possible.

Adam watched them leave before turning his gaze away. "Let’s go. On to the next one."

Amanda looked at him worriedly. "Adam, you don’t have much Psychic Power left, do you?"

"Yeah. I can only manage one more rescue like this at most." Adam sighed. "I’m so jealous of Shadow. If only I could store Psychic Power transferred from others, like he can."

"...That guy has so many weird abilities. I have no idea how he got them."

"You don’t get to be number one in the world without a diverse set of abilities, heh."

"Adam, what do you think the disaster situation is like over in North Star? I heard an elder mention yesterday that even though the earthquake’s power was weakened by the time it reached North Star, it still caused immense destruction."

"Of course. A magnitude-10 earthquake, even weakened to ten percent of its power, is still astonishingly destructive. But a major power like North Star will definitely pull through. The ones to pity are the small countries. They’re probably all finished this time."

Amanda nodded. After these Apocalypse Rules, it would be a miracle if even ten member states of the Human Federation remained.

"But there are two sides to every coin. This might be an opportunity," Adam said optimistically.

"An opportunity?"

"Yes. An opportunity for the remaining people in the world to truly integrate and connect with one another."

...

Fahe Country.

During the magnitude-9 earthquake, the country experienced a shake-up in its high-level leadership.

The turmoil meant that many preparations for the magnitude-10 earthquake were never used, leading to a chain reaction. As one of the world’s major powers, its response to the magnitude-10 quake was worse than that of most small nations.

With no official organization, people were left to fend for themselves, fighting block by block. This might be effective against small groups of enemies, but against a natural disaster, it was no different from suicide.

A natural disaster doesn’t care about your strong will, nor does it care how deep your bonds are with family and neighbors.

A natural disaster has only one enemy: organizational strength.

With strong organization, you might not lose too badly in the fight against it.

With weak organization, you will be utterly defeated.

Due to the lack of timely official organization and collective evacuation, over ninety percent of Fahe’s population perished in the earthquake.

The remaining population of just over a million were now huddled in one or two major cities that had been reduced to wastelands, just barely surviving.

Several hundred thousand were in the Capital, but without electricity, water, or sufficient food, if they didn’t organize quickly, their numbers would only continue to dwindle in the face of secondary disasters.

However, at the ruins of the Fahe National Collection, a large crowd of people were prostrated on the ground.

At the head of the crowd was a throne with several hundred years of history, belonging to the first King of Fahe.

At this moment, someone was sitting on this national treasure, basking in the worship of the prostrated crowd below.

"This country... is mine now."

The person on the throne wore a dark, twisted smile.

...

On the former lands of the Andai Kingdom, now the new homeland of Sakura Prayer, the people gazed toward their old home, their faces filled with bewilderment and grief.

News had arrived that their island homeland had been torn apart and sunk in the earthquake. Everything and everyone on the island had vanished beneath the sea, becoming an irretrievable part of the past.

This left the surviving Yingqi People feeling utterly lost. Many who hadn’t died in the earthquake ended up taking their own lives by throwing themselves into the sea, unable to cope with the psychological fallout.

Though the rest were in pain, they also felt a sense of gratitude toward their leaders. If not for the decisive choice to evacuate the entire population at the very start of the Apocalypse Rules, it wouldn’t just be the island that had disappeared, but the entire existence of the nation of Sakura Prayer.

As long as many Yingqi People were still alive, their nation had not perished. With effort, it could be reborn.

It was just that the original ambitions of some Yingqi People had been completely shattered by this earthquake.

When Baqizi heard that the Chosen Team’s instructor, Mu Tian City, had committed seppuku, she wasn’t particularly surprised.

She knew that to Mu Tian City, the Apocalypse Rules were not a disaster but an opportunity—a chance for Sakura Prayer to surpass North Star and Soloma and become the world’s number one power, if only they seized it.

But after this disaster, having lost their homeland and over eighty percent of their population, Sakura Prayer had no chance of reaching the top. Mu Tian City taking his own life in despair was the inevitable choice after his ambitions were crushed.

As for what would happen to Sakura Prayer next, whether the Chosen Team would disband without Mu Tian City, or how the Divine Son would arrange things for them—she didn’t know, and she didn’t care.

It was like when she gave the fragment to Guan Tong. The only meaning that action held for her was not wanting him to go on a killing spree on the island. But deep down, she knew that was just an excuse.

In reality, she didn’t really care about those people’s lives, not even her own. She knew Guan Tong had seen that in her at the time, which was why he called her a nihilist.

’But isn’t life just a void anyway?’

As Baqizi was thinking this, someone came with a message, saying the Divine Son had summoned her.

...

Shi Jingyi felt a throbbing pain between her eyebrows and slowly opened her eyes.

Guan Tong’s young face gradually came into focus.

"You’re finally awake," she heard Guan Tong say with a long sigh of relief.

Shi Jingyi frowned and asked, "How long was I unconscious?"

As she spoke, she tried to sit up but found she was extremely weak, completely drained of strength. She could only manage to lean her head back against the headboard.

"A little over three days." Guan Tong handed her a glass of water. "I gave you over twenty different medicinal items I bought from the market. One of them finally worked."

Shi Jingyi took a few sips of water and smiled faintly. "That many? Must have cost a lot of Sublimation Coins."

"As long as you woke up, I would’ve spent everything I had," Guan Tong said. "After all, you were injured trying to help me."

Hearing this, Shi Jingyi’s expression sharpened. "Do you know who the attacker was?"

"Yeah, a criminal organization I crossed before. Their leader is likely someone high up in the government. I already killed the ones who attacked us directly. I won’t let the leader get away, either. I’ll definitely take her down soon."

Although Guan Tong didn’t speak with gritted teeth or a hateful expression, Shi Jingyi could still feel the resolve in his calm tone.

She knew that despite his youth, Guan Tong was stubborn and very bold. She had seen that from their very first meeting at the industrial park.

"How are you feeling now?" Guan Tong asked.

Shi Jingyi closed her eyes slightly, as if inspecting her own condition through some method.

A moment later, she opened her eyes and shook her head slightly. "There seems to be something wrong inside my head."

"Inside your head?"

Guan Tong grew tense at her words.

The brain is the most delicate part of the human body. Even a small problem could be a major one.

"Don’t worry, it’s nothing serious. It just might take some time to recover."

"That’s good..."

"By the way, where am I?"

Shi Jingyi surveyed the room. It was a very simple room, looking nothing like a hospital ward.

"This is my shelter," Guan Tong said. "I was afraid someone might try to finish the job, so I didn’t take you to a hospital or any place like that."

Shi Jingyi chuckled. "It’s not that serious, is it?"

"Better safe than sorry," Guan Tong said. "But now that you’re awake, where you go is your call, of course."

Shi Jingyi thought for a moment and asked, "How is Yong’an doing after the earthquake?"

"Not good."

As the Capital, Yong’an wasn’t close to the epicenter, but being a low-altitude city, it was still hit by the massive floods caused by the tsunami.

"Yong’an was completely flooded. But I heard their shelters were all built to the highest specifications, and they have an advanced drainage system, so a large number of people survived. It didn’t completely collapse like other cities hit by the floods."

"Also, I heard on the radio a while ago that Yong’an’s official government functions have been temporarily relocated to Pinglu City. Places like the academy will be moved there too."

"Pinglu." Shi Jingyi smiled. "I know it. It’s a high-altitude city in the west. It’s pretty famous because its name means ’Flat Land’ despite being so high up."

"That’s right. The city was lucky; it was almost untouched by the disaster, so government functions were temporarily moved there. They’ll probably move back one day, after the floodwaters recede," Guan Tong said.

"Oh, right. The academy."

Shi Jingyi remembered, and a headache began to form.

"In my current condition, I probably won’t be able to teach for a while. It’ll take at least three or four months to fully recover. In the meantime, regarding my classes..."

Seeing Shi Jingyi’s troubled expression, Guan Tong suggested, "Why don’t I be your teaching assistant during that time and cover your classes?"

A long time ago, Shi Jingyi had asked Guan Tong over the phone to be her teaching assistant, but he had declined at the time.

But now, Guan Tong felt a sense of guilt toward Shi Jingyi. Plus, his own "home" had also been destroyed in the earthquake, leaving him with nowhere to go for the time being. It wouldn’t hurt to help her teach for a few months.

Hearing this, Shi Jingyi looked at him in surprise. "You’ll cover my classes?"

"You don’t think I’m capable enough?"

"That’s not it. Your understanding of Psychic Power Flow is already very deep; you’d have no problem teaching new students. But... don’t you dislike this kind of thing? You don’t have to force yourself."

Guan Tong shook his head. "It’s not forcing myself. It’s more like something I could take or leave. Besides, even though I worked with the government to handle the Apocalypse Rules, I never revealed my identity. So the government still doesn’t know that ’Shadow’s’ real identity is Guan Tong. It won’t be a problem."

Shi Jingyi thought for a moment, then nodded. "Alright, you can help me out for a few months then. I’ll contact the dean later, and then recommend you to him in a few days. That way, if he knows that I and ’Shadow’ were attacked at the same time, he won’t connect the two of you when he finds out I recommended you as soon as I woke up."

"Okay, sounds like a plan."

"Mhm. Guan Tong, I have one more question for you."

"What is it?"

Shi Jingyi turned her head to look at the flowing seawater outside the window.

"This shelter of yours... is it built on the sea?"