49 Apocalypse Rules

Chen Na, wearing a protective suit custom-tailored to her small frame, rode an elevator upward with five tall, imposing figures.

Since she wasn’t very familiar with the five of them, she stood timidly in the corner.

But this didn’t last for more than a few seconds. Soon, the only woman among the five walked over, bent down, and smiled at her.

"Chen Na, is it okay if I call you Na from now on?"

Chen Na nodded. "Okay. And what should I call you?"

"My codename is ’Silver Fox.’ Just call me Silver Fox."

"Okay, Silver Fox."

"Such a good girl~"

Silver Fox gently patted Chen Na’s head and said with a chuckle.

"Don’t be nervous. I, and those four gruff-looking guys, are all good people. We’ll protect you during the mission."

"Hey, Silver Fox, that’s enough," Black Shark grumbled. "Calling yourself ’big sister’ while calling us ’old guys’!"

Silver Fox laughed. "What, were you four rough-and-tumble guys expecting the little girl to call you ’big bro’?"

Black Shark was speechless. Flying Eagle chimed in with a laugh, "Night Owl is younger than you, Silver Fox. If you get to be ’big sister,’ then he’s definitely a ’big brother.’"

Night Owl, who wore thin-rimmed glasses, glanced up for a moment before burying his head again, continuing to fiddle with the electronic device in his hands. He clearly wanted no part in such a pointless argument.

Just then, the squad leader, Dragon Soul, spoke up. "Silver Fox, we’re operating alongside elite troops this time. When the time comes, cut the jokes. The army’s Commander won’t appreciate it."

Silver Fox shrugged. "Got it."

Dragon Soul then turned to Chen Na. "Chen Na, stick with Silver Fox. If there’s danger, she’ll protect you. Don’t run off on your own, no matter what."

Chen Na nodded. ’Even though they still see me as a kid who needs coddling, after everything I’ve been through, I’m much more mature than others my age.’

’I know I’m here on a mission and they might need my abilities, so I have to take this seriously.’

’Even though I’m still young, I already understand the principle of equivalent exchange.’

’If Dr. Zhang Minglu didn’t value my abilities, he wouldn’t have kept me here, let alone arranged a job for my mother in a base of this level—something countless people on the outside would beg for.’

It was because she understood this that when Dr. Zhang asked for her opinion, she had agreed without hesitation to join the Dragon Soul Squad’s operation and provide assistance.

The group of six took the elevator to a massive staging area on the ground floor. Here, a large contingent of soldiers was already in formation, fully equipped and ready to depart.

It was the first time Chen Na had seen so many soldiers in person, not on a screen, and she was astonished.

Even Black Shark from the Dragon Soul Squad was surprised. He stared at the neat rows of troops and muttered to Dragon Soul, "Captain, this many people for one operation? This must be the strength of a reinforced armored battalion... Whoa, and anti-air support, too. Have they confirmed there are flying Nightmare Beasts now?"

"Quiet down, Black Shark. Don’t forget our mission," Dragon Soul said. "We’re investigating deep inside the Mist. It’s only right to have more manpower."

After saying this, Dragon Soul went to have a brief exchange with the army’s Commander. Afterward, everyone boarded their vehicles, and on the Commander’s order, they officially set out.

...

「Somewhere in the Soloma Empire.」

Four women with sharp, foreign features pushed open a door and entered a room. The room was filled to the brim, with all sorts of occult items covering the walls and floor—Tarot Cards, Turtle Shells, bells, Ritual Knives... The list went on.

Behind a long table sat a woman, huddled in her chair. She was completely enveloped in a long blanket embroidered with a starry pattern, revealing only an unnaturally pale face dotted with a few freckles.

When the four women entered, the seated woman merely lifted her eyelids for a glance before immediately lowering her gaze back to a Crystal Ball on the table. Inside it was a deep blue, moon-shaped key.

"Adam," one of the four women called softly to someone outside the door. "Come in. It’s her, the Divination Master ’Moon Key’."

"I’m so sorry to disturb your peace~"

Adam, a slender man with shoulder-length golden hair, walked into the room, showing an extremely respectful attitude toward the woman behind the table.

This displeased the four women. They believed that Adam, as the strongest Ascender in the country, had no need to be so humble before a mere charlatan.

The woman behind the long table glanced at Adam and spoke. "What... is it?"

Her voice was hoarse, and her manner of speaking was strange, as if she were out of practice from not having spoken in a long time.

Adam said, "I’ve come to ask you, the renowned Divination Master Moon Key, for a Prophecy regarding the ninth pattern rule. It’s strange, but ever since that rule was announced, I’ve felt a persistent unease."

"Prophecy... consumes a lot of Psychic Power. I still... haven’t recovered," the woman called Moon Key stammered.

"I’ve already considered that."

Adam took out two medicinal vials and placed them on the table.

"One of them temporarily increases your maximum Psychic Power, and the other instantly restores all of it."

The woman nodded, took the potions, and used them.

She then gazed at the Crystal Ball in her hands, muttering some kind of incantation.

Before long, the deep blue key inside the Crystal Ball began to glow faintly and rotate.

The woman closed her eyes, seemingly receiving guidance from the key. This process lasted a full five minutes. As the key stopped rotating, the woman’s eyes opened.

She looked at Adam, but her pupils were unfocused, as if staring into nothing. "I saw... a door. An open door, hidden deep within the Mist. The door leads to... a terrifying world. Monsters... countless monsters are pouring out..."

’A door?’

The four women exchanged glances, not understanding what she meant.

Adam, however, nodded seriously. "Thank you for your Prophecy." With that, he took out several more precious items and placed them on the table as a token of his gratitude.

He then left the room, with the four women immediately following.

"Adam, are that mystic’s words really useful? Wasn’t she just spouting nonsense?"

"Yeah... those items you gave her were worth hundreds of thousands of Sublimation Coins. Was it really worth it?"

"It was worth it," Adam said noncommittally. "Get ready. I’m going deep into the Mist."

"Adam, you want to explore the Mist? That’s too dangerous! Would His Majesty even allow it?"

Adam smiled gently. "Since when do I need the King’s permission for anything? Have you all forgotten?"

"...Understood, Adam. We will begin preparations at once."

...

Guan Tong walked through the Mist.

He had no clue where the source of the Mist was for now, so he simply walked while sending out several Shadow Lines.

These Shadow Lines spread out from him in all directions like the spokes of a wheel. Their sole purpose was to find clues about the source of the Mist.

Before long, he heard a strange noise from the Mist to his left. He immediately realized the sound was coming from above.

WHOOSH!

A Nightmare Beast, almost perfectly blended with the Mist, suddenly dropped from the sky, its sharp claws swiping at Guan Tong’s chest!

Guan Tong reacted quickly enough. His finger squeezed the trigger, firing a No. 2 slug.

THUD! POP!

There wasn’t one sound, but two.

The first was the sound of the slug hitting the Nightmare Beast. The second was the sound of the Nightmare Beast exploding on its own.

Guan Tong watched with his own eyes as the Nightmare Beast—a headless, tubular creature with a pair of wings and four sharp claws—burst like a balloon after being shot!

There was no blood, no gore, no fur. After exploding, the Nightmare Beast simply vanished without a trace, as if devoured by the Mist.

’Even though I know these things are from an Alien Planet, seeing such a bizarre creature up close is still deeply unsettling.’

Coming into close contact with a creature that so thoroughly defies the laws of nature would give any human an indescribable sense of psychological dissonance.

Fortunately, its defenses weren’t impressive. A single No. 2 slug had been enough to take care of it, which gave him a bit of a baseline.

He made his way down the mountain and found the camp at the base that had belonged to Yu Hong and Zhao Yu. Those two...

THUMP! THUMP!

A sudden, powerful, ground-shaking sound shattered Guan Tong’s thoughts. Hearing it, he immediately looked toward the source and switched his perspective to the vision of a Shadow in that direction.

He immediately saw a colossal Nightmare Beast walking through the thick Mist!

It had five massive legs, and seemingly no feet—the ends were just flat, circular surfaces like the base of a pillar. Looking up its legs, he couldn’t see the top. The legs alone stretched higher than the few meters of visibility, its upper body completely hidden in the dense Mist.

’Guan Tong thought of the Biological Signal Detector sold in the Sublimation Store. It must have been designed to detect exactly this kind of giant Nightmare Beast.’

’...Should I avoid a monster like this?’

Guan Tong had no desire to fight. The five legs visible were already two or three stories tall; its true size was impossible to estimate.

’If an enemy like this spotted him and attacked, Guan Tong felt his only option would be to run.’

His first instinct was to get away from such a massive Nightmare Beast, but then a thought struck him. Listening to the rhythmic thumping of the giant’s steps, he suddenly realized something.

He controlled the Shadow in that direction to look down, and sure enough, he found footprints left by the Nightmare Beast on the ground.

This immediately sparked an idea in Guan Tong’s mind: ’The source of the Mist should be where the Nightmare Beasts appear. So, if I follow these giant footprints backward, the end of the trail should lead me to the source of the Mist!’

At that thought, he immediately changed direction. To avoid being noticed by the giant Nightmare Beast, he made a wide detour to the edge of the footprints and then began to follow them.

He recalled his Shadow Lines from the other directions, focusing them all to extend ahead of him, hoping a Shadow could find the source of the Mist before he did.

However, he realized he couldn’t rely on the Shadows for an early warning—he had already discovered that the Nightmare Beasts’ outer skin was like a soft carapace, and its color was almost identical to that of the Mist.

As a result, unless a Nightmare Beast was moving, it was incredibly difficult for the human eye to distinguish it or even see it in the Mist.

A Shadow’s five senses had no special abilities; they were identical to Guan Tong’s own. What Guan Tong couldn’t see, his Shadows couldn’t see either.

He followed the footprints, staying constantly alert for a potential Nightmare Beast attack. As for which direction he was heading, he had no idea; he’d been completely disoriented since entering the Mist.

After walking for about seven or eight minutes, Guan Tong heard another faint noise from behind. He spun around instantly and saw a bizarre, humanoid Nightmare Beast—with a head, torso, and four limbs—charging right at him!

BANG!

He pulled the Silver Hunter’s trigger without hesitation, this time using a No. 1 Scatter Shot. The blast knocked the humanoid Nightmare Beast back two steps before its body exploded and dissolved into the Mist.

In the instant the Nightmare Beast exploded, Guan Tong got a clear look at its face. Though it was mostly corroded, he still recognized it. A violent wave of nausea almost made him retch.

It was Yu Hong’s face!