49 Apocalypse Rules

"My relationship with Tong? We’re tight, of course. He’s like a big brother to me!"

"If Tong hadn’t helped me back then, I would’ve been kidnapped by criminals and dragged off to the middle of nowhere."

"What? You’re saying Tong is Shadow?!"

"Of course I didn’t know. Tong never told me."

"Can I get in touch with him? Er, that’s hard to say..."

When investigators found Xu Xiaotian to ask about the situation, he was certainly surprised, but when the conversation turned to any information about Guan Tong, he feigned complete ignorance.

As for whether he could contact Guan Tong, he said that while he had Guan Tong’s phone number, they didn’t exactly communicate in real time.

The most he could do was send a text, but there was no guarantee when Guan Tong would see it, or if he would even reply.

...

Wang Yan and Chen Na were equally shocked to learn that Guan Tong was Shadow.

However, Silver Fox and Zhang Minglu had already spoken with them once, and they didn’t get any new information this time either.

It was only after the investigators left that Chen Na put all the pieces together.

She finally understood why Shadow had gone out of his way to contact her friend, Qing Jin, to rescue her from Yongzhou Base.

And during the earthquake "rule," how Shadow, who was using a disguise, had smiled at her...

And during Luoying Operation, the vaguely familiar Psychic Power she had sensed after using her own abilities...

’So it was Guan from the very beginning,’ Chen Na thought. ’He’s helped and protected me so much more than I ever realized.’

This only strengthened her resolve. She had never planned to reveal anything about Guan Tong, and now she was even more determined.

...

As for Li Meng, when he learned that Guan Tong was Shadow, his surprise was mixed with a sense of relief.

"No wonder he was able to subdue that vicious gang boss, Shen Zuohu, all by himself. At the time, I thought it was unbelievable for a student to be that powerful. But if he’s Shadow, then it’s not strange at all."

"But as for any information on him, I really don’t have anything to offer."

"All I know is that he stayed at the Li Mei Hotel in Yunhua for a while."

...

After everyone connected to Guan Tong had been questioned, Zhang Minglu, who was in charge of managing Ascenders, took the files to Gao Liangwei’s office to report.

He was concise. "From what we’ve gathered, Guan Tong did a thorough job of keeping his identity as Shadow a secret. The people who know him were unaware."

"Although a few of them have his contact information, they all said he doesn’t always pick up when they call. They believe Guan Tong prefers asynchronous communication—that he receives messages and replies sometime later."

"Also..."

Gao Liangwei asked, "Also what?"

"Our professional investigators reported that the people who know Guan Tong all seemed to be hiding something. They weren’t telling us everything."

"Are you saying they’re voluntarily protecting his secret?"

"Yes." Zhang Minglu nodded.

"It seems this Guan Tong is quite good with people. He maintains good relationships with those around him."

Zhang Minglu explained, "Director, I don’t think it’s strange. The mother and daughter, Wang Yan and Chen Na, as well as that Xu Xiaotian—they all explicitly stated that Guan Tong saved their lives. It’s only natural they’d be grateful and unwilling to repay his kindness with betrayal."

"What about Shi Jingyi? Did Guan Tong save her, too? And she also doesn’t know he’s Shadow? If she doesn’t, why would she recommend him as a lecturer? You’d only do that if you knew how strong he was." Gao Liangwei zeroed in on the key point.

"According to what Silver Fox gathered from her, she said they met during the Living Dead ’rule.’ At the time, Guan Tong didn’t use his signature Shadow abilities. He used a firearm and only displayed the characteristics of high Psychic Power."

"The two of them fought side-by-side during that rule and became friends. This is on record with the official departments; in fact, one of our official teams had a conflict with the two of them back then."

"The reason Shi Jingyi recommended him later is that they kept in touch. Guan Tong was learning Psychic Power Flow from her through online courses, and his progress far exceeded that of her other students. That’s why she recommended him as a substitute lecturer."

Gao Liangwei fell silent after hearing the report.

He was both dissatisfied and satisfied with the results of the investigation.

He was dissatisfied because it yielded nothing of substance, and because these people were secretly protecting Guan Tong, even willing to hide things from the authorities to do so.

And yet, it was this very behavior—their protection of Guan Tong—that also satisfied him.

It seemed contradictory, but it wasn’t.

"Their willingness to cover for Guan Tong in front of our officials shows that they believe he is someone worth protecting. This, in fact, doesn’t contradict our long-standing assessment of Shadow."

"Yes," Zhang Minglu agreed. "Shadow is by no means an arch-villain. That’s why so many people believe he must have had a very important reason for assassinating the Divine Son."

"A reason he refuses to give is no reason at all."

"...True."

By not making a statement through any public channels since the assassination, Guan Tong had undoubtedly put himself at a disadvantage.

If you don’t seize the high ground of public opinion, someone else will.

If he continued to remain silent, the Sakura Prayer government would keep exploiting the incident, forcing the entire Human Federation to take a collective stance.

"Director, should we try to contact Guan Tong through these people?"

"Of course," Gao Liangwei said without hesitation, his tone grave.

"Have them relay our official position. Tell Guan Tong that justice will prevail in the hearts of the people, and if he has a reasonable explanation for the assassination, he should make it public. If not, then North Star cannot simply stand by and do nothing."

"Director, you mean... if it comes to it, North Star will have to issue a warrant for his arrest?"

"Yes. Because the world hasn’t completely devolved into the law of the jungle. At least, not yet. Do you understand?"

"...I understand."

...

「Early morning.」

BUZZZ. BUZZZ.

His phone vibrated. Guan Tong opened his eyes and sat up in bed.

He picked it up and glanced at the screen. It was a message from Xu Xiaotian.

Opening his message list, he saw that several of his acquaintances had texted him, starting from the previous night.

He opened them one by one. The content was more or less the same.

The authorities had found them, questioned them, and then asked for their help in relaying an official message to him.

The gist of the message was that they wanted to communicate with him. And if he wouldn’t, they wanted him to publicly explain the full story behind the assassination.

After reading, Guan Tong thought, ’Looks like, for now, the North Star officials are still keeping my identity a secret.’

Even though they knew he was Shadow, they hadn’t made it public yet, nor had they shared the intelligence with the other member states of the Human Federation.

The implication was self-evident.

’Asking me to explain the whole story... they’re giving me a chance to clear my name.’

Guan Tong understood. The officials were showing they believed he must have had a reason for his actions.

It was just like when he had eliminated Ba Song and the other warlords; they wanted him to do the same thing now—publicly explain his reasons as quickly as possible to win the support of people around the world.

This was something Guan Tong himself had been considering.

In the face of the Sakura Prayer government’s media blitz calling him a "war criminal" for the past few days, he hadn’t immediately responded. He was still deciding what ammunition to use in this war of public opinion.

One bullet was the personal grudge, but there wasn’t much to be said about that.

If he were to find another bullet, it would be what Shangyuan Zi had told him: the Divine Son had forced her to transform ordinary people into Snake Servants, to be used as potential weapons against other nations.

The Sakura Prayer government accused Guan Tong of committing a crime against humanity, but in reality, the Divine Son’s order was the true crime against humanity, through and through.

Guan Tong believed that if he fired these two bullets, anyone who could tell right from wrong would surely stand with him.

But words alone were not enough; he needed proof.

’If only I had known. I would have spared the lives of those team members...’

Guan Tong felt a pang of regret, but with Shangyuan Zi around, he shouldn’t be short on witnesses.

As for physical evidence, he wondered if there was anything in the local data he had copied from the administrative building via Mask’s trojan horse program.

An idea struck Guan Tong.

’Or maybe... I can have Shadow pay a visit to the Luoying Residence?’

He had already been planning to investigate more carefully whether the Divine Son was truly dead or not. He might as well circle back today for a surprise visit and see if he could grab some incriminating evidence while he was at it.