49 Apocalypse Rules

"Black Shark! Respond!"

"Silver Fox, Flying Eagle! Night Owl! Acknowledge!"

Dragon Soul stood amidst a field of ruins, his voice hoarse as he tried to contact his squadmates over the radio.

His clothes were in tatters, and something hard had gashed his forehead, staining half his face with blood, but he paid it no mind.

What made him more anxious was that he had lost contact with all four of his teammates.

All their preparations, all their plans, had become useless the moment they teleported into the epicenter.

No one had expected the energy erupting from the epicenter to be so powerful. Mere seconds after their arrival, everyone was hit by the seismic waves and scattered.

Even the Dragon Soul Squad, the strongest overall, couldn’t maintain their formation. After just five seconds, they had all lost sight of each other.

As the captain, Dragon Soul had used all his strength just to barely protect himself, leaving him with no energy to spare for others. He couldn’t even help Shadow, because he couldn’t get anywhere near the Earth Vein Pillar.

’Did Shadow succeed in weakening the earthquake?’ He didn’t know.

He only knew that the last few minutes had felt like an eternity, as if everything around him was disintegrating.

Now that the earthquake had stopped, he crawled out from a pile of rubble and tried to contact his squad, but there was no response.

A heavy weight settled in his heart.

He tried searching the vicinity for others, but to his despair, he couldn’t find a single living person, not even a body.

He knew very well that finding no bodies didn’t mean everyone survived. It was because people had been "eaten" by the earthquake.

"Command, can you hear me?"

He tried using his long-range comms headset to contact the officials, but all he heard was static.

The massive earthquake must have affected the magnetic field, completely severing all communications.

Dragon Soul took a deep breath. He knew he couldn’t give up. The more critical the situation, the calmer he had to be.

’I need to find Shadow first and make sure he’s alive.’

Shadow was the core of the disaster mitigation plan. If he died in this earthquake, then the magnitude 10 superquake in three days would be completely unstoppable.

And so, Dragon Soul, a steadfast soldier, couldn’t help but pray.

He prayed that Shadow had survived. Otherwise, all their efforts, from start to finish, would have been for nothing.

Perhaps the heavens heard his plea, for he hadn’t walked far before he saw Guan Tong.

"Shadow, you’re alive!"

"Barely made it." Guan Tong glanced at the tattered, blood-spattered Dragon Soul. "Looks like you’re in the same boat."

"Whether we live or die is secondary. The crucial thing is that you survived!"

"...Let’s not talk like that. So many people have already been sacrificed."

Dragon Soul fell silent. After a moment, he said, "Yes, most of them are likely gone. I’ve lost contact with all of my squad members."

Just then, the Teleportation Array lit up, and a support team of over a hundred people arrived.

Some were backup members for the disaster mitigation team, some were professional medical personnel, and dozens of other volunteers who had offered to protect Guan Tong had also come along.

When they teleported in and saw the scene, they were all stunned.

Besides the deep, bottomless fissures of all sizes, the ground was covered in vast stretches of rubble. It was almost impossible to tell that this had once been the central district of a megacity.

"This is Yunhua?!"

"The entire Yunhua City is... gone??"

"How could this happen..."

Many of them had visited Yunhua before the Apocalypse Rules were announced and had experienced the city’s prosperity.

Now, looking at the boundless emptiness, they felt an indescribable, dreamlike sensation.

Even high-intensity warfare couldn’t level a megacity, but the mighty power of nature, far surpassing war, had done so with ease.

Soon, people noticed Guan Tong and Dragon Soul and ran over.

The medical staff began treating Dragon Soul and also checked on Guan Tong. Aside from being completely drained, Guan Tong was uninjured. This was partly due to his own caution after his last injury, and partly due to the volunteers who had used their abilities to protect him in the first second or two after teleporting.

It was for this very reason that his mood was now so somber.

While receiving emergency medical treatment, Dragon Soul began directing the newly arrived support personnel to search the surrounding area for any possible survivors.

He refused to believe that only he and Guan Tong had made it out alive. There had to be other survivors, perhaps knocked unconscious or trapped under the rubble. If they could be found in time, their lives could be saved.

Meanwhile, Shi Jingyi, a member of another group of volunteers, walked up to Guan Tong.

"How are you?" she asked.

Guan Tong looked at her. Just like the first time they met, she was wearing white training clothes, her waist-length braid hanging down her back.

In response to her question, Guan Tong said, "You saw it, didn’t you? The first wave of volunteers is probably all gone."

"..."

"I’m going to suggest to the officials that for the next one, the final earthquake, we don’t send any more volunteers. You should go back to the academy."

Shi Jingyi frowned slightly. "Do you think I’m afraid to die?"

"This isn’t about being afraid or not," Guan Tong said, shaking his head. "The energy erupting from the epicenter is too immense. I only survived by using the Psychic Power countless people channeled to me to constantly generate armor and offset the impacts. But you? Your Psychic Power Shield is strong, but it can’t withstand the endless, successive waves of seismic shocks!

"Not to mention, a magnitude 10 earthquake is a theoretical concept. No one knows how much energy it will actually release. You’re from Yunhua City too. Look at what’s become of our hometown. Such a huge city, leveled by a magnitude 9 earthquake. The scale and scope of destruction a magnitude 10 could cause is simply unpredictable."

Guan Tong rarely spoke so much at once; he was clearly agitated.

He didn’t want Shi Jingyi and the others to die in vain.

Shi Jingyi listened seriously to his long speech and nodded slightly. "You have a point, but I only have one question. Did this batch of volunteers help you?"

"They helped, but..."

"But the effect was limited?" Shi Jingyi picked up where he left off. "Perhaps the help they provided wasn’t that significant, but it still had some effect. And that makes it meaningful."

Guan Tong took a deep breath. "Shi Jingyi, let’s not argue about this now. Let’s go help look for survivors."

"Fine. But if you think you can change my mind, you’re wrong."

"..."

Guan Tong felt helpless but decided to drop the subject for now.

Then, Shi Jingyi keenly sensed what he needed at that moment.

"Do you need Psychic Power?"

"Yeah, I could use some."

"Hold out your hand."

"Do you have a transfer device?"

Though confused, Guan Tong still held out his palm.

The next moment, Shi Jingyi grasped his hand, and a massive amount of Psychic Power was instantly channeled into his body through their contact!

"Directly transferring Psychic Power without a device?" Guan Tong was astonished. "How are you doing that?"

"This is only possible when both parties have mastered the art of Psychic Power Flow," Shi Jingyi explained. "Haven’t you noticed? I’m not transmitting Psychic Power *to* you. I’m just injecting it into your self-circulating Mind Shield, and then your body absorbs it through its natural cycle."

Hearing this, Guan Tong focused inward and realized she was right.

’So Psychic Power Flow can do this too.’

He had originally thought his own idea of "channeling through the body" was more versatile than Shi Jingyi’s methods. But now it seemed her techniques were full of her own unique insights and developments, befitting her status as a head instructor.

As a steady stream of Psychic Power was injected into his Mind Shield, Guan Tong’s body circulated it, converting it into usable Flowing Psychic Power.

In just a few seconds, his limit of several hundred points was completely filled.

In contrast, Shi Jingyi, who had just transferred so much Psychic Power, still looked completely at ease.

Guan Tong couldn’t help but ask, "Jingyi, what’s your Psychic Power limit now?"

Ascenders usually avoided such personal questions. If it were anyone else, Guan Tong wouldn’t have been so tactless as to ask directly. But with Shi Jingyi, he didn’t overthink it; he was curious, so he just asked.

Shi Jingyi answered candidly, "Over nine hundred."

Over nine hundred!

Guan Tong was stunned. That was outrageous, especially since he knew she hadn’t claimed anyone’s top spot during the Eighth Rule Stage.

"It’s nothing special, really. My initial limit was just quite high, and my natural growth rate is much faster than others. It just accumulated to this point over time."

"...And you say that’s nothing special? Even the people who maxed out the 500-point limit during the Eighth Rule Stage must be far behind you."

"I don’t know, I don’t really pay attention to that stuff," Shi Jingyi said. "Well, I’m going to search for survivors."

"Right, me too."

Guan Tong’s search method was far more efficient than anyone else’s. Now that he had enough Psychic Power, he immediately released a multitude of Shadow Lines, sending them slithering out in all directions, drilling into hard-to-explore piles of rubble to find survivors.

Through this method, he actually found seven or eight people.

Among them were two members of the Dragon Soul Squad, Silver Fox and Black Shark.

Both were unconscious when they were pulled from the rubble, suffering from severe internal injuries. The newly arrived medical personnel and Ascenders with relevant abilities immediately began treating them.

Later, others found a few more bodies. One of them was the Dragon Soul Squad member called "Flying Eagle." His skull had been pierced by a steel rebar. When Dragon Soul saw him, he stood in silence for a long time.

Before long, numerous aircraft arrived, airdropping more rescue personnel.

Although the massive city of Yunhua had been evacuated, some people had chosen to stay behind. The officials would not abandon them. Even if the entire city had been destroyed by the earthquake, they had to do everything possible to rescue every survivor.

The airdropped personnel also brought the latest notice from the research lab, instructing Guan Tong to immediately go and receive a Psychic Power transfer.

The messenger also relayed a specific message from Gao Liangwei: "There is no time for grief or sorrow. Every second must be spent preparing for the final trial in 72 hours—the magnitude 10 earthquake. If there is to be any mourning or remembrance, it will have to wait until this is all over."

The words were harsh, but Guan Tong knew they were right.

Even though it was his hometown that had been destroyed, he had no time for sentimentality. There were more important things he had to do.

When he teleported to the designated location, Zhang Minglu was there. He immediately began organizing the Psychic Power transfer while briefing Guan Tong on the earthquake situation.

"The epicenter of this magnitude 9 earthquake was in the center of Yunhua City. The quake destroyed a large part of the southeast region, including Yunhua, and triggered some local tsunamis. Fortunately, the coastal cities had been evacuated early, so the losses were not significant."

As Guan Tong listened, he thought about how that large part of the southeast region must include Mingdao Mountain. The little home he had built for himself was now completely gone.

’When this Rule Stage is over, if I survive, where will I go then?’

"However, because of your successful intervention, the earthquake was effectively weakened after 37 seconds, which prevented the disaster from spreading to more areas." Zhang Minglu was filled with emotion. "Without your ability, the entire southeast and even the central regions might have been destroyed... The resulting losses would have been immeasurable."

Guan Tong asked, "According to calculations, how many times more powerful will the magnitude 10 earthquake be compared to the magnitude 9?"

"...It’s impossible to calculate." Zhang Minglu was silent for a moment. "A magnitude 10 earthquake is certain to trigger a host of secondary disasters. Not even the AI grand model can give an accurate prediction of how destructive it will be."

"And all our department can do now is bet everything on you, hoping you can mitigate its destruction as much as possible."

"...So you’re saying other departments have other plans as well."

"Yes." Zhang Minglu didn’t shy away from the point. "Although it isn’t public, multiple manned rockets will be launched before the magnitude 10 earthquake hits. If Celestial Water Star is truly destroyed, the personnel aboard those rockets will become the seeds of humanity, scattered to the stars."