49 Apocalypse Rules

On August 16th, a piece of news began to spread throughout the academy.

A large number of televisions had been delivered to campus.

That’s right, televisions. Many students saw them with their own eyes, which prompted a spontaneous discussion on the Mind Network.

’(Why are they bringing so many TVs over? We can’t even use the internet, so there’s nothing to watch.)’

’(Someone went and asked. They said these TVs are different—they have disc drives.)’

’(Disc drives? What are those?)’

’(Are they the kind that can play discs?)’

’(Discs? Aren’t those ancient relics?!)’

’(Discs are just storage devices, right? So does this mean we can watch recorded videos on these TVs?)’

The students’ questions were soon answered.

The academy posted a notice: every four student dorms could collectively claim one old-model television.

These older TVs had no internal network modules, so using them wouldn’t violate the rules. Furthermore, they came with several discs.

Some of these discs were collections of movies and TV series, while others were variety shows.

The notice also made special mention that the first episode of *Decisive Ascender*—the world’s first Ascender variety show, produced by the "Strategy Research Room"—was complete and had been burned onto a disc.

Students could claim a TV and discs to entertain themselves, easing the pain of being without the internet.

The moment the notice was posted, the students were overjoyed.

Being without the internet for the past half-month had driven many of them stir-crazy.

While some were able to distract themselves with exercise and other activities, most students weren’t fond of sports and preferred digital entertainment. Many even preferred to control a video game character playing a ball game rather than touch a real ball themselves.

So, the arrival of the TVs and discs offered at least one more form of entertainment.

Besides, the Ascender variety show had been highly anticipated for a long time. Ever since an insider leaked information about it on the Ascender’s Home forums, anticipation and discussion for the program had never ceased.

Now, the show was finally here. Its release, right in the middle of a Digital Detox when entertainment was scarce, was perfect for getting through this period.

The students mobilized in groups, with residents from several dorms teaming up to collect their TVs and discs.

It wasn’t just the students; the faculty and staff received them too. And unlike the students who had to share one TV among several dorms, each staff member got their own.

Guan Tong also picked up a television and some discs and brought them to his dorm room.

After setting it up, he inserted the disc containing the first episode of *Decisive Ascender* into the drive.

The disc tray retracted, and the television began to play automatically.

The opening credits started with a burst of lively sound effects, accompanied by a montage of Ascenders sparring and battling.

Amidst the fragmented clips, Guan Tong was surprised to see a familiar figure.

To be precise, it was the "figure" of a Mecha.

A pink and white Mecha appeared in several clips—it was the very same "Snow White Traceless" he had fought on Holy Grail Island.

’So it’s a guest on a variety show now... I bet the championship is already rigged in your favor, huh?’

Guan Tong glanced at the disc case. The description explained that *Decisive Ascender* aimed to showcase the combat prowess of outstanding Ascenders, as well as another side to their daily lives.

If the format was based on sparring matches, he genuinely believed the Snow White Traceless had a huge competitive edge. The idea of it being a shoo-in for the championship wasn’t a joke, which was probably why it featured so heavily in the opening montage.

When the main program began, the content was much as the title suggested, focusing primarily on spars between different Ascenders.

Of course, following the rhythm of a typical variety show, it didn’t jump straight into the fights. It started with character introductions and so on.

Guan Tong watched for about ten minutes before picking up the remote and turning off the TV.

It wasn’t that the show was bad. On the contrary, he could tell from the very beginning that the producers were seasoned professionals. The pacing was excellent, following the safest route of a slow, captivating build-up.

It was just that Guan Tong had more important things to do. A show like this was better suited for watching before bed.

He glanced at the time: 5:10 PM.

’About time,’ he thought.

He got up, left his dorm, and walked off campus, arriving outside the Materials Distribution Department building at 6:00 PM sharp.

Before long, Xu Xiaotian ran out, a folded piece of paper in his hand, and gave it to Guan Tong.

"Tong, I’ve written down the locations of the Sisiya Gathering Points in Pinglu City. I’m not sure if it’s a complete list, but any area that receives our supplies is definitely on there."

"Great. Thanks. You can get back to work."

"Yeah! Just come find me if you need anything else, Tong!"

Xu Xiaotian jogged back inside. Guan Tong unfolded the paper and saw several locations marked on it.

The more important thing he had to do was, of course, deal with the death threat.

He had previously learned from Yelena that the people were sent by her own brother, and according to her, the operatives would be located in the Sisiya Gathering Points within the city.

This was because Sisiya people have distinctive features, making them easy to recognize and too conspicuous in other groups.

Furthermore, Guan Tong believed that people from that country were generally colder by nature. They found it difficult to form deep connections with other ethnic groups and tended to stick to their own circles.

That was why Guan Tong had found Xu Xiaotian yesterday and asked him to compile a comprehensive list of Sisiya Gathering Points.

Xu Xiaotian’s Materials Distribution Department was responsible for transporting supplies to everyone in Pinglu City, so naturally, they had a firm grasp on how many people and what kinds of people were in any given area.

One could say that the department with the clearest understanding of a region’s population wasn’t the Public Security Bureau or the Archives Department, but the Materials Department. Without a firm grasp of the population, the department’s "eliminate waste" policy would be impossible to implement—how could you eliminate waste if you didn’t know exactly how many people needed supplies?

After getting the map of locations, Guan Tong’s next step was to investigate them one by one.

If not for the Digital Detox rules, it wouldn’t be this troublesome. He could have just found a way to check the security cameras near the academy.

But the existence of this rule meant he couldn’t access camera data either. Modern security cameras were all networked, and viewing their footage would risk violating the rules.

Guan Tong’s method of investigation certainly wasn’t to go around asking questions. Instead, he deployed a large number of Shadows to each location, having them monitor the Sisiya’s living quarters.

This way, he would be able to detect any movement immediately. The basis for his belief that they *would* make a move was that he was continuing to tutor Yelena.

That’s right. If the person who issued the death threat discovered that their target was unfazed and continued as before, what would be their next step?

If they lacked the ability to make good on the threat, then the threat itself was meaningless.

Guan Tong was almost certain that Yelena’s brother wasn’t just making an empty threat.

If he ignored the threat and carried on as usual, her brother would definitely order his subordinates to follow through.

At that point, once he found out who was making a move, Guan Tong could strike first.

Although he could also do nothing and wait for the enemy to come to him, that wasn’t his style. Even with confidence in his own strength, he preferred to take the offensive rather than wait passively.

With all his preparations in place, all that was left was to wait patiently.

What surprised Guan Tong was that before he even had a chance to exercise his patience, he got a bite on the hook.

That very night, the Shadow Line he had placed in one of the Sisiya Gathering Points detected unusual activity.

A group of three Sisiya men left their Gathering Point together after 11:30 PM, heading in the direction of the academy.

The three were completely unaware they were being watched and even discussed the details of their operation on the way.

"After our warning, that teacher contacted the target alone again. According to the master’s orders from before we came, if the warning is ineffective, we eliminate the teacher."

"According to the intel we’ve received, the teacher’s dorm building is now guarded by North Star soldiers. We need to be careful and not make too much of a scene."

"Right. Just take the guy out. If this gets too big, we won’t be able to explain it."

"We’ll kill him first, then leave the city immediately to lay low. No matter what, if a teacher valued by North Star is killed, they’re bound to launch a thorough investigation."

As the men discussed the details of their plan, they suddenly sensed something was wrong and stopped in their tracks.

"Why is it getting so dark?"

At some point, the light on the road had begun to dim. At first, they thought there were just fewer streetlights, but that wasn’t it at all.

"Damn it! We’ve walked into a trap!"

"There’s an enemy!!"

Only then did the three realize they had been drawn into some kind of special environment.

Everything around them was being rapidly swallowed by a terrifying darkness. This was by no means a natural phenomenon.

"It’s a barrier! The enemy used one of the Barrier Items!"

"Break it together!"

The three of them struck out at once, using their abilities and items to attack the same spot in the darkness, but it seemed to have no effect.

"What’s going on?"

"Impossible! My item can unleash destructive power equivalent to over a thousand points of Psychic Power! There’s no way it can’t break through a normal Barrier Item!"

"Don’t panic. The enemy has only trapped us. These kinds of Barrier Items usually have a very short duration. We just need to stay calm."

The three men calmed down and stood back-to-back, warily watching their surroundings.

They strained their eyes, trying to see, but they could see nothing at all.

It was too dark. They tried using illumination items, but they only managed to light up a small area around them. Anything further away was completely devoured by the darkness.

"Damn it, who is this? And how was our cover blown?"

"You cowardly bastard! Come on out!" one of them shouted in the North Star Language. The other two frowned, thinking it was useless.

But to their surprise, their opponent actually responded.

"You run into someone else’s home to stuff notes and leave trash without so much as a greeting, and you have the gall to call others cowardly?"

Hearing the somewhat ethereal and shifting voice, the three men tried to pinpoint its location in the darkness, but they couldn’t nail it down at all.

’We need to get him to say a few more words!’

The three understood each other implicitly. Just as they were about to speak, they all felt something was wrong.

"Psychic Power..."

The strange feeling of physical weakness made them think of something, and they all hurriedly opened their Terminal Panels.

Staring at the slowly decreasing Psychic Power reserve numbers on their panels, all three fell into a panic. "Our Psychic Power is decreasing! What’s happening?!"