49 Apocalypse Rules

On March 14th, the North Star Country’s foreign affairs department finally responded to the Andai Kingdom’s protest, stating they would conduct a thorough investigation into the matter of Shadow.

If it was confirmed that Shadow held North Star Country citizenship and there was conclusive evidence of cross-border killings, they would pursue accountability in accordance with relevant laws.

Once the news broke, it sparked discussions not only in the North Star Country and the Andai Kingdom but also caused a major uproar worldwide.

Because the matter involved the special Ascender, Shadow, many powerful nations with considerable strength were paying close attention.

Previously, Lucifer being wanted by Soloma and going on the run, killing people in other countries, had already made the topic of "whether powerful Ascenders are still bound by national laws" a hot-button issue.

In some smaller nations—such as a country called "Mogok," which was mentioned in a post on the Ascender’s Home website—there had even been a case where a civilian Ascender group assassinated the president and seized power.

This incident didn’t gain much traction among the general public in various countries because Mogok had very little presence on the international stage.

However, the governments of various nations took this matter extremely seriously, widely recognizing it as a very bad sign!

If an Ascender could seize power by force in a small country today, could a similar situation happen in a major, powerful nation tomorrow?

At present, civilian Ascenders were perhaps still no match for the armed forces of a major power.

But one couldn’t forget that only nine rules had passed. If another nine, ten, or twenty rules were to pass... no one could predict to what extent an Ascender’s individual strength would increase by then.

Anyone with eyes could see that the increase in an Ascender’s strength wasn’t a linear, level-by-level progression like in a game, but rather a series of great leaps and bounds.

Thus, it was impossible for the world’s governments not to feel a sense of crisis. After all, official institutions are made up of people, and people have selfish desires; they worry that the wealth and power they possess could be taken away by others.

So now, with the incident involving Shadow, all the world’s governments were paying close attention. The attitude of most nations was unanimous: stern condemnation.

Most countries issued statements, arguing that Shadow’s act of infiltrating another nation’s Capital and carrying out a large-scale massacre was a blatant violation of national sovereignty and that he should be listed as an internationally wanted criminal.

Putting themselves in others’ shoes, these countries were being so harsh on the matter because they feared something similar could happen within their own borders.

But a very small number of countries remained silent or even sang a different tune.

The Soloma Empire, for example, issued a statement immediately after the North Star Country’s official announcement. Their spokesperson stated that Shadow had eliminated a group of bandits and shouldn’t be subjected to such harsh criticism. They also publicly invited Shadow to live in the Soloma Empire, promising to provide the most generous treatment.

These statements pushed the heated discussion of the matter to a new height, with people on social media platforms across the globe debating it from different viewpoints.

"So many countries are condemning him together. Looks like Shadow really scared them. Makes sense. If more Ascenders start doing things like this, government officials everywhere will be losing sleep."

"Soloma is really sticking to its barbaric ways. Every other country is condemning him, but they go against the grain and openly recruit him. They really think they can look down on everyone else just because they have more warships!"

"Isn’t that obvious? Before the Apocalypse Rules, Soloma was bombing other countries every other day, showing no regard for their sovereignty. What Shadow did now probably looks tame in the eyes of the King of Soloma."

"If I had Shadow’s power, why would I be afraid of being wanted? As long as you’re strong enough, you can go anywhere in the world."

"No matter how you look at it, killing is wrong. Especially in this day and age, human life is much more precious than before."

"I think there will only be more ’Shadows’ in the future. You can’t control it. Humanity will sooner or later enter a new form of society."

"I agree. I predict that once the individual power of Ascenders breaks through the critical point and surpasses the armed forces of nations, human society will definitely undergo a massive transformation."

"Speaking of which, have you all forgotten? The whole purpose of the Fire Thief releasing the Apocalypse Rules, which we were discussing before, was to cull humanity down to a select few, wasn’t it?"

This storm of discussion was massive, but like a typhoon, the core—the eye of the storm—was windless and unusually calm.

Guan Tong, the core who had triggered it all, was sitting calmly in front of his computer. Coal Ball was asleep on his lap, purring.

He saw the joint condemnation from multiple countries, as well as the statements from the North Star Country’s government and the Soloma Empire, but felt little emotion.

’It’s already done. There’s no point in looking back and wondering if it was right or wrong.’ Besides, he didn’t think he had done anything wrong. ’Letting people like Ba Song live would have been the real mistake.’

However, his mind was currently more focused on the content regarding fragments No. 2 and No. 4 that Primordial Man had sent him.

It was called content, but to be precise, it was a "story" that was personally interpreted and summarized.

It was like the old saying from the world Guan Tong had transmigrated from: a thousand people will have a thousand different Hamlets in their eyes.

Hamlet was a relatively straightforward case; at least it consisted of text.

But for a mural with no words, only pictures, everyone’s interpretation would naturally differ. It was even possible for completely opposite interpretations to arise.

What Guan Tong saw was not the original mural, but Primordial Man’s personal interpretation of it. He couldn’t judge whether it was true or false, or if there were any intentionally inserted biases or omissions.

All he could do was analyze whether the content was reasonable by cross-referencing it with the two fragments he possessed.

The interpretation sent by Primordial Man was roughly as follows:

Qimo Star Chronicles - Fragment 2: Various types of Exotic Beasts lived in different settlements. Some formed alliances, while others fought amongst themselves. A few special groups of Exotic Beasts seemed to have developed higher intelligence, demonstrated by gazing at the stars for long periods, establishing large-scale tribal clusters, and inventing a method of communication through stone carvings.

Qimo Star Chronicles - Fragment 4: All kinds of Exotic Beasts began a mass migration as the planet’s environment underwent cataclysmic changes. All manner of disasters appeared—fire, floods, lightning, solid ice, earthquakes, and more—and a vast number of Exotic Beasts perished. After the great migration ended, only a small number of Exotic Beasts survived. At the very end, a wisp of mist drifted out.

After reading the interpretations of these two fragments, Guan Tong found them generally acceptable.

He believed Primordial Man hadn’t tried to be clever or deceitful, because this corresponded with the content of his own two fragments.

’The story pieced together from the four fragments is probably about this planet called Qimo Star, which gave rise to numerous Exotic Beast lifeforms. They propagated and evolved naturally. After an unknown span of time, they gradually developed intelligence and formed groups like tribes.’

’After another unknown number of years, some Exotic Beasts evolved higher intelligence, developing the concept of "stone-carved writing"... If they had continued to evolve, perhaps they could have eventually entered a technological era, just like humans.’

’But this process seems to have been interrupted. The planet’s environment changed abruptly. Disasters like floods, fires, extreme cold, and earthquakes descended, forcing all the Exotic Beasts into a mass migration for survival, trying to find a new, safe environment... And after the migration was complete, the appearance of a wisp of spectral mist signaled the end of fragment No. 4’s content...’

Guan Tong thought to himself, ’That wisp of spectral mist must be the ’Mist’ from the ninth rule—the one that can corrupt and transform living beings into Nightmare Beasts. The Alien Beast Civilization of Qimo Star was probably destroyed by this Mist...’

Although he didn’t know to what stage the Alien Beast Civilization had developed, judging from Primordial Man’s interpretation of the mural, it was most likely still in a primitive societal stage if compared to human development, not even having reached the agricultural revolution.

He imagined that if humanity were in a primitive stage right now, without modern, well-sealed buildings, what other outcome could there be besides annihilation when faced with the Mist’s invasion?

’In an era like that, perhaps only a very small number of humans hiding deep in caves, in places untouched by the Mist, could have survived...’

As Guan Tong was thinking, he saw a new private message arrive from Primordial Man.

Primordial Man: "I’ve finished reading the stories from Fragment 1 and Fragment 3. Shadow’s summary is excellent! The story of Qimo Star is already quite clear. Ah, I can’t wait to see the ending in Fragment 5!"

Guan Tong felt the exact same way.

Although they both speculated that the mural in Fragment 5 would depict the destruction of the Qimo Star Alien Beast Civilization, they couldn’t be certain until they saw it with their own eyes.

Most importantly, while many disasters appeared in the first four fragments, there seemed to be no trace of the Fire Thief’s existence.

Perhaps evidence of its existence could be found in the mural of Fragment 5?

This was undoubtedly a key question that concerned them both. If it was confirmed that the Alien Beast Civilization of Qimo Star was destroyed by the Fire Thief, then would the human civilization of Celestial Water Star... also suffer the same fate?

Primordial Man: "Station Head, Shadow probably feels the same way I do right now, wanting to know the contents of Fragment 5 as soon as possible."

Station Head: "Yes."

Primordial Man: "In that case, how about this: after the tenth rule ends, Shadow and I could team up and take a trip to the Sakura Prayer country to find the holder together?"

Station Head: "Shadow thinks it’s best to discuss this later."

Primordial Man: "Alright. But more than the contents of Fragment 5, I really want to communicate with the survivors of the Qimo Star civilization. They must have intelligence, right?"

Survivors of the civilization?

Guan Tong frowned. ’There are survivors of this civilization? Where did he get that information?’ He typed a question.

Station Head: "You’ve met survivors from this planet?"

Primordial Man: "Haha, didn’t Shadow tell you? The ones guarding the Fog Gates aren’t Nightmare Beasts."

Guan Tong froze when he saw the message.

’The ones guarding the Fog Gates aren’t Nightmare Beasts?’

Wait...

Guan Tong suddenly realized something. In the process of obtaining his two fragments, he had never encountered a "Gatekeeper."

For the first fragment, the government’s armed forces had tied down the Gatekeeper. He hadn’t fought it at all, from beginning to end.

For the second fragment, he had taken it from Ba Song, who in turn had taken it from several other people. So, he hadn’t encountered the Gatekeeper that time either.

So, according to Primordial Man, if the ones guarding the Fog Gates weren’t Nightmare Beasts, but Exotic Beasts from Qimo Star, then...

A jolt went through Guan Tong’s heart, and he typed quickly.

Station Head: "Are you saying the Fire Thief brought the surviving Exotic Beasts from Qimo Star to Celestial Water Star to act as the Fog Gate Guardians for this rule?"

Primordial Man: "That is indeed one of my speculations. I saw the Exotic Beast’s eyes, and only an intelligent life form could have a gaze like that. But we can’t be completely sure until we know the contents of Fragment 5."

Primordial Man: "And I have another theory—what if those Gatekeeper Exotic Beasts are the winners who were sifted out by the Apocalypse Rules... wouldn’t that be terrifying?"

Primordial Man: "After forty-nine Apocalypse Rules, could it be that a few of us humans will also be sifted out to become the ’Gatekeepers’ for the chronicle of our civilization?"