49 Apocalypse Rules

BOOM!!!

The explosion destroyed and devoured a large swath of rock and forest. Through his shadow surveillance, the dazzling light of the flames synced directly to Guan Tong’s distant eyes.

"So it really is a long-range bombardment."

Guan Tong had long anticipated this situation, which was why his physical body had remained separate from the fragment.

Otherwise, if the fragment was on his person and he was suddenly hit by a long-range missile strike, he would be severely injured, if not killed.

’Which side could it be?’

Guan Tong wanted to know if this long-range bombardment was the work of the Soloma Empire or Sakura Prayer.

He didn’t need to investigate; he would have his answer soon enough.

No matter how extensive the bombardment, ground troops would inevitably be sent to retrieve the fragment once it was over.

All he had to do was wait for them to appear.

After the first wave of bombardment ended, the Commander immediately gave the order: "Move out."

The special operations team immediately advanced on the blast zone.

The Commander was now convinced that the fragment’s holder had most likely been killed in the blast.

This surprise attack, launched at this specific moment, was the culmination of Mu Tian City’s careful planning.

The higher-ups had long since pinpointed the fragment’s location. For the past few days, the Chosen Team’s instructor, Mu Tian City, had been studying how to seize it.

Considering the holder was likely Shadow—the powerful Ascender who had just single-handedly destroyed a minor warlord’s base—recklessly sending a team after him was no guarantee of success.

If they failed, they would tip him off, making any future attempts much more difficult.

After studying the situation, Mu Tian City made a decision.

He first used diplomatic channels to contact the high command of the Andai Kingdom, explaining that Sakura Prayer was willing to help them eliminate their enemy, Shadow.

The high command of the Andai Kingdom was initially shocked to learn that Shadow was still within their borders.

They had all thought Shadow had already left, but according to Mu Tian City, he hadn’t. He was just hiding deep within a rainforest.

This made the Andai Kingdom’s high command extremely worried, fearing Shadow would continue his path of destruction. Thus, they readily agreed to Mu Tian City’s proposal.

After all, while Sakura Prayer’s national strength couldn’t match that of North Star and Soloma, it was still a world power, more than capable of eliminating Shadow.

After negotiations, the Andai Kingdom agreed to allow Sakura Prayer’s warships to enter its territorial waters and its special operations team to enter the Capital to begin the operation.

Thus, in Mu Tian City’s battle plan, he first moved the warships into the Andai Kingdom’s territorial waters and then deployed the special operations team to the edge of the rainforest.

The time of attack was set for the very moment the tenth rule took effect.

He believed that at that time, Shadow would be focused on one of his five senses being eliminated, and would thus lower his guard to some extent.

To be suddenly hit by a missile bombardment at that moment... even for Shadow, the so-called number one Ascender in the world, it was a death sentence if he was caught unprepared.

Then, the special operations team would retrieve the fragment and bring it back to Sakura Prayer. That way, they would have three fragments and gain the upper hand.

As for the two fragments held by Soloma, they would figure out a way to acquire them later.

At this moment, Mu Tian City was aboard a warship, his vision completely dark. Unlike the special operations team, he hadn’t taken a drug to blind himself beforehand. He was unsure if the drug had side effects and couldn’t afford to take the risk.

But if it was just being blind for fifteen days, he could completely accept it.

After the long-range bombardment ended, he immediately had his adjutant help him call the fragment holder in Sakura Prayer, the Chosen Team’s Baqizi.

"Baqizi, has the fragment’s location changed?"

"No."

"Good!" Mu Tian City clenched his fist tightly. "This means Shadow was most likely killed in the explosion! And the fragment, with its ’indestructible’ property, was left behind at the scene."

"..."

The other end of the line went silent for a few seconds before hanging up. Mu Tian City wasn’t surprised; Baqizi had always been a person of few words.

He put down the phone. Though his vision was pitch black, he felt as if he could see a bright future beckoning to him.

"Next, we just have to wait for the special operations team to bring back the fragment!"

...

The special operations team quickly entered the blast zone. They were met with the sight of vast stretches of toppled trees and craters blasted into the ground.

They spread out in a guarded formation, carefully scouting the area, hoping to find Shadow’s corpse.

But after a thorough search, they found no body. In fact, they didn’t even find any severed limbs or blood.

Likewise, they didn’t find the fragment either.

The Commander frowned and began to report back to Mu Tian City remotely, "Lord Mu Tian City, we—"

"AH!!!"

A team member’s scream interrupted his report. He whipped his head around to see one of his men impaled on a black spike that had erupted from the ground!

’It’s Shadow! He isn’t dead!’

The moment this signature attack of Shadow’s appeared, the Commander’s face was filled with shock and disbelief.

’How could Shadow possibly be alive after being hit by so many missiles?!’

"Ah!"

"RAT-A-TAT-TAT!"

"Don’t break formation!"

The black spikes continued their assault. Of the roughly twenty-member special operations team, seven or eight were quickly killed.

On his end, Mu Tian City heard the screams coming through the communicator and realized something was wrong. "Shadow isn’t dead?!"

"That’s right! The bastard’s controlling shadows to attack us!" the Commander shouted. "We can’t pinpoint his location!"

Mu Tian City was silent for two seconds. "Hold him off with your lives. The Lord Divine Son will remember your sacrifice."

"Yes, sir!"

Mu Tian City hung up and immediately ordered the other soldiers on the warship, "Launch another long-range attack on the target area immediately! The enemy is engaged with our men. This time, we will definitely succeed!"

Hearing this, a soldier on the warship hesitated. "But our men will..."

"It is their honor to sacrifice themselves for their country and for the Lord Divine Son! Fire immediately!"

"Yes, sir!"

A new wave of missiles launched from the warship, blanketing the target area in another bombardment.

The Commander knew this would be the outcome after he hung up. He yelled, "Long live the Lord Divine Son!"

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!!!

The new wave of missile bombardment hit the area. The few remaining special operations team members, including the Commander, who hadn’t yet been killed by Shadow, were all blown to pieces by the missiles.

Guan Tong, witnessing this from afar, couldn’t help but frown and curse under his breath, "Inhuman bastards."

He actually had a faint premonition of this, which was why he hadn’t used Body Shifting to go there right away.

But when his premonition came true and he saw the remaining soldiers blown to bits, he was still somewhat astonished by the cruelty of the person who gave the order.

However, based on the soldiers’ appearances and the Sakura Prayer language the man who seemed to be the commander shouted before he died, Guan Tong could determine that it was Sakura Prayer who had planned this operation.

Furthermore, Sakura Prayer’s fragment holder was not a freelancer, but affiliated with the government. Otherwise, where would these special operations soldiers and long-range missiles have come from without official support?

’...Fine.’

Guan Tong thought, ’I was already planning to use this rule as an opportunity to acquire the other fragments. Now that Sakura Prayer has come looking for trouble, they’ve given me a clear target.’

After the second round of bombing ended, another team of soldiers soon headed to the area to try and retrieve the fragment.

But what they and even Mu Tian City didn’t know was that while the fragment’s location hadn’t changed, it was now enveloped in shadow deep underground. Unless they used missiles to plow the earth three feet deep, they would never find it.

And this second team of soldiers met the same fate as the first, quickly dying at the hands of the shadows Guan Tong controlled from afar.

After being unable to contact the second team, Mu Tian City realized the operation had likely gone wrong.

He couldn’t understand how Shadow had managed to evade the missile strikes. ’Even with a defensive item, how could he possibly survive two rounds of bombardment?’

But the facts were before him, and he couldn’t deny them.

Unwilling to give up, he ordered, "Bomb them again! Try expanding the range this time!"

A soldier reported, "Apologies, Lord Mu Tian City, but the warship is out of missiles."

"...Dammit!" Mu Tian City swore. A moment later, he shook his head in resignation. "Mission aborted. We’re heading back!"

"Yes, sir."

The Sakura Prayer warship departed quickly. Not long after, the Andai Kingdom also dispatched its own official soldiers to investigate the bombed area.

Other than discovering some mangled corpses of Sakura Prayer soldiers, they found nothing else.

The Andai Kingdom’s soldiers looked at the scene, then at each other in dismay.

"They bombed their own men?"

"Looks that way."

"I really don’t know what the Prince was thinking, letting the Yingqi People bomb our territory."

"It was all to get rid of Shadow, I guess... Wonder if they succeeded."

Listening to the conversation between these soldiers from the Andai Kingdom, Guan Tong roughly deduced that the Andai Kingdom and Sakura Prayer had reached an agreement.

The Andai Kingdom wanted to kill him, but they were afraid of retaliation or simply lacked the ability. So they borrowed a knife to kill a man—allowing Sakura Prayer to enter their country and launch the bombardment... As for Sakura Prayer’s objective, it was obviously to take the Puzzle Fragment.

"Very good."

That being the case, Guan Tong now had a clear plan.

He would definitely be paying a visit to Sakura Prayer. But before he left, he felt it was necessary to make the Andai Kingdom’s government pay a price for targeting him.

People die when they are killed. No matter how high their station or how great their power, can they really escape this law of nature?