49 Apocalypse Rules

Banzhen City Public Security Headquarters.

When Yoshino and Suzuki arrived, they found the place in utter chaos, no less hectic than the Public Security Department in Antu City.

After asking around, they learned that an unknown individual had infiltrated the official administrative building the day before. A high-ranking official was injured, and it seemed an important prisoner under solitary confinement had been rescued.

In terms of casualties, this incident wasn’t even worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as the Antu City bombing. But from the perspective of the higher-ups, even ten bombings couldn’t compare to the political fallout of this one infiltration.

The two waited in the lobby for over an hour before a Sheriff came to inform them, "The Director wants to see you in his office."

Yoshino and Suzuki hurried over. As soon as they entered the office, they saw the Director of the Public Security Headquarters sitting grim-faced in front of his computer.

After they greeted him, the Director barely lifted his eyelids to glance at them. "Spit it out."

"Regarding the bombing, we’d like to request more time for the investigation," Yoshino said.

"This is Officer Suzuki. She used her ability to analyze the scene and concluded there might be a survivor connected to the case. Identifying this person will require investigating their social connections. Because the criminal is one of the North Star People, we need to coordinate with departments on North Star for the relevant files, which will take a lot of time, so..."

"Enough." The Director waved his hand impatiently. "I don’t have time for some minor case from Antu. Just do whatever you need to do."

Yoshino and Suzuki exchanged a glance.

’This bombing was a major case that had the entire nation’s attention, but now it’s just a ’minor case.’ It really shows how important the incident at the administrative building is.’

"Thank you, Director. We’ll head back, then."

Yoshino had thought he’d have to argue for a while to get an extension, which was why he had brought Suzuki along to explain the situation. He never expected it to be so easy.

Just as they were about to leave, the Director suddenly called out to them.

"Wait. Yoshino, you just said... this officer who came with you, she was the one who used her ability to find clues at the bombing scene?"

"Yes." Yoshino looked at Suzuki, who took the initiative to explain.

"Reporting to the Director, my ability is [Profile]. Based on traces left at a scene, I can perform a limited reconstruction of what happened a period of time ago inside my mind."

Hearing this, the Director’s eyes lit up. He slammed his hand on the desk and stood. "You’re Suzuki, right? You’ll stay here to assist with this case. Yoshino, you go back to Antu and continue investigating the bombing."

Both Suzuki and Yoshino were surprised.

Yoshino hesitated. "Director, Suzuki is a key member of our team, and her ability is a great help to our investigation. We need..."

"Is your case more important, or is mine?" the Director said gravely. "Don’t tell me you don’t know what happened in Banzhen."

"...The incident at the administrative building?"

The Director snorted in confirmation. "The headquarters is temporarily requisitioning your subordinate. The official documents will be issued later. Suzuki, report to Room 109 immediately. That’s the investigation team’s office for this case."

Although a bit dazed, Suzuki obeyed the order, said, "Yes, sir," and left the room.

Yoshino was reluctant to have his team member taken, but the Director was his immediate superior. He had neither the power nor the right to object, so he could only accept it helplessly.

After arriving at Room 109, Suzuki awkwardly introduced herself and explained the situation.

Upon learning about her ability, the entire investigation team’s eyes lit up. The team leader immediately began showing her some video footage.

Though Suzuki didn’t know anyone there, she was there to assist with the case and quickly got into a professional mindset.

"This is the building’s surveillance footage. The camera caught the target?"

"Yes. But his appearance is probably fake. He might have used a prop for disguise. In any case, there are no matches for him in the database."

"If you can use your ability to Profile the target’s real physical features, it would be a huge help in cracking this case."

"Okay, I’ll do my best."

Suzuki stared at the young, bespectacled man in the video, her focus sharpening instantly.

...

If he hadn’t heard it from Shangyuan Zi with his own ears, Guan Tong would never have imagined such an ability could exist.

Shangyuan Zi’s power was a "bloodline."

If one were to classify it, a bloodline would probably fall under the category of an ability.

The profound influence of this bloodline was obvious from her vertical pupils and the scales on the inside of her neck.

When Shangyuan Zi pulled up her long shirt sleeve, she revealed an arm completely covered in scales, a sight that made Guan Tong’s scalp tingle.

According to her, the name of this bloodline on her Terminal Panel was "Tooru," and it was related to an ancient legend from the nation of Sakura Prayer.

Guan Tong knew this legend too. It was said that deep in the trench beneath the islands of Sakura Prayer, a Great Serpent was hidden, which the Ancient Yingqi People called "Orochi."

The Orochi stirred up storms and devoured living people, causing the Ancient Yingqi People to suffer terribly. Later, a warrior named "Tooru" appeared and severely wounded the Great Serpent in some manner, forcing it to retreat back to the depths of the sea, from which it never dared to emerge again. Thus, he saved the Ancient Yingqi People.

After that, "Tooru" was passed down in Sakura Prayer as a heroic surname, and it also became the name of Shangyuan Zi’s bloodline.

Of course, after the Apocalypse Rules, the islands of Sakura Prayer sank. Various nations sent ships to the area to investigate and rescue survivors. They never found any great serpent in a trench in that part of the sea, proving that the legend of Orochi was pure nonsense.

Now, the name "Tooru" had appeared on the bloodline Shangyuan Zi had acquired, seemingly providing some evidence for the legend.

But Guan Tong knew full well that after entering the era of the Apocalypse Rules, humans could use Psychic Power to alter reality. This meant that under the influence of collective consciousness, reality itself might actually change accordingly.

It was just that he now had some doubts.

"According to the legend, ’Tooru’ was the hero who severely wounded the Great Serpent. Why is your bloodline named after him, yet your body is developing serpentine features?"

Shangyuan Zi shook her head. "I don’t know."

"Also, you said the Divine Son had you use the surname ’Orochi.’ That must be because, in his eyes, you actually possess the bloodline of the Great Serpent, right?"

"Yes."

"That’s strange."

Guan Tong couldn’t figure it out, but it wasn’t important to him.

What was important was that the abilities of Shangyuan Zi’s bloodline were terrifying.

First were its defensive and adaptive capabilities.

The scales on her body possessed extremely high defensive power. She said the Sakura Prayer military had tested them; even large-caliber bullets couldn’t break her scales, let alone leave a mark.

Moreover, the scales were constantly growing and spreading.

Shangyuan Zi told Guan Tong that when she first acquired the bloodline, there were only a few scales on her back. Later, as her Psychic Power limit increased, the scales multiplied, and now her entire torso was covered.

The scales had now spread to her neck and showed no signs of stopping. This meant that eventually, her face would also be covered in scales. Going out then would be incredibly inconvenient, unlike now, where she could still conceal them with long sleeves and pants.

Besides their incredible defense, these scales also possessed a super-adaptive ability that automatically adjusted to the environment.

No matter how the external environment changed—be it extreme heat or cold—they would automatically regulate her internal temperature to a comfortable level. Even some contact-based toxic gases had no effect.

In terms of overall defensive capability, Shangyuan Zi’s full-body scales were on par with Guan Tong’s Shadow Armor. In some functional aspects, they were even stronger.

Of course, the Shadow Armor had its own advantages. It was essentially a transformed Shadow, so it could change at will according to Guan Tong’s thoughts, making it more flexible.

The offensive power of her bloodline came from her vertical pupils. It was an extremely sinister ability she called "Snake Servant."

When she stared at a human, as long as her Psychic Power greatly surpassed her target’s, she could activate her ability and forcibly transform them into a "Snake Servant" with a snake’s body and a human head.

Humans transformed into Snake Servants would lose all free will, becoming completely insane, bloodthirsty monsters that obeyed Shangyuan Zi’s commands.

If the target’s Psychic Power limit was not significantly lower than hers—if they were evenly matched, for example—they wouldn’t become a Snake Servant. Instead, they would experience snake-related hallucinations.

For instance, feeling themselves entwined by countless venomous snakes, or seeing their own hands and body turn into serpents... Those with weak wills could be easily frightened and rendered unable to fight.

Shangyuan Zi didn’t hide her abilities. In order to get Guan Tong’s help, she told him everything, down to the last detail.

After learning this, Guan Tong understood why the Sakura Prayer officials had made her wear a bracelet that absorbed Psychic Power.

Otherwise, if she had wanted to escape, turning more than half the people in the administrative building into Snake Servants would have been a trivial matter.

After finding out about Shangyuan Zi’s abilities, Guan Tong asked her about the situation with the Sakura Prayer government.

What he needed to know most was the power the Divine Son held in his hands.

To be precise, the power of the Ascenders. He didn’t care about ordinary military forces.

The conflict between Ascenders was an asymmetrical one. As Ascenders grew stronger, the effectiveness of modern weaponry diminished.

Especially against an elusive Ascender like Guan Tong, even if the enemy had planes, cannons, and missiles, they first had to know where he was to use them.

This was also why Guan Tong was now especially careful about keeping his location secret after being bombarded by long-range weapons twice—fool me once, fool me twice, but he’d be an idiot to fall for the same trick a third time.

"I only know that there are many groups like our Chosen Team," Shangyuan Zi said. "Each team has a different instructor."

"So, the different teams don’t share information, and each team reports directly to the Divine Son. He controls everything, ensuring the teams have no chance of uniting... But since your Chosen Team was the one to get the Qimo Star Fragment, that must mean your team was the most favored, right?"

Shangyuan Zi nodded. "It seems so."

"Given your ability, it’s not ’seems so,’ it’s ’definitely.’"

’Her ability to create Snake Servants is too terrifying. If she develops it to its later stages, wouldn’t she be able to endlessly convert people into a Snake Servant army?’

’For a relatively small country like Sakura Prayer, this was undoubtedly a huge boon. Mu Tian City’s ambition to make Sakura Prayer the world’s number one power might have been built on the foundation of Shangyuan Zi’s ability.’

’One of the reasons he killed himself might have been that he saw through Shangyuan Zi’s nihilistic nature. Conquering the world with someone like that is almost impossible.’

’This was also evident from the reason Shangyuan Zi was put under house arrest.’

She said the main reason the Divine Son ordered her house arrest wasn’t her handing over the Qimo Star Fragment. The primary reason was her refusal to obey his command to transform and raise a large number of Snake Servants.

In a fit of rage, the Divine Son ordered her to be confined, telling her to "think carefully about who you really are."

"I have a general understanding of the situation now."

At this point, Guan Tong understood Shangyuan Zi’s abilities and circumstances, and he also had some information about Mu Tian City and the Divine Son.

"So, will you agree to help me investigate my parents’ identities?" Shangyuan Zi asked.

"I can help you."

Shangyuan Zi nodded. "Then I will also honor our agreement. During this time, my power is yours to command."