49 Apocalypse Rules

Guan Tong really wanted to know if the government actually had a clear plan or path forward.

From the mass demolitions and shelter constructions across the country during the early Rule Stage of the Apocalypse Rules, to the later declaration of a state of war and the full implementation of a rationing system for resources, these could all be considered consistent and successive policies.

But as for the next step, the direction things would go from here, Guan Tong had not reached a conclusion after his observations during this period.

At a glance, the North Star government seemed to be planning to follow the Soloma Empire’s example and take an isolationist route—that is, only looking after their own people and doing everything possible to ensure the survival of their citizens.

This might also be one of the reasons why, during the period of the eighth rule, the government dispatched a large number of armed forces outside the city to conduct a major sweep of violent groups and Sponsor Organizations.

But if they were truly set on this path, then their previous public condemnation of Guan Tong was very strange. After all, if they decided to be isolationist, what was the point of caring how other countries, especially smaller ones, viewed them?

One year into the era of the Apocalypse Rules, the old international structure had already been turned completely upside down.

All so-called "alliances," "allies," and "international cooperation organizations" had become dysfunctional and defunct.

Even the Celestial Water Star National Union, once the largest international cooperative organization, was now a mere shell of its former self, to say nothing of the others.

In other words, as Guan Tong saw it, if the government planned to pursue an isolationist path to survival, there was no need to pay any attention to the affairs of other nations.

He even held the somewhat extreme view that, under these circumstances, "diplomacy" itself had lost most of its meaning and could be drastically cut back.

But if they weren’t going to be isolationist, and instead planned to unite all of humanity to fight the Fire Thief together, then there would be much more to do, and many more responsibilities to bear.

Yet the government’s current attitude gave him the impression that they wanted to have their cake and eat it too. In action, they banned entry and exit, but in statements, they claimed to be a friendly nation to the Andai Kingdom and promised to investigate the Shadow attack, and so on.

Of course, Guan Tong knew that the government was a collective. Not everyone shared a single brain, and each person had their own opinions, so it wasn’t strange for them to do contradictory things.

But since the government had taken the initiative to communicate with him, he needed to determine their exact intentions before he could consider whether to cooperate, and if so, how.

He stared at the private message. After he sent his question, the other side didn’t reply for a full three minutes, apparently giving it serious thought.

Two more minutes passed before a reply finally arrived.

"That question, it seems, is not for you to consider."

The moment Guan Tong saw that reply, his desire for conversation vanished. He closed the private message window.

If people were still clinging to a mode of dialogue built on status in this day and age, then he felt there was absolutely no need to continue the conversation.

Because this was no longer about discussing the matter at hand.

It was like when Guan Tong remembered being in his middle school literature class. The teacher had recited a landscape poem by a famous ancient poet and asked the students for their thoughts.

He remembered saying at the time that he found it boring because it was all just descriptions of scenery. In response, the teacher’s face had immediately darkened, and she’d said, "What gives you the right to question the poetry of XXX?"

’If I wasn’t qualified to question it, what was the point of asking for my thoughts?’

After that, Guan Tong lost all desire to communicate with that teacher. For her to say something like that meant she already had a preconceived answer, making any discussion meaningless. Or perhaps she was deliberately trying to make students submit to authority, to consider the difference in status before speaking or acting.

But Guan Tong had never bought into that, not even as a child. Back in the present, since the government official had said it wasn’t his place to consider such things, he couldn’t be bothered to say anything more. It was better to just proceed at his own pace.

「Meanwhile, in the offices of the Strategy Research Room.」 After waiting several minutes without a reply, Zhang Minglu said, "Director, it seems the other party doesn’t intend to continue the conversation. There’s still no response."

Gao Liangwei nodded slightly. "We have a basic understanding of this person’s character now. It seems getting him to join the government is impossible."

"Yes," Zhang Minglu said, a little regretfully, but there was nothing to be done.

Because that was how this society operated: only those who could provide resources had a right to speak.

"Then let’s drop it," Gao Liangwei said decisively. "Someone with his personality would only constantly question and resist even if he did join the government. In the end, for the collective as a whole, the harm might outweigh the good. What we need are steadfast warriors like Dragon Soul and his team."

"But, Director... will the higher-ups accept this outcome?"

"They will. The higher-ups know better than you or I the importance of organizational stability. Forcing an unstable element like Shadow into the mix is the last thing they want to see."

"...I understand."

The communication ended abruptly. Since their paths were different, there was no point in plotting together. Both sides, in a tacit agreement, sent no further messages.

「The next morning at nine o’clock.」 The elimination of the third sense began.

At that moment, the vast majority of people around the world felt as if they had lost their connection to the world.

The sense eliminated today was touch!

With a one-in-three chance, this most terrifying of eliminations had finally arrived.

The instant their sense of touch was eliminated, many people, whether standing or sitting, immediately went limp and collapsed to the ground.

They discovered in terror that their brains could no longer control their bodies—or more accurately, they couldn’t perceive their bodies at all!

The sensation was like being in a nightmare. It felt as though they were watching from a third-person perspective, an out-of-body experience, completely unable to exert any form of control over their own bodies. As a result, their muscles relaxed, and many lost control of their bowels and bladder.

In an instant, every Gathering Point and shelter around the world was filled with a horrid stench. Men and women, young and old, collapsing in their own filth—the scene was as disgusting as it could possibly be.

And the deadliest part was, most people were unable to react.

The North Star Country’s method of dealing with this was to give shelter administrators general anesthesia injections, psychological hypnosis, and other treatments beforehand, putting them into a state similar to "sensory deprivation of touch."

This way, when the sense of touch was actually eliminated, they returned to normal, as if two negatives made a positive. Once these people recovered, they commanded the auxiliary robots that had been prepared in the shelters in advance, using them to move everyone who had collapsed onto beds.

Afterwards, the administrators and robots were also responsible for periodically feeding, turning, and cleaning the bodies of these people.

On Mingdao Mountain, Guan Tong also felt his body lose control the moment his sense of touch vanished, but only for a brief second or two.

After experiencing it, he immediately manipulated his Shadow, having it synchronize its sense of touch with his, thus preventing himself from collapsing to the ground, unable to move like everyone else.

Even so, his own body was still in a state of tactile deprivation. What he felt was the sense of touch from his physical Shadow, which meant he had to keep the Shadow Armor on his body 24 hours a day.

Recalling the feeling of having no sense of touch for those one or two seconds, Guan Tong felt a profound, lingering fear. ’Losing the sense of touch is a hundred times more terrifying than losing sight or taste. It’s a good thing the human brain can still function, otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable...’

He wasn’t exaggerating. When the brain can’t perceive the body and only pure thought remains, the sensation seems "ethereal" but in reality triggers an extreme form of fear.

The brain might think you’re paralyzed, or even dead. For people with asthma, hyperventilation syndrome, or severe anxiety, this feeling would absolutely trigger an episode, and if not handled properly, it would lead to a massive number of indirect deaths.

This was also the first time Guan Tong felt that a non-survival-type rule could be just as lethal.