49 Apocalypse Rules

Apocalypse Rules Strategy Research Room.

Zhang Minglu stood before a table, holding a stack of statistical data from their experiments, and began his report for the meeting.

"According to the results from our recent experiments, we have confirmed that it is currently impossible to breach the Mind Network or to track the identity and location of a speaker."

"Once a Mind Network is formed, members do not consume Psychic Power when they begin to speak. However, if they speak for an extended period within a certain timeframe, they will start to experience Psychic Power drain. This means it is impossible for an individual to speak continuously without interruption."

"Regarding the number of connections: the largest known Mind Network has already reached a six-figure scale, and it has yet to reach its upper limit. In a network of this size, when multiple people speak at once, it becomes nearly impossible to distinguish between them. Only a very small number of individuals possess brains capable of processing such complex information simultaneously."

"Finally, regarding our tests on ordinary people... I’m afraid to say that despite trying more than twenty different methods and using dozens of test subjects, the lab has been unable to connect an ordinary person to a Mind Network."

"I must also add one more thing. It’s currently uncertain whether the Mind Network will continue to function after the twelfth rule ends. But even if it shuts down, this feature is certain to be reactivated in the future, just like the social group function that appeared during the second Marathon Rule."

After Zhang Minglu finished his report and sat down, the expressions of everyone in the conference room were grim.

If the decentralized nature of the Mind Network was an unstable challenge for the authorities—one that could lead to the formation of countless secret organizations or criminal pacts unknown to the government and become a major potential threat to urban security—then the fact that ordinary people couldn’t access it was the true, massive iceberg hidden beneath the surface.

Someone said worriedly, "In terms of population, the ratio of ordinary people to Ascenders is about 7 to 1, and this ratio will surely widen as the number of rules increases... For a Psychic Power application that isolates the two groups from communicating to appear now, it’s really not a good thing."

The others nodded in agreement.

Just as the person had said, the only way to become an ordinary person was for an Ascender’s Psychic Power cap to decay to zero. There were no cases of ordinary people reactivating a Terminal Panel to become an Ascender. This meant that as the Apocalypse Rules continued to unfold, the number of ordinary people would only increase, barring any large-scale, population-culling disasters. The disparity in numbers between them and the Ascenders would only grow larger.

Over the past year, the friction between ordinary people and Ascenders had already become prominent, and some countries had even experienced large-scale conflicts between the two groups.

However, thanks to the government’s strong suppression efforts in North Star, which banned any form of divisive or discriminatory language, the situation was still under control.

But now, the emergence of the Mind Network, a new form of communication, would undoubtedly sharpen these conflicts.

Another factor that eroded the sense of security among ordinary people was the ever-increasing power of Ascenders.

In the past, ordinary people didn’t think much of Ascenders. So what if they had a few minor skills or Ability Items? A bullet to a vital spot would still send them to their graves.

Although ordinary people lacked special abilities, they could still fire guns, operate heavy weaponry, and even control planes, tanks, artillery, and missiles... They believed that with these modern weapons as a stabilizing force, the Ascender population, no matter how powerful, was still manageable.

But people gradually discovered that this view was wrong.

An Ascender’s power didn’t increase linearly, like a character leveling up in a game. Instead, it was more like a non-linear leap in power after breaking through a certain critical point.

Videos on the internet showing off exaggerated Ability Items and news reports from other countries about Ascender factions fighting for power all deepened the anxiety of the general populace.

And recently, the Ascender variety show launched by the government to divert public attention, *Decisive Ascender*, had completely set off this group’s emotions.

While the show received rave reviews at the academy, that was because the students there were all Ascenders. They could imagine themselves becoming powerful and perhaps even appearing on the show one day as a Star Ascender.

The vast majority of ordinary people, however, only felt miserable watching the show. No matter how strong the contestants were, it had nothing to do with them. They would never have the chance to activate a Terminal Panel and become one of them.

"This rule may seem easy to get through, but its intentions are sinister."

Gao Liangwei began to speak slowly.

"Ascenders can’t use the internet, so the ones active online are all ordinary people. Without the voices of Ascenders to balance things out, they resonate with each other, and their negative emotions are greatly amplified."

"And the Ascenders’ self-contained ’Mind Network’ will only breed more fear in ordinary people."

"The Director is right," an expert said. "There have been many rumors online recently. Some ordinary people are spreading lies, saying that Ascenders are secretly using the Mind Network to plot the extermination of ordinary humans, leaving only Ascenders behind. This rumor has caused widespread panic and has had a rather nasty impact."

"The people spreading these rumors must be arrested! They’re deliberately causing chaos and panic!"

"That may be so, but this rumor is a reflection of the fears of ordinary people. Because they can’t access the Mind Network, they have no way of knowing what Ascenders are saying inside that black box."

"If this continues, the divide between the two groups will only widen, and the antagonism will swell. The headache is that this is a global problem. Every country that still exists is plagued by it."

The level of antagonism between ordinary people and Ascenders was still relatively low in North Star.

But in some other countries, like the Black Banner Country, it had reached a point where the two sides were as incompatible as fire and water.

The Black Banner Country, a populous nation, had been extremely stable before the age of the Apocalypse Rules. It had relied on "Reincarnation Theology" to keep the lower classes docile, firm in their belief that suffering in this life would grant them great wealth and status in the next.

But once the Apocalypse Rules arrived, accompanied by the deaths of a large portion of the population, many lower-class Ascenders who had gained great power began to think differently.

’Since I have power now, why wait for the next life?’

Besides, the power of the Fire Thief and the cruelty of the Apocalypse Rules had already made most people doubt the existence of any "next life."

Thus, the Black Banner Country erupted with the world’s most violent conflict between lower-class Ascenders and the powerful, elite ordinary people.

In the early stages, the elite ordinary people held a complete advantage with their superior weaponry and equipment. They didn’t even need to deploy fighter jets or tanks; a single armed squad could easily suppress multiple Ascenders.

This led some of the elite to let their guard down, resulting in a reversal when the lower-class Ascenders grew stronger later on.

It started with an armed squad, then large troops, then armored tanks, planes, and artillery. Slowly, they were forced to use everything.

Now, more than a year later, the internal conflict in the Black Banner Country was still ongoing, with no end in sight.

North Star absolutely did not want the same thing to happen on its own soil, so it had always been vigilant in nipping any divisive rhetoric or actions in the bud. But now, with the situation worsening, they had to take the initiative and do something to cool things down.

"In the end, this is all about addressing the ordinary person’s need for security and a sense of purpose," a sociologist said. "The nation should employ more ordinary people, promote ordinary people more, instead of focusing all the attention on Ascenders. We can’t let ordinary people feel a sense of loss, as if they’ve become useless and been left behind by the times."

"Yes," another, a philosopher, added. "People need to affirm their place in society. Otherwise, they become lost, fall into nihilism, and become an extremely unstable factor for others and for society."

"Making ordinary people feel a sense of purpose." Gao Liangwei frowned in deep thought. "This problem really does require careful study."

...

「Sunday noon.」

Guan Tong and Mrs. Chen arrived early at the city’s access control point. To avoid being recognized by the students, they showed their identification to the staff and explained the situation.

Since Zhou Qinfeng had already notified the office, the staff knew what was happening and led the two into a small booth from which they could watch the entry and exit gates through a window.

"According to the time the dean gave us, the students should be here in about ten minutes... There are so many people coming in and out of the city."

Mrs. Chen gazed at the dense crowd at the gates, a look of lingering fear on her face. "If we hadn’t been tipped off, I’m afraid those students would have managed to sneak out of the city today."

"Mm."

Guan Tong could see it too. There were far too many people entering and leaving the city for the access control staff to check everyone’s identity carefully.

This was especially true for people coming from abroad, whose identities were harder to verify.

’He figured this was probably how those three Sisiya assassins had snuck into Pinglu.’

"It seems the dean’s decision to have a counselor infiltrate the students’ Mind Network to listen in was necessary after all," Mrs. Chen said. "I actually didn’t agree with it before. I felt that if this were ever exposed, it would hurt both the students and the counselor psychologically."

As the instructor for "Psychological Counseling," Mrs. Chen was naturally more focused on the mental state of everyone involved.

"Especially that counselor. If her identity is exposed, she’ll definitely be ostracized by the entire student body. It would be impossible for her to continue her work at the academy."

"..."

Seeing Guan Tong’s silence after she finished, Mrs. Chen asked, "Mr. Guan, do you think I’m wrong?"

"No... I think you’re absolutely right."

If the matter was exposed, there was no doubt that Fang Qian would be unable to continue as a counselor. How could she possibly do a job that required so much contact with students when they would give her the cold shoulder and defy her at every turn? But Fang Qian had accepted this task herself. If things went wrong, she would have to bear the consequences.

Hearing Guan Tong’s words, Mrs. Chen nodded and continued, "It’s because of that potential risk that I disagreed. But this was the dean’s decision, after all. And judging by the information we got from the surveillance, it was clearly important... I suppose sometimes sacrifices must be made for the greater good."

"Sacrifice for the greater good... Mrs. Chen, did you know? You don’t actually have to go through so many hoops to join the students’ Mind Network. If you find a student and offer them a few hundred Sublimation Coins, they’d most likely agree to pull you in."

Mrs. Chen was taken aback, not expecting Guan Tong to say something like that.

"I don’t believe the dean didn’t think of that, but he had a counselor play the emotional card to do this instead..."

"Mr. Guan, what are you trying to say?" Mrs. Chen felt a sudden pang of nervousness.

Guan Tong said, "It’s nothing."

Mrs. Chen looked at him, hesitating, about to speak again. But then, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted several young figures appearing before the access control gates.

"It’s academy students! I recognize some of them! Two of them have taken my class."