49 Apocalypse Rules

[The Rule period has ended]

[Congratulations on passing the trial of the eighth Apocalypse Rule]

[Your reward has been sent to your storage box]

[More products have been added to the Sublimation Store. You can view them on your personal terminal.]

[The ninth Apocalypse Rule will be announced in fifteen days]

...

Guan Tong sat in the small courtyard. As soon as the Fire Thief’s voice faded, he opened his personal terminal.

[Name: Guan Tong]

[Nickname: Station Master]

[Title: Victor]

[Psychic Power: 309 (309) (2410)]

[Sublimation Coins: 765,220]

[Comprehensive Biological Information Evaluation: Superior]

When Guan Tong saw his Psychic Power value, he was momentarily dazed.

Although he had known the content of the hidden rule for a while, seeing the result with his own eyes after the Rule period ended still felt a little unbelievable.

During the eighth Rule, he had won first place thirty-three times in total, gaining an extra 160 points to his Psychic Power limit. All of this was clearly reflected on his Terminal Panel.

Amid his joy, Guan Tong also had some hidden worries.

On one hand, he felt that some smaller foreign countries, with their official government support systems, could enable specific Ascenders to win first place many times. After the final tally, a good number of people would likely have their limits raised by the maximum of 300 points, forming a new batch of high-end combat power.

But his bigger worry was whether there might be some unknown price to pay for drastically increasing one’s Psychic Power limit this way.

Guan Tong had discovered long ago that the hidden rules didn’t explain everything clearly.

Take the first Apocalypse Rule and its hidden rule, [Plunder Sobriety]. It only said that knocking someone out would earn you a "Sober Mint Candy," but it didn’t mention that those who ate the candy would generally have a lower Psychic Power limit after awakening their abilities.

It also didn’t mention that those who knocked others out would later find the [Disorder Breaker] title in their Survival Treasure Chests.

This kind of truly "hidden price" was what Guan Tong was vaguely worried about. But for now, he put those thoughts aside and continued to check his panel.

By selling intelligence, his Sublimation Coin count had reached 760,000, comparable to the total amount of Sublimation Coins a mid-sized organization of several hundred people could mobilize.

Now, with so much just for himself, he could buy any necessary items he saw on the market, no longer forced to just window-shop due to high prices like before.

He also noticed that his personal information evaluation at the bottom of the panel had changed from "Excellent" to "Superior."

A Psychic Power limit below 80 was "Inferior," 80 or more was "Normal," and 100 was "Excellent." Now that he had broken through 300, his evaluation had risen further to the "Superior" level.

Guan Tong didn’t know if this evaluation had any specific use, or if it was simply a summary of an Ascender’s overall strength.

He temporarily closed the terminal and assessed his physical condition.

Even after his Psychic Power had surged by over a hundred points, there were no immediate changes. It was likely the same as before; the increased Psychic Power would subtly transform and strengthen his body over time.

Guan Tong opened his storage box, where all his items were listed.

[Wordless Book], [Corpse Whistle], [Basic Food Box - Bronze Level] x1, [Multi-functional Lock Opener] x2, [Small Reconnaissance Drone] x3, [Multi-functional Protective Suit], [Communication Secret Scroll] x9, [Communication Secret Scroll - Tradable] x3, [Bystander Transformation Device], [Burning Defense Shield], [Psychic Power Activation Needle]

There were also several equipped items:

[Thermoregulating Technology Underwear] (Equipped), [Multi-Terrain Marching Boots] (Equipped), [Giant Axe Warrior Hoodie] (Equipped), Storage Ring (Equipped)

There was no box reward from this Rule. The two new items he had were traded to him by Liu Yuqiang before he committed suicide.

[Burning Defense Shield]: Creates a flaming shield in front of the user that can block three attacks, provided each attack does not exceed the user’s own Psychic Power limit in power. This is a one-time use, tradable item.

[Psychic Power Activation Needle]: Upon use, increases Psychic Power recovery speed by 100% for 30 seconds. This is a one-time use, tradable item.

The effects of both items were decent. They weren’t amazing for someone like Guan Tong, but having them was better than nothing.

Next, he opened the Sublimation Store on his terminal to check out the new products.

After the seventh Rule ended, the store hadn’t added anything new, leading to all sorts of wild speculation. But when the eighth Rule was announced, everyone had a moment of realization—since everyone was creating their own challenges, there was indeed no need for new items in the store.

This time, the store had listed one new item.

[Biological Signal Detector]: Can be used to detect large biological signals within a 200-meter radius.

[Price: 30 Sublimation Coins]

[Purchase Limit: 20]

"Detecting large biological signals..."

Reading the detector’s description, Guan Tong found it a bit strange.

’Will some kind of large creature appear in the ninth Rule?’

There was too little information, so he couldn’t figure anything out. He directly spent 600 Sublimation Coins to buy the limit of 20 and stored them away for now.

After dealing with matters on the terminal, Guan Tong stretched and took out his [Wordless Book].

"With a Psychic Power limit of 309, I can definitely write on the fifth page now."

He opened the book to the fifth page. Staring at the blank sheet, he was suddenly unsure of what to write.

"...Maybe I should wait."

Guan Tong didn’t want to waste the opportunity by being hasty or writing something he didn’t need.

The [Wordless Book] had a unique property: anything written in it and put into effect could not be erased.

Unless it was a one-time-use entry that needed to be rewritten after each use—like "Sublimation Coin," which he had written in the early days—non-disposable entries could not be "deleted" or "edited" once written.

Therefore, he had to consider carefully what to write. This was especially true given that writing on the later pages required an increasingly high Psychic Power limit, so he couldn’t just write down whatever came to mind.

Guan Tong thought for a moment. He couldn’t think of any essential flaw or need he had right now, so he decided not to write anything for the time being.

However, when he flipped to the fourth page and saw the [All-In-One Sanctuary] written there, something occurred to him.

’When I first materialized this sanctuary, it consumed all of my Psychic Power... The result was a completely neutered version, just like my first Shadow. It must have been because my limit was too low. What if I try again now?’

Putting his thoughts into action, Guan Tong retracted the small wooden cabin back into the book.

This startled the black cat, Coal Ball, who was squatting beside him, wondering why his nest had suddenly vanished into thin air.

After retracting it, Guan Tong summoned it again.

With his panel open, he watched as his full 309 points of Psychic Power were instantly drained, leaving him with a mere 9 points.

’The summoning cost 300 points?’

Surprised, Guan Tong looked up, and his eyes instantly lit up.

The small wooden cabin from before seemed to have transformed into a large stone house that looked sturdy and durable. Its overall size had also increased by about half, and from the outside, he could see it now had new rooms inside.

Guan Tong eagerly scooped up Coal Ball. "Come on, let’s go check out our renovated new home."

"Meow?"

The man and his cat entered the house. The original one-bedroom, one-bathroom layout had transformed into two bedrooms, a small living room, and a bathroom—a major expansion.

Guan Tong had always wanted a separate room for his miscellaneous supplies to avoid piling everything in his bedroom where it was hard to even walk. His wish was finally granted.

Using the storage and retrieval function of his Storage Ring, he quickly moved the miscellaneous items over, leaving only a large bed and a desk for his computer in the bedroom.

In the newly added small living room, Guan Tong noticed a small fireplace with eternally burning logs inside. Strangely, he hadn’t seen a chimney when he was outside; it was probably more of the sanctuary’s black-box technology.

"It just needs a comfortable sofa and a big TV to be perfect."

Guan Tong loved the expanded sanctuary. The only painful part was that its Psychic Power consumption had more than doubled, but it was still within an acceptable range for him.

But the biggest improvement, Guan Tong felt, was its defense.

Although he didn’t know what kind of stone the sanctuary was made of now, it was definitely much sturdier than wood—it would be able to withstand an attack for much longer.

Not that Guan Tong ever planned on letting his sanctuary be attacked. If that happened, he would either eliminate the attackers or retract the sanctuary into his book and use Body Shifting to make a quick getaway. There was no need to fight to the death.

After his excitement subsided, a calmer Guan Tong returned to the bedroom and turned on his computer.

He wanted to check on the situation outside, but as soon as he logged onto the Ascender’s Home website, he found he had received many private messages.

"Hello, Station Master. We’d like to pre-order the hidden information for the next Rule."

"To the esteemed Station Master of Ascender’s Home, I am an instructor from the Sakura Prayer nation’s Chosen Team. I hope to have an in-depth discussion with you."

"Our sovereign hopes for an opportunity for further cooperation with you, Station Master. We are willing to offer a substantial reward to hire you as a foreign consultant. Might you be interested? The price is negotiable."

"Did you hold back on the intel, Station Master? Why didn’t you mention that there was a maximum limit for the Psychic Power increase?"

Looking at these private messages, Guan Tong understood what was going on.

’After the Rule ended, these people saw that the intel was accurate, and some also discovered the 300-point maximum increase limit...’

All eleven accounts that had bought intelligence from him had sent messages, expressing their desire to continue cooperating for the next Rule. They had undoubtedly verified the reliability of his information firsthand.

This meant that the specially cultivated Ascenders in their respective organizations had also received a huge boost to their Psychic Power limits. Elated, they were now certainly eager to obtain more rule-related intelligence in the future.

Besides these eleven accounts, many large organizations and groups that had previously been watching from the sidelines without placing an order were now also sending private messages, expressing their desire to establish a cooperative relationship.

Some didn’t just want to buy intel; they wanted to establish deeper collaborations. For instance, the person who was likely an official from the Soloma Empire wanted to hire Guan Tong as a consultant, which was not something that could be settled with tens or even hundreds of thousands of Sublimation Coins.

Of course, Guan Tong wouldn’t let this flurry of collaborative offers go to his head.

He knew very well that one of the cornerstones of his website’s value, and indeed his intelligence’s value, was his independence.

If he announced he was joining an organization, or even just collaborating with one, his independence would be questioned the moment the news got out. The loss would far outweigh the gain.

When Guan Tong first created this website, his goal was to create a platform where individual Ascenders could communicate freely, commission tasks, and help each other, while he earned a little on the side. This was his original intention.

He would never abandon that original intention for a bit of profit now.

He silently closed the private messages from those who wanted to collaborate deeply with him. As for those wanting to pre-order hidden intel on the ninth Rule, he didn’t reply to them either.

The ninth Rule wasn’t even out yet. Besides, whether he would sell the information or not depended on what the hidden rule was and if it was even sellable. He wasn’t desperate enough to chase after money that was still half a month away.

He then opened the general discussion threads on the homepage and found that the entire forum was abuzz with talk about the Psychic Power limit.

Someone had posted that the Alpha Wolf of the Tulip Federation had used this opportunity to break the 600-point mark for his Psychic Power limit, but they couldn’t provide a source, so the claim was unverified.

However, what caught Guan Tong’s attention was a prophecy thread whose title hit on his exact worry.

"Every gift bestowed by fate has a price secretly marked upon it. I have foreseen that those who seize the Psychic Power of others will suffer a punishment of the psyche."

’A punishment of the psyche...’

Guan Tong felt the poster might know something, so he clicked on the thread to read the details.