49 Apocalypse Rules

Before a magnificent palace, several spirit-like figures floated.

They circled around a person, repeating a single phrase in gentle voices.

"Join our big family."

"Join our big family."

"Join..."

GASP!

Lu City’s eyes snapped open, and he shot up in bed.

He clutched his slightly damp forehead, panting softly.

’It’s that dream again.’

As the end of December approached and the current Rule was about to end, the dream began to occur more and more frequently.

At first, it only came once every two or three days. But starting from the day before yesterday, he saw the same scene and heard the same voices every time he fell asleep.

It wasn’t just when he was asleep. Even if he just closed his eyes for a moment, the images and sounds would surface.

’...Should I seek help?’

Lu City struggled internally.

At this point, whether he wanted to admit it or not, he had to face the fact that he had become a spore addict.

The authorities had long since published the stages of addiction—or rather, parasitism.

Heightened self-preservation, a craving to congregate, a reduced appetite... The symptoms of each stage had already appeared in him.

A few days ago, the authorities announced the symptoms of a new stage: violent tendencies.

Lu City was thankful that, for now, he only felt irritable and disgusted by others, but hadn’t yet resorted to violence.

Yet, a hidden worry gnawed at him from deep within.

If this continued to develop unchecked, he would sooner or later become violent toward others.

When that happened, there would be no place for him at the academy.

Lu City could not accept the consequence of being expelled, so he decided to seek help and stop the parasitism from worsening.

After staying up for several hours until dawn, he went straight to the dean’s office, intending to explain his situation and ask for help.

When he arrived at the door, Dean Zhou Qinfeng had just gotten there. The dean smiled upon seeing him. "Lu City, what can I do for you?"

As one of the more outstanding students of his year, Lu City was well-known in the academy; the dean and all his professors knew him.

Lu City hesitated. "Dean, I... might be..."

Although he had decided to seek help, the words were hard to get out. He couldn’t let go of his pride as a top student.

Seeing Lu City stammer, Zhou Qinfeng chuckled. "Lu City, just say what’s on your mind. If you’re this hesitant, you’ll be at a disadvantage if you go to a research lab in the future."

"A research lab?" Lu City was taken aback.

"Oh, you students probably don’t know this yet. Every year, some of the academy’s most outstanding graduates are assigned to the Strategy Research Room. More than ten of last year’s graduates went. I think you have the potential to be among next year’s candidates."

The Strategy Research Room!

Lu City’s heart began to race at his words.

Who didn’t know that the Strategy Research Room was currently the most important and comprehensively powerful organization in North Star?

Subordinate only to the top-level decision-makers, all other official departments had to cooperate with the Strategy Research Room’s operations.

Every time a new Rule was announced, the Strategy Research Room was the first to analyze it and compile intelligence. Only then would countermeasures be formulated and distributed to the various departments for execution.

One could say that joining the Strategy Research Room not only meant receiving North Star’s highest level of security and the most meticulous cultivation, but also the chance to participate in the nation’s decision-making circle.

The latter was the greatest temptation of all.

Imagine the sense of accomplishment from having a suggestion adopted, forcing all the nation’s departments to act on it.

Moreover, because North Star currently had the world’s largest population and its national strength was the most intact, many other countries would directly copy and implement the countermeasures it developed.

This meant that proposing a single effective suggestion could lead to the entire world following suit. Before the era of the Apocalypse Rules, not even those at the very top could necessarily experience such a feeling.

...However, the recruitment standards for this department were extremely strict. They only took the small handful of people from every field who had mastered the most core knowledge and were at the absolute top.

Ordinary Ascenders with special abilities or items might be temporarily called upon through the database when the Research Room had a need, but they would not become official members.

But what Zhou Qinfeng mentioned—outstanding academy graduates being assigned to the Strategy Research Room—undoubtedly meant becoming official members who could stay at the Research Room’s base indefinitely.

This was, without a doubt, what the vast majority of Ascenders dreamed of!

"Lu City."

"Lu City?"

"Ah... Dean."

Lu City snapped back to reality, his racing heart not yet calm.

"You still haven’t told me why you came to see me."

"Er, it’s nothing. It’s just... Um, I wanted to apply to switch dorms, and I wasn’t sure how to do it."

’I absolutely cannot tell him I’ve been parasitized by the Alien Spores to the third stage!’

At that moment, Lu City was resolute.

He believed that if the dean found out, his image in the dean’s eyes would plummet.

If he didn’t say anything now, the dean would still see him as an outstanding student qualified for an assignment to the Strategy Research Room after graduating next August.

If he told him now, wouldn’t the dean think he lacked even this much self-control and discipline? And how could someone like that be assigned to the Strategy Research Room, which demanded extreme rigor?

Lu City didn’t dare to take the risk.

His abilities and items were neither particularly special nor powerful. To enter the Strategy Research Room, his only path was through the academy’s graduate assignment!

"You want to switch dorms? Why? Is your roommate bothering you?" Zhou Qinfeng didn’t notice Lu City’s inner turmoil, simply assuming he wasn’t getting along with his roommate.

"It’s my own fault."

Having blurted out an excuse, Lu City could only bite the bullet and continue, "I often stay up late studying and it disturbs my roommate’s rest, so..."

"Haha, you really are diligent," Zhou Qinfeng said with a smile. "It reminds me of when I was young. I also had a period of pulling all-nighters to study. Good, very good."

Zhou Qinfeng thought for a moment. "Giving you a single dorm room is out of the question; that wouldn’t be fair to the other students. How about this: I’ll have the counselor give you a key to a study hall. If you can’t sleep at night and want to study, go there. Don’t do it in your dorm room, that way you won’t disturb anyone."

"That would be great! Thank you, Dean!"

"Haha, it’s good for a young person to work hard, but be careful not to overdo it. A balance between work and rest is important."

"Yes, I’ll remember that. I’ll be heading back now."

Lu City quickly left, breathing a sigh of relief.

He was glad he’d managed to smoothly use the dorm issue to cover for himself; otherwise, he really wouldn’t have known what to say.

’Thank goodness the dean said that when he did, or I would’ve been finished...’

Lu City had no idea that academy graduates could be assigned to the Strategy Research Room.

He wasn’t the only one in the dark; he estimated that very few students in the entire academy knew about it.

The reason was simple: the academy had only opened last year. His class was only the second one.

Two graduating classes weren’t enough to form an effective information network, and the graduates from the previous year who were assigned to the Strategy Research Room had no need—and were possibly forbidden—to tell outsiders where they had gone.

Because a special organization like the Strategy Research Room was bound to have numerous non-disclosure agreements.

’Now I know about this, while most other students don’t. This is the advantage of an information gap,’ Lu City thought. ’I have to seize this opportunity. As long as I get the assignment, I’ll have completely "made it to shore"!’

If there was any destination in this era that could be called "making it to shore," the Strategy Research Room was definitely one of them.

Before, he hadn’t known about it, so he held no such hopes. He would have been satisfied just to be assigned to a decent government department after graduation.

Now that he knew this path to the heavens existed, he had to take it!

As for the spore parasitism...

Lu City thought, ’I absolutely cannot let the academy’s faculty know about this. It can’t affect my evaluation. I can only rely on myself to tough it out!’

...

「Strategy Research Room Base, Interrogation Room.」

On opposite sides of a long table sat three people and one person.

Among the three, besides Zhang Minglu and an investigator, was a rather well-known Ascender, whose online handle was "I Am a Good Person" and whose real name was Li Liang.

Li Liang had gained some fame online back during the first Rule period by posting on forums, and was affectionately called "Mentor" by netizens.

Later, during the Five Senses Elimination Rule period, he became popular again for being able to "skip class" using his Hypnosis Items.

After that, the authorities filmed the entertainment show *Decisive Ascender*, and the director recruited him as one of the cast members, which made him truly famous.

Now, the Strategy Research Room had sought him out for one reason only: to use his Hypnosis Items to extract information from the personal guard of Divine Son Mizusawa Chun.

That’s right. The person sitting on the other side of the long table was that very ninja guard.

Previously, after making arrangements with Gao Liangwei, Guan Tong had transferred the people from the official residence’s underground prison into North Star territory using the Book Page Sanctuary, where North Star authorities took them in.

In addition to the scholars, Andai People, and opponents from the Mizusawa Clan, this ninja guard was also among them.

After receiving the prisoners, Zhang Minglu first had an Ascender with healing abilities restore the ninja guard’s tongue, which he had bitten off himself.

He then went through the director of *Decisive Ascender* to find Li Liang, asking him to assist with the interrogation using his item.

Li Liang readily agreed.

From the moment he agreed to participate in the recording of the official variety show, he had already made plans to cling tightly to the government’s coattails.

Just as he had said in his online posts, he was very self-aware. He didn’t trust any of the various organizations that tried to recruit him for his item’s ability; he only believed that the protection offered by the authorities was the most reliable.

At this moment, Li Liang was holding his Hypnosis Item—the Hypnosis App, which displayed a swinging pendulum on his phone’s screen.

The ninja guard sitting opposite him, due to a lack of Psychic Power, was controlled by Li Liang’s item as soon as he regained consciousness and had fallen into a hypnotic state.

"What is your name?"

Li Liang began to ask the questions Zhang Minglu had prepared in advance.

"I don’t have a name, only a codename: ’Xin’," the ninja guard said woodenly.

"Xin. What are your duties?"

"To protect Lord Divine Son and complete all tasks assigned by Lord Divine Son."

Li Liang nodded. At this point, Zhang Minglu gestured for him to ask a key question that Guan Tong had raised earlier.

"The Divine Son, Mizusawa Chun—is he dead?"

"No," Xin said. "Lord Divine Son cannot die."