November 29th, one day remaining until the end of the seventh rule.
Guan Tong sat in the small courtyard, adjusting his breathing, circulating and moving his Mind Power to the index finger of his right hand, similar to Circulating Qi.
A faint layer of light appeared at his fingertip. One second, two seconds... After eight seconds, the light finally dissipated into scattered points of light.
Guan Tong wiped the sweat droplets from his forehead. Although circulating Mind Power for less than ten seconds, it placed imnse demands on both concentration and fine control.
Compared to before when he could only maintain it for 1-2 seconds, now nearing the end of the rule and approaching 10 seconds was already decent progress.
He had exchanged ssages with Shi Jingyi a few tis these past few days. She also said his progress was fast. Continuing like this, he could probably complete one full cycle of Mind Power Flow throughout his entire body within about three months.
Three months wasn't particularly long. But in the era of the Doomsday Rules, three months could span 2 to 3 rules. As so netizens put it, it was "like living two or three lifetis."
That statent wasn't wrong, because surviving each rule, especially survival-type rules, made people feel a sense of "having narrowly escaped death."
Surviving each survival-type rule was like surviving a terrifying disaster, with a massive impact on one's ntal state.
This was also why many people chose to live day by day, carpe diem, "if there's wine today, get drunk today."
There were also so who enjoyed excitent and challenges, treating the rules like a ga. Surviving each rule was like clearing a stage. If they were still alive after all forty-nine rules ended, they would have achieved the final victory.
Guan Tong's ntality lay sowhere between the two.
He wouldn't slack off and waste his days, nor would he view the rules as a ga. For him, doing what he should and could do was enough. After doing his best, he could accept whatever the final outco might be.
After completing today's cultivation, Guan Tong stood up, stretched his limbs, and began taking a walk in the mountains.
Walking had always been a way for him to relax. Especially after moving to the mountain, walking without the urban clamor made him feel even more content and at ease.
Furthermore, he was quite satisfied that Yu Hong and Zhao Yu, who had set up camp at the mountain's base, had not attempted to co up the mountain to find him during this period.
He had originally been thinking about how to dissuade them if they couldn't hold back and ca up the mountain to look for him. It seed now that he had overthought it.
After making a round on the mountain, Guan Tong returned to the wooden cabin feeling refreshed and opened his computer.
On the Ascendant Ho website, following the initial successful commission transaction, other people had also begun posting commissions these past few days.
However, because the value of these commissions was too low, most received no attention.
For example, soone posted a commission wanting to buy a non-consumable attack-type item, but could only offer 2-300 Ascension Coins.
At a glance, no one would accept such a commission. A non-consumable attack-type item could fetch at least 1000 coins or more on the terminal market. Why would anyone sell it to you at a 70% discount instead of putting it on the market?
Another person posted a commission, wanting to find soone with a "Regeneration" ability to treat his severed arm, to make it regrow. The fee was high.
This commission might not be low in value, but the requirent was too stringent. The "Regeneration" ability was absolutely a niche ability. It might exist, but the person possessing it might not see this post. Even if they saw it, they might not be willing to help.
Furthermore, even if the two agreed, if they weren't in the sa location, Guan Tong couldn't facilitate a eting between them.
His Shadow could transport goods and thus could transport people, but these were two different concepts. Especially "transporting people" would partially reveal the Shadow's secret. Guan Tong wouldn't do such a thing for a fee.
However, there was currently one commission that caught Guan Tong's attention.
This commissioner, like the previous "Black Stone," was a person surviving in a wilderness camp.
His need was to transport a batch of long-shelf-life, room-temperature-storable food from the city to his camp. For this, their camp was willing to collectively fund three thousand Ascension Coins.
And Guan Tong noticed that this commission was accepted just 10 minutes after being posted.
The acceptor said he was an administrator of a material warehouse in the city, willing to embezzle and sell food for Ascension Coins, provided the Administrator could assist with transportation.
Both the commissioner and the acceptor had @'d the Administrator in the post. Simultaneously, there were many replies from other users in the post.
"Embezzling food from a material warehouse? Brother, aren't you afraid of getting caught?"
"You dare accept this commission, but the Administrator might not dare transport it for you."
"Are you joking? I'm also a staff mber in a city material warehouse. Food storage quantities are all accounted for. What will you do if the accounts don't match up later due to your embezzlent?"
Guan Tong agreed with the viewpoints in these comnts.
Previously, "Wind-like Sky" embezzling Anti-speech Masks was sowhat understandable, because those masks were leftovers after people died in the sa gathering point, and the official wouldn't reclaim them, plus "Black Stone" didn't mind that others had used those masks... which ultimately facilitated the transaction.
It could be said that even if the official eventually found "Wind-like Sky," at most he'd get a scolding, unlikely to be charged and convicted.
But embezzling reserve food from a material warehouse was a different matter. Even in peaceti, that would land you in jail, let alone in the Doomsday Rules era which had already entered warti managent? Once discovered, the official would absolutely deal with it severely, strictly, and swiftly.
Guan Tong wondered, was this guy claiming to be a warehouse administrator really willing to take such a huge risk just for so Ascension Coins?
Even if this guy was determined to take the risk, Guan Tong would absolutely not accept this transport job.
Although this website couldn't be tracked by the official, Guan Tong didn't want it to beco a breeding ground for illegal activities.
Soon, he went to update the previously posted fee collection thread, adding a declaration of "will not assist in illegal or criminal activities."
However, regarding the commissioner's needs, he could actually fulfill them.
He himself currently had a lot of food supplies. What he brought himself originally was enough for half a year. Later, Yu Hong and Zhao Yu moved many supplies from that gang of thugs' vehicle, most of which was food. All added together, it was enough to eat for over a year.
Guan Tong himself certainly didn't have that much demand. If a camp lacked food, he was willing to sell a portion. It could both earn so Ascension Coins and make up for others' shortages. A win-win situation, why not?
So he went to privately ssage the commission poster.
Administrator: "How many people's worth of food do you need, and for how many days? I might be able to provide a portion."
The commissioner with the nickna "Flying Owl" replied: "The Administrator provides? Didn't soone already accept the commission earlier?"
Administrator: "I've already added a declaration in the pinned post that I will not assist in illegal or criminal activities."
Flying Owl: "..."
Seeing that "Flying Owl" didn't reply imdiately, Guan Tong felt a bit strange.
Since Flying Owl's camp lacked food, wouldn't legitimately sourced food be better than stolen goods from an official material warehouse? If they really took the warehouse administrator's dirty goods, weren't they afraid of the official finding out later and holding them accountable?
A full three minutes later, Flying Owl finally replied: "Alright, we need one month's worth of food for 10 people. The coordinates are as follows. Please send it quickly, Administrator."
Looking at this reply, Guan Tong narrowed his eyes slightly.
...Why do I feel like this guy is fishing?
Guan Tong had always trusted his intuition. From the mont he saw the commission post, he felt sothing was off. Now, after this exchange, it felt even stranger.
If the other party was fishing, what was the purpose? Trying to figure out how I transport goods in and out of the city? Or trying to follow the trail to find
personally?
Guan Tong thought for a mont and decided to send the Shadow to investigate around the coordinates—of course, in its intangible state without carrying goods. He wanted to figure out if soone was setting a trap for him.
...
"What... what kind of people are you?!"
In a certain camp, only one of over a dozen thugs remained, kneeling on the ground, clinging to life as he asked. His companions were all dead. He no longer cared about the rule of not speaking, he just wanted to die understanding.
Standing before him were five people. The leader held a silenced pistol. It was that gun that had just picked off at least eight thugs.
Facing the sole survivor's inquiry, the person holding the pistol didn't respond. He raised the muzzle and fired a precise shot. The man was instantly hit between the eyebrows, falling to the ground dead.
A woman beside him converted text to speech: "Captain, he made a sound. Why not wait for the Sound Hunter?"
The Captain also took out his phone, converting text to reply: "I was just giving him a quick death. Besides, now is not the ti to waste ti, Xu Wei."
The woman nad "Xu Wei" nodded.
At that mont, a burly man walked into the camp, looked around, and raised his phone to speak: "These guys robbed a lot of supplies! They must have killed plenty! Damn it, they really deserved to die!"
Captain: "Got it, Old Tie. Zhang Qian, send the coordinate ssage to base, have the recovery team co to take the supplies back to the nearby city."
Another person in the team replied: "Understood."
This squad was precisely one of the five official teams, Team Five.
The Captain was once a national shooting champion. His exclusive Mind Power item was a silenced pistol with unlimited ammunition. The other team mbers were also quite capable.
This ti, they and Squad Two were jointly dispatched outside the city with two missions. One was to investigate the existence of a certain mysterious organization. The other was to investigate the survival ecology of personnel outside the city.
Ever since leaving the city, they discovered that the area outside the city had essentially beco a jungle society. People living here had to follow the law of the jungle, otherwise they would quickly be devoured, leaving not even scraps.
So they applied to their superiors for "sweeping rights." After consideration, their superiors agreed. This way, they gained the right to strike against thug groups in the wilderness.
This current gang was already the third one they had taken down these past few days.
Zhang Qian: "Captain, coordinates have been sent."
The Captain nodded: "Let's go, continue to the next area."
He took the lead, walking towards the team's vehicle. The other team mbers looked at each other.
Xu Wei: "Is the Captain in such a hurry?"
Old Tie: "Having so drive is good too. If he were like when we returned from Holy Grail Island, that would be really worrying!"
Zhang Qian: "It seems that failure hit the Captain hard... So he wants to perform and achieve rit quickly to prove himself."
The others nodded one after another.
Previously on Holy Grail Island, their Team Five was very close to the "Shadow" who obtained the Holy Grail, so they were among the first to rush there.
The result, in a five versus one situation, the Shadow easily wiped them out. Only Xu Wei, who was responsible for luring away the living dead army at the entrance at the ti, survived because she didn't enter the church imdiately.
After that challenge tournant ended, the mbers of Team Five were undoubtedly very frustrated. Especially Captain Xu You. He originally held great expectations, believing his team could seize the Holy Grail and gain honor, but instead ended in complete failure.
Based on the subsequent situation, if he, as the captain at the ti, could have made a rational decision to "give up competing for the Holy Grail" like the captain of the first team, Dragon Soul, perhaps they could have still entered the top ten based on enemy kill points.
But precisely because of his decision, the team was eliminated, missing the top ten. Although the team mbers and even higher-ups like Dr. Zhang didn't bla him, Xu You himself had always felt awkward.
Even though he recently heard news that holding the Holy Grail granted an "unlimited Mind Power" buff, he still felt that this wasn't an excuse for his team being wiped out.
Ultimately, it was because he was too eager to compete for the Holy Grail, rashly attacking without first investigating the Shadow's abilities, which led to the crushing defeat. This was absolutely his responsibility as captain.
Therefore, after receiving this mission to investigate outside the city, he perked up, full of drive. He decided he must complete the mission this ti and bring back high-value intelligence.
Xu You thought as he walked: This ti out, although we've eliminated three thug strongholds and recovered a large amount of supplies, we haven't yet investigated any intelligence on that mysterious organization... Also, we urgently need to deeply investigate the camp ecology of ordinary survivor groups.
I wonder if we can still gain sothing before the rule ends tomorrow...
Xu You was thinking as he reached the vehicle.
At that mont, he suddenly glimpsed in the vehicle's rearview mirror a black off-road vehicle driving towards this location.
Who is that?
He imdiately turned to look. The other four team mbers also quickly assud combat stances, watching the vehicle.
The black off-road vehicle slowed down as it approached and stopped.
The doors opened, and several figures got out.
The leader was a young man wearing headphones, then a bespectacled young man, a teenager in a hooded sweater, a little girl who looked very young, and...
When they saw the last person getting out, the expressions of Xu You and the others changed drastically.
Gu Fei?!
Reviews
All reviews (0)