After the general eting concluded, Gao Liangwei kept Dr. Zhang behind alone.
The two discussed the previous encounter battle involving Team Five.
"According to the blood sample brought back by Dragon Soul, DNA testing results matched a 21-year-old university student. This individual has no particularly special background; he was likely recruited by that organization simply because his Mind Power value is relatively high."
After listening, Gao Liangwei asked, "The team sent by that organization was also collecting supplies, right?"
"From what we can see currently, yes. The two sides just happened to encounter each other." Dr. Zhang paused briefly before continuing, "However, because Gu Fei recognized Xu You and the others, that team also learned that Team Five is an official team."
"Knowing it was an official team, yet they still chose to attack." Gao Liangwei snorted coldly. "This is clearly an act of rebellion."
"What we can confirm now is that the leader of the enemy team is very strong, possessing the ability to absorb Mind Power. However, based on Dragon Soul's analysis, he believes the enemy's capacity to absorb Mind Power is limited; they cannot absorb it infinitely."
"That doesn't concern . What concerns
is how to deal with this team, and the organization behind it, as quickly as possible."
Gao Liangwei wasn't interested in the personal abilities of hostile Ascendants. No matter what abilities they have, once the authorities decide to strike with thunderous force, they will only be dealt with.
After all, Ascendants aren't like so monsters brought by the Fire Thief. They are flesh and blood. No matter how strong their abilities, can they withstand a missile strike?
"Currently, it seems we could try using satellites to conduct a wide-area search in the wilderness. It's just... this would require a lot of manpower."
Manpower is what society lacks the most right now. In just over half a year, the national population has been cut by more than half. If it weren't for so industrial robots and Dark Factories propping things up, the supply system would have likely collapsed long ago.
Even now, it's rely being maintained. All sectors are severely short-staffed, and official departnts are naturally no exception.
In fact, after entering the era of the Doomsday Rules, official departnts experienced a massive wave of resignations.
The attractive benefits and treatnt of the past have drastically lost their appeal in this apocalyptic environnt. Many people feel that no matter how good the welfare, retirent, and other benefits are, they might not live to enjoy them—after all, can anyone really expect to live until retirent these days?
Under this prevailing mindset, very few people are still willing to work. Especially tedious jobs like checking satellite imagery are particularly unpopular.
"If there's a manpower shortage, have the relevant departnts recruit." Gao Liangwei stated. "Aren't there new policies now? Use Ascension Coins to settle wages."
Dr. Zhang nodded.
That was true. So positions had indeed started paying wages in Ascension Coins, which to so extent greatly boosted work motivation.
"In any case, Dr. Zhang, you need to find this organization's base of operations as soon as possible." Gao Liangwei issued the order. "We are already overwheld just dealing with the Fire Thief's rules. We absolutely cannot allow so rebels to seize the opportunity to cause further chaos."
"Understood, Director. As the examiner in charge of personnel selection, selecting Gu Fei, a rebel, was my mistake. I will certainly take responsibility and find the location of this organization's base as quickly as possible."
...
December 10th, early morning.
Guan Tong pushed open the door and took a deep breath of the cold December air.
"The temperature has dropped."
Today, the perceived temperature was only around 12-13 degrees Celsius, very cold.
Guan Tong wore the Greataxe Warrior Hoodie under his top layer, with a grey cotton vest over it. His lower half was clad in a pair of dusty, thick trousers.
If not for his relatively young and handso appearance, his outfit alone might make him look a bit like a non-mainstream village guardian.
But this was on the mountain, his own little world. Who cared?
"Coal Ball, co out for so fresh air."
He turned his head and called into the room. Coal Ball lay on the bed, ignoring him. Once the weather turned cold, it was less willing to go outside.
Guan Tong didn't mind. He stretched himself out and perford a set of the "Returning Clouds Fitness Fist" he learned from Shi Jingyi's online class. His body soon ward up.
"Feeling good today. I think I can try the circulation."
After the rule ended, following ten days of idle relaxation, Guan Tong felt he had recovered sufficiently.
He went to the courtyard, sat cross-legged on a wooden stump, and focused his attention.
Mind Power soon appeared at his fingertips in the form of a flowing light.
He was already very proficient at this step. The next step was to manipulate this point of flowing light to circulate within his body along the acupoints.
As he willed it, the flowing light began to move bit by bit. Although it was very, very slow, it was steady.
However, while the start was smooth, once it passed through his palm and arm, reaching the shoulder and neck area, the flowing light could no longer hold its form and dissipated. The entire process took about an hour.
Guan Tong opened his eyes and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "For a first attempt, going from the finger to the neck is already quite good."
He wasn't seeking instant success; as long as he could see himself progressing, that was enough.
After depleting his Mind Power, he went for a morning walk along the mountain, thinking about his plans for the remaining twenty or so days as he walked.
For the Ascendant Ho website, based on his observations over this period, he had selected a few relatively active users to be administrators, to share the workload.
As for Transactions and Commissions, there still weren't many. In most cases, soone would post a commission, but due to strict conditions or low fees, no one would take it.
Those who could afford to post high-priced commissions were mostly large groups or organizations. These people generally had their own channels to acquire things and weren't necessarily willing to post a commission thread and have the Administrator take a hefty 10% cut.
Guan Tong didn't mind either way. Currently, his "delivery capacity was limited." If a large number of commissions were actually established, given his current level, he'd spend every day just receiving and delivering goods, doing nothing else.
"For the remaining twenty days, besides daily cultivation, I can consider looking at items in the Market."
Guan Tong now possessed a huge sum of over 400,000 Ascension Coins. It was ti to buy so items or the like.
Otherwise, holding onto a huge fortune without converting it into actual combat power was rather useless.
But spending it all at once wasn't wise either, because they didn't know what the eighth rule was.
This ti, the Ascension Store didn't have any new products listed, so it was impossible to make any predictions about the eighth rule.
The smart move was to keep so Ascension Coins. After the eighth rule was announced, based on the rule and Hidden Rule content, he could go to the Market to buy items that could assist in completing the challenge.
Thus, in the following days, whenever Guan Tong had free ti, he would open the terminal market to browse goods.
Many items had good effects, but if they weren't essential for him or didn't offer a significant boost, he wouldn't consider them.
After browsing like this for five or six consecutive days, Guan Tong finally scrolled past an item that made his eyes light up.
[Passerby Transformation Device]: After use, consus 30 points of Mind Power to transform one's appearance and physique into that of a random passerby. Duration: 3 hours. Cooldown: 24 hours. Tradable.
[Price]: 200,000 Ascension Coins
What Guan Tong lacked right now was a disguise ability. This transformation device perfectly t his requirents.
Although he could disguise himself by wrapping his entire body in shadow, it wasn't convenient enough and the consumption was high.
But this transformation device was different. Using it only required a fixed, one-ti consumption, not a continuous drain on Mind Power. Moreover, it could maintain the transford state for 3 hours, which was enough ti to do many things.
As for the price of a full 200,000 coins, it definitely wasn't just a little expensive—it was very expensive! This was probably also why it hadn't been bought up by the personnel in those large organizations specifically responsible for sweeping goods.
But since Guan Tong could afford it and needed it, there was no reason not to buy it.
Guan Tong chose to purchase it. The mont he saw the "Purchase Successful" prompt, he breathed a sigh of relief.
[You have obtained: Passerby Transformation Device]
Guan Tong took it out from his Storage Box. The transformation device looked like an energy bar, with a circular button on top.
He tried pressing it, and his body rapidly changed. His physique seed to shrink considerably, as he clearly felt his perspective lower and his clothes beco a size too large.
He looked down at his hands—they were small and tender. Imdiately after, he took out his phone from his pocket and opened the front cara.
The screen displayed a completely ordinary-looking teenager, who appeared to be a middle school student.
"I wonder if using it results in a fixed appearance, or if each use transforms into a different image? I'll try again tomorrow after the cooldown."
Naturally, Guan Tong hoped for the latter. The more forms available, the more he could potentially confuse others if needed.
"In this form, does it affect my ability to use my powers?"
Guan Tong also tried summoning Shadow, using Silver Hunt, and so on, finding that none were affected.
He was very satisfied with this test result. For this outco, even though half of his 400,000 savings were spent in one go, he didn't feel any heartache.
Just as Guan Tong was preparing to return, he suddenly spotted Yu Hong and Zhao Yu coming up the mountain through the Shadow Surveillance Eye.
These two had never co up the mountain during the entire rule period. Now, half a month after the rule ended, their sudden ascent made him wonder what they were up to.
"Perfect timing. I'm currently in a disguised identity, with about two and a half hours of remaining ti. That's plenty."
Thinking this, Guan Tong proactively walked down the mountain. Twenty minutes later, he encountered the two halfway.
Yu Hong and Zhao Yu were slightly startled when they saw Guan Tong. They hadn't expected there to be a middle school student in the mountain camp, though his clothes seed a bit ill-fitting.
Guan Tong asked, "Are you coming up the mountain to find us?"
Zhao Yu said, "We'd like to speak with the adults in your camp."
"Telling
is the sa." Guan Tong said. "I'll relay the ssage to them when I go back."
"This..."
Zhao Yu felt it was a bit strange negotiating with a middle schooler. Yu Hong, however, was more direct, sowhat apologetically explaining, "Little brother, it's like this. Our food is running low. If possible, we'd like to buy so from your camp. We can pay with Ascension Coins."
Hearing this, Guan Tong expressed surprise, "You sent quite a bit of food up the mountain before, right? Why didn't you keep more for yourselves back then?"
"After all, those thugs were eliminated by the experts from your camp. The spoils naturally belong to you. It wouldn't be right for us to take too much." Yu Hong said.
"So that's how it is." Guan Tong nodded. "Alright, I'll relay this to everyone when I go back."
"Then we'll trouble you, little brother."
After saying this, the two turned and went back down the mountain without further delay.
Guan Tong watched them leave, thinking these two seed pretty decent. However, even so, he definitely wouldn't give out food for free. It wasn't that he lacked those few Ascension Coins, but rather that keeping things official and businesslike was the only way to maintain a long-term relationship.
Otherwise, you might think you're being easy-going and informal, but over ti, others might stop taking you seriously and start making excessive demands without even realizing it.
The next day, once the Passerby Transformation Device's 24-hour cooldown was over, he used it again.
This ti, he transford into a brawny man in his thirties with a face full of stubble.
Guan Tong checked himself in his phone's cara, thinking this look was quite fierce. It was a good opportunity to bring the food down as well.
But he still needed to pay attention to details. After changing into a different set of clothes, he summoned a few living dead and had them act as laborers, carrying several boxes of food behind him.
When they were almost at the foot of the mountain, he took over the carrying himself.
After Guan Tong carried the food boxes down, he imdiately spotted Yu Hong and Zhao Yu's camp.
The two of them had encircled an area with several Jeeps. Inside the circle were two tents, with a Campfire and so miscellaneous items in the middle. This was their camp—simple, but passable.
The two were currently sitting by the campfire chatting. When they saw a brawny man appear carrying several boxes, they realized he must have co down from the mountain camp.
"The food you wanted. Three boxes in total, enough for the two of you for a while." Guan Tong stacked the boxes on the hood of a Jeep. "Our Camp Leader said, since we're neighbors, we won't ask for much. We'll just charge you 100 Ascension Coins."
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