As Guan Tong's words fell, another round of laughter erupted from the camp crowd.
However, the long-haired, dark-skinned fat man looked cautious, thinking that an old man who could survive so many rules might actually have so real skill.
He gave a aningful glance, and the people in the camp understood, moving to surround Guan Tong from both sides.
"Old man, it's pretty impressive that you've survived this long and even climbed the mountain to participate in the challenge I created," the long-haired dark fat man said with a sinister tone. "But there are so many of us here, and you're just one. I advise you to behave yourself."
"That's right, an old geezer like you is still so arrogant."
"Hand over your Ascension Coins and any tradable items obediently, and we'll let you go down the mountain. Otherwise, your old bones will be left right here!"
Seeing this group's bandit-like behavior, coupled with their use of violence to prevent others from participating in the challenge, Guan Tong understood their true nature.
Then he didn't want to waste any more ti.
A murderous aura flashed in his eyes. The long-haired dark fat man sensed sothing was wrong and shouted, "This old geezer wants to cause trouble! Take him out!"
Upon hearing this, over ten people in the camp all summoned their items or prepared to use their abilities.
But their speed was far too slow. Before Guan Tong, they didn't even have a chance to strike.
"Pfft pfft pfft pfft pfft pfft pfft!"
The shadows spreading from Guan Tong's feet surged up, piercing through the bodies of the crowd. The speed and power were so great that each person only had ti to open their mouths wide, revealing a terrified expression before they died.
The only one who didn't die imdiately was the long-haired dark fat man who seed to be the leader of this group. He seed to have a defensive item on him that blocked the shadow spike from piercing his body.
But this couldn't change anything.
The long-haired dark fat man also realized this. With a "thump," he knelt down, kowtowing and begging for rcy. "Please, sir, have a big heart, spare , spare ! You... you are..."
As he kowtowed and begged for rcy, seeing the way his companions had died, he suddenly rembered sothing.
"You... you are 'Shadow'?! I... I was also at Holy Grail Island before, and I died under these black spikes back then... Great Shadow, I beg you, spare my life, otherwise..."
"Otherwise?"
"Otherwise, I'll tell others your identity right now!" The long-haired dark fat man gritted his teeth and threatened. "I've already seen your face, and I'm using a Communication Secret Scroll to have a telepathic conversation with a friend! If you don't spare , I'll imdiately tell my friend what you look like! It will definitely be faster than you killing !"
"Is that so? Suit yourself." Guan Tong raised a hand, and the Silver Hunt stored in his Storage Ring appeared in his palm.
Seeing Guan Tong pull out a gun, the long-haired dark fat man went all out, saying, "Shadow is an old man in his sixties! About 1.6 ters tall, has spots on his nose, and also—"
"Bang!"
Guan Tong pulled the trigger. A Type 2 single-headed round finished off this guy.
As for who this guy's friend on the Communication Secret Scroll was, Guan Tong didn't care.
After all, this old man appearance wasn't real; it was just randomly transford using the [Passerby Transformation Device]. Even if exposed, searching for soone based on this appearance would only lead to nothing.
Looking at the ss on the ground, Guan Tong didn't feel much inner turmoil.
After the battle at Holy Grail Island ended, he was no longer the combat novice he used to be.
It could be said that the challenge tournant brought him not only visible accumulation but also hidden accumulation in terms of combat experience.
Relying on the unlimited Mind Power buff at the ti and the chaotic battles with hundreds of people, he accumulated extensive combat experience in using shadows to kill enemies.
Therefore, these ordinary Ascendants were now no match for him.
He controlled the shadow to go down the mountain to the ticket hall at the finish point of the challenge project.
He himself waited by the stone stele, idly searching through various tents, throwing all useful supplies into the Storage Ring to take back.
They say unlicensed business yields the fastest money, and that's truly the case. No wonder there are bandit organizations everywhere outside the cities now. Compared to working hard to find channels to obtain supplies, where is it faster than robbing other camps?
It's just that if given a choice, Guan Tong really wouldn't want to do this losing business. Bla these people for bringing it upon themselves, insisting on attacking an "old man" like him.
However, the actions of this camp were, in his view, a microcosm.
That is, so more domineering Ascendants might choose to use violence to stop and attack challengers going to challenge their created projects to prevent others from challenging them.
This would undoubtedly cause a lot of chaos.
People co to challenge the project, not to fight you.
But from the perspective of the Ascendant who created the project, they also have a point: what if you succeed in the challenge and take my first place? If I can't snatch soone else's within the rule period, I'll fail this rule.
Based on this ntality, they might feel that attacking challengers to protect their project's first place is reasonable behavior.
Challengers feel there's nothing wrong with following the rules, and project creators feel there's nothing wrong with protecting their first place. The conflict between the two sides is irreconcilable, leading only to a big fight.
But isn't this exactly what the Fire Thief wants to see?
Guan Tong understood this all too well. All of the Fire Thief's rules, hidden rules, were either openly or covertly provoking disputes among people.
Unfortunately, even knowing this, people still had to fight for their own survival and walk right into the Fire Thief's open sche.
After Guan Tong finished collecting the camp's supplies, the shadow had already reached the ticket hall at the foot of the mountain.
He opened the challenge list, selected the Tian Ding Mountain entry, and started the challenge.
Then, from the stone stele at the mountaintop, he instantly arrived in front of the ticket hall at the foot of the mountain via Body Swap, completing the challenge.
Opening the challenge project details again, it now showed he was the "World First" for this project. However, this "World First" would only be counted in the total statistics after the rule period ended if no one surpassed him.
"I have two 'Firsts' in hand for now. To et the minimum requirent for the hidden rule reward, I need to secure one more."
Guan Tong opened his favorites list and checked the next project he planned to challenge.
...
The next morning, 8:50 AM.
At the Doomsday Rules Counterasures Research Office, a temporary eting was being held.
"Is it almost ti?" soone asked.
The person in charge of Ascension Coin expenditures nodded. "Yes, if that Administrator wasn't lying, the 24 hours he ntioned will be up at 9 AM today, and he'll send the intelligence to the buyers."
"Is this really reliable..." soone still doubted.
"Based on current information, that Administrator's credibility is relatively high, but we can't rule out the possibility he's playing a long ga to catch a big fish," an economist said.
"What do you an?"
"Well, for example, if he can really provide correct intelligence. Then next ti a new rule is announced, if he says he's going to sell rule-related intelligence again, would you buy it?"
"I'd buy it! Why not buy correct intelligence? Isn't it worth tens of thousands of Ascension Coins for important intelligence related to the rules?"
"Tens of thousands isn't a loss," the economist said. "Then let
ask you, what if he raises the price next ti? For example, doubling it to one hundred thousand."
"This... I think it would still be worth it."
"Then next ti, doubling again to two hundred thousand, three hundred thousand, even five hundred thousand or one million, would you still buy it?"
"That... that's too big a jump. Who would buy it for one million?"
"What if that Administrator says at that ti that it's because this piece of intelligence is extrely important, that's why it's so expensive?"
The person talking to the economist suddenly understood. "...I see. You're saying he might first use a few pieces of correct intelligence to gain trust, and when the price reaches a certain level, scam a huge amount?"
The economist nodded. "It's just a possibility, so we still need to be careful. After all, we can't breach that website. If we really get scamd out of a large amount of Ascension Coins, we can't hold anyone accountable."
"Ti's up."
As soon as 9 AM arrived, everyone looked at the trader.
The latter sat in front of the computer, projecting the screen onto the large screen in the room, nervously refreshing the private ssage interface.
Refresh, refresh, refresh... After refreshing five tis, the Administrator's private ssage finally arrived.
"It's sent, the intelligence is sent!"
Everyone looked at the large screen together. The intelligence obtained at the high cost of fifty thousand Ascension Coins was just one short sentence.
Administrator: "Obtaining multiple world firsts during the effective period of this rule will increase Mind Power upper limit after it ends."
Whoosh!
The entire office instantly erupted.
"Increase Mind Power upper limit? Really?!"
"This..."
"You've got to be kidding, the hidden reward this ti is actually this big!"
Everyone was utterly shocked, including the person in charge, Gao Liangwei.
Because up until now, even as the resource-richest Counterasures Research Office, they possessed extrely few items that could increase Mind Power upper limit.
The distribution of each of these extrely precious items required discussion in etings and had to pass with a majority vote.
To think the hidden reward for this rule would actually involve this kind of enhancent... this was simply...
"Opportunity! This is an excellent opportunity!"
Dr. Zhang, responsible for cultivating official team Ascendants, was more excited than ever before, his voice trembling slightly as he spoke.
"Person in charge, I propose we must invest significant resources to help the captain of Team Four obtain more firsts! This is crucial for her!"
Gao Liangwei quickly cald down and said solemnly, "Team Four captain, you an Bai Xuewu?"
"Yes, her!" Dr. Zhang spoke rapidly, saying a lot. "What has always held her back the most is her Mind Power upper limit. Her 'Snow Traces' cha has trendous power but equally huge consumption. If we can compensate for this shortcoming of Mind Power upper limit, her overall combat power will experience explosive growth—
Take the challenge tournant, the one at Holy Grail Island, for example. The one who took first place, 'Shadow,' relied on the Holy Grail's unlimited Mind Power buff. I believe that if the first one to obtain the Holy Grail back then wasn't Shadow, but Bai Xuewu, with the unlimited Mind Power buff, she could also have eliminated hundreds or thousands of enemies with her ever-present Snow Traces cha and taken first place!"
Seeing Dr. Zhang so excited, Gao Liangwei nodded slightly.
He also had so understanding of Bai Xuewu's abilities. Even the official weapons departnt had tested her cha. Its construction materials were completely not from Tianshui Star; they were a special material never seen before. Anti-material weapons fired at it couldn't even leave a scratch.
"And her cha's potential is far from fully tapped," Dr. Zhang added. "She ntioned to
that she can feel there are many unlocked functional modules inside the cha, but she can't unlock them due to insufficient Mind Power upper limit... Imagine if she could unlock all those modules, to what extent would her combat power improve?"
"...I agree," Gao Liangwei was convinced by Dr. Zhang. "All departnts will cooperate fully to provide resources. But it's not just about helping Bai Xuewu alone obtain more firsts; mbers of other teams also need investnt."
"Yes."
"Additionally," Gao Liangwei said, "I've decided to make this information public to the masses."
Upon hearing this, everyone present was shocked.
"Since we previously decided to make the data public, I believe this intelligence also needs to be made public. After all, the Ascension Coins we used to purchase the intelligence actually co from the public. They allowed us to allocate them. If we hide this piece of intelligence, it would be a betrayal."
"But, person in charge..." soone said cautiously, "Even if ordinary people know, they won't have the ability to obtain more firsts, right?"
"Right. Ordinary people are doing well just to protect the first place of the project they created..."
"I actually support the person in charge's decision. Also, I have another proposal." The person who spoke made a proposal that sent chills down everyone's spine.
"That is, to have those people who haven't created challenge projects yet collectively create so projects specifically designed for official teams to take first place. This way, without investing massive resources in competition, we can also obtain many firsts."
"This... making people reduce their Mind Power through coercive ans to give first place to official teams, who would accept that?"
"Don't forget, everyone who moved into the shelters signed the 'Agreent of Allocation.'"
"Agreeing to allocate Ascension Coins and items is different from agreeing to reduce Mind Power!"
"I also oppose doing this. Unless soone volunteers, forcing people to do this will provoke intense resistance!"
"So what? Isn't it easy to suppress so emotions?"
"Suppress? What if they post the news on the 'Ascendant Ho' website? How do you suppress that? Or are you saying you won't even let people use the internet?"
"You..."
"Stop arguing!" Gao Liangwei's face darkened as he shouted in a low voice. "This proposal is not approved. eting adjourned!"
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