The eleven buyers who chose to spend fifty thousand Ascension Coins to purchase the intelligence all received a reply via the website's private ssage from Guan Tong.
Looking at the global scale, the number of large groups that exist is definitely very high, with these eleven buyers only representing a small fraction.
However, so groups did not have a high enough level of trust in Guan Tong and were uncertain whether he was actually trying to scam coins, so they chose to wait and see.
But as the Beixing Country authorities publicly released the intelligence, its explosive content shocked every Ascendant around the world who learned of it.
Being able to increase Mind Power upper limit by seizing more first-place positions was an unprecedented occurrence since the eight rules began, and its importance was self-evident.
So groups that had not spent Ascension Coins to buy the intelligence did not feel any sense of luck at "getting the intelligence for free." On the contrary, their decision-makers were all breaking out in cold sweat, filled with lingering fear in their hearts.
Because the only ones who chose to disclose the intelligence were the Beixing Country authorities. All other groups, organizations, and even the authorities of other countries that had purchased the intelligence unanimously chose to conceal it.
What would have happened if Beixing Country had also chosen to conceal it?
The combat power of the top personnel within their groups, who hadn't purchased the intelligence, would likely have fallen far behind after this rule! In the design of the Doomsday Rules where the strong get stronger, falling behind by one step ans lagging behind step by step, and it's very possible they would never catch up again.
This intense lingering fear caused the decision-makers of these groups to fiercely berate those within their organizations who had considered Guan Tong unreliable. They also ordered that the next ti the Administrator of that website sells intelligence, it must be purchased imdiately!
Simply wanting to take advantage of others and mooch off their intelligence, expecting the Beixing Country authorities to publicly disclose it every ti, is unrealistic. What if the next piece of intelligence possesses so kind of first-mover advantage? Its value for those who learn of it later would greatly diminish.
And so, without Guan Tong's own knowledge, his pool of potential intelligence custors increased significantly—but this was contingent on the results being verifiable after this rule ended.
If, after the rule ends, Ascendants who obtained multiple first places did not see an increase in their Mind Power upper limit, then these organizations and groups would probably be so furious they'd join forces to find and expose the Administrator as a fraud.
After the Beixing Country authorities made the intelligence public, large-scale discussions erupted both online and offline.
"Increase Mind Power upper limit? Is this for real?"
"The news is said to have been bought from the Administrator of Ascendant Ho, so it should be reliable!"
"...I rember a while back, there was an item on the Market that sold for the astronomical price of a million, with the effect of increasing Mind Power upper limit by 8 points. Looking at it now, wasn't the buyer a total sucker?"
"You can't really say that. Getting multiple first places isn't that simple."
"Holy crap, soone just snatched the first place in my project, who's so shaless!"
"With this intelligence out, won't those strong people be snatching everyone else's first places everywhere? It's so unfair."
"I'm just giving up. My abilities and items aren't unique enough to set up challenge projects where I'm guaranteed to get first place. Rather than struggling to set one up only to have first place snatched away, I won't even create a project. A lose-lose is better than a single win for them."
"Agreed! A lose-lose is better than a single win. I'm not creating a challenge project either!"
After the news fernted, the general public, after their initial shock, erupted with intense resistance.
Because everyone clearly understood that it wasn't easy to hold onto the first place in their own project, let alone go and seize others'.
In the end, it would still be those strong individuals with more early-stage accumulation or those who could receive resource investnt who would get the benefits. Ordinary people would get nothing, so they might as well force a lose-lose scenario with you.
As for the strong individuals within various organizations, upon learning the news, their eyes all lit up.
Although they were already not satisfied with just one first place and planned to seize more, the motivation before knowing the intelligence and the motivation after knowing it were on completely different levels.
It's like workers knowing overti pays overti wages, but that's not enough to sacrifice all their eating and sleeping ti; but if workers suddenly learned this overti pay wasn't money but gold bars, then forget eating and sleeping, they'd even save toilet ti to work.
And the excitent of the strong undoubtedly further fueled more resistance among ordinary people.
The only ones unaffected were the group whose Mind Power had long since decayed to zero and whose Terminal panels had closed.
Part of this group stayed at the gathering points within the cities, while part chose to live outside the cities. They also went online, saw the current dispute, and many comnted with a kind of schadenfreude and mockery, but so were analyzing and calling for action.
"Weren't you mocking others as Low-grade Horses just two months ago? Why aren't you saying that now, feeling like you're almost there yourselves?"
"We're not even at the tenth rule yet, and the Fire Thief has already co up with a rule that essentially lets the strong plunder the Mind Power upper limit of the weak... heh, I see good tis are still ahead."
"I hope those who snatch others' first places rember, the price of your strength is our weakening!"
"Logically, the authorities should manage this... Shouldn't these people who snatch others' first places bear so social responsibility? I think we should call for these strong people, having taken others' Mind Power, to have an obligation to protect the weak during other rules!"
"That's right, we should make all the weak around the world realize we shouldn't be plundered by the strong. Those who haven't created challenge projects yet should all stop creating them, and make the authorities give a clear statent."
The tide of public opinion swept powerfully across the entire internet, with similar calls erupting in countries all over the world.
Since the exposure of the hidden rule of the first rule, there had never been such a large-scale online uproar.
Because this ti was completely different from before.
Before, when rules failed and reduced Mind Power, it was the Fire Thief reducing it, and the target of people's bla was also the Fire Thief.
But this ti, rule failure is because soone else took your first place—even though the Fire Thief who set this rule is the mastermind behind the scenes, people still tend to bla the person who took their first place.
And as this public opinion fernted, so organizations and groups, and even the authorities of so alternative countries, were rapidly taking action.
Qingi Base.
The base manager, that short-haired woman, was on a call. A calm, aged voice ca from the other end.
"Han Ling, you already know about the rule intelligence. Plan accordingly. Have the 'resource bodies' imprisoned in the base's jail collectively create challenges that match the abilities and item advantages of the squad mbers."
The short-haired woman nad "Han Ling" nodded. "Understood, Commander. However, Yu Feiwei asked
to apply to you on his behalf, hoping to have resource bodies tailor-make so challenges for him."
Before the Doomsday Rules era, Yu Feiwei was the chairman of Firebird Financial and a mber of the Qingi Society. He passed the first rule without any fright or danger because he managed to obtain over thirty Alertness Mints during it.
But the cost was that his initial Mind Power upper limit was very low.
Furthermore, during several subsequent non-survival challenges, he also had entries he didn't pass, causing his already low upper limit to beco even more precarious.
During the previous Qingi gathering, his Mind Power upper limit was already down to single digits. One more reduction would zero it out, so he had urgently hoped the Commander would find a solution for him then.
After the national warti state began, he, like other mbers, withdrew from the city and entered the base, taking up the position of Departnt Head of the Ascension Coin Item Procurent Departnt.
Now that he had finally caught an opportunity to increase Mind Power, of course he wanted to seize it. He imdiately found Han Ling, the base manager, and asked her to apply to the Commander.
The Commander on the other end of the call was silent for a mont. "Not allowed."
Han Ling was slightly surprised. She had thought the Commander would give extra preferential treatnt to mbers of the "Qingi Society."
"Yu Feiwei only has single-digit Mind Power left. There's no need to invest more resources in him. Our resources should be used on more deserving people," the Commander said.
"But Commander, Yu Feiwei is the Departnt Head of Procurent," Han Ling reminded. "Your decision will incur his dissatisfaction, so..."
"Secretly execute him then," the Commander said directly. "After warti managent began, the social connections of these people have all beco invalid. Keeping them or not doesn't make much difference."
"Understood."
"Rember to focus on setting up challenges for that young man nad 'Jiang Ming'," the Commander added.
Jiang Ming...
Han Ling's mind conjured the image of that young man who always wore headphones and had an indifferent expression.
During the last encounter with the official team in the wild, it was this Jiang Ming who acted and killed a mber of the official team. If reinforcents hadn't arrived later and the fight continued, the official team might have been completely wiped out at that ti.
Han Ling knew this Jiang Ming wasn't soone she found. Among the five people in the squad, the ones she found were only Gu Fei and Chen Na. The other two were selected from other cities. Only Jiang Ming was soone personally arranged by the Commander.
Regarding Jiang Ming's origins and background, only the Commander herself knew. Han Ling wasn't clear on it either.
"Understood, Commander. I will have the resource bodies collectively set up so challenges that match his abilities."
After hanging up, Han Ling headed to the prison area.
Over a thousand Ascendants were imprisoned here, all people the Commander had, through second or even third layers of interdiaries, remotely directed local violent groups to kidnap.
These thousand-plus Ascendants all had initial Mind Power exceeding 80 points, eting the talent criteria for academy admission.
But now they could only be subjected to physical restrictions, staying in this sunless place.
However, Han Ling had never used torture on them. On the contrary, she had never missed a single al for these people.
During the previous Blood Plague rule and the no-talking rule, corresponding protective gear and anti-talking devices were provided. Everyone here had a set.
Of course, this wasn't because Han Ling was kind-hearted, but the Commander's order. For these "resource bodies," letting them eat well, drink well, and complete rule challenges made them more valuable and more useful for subsequent purposes.
Just like a major pig farr says, raising pigs is for making money and eating at, not for letting the pigs live a happy life.
And that "subsequent purpose" was now. The appearance of the eighth rule finally gave these people a good opportunity to be put to use.
Han Ling wasn't worried these people had already created challenges in advance, because she knew that without her command, they wouldn't dare to casually use their abilities or items.
It wasn't that she had such great deterrent power, but that the troublemakers had been weeded out over the past few months. Now, only the obedient and docile ones remained in the prison.
Han Ling told them that as long as they cooperated well, once all forty-nine rules were over, they would be released and could return to normal life.
Whether they believed it or not, they could only pin their hopes on this, hoping the rules would pass quickly.
Han Ling walked through the prison area. A guard ca to report. "Manager Han, two prisoners committed suicide yesterday."
Hearing this, Han Ling raised an eyebrow. "Reason?"
"Unknown. It seems it was due to depression."
"Is that so... How many instances does this make now?"
"Counting so far, the number of suicides has exceeded thirty."
"If this continues, the number of resource bodies will keep decreasing," Han Ling mused. "It seems I'll need to report to the Commander later, to go capture so people from the various camps in the wild to replenish the numbers."
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