April 5th, humanity's sense of sll was eliminated;
April 6th, humanity's sense of hearing was eliminated;
Thus, from April 2nd onward, for five consecutive days, all five of humanity's senses were eliminated.
The effective period for this rule was half a month, aning the vast majority of people had to endure ten days with all five senses completely gone, which was undoubtedly a significant trial.
Starting from April 4th when the sense of touch was eliminated, the mortality rate of personnel in countries worldwide began to climb rapidly, and with each passing day thereafter, the situation worsened.
By April 8th, just four days after the elimination of touch, more than ten countries publicly issued statents: due to the rapid depletion of their populations, their national systems had collapsed and could no longer be maintained in the form of a country.
The remaining personnel of these countries publicly sought assistance from major powers, hoping to join those nations that could still be sustained, and were willing to pay with various national resources as compensation, and so on.
In reality, the value of these resources had already diminished significantly after the sharp global population decline. Because resources ultimately serve people; if the people are gone, what use is having abundant resources?
It's like how there are planets in the universe entirely composed of iron, nickel, or gold. But if no one goes to develop them, they rely exist, unable to generate any value for humanity.
The attitude of several major powers towards these "stateless refugees" was sowhat ambiguous. The Suroma Empire was the first to proactively speak out, publicly stating it only welcod the strong—naly, individuals with high Mind Power and researchers with outstanding professional skills—and no one else.
Beixing Country also issued a statent expressing willingness to accept a portion of the personnel, but these individuals must strictly abide by Beixing law.
Others, like Sakura Prayer Country, also accepted people conditionally. Given the current situation, no one could afford to worry about appearances anymore; everyone had to consider the issue from the perspective of practical benefits.
By April 10th, another batch of countries announced their dissolution.
April 11th, April 12th... with each passing day, more countries issued statents.
By April 14th, with one day left until the rule ended, the number of countries that had issued statents announcing dissolution exceeded fifty.
Combined with the countries that had dissolved or perished due to the previous nine rules, the original three hundred-plus countries, large and small, on Tianshui Star, were now reduced to only about one-tenth—just over thirty.
Of these, there were over twenty in the Northeastern Hemisphere, and fewer than ten in the Southwest.
The reason for this distribution was also simple: when the first Doomsday Rule was announced, the Northeastern Hemisphere was in daylight and the Southwest was at night. Countries in the night state suffered far more casualties.
However, at this point, no one discussed the fairness of it anymore, knowing it was aningless. The Fire Thief wouldn't debate you in an arena; it would only issue rules. So, survival was the primary task.
True gold fears no fire. After enduring ten Doomsday Rules, the remaining thirty-odd countries were all entities with relatively large populations and strong comprehensive national power.
But how many would remain after another ten rules, no one could say. Many believed that by the later stages of the rules, only a few of the most powerful nations would likely exist, while the others would disintegrate due to an inability to maintain their scale.
For this reason, among these thirty-plus countries, so higher-ups in the relatively weaker nations began making arrangents in advance. By building good relations with powerful countries like Suroma and Beixing ahead of ti, they hoped to have sowhere to go when their own countries eventually beca irrecoverable.
It is worth ntioning that Andai State, which had made a big show of issuing a warrant and bounty on Guan Tong half a month ago, also announced its dissolution on April 13th.
Upon hearing the news, Guan Tong couldn't say he was overjoyed. Based on his observations in Andai State, he had long judged that this country wouldn't last much longer.
With rulers like Prince Lado at the top, warlords and human traffickers represented by Basong in the middle, and a populace of Andai people idling on the streets all day, living for the mont... it was predictable that such a country had almost no risk resistance. As soon as it encountered a difficult rule, it would be directly shattered.
And this Tenth Doomsday Rule, while seemingly not a survival-type rule—as drugs, surgery, and other thods could assist in passing it—many countries lacked sufficient dical standards and facilities. So, for them, this rule wasn't much different from a survival-type rule.
With Andai State's collapse, Prince Lado's whereabouts were unknown, and his bounty commission on Guan Tong naturally faded away without resolution.
Guan Tong even speculated that this Prince Lado probably wouldn't et a good end. He might not even need to lift a finger; Lado could likely be killed by his own people or so violent group.
After all, "the innocent get punished for their treasures." As the leader of Andai State, everyone knew Lado must possess many Ascension Coins. Those coveting these coins would only be nurous.
April 15th, the Tenth Doomsday Rule officially ended.
...
[Rule period has ended]
[Congratulations on passing the trial of the Tenth Doomsday Rule]
[Rewards have been issued to your Storage Box]
[The Ascension Store has added more products; you can view them via your Personal Terminal]
[The Eleventh Doomsday Rule will be announced in fifteen days]
The mont the rule's effective period ended, Guan Tong felt his five senses rapidly return.
He recalled his Shadow and focused on his regained senses, finding them montarily strange, as if he didn't recognize himself.
He tried to take a step and nearly stumbled and fell, his body suffering from severe motor incoordination.
Although he had been using his Shadow's shared senses all along, which didn't hinder his actions, it still couldn't completely eliminate the effects the rule had inflicted on his body.
As he slowly re-familiarized himself with his body, he thought to himself, "It was only a little over ten days. If it had been slightly longer, probably not many could have endured it."
This was sufficiently illustrated by the dozens of countries dissolving within half a month. If the rule's effective period had been a month, even the remaining major powers would likely have been under imnse pressure.
Once his body gradually returned to normal, Guan Tong finally checked his Terminal panel.
[Na: Guan Tong]
[Nickna: Administrator]
[Title: Victor]
[Mind Power: 321 (321) (2320)]
[Ascension Coins: 3,986,120]
[Overall Biotric Rating: Excellent]
Half a month had passed, and his Mind Power had steadily increased by 4 points, which was very good. His Ascension Coins had fallen below four million due to spending around a hundred thousand on bombs, but it was still a huge sum.
However, Guan Tong felt his greatest gain from this rule wasn't the Ascension Coins.
His biggest gains were, first, figuring out the story threads of several fragnts. Although two fragnts remained unacquired, he undoubtedly gained a deeper understanding of the Fire Thief.
Another gain was having a brief exchange with the authorities. Although simple, both sides essentially clarified each other's stance.
The authorities judged that while Shadow was very powerful, his personality didn't match what they sought in a recruit. Forcibly recruiting him would only backfire.
And Guan Tong also felt the other side had a tendency toward "qualificationism." As soone unqualified to make policy proposals, he naturally saw no need to join.
Although the communication between the two sides wasn't very pleasant, it didn't reach the point of a falling out. Moving forward, they would seek common ground while reserving differences, and cooperate when opportunities arose. After all, regardless of any conflicts, their common enemy remained the Fire Thief, and that wouldn't change.
"It seems the Ascension Store has added new items this ti." Rembering the prompt he just heard, Guan Tong planned to check, thinking it might be related to the Eleventh Rule.
Just then, his phone suddenly rang. The caller ID showed Xu Xiaotian.
Guan Tong answered, "Xiaotian, what's up?"
Hearing Guan Tong's voice, Xu Xiaotian on the other end of the line let out a long sigh of relief. "Brother Tong, you're alive. That's great."
"...What, were the casualties severe on your side this ti?"
"Yeah, extrely severe!" Xu Xiaotian's tone was grave. "Since the rules began, this is the first ti the academy has suffered such heavy casualties."
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