"Du Shao?!!"
The notification popped up and, after a brief dead silence, the entire group absolutely erupted.
Countless ssages flew by in a blur.
"What the hell!!!"
"21 seconds?!"
"No way, dude, are you on so kind of speed boost?!"
"How on earth did you do that?!"
"This is the terminal timing—there's no way to cheat…"
"Did you use so Hidden Rule? Like that Alertness Mint before?!"
"Exactly, a Hidden Rule!"
"Shadow, boss!!! Please share!!!"
"Could the world number one be in our group?!"
"I can't accept this!"
"Dad! Take
with you!"
The group chat scrolled like mad. In a twenty-thousand-person group, at least ten thousand people were posting.
Zai Lushang, who was at the gym, had only just been savoring his pride for a few minutes when he went utterly speechless.
Run a full marathon in 21 seconds? Is that even human?
Impossible. Absolutely impossible!
Who is this person with the nickna "Shadow," and how did they manage that?
Many people, like him, wanted to get a clear answer and ask "Shadow" directly.
But the Personal Terminal currently only allowed group chat for communication; there were no "add friend" or "private ssage" features.
So if "Shadow" didn't speak up in the group, no one could proactively contact them.
At this mont, Guan Tong sat at ho, watching the chaos on the group chat and feeling a bit helpless.
Even if he revealed the secret, others couldn't use it.
Not everyone had the sa tool he did, nor could everyone use a shadow the way he did to clear the challenge.
More fundantally, it required tapping into one’s Mind Power.
That didn't need Guan Tong to explain—people online had already made plenty of posts.
Many discovered on the first day that results aided by Mind Power items could be recorded by the terminal.
That ant the Hidden Rule "Mind Victory" had already spread on day one; anyone following external information would know about it.
Now that everyone knew, it was naturally a case of "when the Eight Immortals cross the sea, each reveals their divine powers."
Everyone had to figure out their own thod, digging into how to use their Mind Power items to clear the challenge.
Still, Guan Tong couldn't help feeling a little secretly pleased.
His "Shadow" suited this rule perfectly.
"Looks like I might actually make it into the world's top three?"
Actually, Guan Tong thought taking first place was possible. But there were always people better than you—maybe soone in the world had a Mind Power item more suited to this rule than his.
Besides, 21 seconds wasn't even his limit.
Guan Tong could keep searching for things that rotated faster or produced bigger shadows to push his ti further down.
He estimated he could eventually shave it into the teens without a problem.
By the afternoon, keywords about "Shadow 21 seconds" began appearing online.
People in Guan Tong’s group had posted the incident on the web.
Because terminal group chats couldn't be screenshotted and the rules' tir hadn't ended so total rankings couldn't be checked, most netizens were skeptical.
But as more people from Guan Tong’s group posted, people gradually accepted that soone called "Shadow" really had run a full marathon in 21 seconds and passed the rule.
Suddenly the whole internet was hunting for "Shadow," desperate to learn how it was done.
Among the searchers were social elites and wealthy tycoons.
On a popular social platform called "ChatMore," many verified celebrity accounts posted about it.
So posts were restrained, others brazen and wild.
A chairman of a Fortune 100 company posted: "I hope the person nicknad 'Shadow' will contact
and provide the thod of the challenge. I am willing to reward them with three hundred jin of gold. Anyone with 'Shadow's contact information, or anyone who can provide leads, can receive fifty jin of gold."
The post set the comnts ablaze.
"Three hundred jin of gold?! Such extravagance!"
"They're really putting their money where their mouth is."
"I’m jealous—wish I were 'Shadow'!"
"Gold's value has surged so much, three hundred jin will last forever!"
No wonder everyone was stunned. Ever since the first Doomsday Rule ended, gold had nearly doubled in value.
This was closely tied to many countries offering free food and free entertainnt products.
When those essentials beca free, currency lost a lot of its purchasing power.
That made a limited, hard commodity like gold far more valuable, and only gold transactions were accepted for many high-end scarce goods.
Now one jin of gold was worth more than five jin pre-Rule—so three hundred jin was an enormous sum.
A famous, very attractive international movie star also posted, saying she wanted to contact "Shadow" privately—regardless of gender—to discuss biological aspects.
Her post triggered a storm of fan anger accusing her of trading sex for secrets.
She didn't care. She saw it plainly: after the Doomsday Rules, attention on movie stars would likely decline, so she might as well leverage her fa to get tangible benefits while it still mattered.
Public calls for cooperation were polite, but so forces were hunting for "Shadow" in secret.
The Qingi Society was one such power.
As news spread, the Society's private group began discussing it.
"Who is this 'Shadow'? Where do they co from and how did they do it?"
"No one knows. Even with Mind Power tools, it's hard to reach that level."
"Could there be so unique trick?"
"I've seen people say online that this 'Shadow' is probably from Beixing Country. Can we find them?"
"Very difficult. I heard top-level computer experts tried to crack the terminal group and failed."
"Can't find them technically. The Fire Thief's power is godlike; how could humanity break it? We need to use the dia."
"Agreed. Everyone contact the dia resources we still can. Try to make 'Shadow' step forward willingly and reveal their identity."
"I have a few functioning dia outlets; I'll get on it now."
mbers of the Qingi Society were titans in business with ties to many dia companies. So companies even funded dia channels themselves—useful for corporate warfare or muddying waters when things went wrong.
Now those resources ca in handy.
That night many dia outlets pushed hard to cover "Shadow 21 seconds."
The most trending video showed a well-known host, visibly moved on cara, saying:
"According to sources, the person nicknad 'Shadow' is very likely from Beixing Country.
Facing the Doomsday Rules disaster, Beixing Country must unite and fight through these hard tis together. Although failing the second rule doesn't an death, passing it could help us survive more brutal rules to co.
Therefore, on behalf of the nation, I strongly appeal: 'Shadow,' please act with a generous heart and step forward to help our countryn complete the challenge. I believe we will hail you as a hero and sing your praises!"
The host was almost in tears, and the comnts were full of praise.
"Support the host!"
"Yes—if 'Shadow' helps everyone, they'd be our national hero!"
"We are one country; we must help each other!"
"I believe if 'Shadow' is one of ours, he will step forward. Our people aren't that selfish!"
"Waiting for the hero to appear!"
There were many such videos that night across major sites—different faces but the sa the: urging "Shadow" to step out and share how to run the marathon in 21 seconds.
Guan Tong sat on his sofa, watched several channels broadcast similar clips, and felt speechless.
"Is this saturated persuasion?"
He wasn’t stupid—multiple channels and dia houses pushing the sa ssage couldn't be coincidence.
Guan Tong suspected soone was manipulating the dia to stage this.
"I’m not buying it…"
Originally the matter held no need for secrecy, but with the dia theatrics, Guan Tong dared not reveal himself easily.
He knew how flattering those videos sounded. If he was discovered, the people coming for him would be vicious.
This wasn't paranoia; it was reality. Many powerful figures would kill to seize a lead in this era of rules.
That was why he'd refused to register his Mind Power data with the new departnt in the Police Departnt’s call.
They said anyone with over 80 points might receive special support—but at what cost?
Benefits never co freely; with privileges co obligations.
Guan Tong didn’t want one day to receive a forced notice to participate in so experint or task—and be unable to refuse because he’d accepted their support.
He kept his distance from that whole scene.
So in the following days, no matter how much dia saturation there was calling "Shadow" selfish, he pretended not to see it and carried on with his life.
Only by the eighth day after the second rule appeared did the online condemnation of "Shadow" begin to die down.
On one hand, the ten-day rule period was almost over—if "Shadow" still hadn't appeared, more shouting was useless.
On the other hand, with little ti left, most people accepted reality.
If they couldn't pass, they couldn't pass; even after trying the official suggestions and flexibly using Mind Power items, many couldn't figure out the trick.
After much fuss, they gave up.
After all, the punishnt wasn't death—just Mind Power attenuation.
Many adopted a live-for-today ntality: if you can live another day, let your power decay.
Those with resources likewise stopped hunting "Shadow" and instead began open recruitnt.
These tycoons targeted people with high Mind Power.
As ti passed, the public realized that high Mind Power would beco increasingly valuable.
So the wealthy began building new forces, recruiting elite individuals into their teams ahead of ti.
That way, whether banding together against future rules or competing with rival tycoons, having more elite mbers would be an advantage.
This recruitnt ca from private magnates and governnts alike.
Beixing Country was swift: when the Police Departnt created the new division and called people to register Mind Power values, it was preparing for this step.
Many high Mind Power people posted online saying that shortly after registering, they received governnt invitations to join affiliated departnts of the Doomsday Rules Counterasures Research Office.
The Research Office was the institution that published the Doomsday Rules white papers—a special official departnt.
From its na alone, in the post-Rule era one could see how much resource-mobilization power it had. Even being a mber of an affiliated departnt granted substantial influence.
Other capable countries set up similar research offices, recruiting Mind Power elites worldwide.
The rewards, of course, weren’t just money.
So leaked online claid these institutions paid in things unattainable elsewhere—pri-view resort properties, special access rights to guarded places, limited confidential information, and so on.
There were many online claims—so true, so false, so wildly suspicious, impossible to verify.
So noted that joining required signing nondisclosure agreents, so certain things would never appear online; most online rumors were therefore likely false.
All this commotion was lively—but irrelevant to Guan Tong.
He spent the days experinting with his "Shadow."
Since he discovered the new application, he went out whenever he had free ti to "connect" with different shadows and feel the differences.
He connected with the shadow of a tiny ant—small shadow. He also connected with the shadow of a large stadium—huge shadow. The manipulation sensations were completely different.
Small shadows were nimble and covert, hard to spot.
Large ones were the opposite: such a massive shadow would draw attention with any movent—anyone not blind would notice sothing off.
These trials made Guan Tong delightfully absorbed; he found it so much fun that he couldn't sleep unless he drained all his Mind Power each day.
This continued until the tenth day—the last day for the second Doomsday Rule.
After 9:00 in the morning the results would be settled.
Guan Tong woke at 7:00, ate quickly, and went out to continue experints. But when he glanced at his Personal Terminal, he froze.
[Na: Guan Tong]
[Nickna: Shadow]
[Title: Order Keeper]
[Mind Power: 97]
[Ascension Coins: 0]
[Comprehensive Biological Evaluation: Average]
"My Mind Power cap… went up by one point?"
Reviews
All reviews (0)