September 1st, morning.
Today wasn't a weekend, but it was a holiday for the academy. Because the academy stipulated that every day a rule ended would be a holiday, allowing students to relax better.
At nine o'clock, the notification sound signaling the rule's end rang in everyone's minds.
[Rule period has ended]
[Congratulations on passing the trial of the twelfth Doomsday Rule]
[Rewards have been issued to your Storage Box]
[The thirteenth Doomsday Rule will be announced in thirty days]
The Fire Thief's voice had never changed, but that didn't stop it from sounding like a demon's whisper when announcing rules and like an angel's song when ending them.
For a mont, thunderous cheers erupted from the dormitory building.
"It's finally over..."
"Brothers, log in!"
"Damn, my phone is dead!"
Most students were imrsed in the excitent of being able to freely use the internet again, but there were a very few students who weren't as dependent on the internet and were instead sowhat reluctant to see the rule end.
"Will there ever be another rule this stress-free? I really wish it could have lasted longer..."
"Yeah. It's rare to have such a relatively relaxed rule."
"Hey, did you guys notice? The Mind Network seems to have cut off?"
"It really has!"
"Could it only be effective during the rule period?"
Once the rule ended, news of the Mind Network's interruption quickly spread.
Everyone who had connected felt a sense of sudden loss.
Although the experience wasn't very long, that experience of using only the mind as a dium, where a single sentence could be transmitted simultaneously to millions of people's brains, gave Ascendants a genuinely new understanding of "communication."
If it couldn't be used anymore from now on, it would undoubtedly be a great pity.
Currently, in the shelter at the bottom of the canyon, Guan Tong also sensed that his Mind Network connection with the other Lecturers had been severed.
Unlike others who felt surprised, he had already been ntally prepared for this.
On the first day the rule was announced, he had seen in the Hidden Rule's content that the premise of the Mind Network was "during this rule period." This ant that once the rule period was over, this thod of applying Mind Power would cease.
However, Guan Tong believed it wouldn't stop permanently; he felt this was more like a "preview experience."
"Perhaps, given Ascendants' current abilities, they are insufficient to support the existence of a Mind Network. Being able to use it during this rule period was because the Fire Thief took on the role of so kind of 'server.'"
Guan Tong thought for a while, silently calling up the Terminal panel.
[Na: Guan Tong]
[Nickna: Shadow]
[Title: Civilization Observer]
[Mind Power: 890 (890) (181912)]
[Ascension Coins: 3,156,780]
[Overall Biotric Rating: Excellent]
Throughout this month, he had actually been accumulating Mind Power every day, but compared to a month ago, the total amount hadn't increased; instead, it had decreased by over ten thousand.
This was because he had conducted nurous experints related to the "Shadow Domain" this month.
This incredibly costly ability consud several thousand to tens of thousands of Mind Power points with each use. If Guan Tong hadn't previously saved a large amount of reserve Mind Power, he couldn't even afford to experint.
Fortunately, the experints yielded so results.
For example, preliminary mastery over expanding and contracting the Shadow Domain, absorbing the Mind Power of Ascendants within it, and so on, were all decent achievents.
Regarding the Mind Power Upper Limit, it was still steadily advancing towards the one thousand milestone. However, without so unexpected opportunity, breaking through one thousand to be able to write on the seventh page of the [Wordless Book] would probably have to wait until next year.
"The next rule is announced in October; a one-month Interval Period is pretty good."
Since the end of the eleventh rule, the Fire Thief first gave a two-month interval, then the twelfth rule, due to its low difficulty, was essentially a free month for Guan Tong, plus this current month... Personally speaking, he had experienced almost four consecutive months with little to no pressure.
This was certainly good news for the official authorities of various countries as well. Having such a long period to fully handle post-earthquake disaster relief, epidemic prevention and control, and other work had visibly effective results.
"Let's check the internet."
During the month the twelfth rule was active, Guan Tong hadn't touched a computer or logged into the Ascendant Ho website.
He sat at the desk, turned on the computer, and logged in. He saw quite a few posts violating the forum rules he had established, all posted while he was unable to moderate.
For those posting anti-human content, he uniformly deleted the posts, banned the accounts, and restored the forum to a clean state.
He then also noticed that in the Casual Chat section, the hottest posts were all discussing the Shen Yun incident.
Although this website was nad "Ascendant Ho," Guan Tong, as the Administrator, didn't exclude ordinary people from posting. Therefore, a large number of users on the site were ordinary people. Usually, many of them only read posts and rarely posted, but this ti, encountering an event related to their own rights, they all stepped forward to speak out.
Guan Tong clicked on the hottest post, titled "'Ordinary People' Are an Ecological Niche."
The main text wrote: "Recently, an incident where an academy student killed multiple ordinary people in a wilderness camp has sparked widespread public opinion. Everyone has probably seen the on-site video. Ordinary people facing an Ascendant's attack are truly defenseless; within a few seconds, over a dozen people fell, seven or eight dead.
Ordinary people empathize and are furious, demanding the authorities severely punish the academy student, sentencing him according to the law for murder. Currently, the authorities have issued a notice that the trial will be held on September 2nd. Those nearby can attend the hearing then.
The above is the event background, but my purpose in posting on this site is to call on Ascendants to also support ordinary people in this incident. The reason is what I wrote in the title: 'ordinary people' is just an ecological niche.
Consider this: if the authorities prioritized Ascendants' interests above all else, disregarding ordinary people's rights. Then the number of ordinary people would undoubtedly sharply decrease, eventually leading to mass extinction. But would Ascendants all be satisfied then? I can assert it's impossible.
Without ordinary people, the Ascendant group would also begin to stratify based on strength, weakness, and Mind Power Upper Limit quantity. At that ti, weaker Ascendants would occupy the 'ordinary people' ecological niche and would also face discrimination and various unjust treatnts. This is sothing that would definitely happen.
So, unless you are among the very top tier of Ascendants, you should support ordinary people in this incident, putting pressure on the authorities to ensure they must enforce the law impartially without favoritism."
After reading the post, Guan Tong looked at the comnts below, which were basically overwhelmingly supportive.
"Agree with the OP. I'm an Ascendant, and I also support handling this according to the law this ti!"
"Exactly right. If we don't handle Ascendants killing ordinary people today, then tomorrow, when powerful Ascendants kill weaker Ascendants, will we also not handle it?"
"Since entering the Doomsday Rules era, Beixing has always promoted the concept of equality between ordinary people and Ascendants. Now is the ti to test it!"
"Trust the authorities to uphold justice! Our Beixing is not a country like the Xisiya Empire or the Suroma Empire where might makes right; we would never favor Ascendants!"
Such impassioned public sentint...
Guan Tong finished reading and silently closed the post.
He thought what everyone said made sense, but few people ntioned the ordinary people using thermal weapons in the incident.
Guan Tong imagined if he were in Shen Yun's position, and the other side fired a gun at him, was their aim just to injure him? Not really. Once a gun is used, it's intended to kill.
Considering this, Shen Yun's counterattack against those with guns seed correct to him. The only debatable point was the few ordinary people who weren't ard but were caught in the crossfire of the items.
"I wonder how the authorities will finally rule in tomorrow's trial." Guan Tong felt this was truly a hot potato, and he himself had to go to the scene tomorrow, which was sowhat troubleso to think about.
He shook his head and opened his private ssages. There were quite a few private ssages this month, mostly representatives from various organizations and factions asking if he would sell rule-related intelligence. But the sending dates were all in the first ten days of the month. After news of the Mind Network spread, there weren't many related private ssages.
He switched to the Shadow account; the private ssages were even more nurous. However, most were "please add
as a friend," "please gift Ascension Coins," etc. Only one private ssage among them caught his particular attention.
The sender's nickna was a string of pinyin "baqizi," and the content was: "That day on the island, you said I could contact you?"
It's that Sakura Prayer woman...
Seeing the words "island" and "contact," Guan Tong imdiately recalled the snake-eyed woman he encountered last ti on Rieming Island.
She had directly handed over the Kimos Star fragnts she possessed to Guan Tong, her entire deanor completely nihilistic, leaving a deep impression on him.
Guan Tong checked the sending date; it was ten days ago. That she used the internet then ant she failed the rule challenge.
He thought for a mont and replied to the private ssage: "Correct, what do you need?"
Although he didn't know what this woman wanted from him, since he had said that back then, he certainly wouldn't pretend not to see it now.
After sending it, he originally intended to close it and check later, but unexpectedly, the other party was online and replied imdiately.
baqizi: "Can you help
with sothing?"
Guan Tong: "With what?"
baqizi: "I want to know who my parents are, whether they are still alive."
Guan Tong frowned and replied: "You don't know who your parents are? And if I'm not mistaken, you're an Ascendant trained by the Sakura Prayer Country's authorities, right? Wouldn't sothing like this be easier for your country's official departnts to handle?"
baqizi: "They left after I was born. The Sakura Prayer authorities won't help
with this. They never would before, and even less so after placing
under house arrest."
House arrest...
Guan Tong's heart stirred, and he asked: "Were you placed under house arrest because you gave
the fragnts back then?"
baqizi: "That was only one of the reasons, and not the most important one."
Guan Tong thought about it. Although he hadn't promised any repaynt for taking the fragnts back then, regardless, the other party had indeed saved him a lot of ti.
Especially the "Civilization Observer" title obtained after collecting all the fragnts was crucial to him...
Guan Tong replied: "I can help with this, but I can't guarantee good results. Do you know any information about your parents?"
baqizi: "Only that they were from Wind Island, and my original na 'Uenoshi' was given by them."
Only that little information...
Guan Tong thought that to find soone, he'd most likely have to post a bounty commission on the website.
But the problem was, if he did that, the people from the Sakura Prayer side would also see it.
Guan Tong: "Are you aware that as soon as I start looking, your country's official departnts will imdiately know this matter is related to you? Won't they take action against you?"
baqizi: "They might."
Guan Tong: "How about this: I can help you from another angle. Aren't you under house arrest? In the future, I can look for an opportunity to rescue you, and then you can investigate your parents' matter yourself."
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