In the few days after Rule Thirteen was announced, careless lies and rule-breaking due to habit cropped up all over the world.
Even within Beixing Country, despite the governnt updating the White Paper soon after the rule was released, quite a few people still failed.
Almost every day online you could see many people who used to be close tearing their relationships apart because soone couldn’t resist asking a private question.
It was hard to say what exactly was going through their minds; maybe they thought knowing the answer to those questions was more important than the relationship itself.
Fortunately, people quickly stopped being shocked by it. Living through this era for so long, many people developed varying degrees of ntal issues.
After the Five Senses Elimination rule ended, for example, many people seed calr on the surface, but they’d react with acute stress at the slightest sign sothing was wrong.
After that rule, a lot of people developed claustrophobia.
So were so severe they couldn’t sleep in the dark at all, only dozing off with the lights on, waking up frequently and never getting a full, restful sleep.
With so many people in abnormal ntal states, what happened next was hardly surprising.
Still, after discussing it over the past few days, people found an optimal way to get double rewards.
That optimal solution was to form a Truth Oath at the very last day of the rule, even within the final minute.
From the public intelligence available, there was no stipulation that a Truth Oath needed to last a minimum amount of ti to qualify for double rewards after the rule ended.
That left room to ga the system.
As long as the oath was ford in the final minute, one could obtain double rewards with minimal risk.
When Guan Tong saw this “optimal solution,” he thought it was feasible.
Among the Hidden Rules he’d seen, there was indeed no ntion of a ti requirent for the oath.
But even so, he still intended to follow the plan he’d set earlier.
On the fifth day after the rule was published, Xu Xiaotian called Guan Tong.
“Brother Tong, do you have anyone you plan to form a Truth Oath with for this rule?”
“I’m not going to form one,” Guan Tong said. “Why, Xiaotian, do you want to find soone to form an oath with you?”
Xu Xiaotian sounded surprised for a mont. “Brother Tong, you’re not doing it? You’re giving up the double reward?”
“I prefer to play it safe, so I decided against it.”
“Oh, alright then. I actually have a colleague who asked
about forming an oath with them, so I called to check with you first. If you were short a partner, I’d pair up with you first, haha.”
Guan Tong smiled and said, “If you wanted to pair with , I’d worry you might absentmindedly ss it up.”
He didn’t bother with a perfunctory “Thanks, but no thanks.” After all, his very reason for excluding Xu Xiaotian earlier was that sa concern—if he’d given any other excuse, it would have been a lie and therefore a rules violation.
“Uh…” Xu Xiaotian was embarrassed. “Yeah, I do get absentminded sotis.”
“Alright. If you’re going to form an oath with your colleague, don’t rush and make it now. Wait until the rule’s final day, even the last one or two minutes.”
“Mm, got it. Everyone online calls this exploiting the rule’s bug!”
“Good.”
“Okay, I won’t bother you, Brother Tong. Talk later!”
After the call ended, Guan Tong looked at his computer screen.
On it were the chat logs from the past few days between his other account and Dead End.
Shadow Himself: “What conditions do you want
to et before you give the location intel for Jiang Lanying?”
Dead End: “One million Ascension Coins, and a personal guarantee from that Administrator.”
Shadow Himself: “What would the guarantee cover?”
Dead End: “A guarantee that the authorities won’t pursue
afterward, and a full pardon for everything I did in the past.”
Shadow Himself: “Do you think the Administrator has that kind of influence with the authorities?”
Dead End: “Yes. The Administrator can obtain Hidden intelligence about the Doomsday Rules. That’s their biggest leverage. Using it as bargaining chip to buy my freedom, the authorities will have to compromise.”
Shadow Himself: “How do I know the information you provide is accurate? Are you actually by Jiang Lanying’s side?”
Dead End: “Yes, I’m one of her attendants.”
Shadow Himself: “I’ll contact you later.”
The exchange paused there. After learning that Dead End was beside Big Sister Jiang Lanying, an idea ford in Guan Tong’s mind.
He could use reverse network tracing to locate the device Dead End used to log in.
He had once wanted to use that kind of trace to find who sared him and spread rumors that he was involved in so “god-making plan.”
At the ti he’d been busy with earthquake relief. Then Shi Jingyi got injured, and he covered her teaching duties at the academy to repay that debt.
So he’d had no spare ti, and the investigation was put on hold.
Now he thought he could restart the plan.
His idea was to locate all relevant devices during the rule period. Once the rule ended and Shi Jingyi returned to the academy, he would track those people down himself and deal with those problems.
As for any “guarantee” the informant demanded, he had no intention of offering one.
To him, Big Sister, Dead End, and other accomplices were cut from the sa cloth; removing them would be protecting the people.
At the sa ti, in a deserted town near Beixing’s northern border, seven or eight young won stood outside a house.
They all shared strikingly similar features: short hair, thin builds, sharp, efficient deanors.
From their appearance, it was obvious Big Sister favored this type of woman.
“Has the Commander been alone in that room for more than ten minutes? Nothing’s happened, right?”
After Jiang Lanying closed the door behind her, she hadn’t co out, making those waiting outside increasingly anxious.
“Could the Commander be—” one of them asked with concern.
“No!” another woman interrupted imdiately. “The Commander has weathered countless storms for decades. She won’t give up easily.”
“Exactly. If the Commander were that fragile, she wouldn’t have led us to get this far.”
As they spoke, the door opened from inside.
The Commander they’d been worrying about, Jiang Lanying, stepped out slowly.
She wore simple cloth garnts, her white hair neatly arranged, looking much as she had when she held power.
Only if you looked closely could you see so fatigue etched in the wrinkles of her cheeks.
“Didn’t I tell you to go rest? Why are you all standing at the door?” Jiang Lanying waved her hand. “Go rest.”
“Yes, Commander!”
The young won each found a place to sit, drank water, and rested.
One woman stayed beside Jiang Lanying and asked, “Commander, what do we do next? Do we leave the country?”
The others looked over as well, each pair of eyes full of curiosity.
Jiang Lanying nodded. “Leaving the country is certain. The reason we managed to flee from deep within Beixing territory to here is that Beixing’s ard forces were busy with disaster relief; otherwise we’d have been intercepted long ago.”
“But now the earthquake evacuations are largely completed, and the freed-up forces will be sent to hunt us. Before those people find us, we must leave the border… Don’t worry, I’ve already arranged a contact to pick us up.”
A contact?
The won exchanged puzzled glances.
They were the Commander’s guards, the closest to her, and none of them knew she had a pickup waiting abroad.
“It’s normal you didn’t know,” Jiang Lanying said. “I only connected with this person recently. I agreed on paynt before they consented to escort us to a safe place.”
One woman couldn’t hold back asking, “Commander, who is this contact?”
Jiang Lanying didn’t answer imdiately. Instead, she swept the circle of trusted guards with a calm but intimidating gaze.
“Before I tell you, I need to be sure none of you will betray .”
One woman’s heart jumped at the words, but she controlled her expression and, like the others, looked resolute without showing any crack in her face.
“Given that we have the rule now, swear to ,” Jiang Lanying said. “Swear you will not betray . Not all at once; I want to hear each of you individually.”
“Yes!”
Wherever Jiang Lanying stepped forward, the woman there swore solemnly, “I swear I will never, and will have no thought of, betraying the Commander.”
When it ca to the last woman, she took a gentle breath and, with an expression of iron determination, said, “I will never betray the Commander.”
Her performance was flawless; Jiang Lanying nodded without suspicion.
Only the woman herself felt hollow inside after swearing.
She knew she had just lied and violated the rule.
When the rule period ended, she would be punished.
Yet she had done it without hesitation because she knew survival was the priority.
Even if she could never speak truthfully again, with a million Ascension Coins in hand and the Administrator of Ascendant Ho’s guarantee, survival wouldn’t be impossible. And if she could live long enough, there might one day be a way to erase the punishnt…
After every girl had sworn, Jiang Lanying’s expression relaxed considerably.
Although these girls had been grood as her trusted aides, even fanatics, hiding out like this ant anyone could turn under pressure.
With the rule acting as added assurance, she felt much more at ease.
“Now I can tell you who the contact is. You’ll find it unexpected.”
…
Counterasures Research Office, dormitory area.
Silver Fox of Squad Dragon Soul was in Wang Yan and Chen Na’s room.
“Nana, are you really going?” Wang Yan asked anxiously, staring at her daughter. “You’re so young. I can’t bear the thought of you taking part in such a dangerous operation.”
Chen Na shook her head. “Mom, with Sister Silver Fox and the others, it will be safe.”
“That’s right.” Silver Fox stood to the side. “Sister Wang, we will all protect Xiao Na.”
“But…”
Wang Yan hesitated.
All she knew about this mission was that the authorities planned to capture an important group of fugitives. She didn’t know who those fugitives were or what cris they’d committed; that was classified.
The planners believed Chen Na’s broad, fine-grained perception might prove useful in the operation, so they included her on the team.
Chen Na accepted calmly. But her mother resisted, unwilling to let her daughter join such a dangerous task.
“Silver Fox, may I talk to Mom alone?”
“Of course.”
After Silver Fox left, Chen Na remained unusually composed. “Mom, I know you’re worried. But when the authorities need
to use my abilities, I can’t run away. Our safety and treatnt are exchanged for the value we provide.”
Wang Yan stared in surprise at her daughter, not expecting such mature words from soone so young.
“Na Na, who taught you to say that?”
Chen Na shook her head. “No one taught . I thought of it myself.”
“…”
Wang Yan looked at her child’s tender face and felt a wave of sadness.
At an age that should be innocent, the arrival of the Doomsday Rules and the disasters they brought had forced a child’s mind to grow up early—how cruel was that?
“Mom knows,” Wang Yan said, no longer opposing her. She hugged Chen Na and cautioned, “When you’re on the operation, you must protect yourself.”
“Mm, I will!”
A mont later, Chen Na ca out and told Silver Fox in the corridor, “Sister Silver Fox, my mom agreed to let
join the mission.”
Silver Fox ruffled Chen Na’s hair. “Xiao Na, if you’re scared I can report upstairs and get you excused from this one.”
“No. If my ability might be useful, I want to contribute. Brother Guan Tong said that in this era everyone must do what they can, so I don’t want to hide in a safe base forever.”
Silver Fox, curious, asked, “Who is Brother Guan Tong?”
“He’s a brother I t during the Snow in June rule. I should really call him Brother Guan Tong, but Mom calls him Xiao Guan, and I was childish and followed along—”
Before Chen Na finished, Silver Fox exclaid in surprise, “Guan Tong? Could it be Guan Tong, the one who temporarily replaced Shi Jingyi as lecturer at the academy? I didn’t expect you two to know each other.”
“Yes.” Chen Na and Wang Yan had spoken to Guan Tong by phone these days and admired his taking the lecturer position at the academy.
ntioning Guan Tong brought a hint of longing to Chen Na’s face. “Brother Guan Tong helped Mom and
a lot. We haven’t seen him in a long ti.”
Seeing Chen Na’s slightly forlorn expression, Silver Fox thought for a mont and suggested, “He’s at the academy, right? I can take you to see him tomorrow.”
“Really?” Chen Na brightened, then frowned. “But I don’t rember receiving orders. I think we can’t leave the base without permission…”
Silver Fox smiled. “Silly girl, we’re about to go on a dangerous mission. Going to see soone before we leave is nothing; they’ll definitely approve.”
“That’s great! Thank you, Sister Silver Fox.”
“Alright, I’ll report it upstairs. You call your Brother Guan Tong and tell him you’re coming so he can free up so ti and we don’t make a wasted trip.”
“Okay! I’ll call him right now!”
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