November 1, 9:00 a.m.
The Fire Thief’s voice echoed in every Ascendant’s mind, but the ssages were not identical.
[Rule ti has ended]
[You failed this rules challenge, the failure penalty has taken effect]
[The fourteenth Doomsday Rule will be announced in thirty days]
At one gathering point, a young woman nad Wang Lan heard “the failure penalty has taken effect” and shuddered, an indescribable fear spreading through her chest.
This was not her first failure, but before her failures had only lowered her Mind Power upper limit. This ti the failure penalty was different: she could never tell the truth again.
What would that even be like?
Wang Lan trembled as she thought, and soone ca in from outside — a fellow villager. The fellow greeted her, “Wang Lan, did you pass the rule?”
Wang Lan had once accidentally lied and broke the rule. Now she didn’t want to deceive a fellow villager, so she nodded and tried to admit it.
“I failed—uh—fail—”
Wang Lan wanted to say, “I failed,” but to her horror she found she could not finish the sentence!
It was as if sothing was blocking her throat and her tongue had lost control; no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t speak the words in her heart.
“What’s wrong with you?” the fellow asked, puzzled.
Wang Lan’s face went pale. From that mont she realized what “the failure penalty has taken effect” ant: she could no longer speak the truth.
Seeing Wang Lan’s painful expression, the fellow realized, “W-Wang Lan, you wouldn’t be… violating the rule and now unable to tell the truth, would you?”
“Wro—”
Wang Lan nodded and spoke, tears welling in her eyes. What she wanted to say was not “wrong” but “right,” yet she could not say it.
All she could do was nod while saying “wrong.”
Unable to verbally express what she truly ant… Would she be condemned to forever deny things with words while affirming them with gestures?
Her mind scrambled, unable to accept this reality; for a mont she was speechless, unable to utter a single thing.
…
[Rule ti has ended]
[Congratulations, you passed the thirteenth Doomsday Rule’s test]
[Rewards have been delivered to your Storage Box]
[The fourteenth Doomsday Rule will be announced in thirty days]
When the Fire Thief’s voice sounded, Guan Tong was sitting at his computer.
Less than a minute after the Fire Thief finished speaking, the number of posts on the website began to surge.
Clearly, as soon as the rule ended, everyone started talking like mad.
And the topic was still related to the popular pinned post he had made yesterday.
From the questions that post raised and the official statents, a flood of discussions sprung up around “law in the Doomsday Rules era.”
Lagging legislation is a problem every country faces.
Especially after entering the Doomsday Rules era, unprecedented situations in human history have appeared one after another. Just responding to them is enough to be overwheld — there’s no ti to promptly craft matching laws.
This had sown hidden dangers back when the first Doomsday Rule appeared.
During those three days, many people exploited leaked Hidden Rules to obtain Alertness Mints by knocking others unconscious, ensuring they themselves could pass the rules.
After the rule ended there was a massive online debate; many argued that was akin to intentional homicide. So proposed that officials should audit everyone’s titles and arrest anyone with the Rule Breaker title for intentional murder.
But in the end the authorities chose to handle it coldly, barely responding to public opinion.
At the ti so believed the leak ca from officials, and those who used the thod wouldn’t turn themselves in.
Others thought enforcent would be too difficult: if everyone titled Rule Breaker had to be arrested, it could spark internal unrest and make a society already thrown into chaos by the Doomsday Rules even less controllable.
Moreover, many self-proclaid Rule Breakers spoke loudly online to defend themselves.
So said they were in ergency self-defense. Legally, they had only knocked people unconscious, not killed them; the real killer was the Fire Thief, the Doomsday Rules.
Others pointed to the governnt’s attitude as support, saying that if the authorities hadn’t convicted anyone, others had no right to call Rule Breakers criminals.
Although attention shifted as new rules kept appearing, people never truly forgot the matter.
They say “the internet has no mory,” but now it’s different. Everyone rembers every Doomsday Rule and the major events during them intimately — those things relate to their own lives and families; how could they be ignored?
So even now, though the first rule was coldly handled and rarely brought up, many people’s first consideration when making friends is to check the other person’s title. If the other person’s title is Rule Breaker, they don’t pursue deeper interaction.
Now a new situation reappeared: so people were deliberately sabotaging others’ rules challenges — not entirely new, since during the Eighth Rule, the Eighth Rule [Number One in the World] there were also incidents of people stealing the number-one spot and causing others to fail.
Back then the authorities likewise did not define that behavior, so many people simply relied on mutual protection in shelters.
This ti similar incidents have reoccurred, and many people are at the end of their patience, pressuring the governnt to quickly draft and enforce laws suitable for the current environnt, or else people will start rioting in the streets.
Guan Tong thought, If this keeps up, they’ll probably impose martial law again.
After the earthquake rule, huge numbers of cities were destroyed and hundreds of millions were forced to relocate.
Take Pinglu City, where he now was: although there are shelters, they couldn’t possibly hold the tens of millions arriving from across the country.
Most outsiders currently live in fellow-villager gathering points. The Material Distribution Departnt where Xu Xiaotian works is responsible for periodically supplying those gathering points with food, clothing and other supplies.
Compared to fully sealed shelters, the gathering points are managed much more loosely. Especially now, with the transfer just finished, people with nothing to do co out to stroll — though almost no shops are open on the streets, that doesn’t stop them from wandering the mountain roads a few tis.
If a large group ca out to cause damage and disrupt order, Guan Tong believed the authorities would return to full warti managent and forbid people from leaving the gathering point boundaries at will.
…
Doomsday Rules Counterasures Research Office.
In the conference room, the words “Legal Recomndations” were projected on the big screen.
Gao Liangwei said, “Everyone knows what’s happened recently: from the clashes between academy students and ordinary people, to this deliberate sabotage that caused soone to fail a rules challenge… the public is strongly demanding updated laws.
The higher-ups are considering this and have lawyers studying it. Our Counterasures Research Office, being the departnt that deals most with the Doomsday Rules, also needs to submit so recomndations. Speak up.”
After Gao Liangwei finished speaking he paused, then added, “You all saw Dr. Li’s situation before. Even though the rule has ended now and lying is no longer punished, I still hope you’ll be honest and not follow the crowd.”
Everyone in the conference room nodded and began to propose suggestions.
“I think we should first address what people care about most. For example, based on yesterday’s public opinion, establish a cri of ‘intentional obstruction of rule challenges.’ If soone causes another person’s rules challenge to fail, prosecute them under this statute,” one doctorate suggested.
Soone asked, “What would the consequences be for violating that law? Punishnt? Compensation or imprisonnt? If compensation, is it paid in Ascension Coins?”
The proposing doctorate shook his head repeatedly: “I’m not a lawyer, I don’t know the details. Legal consequences still need legal professionals to research and draft.”
“I think we should enact an ‘Ascendant Conduct Restraint Act.’ Everyone knows the friction between Ascendants and ordinary people is severe; we need a concrete law to constrain Ascendants.”
“I agree. I’d like to add a ‘Ban on Abuse of Mind Power-Related Items.’ That could be included in the Conduct Restraint Act. There are quite a few Ascendants abusing ability items now; it needs regulation.”
Reviews
All reviews (0)