November 28th, 9:00 AM.
Guan Tong stayed in the shelter, browsing the forum.
Many hot topics had recently popped up in the Casual Chat section.
Such as "Manned rocket to Terra is about to launch," "The second episode of 'Battle of the Ascendants' will air soon," and "Prize-free guess, what category will the fourteenth rule be?" etc.
After the Human Consortium eting concluded, the news of the manned rocket launching by the end of the year was made public, which undoubtedly caused a huge stir.
People all hoped this attempt would be successful, giving humanity a backup extraterrestrial relocation site.
No one suspected that immigrating to Terra would be the exclusive privilege of the wealthy and powerful—in fact, Terra is not a habitable planet suitable for humans. To live there, humans would probably have to stay in specialized survival pods, go out fully ard, and rely on energy gels for food.
So unless Tianshui Star was completely finished, no powerful figure would abandon their perfectly good ho planet to live in cramped pods on Terra every day, eating tasteless energy gels.
As for Guan Tong, he wasn't very optimistic about space migration.
Given humanity's current technological level, wanting to develop to the point of large-scale space migration within the few years the forty-nine rules were in effect seed utterly impossible.
In just a few years, even with many geniuses, technological explosions couldn't reach that level. Moreover, during this period, Doomsday Rules would interfere one after another, preventing many elites and experts from focusing on uninterrupted scientific research.
Unless humanity hit so kind of jackpot, like obtaining an "Advanced Technical Blueprint" item or sothing similar, but that probability was undoubtedly low.
Furthermore, judging from the Fire Thief's actions, it would absolutely not allow humanity to escape the Doomsday Rules on a large scale through a cheat thod like space migration.
Therefore, Guan Tong believed that space migration could at most serve to preserve seeds. Or to place storage devices containing Tianshui Star's civilization and historical data on Terra and launch them in all directions into the universe.
To truly save themselves, it still required every person, every Ascendant, to work hard to pass the rules and uncover the secrets behind them.
This was precisely what Guan Tong had been striving to do.
Besides the manned rocket matter, the news of the second episode of "Battle of the Ascendants" airing soon was also highly attention-grabbing, because the first episode had achieved massive success under favorable circumstances.
When the first episode aired, people were restricted by the [Digital Detox] rule, unable to use internet devices and could only watch disc recordings. This made the show a nationwide variety program.
This was sowhat like back on Guan Tong's ho planet Earth, when he was young and information channels were limited, leading to the ergence of household-na idols in that era.
But after entering the internet era and the mobile internet era, it beca basically impossible to produce another superstar with nationwide recognition.
However, the show's explosive popularity was also due to its high production quality. Plus, each contestant was full of topics—either handso n and beautiful won, or powerful figures, and even online celebrities like "I Am a Good Man" participated. Its popularity was no surprise.
However, Guan Tong felt there was a deeper reason for the show's imnse popularity: most Ascendants had too little, or even no, actual combat experience.
Because they themselves had no opportunity, or were afraid of the danger and dared not engage in real combat, the fights between contestants on the show beca a very exciting substitute.
What show could be more thrilling than staying in a safe environnt, watching a group of powerful Ascendants use their abilities to fight intensely? It was similar to people eating snacks and drinking beverages while watching wilderness survival shows—being in a safe environnt watching others take risks.
And this was precisely why Guan Tong wasn't as fanatical as others about this show—he had too much actual combat experience and couldn't muster much interest in the pseudo-combat on the reality show.
If he really wanted to watch, he only wanted to specifically watch the combat clips of the "Snow Traces" cha. He felt that among all current contestants, only this cha's combat power would spark his desire to pay attention.
"Ding."
While he was browsing, a private ssage notification sounded.
It was a ssage from the trader he had arranged to et today.
Photography Art WW: "et at 10 AM on the north bank of the border river."
Guan Tong glanced at the ti. It was now 9:28. Walking from his location to the north bank of the border river would take about twenty minutes.
But why walk?
Guan Tong spread his hand, and the [Wordless Book] quietly appeared in his palm. Opening the first page, the Shadow quickly detached from the page and swiftly advanced towards the target.
Even a lion uses full strength to catch a rabbit. Even though Guan Tong was confident in his own strength, he wouldn't underestimate others. No matter who the enemy was, he would adhere to the process of scouting first, then acting.
The Shadow moved rapidly, reaching the vicinity in monts.
Based on the transmitted images, Guan Tong saw seven or eight people strolling on the north bank.
However, these people, while seemingly strolling separately, were clearly acquainted. They occasionally exchanged glances or scanned their surroundings, obviously forming a loose encirclent, specifically waiting for him to arrive.
"It seems my guess was right, it really is a group operation..."
Guan Tong continued observing, trying to identify the leader among these people.
Soon, he locked onto a bald, burly man sitting by the riverbank.
This guy was wearing headphones, his mouth constantly moving. Guan Tong manipulated the Shadow to quietly get closer, eavesdropping on what he was saying.
"...Be sharp later, see clearly how many people are coming. Damn it, there's no shortage of people pulling double-crosses these days."
"You two, act more convincing, why are you pacing back and forth!"
"Don't anyone give it away early, I'm telling you. Last ti that mark noticed, he almost got away. I repeat, no one moves until I give the word!"
"If anyone screws around again, I'll throw you into the river to feed the fish, just like those previous marks!"
Upon hearing this, Guan Tong didn't expect the other party to also worry about him pulling a double-cross.
Although that worry wasn't exactly wrong.
And his guess was correct; this gang were repeat offenders. They not only looted other Ascendants' Ascension Coins and items, but also silenced them and threw them into the river after robbing them.
"No wonder they arranged to et by the river... they want to throw
in to feed the fish too."
Guan Tong focused his mind, and the Shadow began to transform, splitting off several slender shadow lines.
They slithered like hair-thin snakes towards the thugs pretending to stroll, then crept up their pant legs into their clothes, lying in wait.
After completing this action, Guan Tong confird one thing.
These thugs had neither items defending against Mind Power attacks, nor had they followed Shi Jingyi's online lessons to learn Mind Power Flow. They were completely unaware of his shadow line infiltration.
This would indeed make it easier for him to act later.
Guan Tong set out, heading for the target location.
Ten minutes later, he appeared by the riverside wearing a baseball cap.
The cap covered most of his face, making it hard to see his features clearly.
But the thugs noticed his arrival imdiately. The bald, burly man even stood up, waved at him, and spoke using a translator.
"Are you the Sakura Prayer brother here for the trade? Over here."
Guan Tong walked over. Before the bald, burly man could say anything else, he heard a sentence of standard Beixing language spoken from the baseball-capped man in front of him.
"I am not your Sakura Prayer brother."
The bald, burly man was stunned. "You're from Beixing? You used a Sakura Prayer na on the website to trick ?"
Guan Tong nodded. "How else could I 'double-cross' you?"
"You!" The bald, burly man's expression changed, and he shouted, "Trying to double-cross ! Everyone, get him!"
The seven or eight people who were pretending to stroll imdiately charged together. However, they had only taken one or two steps when they suddenly felt their necks tighten, as if being strangled by so extrely tough thread.
"Ugh! Ugh!!!"
All these people fell to the ground, their hands clawing at their necks, trying to tear away the shadow lines constricting their throats, but it was completely futile. In monts, they all suffocated to death.
The bald, burly man was completely dumbfounded, not understanding what had just happened. Before he could react, he felt a swift, heavy punch hit his head, instantly making him dizzy and disoriented.
Then his hands and feet were all bound and pulled backward by so tough yet flexible "ropes," forcing his body into a shape with limbs arched backward, unable to make any resisting movents.
"Don't, big brother! Don't kill !" Only now did the bald, burly man understand that the other party really was here for a double-cross, and he really had the capability and ans to pull it off.
"I admit defeat, you can have everything! Spare my life, don't kill !"
Guan Tong looked down at the bald, burly man. "I'll ask you one question. Answer
truthfully."
"Ask away, big brother!"
"Prince Lado of Andai State, was it you who blew up their convoy?"
The bald, burly man didn't expect this mysterious and powerful baseball-capped man to ask this question. This made him realize the other party probably wasn't from the underworld; he might be from an official Beixing departnt sent to investigate that case.
His mind raced, and he imdiately shook his head. "No, it has nothing to do with us! It was the Shadow!"
"You're sure?"
"Absolutely! The Shadow already had scores with Lado, so it makes sense he'd do it. Boss, no matter which departnt sent you to investigate, this matter really has nothing to do with us. What I'm saying is true, you have to believe !"
Guan Tong's tone turned cold. "You say the Shadow did this? Then take a look at this."
As his words fell, the bald, burly man suddenly felt a sharp pain in his left shoulder and scread. He looked down, his face turning even more horrified. The cause of the intense pain was a black spike that had pierced through his shoulder!
"This, this is..." The bald, burly man's voice trembled. One of the Shadow's signature attack thods, the shadow spikes, was already known by many.
Now seeing it with his own eyes, the bald, burly man finally understood who the person before him was. In that mont, he felt as if he had fallen into an abyss. "You... you are the Shadow... God..."
"You say I blew up the convoy? How co I didn't know about it?" Guan Tong said coldly. "I'll give you one more chance. If you don't tell the truth next ti, the shadow spike won't go through your shoulder, but your throat."
The bald, burly man never imagined the legendary "Shadow" would co knocking. Recalling the latter's terrifying thods, he didn't dare hide anything anymore and admitted, trembling with fear.
"Yes... the convoy was us... But, Shadow God, framing you for it wasn't my idea! It was our boss's idea, it has nothing to do with !"
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