Boom!
Accompanied by a thunderclap, rain began to fall from the sky.
Guan Tong was currently sitting cross-legged on the bed in ditation. Hearing the pattering rain outside, he opened his eyes.
"It's raining."
It was mid-August, the height of sumr, and the rainy season.
Listening to the thunder and rain, the heart Guan Tong had finally managed to stabilize through ditation began to feel sowhat restless again.
He stood up and paced around the room, then sat at the desk and turned on the computer, first checking the ti.
4:00 PM. Seven hours had passed since the rule was announced.
Then he went online to check the news. Many people had already posted pictures and videos they had taken of so infected individuals experiencing explosive bleeding, which looked extrely unsettling.
The authorities had also released information. They had conducted a preliminary analysis of the virus and nad it after the term ntioned in the rule: "Blood Plague."
This was a highly virulent infectious disease. After infection, internal and external bleeding would occur very quickly. Moreover, this condition would rapidly deteriorate until it reached a certain critical point where blood pressure completely went out of control, causing the human body to exhibit the terrifying "explosive bleeding" effect.
The symptoms of Blood Plague infection had already been summarized. The most obvious phenonon of "bleeding from all seven orifices" was already a manifestation of the late second stage of infection. The earlier first stage involved the appearance of large patches of red spots on the neck and shoulders.
These red spots were extrely distinctive. Unlike the dark patches of other skin diseases, they were bright-colored spots, very easy to identify. It could be said that if bright red spots were found in these two areas, it was almost certain the person was infected with Blood Plague.
As for a solution to the Blood Plague Virus, the authorities had not ntioned anything yet.
However, so people online had posted that there were so dicinal items in the terminal market. Those items whose functional descriptions explicitly included "antiviral," "cure disease," or "antibacterial" might be useful.
But such items had already been hyped to sky-high prices. A selling price of seven figures, over a million Ascension Coins, was enough to make 99.99% of people "sigh at the price."
But so lucky individuals who had previously opened boxes and happened to get similar dicinal items were both excited and conflicted.
The excitent was because the chance to get rich had arrived! Seizing this market trend to sell an item for a high price of several hundred thousand or even a million Ascension Coins would be worth how many rule rewards? After all, the current reward for passing a single rule was still only three digits, a few hundred Ascension Coins.
But... what if they sold the item and then accidentally got infected themselves?
Selling it was easy, but wanting to buy it back later was a different story.
What if they sold it for several hundred thousand or a million Ascension Coins, but before the money even ward their hands, they got infected and couldn't use the earned money to buy back a similar item... Wouldn't that lead to a very tragic situation: the person died, and the money wasn't spent.
Therefore, whether to sell or not was a very conflicting problem.
So Ascendants who felt lucky and wanted to gamble, hoping to turn a bicycle into a motorcycle, chose to list their items for sale.
Others who didn't want to take risks, believing survival was paramount, chose to keep them for themselves, to save their own lives at a critical mont.
However, there was also a third, compromise situation.
Guan Tong saw an official departnt account post, announcing the acquisition of such items from across the entire society. In addition to offering a high amount of Ascension Coins, they would also provide benefits like professional protective gear sets and spots in professional shelters.
This was specifically aid at those Ascendants who didn't want to take risks but still wanted to sell their items for money. It was equivalent to using the official identity as a guarantee, acquiring the items while providing professional-level protection, minimizing your chances of getting infected.
Guan Tong thought to himself, "If that's the case, probably quite a few people would be willing to choose this thod."
The authorities acquiring dicine like this was undoubtedly to provide multiple layers of insurance for key personnel.
For ordinary people, trading the dicine for shelter and a large amount of Ascension Coins was also a good choice, a kind of win-win situation in a sense.
As for Guan Tong himself, he felt a bit envious, but definitely not overwhelmingly so.
The shelter he was currently in was definitely worth more in practical value than those dicinal items.
After all, compared to being cured after infection, everyone would prefer not to get infected at all.
It's just...
Guan Tong looked at the door. He didn't know if he had won the "Genetic Lottery," but going out to test it was impossible; that was pure suicide.
With his current abilities, he had no way to isolate himself from the air, unless...
"I wonder if a fully solidified Shadow can isolate air? Even if it can, I'd suffocate inside after a while, so I'd have to wear an oxygen mask and carry an oxygen tank... That might be feasible, but why take the risk?"
Guan Tong couldn't think of any reason he absolutely had to go out. Staying safely in the shelter and waiting for the fifteen days of the rule to end was the most prudent approach.
Guan Tong stopped thinking about going out. At that mont, another trending video online caught his attention.
The video was fild abroad. Hundreds of foreigners were gathered in a rather famous large cathedral, praying.
A tall statue originally located at the front of the main hall had been removed. Judging from the fragnts left on the ground, that statue, once listed as a "national treasure," had been violently destroyed.
What occupied the statue's original position was a rectangular black stone slab, which looked sowhat like the "Personal Terminal" interface Ascendants could open by silently reciting.
Moreover, each of these foreigners held a thin booklet. When the cara zood in, it could be seen that the booklet's cover read "The Word of God," and its contents were actually every Doomsday Rule that had been released so far.
The video filr was undoubtedly from Beixing Country, speaking in their native language: "Damn it, these foreigners have gone crazy! They've turned the Fire Thief into a new god, and printed the Doomsday Rules into a book to treat as a new Bible! I think they're all dood sooner or later... No, I can't stay here anymore, I need to hurry back to my country!"
Had things abroad already reached this point?
Watching the devout worshippers in the video, Guan Tong couldn't help but feel a bit shocked.
The destruction of the old statue, he could sowhat understand. Because the facts were right there: if the gods revered in the past truly existed, why didn't they appear and display their great power to stop the Fire Thief who had killed countless humans?
Since not a single god had intervened, it ant those gods didn't exist in the first place. Given that, so believers, out of anger, smashing the statues wasn't all that unexpected.
But truly worshipping the Fire Thief as a new god and reciting the Doomsday Rules as a new Bible was different... And although this was happening abroad, the world today was a global village.
Transportation was so developed that even in the era of Doomsday Rules, countries inevitably influenced each other. It's just that, currently, the world couldn't even unite and face the rules together.
Otherwise, in the previous Ascendant Challenge Tournant, the "Wolfpack teams" created by the Tulip Federation wouldn't have appeared.
From the strategy of first uniting to eliminate teams from other countries and then internally distributing the top ten spots among themselves, it was clear the Tulip Federation had no intention of cooperating with other nations.
"Human groups fragnting and fighting separately is exactly what the Fire Thief wants to see, right?"
Guan Tong closed the laptop, silently pondering.
Was it really right for humanity to continue down this path according to the Fire Thief's design?
...
Knock, knock, knock.
"Open the door, Gu Fei."
Hearing the voice outside, Gu Fei, who was alone in an abandoned house, got up and went to the door, opening it.
Standing at the door was a person wearing a full set of high-specification protective gear. It was the short-haired woman who had stopped him from committing suicide earlier.
She was holding a case, which she placed in front of Gu Fei.
"This is special consideration from the Commander. Inside is a complete set of top-grade protective equipnt. As long as you're not currently infected with the virus, wearing this will absolutely prevent any future infection."
Hearing this, Gu Fei looked at the case with complex feelings, reaching out to take it. "Thank... the Commander for ."
"You can thank her yourself later."
Gu Fei said in surprise, "I can et the Commander?"
"The Commander said. As long as you survive this rule, she will arrange a eting with you."
"Understood."
Not daring to risk infection any longer, Gu Fei imdiately opened the case and put on the protective suit, protective mask, and other items inside.
"May I ask," Gu Fei said, "what does the Commander need
to do?"
"You'll know when the ti cos." The woman finished speaking and pointed inside the case. "There's a phone in the hidden compartnt. I'll contact you through it when the ti cos, and you can also use it to contact . But I'm usually very busy, so unless it's sothing urgent, it's best not to bother ."
"I understand." After saying this, Gu Fei paused and asked, "How did you know I was here? And how did you know about
being a captain..."
"Stop, I don't have ti to answer your questions. You'll understand when you et the Commander."
The short-haired woman left after speaking. Gu Fei silently closed the door.
He looked down at the professional protective equipnt he was wearing, knowing he hadn't made the wrong choice.
"The official team... Hmph, why haven't they co to give
a set of protective equipnt? Just because I failed twice, I deserve to be kicked out like a dog?"
"When I et that Commander and shine brightly in the new organization... there will definitely be a day when you regret it!"
The short-haired woman who had delivered the protective gear to Gu Fei returned to the transport vehicle. The driver inside asked, "Where to deliver the next set?"
The short-haired woman took out a tablet and looked. "The next one, according to the location, is on Baishui Road next to the Second Hospital. Let's go."
The driver started the vehicle and headed towards the destination.
"Is there enough equipnt?"
"Plenty. There are five people left on the list, and there are still eight sets in the vehicle."
"The Commander is really willing to invest. If you ask , why go through all this trouble? Just like before, capture people and take them over, wouldn't that be simpler?"
"The situation is different now." The short-haired woman said calmly. "Previously, the thods used by local operations were too rough, quickly drawing the attention of the Top Levels, who ford a specialized team to investigate the matter. They're still investigating.
Moreover, the Commander believes it's necessary to build her own powerful squad. To maximize the combat effectiveness of the personnel, recruiting mbers for this squad should primarily use gentle, favor-granting thods."
The driver nodded. "The Commander has great vision; we definitely can't compare. But there are still few capable people among the civilians. Look at Yunhua, we've searched for so long, and there are only about a dozen worth contacting."
"The strongest ones are definitely all with the authorities, but..." The short-haired woman thought for a mont. "The person the Commander is most interested in is among the civilians, and is most likely from Beixing Country."
"Who?"
"Shadow."
"That Shadow is actually among the civilians?"
"Yes. The Commander has access to internal intelligence. If Shadow belonged to the authorities, the Commander would have known long ago... But according to the Commander, the authorities themselves have also been spending great effort trying to find this Shadow, hoping to recruit him."
The driver suddenly understood. "So you an, the Commander wants to find Shadow before the authorities and persuade him to join?"
"Yes." The short-haired woman nodded. "The Commander personally told us she is willing to spare no expense to recruit Shadow. This person was able to form a team alone in the Challenge Tournant and single-handedly defend the Holy Grail, which is enough to prove he possesses extraordinary power."
"If only this Shadow were in Yunhua." The driver said. "If we could find him, the Commander would definitely credit us with a major achievent."
"If only we were that lucky. Beixing Country has over a dozen major cities; who knows where that person might be? Not to ntion he might not even be in a major city at all."
"That's true... We're at Baishui Road. Who is it this ti?"
The short-haired woman glanced at the list. "It's a little girl nad Chen Na."
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