The remaining days of March passed in the blink of an eye, and in no time, it was the end of the month.
The Shadow incident that had caused such an uproar mid-month gradually quieted down as the release of the Tenth Doomsday Rule drew near.
What people were more concerned about was what the new rule would be, whether it would be a dangerous survival-type rule, and whether they could pass it smoothly.
As for matters like the Shadow, for most people, it was ultimately just a topic of conversation, too distant from ordinary lives to hold their attention for long.
Even the Andai State authorities, who had been the most vocal in protest during the first few days, stopped mentioning the matter much after two weeks had passed. There were even suspected moves to prohibit ordinary citizens from continuing to discuss it.
Someone posted on the Ascendant Home website, speculating that some people within the Andai State authorities had started to get cold feet.
Because the identities of those killed by the Shadow had long been dug up by busybodies and posted online these past days.
Once everyone learned that the Shadow hadn't killed indiscriminately but had instead destroyed a small warlord's lair involved in human trafficking and drug smuggling, support for him surged worldwide, with many believing he did the right thing.
This put the Andai State authorities in a very awkward position. Moreover, the reason for the attitude shift among some higher-ups was likely the fear that making such a big fuss would create an irreconcilable feud with the Shadow.
A major power certainly wouldn't fear making an enemy of a single Ascendant. But for a small country like Andai State, with its plummeting population, making an enemy of someone hailed as the "World's Number One Ascendant" was definitely not a good thing.
So the Andai State authorities were downplaying the incident's impact. Similarly, many questioning voices emerged within Beixing Country, arguing that the authorities shouldn't have issued statements before a thorough investigation.
But all of this saw a significant drop in attention as the new rule's release approached.
On this last day of the month, Guan Tong was still deep in a forest in Andai State and hadn't left.
He got up in the morning and, following his habit, took a walk in the forest, thinking about recent developments as he walked.
The speculation about the "gatekeeper" by the "Primordial One" did indeed seem very horrifying. If the people ultimately selected by the Doomsday Rules were merely to serve as "gatekeepers" for some ruins left behind by a destroyed civilization, that would be far too bleak and tragic.
But this was, after all, just the "Primordial One's" own speculation, lacking solid evidence.
As for teaming up to go to Sakura Prayer Country to find the holder of Fragment 5, he wasn't very interested.
Not only was teaming up with a stranger inherently unsafe, but this wasn't a tourist trip either. What if they went and got detained by Sakura Prayer Country's official armed forces?
Furthermore, even if the holder of Fragment 5 agreed, like the two of them, to exchange the stories contained within the fragment murals... would everyone then stop collecting fragments?
Guan Tong didn't think so.
He, the Primordial One, and the fragment holder in Sakura Prayer Country—even if they all knew the complete stories from all 5 fragments—would undoubtedly still want to collect the complete set.
The fragment details clearly stated that assembling them would yield the complete "Kimos Star Chronicle." At that point, would this complete "Kimos Star Chronicle" be just the full set of murals, or would it have additional content or other rewards? No one knew.
Based on this, Guan Tong believed the three of them would inevitably become competitors sooner or later; it was hard to avoid. Unless someone voluntarily gave up the competition and handed over their fragment.
Aside from matters related to the fragments, Guan Tong had also made many other preparations during this period.
What took up most of his time was practicing Mind Power Flow.
After discovering he could complete one full-body circulation, he would do it at least once every day, and if he had the energy, he would do it again.
After persisting like this for a while, besides becoming increasingly proficient, he clearly felt his body was optimizing at an accelerated rate.
Moreover, he also discovered that when Mind Power circulated through his body in the form of energy, it naturally provided a layer of protection. This protection was effective against both ordinary attacks and attacks related to Mind Power.
In other words, a master of this art wouldn't need any defensive items. Because the Mind Power they controlled, circulating within their body, could itself form a defense.
For example, if Guan Tong were to fight Shi Jingyi, his attempt to invade her body with his intangible Shadow would be blocked by her circulating Mind Power—unless her Mind Power was depleted, invasion would be absolutely impossible.
This defensive effect was also one of the reasons Guan Tong pursued and diligently practiced it.
Even though he could use Shadow Armor for defense, there were still times when defense was impossible to anticipate, like an enemy ambushing him without his knowledge, making it difficult to activate Shadow Armor in advance.
But once Mind Power Flow was mastered, with Mind Power energy constantly flowing over the body's surface, it would be equivalent to activating a 24/7 automatic defense system. As long as the attack wasn't powerful enough to instantly destroy you, it could be effectively defended against.
Not to mention that at higher levels of mastery, it could also accelerate the natural growth of the Mind Power upper limit. Guan Tong had specifically texted Shi Jingyi to ask about this and received a positive confirmation.
So by the end of the month today, he glanced at his panel and saw significant improvement.
【Name: Guan Tong】
【Nickname: Administrator】
【Title: Victor】
【Mind Power: 317 (317) (2560)】
【Ascension Coins: 685620】
【Overall Biometric Rating: Outstanding】
In just over a month and three days, his Mind Power upper limit had increased by 8 points.
At this rate, if a baseline of 8 points per month under normal circumstances could be maintained, and if the speed could increase later, reaching 10 points wouldn't be a problem.
This way, even the advantage of other Ascendants who relied on group strength to get a full 100 first places in the Eighth Rule, gaining 500 points to their Mind Power upper limit, would rapidly diminish compared to him in this aspect.
Guan Tong even felt that if he kept increasing his speed, overtaking these guys later wouldn't be an issue.
Besides the natural growth of Mind Power, he had also accumulated several hundred points in reserve Mind Power, stabilizing around 2500 after nearly dropping below 2000.
In the recent rules, he had used reserve Mind Power extensively. Whether for combat or frequently using Body Swap to travel, it would have been impossible without the support of reserves. Keeping this "Mind Power reservoir" filled and not dry was very important to him.
Thus, after a month of recuperation for humanity, the new rule arrived as scheduled.
...
April 1st, 9:00 AM.
Guan Tong sat in the shelter, looking at Coal Ball who was still fast asleep, listening to the voice of the Fire Thief echoing in his mind.
【The Tenth Doomsday Rule has been released】
【Doomsday Rule Ten: Five Senses Elimination】
【Rule Content: Starting 24 hours after the rule's release, all humans will randomly lose one of the five senses—sight, hearing, smell, taste, or touch. The elimination process will continue for five consecutive days, after which all five senses will be lost. This rule lasts for 15 days】
【Success Reward: 500 Ascension Coins】
【Failure Penalty: Mind Power Upper Limit Attenuation】
【Note: Losing sight, you will be shrouded in darkness; losing hearing, the world becomes a silent film; losing smell and taste, food is merely sustenance; losing touch, you sever connection... When all five senses are lost, how will you confirm your own existence?】
"Five Senses Elimination..."
After hearing the newly released rule, Guan Tong, while surprised, immediately thought of his Shadow that could share senses with him.
"If the Shadow isn't affected, then isn't this rule basically a freebie for me?"
...
Doomsday Rules Countermeasures Research Office.
Three minutes after the rule's release, the meeting room was packed.
After taking his seat, Gao Liangwei said directly, "What are everyone's thoughts on this rule? Speak quickly. Time is tight. In 24 hours, we will randomly lose one of our sensory perceptions. We must formulate a response before that."
Everyone nodded.
If there was anything fortunate about this rule, it was that the Fire Thief gave humanity 24 hours of preparation time. It didn't take away a sense immediately upon release.
These 24 hours were undoubtedly extremely precious, especially for the Research Office. These people had to hurry and integrate a set of countermeasures, then transmit them to the Emergency Management Bureaus in various regions for implementation.
"Since the order of sense elimination is completely random, we must consider different scenarios. If the first sense lost after 24 hours is smell or taste, that would be most favorable for us."
"Correct. Losing smell and taste won't affect daily life in the short term. But if the first ones lost are sight, hearing, or touch, it will become very troublesome!"
Everyone nodded in agreement. For humans, not being able to smell or taste is acceptable, but not being able to see, hear, or even feel contact—that's the real terror.
"We can't rely on luck," Gao Liangwei reminded. "We must make full preparations for any possibility."
"I think the first thing to clarify is—this is not a survival-type rule. The reward doesn't include a Survival Chest, and the failure penalty is Mind Power attenuation. This means it's possible to pass through clever means."
"Yes. If it's not a survival-type rule, those who really can't endure can choose to give up. Even if some Mind Power is lost, it's better than forcing oneself to pass and risking serious sequelae."
"Right. I remember that fasting rule back then left many people with serious sequelae like organ damage..."
"It's still best to avoid attenuation if possible," Zhang Minglu said at this point. "Especially since the Mind Lock problem hasn't been solved yet."
Ascendants restricted by the Mind Lock already couldn't increase their Mind Power upper limit through natural growth. If they suffered attenuation due to rule failure, the advantages they had accumulated would undoubtedly rapidly decline and vanish.
"Taste and smell don't require immediate preparation. The focus should be on sight, hearing, and touch. Actually, vision and hearing problems, being common issues, have seen many years of assistive development in human society. The most troublesome is touch; research in this area is currently extremely scarce."
Yes, everyone was well aware that visual and hearing impairments were common human ailments. Since the development of modern science and medicine, many assistive solutions had been created for these two problems.
For example, guide dogs and robots specially trained for the blind; bone conduction hearing aids specially designed for the deaf, etc. There were many related assistive schemes.
Only research on touch was minimal. It was hard for people to imagine what it would be like without touch—you touch something, but without touch, you fundamentally don't know if you've touched it.
Moreover, losing touch certainly wouldn't be limited to the hands; other parts of the body would be the same. For example, if the skin on your body had no touch, you wouldn't know if you were wearing clothes or what the temperature was like.
At that point, even self-care might become problematic, especially if combined with loss of sight. You wouldn't know if you were standing, sitting, or lying down.
This way, after completely losing all five senses, a person might start to question their own physical existence, becoming unaware of their presence in the real world, and so on.
An expert took a deep breath and said, "No matter the random order, all five senses will be lost after five days. I think for us humans, the truly arduous test is the final ten days when all five senses are gone. How to get through those ten days is the real problem we need to solve!"
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