Earthquake Monitoring Headquarters, all employees were intently watching the earthquake instrument reading screens.
Ever since the eleventh Doomsday Rule was announced, this originally understaffed department had immediately seen a massive influx of personnel.
Their task was simple: work in 24-hour shifts to ensure that once an earthquake occurred, the epicenter location could be found and reported as soon as possible.
At 6:20 PM, the five staff members on shift suddenly noticed abnormal readings on the instruments, followed immediately by an automatic alert sound.
"An earthquake has occurred!"
"It's a minor tremor, should be the Rule's Level 1 earthquake for sure. Quickly report the epicenter location!"
The staff on duty immediately reported the situation. In less than ten seconds, the phone on Gao Liangwei's desk rang.
Based on the epicenter location, he immediately contacted the commander of the armed forces stationed nearest to the area, ordering them to reach the point directly above the epicenter—the epicenter area—as fast as possible.
He also demanded that the personnel sent to that area find the "Geomantic Pillar" before the earthquake ended and attempt to make contact.
Each earthquake brought by the Rules only lasted five minutes, which posed a tremendous challenge to deployment capabilities.
Without adequate deployment capabilities, even if there were a group of Ascendants willing to sacrifice themselves by contacting the Geomantic Pillar in the end, they might not be deployed to the epicenter in time.
Therefore, following Gao Liangwei's proposal, the higher-ups agreed to establish rapid deployment points in various locations, equipped with the fastest helicopters. This ensured that as long as the epicenter was near a human settlement, they could reach it at maximum speed.
Upon receiving the order, the armed forces near the epicenter immediately set off, reaching the target latitude and longitude coordinates in less than two minutes.
It was an open-air football field within the city. Having been abandoned and unused for over a year, it had long fallen into disrepair.
From the helicopter, the soldiers spotted the black cylindrical pillar standing in the center of the field at a glance.
That was the Geomantic Pillar!
The soldiers immediately rappelled to the ground. Since this was a Level 1 minor tremor, they could barely feel any ground vibration upon landing.
Two and a half minutes had already passed. The commander immediately ordered, "Everyone, approach the Geomantic Pillar, remove your gloves, and make contact!"
"Yes, sir!"
The soldiers rushed over. The Geomantic Pillar was a pure black cylinder without any patterns or designs on its surface. Its diameter was thick—three to five people couldn't wrap their arms around it—and its height was at least over five meters.
After approaching, the soldiers pressed their palms against the black pillar without hesitation. As professional soldiers, they had given and received unified protection. When the time came for dedication and sacrifice, they were willing to step forward.
For soldiers, obeying orders is their duty. The commander was no exception; he was the first to press his palm against it.
When multiple palms touched the black pillar, everyone immediately had the same sensation.
"The pillar is vibrating!" a soldier blurted out.
That's right. Everyone who touched the black pillar could feel the pillar itself vibrating. But looking at it from the outside, you couldn't tell; you could only feel it upon contact, as if the vibration was generated only inside the pillar.
At the same time, some soldiers also noticed their Mind Power upper limit was decreasing.
"Report! My Mind Power upper limit has started to decay!"
"Mine too!"
The commander glanced at his Terminal panel. In less than ten seconds of contact, his Mind Power upper limit had already decreased by a full 20 points! An average of 2 points per second—an astonishing speed.
He gritted his teeth and said, "Even if it decays to zero, do not move your hands! This is our mission!"
"Yes, sir!"
Time ticked by. In less than a minute, a soldier couldn't hold on anymore. His face turned pale, and he sat down on the ground.
"Report... my Mind Power upper limit is exhausted, my Personal Terminal has shut down..."
Soon, other soldiers followed suit.
Only the commander held on until the end, but his Mind Power upper limit couldn't last until the earthquake ended. Soon, he too weakly lowered his hand.
At that moment, several cracking sounds were heard. Everyone looked up and saw large pieces of the outer shell cracking open above the pillar, revealing a flowing, deep brown liquid inside that resembled liquefied soil.
A soldier murmured, "Commander, is that... the result of all of us exhausting our Mind Power?"
This squad had twelve people in total. Each had consumed their Mind Power upper limit to the point where their Personal Terminal shut down. What they got in exchange was merely some cracking of the outer shell on this "Geomantic Pillar."
The commander was silent for a moment before reporting the situation.
Meanwhile, the Earthquake Monitoring Bureau also reported real-time numerical changes in earthquake detection data.
With multiple sets of data in hand, the data officers at the Countermeasures Research Office immediately began analysis, built models, and used AI-assisted comparisons.
At the same time, Level 1 earthquakes also occurred in other member states of the Human Consortium.
However, not every country had personnel deployment and operational efficiency like Beixing. Nearly half of the countries failed to send people to the epicenter area to contact the Geomantic Pillar within the 5-minute duration of the earthquake. Among the remaining half, some only made contact for a mere dozen seconds.
In the end, only seven or eight high-value data sets were compiled. Following the agreement, each country made the data public for their own model analysis.
At 8 PM that evening, the analysis results report appeared on the conference room table of the Countermeasures Research Office.
The analyst explained, "We integrated the data provided by various countries to build a model. Based on the model analysis results, each Ascendant, when contacting the Geomantic Pillar, will experience a decay in their Mind Power upper limit at a rate of 1 to 3 points per second."
"Additionally, based on the seismic amplitude, energy attenuation, waveform changes, etc., monitored by the earthquake bureau, a basic judgment can be made: the ratio of Mind Power consumption to earthquake destructive force reduction is approximately 1000:1. That is, consuming 1000 points of Mind Power upper limit can reduce earthquake destructive force by 1%."
The results stated by the analyst shocked everyone in the conference room.
"1000 points only weakens it by 1%? That's way too little..."
"If this model holds, how much Mind Power would be needed to weaken a Level 10 major earthquake to a level humans can withstand? How many Ascendants would be required?!"
"Currently, the average Mind Power upper limit of Ascendants is around 90 points. Let's round it to 100. To reduce destructive force by 50%, we would need to exhaust five hundred Ascendants—it doesn't seem like too many, but the emergency deployment of five hundred people isn't that easy."
"Moreover, since the epicenter location is difficult to determine in advance, we must prepare multiple 'groups of 500' in various regions ahead of time. This will also be very troublesome."
"I have a proposal," an expert said. "Form a team composed of High Mind Power Individuals. Because these people have much higher Mind Power upper limits, far exceeding the average, the required number can be significantly reduced."
"Then, gather all teleportation-type items domestically and assign them to these individuals. Once the epicenter location is confirmed, have them collectively use the items to teleport over, quickly complete contact with the Geomantic Pillar, and thereby weaken the earthquake's power."
After this person finished speaking, everyone couldn't help but frown.
"High Mind Power Individuals are valuable assets, the future backbone. Having them sacrifice themselves—isn't that a waste?"
"I think so too... Every High Mind Power Individual is an outstanding person who has passed previous rules. Having them go seems somewhat cruel."
"Is sending relatively weaker people any less cruel? And don't forget, during a major earthquake, the epicenter environment will be extremely dangerous. What if the weaker ones die before even making contact with the Geomantic Pillar? We cannot afford the consequences of mission failure!"
"The method for personnel selection hasn't been determined yet. Isn't it too early to argue about this?"
"I think the person in charge must have some ideas. Otherwise, why would the dean of the academy have been invited to the afternoon meeting?" someone mentioned.
Everyone looked at Gao Liangwei, thinking that was indeed the case.
During the afternoon meeting earlier, Gao Liangwei specifically called over the academy dean, Zhou Qinfeng. It was impossible that he wasn't considering the idea of "sending academy students to participate in the operation."
After all, the academy itself was under official jurisdiction. Graduates would be assigned to official departments for employment in the future—and these graduates, upon enrollment, were all outstanding individuals with Mind Power over 80. Their current average Mind Power also exceeded 100 points, placing them squarely in the category of the strong.
Facing everyone's gaze, Gao Liangwei slowly said, "Regarding personnel selection, I am still considering it. No decision will be made in this meeting. Moreover, just one test is insufficient to perfect the model. We need to experience several more earthquakes of increasing levels at least to verify the model's accuracy."
...
In the evening, Guan Tong sat in front of his computer, looking at over a dozen pictures in the forum.
The subject of these pictures was a single, stupidly large, thick, black cylinder.
"Is this the Geomantic Pillar?"
He couldn't see anything special about each one, perhaps because seeing pictures was different from witnessing it firsthand.
These pictures were released by various countries, showing the Geomantic Pillar discovered at the epicenter. A user had collected and compiled them, posting them on the forum.
According to the intelligence currently made public by the Human Consortium, when Ascendants contact the Geomantic Pillar, they can feel internal vibrations, and their Mind Power upper limit decays at a rate of 1 to 3 points per second.
If an ordinary person whose Personal Terminal has already shut down makes contact, they won't feel anything.
After absorbing a certain amount of Mind Power, the Geomantic Pillar's surface shell will crack, revealing flowing brown liquid inside, resembling liquefied soil.
As for how deep the Geomantic Pillar goes, there is no relevant detection information yet.
Some speculate that the earthquake itself is caused by this Geomantic Pillar. Its roots deep underground cause the earthquake through vibrations of the internal liquid. This is also why damaging its shell and letting the liquid flow out reduces the earthquake's destructiveness.
Member states of the Human Consortium have tried attacking it with various weapons—bombing, burning, physical strikes, chemical corrosion... All available destructive methods were urgently attempted, but all were ineffective; the shell could not be damaged.
Some also tried attacking with Mind Power bombs, which similarly failed to cause damage. It's unclear whether the power was insufficient or the Geomantic Pillar's shell is immune to attacks.
If the only way to damage its shell is to absorb Mind Power upper limit, then it is destined that a large number of people will have to make sacrifices.
This sacrifice isn't just Mind Power; it might also include lives. Because in the extremely dangerous epicenter area, even if contact with the Geomantic Pillar is successfully made, what happens afterward? Without Mind Power support, how do they evacuate afterward?
Guan Tong believed that those who sacrificed their Mind Power upper limit would certainly have their subsequent lives guaranteed by the authorities, but the prerequisite was being able to return alive.
And as for himself in this rule...
For the first time, Guan Tong felt like there wasn't much he could do.
Even if he were selflessly willing to sacrifice himself, his three hundred plus points of Mind Power would be nothing more than a drop in the bucket compared to the overall weakening required, unable to fundamentally solve the problem.
"Judging from the content of the Hidden Rule, the survival path designed for humanity by the Fire Thief is for a portion of people to sacrifice themselves in exchange for the survival of others... This method of sacrificing some is also a common tactic the Fire Thief uses to incite infighting among humans. But aside from this, is there really no other line of thought?"
Guan Tong mechanically clicked the mouse, refreshing the computer desktop, but his thoughts had already drifted far away, pondering other issues.
He had told himself long ago, during the Blood Plague rule period, to try thinking outside the box when facing rules. If he just mechanically followed the path given by the Fire Thief, his thinking would only become more and more rigid.
Like when he solved the Mind Lock problem before, if it weren't for...
"Wait, Mind Lock?"
Guan Tong's heart stirred. He took out the [Wordless Book] and flipped to the fifth page.
The character "kai" he had written back then to solve the Mind Lock problem made him suddenly think of the pictures of the Geomantic Pillar's cracked shell. A bold, out-of-the-box idea emerged in his mind.
"If this 'kai'... took on the meaning of 'crack open,' could it have an effect on the Geomantic Pillar's shell?"
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