Guan Tong felt there weren't many people in this world connected to him, so if he had a choice, he didn't want those few to take risks.
People like Shi Jingyi, Chen Na, Xu Xiaotian, and others—this could be said to be his own bit of selfishness.
But seeing the text message Shi Jingyi sent, he knew there was definitely no way to stop this one.
He silently pressed the lock button, watching the phone screen go dark, his mood very complicated.
He just didn't have extra time to be distracted, and his attention was quickly pulled back to the conversion of Mind Power.
Relying on items that restored energy and eliminated fatigue, he didn't sleep or eat for the next consecutive seventy hours, only constantly teleporting around to the gathering points of Ascendants to receive Mind Power.
Meanwhile, the Countermeasures Research Office was busy with scheduling on one hand, and on the other hand, gathering the Ascendants who volunteered to provide protection for Guan Tong.
The number of volunteers wasn't very high, roughly around a hundred people. Gao Liangwei personally met with these people and once again emphasized the risks involved, asking each person if they were truly volunteering to join.
Each person gave an affirmative answer.
A young person's words represented everyone's sentiment.
"We just want to do our part for the people on this land."
This moved Gao Liangwei deeply.
Most of them exhausted their minds and energy every day, essentially for the sake of this very sentiment—wanting more people on this land to survive the brutal era of the Doomsday Rules.
Afterwards, before the magnitude 9 earthquake erupted, the research office showed this group of a hundred people the full recordings of the situations at the epicenters of the previous earthquakes.
These recordings were made by handlers like Squad Dragon Soul, and from them, one could directly see the impact of powerful seismic waves on people.
"This is the live recording from the epicenter during the last magnitude 8 earthquake."
Zhang Minglu personally served as the commentator, explaining the recordings to the hundred people in the large conference room.
In the video footage, the scene at the epicenter was shockingly brutal. Ground fissures, dust storms, and the ground that had become significantly liquefied, appearing completely like water—the visual impact was extremely strong.
What was even more astonishing was the Geomantic Pillar standing immovable at the epicenter, and a figure standing upon it.
"Is that the Shadow?" someone exclaimed in a low voice. "How can he stand so steadily on it!"
"The Shadow used many methods to stabilize his body," Zhang Minglu explained. "For example, manipulating shadow-formed ropes to bind himself to the Geomantic Pillar, and continuously using various defensive items to reduce the impact of the seismic waves, and so on."
"This is too dangerous..."
"Indeed. That's why we recruited you volunteers to help. Because the protection provided by abilities is usually much more effective than that of defensive items."
"..."
Everyone fell silent for a moment.
It had to be said, seeing first-person perspective footage of the epicenter firsthand created a great deal of fear in their hearts.
Zhang Minglu said, "It's not strange for everyone to feel afraid. After all, these video materials haven't been made public, so you previously didn't understand what the situation at the epicenter is like."
He then said more seriously, "What I want to tell you all is, this is the situation at the epicenter of a magnitude 8 earthquake. The magnitude 9 earthquake coming soon, and the magnitude 10 after that, will only be even more terrifying! If, after watching these videos, you want to change your mind and withdraw, there's still time."
Gao Liangwei had tried to dissuade them once before, and now Zhang Minglu was doing it again.
Moreover, using the form of on-site video recordings made the dissuasion effect even better.
Out of the group of a hundred who hadn't left before, many were now wavering.
Zhang Minglu did this only to retain the most determined volunteers. Otherwise, if people were hesitant, they might fail at the critical moment when they actually reached the site, affecting the overall operation.
After a moment, someone silently took the lead, stood up, and left. Others lowered their heads and followed. About thirteen or fourteen people left.
"I originally thought that after seeing the on-site videos, half would choose to leave. I didn't expect so many to stay. On behalf of the research office, I thank you."
Zhang Minglu bowed deeply to the remaining people.
Straightening up, he then said earnestly, "Then next, I'll explain the specific action arrangements to everyone."
...
Based on the previous deliveries, the authorities already had ample experience in personnel mobilization. So within this 72-hour period, the number of people mobilized to deliver Mind Power to Guan Tong reached the ten-million level.
The selection of these ten million people also had its intricacies. Previously, entire shelters or gathering points were used for delivery, but this resulted in varying levels of Mind Power, leading to lower efficiency.
So this time, improvements were made. Those selected to deliver Mind Power to Guan Tong were all Ascendants with an Upper Limit of over 100 points of Mind Power.
Thus, after Guan Tong's final conversion and absorption, his reserve Mind Power barely broke through the hundred-million level for the first time.
Carrying over a hundred million in reserve Mind Power, Guan Tong truly felt like he was holding a mountain of gold. However, this feeling didn't last long before the magnitude 9 earthquake abruptly occurred.
At 00:14 in the early morning, before the new day was even fifteen minutes old, the Earthquake Bureau detected the outbreak of a super earthquake.
And when the seismic source Coordinates were confirmed, everyone was greatly shocked.
"This earthquake's seismic source is located in the city center of Yunhua City!"
The coordinate information was transmitted to Guan Tong and the others immediately, and they began the group teleportation according to the established plan.
This time, besides the regular Action Team, there was an additional "Volunteer Team" composed of fifty people. Their task was only one: to use their own abilities to reduce and share the impact of the seismic waves on Guan Tong.
Shi Jingyi, whom Guan Tong was more concerned about, was not in this Volunteer Team. Without a doubt, she knew the final magnitude 10 would be the most dangerous, so she chose to participate next time.
Hum!
The large teleportation array activated. Everyone disappeared in an instant, reappearing the next moment in the epicenter region.
The moment the teleportation ended, everyone immediately deployed all defensive measures according to the established plan.
The Volunteer Team especially, used their abilities at the first moment to construct a field centered on Guan Tong to resist the seismic waves.
However, the immense power of the magnitude 9 earthquake still manifested in the most brutal form.
Within a mere two seconds after the teleportation was complete, over ten people directly had their internal organs shattered by the seismic waves and died. Others were pierced through their bodies by dozens-of-meters-high mud pillars gushing from underground.
Furthermore, this earthquake occurred in the center of a major city. Skyscrapers and large buildings completely collapsed with thunderous roars. The dust walls raised exceeded a hundred meters, instantly swallowing many people, making it impossible to see.
"Defense! Defense!"
People shouted, but the sounds they made couldn't even be heard by themselves.
In the epicenter region of the magnitude 9 earthquake, the underground rumbling was like thunder, shaking everyone until they were dizzy and disoriented. Some even immediately fell in their dizziness, dropping into bottomless ground fissures or being completely "swallowed" by asphalt highways that undulated like wave plates.
No one had experience deep within the epicenter region of a magnitude 9 earthquake. So even with ample preparation made in advance, they were still caught off guard upon arriving at the scene.
More than half of the Volunteer Team that was supposed to protect Guan Tong died within seconds after the teleportation. The rest were all intimidated by the apocalyptic disaster scenario. All mission plans were thrown to the back of their minds, leaving only the animalistic instincts exposed when facing a natural disaster, their minds firmly seized by boundless fear.
Guan Tong himself was also shocked by the terror of this magnitude 9 earthquake, but he didn't forget what his task was. The moment he found the Geomantic Pillar, he struggled to approach it.
If it was difficult for him to maintain his balance during the magnitude 8 earthquake, this time he was completely like a kite, being tossed around chaotically by the impact of the seismic waves, only kept from being flung far away somewhere by the pull of over a thousand shadow lines.
As for his other teammates, he couldn't see a single one. He didn't know where they had been impacted. He knew many of them had likely perished, but he didn't have the ability to rescue them.
Several seconds later, he struggled and pulled himself to the side of the Geomantic Pillar via the shadow lines. The moment he made contact with it, he directly output over a hundred million Mind Power without holding back.
With a disaster of this level, every additional second it lasted caused extremely terrifying additional damage. Guan Tong had to invest everything at once; he couldn't test the waters by investing half first like before.
However, perhaps because he output too much at once, for the first time, he felt the [Wordless Book] pressed against his chest become incredibly scalding hot, followed by a violent cracking power being injected into the pillar.
But even so, he could still feel the intense vibrations within the pillar. This meant that, just like last time, even if he used up all his reserve Mind Power, he still couldn't completely destroy the Geomantic Pillar, only partially weaken it.
This meant the earthquake would continue for the next few minutes, but Guan Tong's Mind Power was basically exhausted, unable to continuously reform the Shadow Armor. This undoubtedly placed him in a dangerous situation.
The Ascendants originally responsible for protecting him had long disappeared without a trace. Guan Tong couldn't determine how many survived. This made him very frustrated and felt that this plan could be said to have failed.
At that moment, another wave of seismic impact struck. Even though the Geomantic Pillar had already been damaged, its impact force was still something Guan Tong, with little Mind Power left, couldn't withstand.
Guan Tong realized the situation was critical and could only immediately use his remaining bit of Mind Power to use "Body Swap," exchanging positions with a shadow line in the distance.
When he broke away from the epicenter, a feeling of exhaustion immediately surfaced in his body. He hurriedly took out the remaining stamina recovery item he had left and used it, only then feeling slightly better.
Remembering the Hidden Rule of this rule, he felt for the first time that the Hidden Rule, rather than being something that could weaken the disaster, seemed more like a trap luring more powerful individuals to their deaths.
Even he had almost failed to withstand it, let alone ordinary strong individuals. If many Ascendants thought that simply relying on self-sacrifice could save their own country and compatriots, perhaps they were completely wrong.
The greater possibility was that the moment they entered the epicenter region, they would face a huge threat of death. Even successfully contacting the Geomantic Pillar would become extremely difficult.
Was this deliberately done by the Fire Thief? For what purpose? Could it really be because humanity establishing the "Human Consortium" angered it, so it designed this rule to eliminate most ordinary people through the super earthquake, and then used the Hidden Rule to attract large numbers of powerful individuals to willingly go to their deaths?
Guan Tong couldn't figure it out. The only thing he could be sure of was that the Fire Thief was definitely not some fixed, pre-set operating program. It must be an existence with subjective consciousness.
... But thinking about this now was meaningless.
For humanity now, wanting to deeply understand, or even personally make contact with the Fire Thief, was still not very realistic. More time was needed.
By now, the dust filling the sky had partially dispersed. Everything around was exceptionally clear under the illumination of the bright moonlight, laid out completely unobstructed—but wasn't this the city center of a prosperous metropolis? Now having obtained an unobstructed field of vision as if on a plain, was that really a good thing?
Guan Tong looked around. A desolate fact lay before his eyes.
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