There was once a madman who declared that human history is a history of lies.
While this statement is somewhat extreme, humans are indeed a species skilled at and fond of lying.
From the small lies in daily life to the deceitful competition in the business world, all the big shots are like this—you love to tell a little lie, and I'm no slouch either, as long as it can trick users into buying our products.
Many elites in various industries are masters of this art, with some even taking pride and feeling honored by their ability to deceive more people. In certain professions, the greater one's skill at lying and trickery, the higher the reward and the more they are appreciated by their bosses.
If we ascend to an even higher level, such as the opposition, competition, and wars between nations, then the various lies are even more endless.
Even "strategic deception" itself is a major killer move in the art of war throughout history.
Things like "all warfare is based on deception," making the real appear false and the false appear real, the interplay of truth and falsehood becoming unfathomable... a renowned general is very likely a top-tier master of fraud.
Therefore, saying that lies have run through the entirety of human history is not an exaggeration.
And ever since the Fire Thief descended, it has thoroughly distorted, interrupted, and altered the course of human history. So now, releasing such a rule that completely goes against human nature is not surprising at all.
After reading the newly released rule, Guan Tong's first reaction was that it was not bad.
That's right, he felt this rule was really not bad.
If you can't lie, then just don't speak, right? If you're worried you might accidentally tell a little lie out of habit, then simply don't say a word.
Of course, according to the rule details, besides "speech," mediums like writing are also restricted.
This way, even if you don't lie verbally, if you go online to spout nonsense, or write a diary containing lies, etc., you would still violate the rule.
The safest way to pass is to speak little or not at all this month, while also not writing or publishing anything, ensuring absolute safety.
And Guan Tong believes most people can manage to this degree.
After passing like this, besides Ascension Coins, you also receive the reward of an increased Mind Power Upper Limit. This can completely be described as a not-bad rule.
At least for Guan Tong, it is.
"Let's see what the hidden rule is this time."
Guan Tong opened his terminal panel to check the rule details.
The hidden rule soon manifested under his gaze.
[Hidden Rule Thirteen: Truth Oath]
[Hidden Rule Content: Each person can establish a Truth Oath with at most one other person. For the oath to appear, both parties must simultaneously express the key meaning of "I will never deceive you." During the rule period, if neither party of the oath tells a lie, both parties will receive double rewards after the rule ends; if one party lies and the other does not, the lying party will receive triple rewards after the rule ends, while the other party suffers rule punishment; if both parties lie to each other, then both will suffer the rule failure punishment.]
[Note: In this world filled with lies, do you have one person you can completely trust who will not lie to you? If you do, would you betray this person for a high reward?]
After reading the hidden rule, Guan Tong's heart skipped a beat.
"This is... a rule similar to a variant of the Prisoner's Dilemma..."
Two people establish a Truth Oath. If both tell the truth, they both get double rewards after the rule ends. If both lie, it's a lose-lose situation, both considered to have failed the rule challenge.
But if one lies and the other doesn't, the liar gets to keep the triple reward all to themselves... The Fire Thief is undoubtedly encouraging people to find someone they absolutely trust to form the oath with, and then obtain the highest-level reward by betraying that person.
Guan Tong somewhat understands why this rule's reward includes "Mind Power Upper Limit increase."
If it were only Ascension Coins, even if multiplied several times, it wouldn't be worth betraying someone who trusts you the most. But what if it's replaced by a significant increase in the Mind Power Upper Limit? Triple reward means triple the numerical increase. The temptation of that is not something Ascension Coins can compare to.
Only...
Guan Tong feels there is a loophole here.
If two people establish a Truth Oath, and before establishing it, they ask each other, "Do you plan to betray me?"—then a premeditated betrayer can only remain silent or beat around the bush.
Because this question is asked before the oath is established, so if someone intends to betray but verbally says "No," they would violate the rule.
Or is there some way to bypass this key point?
For example, by not mentioning this question, or by putting oneself in a state of "objective cognitive error" as mentioned in the rule details when establishing the oath?
Guan Tong thought for a while and shook his head. He didn't delve too deeply into it. He doesn't plan to betray anyone, so there's no need to study and look for loopholes.
The problem before him now is, should he make this hidden rule public? Or sell it.
In his view, this hidden rule is somewhat "neutral."
Meaning, it is both good and bad.
The good part is that two people who truly trust each other can indeed use it to gain more rewards and more benefits.
The bad part is that once made public, someone will definitely use it to scam people, and scam the very person who trusts them the most—or it might be exploited by the provider system again, like the Eighth Rule.
For example, controlling someone, threatening them to establish the oath, and then killing them after the rule ends if they dare to lie. Out of fear, this person might not dare to lie, allowing the controller to lie without any scruples and receive triple rewards after the rule ends.
"...Even if I don't make it public, this hidden rule will probably be discovered through trial and error. They will only know of the oath's existence, but not what the rewards for the oath or the price of breaking it are... unless relevant content appears when the oath is established," Guan Tong thought.
The trigger keywords for the "Truth Oath" are when both people say something similar to "I will never deceive you" or "I will never lie to you" to each other... Dialogue like this often appears between young couples, doesn't it?
Although the number of couples and married pairs has greatly decreased since entering the Doomsday Rules era, there are still some.
Especially with the release of this rule, some couples might immediately, with affectionate eyes, tell each other they would never deceive you.
Thus, the Truth Oath would be triggered between them, available for signing. You can't wrap fire in paper; news would spread quickly that way.
"Might as well earn some Ascension Coins. I haven't had much business these past few months."
Recently, Guan Tong's Ascension Coins have only seen large outflows, with income being just the few hundred "mosquito legs" from rule rewards. Since this hidden rule is suitable for selling, selling it is fine.
He turned on his computer and logged into the Ascendant Home website.
Entering the Administrator's Domain section, he posted a new thread following the previous sales format.
《Selling Hidden Intelligence Related to the Thirteenth Doomsday Rule》
Details: Intelligence price 100,000 Ascension Coins. Not informed immediately; unified notification in 12 hours.
Editing complete, post.
Compared to previous prices, he didn't increase it this time, still selling for one hundred thousand.
The reason is quite practical: after the earthquake rule, the world's population sharply decreased again, including many Ascendants.
No matter how astonishing the amount of Ascension Coins held by those large organizations and groups, their source is collected from individual Ascendants below.
Now that there are fewer Ascendants, the production of Ascension Coins has naturally decreased significantly.
This can also be seen from the plummeting prices of many sky-high-priced items in the terminal market. The crazy environment where any somewhat useful item could sell for tens of thousands is gone for good.
Moreover, once this trend forms, the market will only become more "depressed" in the future. By then, Ascension Coins will likely appreciate and have much stronger purchasing power than now.
Shortly after Guan Tong's post went up, the private message notification started blinking rapidly.
Major organizations, groups, and national authorities all have dedicated personnel monitoring his account, and they all sent purchase messages at the first opportunity.
Guan Tong looked at them and sighed, "It seems I should raise the price next time. After the establishment of the Human Consortium, my client base has shrunk too."
He guessed correctly. Among the contents of the Human Consortium meeting, one item included: to save unnecessary expenses, the Ascension Coins used to purchase intelligence from the Administrator of Ascendant Home will be shared equally by all member states, with intelligence also shared.
This way, instead of each country buying a copy individually, they now only need to pay one price together and share the purchase.
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