Guan Tong's Mind Power Flow class continued as usual during the rule period, as it didn't involve too much verbal content.
When he arrived at the classroom, he noticed for the first time that the entire class was so quiet, with not a single student whispering to each other.
"It seems you've all seen many failure cases online and know you should speak as little as possible during this rule period," Guan Tong said.
"I'm the same. So during this rule period, I won't be giving theoretical explanations. The class content will mainly consist of paired sparring."
After his words fell, many students immediately showed bitter expressions.
After nearly three months of familiarity, they had absolutely no doubts about Guan Tong's abilities. It was just that his frequent sparring training sessions made many students who disliked conflict and physical confrontations feel very uncomfortable.
But this was Guan Tong's teaching method. His goal was to make students improve; he didn't care too much about comfort.
Of course, there were also students who refused to fight, and Guan Tong wouldn't force them. The philosophy he upheld was that as a teacher, he just needed to teach what should be taught. Whether students learned or not was their own business.
Thus, the students once again followed Guan Tong to the large Gymnasium, using the empty basketball court as a training ground and randomly matching opponents through a draw.
After a session of intense sparring, every student was exhausted and drenched in sweat.
Guan Tong finally gathered everyone to explain some key points and point out common mistakes students made during sparring, and the class was considered over.
Throughout the entire class, aside from exertion sounds and sounds of pain during sparring, the students hardly spoke. Besides giving instructions, Guan Tong didn't say anything else either. This way, the situation of violating the rule was basically avoided.
After the day's classes ended, when it was time to send the Hidden Rule, Guan Tong returned to the shelter and sent it to different buyers according to his previous plan.
Unlike the last time he sold intelligence, which had over thirty buyers, this time there were only nieen buyers total, the number almost halved.
This was partly due to the establishment of the Human Consortium, and partly because some of the original buyers' groups or official forces had been destroyed or disintegrated during the earthquake rule.
However, with a price of one hundred thousand Ascension Coins, the nieen buyers still gave him a large income of one million nine hundred thousand, pushing his total Ascension Coins to once again break through the five million mark.
After the message was sent out, before the night was over, the authorities of Beixing publicly released the intelligence, immediately triggering a large number of discussion posts appearing on the forum.
"This hidden intelligence is quite generous this time; it's basically free double rewards."
"Looking for a contract partner in Fengyuan City, anyone interested?"
"Either win-win or lose-lose; this hidden intelligence is indeed good. As long as you're not mentally unstable, you should choose win-win, right?"
"Can't rule out some people with dark psychology who deliberately set others up... This kind of contract should only be established with familiar, trustworthy people."
"Familiar people aren't necessarily reliable. I think strangers might actually be easier to pass with—for example, two strangers meet, establish a contract, then separate. If they don't meet or speak for a month, they can steadily get double rewards, right?"
"That makes sense! Strangers have no intersection in daily life normally. After establishing a contract, even if they want to lie to the other person, how can they lie if they can't even meet?"
"If it's a stranger, I suggest checking their title first. If it's 'Order Keeper,' it's okay; if it's 'Rule Breaker,' forget it."
"Exactly. Several of my friends are Order Keepers, not a single Rule Breaker. I feel Rule Breakers are potential murderers, very dangerous; I don't dare be friends with them..."
"I am a Rule Breaker. You Order Keepers like to smear us, refusing to establish contracts with us; that's your loss. We Rule Breakers can stick together ourselves; it's just the same!"
Guan Tong watched for a moment and noticed a post whose popularity was rising rapidly.
"Discussing Unknown Possibilities: What Happens If One Party in the Contract Lies to an Outsider/The Other Contractor?"
The original poster wrote in the main text: "Currently, the hidden information only has two situations: both parties lie, and both parties don't lie. If one party lies, it can be divided into two situations: one is lying to the contractor, the other is lying to an outsider. I wonder if these two would have the same result?"
This poster's confusion triggered many people to follow with guesses.
"If one party in the contract lies to an outsider, probably only that person themselves would be judged as failing the rule challenge; it shouldn't affect the other contractor."
"Regardless of anything else, lying to the contractor means the double reward is definitely gone. Who would do such a stupid thing?"
"The poster's feeling is sharp. I also think there are some inconsistencies here, an indescribable sense of incongruity."
"You're overthinking it! There's no need to rack your brains over this. Just find a trustworthy person to establish a contract with, then persist for a month to get the double reward!"
"I don't know about the rest, I only know based on past experience, many rules' hidden information have big pitfalls. Have you forgotten the matter of the 'Mind Lock'... So I've decided not to establish a contract with anyone, just follow the rule's surface requirements to complete it."
"Correct. The more you think, the easier it is to make mistakes. I don't want to accidentally fail the challenge; it's better to play it safe."
It seems quite a few people have the same play-it-safe thinking as me...
Guan Tong thought to himself as he looked at the comments in the post.
He then saw he had a new message in his private message interface, a query from a customer who had purchased the intelligence.
"May I ask if the information sold and sent by the Administrator is incomplete?"
Seeing this question, Guan Tong narrowed his eyes slightly.
If he replied "yes," the other party might continue demanding with the reason that they paid money and should get complete information.
If he replied "no," that would violate the rule.
So Guan Tong directly chose not to reply.
Similarly, many people in the forum sent him messages, all trying to use this rule to fish for information or set traps.
For example, someone sent him a private message asking: "Administrator, are you Shadow Himself?"
He ignored all such questions.
However, among these private messages, when he saw one particular one, his attention was instantly and firmly captured.
The sender's nickname was "Dead End."
Dead End: "Administrator, you can contact Shadow, right? I have intelligence on 'Big Sister' here; he should want it very much."
Big Sister!
The founder of the Qingmei Society, the mastermind behind the serial kidnapping case and the Yongzhou Providers' Base, the planner who attacked him and Shi Jingyi... she was indeed someone Guan Tong had been searching for.
Previously, official personnel told him that Big Sister's power structure had been destroyed, and her current whereabouts were unknown. Xu Xiaotian also said Li Meng called him, telling him the kidnapping case from back then had been closed.
These things not only didn't make Guan Tong give up, but instead strengthened his determination to find her on his own.
Originally, in his plan, after the current thirteenth rule ended and Shi Jingyi returned to the academy to take over, he would extricate himself and begin tracking down Big Sister's whereabouts.
He never expected to have an unexpected gain today...
Guan Tong glanced at this "Dead End" account information. It had never posted before, and the account was just registered this afternoon.
At this moment, the other party sent several new messages.
Dead End: "I have location information on 'Big Sister' herself. If Shadow needs it, after satisfying the conditions I propose, I will provide it in exchange."
Dead End: "The reason for choosing this moment to send these messages is precisely because there is the rule [The Liar's Self-Punishment]. With the rule in place, I will not lie."
Wrong.
Guan Tong thought. It's not that you won't lie, but that lying will come at a huge cost. Conversely, if you can bear the cost of failing the rule, then lying at this time would make it very easy to gain others' trust.
Dead End: "To show sincerity, I will first provide some key information for free, allowing Shadow to verify it through his channels."
Dead End: "Big Sister's real identity: her name is 'Jiang Lanying.' Her son took her surname, named Jiang Qingshan, but mother and son have had little contact for many years. She also has a sole grandson, Jiang Ming, who has already died by Shadow's hand."
Jiang Ming!
Seeing the name mentioned in the message, Guan Tong's heart shook.
So that kid who could absorb and release Mind Power was actually "Big Sister" Jiang Lanying's grandson.
No wonder...
Guan Tong now understood why this Big Sister was willing to risk exposing her higher-up identity to mobilize long-range weapons to bomb him. On one hand, it was definitely because of the destruction of the Yongzhou base, the killing of many subordinates, plus the blood score of her grandson's death. New and old grudges together made her willing to take such ruthless action.
"Dead End" didn't send new messages anymore, probably feeling they had revealed enough and were just waiting for a reply.
Guan Tong looked at the message box, at the name "Jiang Lanying." He felt it sounded somewhat familiar.
He tried entering this name into a search engine. The returned results were all irrelevant entries, with signs of suspected data pollution.
He flipped through many pages before seeing some information in the corner of a certain webpage, which also made him remember why this name sounded familiar.
"So it's someone who often appeared on TV when I was little..."
Guan Tong silently closed the webpage, falling into thought.
This "Dead End" knew a lot; that was beyond doubt.
If what this person said was true, and they could know the location of the fleeing "Big Sister," it indicated they were likely someone close to Big Sister.
But the possibility of lying couldn't be ruled out either.
Guan Tong remembered the manager of the Yongzhou base, Han Ling, and that short-haired woman who led the team to attack him last time... These two were very similar, both choosing to take poison and commit suicide in moments of despair.
This meant they would rather die than betray Big Sister, betray their so-called Commander.
So, what if this "Dead End" was a similar kind of death soldier, a trusted subordinate? Under Big Sister's direction, deliberately using this rule to lie to gain trust?
What purpose could this achieve? After gaining my trust, lure me to a fake location like a trap or encirclement?
...Whether it's true or false, it's an opportunity.
Guan Tong made a decision to investigate this thoroughly.
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