Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 107 The Reason for Deception

That night, after her mother Wang Yan fell asleep, Chen Na secretly slipped out.

At nine o'clock, the car arrived as promised.

"Get in the car, Chen Na," the short-haired woman said, rolling down the car window.

"Ah."

Chen Na sat in the back seat of the car, and after the car started, she asked somewhat nervously, "Sister, where are we going?"

"To a factory in the suburbs."

"To the factory?"

"Okay, put this on."

The short-haired woman handed over a round mask, revealing only the eyes.

Chen Na didn't know why she had to wear a mask, but she obediently put it on anyway.

Soon, the vehicle arrived at a factory in the suburbs, which seemed to have been abandoned long ago, with no gate at all.

Chen Na followed the short-haired woman into a large hall inside the factory, where she saw that quite a few people had already arrived.

Some of them, like her, wore masks that only revealed their eyes. Two circles of people stood around her, wearing black hoods and holding guns; they looked like terrifying criminals from a movie, which frightened her a little.

When the short-haired woman arrived, the masked men were all quite surprised to see Chen Na, whom she had brought with her.

"Was the last one a child?"

"What the hell? A kid is participating in the selection!"

"The selection process doesn't discriminate between adults and children," the short-haired woman said calmly. "There are only participants. I will now explain the selection process."

"See those men with guns around you? Your selection process involves using this factory as your area of ​​operation and evading their pursuit. If you're not caught after three hours, you'll be considered a successful candidate."

Everyone nodded; the rules were clear and everyone could understand them.

The short-haired woman then deliberately lowered her head and asked Chen Na, "Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Chen Na nodded: "I understand, it means not to get caught by people with guns!"

"Ah."

"So, all we can do is run?" a masked man said. "If they find us, can't we just wipe them out?"

The short-haired woman looked over and said, "Sure. But if you attack the armed man, they will attack you in return. You will be responsible for any casualties."

The man sneered, "No problem."

Chen Na couldn't help but feel nervous after listening to their conversation: Why could there be deaths and injuries in this kind of selection?
"If there are no further questions, you may begin your work."

The short-haired woman glanced at the watch on her wrist.

"You have five minutes to go ahead. After five minutes, these armed men will start looking for you."

The masked contestants immediately began to scatter, and Chen Na also ran out at the first opportunity.

She had seen the factory before she arrived; it was huge. As long as she was careful and used her abilities effectively, she was sure she could get through!
Five minutes later, the short-haired woman nodded to the armed men: "Let's begin."

……

A sharp pain shot through her stomach, and Wang Yan frowned, groggily opening her eyes.

She knew the cancer pain had returned, and the pain was extremely unbearable. Now she could only suppress it with large amounts of painkillers, but the effect was getting worse and worse.

Wang Yan reached for the pills on the table. The glass on the table was full of water, which she drank down, softly calling out, "Nana."

There was no response from the room. At first, Wang Yan thought her daughter had gone to the bathroom, but after waiting for a long time without her returning, she couldn't sit still any longer.

"Nana!"

Wang Yan raised her voice, but still no one responded.

She forced herself to get out of bed despite the pain and went out to look for her daughter, only to find that she was not in the house at all. She didn't know if her daughter had run away or been taken away by someone.

This immediately threw her into a panic.

She rushed back to her room, picked up her phone from the table, and wanted to call the police to report her missing.

But when she checked her phone's call history, she found a call that had come from yesterday evening and lasted only a little over ten seconds.

She clearly remembered not calling yesterday and wondered if it was related to her daughter's disappearance, so she immediately called back.

Buzzing... Buzzing...

Guan Tong, who was sitting cross-legged in meditation, opened her eyes when she heard her phone vibrate.

He picked it up and glanced at it; it was a call from Wang Yan. He had already added her number to his contacts and made a note of it after their conversation yesterday.

As soon as the call connected, Wang Yan's anxious voice immediately came through the receiver.

"Who are you? What did you say to my daughter yesterday?" "...Sister Wang? I'm Guan Tong."

Wang Yan was taken aback: "Xiao Guan? Is this your number?"

Guan Tong asked curiously, "Yes. I saw your car still parked in the development zone when I left the city yesterday, Sister Wang. I took the phone from the car and called. Didn't Xiao Na tell you, Sister Wang? She answered the phone yesterday."

Wang Yan had a bad feeling and quickly asked, "What did Nana say?"

"She said that Sister Wang's illness wasn't serious, and that you two took a car to Yong'an... Isn't that right?"

Guan Tong sensed something was wrong from Wang Yan's tone of voice.

"Oh dear!" Wang Yan exclaimed anxiously, "Nana lied to you! That's not how it happened at all!"

"Why did Xiaona lie to me?" Guan Tong asked, puzzled. "Sister Wang, what exactly happened?"

"That's it..."

Wang Yan revealed that she had been diagnosed with late-stage stomach cancer at the hospital and only had one or two months left to live. Furthermore, they hadn't gone to Yong'an, the capital city, and were still living in an abandoned neighborhood not far from the hospital.

Guan Tong hadn't expected this, but it still didn't explain why Chen Na would lie.

"I really don't know what's wrong with Nana. She lied to you yesterday, and I just woke up to find she was gone. What if something happens to her..."

Hearing Wang Yan's anxious tone, Guan Tong reassured her, "Sister Wang, don't worry. I think Xiao Na must have a reason for doing this. Has anything happened recently?"

Wang Yan thought about it carefully, her gaze falling on the protective suit placed in the corner of the room, and she suddenly remembered.

"Oh, right! There's something... After the sixth rule started, someone quickly delivered protective suits and masks to us. They looked very high-end and expensive. The person who delivered them was a young woman with short hair who looked very energetic."

"The short-haired girl didn't say it to my face, she spoke to Nana alone, saying that they had some kind of team selecting members and hoped Nana would participate. If she was selected, they would give her Ascension Coins to buy medicine and items to cure my terminal illness..."

“As soon as Nana told me, I immediately refused. Those medicines and equipment are so expensive, some costing hundreds of thousands of Ascension Coins. Why would someone buy them and give them to you for free? I know there's no such thing as a free lunch, so I wouldn't let Nana agree. But this child, she…”

"She probably decided to agree on her own," Guan Tong said.

He knew that Chen Na and her mother had an extremely deep bond; otherwise, she wouldn't have obtained the [Perception Domain] ability from the Ascension Shop. The reason she received this ability was because her wish was to know immediately when her mother brought goods home.

So, given that his mother has terminal cancer and doesn't have much time left, it's only natural that he would try everything to save her. It's not surprising that someone would approach him at this point, offering money for medicine and medical supplies if he could be selected to join a certain team.

If Guan Tong were in the same situation, she would basically make the same choice, because it is the only way to possibly save her mother's life.

However, from an outsider's perspective, a significant problem becomes apparent.

Hundreds of thousands of Ascended Coins is no small sum; even if it's used to invest in talent, it requires careful consideration. Moreover, what kind of organization is behind that short-haired woman, capable of recruiting and selecting people even as we're about to enter a state of war? What makes them so powerful?

“What am I going to do… I had planned to register Nana with the authorities after the 10th and have her assigned to a shelter, so she would have a safe place to stay and I could leave in peace. But now…”

Guan Tong asked, "Sister Wang, did Xiao Na mention where the team selection will be held?"

"She didn't say, and I don't know either."

"That's troublesome." Guan Tong couldn't help without knowing the location. "It seems we can only contact the police station and check the surveillance footage; perhaps that will yield some results."

He said that, but deep down he felt the chances were slim. If the other party could produce hundreds of thousands of Ascended Coins, they must be a large organization and would definitely be aware of ways to avoid being tracked.

But I won't tell Wang Yan this; it would only cause her more worry.

“But Sister Wang, I have another question,” Guan Tong asked. “Xiao Na was chosen because her abilities were leaked. When and where were they leaked?”

"This...maybe it was at the hospital? I can't remember...I need to call the police station right away! I'll hang up now, Xiao Guan."

After hanging up the phone, Guan Tong put it down and pondered silently.

Chen Na's abilities are indeed very special, especially because of the challenge. After the "team" function is enabled, teammates can share the effects and abilities of mental power items.

This means that she can likely transmit the information she perceives to her teammates in real time, which would be a huge help.

Moreover, with further development, there might be other variations. For example, Xu Xiaotian's instant noodles could be developed to have different effects, and her "perceptual domain" might, after in-depth development, not only perceive the activities of the target but also perceive other deeper levels of information.

It's perfectly normal for such potential to attract the attention of some organizations. Guan Tong even felt that if Chen Na had registered her mental strength limit of over 80 in the village beforehand, she would likely have been discovered by the authorities and taken away for specialized training long ago.

But that wouldn't change Wang Yan's physical condition. As for whether the authorities are willing to spend hundreds of thousands of Shenghua coins to buy medicine and props for Wang Yan's treatment, that's hard to say... It all depends on how they assess Chen Na's potential and whether they think the investment is worthwhile.

It now seems that the mysterious organization thought it was worthwhile, though it could also be deceiving Chen Na and ultimately never put it into practice.

"If I had contacted them sooner, I might have been able to do something. But now... I can only wait for news."

Guan Tong shook his head; he had his own troubles to deal with now.

The issue of trading on the House of Ascended is indeed somewhat difficult. Although no one is trading there yet, it's still necessary to plan ahead.

“Direct transactions between users are definitely not feasible; both parties would feel insecure. So, if I really want to make transactions happen, I also need to be responsible for 'logistics and transportation'…”

If one has enough mental energy, it's possible to use a shadow with activated five senses for long-distance transport. However, that requires an abundance of mental energy—or rather, a very large amount.

"But there's no rush now," Guan Tong thought. The website only has a few hundred users; it's too much to ask to get everything sorted out right now.

His current goal is to first improve the "Intelligence" and "Casual Chat" sections, so that the ascendants can feel that they can communicate and exchange ideas with him safely and confidently. The "Transaction" and "Delegation" sections can be improved gradually later.

(End of this chapter)