Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 109 Wartime Status Officially Begins

"Dong dong dong."

At noon, a knock on the door startled Wang Yan awake.

She had been so worried since discovering her daughter Chen Na was missing last night that she couldn't sleep. She had just managed to doze off for a while when she suddenly heard a knock on the door.

Thinking the police had found some clues, she quickly got up and went to the door. But when she opened it, there was no one there.

She looked around and saw a small box on the ground.

He took it to his room and opened it; inside was a letter and a sealed medicine box.

Wang Yan unfolded the letter and immediately recognized the delicate handwriting as belonging to her daughter, Chen Na.

"I'm sorry, Mom, I have to leave for a while. Please don't worry about me, I'll be back."

Following Chen Na's brief statement was another text, which, judging from the handwriting, was written by someone else.

"Ms. Wang, your daughter has passed our selection process. We will temporarily take her to another place for training. The medicine box contains medication to treat your illness, which is also the result of our agreement with your daughter. Do not try to find us; you do not have the ability to do so. When the time is right, your daughter will come back to see you."

“Nana…”

After reading the letter, Wang Yan was already in tears.

She remained silent for a long time before opening the medicine box. Inside was only one pill. After picking it up, her personal terminal automatically recognized the information.

[Special Healing Pill]: Can cure various diseases after consumption. This item is tradable.

Wang Yan knew that such a drug prop would probably sell for hundreds of thousands of liters on the market.

Now that the mysterious organization that took her daughter has actually delivered the medicine, she feels no joy at all.

Having navigated the complexities of society for many years, she knew all too well that there's no such thing as a free lunch. The fact that that mysterious organization was willing to spend hundreds of thousands of Ascension Coins meant that they believed they could gain far more than that amount from their daughter, Chen Na.

This caused Wang Yan great anxiety, as she wondered what kind of treatment her daughter would receive.

But she felt that what Guan Tong had said on the phone earlier was probably right; the organization had gone to great lengths to take Chen Na away, definitely not to harm her, but to use her abilities. So she shouldn't be in any danger.

After a long silence, Wang Yan looked at the pill, then swallowed it.

This is what my daughter bought with her personal freedom; she wants to eat. And she wants to live until she finds her daughter.

……

On Mingdao Mountain.

Guan Tong sat in the doorway of the wooden house, basking in the sun, while Coal Ball climbed back and forth on the tree in front of her.

In less than a day, it adapted to and even grew to like the environment. Being able to climb up and down the trees is definitely better than being cooped up in a small room all the time.

As Guan Tong watched the coal ball move about, he felt a sense that it was enjoying its freedom.

The coal ball was like that, and so was he himself.

A free and unrestrained life has always been what he wanted. This freedom is even more precious after entering the post-apocalyptic era.

"It seems I have no choice but to decline Shi Jingyi's invitation for now."

After a morning of deliberation, Guan Tong finally made her decision.

Actually, according to Shi Jingyi, the conditions are already quite good: the teaching assistant work is not much, she can register her identity, and she also has a separate faculty dormitory to live in.

However, in contrast, they will inevitably fall into a fixed, template-based lifestyle.

At that time, not to mention himself, even Coal Ball would probably have a hard time climbing trees, and he would have to stay indoors all the time.

Moreover, the academy is located in Yong'an, which, as the national capital, is subject to the strictest controls in all aspects.

After much thought, Guan Tong felt that he was still not suitable, at least not suitable for living in the capital.

He took out his phone, edited a text message, and sent it to Shi Jingyi.

"Thank you for the invitation, but after thinking it over, I've decided not to go."

About ten minutes later, Shi Jingyi replied to the message.

"Just do what you think is best. Besides, as I mentioned on the phone, my invitation is valid indefinitely. If you change your mind someday, just let me know."

Guan Tong put away her phone and started to manage her time at her own pace.

Just like the previous plan, I spent my days watching online classes, maintaining my website, and relaxing by taking walks in the mountains.

During this period, Wang Yan contacted him once and told him what happened next.

Although Chen Na is nowhere to be found, Wang Yan's terminal illness was indeed cured with medication and props, which is a good thing no matter how you look at it.

Wang Yan told him that she had registered and applied to join the Public Security Bureau, and that the authorities had notified her that her application was successful.

This surprised Guan Tong quite a bit, but thinking of Wang Yan's prop, the "oil-turning pot" that could turn any liquid into oil, such a resource-type prop still had some value to the official.

Moreover, it was previously revealed online that various government departments, especially those on the front lines, were recruiting massively, resulting in a severe shortage of manpower. It is likely that, due to the chaos and conflicts in various regions within the Blood Plague's rules, many frontline personnel did not die from the virus itself, but rather from the rioting infected individuals.

Therefore, nowadays, anyone with sound physical health and normal values ​​can easily apply for a position in a frontline government department.

As for Wang Yan's purpose in applying to join the Public Security Bureau, it is obvious: to find her daughter, Chen Na.

Time flies, and before we knew it, it was October 10th.

Today marks the day the country officially entered a state of war. Guan Tong also turned on her computer and watched the live broadcast of the announcement.

He knew that from this day forward, a great transformation was about to take place in this country.

After the official announcement of a state of war, the atmosphere on the internet immediately changed drastically.

Some of the more outrageous remarks were quickly suppressed.

Numerous drones have been deployed for patrols in major cities. These drones are equipped with facial scanning capabilities; if they detect an unregistered person, they transmit the location data to the police department, which then dispatches officers to investigate.

In addition, the first batch of officially constructed shelters were completed and randomly assigned according to the registered personnel. Each shelter can accommodate about a thousand people, and the living conditions are similar to those of university dormitories.

Unlike university dormitories, each shelter has two energy systems: one supplied from the outside and the other an independent system. If the external system is cut off due to natural disasters or man-made calamities, the internal system can still operate for a period of time on its own.

In addition, each shelter has a large stockpile of various foods, medicines, equipment, and other supplies to ensure that shortages will not easily occur.

Guan Tong saw someone mention on the Yunhua local forum that everyone who checks into the shelter must be registered in detail.

It's not just about names, ages, and faces; it also includes personal terminal digital IDs, mental power items, abilities, and the number of Ascension Coins... all of these must be registered, and an agreement must be signed.

The details of the agreement were not posted online, but roughly speaking, it means that after checking into the shelter, one agrees to share resources.

In other words, if there is a unified allocation requirement from the authorities, the shelter personnel must obey the management and use their own items or mental energy for allocation.

Some people feel this is not a good thing, while others say they don't care. They feel that there's nothing wrong with the authorities providing shelter and assisting in passing subsequent rules, and therefore complying with their management and unified resource allocation.

Another sizable group of people expressed numerous doubts online: they claimed that the shelters were randomly assigned to residents, but according to their observations, almost all of them were Ascended.

That's right, this group is the non-Ascended group. In other words, it's the group whose mental power has dwindled to zero and whose personal terminals have been shut down after several failed attempts to challenge the rules.

This group began to emerge as early as after the third rule [fasting therapy]. After the fifth rule, a large number of new members joined.

The group now has a considerable number of members, and their collective voice carries significant weight.

They believe the authorities are prioritizing Ascended individuals for shelter placement, while those of them with their personal terminals shut down are relegated to the back of the queue – a blatant act of discrimination.

There has been no official response to this, but some "ascended" individuals have expressed disdain online, saying that what use are people without spiritual power in the future? Giving these people the qualification to enter the shelter is a pure waste.

This sparked strong discontent among non-Ascended groups, leading to numerous protests. Guan Tong couldn't find any follow-up information. Only a few people reported being placed in shelters, while others said they chose to leave the city and live elsewhere.

After reviewing the current situation, Guan Tong's heart was also unsettled.

If the divisions among people after the third rule were still implicit and not so obvious, then after this conflict erupted, it has reached a point where it is irreconcilable.

Perhaps the authorities are also helpless; there are only so many shelters built so far, and people will inevitably move in at different times. So, for those who have ascended and those who haven't, the question of who goes first and who goes last is a simple choice.

Complete randomness is impossible, because no matter how much we say everyone is equal, everyone knows in their hearts that the value and potential of an ascendant is higher than that of a non-ascended person.

The official statement made it clear in the previous live broadcast that everything was done to ensure the survival of more citizens, and that some sacrifices had to be made for this purpose.

These sacrifices include not only livelihoods, but also those of a segment of the population.

But when it comes to actually becoming the victim, how many people can accept it calmly?

However, to Guan Tong's surprise, his "House of Ascended" website began to see a surge in traffic after entering wartime.

The number of registered users has now exceeded two thousand and is still increasing rapidly.

"It seems that other social networking sites are starting to allow for less free expression..."

Guan Tong thought that even if her website couldn't be tracked, she couldn't allow users to talk nonsense. Discussing daily life and sharing information was fine, but inhumane remarks were definitely prohibited.

He hastily drafted a "Posting Guidelines" and pinned it to the top of each forum. It stated that healthy, positive, and harmonious discussions were encouraged, and those who posted anti-humanitarian remarks would be banned or have their accounts suspended.

Once the post was published, dozens of comments were quickly added.

"Support the site administrator!"

"After the declaration of wartime status, other websites have clearly tightened their restrictions, and it feels like this forum will be the only safe haven..."

"Anyone from Wu'an City? I've been assigned to Wu'an-114 shelter. If anyone's here, we could be roommates!"

"You got assigned to a shelter so quickly? I don't think I was randomly assigned to one of the first batches. I guess I'll have to wait until the second or third batch of shelters are built before I can move in."

"What's so good about the shelter... four people to a room, and they don't even allow men and women to stay together, isn't this just forcing me and my girlfriend to stay apart!"

"I remember the shelter's admission agreement stated that strict management would only be implemented during the period when the post-apocalyptic rules were issued, and that it was still possible to apply to leave and meet with people from other shelters outside of the rule period."

　Sorry. This chapter was mistakenly scheduled to be released at 12 PM tomorrow. I was busy with work and didn't see it until now, so I quickly canceled it.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)