Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 110, Rule Seven of the Apocalypse

Post-Apocalyptic Rules and Countermeasures Research Lab.

After the country declared a state of war, relevant data was also compiled and discussed here.

The data analyst reported: "Currently, 18819 shelters have been built nationwide in the first batch, which are expected to accommodate about 20 million people. The second and third batches of shelters are under construction. Before the release of Rule 7 on October 31, the second batch should be partially completed."

"Have the population statistics been released yet?" an expert asked.

One reason for conducting this preliminary personnel registration for wartime status is that the authorities want to confirm the current total population of the country.

Following the first rule, the subsequent rules concerning snow disasters, the undead, and blood plagues all involve casualties. The snow disaster and blood plague rules, in particular, have caused a large number of deaths.

However, due to a lack of manpower, detailed data collection has been impossible. In particular, many villages were essentially cut off from communication after the snow disaster, and it is unclear how many people survived.

After reviewing the data, the data clerk replied: "The total registered population of major cities across the country is currently approximately 713456200."

"A little over seven hundred million..."

Everyone in the conference room fell silent.

The population of Beixing Kingdom originally reached 1.6 billion, but in just six months, it has dwindled to less than half. The cruelty of this outcome is enough to shock anyone.

“This only includes the registered population,” the data analyst added. “There is also a certain number of unregistered people living outside the city. If we include these people, the total population is estimated to be around 800 million.”

"Eight hundred million is only half of what it used to be!" Gao Liangwei said in a deep voice. "With just six new rules implemented, only half the population remains. Gentlemen, you can see how dire the situation we face is!"

"Yes... but things should get better later. The first few rules left us too little time to carry out a lot of construction. Now that a large number of professional-grade shelters are being built in batches, the casualties should not be so severe in the future."

At this point, someone said, "Should we take some action against those living outside the city? According to reports, quite a few people seem to be forming organizations and establishing camps outside the city, and some have even spawned groups that resemble religious groups... If this continues, will there be any problems?"

“I don’t think that’s necessary,” Dr. Zhang said. “Those who choose to live outside the city are either strong individuals who are confident in their abilities, or people who resist communal living, or non-ascended individuals who feel discriminated against… Forcing these three types of people into the city would only cause chaos.”

"Moreover, these people do not have sufficient resources in the wild, and it would be good enough if they could be self-sufficient. Even if they set up camp, it would only be for survival, and it is unlikely that they would pose any threat to the city."

“That’s right,” Gao Liangwei said. “Forcing everyone to move into the shelters will only cause resistance and internal strife. Since they have chosen to go outside the city, let them go. What we need to do now is focus on taking care of the 700 million people in the city.”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Gao Liangwei then added, "Also, I'd like to remind everyone of something. As you all know, the new [Call Scroll] that's recently been added to the Shenghua Shop can be used to make private calls between friends."

After Rule 6 was implemented, the lab conducted tests as soon as the product was put on the shelves.

Test results show that when using the "Secret Call Scroll," the entire call is completed in the mind. The caller doesn't need to speak; communication is done directly through thought.

This undoubtedly presents a new challenge for highly classified units.

"As you all know, we have a very high level of security here. So, although there are still twenty days until the seventh rule is released, I'd like to make this clear upfront... If anyone tries to use the [Secret Communication Record] to secretly contact the outside world or leak classified information, the research lab will punish them severely once discovered!"

Everyone looked solemn and said in unison, "Understood."

……

October 30th, one day before the seventh apocalyptic rule is released.

In the morning, Guan Tong was sitting in the small courtyard he had cleared out in front of the wooden house—or more accurately, it was cleared out by the undead, as he had simply been a hands-off manager.

A wooden fence has been erected around the courtyard because some wild animals have started appearing a few days ago, scratching at the door of his wooden house in the middle of the night and making disturbing noises.

Guan Tong then had the idea of ​​changing the environment.

He first summoned giant axe warriors, who chopped down some trees with axes. Then he summoned a bunch of undead, who cleared a small courtyard around the area and used the chopped and split logs to form a wooden fence.

This way, any small wild animals will be kept out by the wooden fence and won't run directly to Guan Tong's wooden house and cause trouble.

At this moment, Guan Tong was meditating with his eyes closed, circulating his qi.

Ever since Shi Jingyi sent him the course materials about luck, he has been spending a lot of time studying and practicing them every day.

Compared to memorizing acupoints, circulating qi is much more difficult and tests one's control over the body. It took me half a month to sense the presence of qi and close my eyes, and then another half a month to try to control it and let it circulate in my body.

Just a few days before the end of October, he finally succeeded once, allowing the energy to travel through different acupoints.

So today he couldn't wait to try it out and see if he could manipulate the flow of mental energy like luck.

He started meditating outside at six in the morning, breathing in the fresh mountain air, but it's been more than three hours now, past nine, and he still can't get it right.

After yet another failure, Guan Tong opened her eyes: "Was I too hasty? Maybe I should try focusing on one point first."

He calmed his mind and stopped pursuing the flow of spiritual power, only seeking its manifestation in the form of a single point.

Lowering the bar immediately yielded results. In less than half an hour, Guan Tong successfully made a point of mental energy appear on his right index finger.

It only lasted for about two seconds before disappearing. Even so, Guan Tong was very satisfied. This proved that his cultivation was effective, and that was enough. As long as he continued, sooner or later he would be able to circulate it throughout his body, strengthening his bodily functions.

"Let's get here first today."

Guan Tong stood up, stretched, and gazed into the distance.

He chose a spot halfway up the mountain where he could see villages and towns in the distance, offering excellent visibility.

This feeling of being able to look out from a high place and gaze into the distance puts him in a good mood every day and makes him feel once again that his choice was right.

If he were to live in a shelter or a faculty dormitory, all he would see every day would probably be walls, beds, and tall buildings, which would be a real ordeal for him.

"The new rules will be released tomorrow... I'm pretty much ready."

Over the past month, Guan Tong's mental strength limit has met expectations, increasing by 4 points from 137 to 141.

With each point gained, he would open the "Wordless Book" and try to write on the fifth page, but all four attempts ended in failure.

During this time, he also considered adding more text to the first few pages to reinforce the text. However, after thinking about it, he didn't have many ideas for what to do, so he gave up on the idea.

He then divided the mental energy he recovered each day into three portions for use.

One item is used to maintain the existence of the shelter. The shelter consumes 1 point of mental energy every ten minutes, which amounts to 144 points per day.

It seems like a lot, but after Guan Tong equipped the "Winner" title, her mental energy recovery speed reached a high speed of 1 point every 2 minutes. In 24 hours, she can recover a total of 576 points.

After deducting the 144 points consumed by the shelter, he still had 432 points left. He then divided this mental energy in two, converting one half into reserve mental energy and the other half into Silver Hunter Bullets.

After a month, his current mental energy reserves have reached 3890, just over 100 short of 4000.

至于银猎的子弹，目前数量也十分夸张：1号弹*105；2号弹*102；3号弹*315；4号弹*141；5号弹*68。

Having stored so many bullets, he would never return the Silver Hunter to the [Wordless Book] unless absolutely necessary; such a complete wipeout was something he couldn't accept.

In addition, he also took the time to test the "Giant Axe Warrior".

Previously, when he summoned it to chop down trees, the minimum 50 points of mental energy were sufficient. However, to test its higher combat power, he later conducted tests using 100 points and 200 points of mental energy respectively.

The giant axe warrior summoned by consuming 100 points is slightly taller, almost 2.5 meters, and its strength has also increased significantly. With one swing of its axe, it can split a large rock on the mountain.

If you summon it again using 200 points, its size and strength won't change much, but its speed will increase, reaching the speed of a normal adult male. At this speed, its combat power will increase by more than one level.

Guan Tong did not test any more summons that required more points.

On one hand, it would waste his reserve mental energy, and on the other hand, he felt it was unnecessary at the moment. You have to understand that this guy can only summon up to 1000 points of mental energy, and Guan Tong is unwilling to use so much of his reserve mental energy just for a combat power test at this stage.

In addition, he would log in to his "House of Ascended" website every day during this period to check posts and messages.

Since society entered a state of war, his website's daily traffic has been surging, with one person bringing in two, two bringing in four, and the number of registered users doubling.

As of today, the website has over 20,000 registered users. Compared to the vast population of Beixing Kingdom, 20,000 may seem like a small number, but this increase already demonstrates the website's bright future prospects.

If this growth continues, it's not impossible for it to break 100,000 or even 1 million in a short time.

However, as the number of users surged, Guan Tong gradually felt overwhelmed by the management. He was starting to find it difficult to manage on his own, unless he devoted all his time to it every day, which was impossible.

So, he's recently been considering recruiting a few administrators. There will definitely be no salary; it's entirely voluntary. He thinks perhaps someone will be willing to apply—not to mention others, "Masked" guy will definitely be willing, since he's posted several times expressing his desire to become one of the website's administrators.

However, with the new rules about to be released, the selection of administrators will have to be postponed.

After a night's rest, Guan Tong was in perfect condition the next day, gazing into the distance, silently waiting for the Fire Thief to issue new rules.

When the time comes, the rules will be released.

The seventh rule of the apocalypse has been released.

[Apocalyptic Rule Seven: The Hour of Silence]

[Rule Content: From the date of this rule's promulgation, all humans are prohibited from speaking. This includes any meaningful word or name uttered from the mouth. Whispers, crying, laughter, groans, etc., are also included, but breathing sounds are not restricted. This rule will last for 30 days.]

If someone speaks in violation of the rules, the challenge is immediately declared a failure, and the speaker will be hunted and attacked by the "voice hunters."

[Success Reward: 300 Ascension Coins, Survival Chest - Silver Level]

[Failure Penalty: Reduced maximum Mental Strength]

[Note: Do not blindly test the limits of the rules, and do not try to provoke the sound hunters with meaningless screams. If you want to survive, try to become a silent statue that only breathes.]

(End of this chapter)