Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 115 Two Worlds and the Experiment Results

At dawn, at the foot of Mingdao Mountain, Sister Yu and another man set up a temporary campsite and sat by the campfire, lost in thought.

The two hadn't slept all night. They had lost several companions overnight and were almost killed by thugs themselves. Overwhelmed with grief and fear, how could they possibly fall asleep?

The man took out his phone and typed: (Sister Yu, it's just the two of us left, what are we going to do?)

Sister Yu: (Zhao Yu, even for the sake of those who died, we must try our best to live on.)
(...That's right.) The man named Zhao Yu nodded. (Those thugs had quite a bit of supplies in their jeeps, enough to keep us alive for a long time.)
After reading Zhao Yu's message, Sister Yu thought for a moment and typed: (I plan to send a large portion up the mountain. You know, without the help of the people on the mountain, we definitely wouldn't survive.)
Zhao Yu: (That's true, we should thank them for saving our lives... But, that person seemed to dislike being disturbed yesterday. Will delivering the things up there make them angry?)

Sister Yu thought for a moment: (Let's deliver it to the location we reached yesterday. Think about it, if the people on the mountain knew we were running up there in the middle of the night, there must be someone on lookout duty. So if we leave the supplies there, they should be able to find them.)
Zhao Yu nodded, then his expression darkened as he thought of something: (Sister Yu, if we had had someone on lookout last night and spotted those thugs beforehand, wouldn't we have been able to escape a few more times...?)
Sister Yu remained silent after reading Zhao Yu's words, her expression filled with guilt.

As the camp leader, it was indeed her dereliction of duty not to make this preparation. But she really didn't expect that so many thugs would be so brazen in committing murder and robbery.

This gave her an idea amidst her heartbreak.

Since this rule was implemented—no, since the official announcement that major cities have entered a state of wartime management—the city and the countryside have become two separate worlds.

The city is under strict official management, with drones patrolling the entire city 24 hours a day. As people gradually move into the shelters, the city will begin to function like a precision instrument, achieving ultimate efficiency.

In the wilderness far from the city, it will gradually become a kind of "lawless land." Various criminal gangs and violent organizations will emerge, fighting and annexing each other in the struggle for survival resources.

This is undoubtedly a tragedy and a threat to those kind-hearted people who live in the wild and dislike fighting.

But this is the price of choice. Choosing freedom means bearing the corresponding consequences. No one will provide you with shelter; you can only protect yourself.

Sister Yu recalled how the man on the mountain had cleanly and efficiently eliminated more than a dozen thugs last night, and she felt both admiration and awe.

They envied her because if she possessed such combat power, the camp wouldn't have suffered such heavy casualties. They also felt awe towards her as an Ascended Being; they could sense that the person on the mountain was an extremely powerful Ascended Being.

Furthermore, she believed there must be more than one person on the mountain; there must be a campsite. Otherwise, if there was only one person, would they be keeping watch outside all night instead of sleeping?

Regardless of how many people were on the mountain, judging from their attitude yesterday, they weren't particularly welcoming to outsiders. Therefore, Sister Yu didn't intend to join them; she simply wanted to repay their life-saving kindness.

Then she and Zhao Yu took out the supplies from the thugs' jeeps and put most of them down at the spot where the two of them had run to the day before.

This situation naturally did not escape the notice of Guan Tong's "shadow surveillance eye".

He saw the two men carrying the supplies over and putting them down, clearly for him, so he didn't stand on ceremony. After the two men finished carrying them, he blew the [corpse whistle], signaling the undead to move all the supplies to their own courtyards.

After it was brought back, he saw a letter on one of the boxes, written by Sister Yu.

(Hello friends up in the mountains, I am Yu Hong, and my partner is Zhao Yu. These supplies were taken from the thugs' car, please accept them.)

Our old campsite was destroyed by thugs, and all our other companions were killed. We have nowhere to go now. If you don't mind, the two of us plan to camp at the foot of this mountain first.

We are extremely grateful for your life-saving grace. I was previously a surgeon, and Zhao Yu was a former architectural designer. We will certainly not hesitate to help you if needed.
When Guan Tong saw the letter written by Yu Hong, she felt that Yu Hong had a very good sense of propriety.

Clearly, both Yu Hong and Zhao Yu believed that there was more than one person on the mountain, but rather a campsite.

If she and her partner Zhao Yu were moving supplies to curry favor, hoping that she and Zhao Yu would join the camp, then Guan Tong would definitely not agree.

However, simply expressing gratitude and making a request that "we don't mind setting up camp at the foot of the mountain" would seem much more reasonable.

The unspoken meaning in the letter was that it acknowledged the mountain as the "territory" of the campsite on the mountain, and that he and Zhao Yu would not trespass on the territory, but would only camp at the foot of the mountain.

This seemingly non-seeking approach actually provides a form of alternative protection.

From what happened last night, the two could tell that the group on the mountain were good people. If they were also vicious thugs who double-crossed each other, then not only would the bearded man and his gang be eliminated, but the two of them would also be doomed.

Therefore, they believed that being next to a strong and powerful group of good people's camp would definitely make them feel safer than going elsewhere.

Guan Tong had no objection to this; it was others' freedom to choose where to camp, and he wouldn't interfere as long as it didn't bother them.

However, the cruelty of the thugs yesterday gave Guan Tong a similar thought to Yu Hong.

That is, as the authorities focus on shelters within cities, they will likely adopt a "hands-off" approach to management outside of cities.

Guan Tong herself is strong and has no worries about being threatened. However, some weak groups are not suitable to stay in the wild, or they need to join a large wild organization as soon as possible, otherwise they will end up like Yu Hong and her group, being targeted by wandering gangs of thugs who kill and plunder their supplies.

……

Deep underground, in a laboratory of the Countermeasures Research Office.

After thorough preparation, the "Sound Hunter Attack" test is finally about to begin.

A tester entered the room, which contained nothing but a thick, black metal box with one side open and a robotic arm hanging on the wall.

The test design experts use equipment to convert text into electronic voice to guide the testers in the room.

"Please enter the metal box."

The tester nodded, stepped into the black box, and the suspended robotic arm operated according to the signal, closing the door tightly. In this way, a completely enclosed small space was completed.

This seemingly ordinary black metal box is actually made of multiple alloys. It can isolate electronic signals and has an astonishing hard defense capability, making it impervious to damage from ordinary missiles.

After the tester was in a closed environment, the robotic arm began to place a large number of sensor-activated bombs around the sealed metal box according to the programmed procedure.

In this way, no matter which direction the sound hunter approaches from, the bombs will be detonated. These bombs have different compositions, including chemical gunpowder, metal blades, and poisonous gases containing neurotoxins, totaling more than ten types.

The goal is to test which weapon can effectively kill the Sound Hunter.

After all the bombs were placed, the expert took a deep breath and used a remote robotic arm to tap the metal box three times to notify the testers inside: Ready, test begin.

The tester inside the metal box heard three knocking sounds and screamed, "Ah ...

As the tester's rule challenge failed, a large number of monitoring devices simultaneously started operating.

Since the sound hunters cannot be seen with the naked eye, all kinds of biological imaging technologies such as fluorescence, imaging, nuclear magnetic resonance, electron microscopy, and photothermal imaging are used.

Experts do not believe that among so many technologies, there is not one that cannot detect sound hunters.

For a moment, apart from the sounds of the instruments, there were no other noises.

Every observer held their breath. Based on previously compiled attack data from various locations, sound hunters would arrive and launch an attack within approximately three to eight seconds of making a sound.

These few seconds are an immense ordeal for every observer, feeling as long as several minutes.

1……2……3……4……5……6……7……8
Eight seconds passed, and none of the bombs densely packed around the sealed metal box detonated.

The observers were shocked, and the experts who designed the test immediately initiated the door-opening procedure.

The suspended robotic arm responded and opened the closed metal door, revealing the tester sitting inside with his head slumped, blood continuously flowing from his neck.

All the observers stared wide-eyed at that moment.

The testing experts, their faces ashen, concluded: (It's teleportation! The Sound Hunter moves by remotely teleporting to the speaker's side!)
The observers had by then realized one fact: the Sound Hunters moved by teleportation, which meant that eliminating them would be extremely difficult.

There's only one possibility...

Ten minutes later, the relevant experimental results and conclusions were presented to Gao Liangwei, the head of the research lab.

Experimental results: The tester died, and it has been determined that the Sound Hunter moves using a teleportation method.

Hypothetical elimination method (untested): By attaching a sensor bomb to the tester's neck and detonating it when the Sound Hunter kills the tester, there is a chance of damaging the Sound Hunter.

Experimental conclusion: To eliminate the teleporting Sound Hunters, it seems the only option at present is through a suicide attack. However, this would mean the immediate death of the test subject. The decision on whether to conduct another experiment is left to the person in charge.

"..."

Gao Liangwei frowned after reading the conclusion.

Although he already knew that the Sound Hunters were troublesome, he didn't expect them to be this troublesome.

To try to eliminate it, one must pay the price of human lives.

But who would be the test subject who was destined to die? The test subject who volunteered earlier might have hesitated if he had known that the experiment would be fatal.

So now, is it really worth sacrificing lives to try something new, just for Ascendant Coins and the potential drop of tradable call scrolls? Besides, the attempt isn't guaranteed to succeed, and the authenticity of that post in the Ascendant's Home is still uncertain…

Just as Gao Liangwei hesitated, a red landline phone on the table rang.

He was slightly taken aback; only a few high-ranking officials were qualified to dial this landline.

He picked up the receiver and placed it in his earphones; an electronic voice came through: "Continue the experiment."

Gao Liangwei's eyes narrowed, and then the electronic voice in the receiver continued to play.

"The experimenters will be provided by me and sent to the underground base in 3 hours."

beep...

After the two electronic voices finished speaking, the phone call ended.

Gao Liangwei held the receiver for a moment before putting it back on the landline.

He knew that no more than a dozen people in the Northern Star Kingdom were qualified to learn the experimental results simultaneously with him. And the will of these people was the will of the nation.

Gao Liangwei took a deep breath and relayed the order: (Notify the testing experts that the experiment will continue in three hours. Begin preparing the sensor bomb to be placed around the tester's neck.)
　I stayed up all night yesterday... I didn't wake up until the afternoon today, so the update time will be a bit late, but there will definitely still be three chapters of 10,000 words!
　　I'll repay the sleepless nights I stayed up with by writing even if I have to crawl on my knees!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)