Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 117 A Walled City

Yunhua City - Shelter No. 915

Wu Yun opened his eyes and sat up from the bed.

Today is November 2nd, the third day since the start of the "Silent Moment" rules.

On the third day alone, he felt very uncomfortable.

For an extroverted person, social behavior is a source of replenishment for their mental energy.

He prefers face-to-face conversations, where he can see the other person's face, hear their voice, and even smell their scent; this gives him a real sense of social interaction.

He would find online communication boring. People online might be faking it, their personalities vastly different from their real-life counterparts, creating a sense of unreality.

So from the very beginning of the rules, unable to speak, he could only relieve his distress by sleeping. He slept at night, and also slept during the day when he had nothing to do, but after sleeping for more than ten hours a day, he couldn't fall asleep again even if he wanted to.

Wu Yun looked at the other three people in the room. Two of them were sitting at the computer desk playing games, and one was lying on the bed playing on his phone.

He got out of bed, left the accommodation area, and went to the outdoor recreation area.

The officially constructed shelter is divided into five areas: living, leisure, sports, dining, and storage.

Apart from the residential area being divided into several small rooms, the other four areas share a large common area.

The relaxation area features large-screen TVs, pool tables, and upholstered sofas, among other relaxing amenities.

Wu Yun saw someone sitting on the sofa in a daze, walked over and sat down next to them, then typed on his phone: (Hello, what are you doing?)
The man saw the words, glanced at him in surprise, shook his head, waved his hand, and got up to leave.

Wu Yun's expression darkened; this wasn't the first time he'd encountered such a situation.

After the rules were announced, it seemed that everyone was trying to avoid communicating with others, even just through text.

This made him feel very uncomfortable and lost.

The pain this rule caused him was far more intense than the first rule of sleep deprivation or the fourth rule of snow disaster.

The thought that there were still more than twenty days left before it ended made Wu Yun's expression very complicated. After a moment, he returned to his room, sat at his desk, turned on his computer, and logged into the "Home of Ascendants" website.

This forum, which he discovered just two days ago, has become his new preferred platform for communication.

Because this place gives him a sense of being alive, while other social networking sites gradually became more and more lifeless after October 10th, and the atmosphere was not as good as before.

He opened the casual chat section, where few people discussed the rules; most were making the best of a bad situation by posting about entertainment and relaxation.

Anyone want to play a multiplayer shooting game? Let's start!

Let's play a word chain game! I'll start: Do whatever I want!

"Since I haven't been able to speak for the past two days, I've started thinking about philosophical questions. Anyone else experiencing this?"

……

Wu Yun browsed through the posts and found one that interested him.

Let me show you the big catch we caught!

Upon clicking through, the photo showed several people who appeared to be in the wild, embracing a large fish that was more than half the length of a person.

Good heavens, this will take a week to eat.

"If it weren't for these ridiculous rules, I would have been carrying this fish around the streets for days after I caught it."

"Are you guys camping in the wild? I'm so envious! Staying in a shelter must be so boring!"

Wu Yun shared the same sentiment as this person. He was among the first to move into the shelter, and now, more than twenty days later, he felt increasingly stifled and regretted his decision, thinking that he should have gone to live outside Chengcheng instead.

He saw the original poster's reply to this comment: "You envy us, and we envy you too! Living in a shelter is so safe, what's a little boredom? We have to sleep with one eye open at night in the wild. There are so many bandit gangs in the wilderness now, robbing people's supplies everywhere, it's terrifying!"

Someone summarized it this way: "The shelter is a walled city; those inside want to get out, and those outside want to get in."

After reading for a while, Wu Yun also posted a thread in the forum: "The Miserable Refuge Life of an Extrovert."

He expressed his frustrations in the post, and although there weren't many replies, they were all from people in similar situations.

Meanwhile, in the Countermeasures Research Laboratory, new experiments have also begun.

The testers were ten people transported from outside. They refused to communicate, their faces revealing a calm despair, as if they had long been prepared for their fate.

When the testing experts asked them in writing whether they had volunteered to participate in the test, all ten refused to answer.

Even so, the experiment must continue.

As planned, sensor bombs were placed around the necks of these testers, and they were then made to make sounds.

The Sound Hunter teleported in seconds later, attacking the tester while simultaneously triggering the sensor-activated bomb, which immediately detonated. "Boom!"

Because the experiment was conducted in a specially designed explosion-proof room with minimal smoke and dust, a high-definition camera captured images of the sound hunter.

It was discovered that this attack was feasible. Furthermore, once the sound hunter was attacked, it would break its stealth and reveal its body.

However, its thin, black, snake-like body was only visible for less than two seconds before it quickly became transparent and disappeared without a trace.

After discussion, several analysts concluded that this Hunter was likely similar to the previous "Screamer," and that ordinary weapons could not kill this monster; weapons related to mental power were necessary.

After the report was submitted, a batch of psychic explosives were urgently transported over.

The experiment was then conducted again with several of the other ten testers.

The Sound Hunter appeared quickly upon hearing their cries. This time, the psychic explosive detonated and successfully blew a section off the Sound Hunter's body, but it didn't seem to kill it; the remaining part disappeared transparently.

The testing experts immediately reported the results. After the deaths of a total of six testers, a final conclusion was finally reached.

The key to eliminating the Voice Hunter lies in simultaneously using psychic items or abilities to attack it when it launches an attack on the voice-wielding person.

And the attack power must be strong enough to kill it. If it is only injured, it can still teleport away.

Furthermore, this method of hunting comes at a price. That price is the life of the one who speaks out.

Currently, there is no way to eliminate a voice hunter while saving the voice user's life... This means that to eliminate a voice hunter, at least one voice user must be sacrificed.

If a large number of voice hunters are to be eliminated, a large number of voice users will die in return.

Who should select these people? Or should we just wait for someone to call, like before, and then sit back and wait for a receiver who doesn't ask where the caller is?

As Gao Liangwei looked at the expert's summary report, he couldn't help but feel a little heavy-hearted.

Just then, there was a knock on the office door.

He pressed the sensor-activated door open button on the table, and the door opened automatically, allowing a staff member responsible for the terminal market to walk in.

She placed a report in front of Gao Liangwei, who glanced at it and frowned.

The report states that marketing staff recently discovered that "secret call scrolls" were being sold in the terminal market. These scrolls were extremely rare, very expensive, and quickly sold out.

This means that it has been confirmed, either by civilians or abroad, that someone is capable of killing the Sound Hunters and obtaining the dropped scrolls for sale.

The marketing department typed inquiries: (Manager, if more confidential documents appear on the market, should we purchase them?)
(It's worth buying if the price doesn't exceed 30,000.) Gao Liangwei typed back. (It's not worth it if it exceeds that; we can soon obtain the scroll by eliminating the Sound Hunters ourselves.)
(Okay, I'll go and inform the traders.)
After the marketing department staff left, Gao Liangwei pondered for a moment and then sent out several notification messages.

(The props coordination department should immediately cooperate with Dr. Gao, who is in charge of the sound hunter experiment, to check the personnel database and allocate more suitable offensive props. Ideally, these should be instantaneous and cutting-type.)
(Dr. Zhang, immediately send that girl from the Fourth Squad to the underground base. Her "Snowflake Without a Trace" mech's powered sword might be surprisingly effective against the Sound Hunters.)
At the same time, Gao Liangwei also sent a message to the network department asking: (Have we found anyone with hacking skills or tools yet?)
He now needs to know the origins of the "House of Ascended" website and the identity of its administrator.

He believes that if the latter can eliminate the Sound Hunters on their own, it means they possess extremely strong offensive capabilities, and the authorities need such talent.

Furthermore, many in the research lab suspect that the website's administrator is likely connected to the Shadow, the champion of the challenge. Either the Shadow himself, or someone the Shadow trusts, otherwise they wouldn't know about the Holy Grail.

Now, not only the research lab, but also the higher-ups have been hoping to find the "Shadow," urging the lab to make efforts in this area several times. Therefore, Gao Liangwei also wants to use this website to see if he can find out the Shadow's identity.

The cybersecurity department quickly responded: (We found someone with the relevant capabilities, but upon inquiry, we learned that this person had previously attempted to use their abilities to hack into the "House of Ascended" website, but failed.)
Gao Liangwei frowned upon seeing the reply: (Why did it fail?)
(Our preliminary judgment is as Zheng Kexue summarized in his theory: some mental power items and abilities with similar effects may be divided into superior and inferior levels; if similar abilities or items interact with each other, they will be divided into superior and inferior levels based on the upper limit of mental power, and the inferior level will not be able to affect the effect of the superior level.)
When Gao Liangwei saw the name "Zheng Kexue," he knew that Zheng was one of the three lecturers in the academy, who taught the course "Research on Mind Power Tools."

In addition to teaching students how to recognize, use, and combine various props, Zheng Kexue also summarized a theory of props and abilities. The "superior-subordinate theory" is one part of this theory.

(So, the person who created that website has a high mental strength limit, which is why their abilities or items are superior? And the person you found has low mental strength, making it impossible to breach the website?)

(This is our assessment, but we cannot be certain. If the person in charge allows, we can allocate items that increase the upper limit of mental power to this person and try again.)
(no!)

Gao Liangwei immediately rejected the proposal from the network department.

Items that increase the upper limit of mental power are the most precious and rarest type of items. Even if he is the head of the Countermeasures Research Lab, he must hold a meeting and obtain a majority vote to allocate such items.

He couldn't bear to part with such precious props just to test the distinction between superior and inferior ranks. Even if he agreed, the group vote would definitely reject it.

(Let that person continue trying; additionally, hacking tools and related equipment can be provided to this person for assistance.)
(clear.)
After sending several messages, Gao Liangwei leaned back in his chair, rubbing his temples to relieve fatigue.

As the head of the countermeasures office, he was under immense pressure, and he rarely got a full night's sleep during each rule period.

When his superiors appointed him to this position, they patted him on the shoulder and said, "Liangwei, do a good job. I believe you can handle this position." He was determined then and there to live up to his old leader's trust.

But after these past few months, he truly felt that it was more tiring than his many years of military service! If he had a choice, he would rather carry a gun and fight on the battlefield than get entangled with these hateful post-apocalyptic rules.

He knew all too well that the heavy burden on his shoulders couldn't be easily relinquished. After a brief moment of rest, he opened his eyes; a reply had already arrived on his computer.

Dr. Zhang: (I have informed Bai Xuewu; she is on her way to the base. Also, there is something else I need to report to you, the person in charge.)
Gao Liangwei: (What is it?)
Dr. Zhang: (This is related to Gu Fei, the former captain of the third squad. After being removed from his squad position, he refused to continue working in the official department and left in anger.)
(Shortly after, the Blood Plague Rules were released, and a case of a missing girl occurred in Yunhua City. A girl with special abilities was taken away by a vehicle belonging to an unknown force to participate in some kind of selection. Later, according to the local security bureau's investigation, that vehicle had also been seen near Gu Fei's residence in Yunhua City, and Gu Fei's disappearance may also be related to this unknown force.)
Gao Liangwei frowned as he looked at Dr. Zhang's message and sent a reply: (Unidentified forces? Haven't all the cities completed the registration process? If there were any unidentified forces, they would have been exposed long ago.)
Dr. Zhang: (If this faction's stronghold is located somewhere outside the city, they can evade registration and hide. Therefore, I suggest that the second and fifth squads go out of the city to investigate and, incidentally, understand the current population situation outside the city.)
　Day 13 of daily check-in.

　　I'm never staying up all night again. I haven't recovered from this whole day; I was revising the article until now and only just finished...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)