Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 126 Passerby Transformation Device

After the plenary session, Gao Liangwei kept Dr. Zhang behind alone.

The two talked about the previous encounter between the fifth squad and others.

"Based on the blood brought back by the Dragon Soul, the DNA test results show a match with a 21-year-old college student. The latter doesn't have any special background or identity; he was probably recruited by that organization simply because of his high mental strength."

After listening, Gao Liangwei asked, "The team that organization sent out was also collecting supplies, right?"

"So far, it seems so; the two sides just happened to meet." Dr. Zhang paused and said, "However, because Gu Fei knows Xu You and others, that team also knows that the Fifth Team is an official team."

"Knowing they were an official team, they still took action." Gao Liangwei sneered. "It's clearly a rebellion."

"What we can confirm now is that the enemy squad leader is very strong and has the ability to absorb mental energy. However, according to Dragon Soul's analysis, he believes that the enemy can only absorb a limited amount of mental energy and cannot absorb it infinitely."

“I don’t care about that. What I care about is how to get rid of this team and the organization behind it as soon as possible.”

Gao Liangwei wasn't interested in the individual abilities of the opposing Ascendants. Regardless of their abilities, once the authorities decided to use Thunderbolts, they would only be dealt with.

After all, the Ascended are not like the monsters brought by some of the Firebringers. They are all mortal beings; no matter how powerful they are, can they withstand a missile?

"At present, it seems that we can try to use satellites to search a large area in the field. However... this requires a lot of manpower."

The biggest shortage in society right now is manpower. In just over six months, more than half of the national population has disappeared. If it weren't for industrial robots and dark factories, the supply system would probably have collapsed long ago.

Even if we manage to maintain the status quo now, it's just a temporary measure. There's a severe shortage of personnel in all areas, including government departments.

Even after entering the post-apocalyptic era, there was a massive wave of resignations in official departments.

Previously generous benefits have lost much of their appeal in this apocalyptic environment. Many people feel that even the best welfare and retirement benefits are no longer available—after all, can anyone really live to retirement these days?

Under this mindset, very few people are still willing to work. In particular, tedious tasks like checking satellite images are even less popular.

“If there’s a shortage of manpower, let the relevant departments recruit,” Gao Liangwei said. “Isn’t there a new policy now that wages are settled in Shenghua Coins?”

Dr. Zhang nodded.

That's true. Some positions are now indeed being paid in Ascended Coins, which has significantly boosted work motivation to some extent.

"In short, Dr. Zhang, you need to find this organization's stronghold as soon as possible," Gao Liangwei ordered. "We're already overwhelmed just dealing with the Fire Thieves' rules; we absolutely cannot allow any more rebels to cause trouble."

"Understood, person in charge. As the examiner for personnel selection, it was my mistake to choose Gu Fei, this traitor. I will definitely take responsibility and find the location of this organization's stronghold as soon as possible."

……

August 12, early morning.

Guan Tong pushed open the door and took a deep breath of the cold December air.

"It's getting colder."

It feels only 12 or 3 degrees Celsius today, very cold.

Guan Tong was still wearing the giant axe warrior hoodie under his shirt, and a gray cotton vest over it, and a pair of thick, gray trousers on his lower body.

If it weren't for his relatively young and handsome appearance, his attire would have made him look somewhat like an unconventional village guard.

But this is in the mountains, his own little world, who cares?

"Coal briquette, come out and breathe some fresh air."

He turned and called out to the room, but Coal Ball lay on the bed and ignored him. With the weather getting colder, it was less inclined to leave the house.

Guan Tong didn't mind. She stretched and practiced a set of "Guiyun Jianti Quan" that she had learned from Shi Jingyi's online class. Her body quickly warmed up.

"I feel good today, and I think I can try the transfer."

After the rules ended and ten days of doing nothing to clear my head, Guan Tong felt that she had almost recovered.

He went into the yard, sat cross-legged on a wooden stake, and concentrated.

The mental energy quickly appeared at his fingertips in the form of a stream of light.

He was already very skilled at this step. The next step was to manipulate this stream of light to circulate along the acupoints within his body.

As the thought arose, the light began to move slowly, but very steadily.

Although it went smoothly at first, the light lost its stability and dissipated when it moved from the palms and arms to the shoulders and neck. The whole process took about an hour.

Guan Tong opened her eyes and wiped the sweat from her forehead: "It's already quite good that you went from your fingers to your neck on your first try."

He doesn't pursue quick results; he's content as long as he can see himself making progress.

After exhausting his mental energy, he took a morning walk along the mountainside, pondering his plans for the remaining twenty days.

Based on his observations over this period, he selected several active users to serve as administrators on the Ascended Home website to share his workload.

As for transactions and orders, there aren't many at the moment. In most cases, someone posts an order, but no one accepts it because of strict conditions or low compensation.

Those who can afford to post high-priced commissions are mostly large groups and organizations. These people usually have their own channels to get things and may not be willing to post commission requests and have the website owner take a 10% cut.

Guan Tong didn't care. He already had "limited transport capacity". If a lot of commissions were to be accepted, with his current level, he wouldn't have to do anything but receive and deliver goods every day.

"With twenty days left, besides daily practice, I can consider looking at the items in the market."

Guan Tong now possesses a staggering sum of over 400,000 Shenghua Coins, which she should use to purchase items and the like.

Otherwise, having a huge sum of money but being unable to convert it into actual combat power is of no use.

But spending it all at once is not an option, because we don't know what the eighth rule is yet.

There are no new items added to the Ascendancy Shop this time, so it's impossible to predict the Eighth Rule. The wise thing to do is save some Ascendancy Coins. Once the Eighth Rule is released, buy items from the market that can help you complete the challenge, based on the rules and hidden rules.

So, in the following days, Guan Tong would open the terminal market to look at the products whenever she had nothing to do.

Many items have good effects, but if they are not essential for him and do not provide a significant boost, he will not consider them.

After watching for five or six days in a row, Guan Tong finally came across an item that caught his eye.

[Passerby Transformation Device]: Consumes 30 points of Mental Power to transform your appearance and physique into that of a random passerby for 3 hours. Cooldown: 24 hours. Tradeable.

Price: 200000 Ascension Coins

Guan Tong is currently lacking in the ability to disguise himself, and this transformation device perfectly meets his requirements.

Although he can disguise himself by covering his entire body with shadows, it is still not convenient and consumes a lot of energy.

But this transformation device is different; its use only incurs a fixed cost per use, rather than a continuous drain on mental energy. Furthermore, it can maintain the transformed form for 3 hours, which is enough to do many things.

As for the price of 200,000 coins, it's definitely not cheap, it's very expensive! This is probably why it wasn't bought by people from large organizations who specialize in buying up large quantities of goods.

But since Guan Tong can afford it and needs it, there's no reason not to buy it.

Guan Tong chose to purchase, and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the "Purchase Successful" message.

You have obtained: Passerby Transformation Device

Guan Tong took it out of the storage box. The transformation device looked like an energy bar with a round button on top.

After he tried pressing it, his body changed rapidly. His size seemed to shrink considerably because he could clearly feel that his perspective had lowered and his clothes had become larger.

He glanced down at his hands; they were small and delicate. Then he took his phone out of his pocket and turned on the front camera.

The screen showed an ordinary-looking boy who looked like a middle school student.

"I don't know if using it will result in a fixed appearance, or if it will change every time I use it? I'll try again tomorrow after the cooldown period."

Guan Tong naturally hoped for the latter, because the more forms one had, the more likely one was to confuse others when needed.

"Will this form affect my ability to use?"

Guan Tong tried summoning shadows and using Silver Hunter, but found that none of them had any effect.

He was very satisfied with the test results, and even though half of his 400,000 yuan savings was spent, he didn't feel bad.

Just as Guan Tong was about to go back, she suddenly spotted Yu Hong and Zhao Yu going up the mountain through her shadow surveillance eyes.

These two people never went up the mountain during the entire rule period, and now that the rule has ended for half a month, they suddenly went up the mountain. I don't know what they want to do.

"I'm currently in a disguised identity, and I still have two and a half hours left, which is enough."

Guan Tong thought to herself and started walking down the mountain. Twenty minutes later, she ran into the two people halfway down the mountain.

Yu Hong and Zhao Yu were slightly surprised when they saw Guan Tong. They didn't expect there to be a junior high school student in the camp on the mountain, but the clothes didn't seem to fit her.

Guan Tong asked, "Did you come up the mountain to find us?"

Zhao Yu said, "We'd like to talk to the adults in your camp."

“Same as what I said,” Guan Tong said. “I will tell them when I get back.”

"This……"

Zhao Yu felt it was a bit strange to be dealing with a middle school student, but Yu Hong was more direct and said somewhat embarrassedly, "Young man, it's like this. We're running out of food, and if possible, we'd like to buy some from your camp. We can pay with Ascended Coins."

Guan Tong asked in surprise, "You sent a lot of food up the mountain before, right? Why didn't you keep more for yourselves?"

“Those thugs were all eliminated by the experts in your camp, so the spoils should naturally belong to you. It wouldn’t be right for us to take more,” Yu Hong said.

"I see." Guan Tong nodded. "Okay, I'll tell everyone when I get back."

"Then I'll trouble you, little brother."

After they finished speaking, the two turned and went down the mountain without lingering.

Guan Tong watched the two leave, thinking they were quite nice. However, even so, he certainly wouldn't give them food for free. It wasn't that he lacked the Ascension Coins, but rather that a professional relationship was more likely to last.

Otherwise, you may think you are just being casual, but over time others will take you for granted and make unreasonable demands without your knowledge.

The next day, after the 24-hour cooldown period for the passerby transformation device had passed, he used it again.

This time, he transformed into a burly man in his thirties with a full beard.

Guan Tong looked at the phone and thought the design was quite fierce, so she decided to take the food downstairs while she was at it.

However, he still had to pay attention to the details. After changing his clothes, he summoned several undead and made them do hard labor, carrying several food boxes behind him.

He will take over when they are almost at the foot of the mountain.

After Guan Tong carried the food box down, he immediately spotted Yu Hong and Zhao Yu's campsite.

The two of them arranged several jeeps in a circle, with two tents inside, a campfire, and some miscellaneous items in the center. This was their campsite; it was rudimentary, but adequate.

The two were chatting by the campfire when they saw a burly man carrying several boxes and realized that he had come down from the mountain camp.

"The food you requested consists of three boxes, enough for the two of you to eat for a while." Guan Tong piled the boxes on the hood of a jeep. "Our leader said that since we are neighbors, we won't ask for more than 100 liters of food. We'll just charge you 100 liters of food."

　Day 16 of my daily check-in challenge. I'm sorry for the late update today.

　　The main reason is that the plot of the previous drafts was changed, so some of the later drafts need to be changed accordingly, and some need to be rewritten, which is very troublesome... In short, I will try my best to restore the previous fixed update time as soon as possible!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)