Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 148 Unlocking Method

The Countermeasures Research Office is holding its third follow-up discussion on the eighth rule of the apocalypse.

The meeting discussed the issue of "mind locks".

Unlike usual meetings, which are attended by research staff, this meeting also included three external participants.

These were the three main lecturers from the Mind Power Development Academy: Ouyang Shanyue, Zheng Kexue, and Shi Jingyi.

Gao Liangwei said, "The purpose of inviting these three lecturers and professors from the academy is to discuss solutions regarding the Mind Lock. Please, the three of you, speak."

Ouyang Shanyue said, "The mental lock limitation is indeed a major problem. The consequences haven't yet manifested, but as time passes, just as the recovery speed of mental power increases, the natural growth rate of the upper limit of mental power will also increase..."

I was among the first to study the nature of psychic power, and I even founded the world's first non-governmental research society. Early on, when the rules were first introduced, our society discovered that the upper limit of psychic power would naturally increase. Initially, it only increased by 1-2 points per month, then 3, 4 points… and it will continue to increase at an ever-growing rate…

It is clear that if the mental lock cannot be broken, those who are currently ahead in terms of profit will eventually find themselves in a state of stagnation.

“Professor Ouyang, this is not a classroom, and now is not the time for long-winded discussions. What we need now is a solution,” Gao Liangwei said. “You are an expert in the study of the nature of mental power; do you have any countermeasures?”

Ouyang Shanyue pondered for a moment, then shook his head: "Unfortunately, I haven't found an effective solution yet. But I firmly believe that this mental lock can be broken through by the ascendant himself, because I have always believed that the essence of mental power is the personal spiritual will of the ascendant, and nothing can lock a person's spiritual will forever."

“Brother Ouyang is probably being a bit too optimistic,” another lecturer, Zheng Kexue, said seriously. “After all, mental power was brought and activated by the Fire Thieves. If this mental lock was set by the Fire Thieves, how can humans unlock it on their own? I think we should start with the tools.”

Gao Liangwei asked, "Professor Zheng is an expert in mental abilities and tools. Does he know any ways to unlock things?"

Zheng Kexue frowned: "I think that to unlock it, we have to fight fire with fire. Only by using the abilities or items obtained from the fire thieves can we unlock the mental locks they set up... However, I have checked the database so far, and there are no items or abilities directly related to this."

However, there are some unusual abilities and items that might be worth trying. For example, the database includes individuals with special abilities such as 'prophecy,' 'concept modification,' and 'personal time reversal.' Perhaps these special abilities would be effective… If the database's coverage could be expanded to include the entire population, there would certainly be even more options.”

Currently, the Northern Star Kingdom's ability/item database has the most complete statistics on the approximately 100 million people residing in the shelters. Preliminary statistics have also been compiled on the people in various settlements within the cities, but data on the tens of millions living outside the cities is largely missing.

As the lecturer of the course "Research on Mind Power Tools", Zheng Kexue's greatest wish is certainly for complete data.

If given the chance, what he truly desires is not just a database of data on all citizens of the entire Northern Star Kingdom, but a database encompassing the abilities and items of all ascendants worldwide.

Of course, this is impossible at the present stage. Even with the emergence of the Firebringers, humanity's common enemy, the world's nations are still unable to fully unite, nor do they share intelligence resources.

Gao Liangwei said, "A new batch of shelters is still under construction. It is expected that more than 30 million people can be accommodated before the release of the ninth rule. The data will be further improved at that time. However, we have already found several people to test the special abilities that Professor Zheng mentioned."

"Oh? What was the result?"

Gao Liangwei looked at Dr. Zhang Minglu, who said, “It’s not good. For example, we found that the Ascendant who can ‘modify concepts,’ but although his ability is strong, he can’t use it at this stage. The concepts he can modify are only those with very low public consensus… According to our research, if the total mental power of those who agree on a concept exceeds his, he cannot modify it.”

"I see... It seems this ability is difficult to utilize, but the extremely strict restrictions on its use are a common feature of many special abilities."

Zheng Kexue understood what Zhang Minglu meant.

If this person wanted to change the concept of "apple," but there are billions of ascended beings in the world who have established a consensus on the concept of "apple" in their minds, this person's mental power could not exceed the sum of billions of ascended beings, so it is impossible to change it.

Gao Liangwei then looked at Shi Jingyi: "I heard that among the three lecturers, only Professor Shi did not take first place from the others and was not restricted by the mental lock?"

All eyes turned to Shi Jingyi, their gazes filled with surprise and admiration.

They knew very well that with Shi Jingyi's status and abilities, winning multiple first places wouldn't have been difficult. But the fact that she didn't meant it wasn't that she couldn't, but simply that she didn't want to.

“Yes,” Shi Jingyi said. “My lineage advocates self-sufficiency, so as long as I can pass the rules of the apocalypse, I won’t pursue fulfilling any hidden conditions.”

"As expected of a master of cultivation." Dr. Zhang said with admiration, "To be able to resist the temptation of rewards from hidden rules and stay true to one's original intention, it's no wonder that Professor Shi has mastered the special way of using mental power, the flow of mental power, at such a young age."

Zhang Minglu had also studied Shi Jingyi's mental energy flow and even followed her for a while, but he couldn't get the hang of it and eventually gave up.

He believes the reason might be that he is unable to truly calm his mind and enter that state of "forgetting oneself and the external world." As the head of the Ascendant Training Program in the Countermeasures Research Office, he is extremely busy every day, and his mind is constantly working from morning till night, making it impossible for him to calm his mind and cultivate himself.

"I wonder if Professor Shi has any methods to break through the mental lock?" Gao Liangwei asked.

Shi Jingyi thought for a moment and said, "In my opinion, mental power is a kind of 'qi' condensed from the spirit. As long as the spirit continues to strive, qi should be generated continuously. I myself have not felt the restriction of the 'lock', so I don't know what that feeling is like... But if I'm just guessing, I think that to break through the restriction, one still needs to achieve a breakthrough at the level of one's own spirit."

"You mean, cultivating your mental energy flow can help you break through mental barriers?"

“I think it’s possible,” Shi Jingyi said. “Because once the ‘qi’ completes its flow, it will generate even more ‘qi’.”

"It sounds like the echo valley effect," an expert interjected. "Initially, only one sound is provided, and as it circulates within the echo valley, the sound continuously amplifies and expands."

Shi Jingyi nodded slightly: "Perhaps, but this is just my guess."

Dr. Zhang then asked, "May I ask, Professor Shi, what is the current rate at which your mental power limit is naturally increasing?"

"Me?" Shi Jingyi said calmly, "I now naturally increase by 1 point every two days on average."

Her words shocked everyone present.

"One point every two days, that's 15 points a month just from natural growth... That's way too much..."

"This time, using hidden intelligence can only increase the maximum limit by 500 points. It increases by 1 point every two days, so 500 points would take a thousand days, less than three years... But considering that the rate of natural increase will increase in the future, it will actually take far less than three years. It is possible that the increase will exceed 500 points in one year, or even less than one year!"

"No wonder Professor Shi doesn't need to compete for first place. What's the point of competing? His natural growth alone is fast enough!"

Upon hearing this, Gao Liangwei said in a deep voice, "Professor Shi's method is worth trying. From now on, we must pay close attention to those students in the academy who have been practicing Professor Shi's courses and are restricted by the mental lock. If they can successfully break through, it will prove that Professor Shi's guess is correct." Everyone nodded and fell silent, still amazed by the natural growth rate of Shi Jingyi's mental power limit.

A moment later, someone suddenly brought up the topic: "Speaking of that famous 'Shadow,' he must have won quite a few first places in this competition, right? I wonder if he was restricted by the Mind Lock?"

When Shi Jingyi heard someone mention shadows, her heart stirred.

She was also curious to know if Guan Tong was subject to the mind lock. She hadn't contacted Guan Tong since the eighth rule began.

"Who knows... It's not even certain now whether the shadow is a single person or a group. The information about this person is too chaotic."

"At least judging from the rankings on the Holy Grail Island, the Shadow is one person. However, even if this person is very powerful, he is only a slightly stronger Ascended Being, and he will still be subject to the rules."

"I'm now more suspicious of the site administrator of the Ascended Home website. That guy probably already knew the consequences and only sold part of the information."

"That... can't be proven. And even if there was some concealment, the information sold was correct. Just for that reason alone, if they sell again next time, we'll still have to buy."

Everyone looked helpless.

That's right. Regardless of whether the site administrator concealed the consequences of using the information, the part he sold has been verified to be correct, so we'll still have to buy it next time he sells it.

After the meeting, the three lecturers returned to the academy in a private car. Since the underground base of the Countermeasures Research Office was not far from the capital, all three returned to the academy in less than an hour.

After returning to her lecturer's dormitory, Shi Jingyi took out her phone and sent a message to Guan Tong.

"Is it convenient to chat?"

Guan Tong was sitting on the bed. He had just used up the mental energy he had recovered today to write on the [Wordless Book] when he saw the message from Shi Jingyi.

He replied, "Okay."

The latter immediately called.

As soon as Guan Tong answered the phone, Shi Jingyi's clear voice came through the receiver: "It's been a long time since we last contacted each other. How have you been lately?"

"It's alright. How are things on your end too?"

"Not bad. After the eighth rule, are you subject to the mind lock?"

Guan Tong wasn't surprised to hear this. Since Shi Jingyi knew he was the Shadow, she must have guessed that he must have won even more first place awards.

"I received it, and I'm currently looking for a solution. What about you? I don't think you have one."

Although Guan Tong hadn't had much contact with Shi Jingyi, she had a feeling that Shi Jingyi wouldn't steal someone else's first place.

"No," Shi Jingyi said.

"really."

"As expected?" Shi Jingyi's tone was somewhat curious. "You guessed I didn't win more first place titles?"

"Hmm, that's not like you."

"Haha," Shi Jingyi laughed, "That's true. So, have you found a way to unlock it?"

"Not sure yet, still trying."

"Is that so? If your method doesn't work, you can continue to focus on cultivating the flow of mental energy, and perhaps you will have the opportunity to break through your limitations through self-cultivation."

Guan Tong's heart skipped a beat, and she asked, "Really? There have been successful examples?"

"Not yet. However, your cultivation progress is faster than the other students, so you might be the first one?"

"...Okay, I'll give it a try."

After hanging up the phone, Guan Tong thought about what Shi Jingyi had said.

Since he began cultivating the flow of mental energy, he has indeed felt himself becoming increasingly proficient with it. Perhaps reaching a higher level would truly allow him to break through limitations, but when would that be?
Guan Tong looked down at her blank book. The two horizontal strokes of the character "开" were already written, but a left-falling stroke and a vertical stroke were still missing.

"I'll try my own method first, and if it doesn't work, then we'll see."

In the following three or four days, Guan Tong did nothing else but repeatedly expend her mental energy to write, recover, and write again.

While waiting for his mental powers to recover, he also kept browsing the internet to see if anyone in the world had unlocked the restrictions of his mind.

But he couldn't find the content he wanted to see. All he saw were people criticizing and accusing the Mind Lock, even extending their hatred to attacking the official Beixing Kingdom that released the information, and attacking Guan Tong, the station manager who sold the information.

Guan Tong ignored those posts that were not strongly worded, and simply deleted some of the posts that contained personal attacks and insults.

However, these posts weren't very popular; the truly popular posts were mostly related to the current situation abroad.

Guan Tong glanced at the list; the content was all related to those Ascended individuals who had achieved multiple first-place finishes and significantly increased their mental power limits. It seemed that these individuals were beginning to demand more power, thus triggering a series of chaotic battles.

(End of this chapter)