Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 158 Breaking Through the Imprisonment and Residual Mist
At the end of February, there were three days left until the ninth apocalyptic rule ended.

In the morning, after Guan Tong woke up, she poured her fully restored 309 points of mental energy into the wordless book for one last assault.

The moment the data stream transformed from the character "open" on the fifth page surged into his body, the mental lock that was just one step away from being broken was finally shattered!
In an instant, Guan Tong felt his mind clear, and an indescribable sense of exhilaration spread throughout his body. Even though he hadn't actually seen any changes in the data, he knew he had broken through the limitations and regained the ability to naturally increase his mental power limit.

"It finally worked."

Guan Tong smiled, realizing he was back on track and no longer needed to worry about the upper limit being locked.

What pleased him even more was that he had validated one of his hypotheses.

That is, by virtue of the power of the [Wordless Book], it is possible to break through the restrictions imposed by the fire thieves.

This may not seem like much now, but it opened up a new way of thinking.

That means that when you encounter rules again, you can try to think of ways to break the deadlock from a perspective outside the rules, instead of being like a game character who can only act within the rules set by the programmer, the "Fire Stealer".

Guan Tong thought for a moment. Nearly two months had passed since the end of the eighth rule, and now the end of the ninth rule.

Aside from him, it's unknown whether other people restricted by the mind lock have found a way to unlock it during this period.

Another thing he was curious about was whether his method only worked for himself, or whether it could also be used to help others break through limitations.

If possible, this would definitely be a huge business opportunity. However, Guan Tong currently has neither the opportunity nor the intention to verify this.

His current focus is still on completing the five puzzle pieces related to "The Chronicles of Yahoo!"

"There are still three days left until the end of the rules... I've neglected the cultivation of mental energy circulation during this time."

Previously, Shi Jingyi had specifically contacted him by phone and told him that if this method was practiced to a deeper level, it might be effective in unlocking the mind.

But since Guan Tong found that her method was effective, she would definitely use it again. During this period, all the mental energy she recovered was invested in materialization, so naturally there was no extra time to cultivate the flow of mental energy.

Now that the mental lock has been removed, it's time to pick up this spiritual practice again.

In addition, we should also save up more mental energy.

During this period, I first fought at the Yongzhou base, then wrote on the fifth page of the "Wordless Book," and covered my body with Shadow Armor for a long time while exploring the mist... all of these consumed a lot of my reserved mental energy.

With more outflows than inflows, his mental energy reserves have almost dropped below two thousand, nearly half of what they were at their peak of around four thousand.

Considering that he plans to go abroad soon to find and acquire puzzle pieces, and that this process will likely involve a lot of trouble and consume his mental energy, he still needs to save up.

……

Once her mental energy had recovered to its maximum, Guan Tong first practiced a mental energy circulation exercise.

Previously, when my mental energy limit was only a little over 100 points, every time I circulated it, I would either lose control and the mental energy would dissipate, or I would run out of mental energy and be unable to continue.

But now, after the upgrade following the eighth rule, with a maximum limit of 309 points, I suddenly feel much more at ease when practicing again.

To be precise, the tolerance for error has increased significantly.

Previously, even a small amount of mental energy wasted during the circulation process would affect the final result. But this time, on his first attempt, he successfully circulated the energy through most of his acupoints, consuming approximately 200 units of mental energy.

It will recover then. Try again. It will recover then.

On the fourth attempt, he finally succeeded in using 304 points of mental energy to complete a full circulation of energy through all the acupoints of his body for the first time.

The moment it was finished, he felt incredibly refreshed, as if all the pores on his body had opened up, expelling a lot of turbid and heavy substances, and his whole body felt much lighter.

"Is this what a complete cycle feels like? It's really great."

Guan Tong thought to herself, no wonder Shi Jingyi looks so healthy; it must be the result of long-term circulation that helps expel impurities from her body.

Moreover, his circulation of mental energy differed greatly from Shi Jingyi's. He only manipulated a small amount of mental energy, while Shi Jingyi had a large amount of mental energy constantly flowing throughout her entire body.

Thinking about this, Guan Tong also realized a problem that she had never been aware of before.

"Shi Jingyi... her mental power must have a very high upper limit."

He was certain even without asking. Because the upper limit of mental power is low, it is too difficult to achieve continuous flow covering the entire body.

Now that the initial complete process is finished, apart from feeling very comfortable, there haven't been any other changes.

Guan Tong knew that change couldn't be achieved overnight. He figured that if he persisted in completing one cycle every day for a month, he should see results.

Thus, the final few days of Rule Nine ended with Guan Tong's clear allocation.

On the first day of March, at nine o'clock in the morning, the voice of the fire thief rang out precisely on time.

The rule period has ended.

Congratulations on passing the test of the ninth rule of the apocalypse!

[Reward has been sent to your storage box]

The tenth apocalyptic rule will be released in thirty days.

……

Guan Tong walked out of the shelter and watched the fog dissipate, feeling much happier.

Secondly, he feels uncomfortable whenever he encounters rules that involve changes in the environment, because he enjoys taking walks and basking in the sun every day and doesn't like staying cooped up in his room all the time.

Sitting on the wooden stake, I opened the terminal panel to check; there were changes, but not many.

Name: Guan Tong

[Nickname: Station Master]

[Title: Winner]

[Psychic Power: 310 (310) (2275)]

[Ascendant Coins: 685620] [Overall Bioinformatics Evaluation: Excellent]

The biggest change is that the upper limit of mental power has broken through from 309 to 310, which proves two results.

Firstly, he truly relied on the power of the "Wordless Book" to break through the mental lock set by the Fire Thief, thus proving for the first time that this book possesses the power to defy the rules to a certain extent.

Secondly, the natural growth rate of his mental power limit nearly doubled, which was a hidden but enormous improvement.

Previously, he naturally grew by one point every seven or eight days on average, but from breaking through the mental lock to today, only four days have passed. Four days of natural growth of one point is exactly double that.

The reason might be related to the significant increase in the upper limit of mental power, but Guan Tong also felt that it was also very likely related to the fact that he had been performing a complete mental power circulation every day for the past few days.

He planned to ask Shi Jingyi again if her mental power was growing at an extremely fast rate, which would prove that cultivating the flow of mental power could indeed increase the natural growth rate of the upper limit of mental power.

The value of this cultivation method is much higher than its original high value.

As for the Ascension Coins, apart from spending 80,000 to buy a set of protective clothing, there were no other expenses.

Guan Tong checked the panel and then opened the storage box.

Inside, there was an extra silver-level survival chest and a bright green invitation.

He first looked at the invitation.

[Invitation to the Second Ascended Challenge]: Ascended individuals holding this invitation may participate in the Second Ascended Challenge, which will begin after the end of Rule Fifteen.

"The second challenge won't start until after rule number fifteen?" Guan Tong hadn't expected such a long interval. The next rule is rule number ten, and the competition won't start until six more rules are passed.

The first invitation had a black background and featured an image of the Holy Grail. The second invitation had a bright green background and featured an image of a spear.

This may mean that different challenges will result in different rewards.

Guan Tong didn't think too much about the competition that would only start after the fifteenth rule, and immediately opened the survival treasure chest.

[Obtain random item: Life-Saving Pendant]

[Lifesaving Pendant]: When you suffer a fatal attack, the pendant will shatter itself to absorb the damage. This item is a one-time use item and cannot be traded.

"We were lucky this time."

Guan Tong was very satisfied with the effects of the items she found in the box.

He would certainly try to avoid putting his life in danger, but if he really did encounter danger, this thing could truly save his life.

He immediately put the pendant around his neck, and his sense of security instantly increased.

After checking the rewards for this rule, Guan Tong took a rare long walk.

After circling the mountain, he walked down to the foot of the mountain and made a special trip to the small campsite of Yu Hong and Zhao Yu.

Both of them perished under the Ninth Rule. Guan Tong looked at the extinguished and collapsed campfire in the camp that had been empty for a month and sighed.

In this post-apocalyptic world governed by rules, human life is utterly insignificant. Whether strong or weak, everyone is at risk of dying within the system at any moment.

Even Guan Tong herself, who seems to have many tricks up her sleeve, an all-around talent and a personal refuge, has never felt very safe.

In this era, neither king nor beggar can find true peace of mind. They can only endure and suffer until all forty-nine end-time rules have been fulfilled, at which point they may finally find liberation.

No one knows how far they can go, or what the "apocalyptic operation" that the Firebringers mentioned when they first arrived, which would begin after the rules ended, is.

"Live in the moment," Guan Tong said softly.

If you don't want to be crushed by a harsh future, you have no choice but to live in the present. Focus your attention on dealing with the specific rules and do everything you can to survive.

……

After the ninth apocalyptic rule was implemented, the Countermeasures Research Office held a discussion meeting.

The atmosphere at this meeting was less somber and relatively relaxed. This was partly due to the extremely low number of casualties under these rules, and partly because it was the first time that human firepower had been utilized to its full potential.

The data analyst reported: "The number of casualties that can be counted under this rule is about 10,000. However, it is worth noting that there are a great many casualties among people in the wild under this rule, which cannot be counted at the moment because they have not been registered."

This was largely expected. The city was guarded by modern soldiers who used superior firepower to eliminate countless monsters, greatly reducing the difficulty of survival for the people.

People in the wild have no shelter and can only find enclosed places to survive, which will definitely result in a much more tragic outcome.

"It seems that after this rule change, many of the survivors who left will return to the city."

"You only realize how reliable a safe haven is when you're caught in a storm outside. It's only right to come back to the city."

"That's good too, more people will come back, and the data we can collect will be more accurate."

Gao Liangwei then suddenly said, "There is another special feature to this set of rules that you may not know. In the tropical Lagann, the fog has not yet lifted."

Upon hearing this, everyone in the research lab looked at Gao Liangwei in surprise.

"The fog hasn't lifted yet? What's going on? The fog should have cleared by the end of the rules!"

"Yes, any special phenomena that occur during the rule period will disappear after the rule ends. This was the case with the previous Blizzard and virus."

Is there some special reason this time?

Gao Liangwei looked at everyone and pondered, "I don't know the specific reason either. I only have one guess at the moment... Dr. Zhang, why don't you tell me?"

“Okay.” Zhang Minglu continued, “According to the report from the first team, they discovered a fog door during their exploration of the mist, which leads to a cave. ‘Shadow’ was the first to enter, and it’s highly likely that he retrieved something and left.”

"According to intelligence reports, similar fog gates have appeared in the Soro Empire and the Sakura Kingdom. However, there is currently no information on what the people who entered took out."

Zhang Minglu paused and said, "We speculate that the reason why the fog in the Lalgan Kingdom has not yet dissipated may be because a fog gate has also appeared there. However, the things inside were not taken away by humans, so the fog still exists after the rules ended."

(End of this chapter)