Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 17 The Power of Shadows

Guan Tong left her house and went outside.

There were hardly any people on the streets. Come to think of it, the loss of more than a quarter of the population is no joke.

Others may not know, but Guan Tong glanced at her school's classmate group chat before. It was a group of forty or fifty people, and only about ten of them showed up to say they were still alive.

Despite suffering such a severe blow, the country and society are still functioning.

This is thanks to technological advancements. Guan Tong discovered on his first day after his transmigration that the technology on Tianshui Star was more advanced than that of his home planet Earth, by about twenty or thirty years.

In Beixingguo, for example, technologies such as drone delivery and basic autonomous driving have become widespread, and robotics technology is also widely used in major factories.

But what the future holds is hard to say.

Although countries have jointly announced that they will not succumb to the rules of the apocalypse, but will protect civilization and vigorously develop advanced technology.

However, if the rules become increasingly difficult and the number of people decreases, the development of technology may slow down or even stagnate and regress.

Guan Tong didn't think too much about it; he was someone who believed in living in the moment.

What needs to be done now is to pass the second apocalyptic rule first.

He went to a nearby park and found that many people were already running there.

Most of them were young people, which is not surprising.

Although the official figures for the deceased have not been released, it is easy to guess that the majority of them were middle-aged or elderly.

Their energy levels are significantly lower than those of young people, and very few can stay awake for 72 hours.

"Damn it! This is less than five kilometers... how is it possible to run a full marathon like this!"

A boy who looked like a college student got tired of running and stopped not far from Guan Tong, resting his hands on his knees, panting and cursing.

There are many people like him, and many are even worse than him; they can't even run one kilometer, let alone five.

Guan Tong knew she was in a similar situation.

Looking at the dense crowd on the park's running track, he decided to leave and go to a private gym.

Such gyms are rare in Guan Tong's hometown on Earth, but they are very popular in various countries on Tianshui Star.

After swiping your card to pay at the self-service payment counter, you can enter a small private room. The room is equipped with a treadmill, yoga mat, small dumbbells, etc.

These self-service gym booths are specifically designed for people who prefer quiet or have social anxiety, and they come in handy now.

Guan Tong stood in front of the treadmill. There were no rules against running on the treadmill, so it was fine.

However, it's definitely not possible to cheat using it. The rules for running and time recording are extremely precise, and the records will not be wrong no matter how you run.

Guan Tong took out her wordless book from the storage box on her personal terminal.

He then channeled his mental energy into the book, and the two characters "Guan Tong" immediately detached from the page and appeared as a shadow.

Guan Tong had his shadow stand on the treadmill, and then he started the machine.

The running belt began to move backward, and the shadow also ran under Guan Tong's mental control.

After running for a short while, a number appeared in Guan Tong's mind.

Current distance: 100 meters, current time: 35 seconds.

"Is it the timing and time provided by the rules...?"

Guan Tong thought to herself, only rules could do this, projecting numbers and time in front of people's eyes.

However, this record confirmed to Guan Tong that running in the shadows and running in his own race were the same and both counted as results.

This gave him an idea.

For example, he can run on a treadmill, and his shadow will run alongside him in place.

Because a shadow itself has no physical form, it makes no difference no matter how it moves.

The combined distances of the two people can greatly reduce the time required to complete a full marathon.

"Most importantly, the shadow has no 'stamina' limitation, which means I can keep him running at top speed for the duration of his existence!"

Guan Tong's heart skipped a beat, and his shadow immediately began to run wildly!
Its fastest speed is the same as Guan Tong's fastest speed, which I tested and found to be about 15 seconds to run 100 meters. Currently, when Guan Tong has full mental power, he can only keep the shadow for a maximum of five minutes.

If the shadow runs at a speed of 15 seconds per 100-meter dash for five minutes, it can run a total of... two kilometers.

"...That's way too far off."

The full marathon is 42 kilometers. If Shadow can only run two kilometers, he's only run a fraction of Guan Tong's distance, which is hardly impressive.

There are only two directions to solve this problem.

One is to make the shadow last longer.

Second, increase the speed of the shadow.

Guan Tong felt that the first option was unrealistic, because maintaining the existence of a shadow required consuming mental energy.

I don't know how to increase the upper limit of mental power right now; at most, I can only maintain it for five minutes.

Then we can only focus our efforts in the second direction.

Speed ​​up, hmm...

Guan Tong looked at the buttons on the treadmill and suddenly her eyes lit up.

"If I turn the treadmill to its highest speed and then let the shadow... no, the shadow has no physical form and cannot make contact with the running belt."

Guan Tong frowned in thought.

Just then, the sunlight streamed in through the window, falling warmly on my skin.

Warmth... Hmm? Wait... Sun, sunlight... Shadow?
Guan Tong suddenly looked up at the ground. Sunlight shone on him, casting a shadow on the ground from the side.

Since they're both shadows, can't...?

Guan Tong manipulates the "shadow" in the wordless book to touch the shadow cast by the real sun.

Upon contact, the two blended together seamlessly.

Moreover, Guan Tong could clearly feel that the shadow he could control had grown larger, which immediately filled him with immense joy!

"I never thought of this possibility before?"

Guan Tong found it unbelievable.

Only then did he realize that the "shadow" he was manipulating could also bring the shadow created by other light sources into his control after they came into contact with each other.

For example, he can go out now, find any building, manipulate his shadow to connect with the building's shadow, and control the shadows of a huge area of ​​buildings.

This made Guan Tong instantly feel that "this is too powerful".

Although shadows have no physical form and cannot do much, they are more than enough to deal with the current second apocalyptic rule!

Guan Tong's eyes lit up; he already knew what he had to do.

He immediately drew the curtains to block out the light, then took out his phone, turned on the flashlight function, and aimed it at the treadmill belt.

This makes the shadow of the running belt visible.

Guan Tong then manipulated her shadow to connect with the shadow of the running belt.

He was able to manipulate the shadow of the running belt immediately!

Then he went to the treadmill, set the speed to the fastest, and pressed start!

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh—!"

The treadmill belt spun wildly under the machine's power, causing the long shadow that Guan Tong was manipulating to spin at an extremely fast speed and over a great distance!

That's right, Guan Tong can't deform the shadow, but as long as the shadow he manipulates is big enough, regardless of whether the shadow is humanoid or not, as long as it is "moving", it can be counted as an increase in distance!
At the same speed, a human shadow takes only half a meter per step, but what about the shadow of a building? It could take hundreds of meters per step!
Guan Tong looked at the number that appeared in front of her again, and a smile immediately appeared on her face.

Current distance: 347 meters, current time: 4 seconds

At an average speed of 86 meters per second, it only takes less than 500 seconds to run a full marathon of 42 kilometers, which is simply unbeatable!

(End of this chapter)