Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 176 Communication between the Shadows and the Countermeasures Research Lab

Guan Tong never expected that Orochi would hand over the fragment to him directly.

However, in just a few words, it was revealed that she was a complete nihilist, and it is not surprising that such a person would do such a thing.

As a nihilist, it wouldn't matter if she suddenly committed suicide at any moment. What Guan Tong found even stranger was that the officials of Yingqi Kingdom didn't seem to realize this and continued to cultivate her.

However, this had nothing to do with Guan Tong. After obtaining the fragment, he also planned to postpone his revenge. It wasn't Orochi's actions that changed his mind; it was just that after learning the contents of Fragment 5, he was somewhat confused and needed to sort things out.

He used teleportation to return to his usual residence, Mingdao Mountain, and summoned the sanctuary to enter.

As he retracted the shadow, losing the sync of the shadow with his five senses, his vision immediately went completely black.

Previously, aside from sleeping, he would summon his shadow most of the time, letting it synchronize with his five senses to give him a greater sense of security.

But this utter darkness is actually a good opportunity for reflection.

Guan Tong lay on the bed, the content of the mural in Fragment 5 floating in her mind.

The destruction of Qimo Star and the planetary patterns on the fingers of that mechanical arm are enough to show that the Fire Stealer must be a terrifying destroyer in the universe, having destroyed countless civilizations.

The contradiction is that if its purpose was pure destruction, why would it create murals for record-keeping? And why were the few surviving alien beasts on Yamo ultimately taken away by the black cylinder that resembled a spaceship?

Could the intelligent "gatekeepers" of the fog gates mentioned by the forum user "Primordial Man" be the same alien beasts that were taken away from Qimo Star?

Guan Tong's speculation is just that—speculation. Without any evidence, no judgment can be made.

But he was certain that if all the information in these murals were made public, there would be many people like Yagi no Yukari who would fall into nihilism.

So many civilizations have been destroyed by fire-stealers, so what is so special about human civilization?
Even if human civilization has a relatively high level of technology, it is still insignificant compared to the power of the fire-bringers to manipulate nature.

To the fire-stealers, humans may be like gorillas to humans—their cognition and abilities are on completely different levels.

Strangely, Guan Tong herself did not develop any pessimistic thoughts after learning about these things.

Rather than feeling despair or nihilism, he was somewhat pleased, pleased that he had learned more about the fire-stealers.

This mindset surprised even himself; it seemed that even if humanity were to be destroyed in the end, it wouldn't be unacceptable to him.

Just as some people did when the first rule came into effect, he did not become hysterical in despair or resort to any means to survive, as some others did.

He felt that it would be best if he could stay awake for 72 hours, so he could have a chance to learn more about the fire-stealers. If he couldn't stay awake and fell asleep, it wouldn't matter; death wasn't a big deal to him.

After pondering for a moment in the darkness, Guan Tong felt hungry. She got up and, relying on her knowledge of the shelter's interior, retrieved a bag of bread in the dark.

Since the taste buds were eliminated today, the bread had no flavor at all, which felt very strange, like chewing soft rubber.

Guan Tong chewed a few bites, swallowed, drank a bottle of water, and ate a simple lunch before beginning to cultivate the flow of spiritual power.

If there's one advantage to being deprived of sight amidst a hundred harms, it's that it allows people to quickly calm down.

Nothing calms a person more quickly than absolute darkness. Moreover, without sight, attention is focused more on manipulating mental energy, resulting in better training outcomes than before.

He performed two full-body mental energy circulations, feeling completely at ease. As he became more proficient, he felt that in another ten days to half a month, before the tenth rule ended, he should be able to make some small breakthroughs and be able to briefly cover his entire body with mental energy.

While it's unlikely to achieve what Shi Jingyi did in the industrial park warehouse—forming a large 360-degree light shield using her mental power—it's still possible to achieve a thin layer of body coverage.

In that case, it would be equivalent to having a basic, comprehensive defense against mental attacks.

This provides a margin for error when facing enemies with unusual abilities. It prevents being instantly killed without prior knowledge of the situation.

After his mental energy naturally recovered somewhat, he summoned his physical shadow again and shared his five senses with himself.

Using his shared vision, he turned on his computer and logged onto the Ascended Home website to see if there were any new messages.

He also saw the "bounty post" about him posted by the An Tai Bang person in the commission section of the website.

Because most people's five senses are eliminated one by one during the period of Rule 10, there are very few people online during this time, and the number of replies to each post is very low.

The bounty post only received a few replies, most of which were sarcastic, suggesting that An Tai Bang was humiliating himself by offering a bounty on a shadow on this website.

Guan Tong didn't care, and was too lazy to even delete the post; letting it stay was an insult.

He opened his private message list. Although many users on the website followed him, not many sent him private messages.

He had previously posted a site rule prohibiting users from sending harassing or bombarding private messages without a valid reason; violators would receive a warning the first time and have their accounts banned the second time. Although some users complained that the rule was too domineering, not many actually broke it.

Guan Tong glanced at the private messages, one of which was from "The Primordial One".

The Primordial One: "Shadow got the fragment from Cherry Blossom Kingdom? Impressive, to be able to do this even during the rule period."

Guan Tong thought for a moment and replied, "Shadow wants the two fragments you have to bring all five together. You can name your terms."

If possible, Guan Tong still wanted to reach a deal with this person peacefully. Then he saw another private message that he was very concerned about.

The user who sent the private message had previously purchased information about his hidden rules twice, but had never revealed his identity.

This time, however, the explanation was straightforward.

"Hello, station manager. This account represents the Countermeasures Research Office established by the official government of the Northern Star Kingdom. We know that your relationship with Shadow is extraordinary, and the government is closely monitoring Shadow's recent actions."

If possible, we hope to have a discussion with Shadow to clarify some issues. Additionally, if the opportunity arises, the official team hopes to cooperate with Shadow to a certain extent to better address the challenges posed by the post-apocalyptic rules.

Do we communicate and exchange ideas?

After reading the private message, Guan Tong thought that her recent actions in Antai State must have caused the authorities some headaches.

He wanted to communicate with the authorities, hoping to clarify his position. He also wanted to know their attitude towards individuals like him who had achieved enlightenment.

He had previously killed Basong and others. After the Antai State government condemned his actions, the North Star government also issued a statement saying it would investigate.

But this time he blew up the royal palace of An Tai Bang, an act several times worse than the killing of Ba Song, prompting the Prince of An Tai Bang to personally issue a statement demanding a thorough investigation.

Strangely, Beixing did not issue any further statements this time.

Does this signify a shift in policy and attitude? Guan Tong wasn't sure; she would only know after communicating with the person in charge.

He replied, "Okay, Shadow agrees to communicate, let's use this private messaging channel."

After he sent the message, the staff on the 24-hour shift immediately noticed it and reported the situation.

Gao Liangwei, the person in charge, attached great importance to this communication because it was an important matter assigned by higher-ups and could not be delayed. He immediately summoned Zhang Minglu, who was usually responsible for contacting the Ascended, to conduct this communication with the Shadow together.

Inside the office, since Gao Liangwei's vision was eliminated, Zhang Minglu sat in front of the computer to send and read messages.

"Sir/Madam, shall we start with a few words of greeting?"

“No, we don’t have time for that, and Shadow certainly doesn’t like small talk.” Gao Liangwei said with his eyes closed. “Just ask him directly, why did you go to Antai State to kill people and blow up the royal palace? Did you consider the country’s position when you did this?”

Zhang Minglu asked in surprise, "So direct? Won't this provoke a reaction from the shadows?"

Gao Liangwei insisted, "Just send it like this."

"Ok."

Zhang Minglu typed the message and received a reply very quickly.

"The person in charge replied: 'Because the people who were killed deserved to be killed, and the palace that was bombed deserved to be bombed.'"

"..."

Gao Liangwei was speechless for a moment.

“There’s another reply,” Zhang Minglu continued, “'If the official stance is based on humanity, why turn a blind eye to the evil deeds of the Prince of Antai Bang, who protected a warlord involved in smuggling and trafficking, and instead try to hold me accountable?'”

After reading the reply, Zhang Minglu gasped, not expecting Shadow to question him so directly.

He looked at Gao Liangwei, who had a furrowed brow and remained silent.

"Manager, how should I reply?"

"...You asked Shadow what he thought the authorities should do."

"it is good."

After Zhang Minglu sent the message, he quickly received a reply.

He glanced at it, paused slightly, and didn't read it aloud immediately.

Although Gao Liangwei was blind, he sensed something and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Shadow said... he believes the authorities either revert to isolationism like the Solomon Empire, focusing only on their own people and ignoring everything else, or—"

Zhang Minglu paused and continued reading: "Either we take it upon ourselves to unite the power of all mankind to fight against the fire-stealers, then the most important thing we should do is to first eliminate external evil rulers like Prince Rado..."

After hearing this, Gao Liangwei immediately understood why Zhang Minglu was hesitant. If he were to relay this to higher-ups, they would probably react the same way as Zhang Minglu.

"Shadow really does... say some surprising things," Zhang Minglu remarked.

Gao Liangwei remained silent, his hands clasped together, his fingers tapping the back of his hands, lost in thought.

After more than ten seconds, Zhang Minglu asked, "Manager, how should we respond?"

(End of this chapter)