Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 192 The Results of an Experiment That Excessively Consumed
Around 3 a.m., most people are sound asleep.

If an earthquake were to occur at this time, a high-magnitude earthquake would certainly cause a large number of casualties, but a level 2 earthquake like this would not have much of an impact, and most people would not even be able to feel it.

However, the officials responsible for monitoring and receiving the data were on high alert. As soon as the instrument detected the data, the earthquake bureau staff immediately reported the latitude and longitude coordinates.

Guan Tong's shadowy figure lurked in the shadows of the room's corner, eavesdropped on crucial information about the earthquake's location, and immediately entered the coordinates into the computer to pinpoint the target location.

"The epicenter was in the suburbs of Fengping City, and the nearest shadow line to it was... 1 kilometer away. We were lucky!"

Guan Tong immediately located the shadow line closest to the epicenter and manipulated it to travel to the epicenter at top speed. When he saw the ley line pillar standing in the wasteland on the outskirts of the city by the help of moonlight, he immediately activated his teleportation ability and swapped positions with the shadow line.

He appeared on the scene the next moment.

He didn't dare to waste a second and rushed to the pillar of the ley lines before the official dispatch team arrived.

According to information disclosed online, the upper limit of a person's spiritual power begins to decrease when their body comes into contact with the ley lines. However, in tests conducted abroad, this process can be interrupted at any time.

If the person who has been in contact with the product changes their mind or intends to give up, they can immediately pull their hand back to stop the process, preventing the product from being sucked dry once placed on the surface.

However, Guan Tong had a backup plan: if a problem arose, he could use the teleportation ability to forcibly interrupt the connection by physically transferring his body.

He took out the "Book Without Words," turned to the fifth page, and infused it with his mental energy. At the same time, he stretched out his other hand, took a deep breath, and pressed it against the pillar of the earth vein.

Crack the pillars of the earth's veins!
He repeated it in his mind, so that the "Wordless Book" could understand his intention and produce the corresponding effect.

The moment his palm touched the pillar of the earth vein, he felt the vibration inside the pillar and also clearly felt that the upper limit of his mental power was decreasing.

At the same time, the character "开" on the fifth page of the "Wordless Book" detached from the page and transformed into a data stream that entered Guan Tong's body.

Failed?
This was Guan Tong's first reaction.

In his mind, the transformed data stream should be injected into the pillar of the earth's veins to crack its outer shell, rather than entering his own body.

At this point, his maximum mental strength had decreased by 3 points, from 325 to 322. If he was confirmed to have failed, he should immediately abandon the sunk costs and cut his losses.

Guan Tong hesitated for a second, and when the score dropped from 322 to 321, he finally decided to give up.

However, just as he slightly raised his palm, before his fingers had completely detached from the ley line pillar, he felt a surge of power suddenly well up through his body. It first flowed to his arm, then through his arm to his fingers, and finally, through his fingers, into the ley line pillar.

Click, click, click…

A distinct cracking sound rang out, and Guan Tong looked up to see that large sections of the outer shell of the Earth Vein Pillar had cracked and fallen off!
"Success!"

His face immediately lit up with joy. Then, more and more shells began to fall off rapidly as energy was injected, and during this process, Guan Tong noticed that his mental power limit had stopped decreasing.

This undoubtedly demonstrates that the power of the "Wordless Book" replaced the original price to be paid, and accelerated the cracking of the outer shell of the ley line pillar, thereby reducing the vibration and the destructiveness of the earthquake.

As long as I can keep supplying the mental energy required by the [Book Without Words], can I hold out until the pillars of the ley lines completely collapse?
After realizing this, Guan Tong continued to calculate the rate at which his mental energy was being depleted while observing the rate at which the outer shell of the ley line pillar was peeling off.

Just as the authorities create a model to represent the ratio of the decrease in mental energy cap to the reduction in earthquake destructive power, he is doing something similar. He needs to roughly calculate how much mental energy he needs to supply to the [Book Without Words] to completely eliminate the destructive power of the earthquake.

As a large amount of mental energy was injected into the pages of the book, the data stream formed by the character "开" was also continuously injected into the pillar of the earth vein through Guan Tong's body.

The cracks in the outer shell of the ley line pillar were widening, and in less than half a minute, 30% of the outer shell had fallen off. Guan Tong's mental energy was completely depleted at this moment, and if he wanted to continue, he would have to use his reserve mental energy.

He currently has 2,800 mental energy reserves. Based on the previous ratio of mental energy consumption to shell cracking of approximately 100 to 10%, investing another 700 mental energy would be enough to completely remove the outer shell of the earth vein pillars on the surface.

Guan Tong made a firm decision and directly transferred all 800 points of his stored mental energy into the [Wordless Book].

The character "开" on the page shone brightly, transforming into an immense stream of data that flowed into his body and then was output through his palm into the pillar of the earth veins.

Click! Click! Click!

With so much energy injected at once, the collapse of the ley line pillars accelerated dramatically. Patches of the outer shell peeled off, like an old, dilapidated brick house collapsing completely in a tremor.

After the black outer shell of the ley line pillars completely fell off, the tremors stopped abruptly, and the dark brown liquid inside flowed all over the ground and evaporated rapidly.

From the moment Guan Tong arrived to the moment the ley line collapsed and disappeared, the entire process took less than a minute. Before he could even express his joy at his success, he heard a buzzing sound coming from the air not far away.

He looked up and saw an official helicopter with flashing red lights approaching in the distance, which should have been carrying a special team.

From the discovery of the epicenter to the dispatch of personnel by helicopter to the epicenter, the official response took less than two minutes, a remarkably fast and efficient process. However, compared to Guan Tong, who could teleport instantly, there was still a full minute of time difference.

Having achieved his goal, Guan Tong didn't linger. He didn't want to have any contact with the people in the helicopter, feeling that explaining things would be troublesome, and he figured they probably wouldn't want him to leave.

So when the helicopter was still some distance away, Guan Tong had no choice but to use some of his stored mental energy to teleport away.

Seconds later, the helicopter hovered over the epicenter for a moment.

The pilot, unable to locate the pillars of the ley lines, wondered if he had flown in the wrong direction due to the darkness. However, after carefully checking the latitude and longitude coordinates, he confirmed that they matched the commands transmitted from the command center.

He wasn't the only one confused; the helicopter squad was too. Seeing this, the captain decided to go down and take a look. After the squad landed, they quickly discovered a hole in the ground, and everyone stood around it, looking at each other in bewilderment.

They were certain they hadn't come to the wrong place; the existence of this round hole meant that the pillars of the ley lines did indeed appear here—but had appeared in the past. For some reason, the pillars had now disappeared.

The captain immediately reported the relevant intelligence, and the analysts who received it were also puzzled.

After eliminating all the impossibilities, only one conclusion remains, even if it is somewhat sensational: someone had dealt with the ley lines before the officials arrived.

……

Guan Tong returned to Mingdao Mountain, a hint of excitement still lingering on her face.

"I didn't expect it to actually succeed, although it was quite taxing..."

This experiment not only cost him 4 points of his maximum mental energy, but also consumed an additional 800 points of his reserve mental energy. This was a significant blow to his accumulated mental energy.

Fortunately, the outcome was positive. By utilizing the power of the "Wordless Book," they achieved great results with limited resources, reducing or even completely halting the destructive power of the earthquake without diminishing their mental strength.

This is something to be happy about from any perspective. If there's anything that worries Guan Tong, it's whether the energy consumption corresponding to the earthquake magnitude will change.

"I used the power of the [Book Without Words] to offset the damage from the earthquake, which cost me over 1100 points of mental energy. But this was only a level 2 earthquake... What if a higher level earthquake would consume even more energy?"

Guan Tong knew very well that with each increase in the magnitude of an earthquake, the destructive energy contained within was far more than just a few times greater.

After the eleventh doomsday rule was announced, survivors around the world studied the earthquake situation. Many people who were previously unaware discovered for the first time this terrifying fact: as the magnitude of an earthquake increases, the amount of energy released also increases dramatically.

For every two magnitudes of an earthquake, the energy released can differ by thousands of times. A magnitude 6 earthquake releases the energy equivalent of more than thirty magnitude 5 earthquakes; while a magnitude 7 earthquake releases the energy equivalent of a thousand magnitude 5 earthquakes!
Such a huge difference in energy release means that Guan Tong will never be complacent just because of one success.

He had to consider the increased, or even doubling, costs that could result from a high-magnitude earthquake.

If a high-magnitude earthquake requires thousands or tens of thousands of mental energy to stop, Guan Tong will be powerless to help—his current and reserve mental energy combined only amount to a little over two thousand. Where can he replenish such a huge difference?
unless……

Guan Tong vaguely thought: Unless a cooperation is reached with the official authorities.

With hundreds of millions of people in Beixing and hundreds of millions of ascendants, who can say that there are no special abilities or items among them that can enhance or transfer mental power?

The official database is vast and comprehensive, capable of identifying those who possess the necessary abilities in the shortest possible time. Therefore, cooperation between the two parties might be able to resolve the issue of insufficient mental power.

Previously, Guan Tong had an unpleasant exchange with the official team, and both sides felt that the other was not suitable for cooperation, so the communication did not continue.

But times have changed. This time, the rules concern the lives of hundreds of millions of citizens. Guan Tong will not disregard the personal safety of so many compatriots because of his own emotions.

"Test again during a magnitude 3 earthquake!"

Guan Tong made a decision after thinking it over.

"If it is confirmed that the earthquake's magnitude has been increased, the mental energy I need to reduce its damage will also increase... Then I will have to contact the authorities to discuss cooperation."

　My boss organized a team-building dinner after get off work today, which will probably last until 8 or 9 pm. I'll start writing and updating after I get back. The second chapter will be posted later, probably around 11 pm. Please forgive me, dear readers.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)