Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 202 Meeting Discussions and Covert Collusion

Post-Apocalyptic Rules and Countermeasures Research Lab.

Gao Liangwei and the others had already identified Guan Tong's shadow when they saw him use a long rope formed from his shadow to rescue some people who were about to fall into the crevice.

Moreover, they were well aware of why Guan Tong wanted to conceal it. Zhang Minglu, in particular, had previously heard Gao Liangwei mention that there were people among the high-level decision-makers who harbored hostility.

That's why, after the Antai Bang incident, before the detailed investigation results were available, the authorities rushed to release the statement about tracking down the shadow.

Zhang Minglu believes that the shadow himself may have realized this, which is why he used the alias "shepherd boy." However, after the footage of him manipulating the shadow appeared this time, everyone's previous speculations were confirmed.

I wonder how the person in charge will handle this? Will they pretend not to know?
Zhang Minglu looked at Gao Liangwei, who hadn't said anything after seeing those shadowy figures. This silence was perhaps a statement of his attitude.

After Guan Tong requested to speak directly with the head of the research lab, Gao Liangwei agreed.

Without any complicated procedures, Longhun directly handed his special communication headset to Guan Tong, who could then communicate with Gao Liangwei through it.

"What do you want to say to me?" Gao Liangwei got straight to the point.

Guan Tong didn't waste any words and directly pointed out the problem: "Judging from the situation of this magnitude 6 earthquake, the current speed of destroying the pillars of the earth's veins is not fast enough. If we continue to deal with subsequent magnitude 7 and above earthquakes in this way, it will definitely fail."

“Yes, that’s our assessment as well,” Gao Liangwei said.

He and his colleagues in the research lab watched the live stream and also noticed this problem. Judging from this performance, not to mention the upcoming magnitude 8, 9, and 10 earthquakes, even a magnitude 7 earthquake in the near future would be a major problem.

"If you want to talk to me directly, there must be some kind of solution, right?"

“Yes,” Guan Tong said. “I have a way to store up mental energy. If you trust me, mobilize a large number of Ascended Ones during the earthquake intervals and transfer their mental energy to me. I will store all of this mental energy and, after the next earthquake, immediately output it to the pillars that destroy the ley lines, increasing efficiency exponentially.”

After Guan Tong finished speaking, everyone in the conference room was somewhat shocked.

"A large amount of mental energy stored up?!"

"He does have the ability to store mental energy, but judging from his tone, it seems he can store a lot at once? This..."

"It's not just about reserves! He means that he can unleash more than his own mental energy reserves in an instant, which is terrifying!"

"That sounds feasible! This would indeed greatly improve efficiency, and far fewer people would need to go to the epicenter!"

"Don't forget to consider the risks involved..."

The reactions varied; some were delighted, while others hesitated. But none of them had decision-making power, and they all knew very well that this was not a matter for the Countermeasures Research Office to decide.

Gao Liangwei pondered for a moment and replied, "This information is crucial. I must report it and make a decision after discussion."

"Of course." Guan Tong had already anticipated this answer.

"Can you roughly tell me how many Ascended Ones would be needed to supply you with spiritual power if your plan succeeds?" Gao Liangwei asked. "Several thousand, tens of thousands? Or more?"

Zhang Minglu muttered under his breath, "If we could store unlimited amounts of data, the more the better, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands..."

Guan Tong's voice rang out: "The more the merrier."

To eliminate the enormous energy released by the subsequent super-high-level earthquake, the mental power required will only increase, not decrease.

Moreover, Guan Tong also had her own little selfish motives.

That is, just in case, if we can't use it all, it would be even better if we could keep some for ourselves.

Even if he could save up 10,000 or 20,000, it would be enough for him to use for a long time. If he had to save it all himself, it would take him forever to save up 10,000 or 20,000.

This shows how powerful a person can become if the power of the collective is applied to them—not to mention, they can use the extra power to write on the sixth page of the "Wordless Book".

Most importantly, Guan Tong won't feel guilty doing this.

Unlike the previous eighth rule, this does not cause others' mental power limit to decrease.

Because others cannot store up mental energy, even if they transfer today's flowing mental energy to Guan Tong, it will be restored tomorrow.

In this way, Guan Tong gained a reserve of mental energy. These transmitters also contributed their own strength to reducing earthquake disasters, and had a real sense of participation, instead of just waiting in the shelter and leaving it to fate.

After the call ended, the countermeasures research office held a brief discussion.

Gao Liangwei still didn't mention the word "Shadow," as if he and Guan Tong had reached a tacit understanding that getting through the immediate disaster was the most important thing, and everything else could be dealt with later.

Zhang Minglu excitedly said, "If this person can store up unlimited mental energy, then all the Ascended Ones in the entire shelter can be mobilized and transported to him in batches. That way, in the immediate aftermath of a super-high-magnitude earthquake, he can quickly destroy the pillars of the ley lines, weaken the disaster's power, and reduce casualties!" "I object... Since no one is bringing it up, and the person in charge is avoiding the topic, then I'll speak for myself." At this moment, a history professor frowned and said, "This 'shepherd boy' is undoubtedly that 'shadow,' I think everyone knows that."

As you may recall, in the first Ascended Challenge, Shadow wielded the Holy Grail, which could provide an unlimited supply of mental energy, and single-handedly defeated hundreds, even thousands, of opponents. Now, several months have passed, and his combat power has undoubtedly only increased. Wouldn't it be dangerous to supply him with so much mental energy now?

"Dr. Yu, what kind of time is this to be worrying about these things? Isn't a super-large earthquake more important than this?!"

"The earthquake is of course more important!" Dr. Yu raised his voice. "I'm worried about what if Shadow goes back on his word—what if he receives the spiritual power from tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of people, and then suddenly changes his mind and wants to keep it for himself, refusing to cooperate with the authorities to destroy the ley lines? Do we have any countermeasures?!"

"..."

A moment of silence fell over everyone; there was indeed some truth to what was said.

This is somewhat like signing a contract where one party makes a significant investment, only to receive a promise from the other party in return. Furthermore, this promise lacks any collateral, and if the other party reneges, there's no way to punish them.

Dr. Yu continued, "If it weren't for this earthquake, I wouldn't be worried that Shadow would go back on his word, or dare to go back on his word. Because I don't think he can withstand a global manhunt from a country the size of North Star when it gets serious, not even the strongest Ascendant could."

"But this time is different. If he goes back on his word this time, it will be difficult for the authorities to pursue retaliation, because a magnitude 10 earthquake is enough to destroy the power of most countries. If Shadow is ambitious and hides away first, waiting until the wasteland is over before using the massive amount of mental power supplied to him by the people to become king and dominate, then who can stop him?"

Initially, no one had any objections, but after Dr. Yu's explanation, they all had the same underlying concerns.

Someone suggested, "What if we negotiate with Shadow and use some special abilities or items to leave a restriction on him, so that if he goes back on his word, we can activate the restriction?"

Someone immediately shook their head: "Others definitely won't agree to that, and it might even ruin the cooperation."

Zhang Minglu thought for a moment and said to the doctor, "Your concerns are not without merit, but I would like to point out that we are not completely ignorant about shadows."

"At the meeting after he destroyed the Yongzhou donor base during the eighth rule, I said that this person possessed a simple sense of justice. What happened in Antai State later confirmed my judgment once again. He only killed those warlord militia members and did not attack ordinary people. Later, he took the initiative to make public the existence of the 'Chronicles of Yahoo! Star.' He could have kept this secret to himself, but he chose to make it public to the whole world, which to some extent promoted the establishment of the Human Alliance."

"Therefore, considering all the above incidents, I believe that although this person may be somewhat withdrawn and dislike group living, he is definitely not a bad person at heart. If I had to choose, I would believe that he would keep his promise and would not go back on his word."

"Dr. Zhang's words also make sense..."

“Indeed. Judging from what Shadow has done in the past, he doesn’t seem like an ambitious person.”

"Let's vote," Gao Liangwei said after listening to the discussion for a while. "Those who support this plan, please raise your hands."

Zhang Minglu was the first to raise his hand, followed by others. However, some people, represented by Dr. Yu, did not raise their hands.

Kao Liang-wei looked around and said, "Supporters make up about 70% of the population. Since the minority has to obey the majority, I will report this plan to the high-level decision-making department and mention that the Countermeasures Research Office has agreed to this plan."

Although the opposition members were somewhat dissatisfied upon hearing this, they didn't say anything. This was indeed the research lab's rule: when there were significant disagreements, a vote was held to decide.

Dr. Yu, the representative of the opposition, had a very gloomy expression and got up and left hurriedly as soon as the meeting ended.

Zhang Minglu observed this and stayed until the very end. After everyone else had left, he said to Gao Liangwei, "Manager, Dr. Yu seems to be very opposed. Would you like to speak with him privately?"

“I don’t have time to talk to anyone right now. I need to report immediately and prepare for a magnitude 7 earthquake,” Gao Liangwei refused. “I can’t figure it out now, but I will in a couple of days.”

After returning to his lounge, Dr. Yu paced back and forth in anger, muttering curses: "A bunch of short-sighted fools, absolutely short-sighted! With a weapon in hand, the desire to kill arises. Even a good person might turn bad if suddenly given a huge fortune! Besides, what is wealth compared to the temptation of power? Haven't we seen enough examples throughout history of kind-hearted people who, after gaining power, changed their personalities and became indiscriminate killers?!"

dong dong dong.

A knock sounded at the door, and Dr. Yu opened it to find an unremarkable middle-aged woman standing there.

"Dr. Sun? Is there something you need?"

Dr. Sun said, "Dr. Yu, I wanted to talk to you about what happened in the meeting just now. You should have seen that I didn't raise my hand to agree, did I? I was persuaded by you."

Upon hearing this, Dr. Yu was extremely agitated: "Dr. Sun must also think this is very dangerous, right? Entrusting so much power to someone whose background we don't even know is simply reckless!"

"Yes. Moreover, the person in charge, regardless of the situation, makes decisions based solely on the principle of majority rule, which I find somewhat unscientific. I think those of us in the academic community know that truth is usually only grasped by a minority, while the majority are ignorant. This may be the blind spot of the person in charge, who comes from a military background."

“That’s right!” Dr. Yu was overjoyed upon hearing this. “A senior colonel in the army should be in charge of leading troops, but he was sent to manage the research lab. I was never really in favor of it from the beginning. Look at what has happened in the past year or so; it’s almost turned a place for sharing and exchanging ideas into a military camp!”

Dr. Sun smiled upon hearing this: "Dr. Yu is absolutely right. Taking advantage of this opportunity, I think we should write something together to reflect the problem to the higher-ups?"

"This..." Dr. Yu hesitated for a moment upon hearing this.

"Don't worry, it's not just you and me, many people agree with this. I think as members of the research lab, we should also shoulder a responsibility for the future of the lab and humanity."

"...Okay! I'll write too!"

(End of this chapter)