Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 205 A Decision Amidst Undercurrents
"Terminal panel".

After receiving mental energy transmission for a whole day, Guan Tong opened the panel and checked the results.

Name: Guan Tong

Nickname: Shadow

[Title: Civilization Observer]

[Psychic Power: 352 (352) (481710)]

[Ascended Coins: 3686120]

[Overall Bioinformatics Evaluation: Excellent]

After a day of intense transmission and conversion, his current mental energy reserves are nearly 500,000!
This number is undoubtedly exaggerated, but it is far from the limit.

According to the information the research lab gave him, the total number of Ascended Beings in Beixing is around one hundred million. Mobilizing everyone for transfer is unrealistic, both in terms of time and scale.

Even if only one percent meets the delivery requirements, that's still a million people. Keep in mind that many small countries in the Human Alliance only have a total population of around a million. This shows how strong Beixing's resources are.

Zhang Minglu told Guan Tong that the authorities are currently preparing more efficient transportation methods to complete the "total transportation" before a magnitude 10 earthquake.

After all, for Beixing, the only disaster that truly threatened the nation's survival was the final magnitude 10 earthquake. While the preceding magnitudes 9 and 8 were equally terrifying, they could at most destroy a few cities, and were far from capable of completely annihilating a superpower like Beixing with a territory exceeding 20 million square kilometers.

Therefore, as long as the total transport is completed before the final magnitude 10 earthquake, a slightly lower efficiency in the earlier stages is acceptable.

The research lab originally planned to transmit data continuously for 24 hours until a magnitude 7 earthquake occurred. However, after the first 24 hours, Guan Tong felt very tired and temporarily stopped.

He values ​​rest and didn't want to face a major earthquake in a tired state, so he stopped for several hours.

After taking a nap, he went online and found the popular post on his website forum.

After reading it, he and Gao Liangwei had the same thought: that someone within the official ranks had leaked the information.

He called Zhang Minglu to inquire, and the latter said that the research lab was currently investigating the matter, and the person in charge had already spoken with several people.

"The authorities should issue a statement to refute the rumors. If they don't respond, the relevant transporters may refuse to participate later."

Guan Tong's judgment quickly came true, and many voices appeared online expressing their refusal to cooperate with the official "deification plan".

Members from other member states of the Federation of People's Associations are also paying close attention to this matter and want to know what North Star is up to.

Finally, the authorities had to issue a statement acknowledging that the mental energy was transferred to the "shadow," but the purpose was not to create a god, but to cooperate and use his special abilities to mitigate the harm caused by the earthquake rules.

Once the statement was released, it could be said that the initial plan to keep things secret had failed and gone bankrupt, and netizens were left with mixed feelings of disbelief and skepticism.

Guan Tong posted a clarification using the account "Shadow Himself," stating that he did indeed cooperate with the official authorities, but it had nothing to do with creating a god; it was only for disaster relief.

Some believe it, some doubt it—that's normal. What's abnormal is why an official insider would leak information. Isn't an earthquake a threat to all people of Beixing? Why would they deliberately sabotage and interfere?
Guan Tong didn't understand, and Gao Liangwei understood even less.

He spoke with Dr. Yu and others overnight, and through various questioning techniques, he obtained some information. Dr. Yu and the others claimed that they had not leaked any secrets, but admitted that they had secretly conspired together to write a letter of opposition.

After careful questioning, Gao Liangwei discovered that all these people were connected by the same person, Dr. Sun, a biologist.

"Dr. Sun Hong, these testimonies all point to you as the person who separately found them and persuaded them to join the effort. What are you going to say in your defense?"

In the interrogation room, Gao Liangwei spoke to Sun Hong, who was sitting across the table.

Sun Hong remained unfazed: "I admit that I contacted some people and persuaded them to co-write some things. But that doesn't violate any regulations, does it? We are dissatisfied with you as the person in charge and have the right to report the situation to higher authorities."

“That’s not the point of my question. You can express your dissatisfaction with me if you want,” Gao Liangwei said. “The point of my question is the issue of leaking secrets.”

“I did not leak any information,” Sun Hong denied. “If Director Gao wants to accuse me of leaking information, please provide evidence.”

“Dr. Sun, you should know that there are people in the base who have lie detector equipment, right? If you confess now, we can both save time.”

"No need, just have that person come and take the test." "...Go and call that person over."

Soon, the person with the lie detector was brought in. The device was a pair of glasses; its lenses would automatically turn red upon hearing a lie.

Gao Liangwei asked, "Dr. Sun Hong, have you revealed the secrets of the Countermeasures Research Office?"

"No."

The lenses of the glasses did not change color.

Gao Liangwei frowned, and a hint of contempt flashed in Sun Hong's eyes.

After a moment of silence, Gao Liangwei asked again, "Dr. Sun Hong, did you receive orders from someone else to collude with other members of the research lab?"

"..."

Sun Hong remained silent this time.

Gao Liangwei said coldly, "It seems this is an admission of guilt."

“I won’t admit to anything without evidence,” Sun Hong said. “Even if you are the head of the research lab, you have no right to punish me without evidence.”

"It's enough for me to know that you're just following orders."

After Gao Liangwei finished speaking, he got up and left, instructing the security guard: "Take Dr. Sun back to her room. Before the matter is investigated, she is not allowed to move around the base at will."

"Yes."

"Gao Liangwei! What right do you have to place me under house arrest? I'm going to report to my superiors—"

thump.

Gao Liangwei pushed open the door and left, his face particularly grim.

"The person who could order Sun Hong to make connections must be a member of the high-level decision-making group... The secret was most likely leaked from someone at that level, which is troublesome."

He could use a lie detector on Sun Hong, but he clearly didn't have the right to use it on those high-level decision-makers.

Furthermore, if any decision-maker opposes this action, will the opposition remain merely at the level of collusion, leaks, and manipulation of public opinion, or will it go further and take on more concrete forms?

Gao Liangwei felt a vague unease, so he immediately called Zhang Minglu to his office.

“Dr. Zhang, I have a special task for you,” Gao Liangwei said. “Select some elite Ascendants to form a guard team.”

"A guard team?" Zhang Minglu asked, puzzled. "Sir, who is this guard team supposed to protect?"

"Protect the shadow. To be precise, it's about protecting the shadow of the pillar that's destroying the earth's veins during an earthquake."

Zhang Minglu quickly grasped the deeper meaning, his eyes widening slowly: "Manager, you mean someone might attack Shadow at that time..."

“I can’t be certain, but what I am sure of is that there is a force stirring up trouble in the shadows, intending to launch a sabotage operation,” Gao Liangwei said. “Do you remember the investigation into the Yongzhou donor base?”

Zhang Minglu nodded: "I remember, it seems that Li Meng and his team were investigating the department that the base previously belonged to, but there has been no follow-up since then."

“Yes. I specifically asked Li Meng, and he told me that the situation was very complicated. The original military base was transferred to the name of a big businessman more than ten years ago for some reason, but all the transfer documents were lost... He said that it was because of the chaos caused by the rioters after the arrival of the apocalypse rules that a large amount of data was lost.”

"This... is too ridiculous." Zhang Minglu knew immediately that it was an excuse, clearly a pretext to deliberately destroy all the data under the guise of thugs.

“I suspect that the mastermind behind that base has immense power, and this incident may also be related to that person. What we can do now is to prepare for the worst. In order to protect Shadow from interference and ensure the completion of the plan, we must arrange for dedicated personnel to protect him on-site.”

“I understand, person in charge,” Zhang Minglu said. “I will select elites to form a guard team. They will not transfer their mental power, but will instead conserve their strength to provide full protection for the Shadow.”

"Okay, make the arrangements as soon as possible. A magnitude 7 earthquake is expected in just one more day, and we must be on high alert from this point onward."

(End of this chapter)