Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 211 There is no time for grief and remembrance
"Black Shark! Heard a reply!"

"Silver Fox, Flying Eagle! Night Owl! Response received!"

Dragon Soul stood amidst the ruins, his voice hoarse as he contacted his team via radio.

His body was tattered and torn, and his forehead was broken by something hard, with blood staining half of his cheek, but he didn't care at all.

What made him even more nervous was that all four of his teammates had lost contact.

All the prior preparations and plans became invalid the moment the message was transmitted to the epicenter.

No one expected the energy from the epicenter to be so strong. Within seconds of being transported there, everyone was hit by the seismic waves and scattered.

Even the Dragon Soul team, which had the strongest overall strength, could not maintain its formation and disappeared after only five seconds.

As the team leader, Dragon Soul could barely protect himself despite his best efforts, leaving him no energy to care for others. He couldn't even help Shadow, as he was unable to get close to the ley lines.

Did the shadow successfully weaken the earthquake? He didn't know.

All he knew was that those few minutes felt like an eternity, and he felt as if everything around him was falling apart.

Now that the earthquake has stopped, he crawled out of the rubble and tried to contact his teammates, but there was no response.

This weighed heavily on his mind.

He tried to look for other people around him, but to his despair, he couldn't find a single living person, or even a corpse.

He knew very well that the absence of bodies did not mean everyone had survived. Rather, it meant that the earthquake had "eaten" them all.

"Countermeasures Room, can you hear me?"

He tried to contact the authorities using a remote communication headset, but all he heard was static.

The earthquake must have affected the magnetic field, causing a complete communication blackout.

Dragon Soul took a deep breath. He knew he couldn't give up. The more critical the moment, the calmer he needed to be.

"I need to find the shadow first to determine his survival status."

The shadow is central to the disaster mitigation plan; if he dies in this earthquake, the magnitude 10 mega-earthquake three days later will be completely unsolvable.

Therefore, even as a steadfast soldier, Dragon Soul couldn't help but pray silently at this moment.

I pray that the shadow will survive, otherwise all this effort from beginning to end will have been in vain.

Perhaps God heard his heartfelt words, for he hadn't walked far when he saw Guan Tong.

"Shadow, you're still alive!"

"I almost didn't make it." Guan Tong glanced at the ragged, blood-covered Dragon Soul. "Looks like you're in a similar situation."

"Our lives are secondary; the key is that you survive!"

"...Let's not say things like that, so many people have sacrificed their lives."

Dragon Soul fell silent for a moment, then said, "Yes, most of them should have perished, and I can't contact any of my team members either."

At this moment, the teleportation array lit up, and a support team of over a hundred people arrived.

Some of them were backup members of the disaster mitigation team, some were professional medical personnel, and dozens of other volunteers who were there to protect Guan Tong also came along.

When they were teleported over and saw the scene, they were all stunned.

Apart from the numerous deep cracks of varying sizes, only large areas of broken walls and ruins remain on the ground, making it almost impossible to tell that this was once the central area of ​​a megacity.

"Is this Yunhua?!"

"The entire city of Yunhua is gone? Gone??"

"how so……"

Many people visited Yunhua before the rules of the apocalypse were announced, and experienced the city's prosperity.

Looking at the vast emptiness now, I have an indescribable, dreamlike feeling.

Even a high-intensity war cannot raze a megacity to the ground, but the power of nature far surpasses that of war, and it easily accomplished this.

Soon, people noticed Guan Tong and Long Hun and rushed over.

Medical personnel treated Long Hun and inquired about Guan Tong's condition. Apart from being overworked, Guan Tong was not seriously injured. This was partly due to his increased vigilance after his previous injury, and partly due to the volunteers using their abilities to protect him during the initial one or two seconds after he was teleported.

That's why he's feeling so down right now.

While receiving emergency medical treatment, Dragon Soul also directed the arriving supporters to search the surrounding area for possible survivors.

He didn't believe that only he and Guan Tong had survived; there must be others who had survived, though they might have been knocked unconscious or trapped under the rubble. If they could be found in time, their lives could still be saved.

On the other side, Shi Jingyi, who was part of another group of volunteers, walked up to Guan Tong.

"How are you?" she asked.

Guan Tong looked at her. Just like when they first met, she was still wearing a white training uniform, and her long braid that reached her waist was still hanging down her back.

When asked at this moment, Guan Tong said, "You see, the first batch of volunteers may have all sacrificed their lives."

"..."

“I will suggest to the authorities that no more volunteers be sent for the next, and last, earthquake. You should go back to the academy.”

Shi Jingyi frowned slightly: "Do you think I'm afraid of dying?"

"It's not a matter of being afraid or not." Guan Tong shook his head. "The energy from the epicenter was too great. I survived because I continuously generated armor to offset the impact by using the mental energy transmitted to me by countless people. But what about you? Your mental energy shield is powerful, but it simply can't withstand wave after wave of continuous seismic waves!"
"Not to mention that a magnitude 10 earthquake, which only exists in theory, releases an unknown amount of energy. You are also from Yunhua City. Look at what our hometown looks like now. Such a large city was razed to the ground by a magnitude 9 earthquake. It is impossible to predict how much and how wide the damage a magnitude 10 earthquake will cause."

Guan Tong rarely speaks so much at once, so she was undoubtedly quite excited.

He didn't want Shi Jingyi and the others to die in vain.

Shi Jingyi listened attentively to his long-winded explanation and nodded slightly: "What you say makes sense, but I only have one question. Did this batch of volunteers help you?" "They did help, but..."

"But the effect is limited?" Shi Jingyi continued, "Perhaps the help they provided wasn't that great, but it still had some effect, so it was meaningful."

Guan Tong took a deep breath: "Shi Jingyi, let's stop arguing for now and go help find possible survivors."

"Fine. But I won't agree to make you change your mind."

"..."

Guan Tong had no choice but to put the matter aside for the time being.

Shi Jingyi immediately and keenly perceived his current need.

Do you need mental power?

"Yes, we do need some."

"Hand out."

Do you have a teleportation device?

Although Guan Tong was puzzled, she still extended her palm.

The next moment, Shi Jingyi grasped his hand, and a large amount of spiritual energy was directly poured into his body upon contact!

"Transmitting mental energy directly without using any tools?" Guan Tong was astonished. "How did you do that?"

“Only when both parties have mastered the method of the flow of mental energy can this be done,” Shi Jingyi explained. “Didn’t you notice? I’m not transmitting mental energy to you; I’m just injecting it into your spontaneously flowing mental shield, and then your body absorbs this mental energy through spontaneous circulation.”

Guan Tong listened carefully and felt it over, and it seemed to be true.

"So the flow of mental energy can do this kind of thing."

He had initially thought that his "body channelization" approach was more universal than Shi Jingyi's method. But now it seems that the latter still has many unique insights and developments of its own, befitting its role as the lead lecturer.

As a continuous stream of spiritual energy was poured into the aura shield, Guan Tong transformed this spiritual energy into usable flowing spiritual energy through the circulation of his body.

In just a few seconds, his limit of several hundred points was reached.

In contrast, Shi Jingyi, who had transmitted so much mental energy, still looked completely at ease.

Guan Tong couldn't help but ask, "Shi Jingyi, what is your current mental power limit?"

Such private matters are usually not discussed among those who have transcended. Guan Tong wouldn't be so tactless as to ask others directly. But when facing Shi Jingyi, he didn't think too much and simply asked out of curiosity.

Shi Jingyi frankly replied, "A little over nine hundred."

More than nine hundred!
Guan Tong was shocked to hear this. This was too outrageous, especially since he knew very well that Shi Jingyi had not taken first place from anyone else during the period of the eighth rule.

"Actually, there's nothing special about it. It's just that my initial potential was higher, so my growth rate naturally exceeded that of others, and I gradually accumulated to my current level."

"...That's nothing special. Those who reached the 500-point cap during the period of Rule 8 will still be far behind you."

"I don't know, I'm not really concerned about these things," Shi Jingyi said. "Then I'll go search for survivors."

"Yeah, I'll come too."

Guan Tong's search and rescue methods were much more efficient than others. With enough mental power, he immediately released a large number of shadow lines that moved in all directions, crawling under those hard-to-explore ruins to search for any survivors.

After such a search, they actually found seven or eight people.

This includes two members of the Dragon Soul Squad, Silver Fox and Black Shark.

Both were unconscious when they were pulled from the rubble, with severe internal organ damage. Medical personnel and other capable individuals who arrived immediately began treatment.

Later, the others found several more bodies, one of which belonged to the Dragon Soul team member nicknamed "Flying Eagle." His skull had been smashed through by steel bars, and the Dragon Soul team remained silent for a long time upon seeing it.

Soon after, a large number of planes arrived, airdropping even more rescue personnel.

Although the evacuation of Yunhua, a large city, was completed, some people chose to stay. The authorities will not abandon these people; even though the entire city has been destroyed by the earthquake, they will try their best to rescue every survivor.

In addition, the personnel who arrived by air also brought the latest notification from the research lab, instructing Guan Tong to immediately receive the transmission of mental energy.

The messenger also delivered a message for Gao Liangwei: "There is no time for grief now. Every minute and every second must be spent preparing for the final test in 72 hours, the magnitude 1 earthquake. Even if we want to remember and mourn, we must wait until after it's over."

Although these words were somewhat heartless, Guan Tong knew they were true.

Even if his hometown was destroyed, he had no time to grieve; there were more important things for him to do.

After he teleported to the designated location, Zhang Minglu was there. He immediately organized the transfer of mental energy and then explained the earthquake situation to Guan Tong.

"The epicenter of this magnitude 9 earthquake was in the center of Yunhua City. The earthquake destroyed a large area of ​​southeastern China, including Yunhua City, and triggered some tsunamis in some areas. Fortunately, people in coastal cities were evacuated early, so the losses were not significant."

Guan Tong listened, thinking that the vast southeastern region must include Mingdao Mountain. His little home, which he had built himself, was now completely destroyed.

So, once this rule ends, if I survive, where will I go next?

"However, thanks to your successful intervention, the earthquake was effectively weakened after 37 seconds, which prevented the disaster from spreading to more areas." Zhang Minglu said with deep emotion, "Without your ability, the entire southeast and even central regions would probably have been destroyed... The losses that would have been incalculable."

Guan Tong asked, "According to calculations, how many times more powerful would a magnitude 10 earthquake be than a magnitude 9 earthquake?"

“…It’s impossible to calculate.” Zhang Minglu paused for a moment before saying, “Because a magnitude 10 earthquake will definitely trigger a large number of derivative disasters. Even large AI models cannot accurately predict how destructive it will be.”

"All our department can do now is to bet everything on you and hope that you can minimize the damage it causes."

"...So, other departments will also have other plans."

“Yes.” Zhang Minglu did not shy away from this point. “Although it is not made public, multiple manned rockets will be launched into space before the magnitude 10 earthquake. If Tianshui is really destroyed, the people on the rockets will be the seeds of humanity spread out.”

　There should be one more chapter today.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)