Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 218 Awakening and Current Status

"Adam, the people are down there."

"Well, I'll do it."

In front of a collapsed high-rise building in the capital of the Solomon Empire.

Adam raised his hands, and an invisible gravitational field, under his manipulation, lifted a large number of broken walls and ruins out of thin air.

The many survivors below, seeing the light of day again, were immediately moved to tears. Those who still had the strength rushed out, while those who were too weak were quickly brought out by the rescuers.

After everyone was rescued, Adam withdrew his power, and the hundreds of heavy building debris in the air immediately crashed to the ground.

"Thank you for saving us!"

"Thank God!"

The saved people surrounded Adam to thank him, and a little girl looked at Adam with admiration and asked, "Brother, are you an angel?"

Adam smiled and reached out to wipe the dust off the little girl's face: "I'm not an angel, you are. Go and eat something."

The rescue team took the rescued people to a supply station; they had been trapped under the collapsed building for several days and needed to replenish their energy as soon as possible.

Adam watched the group leave, then looked away and said, "Let's go, to the next place."

Amanda looked at him worriedly: "Adam, you don't have much mental energy left, do you?"

"Well, we can only carry out one more rescue like this at most," Adam sighed. "I really envy Shadow. I wish I could be like him and store the mental energy transmitted by others."

"...That guy has so many strange abilities, I really don't know how he acquired them."

"Without more diverse abilities, you can't become the world's number one, haha."

"Adam, what do you think of the damage in North Star? I heard an elder mention yesterday that even though the earthquake in North Star was weakened, it still caused enormous destruction."

"Of course. Even if a magnitude 10 earthquake is reduced to one-tenth of its power, its destructive force is still astonishing. However, a large country like Beixing will definitely be able to withstand it. What deserves sympathy are those small countries; they should all be wiped out this time."

Amanda nodded. After this rule change, it would be good if the Federation of Peoples' Associations (FFPA) had ten member states left.

"However, everything has two sides, and this might be an opportunity," Adam said optimistically.

"Opportunity?"

"Yes, an opportunity for the rest of the world to truly integrate and connect."

……

France and the country.

During the magnitude 9 earthquake, there was a high-level change in the country.

The turmoil rendered much of the preparation made for a magnitude 10 earthquake useless, ultimately creating a chain reaction: as one of the major powers, its response to a magnitude 10 earthquake was worse than that of most smaller countries.

Without official organization, people fought almost entirely on a neighborhood-by-neighbor basis. This might be effective against small groups of enemies, but against natural disasters, it was tantamount to suicide.

Natural disasters don't care how strong your will is, nor how deep your bonds with your family and neighbors are.

There is only one enemy of natural disasters: organizational capacity.

Strong organizational skills will prevent a crushing defeat in battle against it.

Poor organizational skills will lead to utter defeat.

Because of the lack of timely official organization and collective evacuation, France lost over 90% of its population in this earthquake disaster.

The remaining population of just over a million lives are crammed into one or two large cities that have become wastelands, barely surviving.

Among them, there are hundreds of thousands of people in the capital, but without electricity, water and food, if these hundreds of thousands of people are not organized in time, their numbers will only continue to decrease due to secondary disasters.

However, at this moment, a large number of people were prostrate on the ground at the ruins of the French National Collection.

At the far end of the crowd was a throne belonging to the first king of France, which was hundreds of years old.

At this moment, a person sits atop this national cultural relic, enjoying the worship of the prostrate crowd below.

"This country...is mine now."

The man sitting on the throne had a sinister and twisted smile on his face.

……

In the former territory of the Dai State, now the new homeland of the Yingqi Kingdom, people gaze in the direction of their old homeland, their faces filled with bewilderment and sorrow.

News has arrived that our home island was torn apart and sank in the earthquake. All the people and things on the island have been submerged in the sea and are now an irretrievable memory.

This left the surviving Sakuragi people feeling utterly lost and bewildered. Many who didn't die in the earthquake ended up committing suicide by jumping into the sea afterward, overwhelmed by their inner turmoil.

The remaining people, though in pain, also felt a sense of gratitude towards the decision-makers. If they hadn't acted decisively and chosen to relocate the entire population from the very beginning of the rules, not only would the island have disappeared, but the entire Sakura Kingdom would have vanished.

As long as there are still many Sakuragi people alive, the country has not perished and can be reborn through hard work.

However, some of Sakura Inori's original ambitions were completely shattered by this earthquake.

When Yagi no Yukari received the news that the Chosen One instructor, Kitenjo, had committed seppuku, she was not particularly surprised.

She knew that for Mu Tiancheng, the rules of the apocalypse were not a disaster, but rather an opportunity. It was an opportunity, if seized properly, for Yingqi to surpass Beixing and Soroma and become the world's number one superpower.

But after this disaster, having lost her home and more than 80% of her population, Sakura Inori had no chance of reaching the top. In despair, Mokutenjo's suicide was an inevitable choice after her ambitions were shattered.

As for what will happen to Sakura Inori next, whether the Chosen Ones will disband after losing Mokuten City, and how the Divine Child will arrange things for them, she doesn't know and doesn't care.

Just like when she handed the fragments to Guan Tong, the only meaning behind that action for her was to prevent the latter from wreaking havoc on the island. But deep down, she knew that it was just an excuse.

In reality, she didn't care much about those people's lives, not even her own. She knew Guan Tong had seen this out back then, which is why she was a nihilist.

But isn't life just an emptiness? Yamata no Yukari thought to herself, when someone came to deliver a message, saying that the divine child summoned her.

……

Shi Jingyi felt a sharp pain between her eyebrows and slightly opened her eyes.

Guan Tong's young face gradually became clearer in my vision.

"You're finally awake." She saw Guan Tong breathe a sigh of relief and said.

Shi Jingyi frowned and asked, "How long have I been unconscious?"

As she spoke, she tried to sit up, but found herself extremely weak and powerless, only able to barely lift her head and lean against the headboard.

"It's been more than three days." Guan Tong said, handing her a glass of water. "I gave you more than twenty kinds of medicines and props that I bought at the market, and they've finally worked."

Shi Jingyi took a few sips of water and smiled slightly, "So much? It must have cost a lot of Ascension Coins."

"It will cost us everything to wake you up," Guan Tong said. "After all, you were injured while trying to help me."

Upon hearing this, Shi Jingyi's eyes sharpened: "Do you know who the attacker is?"

"Yes, it's a criminal organization I offended before. The leader is likely a high-ranking official. I've taken care of all the people who came to attack me personally, and I won't let the leader get away with it either. I'll definitely take her down soon."

Although Guan Tong didn't seem to have any gnashing hatred in his expression, Shi Jingyi could still sense the determination in his calm tone.

She knew that although Guan Tong was young, she was very stubborn and bold. She had noticed this from their first meeting in the industrial park.

"How are you feeling now?" Guan Tong asked.

Shi Jingyi closed her eyes slightly, as if examining herself through some method.

A moment later she opened her eyes and shook her head slightly: "There seems to be something wrong with my head."

"Inside the head?"

Guan Tong tensed up upon hearing this.

The brain is the most delicate part of the human body; even a small problem there can be a major issue.

"Don't worry, it's nothing serious. It just might take some time to recover."

"That's good……"

"Speaking of which, where am I?"

Shi Jingyi looked around the room. It was a very simple room, and it didn't look like a hospital room at all.

“This is my refuge,” Guan Tong said. “Because I was afraid someone might do something sabotage me, I didn’t send you to a hospital or anything like that.”

Shi Jingyi smiled and said, "It can't be that bad."

"It's better to be safe than sorry," Guan Tong said. "But now that you're awake, it's definitely up to you where you go."

Shi Jingyi thought for a moment and asked, "What is the situation in Yong'an after the earthquake?"

"not too good."

Although Yong'an, as the capital, is not close to the earthquake epicenter, it is still a low-altitude city and was hit by the massive flood caused by the tsunami.

“Yongan was flooded. However, I heard that the shelters there were built to the highest standards and the drainage system was quite advanced, so a large number of people survived and the city did not collapse completely like other cities hit by floods.”

"Also, I heard on the radio not long ago that the official departments of Yong'an have been temporarily relocated to Pinglu City, and places like colleges will also be moved there."

“Pinglu,” Shi Jingyi said with a smile. “I know it. It’s a high-altitude city in the west. It’s quite famous because it’s called ‘Pinglu’ despite its high altitude.”

“Yes. This city was quite lucky; it suffered almost no damage, so the government departments have temporarily moved there. They might move back someday after the floodwaters recede,” Guan Tong said.

"By the way, the academy."

Shi Jingyi felt a headache coming on.

"Given my current condition, I'm afraid it's inconvenient for me to teach for the time being. It will take at least three or four months to adjust, and during that time, regarding the curriculum..."

Guan Tong looked at Shi Jingyi, who looked troubled, and suggested, "How about I become your teaching assistant for a while and teach in your place?"

A long time ago, Shi Jingyi had mentioned on the phone that she wanted Guan Tong to be her course teaching assistant, but Guan Tong did not agree at the time.

But now, Guan Tong felt a bit guilty towards Shi Jingyi. In addition, his "home" had also been destroyed by the earthquake, and he had nowhere to go for the time being, so it wouldn't hurt to teach her for a few months.

Upon hearing this, Shi Jingyi looked at him in surprise: "You're going to take my class?"

Do you think I'm not capable enough?

"No, that's not it. Your understanding of the flow of mental energy is already quite profound, so teaching new students shouldn't be a problem. However, don't you dislike this kind of thing? There's no need to force yourself to do it."

Guan Tong shook her head: "It's not really coercion, it's just something I could do or not do. And although I cooperated with the authorities to handle the rules this time, I haven't revealed my identity, so the authorities don't know that 'Shadow's' real identity is Guan Tong, so it's not a big deal."

Shi Jingyi pondered for a moment and nodded, "Alright, then you can take care of him for a few months. I'll contact the dean later and recommend you to him in a few days, so that if he knows that I and 'Shadow' were attacked at the same time and finds out that I recommended you as soon as I woke up, he won't connect the two of you."

"Okay, that's it."

"Hmm. Guan Tong, I have another question to ask you."

"what?"

Shi Jingyi turned her head to look at the flowing seawater outside the window.

"Is your shelter built at sea?"

(End of this chapter)