Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 254 Before the Oath and the Action

In the days following the release of Rule Thirteen, instances of people carelessly lying and violating the rule due to habit occurred frequently around the world.

Even within North Star's domestic borders, despite the official white paper being updated shortly after the rules were released, many people still failed.

Moreover, almost every day online, you can see many people who were originally close relationships break down because they couldn't help asking each other private questions.

It's hard to say what these people are thinking; perhaps they believe that knowing the answers to these questions is more important than the relationship itself.

Fortunately, people quickly got used to it. After all, living in this era for a long time, many people will develop some mental problems to varying degrees.

After the rule of "eliminating the five senses" is completed, many people may appear to have recovered, but in reality, they are very prone to stress reactions when they encounter anything amiss.

For example, many people developed claustrophobia after that rule was implemented.

In more severe cases, they are even unable to fall asleep in the dark and can only doze off with the lights on. They are also frequently startled awake and cannot get a full night's sleep.

With so many people in mentally unstable states, it's hardly surprising what might happen.

However, after several days of discussion, people have come up with an optimal solution to obtain double the reward.

The optimal solution is to establish the truth contract on the last day of the rule, or even in the last minute.

Based on currently available information, there is no stipulation regarding how long a True Word Contract must be established before receiving double rewards after the rules expire.

This creates room for exploiting bugs.

By establishing a contract at the last minute, you can obtain double the reward with minimal risk.

After seeing this "optimal solution", Guan Tong thought it was feasible.

Because the hidden rules he saw did not mention any contract time requirements.

Even so, he will still follow his original plan.

On the fifth day after the rules were released, Xu Xiaotian called Guan Tong to inquire about them.

"Brother Tong, do you have someone in mind to establish a truth contract for this rule?"

"I don't plan to establish it," Guan Tong said. "What, Xiaotian, do you want to find someone to establish a contract?"

Xu Xiaotian asked in surprise, "Brother Tong, you're not going to create it? You don't want the double reward?"

"I prefer to play it safe, so I'll pass."

"Oh, okay then. A colleague of mine was discussing with me about forming a contract, so I called to ask about your situation, Brother Tong. If you're short-staffed, I'll definitely prioritize pairing you with someone, haha."

Guan Tong smiled and said, "If you want to establish a relationship with me, I'm afraid you might accidentally make a mistake."

He didn't say anything like "thank you, no need." After all, he had excluded Xu Xiaotian for this very reason; if he had said anything else, it would have been lying and breaking the rules.

“Uh…” Xu Xiaotian was a little embarrassed. “Well, I do tend to be confused.”

"Alright. If you want to establish a contract with your colleague, don't rush to do it now. Wait until the last day of the rules, or even the last minute or two, to establish it."

"Yeah, I know. It's been said online, it's called exploiting a rule bug!"

"That's good."

"Then I won't bother you any longer, Tong-ge. Let's talk later!"

After hanging up the phone, Guan Tong looked at the computer screen in front of her.

The above is a chat log between him and "Desperate" over the past few days using another account.

The Shadow: "What conditions do you want me to meet before you'll give me information about Jiang Lanying's location?"

At the end of the road: "One million Ascension Coins, and the stationmaster's personal guarantee."

The shadow himself: "What guarantee?"

At my wit's end: "I guarantee that I will not be pursued by the authorities again, and that they will forgive everything I have done in the past."

Shadow himself: "Do you think the site administrator has this kind of influence over the official channels?"

At the end of his rope: "Yes. The station chief can obtain hidden information about the rules of the apocalypse, which is his greatest asset. If we use it as a bargaining chip to exchange for the personal freedom of a nobody like me, the authorities will definitely compromise."

The Shadow Person: "How can I be sure the information you provided is accurate? Are you right next to Jiang Lanying?"

At the end of his rope: "Yes, I was one of her entourage."

The shadow himself: "I will contact you later."

The conversation temporarily ended there. After learning that "Desperate Situation" was right next to "Big Sister" Jiang Lanying, Guan Tong had an idea.

That is to use reverse network tracing to locate the device used by this "desperate" login account.

He had previously tried to use this positioning to find out who was trying to smear him and spread rumors that he was involved in some kind of "deification project".

At the time, he was busy dealing with the earthquake disaster. Later, Shi Jingyi was injured, and in order to repay this kindness, he came to the academy to teach in her place.

This left them with too many people to spare, and the investigation was temporarily put on hold.

But now he feels the plan can be restarted.

His idea was to locate all the devices that needed to be located during the period of this rule. Once the rule ended, Shi Jingyi would return to the academy and personally go to each of them to resolve the issues that needed to be addressed.

As for any kind of "guarantee," he would never provide that.

In his eyes, whether it was his eldest sister or this "desperate" accomplice, they were all birds of a feather, and eliminating them would be doing the people a favor.

at the same time.

In the northern border region of Beixing, in an abandoned town, seven or eight young women are standing outside a house.

These young women share striking similarities: all have short hair, slender figures, and a capable demeanor.

It's clear from them that the eldest sister has a unique fondness for this type of woman.

"The commander has been alone in the room for more than ten minutes. I hope nothing bad has happened."

After Jiang Lanying went into the room and closed the door, she didn't come out, which made the people waiting outside increasingly anxious.

"Could it be that the commander...?" someone asked worriedly.

“No way!” another woman immediately interrupted. “What storms hasn’t the commander weathered in her decades of life? How could she easily admit defeat?”

“That’s right. If the commander were so fragile, he wouldn’t have led us here.”

As they were talking, the door opened from the inside.

The commander they spoke of, Jiang Lanying, slowly walked out.

She was still dressed in simple clothes, her white hair neatly combed, looking no different from when she held great power in the past.

Only upon close inspection can one vaguely discern signs of fatigue in the wrinkles on her cheeks.

"Didn't I tell you all to rest? What are you all doing standing at the door?" Jiang Lanying said, waving her hand. "Go and rest."

"Yes, Commander!" The young women each found a place to sit down, drink water, and rest.

One of the women remained standing beside Jiang Lanying, and then asked, "Commander, what should we do next? Should we leave the country?"

The other women also looked over, their eyes filled with the same curiosity.

Jiang Lanying nodded: "Leaving the country is certain. The reason we were able to escape smoothly from deep within Beixing territory to here is only because Beixing's armed forces were busy with disaster relief; otherwise, we would probably have been intercepted halfway."

“But now the relocation of earthquake victims is almost complete, and the freed-up manpower will definitely be sent to hunt us down. We must leave the border before those people find us... But don’t worry, I have already contacted our accomplices.”

The contact person?
The women looked at each other, all with puzzled expressions.

As the commander's bodyguards, the people closest to him, they were completely unaware that he had accomplices abroad.

“It’s normal that you don’t know,” Jiang Lanying said. “I only contacted this person recently and agreed on the payment before he agreed to take us to a safe place.”

A woman couldn't help but ask, "Commander, who is this contact person?"

Jiang Lanying did not reply immediately. Instead, she slowly scanned all her trusted guards with a calm yet intimidating gaze.

"Before I tell you, I want to make sure no one will betray me."

Upon hearing this, one of the women was startled, but she quickly controlled her expression, remaining as resolute as the others, without revealing any weakness.

“Since this rule exists, you can all swear to me,” Jiang Lanying said. “Swear that you won’t betray me. Don’t do it all at once; I want to hear it from each of you individually.”

"Yes!"

Whoever Jiang Lanying approached, that person would solemnly swear: "I swear that I will never, and will never, have any thought of betraying the Commander."

Soon, when it was the woman's turn, she took a deep breath and said with unwavering determination, "I will never betray the commander."

Her performance was impeccable, and Jiang Lanying nodded in agreement, without any doubt.

Only the woman herself felt a sudden emptiness in her heart after making the vow.

She knew she had broken the rules by lying.

She will be punished after the rule period ends.

But she did it without hesitation because she knew that as long as she could survive, that was all that mattered.

Even if I can never speak the truth again, with a million Ascension Coins and the guarantee from the Ascensionist's Home administrator, survival won't be a problem. And if I can live long enough, there might be a chance in the future to erase the rule's penalties…

After all the girls had taken their oaths, Jiang Lanying's expression relaxed considerably.

Even though these girls were her trusted confidantes whom she had trained since childhood, and could even be considered her loyal followers, they were now in a situation of hiding and running away, and it was hard to guarantee that some of them wouldn't have other ideas.

Now that there are rules and an extra layer of protection, she feels much more at ease.

"Now, I can tell you who the contact is. You'll never expect it."

……

Countermeasures Research Office, Dormitory Area.

Silver Fox of the Dragon Soul Squad is currently in the room of Wang Yan and her daughter Chen Na.

"Nana, are you really going?" Wang Yan looked at her daughter with concern. "You're so young, I'm really worried about you participating in such a dangerous operation."

Chen Na shook her head: "Mom, it will be very safe with Sister Silver Fox and the others with us."

“Yes,” said Silver Fox, who was standing to the side. “Sister Wang, we will all protect Xiao Na.”

"But……"

Wang Yan hesitated.

Regarding this mission, all she knew was that the authorities were hunting down a group of important fugitives. The identities of the fugitives and their crimes were classified information that she could not be told.

The planners believed that Chen Na's wide-range, fine-grained perception ability might come in handy during the operation, so they included her in the team.

Chen Na accepted the offer without hesitation upon learning the news. However, her mother, Wang Yan, was somewhat resistant and unwilling for her daughter to undertake such a dangerous mission.

"Sister Silver Fox, can I talk to Mommy alone?"

"of course can."

After Silver Fox left the room, Chen Na said with unusual calm, "Mom, I know you're worried about me. But when the authorities need me to demonstrate my value, I can't shirk it, because our safety and treatment are earned through this value."

Wang Yan looked at her daughter in surprise, never expecting that her young daughter would say such mature things.

"Nana, who...who told you these things?"

Chen Na shook her head: "No one told me, I came up with it myself."

"..."

Looking at her daughter's innocent face, Wang Yan couldn't help but feel a pang of sorrow.

At an age when children should be innocent and carefree, a series of disasters and changes caused by the arrival of the apocalypse rules have prematurely matured a child's mind. Isn't this another kind of cruelty?
"Mom knows." Wang Yan stopped trying to stop her, but hugged Chen Na and said, "Then you must protect yourself when you're on the mission."

"Yes, I will!"

A moment later, Chen Na came out of the room and said to Silver Fox, who was waiting in the corridor, "Sister Silver Fox, Mom has agreed to let me participate in the operation."

Silver Fox patted Chen Na's head: "Little Na, if you're scared, I can talk to the higher-ups and we won't let you go this time."

"No, since there's a possibility that my abilities might be used, I should do my part. Brother Xiao Guan once said that in this era, everyone should do what they can, so I don't want to stay in a safe base forever."

Upon hearing this, Silver Fox asked curiously, "Who is Brother Xiao Guan?"

"He's an older brother I met back when we were playing the 'June Snow' game. Actually, I should call him Brother Guan Tong, because my mom calls him Little Guan, and I was naughty back then, so I just followed suit..."

Before Chen Na could finish speaking, Silver Fox exclaimed in surprise, "Guan Tong? Could it be Guan Tong, the one who's temporarily taking over Shi Jingyi's teaching position at the academy? I didn't expect you two to know each other."

"Yes." Chen Na and Wang Yan had spoken with Guan Tong on the phone these past few days and knew that he was going to work as a lecturer at the academy. They admired him very much.

Mentioning Guan Tong, a look of longing appeared on her little face: "Brother Guan has helped my mother and me a lot, but we haven't seen each other for a long time."

Seeing Chen Na's dejected expression, Silver Fox thought for a moment and suggested, "Isn't he right here at the academy? How about I take you to see him tomorrow?"

"Really?" Chen Na was initially surprised, then frowned. "But I don't remember receiving any orders to leave the base without permission..."

Silver Fox chuckled: "Silly girl, we're about to embark on a dangerous mission. It's just a pre-departure meeting; the higher-ups will definitely approve."

"That's great! Thank you, Sister Silver Fox."

"Alright, I'll report to my superiors. You should call your brother Guan and tell him you're going to see him. Ask him to make time in advance so we don't have to make a wasted trip."

"Okay! I'll go make the call right now!"

　Dear readers, please note: Due to my lack of experience as a new writer, I have only recently understood the changes and rules of the full attendance policy. Therefore, subsequent chapters will be approximately 4000 words each, with 2-3 chapters updated daily, totaling 8000-12000 words.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)