Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 260 The Silent World

"did you find it?"

"There's nothing here; none of the various item-finding tools worked."

"Not even a trace of the body has been found? This is troublesome."

A massive, door-to-door search of the entire area surrounding Xun'an Town, involving thousands of miles, ended in failure.

Even with the use of various advanced equipment and special tools, no trace of Jiang Lanying could be found; she seemed to have vanished into thin air.

After the message was reported, an order was quickly issued to halt the search and for everyone to withdraw.

At this moment, in a ward at the Countermeasures Research Office base, Long Hun lay on the bed, recounting everything he had seen at the scene.

"So, you can't be sure whether 'Shadow' intends to use vigilante justice against the target or help the target leave the country?" Li Meng asked, sitting on the edge of the bed taking notes.

“Yes,” Dragon Soul said, “I can’t be sure.”

At the time, neither Jiang Lanying offered a reward nor Longhun asked Shadow whether he intended to use vigilante justice. Shadow did not give a definite answer.

Li Meng pushed up his glasses and speculated, "It seems that because of the rules, Shadow doesn't want you to know his true thoughts."

Both Li Meng and Long Hun knew that lying was impractical under the constraints of the Thirteenth Rule. Especially for an Ascended Being of Shadow's level, no amount of profit could justify violating the rules.

Therefore, not answering any questions directly is the best way to prevent others from knowing your true thoughts.

"I understand the situation." Li Meng patted Long Hun on the shoulder. "Take good care of your injuries. I'll be going now."

"Section Chief Li," Long Hun asked, "how will this matter be handled afterwards?"

"I can't make that decision either. But it's very risky for Shadow to do this, you should understand what I mean."

Dragon Soul nodded.

“However,” Li Meng changed the subject, “there are just too many things that defy common sense in this day and age. The environment is changing, people are changing, the world is changing… Perhaps soon what used to be big things will become small things, and small things will become big things.”

After Li Meng finished speaking, he left the ward. As Long Hun pondered these words, he could vaguely sense some of Li Meng's personal inclinations.

He closed his eyes, stopping his thoughts on the matter and instead reviewing his battle with Lucifer. He pondered how he could win if he could do it all over again—a method he often used to improve himself.

Meanwhile, in the refuge at the bottom of the canyon.

Guan Tong stood at the door, looking up at the sky, and let out a long breath.

"More than a year has finally come to an end."

From the moment he first encountered the kidnapping case at the beginning of the apocalypse, this old case, which had been entangled with him for so long, finally came to an end with the complete death of the mastermind behind it all.

Without her as the leader and her trusted subordinates trained to be like suicide soldiers, the entire evil chain should collapse. As for the Green Plum Society, which had long since become defunct, it has now become a thing of the past.

Guan Tong felt as if a stone that had been hanging in her heart had finally fallen to the ground, shattered into dust, and scattered in the wind.

He didn't take Jiang Lanying's last words to heart.

She kept repeating the same old thinking: "Although there may be infighting among nobles, if a commoner dares to challenge them, they should immediately abandon the infighting and unite to deal with the commoner first."

Considering her age, it's not surprising that she would believe in these things. Even if what she says is true, and there are people of similar status who would hate, despise, or even be unable to tolerate Guan Tong's actions, so what?

During the period governed by Rule Thirteen, Guan Tong avoided making definitive statements, fearing he might inadvertently violate the rules. Yet, in the end, he told Jiang Lanying, "Take down as many as you can," revealing his true thoughts without any concern about breaking the rules.

He welcomes anyone who wants revenge. The more such people are exposed, the better he can take them down; he believes that doing so will actually increase his own luck—good deeds are rewarded, after all.

Moreover, in this operation, besides the vengeful villains, he also discovered a major flaw in his Shadow Realm: the inability to prevent those trapped from using teleportation items to forcibly escape.

"The reason why you can use teleportation items to leave the Shadow Realm is essentially because the Shadow Realm is not a truly independent space."

Guan Tong pondered.

The Shadow Domain is essentially a series of nested shadows spread out without affecting the surrounding space. Therefore, those trapped within it are not restricted in their use of movement or teleportation items. "To correct this flaw, unless... unless the Shadow Domain truly becomes a small space detached from the real world, a real domain."

Guan Tong frowned. How could this be done?
He raised his palm, and the wordless book appeared in his hand.

Turning to the sixth page, the blood-red character "域" (domain) stood alone, written in his own blood.

"Should we try adding words?"

This has always been his practice: to increase or even change the intensity and nature of the materialized product of the book page by adding words.

But he hadn't added any words since the last time, because writing on the later pages required more effort. This wasn't just true for the first time; it was the same for subsequent additions.

Give it a try.

Guan Tong planned to add the word "space," but after just two strokes, his mental energy was completely depleted.

He stopped writing there, with no intention of expending his mental energy to continue.

In this battle against Lucifer, he quickly expended a large amount of his reserved mental energy to use the Shadow Domain, all in an effort to end the battle swiftly.

Otherwise, Lucifer, that birdman, would be constantly flying in the sky, and with his wings becoming even sharper than before, conventional attack methods wouldn't be very effective.

In terms of actual combat results, the effect was quite good. Lucifer's advantages had virtually no room to be utilized against the Shadow Domain, and he was completely suppressed.

Guan Tong's only regret was that he hadn't been able to kill Lucifer this time. Next time they met, maybe this guy would have figured out some ways to deal with his Shadow Domain.

However, every ascendant is constantly improving, and in this era, those who don't progress will be eliminated. Guan Tong won't slack off; he also needs to ensure that he has more advantages when he encounters that birdman again, so he won't stop developing and becoming stronger during this period.

The next period of time was calm.

Aside from attending classes every day, Guan Tong rarely speaks or publishes any text.

After the course ended, he returned to the shelter and continued adding words.

It's not just in reality that things are becoming increasingly silent; online, as time goes by, fewer and fewer people are actively speaking out.

Many of the people mentioned earlier were victims of inadvertently lying or violating online rules, mostly due to habitual sarcastic remarks and impersonation.

For example, comments like "You're so awesome!" or "Thank you [heart emoji]" may seem harmless, but the person posting the comment doesn't actually mean it that way. As a result, the challenge fails the moment the comment is posted because it violates the rules.

Some people were even more unlucky; they simply posted some edited photos online, which led to their failure in the challenge. It turns out that even if you know what you look like, posting edited photos can still be considered a "lie," something many people are completely unaware of.

Having learned from these past mistakes, netizens have become more discreet and stopped being troublemakers. They either remain silent or express their true feelings.

However, some people who have already broken the rules have completely given up. They fabricate outrageous rumors and use the rules to endorse themselves, saying things like, "The rules are above all, and everything I say is true."

The consequence of this was that after some rumors spread and expanded, the instigators who thought they were in the clear were quickly found by the authorities, given a lecture, and obediently issued a public apology and refuted the rumors.

Until late October, at the end of the rule period, the world almost entered an era of great silence, and everyone stopped speaking.

Because people become more cautious as the rules approach their end.

Nobody wants this to happen: after being careful for more than twenty days, all their previous efforts are wasted because of saying the wrong thing in the last few days.

Even those who had already broken the rules fell silent. They found that no matter who they spoke to, the other party responded with silence.

This atmosphere of profound silence created an unusual psychological pressure for everyone.

Even when Guan Tong went to class, she felt very depressed seeing all the students coming and going without saying a word.

If someone once envisioned a world where lying was forbidden, it would be a wonderful world where everyone could live authentically.

The reality now tells these people what the true outcome is.

A world where you can't lie will be a silent world.

(End of this chapter)