Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 27 Competition and Challenges

"Infiltration risk?"

As soon as Gao Liangwei finished speaking, many researchers in the conference room looked at each other in bewilderment.

We looked at each other, completely confused.

Seeing this, Gao Liangwei explained, "Everyone here is in the Countermeasures Research Office, and you all have access to the latest first-hand information. You should all know that since the end-of-the-world rules came into effect, dozens of countries around the world have perished."

"The demise of these countries meant the loss of not only countless citizens, but also their precious culture, heritage, and history. Our Northern Star Kingdom must never fall into the same trap. Therefore, if we are to train a team to fight for our country, the backgrounds of the team members must be absolutely unquestionable."

"..."

The researchers remained silent; their task was to study the rules. But Gao Liangwei, the person in charge with a military background, undoubtedly had more responsibilities.

"I think you all know that I come from the military, so protecting our country is my top priority. Just imagine, if we were to use up all the country's resources to cultivate a hidden enemy, how much damage and loss would that cause to the country?"

"Therefore, the backgrounds of personnel must be strictly screened. Do you have any further questions?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"Dr. Zhang, please continue."

“Okay.” Dr. Zhang organized his thoughts and continued, “Regarding the personnel requirements for this team, I think a mental strength of over 100 to achieve an excellent rating is a necessary condition. I won’t go into the details of the others.”

"What I really want to talk about is how to strengthen this team. Based on the current three rules, since the Firebringers select humans through extreme methods, we can learn from them and use extreme training to cultivate our team members."

"In other words, in addition to facing the challenges of the rules, the team members also have to accept the extreme survival challenges we set. This will not only enhance their adaptability, but I believe it will also accelerate the improvement of their mental strength."

“I see,” Gao Liangwei said. “The military does have a lot of extreme training programs used to cultivate top special forces soldiers. Now we can put them to use.”

Dr. Zhang agreed, saying, "Some extreme training methods in the military have been proven effective by soldiers and can indeed be used."

Then someone asked, "Is it necessary to train in small teams? Everyone's situation is different, wouldn't individual training be better?"

“No,” Gao Liangwei said decisively. “The ‘team’ option was clearly included in the previous update to the personal terminal’s ‘social’ function. It’s clear that we will definitely need it later, so we should train our personnel in a team mode from the very beginning.”

"That's true..."

“There’s another point,” Dr. Zhang added. “One of the rewards in this third rule is an ‘Invitation to the First Ascended Challenge’.”

"This kind of thing, which has a clear competitive element, means that there may be direct confrontations between people in the future. The outcome of the confrontation may also have a lot of impact, so starting specialized training now is a necessary preparation for competition."

Everyone seems to agree with that.

Since it's called a "challenge," it means it's a competition, and competitions involve rivalry and winners/losers.

This differs from the first hidden rule, the one about knocking out others to obtain sobering candy. That rule was less about competition and more about the malice of the fire-stealers. The purpose was to entice people to attack others in order to obtain survival tools.

Gao Liangwei nodded: "Dr. Zhang is right. Whether it's for the final apocalyptic operation or for the competition that's not far off, we need to immediately form a special team and train the personnel."

"Therefore, we will add a discussion item to this meeting: the selection conditions and requirements for team members other than the maximum mental strength."

……

"I'm not afraid of these new rules."

After the third apocalyptic rule was announced, Liu Yuqiang thought to himself.

He grew up hungry. His family was poor when he was a child and they couldn't afford to eat. He often ate only a pancake a day to get by.

Later, when he went to university, he often ate only one meal a day to save money, or even just had some porridge in the cafeteria. Although this made Liu Yuqiang sick a few times, it also helped him develop the ability to withstand hunger. So when he saw the new rules, he thought he didn't need to buy food boxes from the store and could manage on his own.

Unlike him, his children, having grown up in privileged circumstances, naturally could not bear the taste of hunger.

The son called specifically to ask, "Dad, is there any information about hidden rules?"

Liu Yuqiang: "Didn't the official statement say that we can buy food boxes to help us out?"

"What's there to buy? I don't have any Ascension Coins. I didn't even run the marathon rules, how could I possibly finish it?"

"..."

"What I want is a hidden rule similar to 'Clarifying Peppermint' that doesn't require spending coins. Dad, you have many connections, ask around, maybe you can find one."

Upon hearing this, Liu Yuqiang really wanted to curse.

He had previously told his son and daughter that no one was allowed to mention the first hidden rule or the "sobering mint" incident again.

Because it was obtained through murder, which is not honorable at all!
Liu Yuqiang didn't want his child to have no respect for human life. He knew that if his child became like that, he would definitely suffer greatly in the future and might never be able to get back up.

But in the end, he held back from cursing, because cursing over the phone wouldn't make any difference.

After hanging up, he subconsciously opened the Qingmei Club's dedicated chat app.

Many people in the group, like his son, were asking about the hidden rules.

"Where's Brother Zhao? Do you have any connections regarding the latest rule?"

"The official announcement says you can buy boxes with Ascendant Coins, but I don't have any Ascendant Coins, what should I do?"

"Me neither. My mental energy diminished after the second rule, and now I only have 3 points left. If it diminishes further, will it go to zero?"

"Is there also a possibility of it resetting to zero?"

"I don't know!"

"Where is Brother Zhao? Why hasn't he come out to speak?"

Liu Yuqiang looked at the message. The member who posted "almost zero" was the one who got through the first rule by eating sobering mints.

Because he ate too much sugar, he ended up only getting a single-digit mental power limit despite passing the rules.

The second marathon rule failed, and after decay, it became the current 3 points.

If it decays further...

Liu Yuqiang was also curious: would it go straight to zero?
As for the "Chairman of Hengyun Real Estate - Zhao Jiping" that everyone in the group is asking about, over the past few days, everyone has learned the source of his information.

It turns out that he has a younger brother who is a top researcher and has been recruited by the government into the Countermeasures Research Lab.

This younger brother, working in the research lab, had access to firsthand research data and experimental results. Furthermore, he violated confidentiality regulations by privately disclosing this information to Zhao Jiping.

However, as the management of the research lab became increasingly strict, the opportunities to leak secret information privately became fewer and fewer, and each time there was a great risk involved.

After more than ten minutes, Zhao Jiping finally spoke under the urging of more than a dozen people.

"I asked my brother, and he said that apart from the food box rule, the countermeasures room hasn't found any other hidden rules yet. This time, everyone has to rely on themselves."

(End of this chapter)