Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 270 Returning to an Old Place, But the People Are Different
Guanyu County, on the southern border of Beixing.

As Guan Tong walked down the street, she felt a sense of returning to a familiar place.

"here we go again."

Last year, when he first went abroad to Antu State, he came here first and then crossed the border into Antu City.

Just like when I last visited, this small county town was still deserted, and many houses and roads had collapsed due to the earthquake.

Unlike the last time she came, when Guan Tong reached the riverbank at the border demarcation line, she found that all the automatic sentry posts and guard posts were gone.

It must be because of the establishment of the Human Alliance.

Guan Tong thought to himself. He already knew that after the establishment of the Federation of Peoples, all member states opened their borders and withdrew their defenses.

This is actually a relaxed state for everyone, because the openness means, to some extent, that everyone has loosened restrictions on the military front.

Just as nations around the world establish various communication channels and regulatory organizations, emphasizing communication and consultation, a key reason is to minimize military spending and allocate more resources to developing science and technology and improving people's livelihoods.

Otherwise, if countries around the world are constantly on guard against each other, and the military competition escalates indefinitely, it will only lead to the devastation of people's livelihoods under the shadow of war.

Especially after entering the era of apocalyptic rules, the universally recognized enemy is the fire-stealers and the apocalyptic rules, not the same race of humankind.

This is why the Alliance of Peoples received such a strong response when it was first established. People spontaneously called that year the "Year One of the Alliance," which shows that the overall sentiment of humanity was that it did not want to continue fighting amongst itself.

In this context, individuals or organizations that still think about harming others are enemies of all humanity and must be resolutely cracked down on and eliminated.

Guan Tong is doing just that right now.

He may have been seeking personal revenge, but when the enemy is a threat to all of humanity, his revenge takes on a greater purpose and significance.

Standing on the riverbank, he looked across to Antu City, which was also affected by the earthquake, with many buildings collapsing.

However, in the past few months, the newly moved-in residents of Sakura have already repaired part of the damaged city.

After all, this is their new home after the island sank, and the sooner they get it ready, the more comfortable they can live here.

Guan Tong crossed the river and entered Antu City.

The city's name has not been changed, which is also a requirement of the People's Federation.

The land of extinct nations can be allocated to countries in need, but the original place names must be preserved. This is not only about respecting extinct peoples, but also about preserving as much cultural trace as possible.

Walking down the street, Guan Tong's first impression was one of desolation.

He remembered his first visit to the city, when the streets were filled with An Thai people. These people, who believed in living for the moment, were playing games and soliciting business in large numbers on the streets and alleys.

The Sakura Inori people who have moved in now have completely different personalities. They prefer staying in their residences rather than going out.

However, some distinctive decorations and flags of the Cherry Blossom Kingdom can be seen on the streets, and some buildings have been fitted with nameplates bearing the names of the homeowners, indicating that this land has a new inhabitant.

Guan Tong walked around casually for a while, made some observations, and then took out her phone from her pocket.

Accessing the Ascended Home website through the browser, the displayed account nickname is "Yama no Kuni," undoubtedly a newly created account, and the name is deliberately similar to Sakura Inori's.

His sole purpose in creating this account was to lure fish into taking the bait.

He opened his private messages, and the only contact was one of his targets, the account that had allegedly attacked the Rado team and spread rumors, with the nickname "Photography Art WW".

Two days ago, Guan Tong sent a message to the other party using a new account, expressing interest in the items that the latter wanted to sell at a low price and wanting to try to learn about and purchase them.

The other party replied quickly, saying there was no problem, but requested an offline transaction.

This suited Guan Tong perfectly. He pretended to be Ying Qiren, and she immediately replied that they should meet in Antu City.

The two parties agreed to meet on November 28, but the specific location has not yet been determined.

Today is November 27th. Guan Tong arrived a day early and is currently in Antu City, so she sent a private message to inquire.

Yamagami-kun: "Where will the transaction take place tomorrow?"

The other party replied to the message after some time.

Photography Art WW: "I will send you the specific address at 10 a.m. tomorrow. You can go there then."

Guan Tong could sense that this person was very cautious and unwilling to reveal his location, probably because he was worried that there was a trap on his side.

Just as a con artist is more wary of other con artists, if a person or their team is posing as a trader but actually committing robbery, they will naturally be wary of being double-crossed by other forces.

But things will be easier once we see the person tomorrow.

Guan Tong thought to himself that he wasn't afraid of what tricks the other party might play, but he was afraid that they would keep hiding and not showing themselves. Although he could locate the other party's device location through the website's backend, the location couldn't be accurate to the meter; he could only determine a general range.

Previously, when he used this method to search for people in "dead ends," it was relatively easy to find them. Because apart from Jiang Lanying and her gang hiding there, no one else lived there.

But Antu City is different now. A large number of Sakura people have migrated here, and the population density in the area is not low. It's difficult for Guan Tong to determine the account user's identity based solely on location. If they make a mistake and alert the suspect, that would be troublesome.

So he still resorted to fishing to meet her, making sure he could find the right person.

"However... it's easy to find this person, but it's probably not easy to find the official forces that made the decision to bomb me back then."

Guan Tong thought that he needed the help of people within Yingqi to find that group.

He already had a candidate for this insider: Orochi, who was under house arrest.

This snake-eyed woman was previously a key Ascendant being cultivated by the official Sakura Prayer team, but she was later placed under house arrest for unknown reasons. Guan Tong thought it was related to her handing over the fragments of Qimo Star, but she replied in a private message that it was only one of the reasons, not the main one.

But regardless, her being placed under house arrest means she is definitely no longer being given important responsibilities by the Sakura Inori authorities.

Guan Tong thought that if they could get her out, they should be able to learn about the bombing from her.

She must have known this, because only the person holding the fragment could sense the locations of the other fragments. In other words, it was she who revealed Guan Tong's location, leading to the latter being subjected to long-range bombardment.

The prerequisite for getting the person out is to find them first. According to the location tracking of the backend equipment, the device that Yagi-no-Murasaki used before was located in Banzhen City.

Ban Chin, as the capital of An Tai State, is more well-developed in all aspects. After the Kingdom of Yingqi relocates here, the government will definitely choose Ban Chin as the new capital, and all government departments will be located there.

Guan Tong pondered, "There's no need to do these two things at the same time. I'll meet with the target in Antu tomorrow and settle this debt first, then it won't be too late to go to Banzhen."

Moreover, tomorrow is the 28th, and the interval between the apocalypse rules will soon end. Three days later, on December 1st, the Firebringers will release the fourteenth apocalypse rule.

Nothing is more important than the rules, so Guan Tong plans to confirm the new rules before making any further arrangements.

"We've already reached rule fourteen... I remember the second Ascended Challenge would begin after rule fifteen, right?"

The ticket that Guan Tong had kept in her storage box for several months was finally about to be used. She wondered what the challenge would be like then, and whether it would be similar to the first one.

Without much thought, he turned and headed towards the edge of the city, intending to find a secluded place to put down his refuge.

……

A courtyard in Antu City.

More than ten people gathered here, some playing games and some boxing.

In a corner of the courtyard sat a young man wearing a hood. After the bald, burly man walked over, he saw the young man fiddling with a camera and was speechless.

Their boss is such a photography enthusiast that he always has his camera with him, no matter when or where he goes. I really don't know what's so interesting about filming.

Of course, these bald, burly men only dared to think it in their hearts; they would never dare to say it aloud. The only things they would say were flattering remarks like, "The filming was excellent," or "No wonder the boss has so many artistic talents."

"Boss, that sucker Yingqi has taken the bait," the bald, burly man reported. "I told him we'll meet tomorrow, and we can make another killing then!"

Just as Guan Tong guessed, this gang was doing business without any investment. They would use various methods to lure those with a lot of coins to meet, and then use violence to threaten and rob them after they met.

Their biggest stunt was ambushing Prince Rato of Antai Bang's convoy on his way to Beixing; they made a fortune from that.

"Ah."

The hooded youth gave a nonchalant reply, his eyes still fixed on the camera, muttering to himself, "This shot seems a bit overexposed; the client will probably give it a bad review."

Upon hearing this, the bald, burly man asked curiously, "Boss, are you selling movies again?"

He knew that this boss not only liked to take photos, but also sold them, and had quite a few customers despite the high prices.

"Yes, clients are urging me to release new work. Unfortunately, I don't have any good material lately."

"It's all because these newly moved-in Sakura people are all poor bastards," the bald, burly man complained. "Not many of them have much money, and once we catch them, they just beg for mercy. There's really nothing worth filming."

The hooded youth said casually, "Now we're just waiting for the fourteenth rule. If it's interesting, we might be able to shoot some decent footage."

"I'll take care of that sucker myself tomorrow, there's no need for you to go personally, boss."

"Okay. Alright, don't bother me anymore. I need to organize my materials. You go do your own thing."

The hooded man waved his hand casually, as if swatting a fly, but the bald, burly man dared not show the slightest dissatisfaction and obediently nodded: "Yes, boss."

Baldy knew that although he was very strong, he was far inferior to the hooded youth in terms of ability; otherwise, he would not have been willing to acknowledge the other as his boss.

Exploding metal... How come I don't have such an amazing ability? I'm so jealous!
(End of this chapter)