Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 274 After collecting a sum of money

"Hello everyone, this is North Star News Flash."

The following are the key news items for today.

"1. The 'Doomsday Rules Management Regulations' have been officially promulgated; 2. Astronauts selected by the member states of the Consortium to participate in the Terra immigration program have been confirmed and will soon begin intensive training; 3. The Fourteenth Doomsday Rule is about to be released, along with official suggestions and reminders..."

On November 28th, the daily news flash broadcast at 12 noon in Beixing Kingdom continued as usual.

Although people nowadays tend to get the latest news from various online platforms and forums, some more traditional people, or those who find the information on social media platforms chaotic and noisy, still prefer to watch news channels that integrate important news.

Today's news flashes are undoubtedly significant, with both the release of new laws and plans for space colonization being of great interest to the general public.

"In order to reasonably and legally protect the rights and interests of all citizens, the authorities have officially passed a resolution to introduce the 'End-of-Day Rules Management Law'."

"The 'End-Times Rules Management Law' is the first legal regulation in my country concerning end-times rules and Ascended beings. It includes provisions that are directly relevant to the general public, such as the 'Crimes of Violating End-Times Rules,' the 'Regulations on Restraining the Behavior of Ascended Beings,' and the 'Regulations on the Management of Psychic Power-Related Items.'"

"The detailed contents of the laws and regulations have been made public through various official channels, which can be viewed there. We also urge all citizens to abide by the new laws. Those who violate the law will be dealt with seriously in accordance with the law, and we are determined to safeguard the safety and interests of the people in this special era."

"Below is information about the Terra immigration program."

"A total of two manned rockets are scheduled to launch this time: Beixing's 'Dreamboat-1' and Solmar's 'Imperial Pioneer'. In addition to their own astronauts, each manned rocket will carry 5-8 astronauts from the Confederate States of America member states."

"The launch date is set for December 27th, and the entire launch process will be broadcast live. Please stay tuned."

"Next is..."

The news anchor paused abruptly before finishing speaking, listening intently to the content in his earpiece. He then announced seriously, "We have an urgent report: a massive explosion has occurred in the central area of ​​Antu, Yingqi. It is suspected that someone has detonated a super explosive device."

The news footage switched to the scene in downtown Antu, where most of the street was charred black, with wisps of gray smoke rising continuously, and ambulances and fire trucks with sirens blaring drove into the street one after another.

"Currently, Sakura Inori's official statement indicates that the explosive device is still unknown, and whether the explosion was intentional is under investigation. This program will continue to monitor the situation and provide timely updates to our viewers..."

……

At the scene of the explosion in Antu City, firefighters were busy extinguishing the fire, while paramedics were rescuing survivors from the building.

At this moment, several black official cars drove in, and some men and women wearing coats with the words "Case Handling" written on them got out.

"The explosive was that powerful? It almost wiped out half the street."

"It doesn't look like a natural explosion; someone must have deliberately detonated an explosive device."

"What's the purpose? There's nothing particularly important on this street."

"It could be a demonstration. Although there are no important targets on the street, it is a street with heavy traffic, so making an explosion here would attract more attention."

"Protests need to be held accountable... No organization has claimed responsibility for the bombing yet, right?"

"Everyone, keep your mouth shut," the officer in charge of the investigation said. "Everyone, go and investigate carefully. First, determine what the explosive device was—was it conventional explosive or some kind of psychic tool? Then determine if it was deliberate."

"Yes!"

The investigators dispersed and conducted their own investigations.

Some of them are still using traditional investigation methods, while others are using their own abilities or tools to assist them.

The officer, witnessing the horrific scene, suspected the incident might be related to the Ascended Ones. Prior to the explosion, someone had called the police to report a car explosion.

However, before the official police arrived, the explosion occurred, and a large amount of evidence and traces at the scene were erased by the explosion and are difficult to restore.

"Commander Yoshino! I've found something here!"

An officer beckoned, and Yoshino walked over. The officer was wearing gloves and holding several steel balls in his hand.

"Steel balls?"

Yoshino picked one up and examined it carefully.

The steel ball looked ordinary, but it didn't seem like something that would just appear in this place out of nowhere.

"Put it in the evidence bag and check the DNA information when we get back."

"Yes."

"Commander Yoshino, this is a sketch I drew after using my ability." Another female investigator handed over a quick sketch, which depicted a person in the center of the explosion, with their arms wrapped around themselves.

After examining it, Yoshino asked, "It seems we can confirm that it was an explosive device detonated intentionally. This posture..."

This female investigator possesses the mental ability of "profiling," which allows her to reconstruct previous scenes to the greatest extent possible based on the circumstances at the scene.

“Yes, the posture is wrong.” The investigator said uncertainly, “My abilities should not be wrong. It seems that when the explosion occurred, there should have been a second person at the point of detonation, but there was no trace at the scene… It’s really puzzling.”

“A second person,” Yoshino nodded. “Unless that person used a teleportation device to leave instantly, it’s impossible to escape the blast radius in such a short time.”

"Yes."

"We must extract all available DNA from the scene and identify all those involved in this bombing."

……

Guan Tong's refuge is located in an abandoned warehouse in a remote area of ​​Antu City.

He was in his room at the moment, connecting Wu Wang's camera to his computer to view his videos.

The camera contained hundreds of videos of varying sizes, most of which included elements such as "exploding metal objects," "terrified expressions," and "fleeing crowds."

The element of "exploding metal objects," in particular, is something Wu includes in every video. While this exposes his abilities, it also serves as a selling point for his videos. After all, explosions, especially realistic ones, have always been popular with humans. Otherwise, explosion scenes wouldn't be a standard feature in various action movies.

The more Guan Tong watched these videos, the more horrified she became.

Because each video contains at least one victim of the explosion, and some videos even contain dozens or hundreds, it is enough to demonstrate the evil nature of Wu Wang and his gang.

After watching these videos, Guan Tong even felt a little regretful.

I regret killing this group too quickly; they should have suffered more before they died.

Of these videos, there were three that he paid particular attention to.

One is a hospital scene, which appears to take place during the Blood Plague rules.

Wu pretended to be an infected person and filmed the process from a first-person perspective as the infected rushed into the hospital, tried to seize the serum of the blood virus adaptees, and clashed with armed soldiers.

Another video is of Wu Wang and his gang attacking Lado's convoy. It records the whole process, up until Lado was knocked unconscious.

The last one is also related to Lado. It seems that after being severely tortured, he handed over all his Ascension Coins and items. After all the value was squeezed out, Wu used him to film one last video, which was titled "The Prince's Exploding Flesh Bomb".

Guan Tong glanced at it; the content described how Wu instructed his subordinates to force Lado to swallow several steel balls, and then detonated them using his ability.

Even though Guan Tong and Lado had a grudge, seeing his tragic death made it impossible for her to feel happy.

However, he managed to eliminate this group of people today, even though the process was somewhat brutal. It was better than letting Wu survive and then carry out the demolition.

As for these videos...

Guan Tong's first reaction was to delete it, but after thinking about it, he felt that he could hand it over to the Beixing official.

There are two reasons.

First, after the authorities watched the video about Lado, they realized that "Shadow" was wronged and that the deaths of Lado and others had nothing to do with him.

Secondly, although most of the victims in the later parts of these hundreds of videos were Antai people, the victims in the early parts, up until the Blood Plague Rules, were mostly Beixing people.

These victims of the North Star tragedy may still have living relatives who have the right to know who killed their loved ones. This way, once the authorities obtain the video footage, they can identify the perpetrators through victim identification and reveal the truth.

After making her decision, Guan Tong packaged all the videos into a single file and then sent it to an official account used for collecting information from the public.

He didn't release it immediately because he felt that once the authorities got the video, they would most likely conclude that the explosion in Antu City was related to Wu Wang and might assist Ying Qi in conducting a wide-ranging investigation.

Guan Tong herself is currently in Antu City, and to avoid any additional trouble, it's best to wait for a time difference.

Then, after thinking for a moment, he took something out of the storage box—a gold card the size of a palm.

This is an "indestructible" item that Wu dropped after he died. Guan Tong immediately sent Shadow to retrieve it after discovering it.

The effect of this card is to create a light shield that has been protecting Wu from shadow attacks during the battle.

[Gilded Guardian]: When this item is placed in a storage box, it will automatically generate a light shield defense when the holder is attacked by mental energy. The defense limit is ten times the holder's maximum mental energy. Each light shield defense lasts for 10 seconds and consumes a fixed 5% of mental energy. This item is tradable and cannot be destroyed.

"No wonder Wu said this was a top-tier defensive item he got from Lado... its effects are indeed quite good."

Most defensive items have limited defensive effects and will be destroyed after being hit by a powerful attack.

This item's defensive limit is ten times the holder's maximum mental power. For example, when Guan Tong wields this item, an enemy would need to unleash nearly ten thousand points of mental power to break through its defenses.

Currently, very few solo Ascendants can achieve this; it can only be accumulated by multiple people attacking together.

Moreover, the fixed 5% cost each time isn't too high, and at most it can defend against twenty attacks consecutively. Each attack lasts 10 seconds, so that adds up to a full 200 seconds, or more than three minutes.

If the enemy is unaware of these detailed values, and after attacking for ten or fifteen seconds or half a minute without any effect, they may give up.

Guan Tong put it into the storage box. Although he was unlikely to use it, it was always good to have an extra layer of protection.

"Woo-wah-woo ...

Another siren blared from the street outside. Guan Tong thought that the sirens hadn't stopped since he came back, probably because the explosion had caused too much damage.

That makes sense; half the street was destroyed, so the casualties must have been high. Sakura Inori has only lived here for a few months; she'll definitely investigate a case of this magnitude thoroughly.

Guan Tong opened a news website and saw that, sure enough, the bombing had made headlines and Yingqi's official spokesperson had issued a statement.

"...We have dispatched a team of professionals to investigate the incident and will release the results as soon as possible. This explosion caused significant casualties among the citizens of Sakuragi. If it is determined to be deliberate, those involved will be severely punished!"

"Hmm...it probably won't be easy to find out the truth," Guan Tong thought to herself after reading the announcement.

The scene was almost entirely destroyed by the explosion, especially Wu Wang, who detonated himself, leaving not a trace. Guan Tong himself, having remained inside his shadow armor throughout the entire operation and later remotely commanding the battle, would leave no trace of himself at the scene.

As for the major casualties... they were caused by Wu Wang, and Guan Tong did not think he had done anything wrong.

Just as he would not accept Wu's use of other people as hostages to threaten him, the perpetrators should bear the consequences of their own crimes.

"In this way, the debt was collected."

Guan Tong still has three of the four debts to collect. The creditor for the next debt is the person who originally decided to bomb him, according to Ying Qi's side.

To find the specific person, he first needed to locate Orochi Murasaki, who was under house arrest, and obtain some information from her.

He pondered for a moment and decided to wait two days.

After the fourteenth apocalyptic rule is released, the next action plan will be arranged according to the content of the rule.

(End of this chapter)