Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 284 The Power of the Orochi Bloodline
Ban Chin City Police Headquarters.

When Yoshino arrived with Suzuki, they found the place in complete chaos, no less than the police station in Antu City.

The two learned that the official administration building had been infiltrated by unknown individuals the day before, a high-ranking official was injured, and it seemed that an important person under house arrest had been rescued.

In terms of casualties, this incident pales in comparison to the Antu bombing. However, from the perspective of high-ranking officials, politically, ten bombings cannot compare to this infiltration.

The two sat in the lobby for over an hour before a sheriff came to inform them: "The superintendent wants you to go to his office."

Yoshino and Suzuki hurried over, and as soon as they entered, they saw the Director General of the Public Security Bureau sitting in front of the computer with a gloomy face.

After the two exchanged greetings, the director glanced at them and said, "Get to the point."

“Regarding that bombing, we would like to request more time for the investigation,” Yoshino said.

"This lady next to me is Detective Suzuki. Her analysis revealed that there might be a survivor at the scene connected to the case. To identify this person, we need to investigate their social connections. Because the perpetrator is from the North Star, we need to coordinate with relevant departments there, which will take a lot of time, so..."

"Alright." The director waved his hand impatiently. "I don't have time to deal with Antu's small case right now. You can do whatever you need to do."

Yoshino and Suzuki exchanged a glance.

This bombing was once a major case that garnered national attention, but now it has become a minor case, which shows just how important the incident that occurred in the administration building was.

"Thank you, Director. We'll head back now."

Yoshino originally thought he would have to talk a lot to extend the time, so he specially brought Suzuki along to explain the situation, but he didn't expect it to go so smoothly.

Just as the two were about to leave, the director suddenly called out to them.

"Wait a minute. Yoshino, you just said that this investigator who came with you used her abilities to discover clues at the explosion site?"

“Yes.” Yoshino looked at Suzuki, who then offered his explanation.

"Director, my ability is [profiling], which allows me to reconstruct, to a limited extent, what happened some time ago based on some traces at the scene."

Upon hearing this, the director's eyes lit up, and he slammed his hand on the table, saying, "Your name is Suzuki, right? You stay and assist with the case. Yoshino, you go back to Antu and continue investigating the bombing case."

Suzuki and Yoshino were both somewhat surprised to hear this.

Yoshino hesitated for a moment: "Director, Suzuki is an important member of our team, and her abilities are helpful in the investigation. We need..."

"Is your case more important than mine?" the director said in a deep voice. "Don't tell me you don't know what happened to Banzhen."

"...Is it about the administration building?"

The director snorted and admitted it: "The headquarters needs to temporarily borrow you as a subordinate. The official documents will be issued later. Suzuki, you go to room 109 immediately. That's the investigation team's room."

Although Suzuki was a little confused, he still obeyed the order, said "Yes" and left the room.

Although Yoshino was unwilling to have his people transferred, as the director was his superior, he could not and had no right to object, so he could only accept it helplessly.

After arriving at room 109, Suzuki somewhat awkwardly introduced himself and explained the situation.

Upon learning of her abilities, the entire investigation team was immediately impressed, and the team leader even showed her some video materials.

Although Suzuki didn't know anyone, she was there to assist in the case and quickly got into work mode.

"This is the building's surveillance video. Did the camera capture the target?"

"Yes. However, this person's appearance is probably fake, perhaps they used props to disguise themselves, in any case, there is no corresponding information in the database."

"If you can use your ability to profile the target's true physical characteristics, it will be of great help to us in solving the case."

"Okay, I'll try my best."

Suzuki's attention quickly focused as he watched the young man wearing glasses in the video.

……

If Guan Tong hadn't heard Shang Yuanzi say it with her own ears, she would never have imagined that such an ability existed.

Uehara's power is a "bloodline".

If we were to categorize them, bloodline would likely fall under the category of abilities.

The influence of this bloodline is so profound that it can be seen from her vertical pupils and the scales on the inside of her neck.

Especially after Shang Yuanzi pulled up the long sleeves of her shirt, her exposed arms were covered with scales, which made Guan Tong's scalp tingle.

According to her, the name of this bloodline is "Oro" on the terminal panel, which is related to an ancient legend of the Sakura Kingdom.

Guan Tong also knew this legend. It was said that deep in the trench beneath the island of Yingqi Kingdom, there was a giant serpent that the ancient Yingqi people called "Yamagi".

The Yamata no Orochi wreaked havoc and devoured living people, causing Kosakura Inori immense suffering. Later, a samurai named Oro appeared and severely injured the Orochi in some way, causing it to retreat back to the sea and never dare to emerge again, thus saving Kosakura Inori.

After that, "Orochi" was passed down from Sakuragi as the hero's surname, and also became the name of Uehara Shiki's bloodline.

Of course, after the earthquake, Sakuragi Island sank, and various countries sent ships to the area to search for and rescue survivors. No giant sea serpent was found in the seabed, demonstrating that the legend of the Yamata no Orochi is pure nonsense.

The fact that the name "Orochi" appears in the bloodline acquired by Uehara Shiki seems to provide some kind of evidence for the legend.

However, Guan Tong knew that after entering the post-apocalyptic era, humanity could use mental power to alter reality. This meant that, under the influence of collective cognition, reality might indeed change.

But now he also had some doubts. "According to legend, 'Orochi' was the hero who severely injured Orochi. Why is it that your bloodline is named that way, yet your body shows some snake-like characteristics?"

Shang Yuanzi shook her head: "I don't know."

"Also, you said that the divine child made you use the surname 'Yamagi'. Is that because he believed you actually possess the bloodline of Orochi?"

"Ah."

"That's weird."

Guan Tong didn't understand, but it wasn't important to him.

Importantly, the abilities of Shangyuan Zi's bloodline are extremely terrifying.

First and foremost, there's defensive capability and adaptability.

Her scales have extremely high defensive capabilities. According to her, the military tested them and found that even large-caliber bullets could not damage her scales, or even leave a mark.

Moreover, this scale is constantly growing and spreading.

Shang Yuanzi told Guan Tong that when she first acquired the bloodline, she only had a few scales on her back. Later, as her mental power limit increased, the scales became more and more numerous, and now they cover her entire torso.

The scales have now spread to her neck and show no signs of stopping. This means that eventually, her face will also be covered in scales, making it very inconvenient for her to go out, unlike now where she can cover them up with long sleeves and pants.

In addition to their extremely high defense, these scales also possess super adaptability, automatically adjusting to their environment.

No matter how the external environment changes, whether it's extremely hot or extremely cold, it can automatically adjust its internal temperature to maintain the optimal comfort level. It is even ineffective against some types of toxic gases.

In terms of overall defensive capabilities, Shangyuan Zi's scales are comparable to Guan Tong's Shadow Armor. In some aspects, they are even stronger than the Shadow Armor.

Of course, the Shadow Armor also has its advantages. It is essentially a deformed shadow, so it can change at will according to Guan Tong's ideas, making it more flexible.

Her bloodline's offensive capabilities stem from her vertical pupils, and it's an extremely evil ability she calls "Snake Servant."

When she gazes at a human, if her mental strength far surpasses that of the person being gazed at, she can forcibly transform them into a "snake servant" with a snake's body and a human head by activating her ability.

Humans who become snake servants will lose all free will and transform into completely crazed, bloodthirsty monsters, obeying the orders of Uehara Yukari.

If the person being gazed upon has a mental capacity that is not much lower than hers, for example, if they are roughly equal, then she will not become a "snake servant," but will instead experience some snake-related hallucinations.

If one is surrounded by many venomous snakes, or if one's hands and body turn into snakes, etc., those with weak wills are easily frightened, resulting in an inability to fight.

Shang Yuanzi did not hide her abilities and told Guan Tong everything in order to get Guan Tong's help.

After Guan Tong learned about this, she understood why Yingqi's official team had given her a bracelet that absorbed mental energy.

Otherwise, if she wanted to escape, she could easily turn most of the people in the administration building into snake servants.

After learning about Shangyuan Zi's abilities, Guan Tong inquired about some information regarding Yingqi's official situation.

What he needed to know was the power in the hands of the divine child.

To be precise, it's the power of the ascendant; he doesn't care about ordinary military forces.

Because the struggle between Ascended Ones is asymmetrical, as the Ascended Ones become stronger, the scope for modern weapons to be effective becomes smaller and smaller.

Especially when facing an Ascended being like Guan Tong, whose whereabouts are unpredictable, even if the enemy has planes, cannons, and missiles, they still need to know where he is before they can use them.

This is also why Guan Tong is now extra careful about keeping his location secret after being bombarded by ranged weapons twice—once is enough, twice is not enough; it would be too foolish of him to suffer the same loss a third time.

“All I know is that there are many groups like ours,” Shangyuan Zi said. “Each group has different instructors.”

"So, you mean there's no information sharing between your different groups? Each group reports directly to the Divine Child, who controls everything and ensures that there's no possibility of the different groups joining forces... But since it was your Chosen One group that obtained the Qimo Star fragment, it means that your group was probably the most favored, right?"

Shangyuan Zi nodded: "It seems so."

"Judging from your abilities, it's not that it seems certain."

Her ability to create "snake servants" is terrifying. If she grows to a later stage, wouldn't she be able to continuously transform into a snake servant army as long as there are people?
This is undoubtedly a major boon for Sakura Inori, a country with a relatively small population. Kitenjo's ambition to make Sakura Inori the world's number one may well be based to some extent on Uehara Yukari's ability.

One reason he took his own life might have been that he saw through Uehara Shizuka's nihilistic nature. It's virtually impossible for someone like that to conquer the world.

This can also be seen from the reason why Shangyuan Zi was placed under house arrest.

She said that the reason she was placed under house arrest by the divine child and that she handed over the fragments of Qimo Star was only a secondary reason. The main reason was that she refused to obey orders and instead converted and raised a large number of snake servants.

Enraged, the divine child ordered her to be placed under house arrest, telling her to "think carefully about what her true identity really is."

"I understand the general situation."

At this point, Guan Tong learned about Shang Yuanzi's abilities and situation, as well as some information about Mu Tiancheng and Shenzi.

"Then will you agree to help me investigate my parents' identities?" Shangyuan Zi asked.

"I can help you."

Shangyuan Zi nodded: "Then I will keep my promise, and my power will be at your disposal during this period."

(End of this chapter)