Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 79 The Frenzied Market: Offense and Defense Combined (Seeking First Subscription)
Post-Apocalyptic Rules and Countermeasures Research Lab.

"After the rules were lifted, the remaining undead all died automatically," the researcher reported.

"Let's cremate their bodies as soon as possible," someone sighed. "I never thought the fire thieves would use corpses in the rules; they're truly depraved."

"From the very first rule, the inhuman nature of the fire-stealer is laid bare. There's no need to treat it as a being with feelings."

"However, there weren't many casualties this time. Although quite a few people failed to complete the challenge... at least they survived."

Listening to the conversation, Gao Liangwei turned to Dr. Zhang and asked, "How did the various post-apocalyptic teams perform?"

Dr. Zhang said, "Of the five teams, the first, second, and fourth teams all completed their missions and eliminated the 'Screamers' in the area. The third and fifth teams did not."

"Two teams actually failed to complete the mission?" Gao Liangwei frowned; this was not what he expected. "What was the reason?"

"The fifth squad was about to succeed, but the 'Screamer' suddenly summoned a large number of undead to attack the squad members. It took the opportunity to escape and has not been found since."

"The reason why the third team failed to complete the mission is..." Dr. Zhang paused, "According to the report, they arrived too late, and the 'Screamers' in their area had already been eliminated by the civilian Ascended."

Gao Liangwei asked in surprise, "A powerful figure from the common people?"

"Yes. There are two people in total. One of them is Shi Jingyi, one of the specially invited lecturers of the Mind Power Development Academy. The identity of the other person is currently unknown, but he is suspected to be related to Shi Jingyi."

Gao Liangwei's expression turned sour after hearing this.

Dr. Zhang said, "In fact, there are quite a few powerful individuals in the public who have achieved enlightenment, so it is not impossible for this situation to occur."

"You mean to say that it's reasonable that the third squad, with the support of local armed forces, locked onto the target location immediately, but was still less efficient than civilian militias?"

"..."

“Dr. Zhang, we have invested huge resources in building these five teams, not to let them fail.”

"I understand, and I will strengthen their management and training."

Gao Liangwei pondered for a moment and said, "Third and fifth teams, give them another chance. If they can't achieve satisfactory results in the Ascendant Challenge a month from now, then it means they are no longer worth focusing on developing."

Dr. Zhang's expression tightened, and he nodded: "Understood."

……

When Guan Tong opened the Ascension Shop, the first thing that caught his eye wasn't the newly listed items, but the earliest listed box, the [Basic Weapon Box - Bronze Grade], which already showed the remaining quantity.

"It seems there are quite a few people buying weapon crates under these new rules."

It wasn't exactly an accident. He had already seen online that many people bought this box simply to use psychic items to destroy the undead and thus obtain extra Ascendant Coins.

Most of the cold weapons chosen by the majority were "long spears," and there are many related videos online—at a certain gathering point, people blocked the doorway with debris and then used their chosen long spears to stab the heads of the living dead out through the gaps.

This is undoubtedly a relatively safe way to kill enemies.

Guan Tong definitely had no intention of buying it. He already had the Silver Hunter and had no need for such a basic cold weapon.

Guan Tong selected "Sort by Listing Time" to view the new products listed after this rule was implemented, and there were two in total.

[Multi-functional lock pick]: Can be used to open various basic locks; disposable tool.

Price: 30 Ascension Coins

……

[Small Reconnaissance Drone]: After use, it can scan a range of 100 meters to locate human targets. It is a disposable item.

Price: 80 Ascension Coins

……

"Lock picks and drones?"

Guan Tong looked at the two new props and felt something was off.

He felt this wasn't a new product for the sixth mode rule, but rather a new item for the Ascendant Challenge.

In particular, the small reconnaissance drone can only be used to scan humans, and is most likely intended for use in human-to-human combat.

Guan Tong didn't buy anything immediately. He closed the shop, opened the market, and wanted to see if there were any items he wanted.

Upon opening the app, it was discovered that the prices of all items had skyrocketed!
Guan Tong glanced at a few props; their effects were mediocre, yet they were priced at several hundred Ascension Coins.

Some of the more effective props cost over a thousand yuan.

He even saw props priced at over ten thousand.

[Panacea]: Eliminates all current negative status effects upon consumption, restoring full physical and mental energy.
Price: 15000 Ascension Coins

"...This panacea is very effective, but the price..."

Guan Tong quickly understood what was going on.

It relates to Rule 5.

Those large organizations and official entities must have obtained a large amount of extra Ascension Coins as rewards under Rule 5.

Those responsible for distribution, once they pooled these sublime coins together, possessed terrifying purchasing power.

With the challenge coming up in a month, any large organization would definitely want to gain something from this competition, so they spare no effort to buy up props in the market and invest in the participants in their organization.

This will naturally drive up the prices of good items in the market quickly!
Some distributors with a business mindset even treat this market like a stock market. They first buy up a large number of items, and then, after the Ascendants have more coins and "inflation" occurs, they sell them at a higher price to profit from the difference.

"I thought I had a lot of 1,000 Ascension Coins, but..."

Guan Tong felt somewhat helpless. He had underestimated the market's frenzy and the resource integration capabilities of large organizations. After looking around for a while, he couldn't find a single item he wanted to buy.

The slightly better ones cost over a thousand, while the less effective ones still sell for several hundred.

Guan Tong didn't want to be taken advantage of, so he shut down the market.

He reopened the shop and bought a [Multi-functional Lock Picker] and a [Mini Reconnaissance Drone], spending a total of 110 Ascension Coins.

He plans to keep the remaining coins for now, and wait until the "buying frenzy" in the market has subsided before making any further purchases.

Now that the fifth rule has just ended, some large organizations have a lot of currency and want to quickly acquire more good items, so he won't join in the fun.

"I'll wait ten days or half a month and then see if I can buy anything."

Guan Tong closed the terminal, took a stool and went outside, sitting in the warm sunshine around nine o'clock, pondering her plans for the next month.

His goal was clear: to further enhance combat capabilities.

To achieve this goal, he plans to do the following:

First, just like before, store bullets for the Silver Hunter.

Silver Hunter proved invaluable in this rule change. Although Shadow ultimately took down the Mother Converter, Silver Hunter was still necessary to clear out multiple enemies.

Second, the storage of spiritual power.

He saved about 100 points in the previous week, and this time he wants to save even more in a month.

Because this challenge is a team competition, imagine he's facing a full five-person team alone. Even if each member only has an average of 80 points of mental energy, that's 400 points total. If each member has 100, that's 500!

Guan Tong didn't say he wanted to save up that many points, but he planned to save at least 300 points, only then would he have the confidence to deal with multiple enemies at the same time.

The third area for improvement, he believes, should be addressed by focusing on the "shadow".

After having Shadow use "implosion" to eliminate the Mother Transformer, Guan Tong gained a new understanding of Shadow's power.

If the enemy is unprepared, its ability to switch between illusion and reality can completely invade anyone's body, then implode in a physical form. Thus, the enemy might not even know how they died.

However, this can only be achieved if the enemy is unaware of the intelligence. If the enemy knows the characteristics of the shadow and takes precautions, it will become many times more difficult to succeed.

Therefore, keeping the ability of shadows a secret is of utmost importance.

But this also made Guan Tong think in reverse—what if the enemy also had similar covert methods? He could use his shadow to ambush others, and others could use the same methods to ambush him.

"Only by staying alive can I deal damage. If my main body's defense is insufficient, even if my shadow is strong, it will be severely limited."

Guan Tong thought for a moment, then took out the wordless book and summoned the shadow.

After staring at it for a while, Guan Tong suddenly had an idea.

Since shadows can change shape, why can't we use them for both defense and attack?
Without hesitation, Guan Tong immediately used his mind to deform the shadow.

The shadow stretched out from the middle, part of it covering Guan Tong and the other part extending forward.

Materialization.

With a single thought, the shadow covering Guan Tong's body instantly transformed into shadow armor, while the extended shadow became a long spear.

"It really works!"

Guan Tong's face lit up with joy.

He had previously been somewhat fixated on the single transformation of the shadow. In reality, the shadow can be "divided into sections," with one section transforming into one way and another into another, thus achieving a unified offense and defense.

However, this also faces an unavoidable problem: excessive consumption of mental energy.

"The larger the shadow's transformation volume, the more mental energy it consumes. If the enemy is close to me, it's fine, but if the enemy is far away, then I'll need a long shadow line to connect the 'shadow armor' part for defense and the 'weapon' part for offense."

Once this "shadow line" materializes, it will also consume a lot of mental energy.

What if we made this line thin enough?

Guan Tong blurred the shadow, then used his mind to stretch it into a shadow as much as possible, to see how thin the line could be.

He discovered that under extreme conditions, the shadow could be as thin as a hair, a fraction of a millimeter, and it couldn't be any thinner.

This width seems to require very little mental energy to materialize. But we must also consider the length—imagine a hair a fraction of a millimeter long; if its length were stretched infinitely, its overall volume would still be considerable.

Therefore, if you want to achieve a balance between offense and defense, you can't be too far from the enemy; otherwise, you're destined to only be able to defend one side and not both.

"...Ultimately, it's because my mental strength is insufficient. If my mental strength could reach a thousand, I could use the shadow much more freely."

Guan Tong shook his head, not wanting to be overly ambitious. He withdrew his shadow and turned the pages of the wordless book.

The first page was "Transforming Entity Guan Tong", the second page was "Gun", the third page was "Psychic Power"... He turned to the fourth page, hesitated for a moment, and then turned back.

With his current level of mental strength, even writing on the third page is so difficult for him. If he were to start a new page, even if he managed to write something over a month, he would definitely not be able to materialize it.

Instead of wasting time on that, you might as well put some thought into the first few pages.

The pages on "Shadow" and "Mental Power" are not easy to change. Firstly, he doesn't have many ideas right now, and secondly, both of them currently meet his needs and do not require any changes for the time being.

But that single word "gun" on the second page...

Guan Tong turned to the second page, looking at the lone word, and began to consider whether he could add some new "parts" to his Silver Hunter... After all, his gun currently only has the ability to fire three types of bullets and display the number of bullets, and no other functions.

"If we could add some other types of bullets... or maybe we could add a silencer? When we were dealing with the undead, the noise from firing the gun was really loud. After killing one group of undead, the noise would attract another group of undead... It's okay against undead, who are mindless enemies, but if we were dealing with human enemies, they would definitely find cover as soon as the gun went off."

(End of this chapter)