49 Apocalypse Rules

Chapter 182: Chapter 172: An Explosive Appetizer

In the eastern part of Banzhen stood an imposing royal palace.

A brilliant gold finish covered the palace’s walls and grand gate, making them look as if they were made of solid gold.

A magenta carpet stretched out before the main gate, flanked on both sides by armed soldiers. Before the era of the Apocalypse Rules, handsome ceremonial guards in dress uniforms would have stood here. Now, they had all been replaced by actual combat soldiers.

Times had changed, and the royal palace was no longer as safe as it used to be.

The residents within were none other than the supreme ruler of the Andai Kingdom, Prince Lado XVI, and his family.

As a constitutional monarchy, the Andai Kingdom was different from other countries on Celestial Water Star with similar systems. The country’s leader, the "Prince," held real power and controlled the military; he was not just a figurehead.

At this moment, in the grand hall of the royal palace, Prince Lado XVI sat slumped in a rattan chair, wearing an exquisite robe. He had a long face and looked very displeased.

Standing before him were several middle-aged men in military uniforms, their expressions equally grim.

"So, the Sakura Prayer operation failed? They talked such a big game, even sent out a warship, but in the end, they couldn’t even handle a single Shadow. Useless trash."

Prince Lado had originally thought that letting Sakura Prayer eliminate Shadow would be a perfect solution. He would get his revenge and save face after the attack on the Capital, all without taking any risks himself.

But he never imagined that after all Sakura Prayer’s efforts—deploying a warship, launching missiles, and sending in several special forces teams—the operation would still end in failure.

"Your Highness, our soldiers only found the bodies of Sakura Prayer soldiers in the target area. We found no corpse that could have been Shadow. He’s likely still alive and may be looking for an opportunity to retaliate. You must be extra careful in the coming days."

Prince Lado raised an eyebrow at his words. "What did you say? You want me to be careful? That Shadow wiping out some minor warlord is one thing, but would he dare to attack the royal palace? You’re overestimating that guy."

"Yes, Your Highness. But it’s better to be safe than sorry."

"Hmph. I have plenty of defensive items. What is there to be afraid of? Besides, I don’t believe Shadow would dare to enter the royal palace." Prince Lado sneered. "The Andai Kingdom and North Star are friendly nations. If that guy attacks the leader of a friendly nation, North Star’s government will deal with him before I even have to lift a finger."

"That may be so, but..."

BOOM!!!

The sound of an explosion suddenly came from the palace’s outer walls and roof. The blast was powerful, and countless fragments of brick and stone immediately rained down from above.

One officer didn’t dodge in time and was struck on the head by a stone block, falling to the ground dead on the spot.

This snapped the others back to their senses, and they began to shout.

"Enemy! Enemy attack!"

"Quick, protect the Prince!"

"Soldiers outside, what’s the situation?!"

After regaining their composure, the officers hurriedly responded, while Prince Lado, terrified, was immediately assisted by several guards into a safe room.

Meanwhile, the few soldiers on guard duty outside the palace had no idea how the explosion had happened. It was as if someone had thrown bombs onto the palace, collapsing several walls and the roof.

The soldiers remained vigilant while searching for the attacker. But there was no attacker to be found anywhere nearby; it was as if the bombs had simply fallen from the sky.

RUMBLE...

After the explosion, the palace’s structure was compromised and it began to systematically collapse. Even with several soldiers outside, they could not intervene or stop it, and could only watch helplessly as it crumbled.

Except for a very few who escaped, everyone inside took shelter in sturdy safe rooms. Even so, several more officers were crushed to death.

What was worse, the royal palace was completely destroyed. It was one of the national symbols of the Andai Kingdom and a historic building with over a hundred years of history.

Yet, under the chain of explosions, it collapsed into ruins in just a few minutes. The only things still standing amidst the rubble were a few of the royal family’s exclusive safe rooms.

By the time military armored vehicles arrived to evacuate Prince Lado and the others to a secure location, a shadow, barely discernible to the naked eye, swiftly departed from the area.

Without a doubt, this demolition of the royal palace was orchestrated by Guan Tong.

As the saying goes, give them a taste of their own medicine. The Prince of the Andai Kingdom had allowed Sakura Prayer to send a warship to bombard him with missiles, so it was only natural for him to return the favor with bombs and blow up the royal palace.

Guan Tong didn’t have any bombs, but he did have over four million Sublimation Coins. He could just go buy some on the terminal market, couldn’t he?

On the terminal market, there was a lot of competition for items with special, bizarre functions, but nobody fought over simple destructive tools like "bombs."

The reason was simple: the ones snatching up goods were mostly official government bodies and large organizations. Were they short on bombs? Of course not! They probably had more than they knew what to do with, so there was no need to spend Sublimation Coins to buy more on the terminal market.

As a result, Guan Tong easily spent just under a hundred thousand Sublimation Coins to buy a pile of bombs of varying explosive power.

The common feature of these bombs was that they were either sticky or timed. Guan Tong remotely manipulated his Shadow Line to secretly plant them all over the royal palace, then detonated them.

Whether or not he could kill Prince Lado was secondary. His main goal was to destroy the royal palace and make his stance on revenge crystal clear.

’You can bomb me, and I can bomb you. As for who gets the last laugh, we’ll just have to wait and see.’

Guan Tong wasn’t fixated on killing Lado right now; that wouldn’t be easy.

Even though the Andai Kingdom was a small country, as its Prince, Lado surely had many items that protected against Psychic Power attacks. Invading with his shadow was basically impossible.

To use other methods of attack, Guan Tong would have to go there in the flesh. He didn’t want to take that risk right now. So, he would start by bombing the palace. Further retaliation could wait until he had more methods and greater strength.

As for Lado’s status as a Prince or the severe repercussions of blowing up the royal palace... to be honest, Guan Tong really didn’t care.

He recalled something one of the men who had been tailing him to rob him on his first day in the Andai Kingdom had said. It had left a deep impression on him:

"So what if he’s from North Star Country? I might die under the next rule anyway, so what the hell is there to be afraid of! I’d even rob the King of Soloma if he showed up. The worst that can happen is death, and that’s coming for us all sooner or later!"

Other than the "robbery" part being wrong, Guan Tong felt there was nothing wrong with that sentiment.

Even he couldn’t guarantee that he would survive until the very end; it was possible that he, too, "might die under the next rule."

’In this situation, someone had targeted me and even carried out an actual attack. Do I really need to care who the enemy is or what their status is?’

That robber said he’d even rob the King of Soloma. As for Guan Tong, he didn’t care who the person trying to kill him was—even if it was a king or a president, he would retaliate without hesitation.

’Today, I’ll blow up your house as an appetizer. Once I’m fully prepared, I’ll serve the main course.’

Guan Tong activated Body Shifting, and in the next moment, he vanished without a trace.

...

News of the Andai Kingdom’s royal palace being destroyed quickly spread to every country in the world.

Ordinary people mostly didn’t pay attention, because the vast majority had become "blind" and couldn’t follow the news even if they wanted to.

After losing their sight, people’s first thought was, ’Dark... it’s so damn dark.’ They realized how miserable the world of the blind must be.

However, some blind people who had regained their sight said, amidst their surprise and joy, that their world when blind wasn’t actually pure black; some could even perceive vague colors.

But regardless, being unable to see was being unable to see. After becoming blind, most of people’s activities ceased, and their forms of entertainment were basically reduced to lying in bed listening to music, audiobooks, or chatting on the phone.

Aside from a very few individuals, most people’s mental state remained stable and didn’t collapse. This was because they had hope in their hearts, knowing that in fifteen days, once the rule ended, they would regain their sight.

If there hadn’t been a clear deadline, if they didn’t know when they would be able to see again, people’s minds would have likely collapsed long ago. They would never have been able to lie calmly in bed listening to audio.

In this situation, the ones paying attention to world news were mainly the official powers of various countries.

They, too, were deeply shocked to learn that the Andai Kingdom’s royal palace had been destroyed.

This was especially true after Prince Lado of the Andai Kingdom publicly stated through official channels: this explosion was definitely related to Shadow. Shadow’s act of destroying the royal palace was a desecration of the entire Lado Clan and a defilement of the Andai Kingdom’s national dignity and status. Representing the entire nation of Andai, he would pursue the matter to the very end!

What was even more outrageous was that relevant personnel from the Andai Kingdom had even posted a bounty request on the Ascender’s Home website’s commission board.

"Official Andai Kingdom Bounty on Ascender "Shadow": 5 Million Sublimation Coins for his corpse, 10 Million Sublimation Coins for his live capture!"

Since most Ascenders were afflicted with blindness, they couldn’t go online, so they couldn’t see or reply to the post. But when the officials from various countries saw this bounty post, rather than feeling solemn, they felt an inexplicable urge to laugh.

Because anyone with a little knowledge of the website knew that its administrator was very close to Shadow, and might even be Shadow himself. Posting a bounty for Shadow on this website, no matter how you looked at it, was rather comical.

But laughter aside, the nature of this matter was still extremely serious.

Some matters seem trivial until they are officially weighed, at which point they become immeasurably heavy.

Especially in the North Star Country, Shadow’s previous elimination of the Ba Song gang had already caused a diplomatic incident. But after it was exposed that Ba Song ran a human trafficking ring, Shadow’s actions were seen by many as delivering justice on behalf of heaven, cloaked in a righteous cause.

In addition, the Andai Kingdom’s government had intentionally downplayed the incident, so North Star, aside from issuing a statement, naturally didn’t dwell on it.

But this time was different. This time, Shadow had destroyed the Andai Kingdom’s royal palace, which was countless times more serious in nature.

Because this palace was not just the private property of the Lado Clan, but also a national symbol of the Andai Kingdom. Destroying it was, in a sense, no different from an open declaration of war.

Prince Lado had already issued a statement in the name of the state, vowing to see the matter through to the end. North Star Country would undoubtedly have to respond.

And this was not a matter the Strategy Research Room could decide on.

In a room somewhere in Yong’an, a small meeting was being held.

As the saying goes, big matters are for small meetings, and small matters are for big meetings. The small meeting being held in this simple room at this very moment was discussing a big matter.

A hardline voice said, "For Shadow to do something like this shows he has completely disregarded the nation. This is absolute individualism! I propose we issue a highest-level arrest warrant for this person!"

Another, slightly gentler voice said, "I think we shouldn’t rush this. We need to learn from last time’s lesson and first investigate the whole story."

Someone else added, "According to the report submitted by the Strategy Research Room, Shadow likely destroyed the royal palace in a similar fashion as retaliation for Sakura Prayer’s long-range bombardment."

The hardline voice retorted, "If he wanted revenge, why didn’t he go bomb Sakura Prayer? The Andai Kingdom is our diplomatic ally! Did he even consider our country’s position? In my eyes, this is already an act of treason! I am not exaggerating in the slightest."

A brief silence followed.

Finally, a steady voice spoke, making the final decision. "First, investigate the full story. We will make a decision based on the results after the tenth Apocalypse Rule has ended. Also, have the Strategy Research Room attempt to contact Shadow and open a channel of communication on an official level. Without communication, how can we know what the other side is thinking? I trust Shadow understands this principle. He will likely agree."

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