49 Apocalypse Rules

Chapter 282: Chapter 264: The Return of Shi Jingyi

In the northern part of Pinglu City, not far from the academy, there was a park.

Inside the park was a pavilion named "Wang Dai." Sitting there, one could gaze out at the distant foothills of the mountain range, and the view was incredibly expansive.

"I used to come here and sit by myself sometimes. When you can see far away, your mood relaxes too."

Shi Jingyi said as she led Guan Tong into the pavilion, her gaze fixed on the distance.

Guan Tong nodded.

When he used to live on Mingdao Mountain, he would walk on the mountain every day and gaze into the distance. It was an excellent way to relax and de-stress.

"After you leave the academy, where do you plan to go?"

"Haven’t decided yet," Guan Tong said, then added, "I might go collect some debts."

"Collect some debts?" Shi Jingyi smiled. "I still owe you hundreds of thousands of Sublimation Coins."

Guan Tong was taken aback for a moment, then shook his head. "That’s not what I mean. I have some old enemies, and I plan to settle the score with all of them this time."

Getting rid of Jiang Lanying was just the beginning. Guan Tong had at least four other groups to settle accounts with.

First, the people who had slandered him and spread rumors that he had attacked Prince Lado’s motorcade.

Second, the Sakura Prayer forces in the Andai Kingdom who had dispatched special forces to attack him in an attempt to steal the Qimo Star Fragment he possessed.

Third, Yelena’s brother from Sisiya Country—the guy who sent people to threaten him, threw a dead bear’s head on his bed, and ordered his assassination.

Fourth was Lucifer, who was in the Tulip Federation. Their conflict had reached a kill-or-be-killed stage, so Guan Tong figured, why should he remain passive instead of proactively seeking out and eliminating the threat?

These four individuals, or rather, four factions, were all on Guan Tong’s list to be settled with one by one.

He was the type of person to hold a grudge. He might not seek revenge immediately, but he would certainly never forget. Once he had the time, he would deal with his enemies systematically.

"Enemies..." Hearing Guan Tong’s words, Shi Jingyi seemed to recall something and sighed softly.

"What is it?" Guan Tong couldn’t help but ask.

"I was just thinking about the past... Guan Tong, I remember when we first met, you recognized from my clothes that I was from the Guiyun Martial Arts Hall."

"Yes."

"Then do you know about a major incident at the Guiyun Martial Arts Hall that made the news?"

A thought stirred in Guan Tong’s mind. He said, "Are you talking about that challenge case? Someone went to your hall to issue a challenge but was beaten to death on the spot."

Shi Jingyi nodded. "That’s the one. The person who came to challenge us was an old enemy of our hall master—my master—from over thirty years ago."

...

Guan Tong remained silent. He had a feeling that Shi Jingyi bringing this up so suddenly meant there was a hidden story behind it.

"Because my master defeated him in their youth, that man held a grudge for decades, and his subsequent challenges all ended in failure. But later, my master contracted a rare disease and grew weaker by the day. When the man learned of this, he seized the opportunity to come and challenge him."

"But even though he took advantage of my master’s weakness, thinking his strength had greatly diminished due to the terminal illness, he was still defeated. This made the man completely lose his composure. He refused to leave after his defeat and even began to verbally insult my master, so..."

"So your master killed the challenger in a fit of rage?"

Shi Jingyi looked at Guan Tong. "It wasn’t my master who killed the challenger. It was me."

Guan Tong was stunned.

"I couldn’t stand seeing him challenge my master while he was gravely ill, and I couldn’t stand how he kept pestering him even after being defeated. I was only a teenager back then, hot-tempered and easily angered. In my fury, I struck with all my might and shattered his heart with a single punch."

...

"Later, my master took the blame for me and instructed me to take care of the others in the hall. But I failed to live up to his expectations. Now, I’m the only one left from the entire Guiyun Martial Arts Hall."

Seeing Shi Jingyi’s somewhat dazed expression, Guan Tong’s thoughts drifted back to the ruins of the Yunhua Industrial Park.

He remembered that her purpose for going there had been to rescue a disciple from the hall who was trapped in a warehouse. But she arrived too late. The disciple had already been killed by the Living Dead, and his body had been turned into one by a "Mother Transformer."

"Over the years, I’ve come to think that grudges can truly change the course of both people’s lives forever." Shi Jingyi gazed into the distance. "That’s why I try my best not to make enemies. I just don’t want to experience that kind of loss again."

"...Are you trying to persuade me to let go of my hatred?"

"No," Shi Jingyi said. "I just think that people are likely to do irreversible things when they’re angry."

Guan Tong suddenly asked, "If you could go back to that day, would you still kill your master’s enemy?"

Shi Jingyi was silent for a moment. "I don’t know. All I know is that the choices we’ve made cannot be changed."

"Yeah. We just have to bear the consequences of our choices, for better or worse... Also, I’ve already eliminated the culprit who bombed us with long-range artillery and got you injured."

Shi Jingyi looked over in surprise. "Someone who can mobilize that kind of weaponry on North Star must be a powerful figure. You found them so quickly?"

Guan Tong said in a low voice, "No matter how powerful they are, I wouldn’t spare anyone who does something like that. Besides, she was an old enemy of mine. I’d been looking for her for a long time."

"Will there be any trouble later on?"

"I don’t know. It doesn’t matter if there is. We’ll handle whatever comes our way."

"Don’t forget to ask me if you need help," Shi Jingyi said. "That’s the kind of trust friends should have, right?"

"...Of course."

"Oh, right. I have something for you."

Shi Jingyi took a small portable hard drive from an inner pocket of her clothes.

Guan Tong took it and asked, "What’s on it?"

"Do you remember when we talked on the phone last time, I told you I was in seclusion? I’ve been thinking about some ways to optimize Psychic Power Flow. My insights are all on this hard drive. You can take a look."

Guan Tong’s expectations rose when he heard this. Shi Jingyi was a leading figure in this field, so her latest insights were sure to be invaluable.

"In that case, I’ll accept it."

The ring on his finger flashed, and the hard drive was stored inside.

Shi Jingyi was a little surprised. "A Storage Ring?"

"Yeah, I came across it by chance."

"That’s amazing. As I recall, any item related to concepts like space or time has a ridiculously high price. But to be honest, when I saw you wearing a ring just now, I thought you’d gotten a girlfriend."

Guan Tong was speechless. "Is this really the right time to be looking for a girlfriend?"

Shi Jingyi replied with a smile, "Why not? You were an instructor for a few months. Didn’t you notice that there are quite a few couples at the academy?"

Shi Jingyi wasn’t wrong about that.

You could often see couples walking hand in hand at the academy. In terms of sheer numbers, there seemed to be even more than you’d see at a university before.

Guan Tong hadn’t paid much attention before, but now that he thought about it, it made sense.

In the era of the Apocalypse Rules, the old rules and restrictions no longer existed.

Prerequisites like wealth and career were no longer a concern. And since most people weren’t thinking about having children, marriage had also become largely irrelevant.

In this era, the only thing to consider when getting together was mutual affection. If that existed, there was nothing else to worry about.

Furthermore, due to the uncertainty of the Apocalypse Rules, people generally had a "live in the moment" mindset. If you liked someone, you should act on it now. That was far better than keeping a secret crush, only for a new rule to come down and separate you by life and death.

Shi Jingyi watched the pensive Guan Tong and asked, "What’s wrong? Thinking of someone?"

Guan Tong snapped out of his thoughts and denied it. "No."

Shi Jingyi said no more, just gave a faint smile and turned to look at the lush green mountains in the distance.

"It’s already November, but it doesn’t feel like winter is coming at all."

Guan Tong looked at the long, thick braid hanging down her back and could faintly smell a delicate, grassy scent.

’Is that the scent of orchids?’ he wondered, then said aloud, "Yeah. And I heard that because of the secondary disasters caused by the earthquake rule, the temperature this winter will be much higher."

"I’ve also seen some analysis reports from climate experts. It seems the dual effect of the earthquake causing icebergs to melt and volcanoes to erupt is making the globe warm up rapidly." Shi Jingyi’s voice held a trace of worry. "Regardless, I hope everyone can get through this winter safely."

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