49 Apocalypse Rules

Chapter 295: Chapter 274: The Fourteenth Apocalypse Rule

December 1st.

Guan Tong woke up at 7:00 AM, two hours before the new rule was to be announced.

He ate something, turned on his computer, and checked the morning news.

In Sakura Prayer, the bombing was still under investigation. The official report said they had extracted all available DNA data from the scene and would use it for identification.

Guan Tong wasn’t worried about himself; he hadn’t left any DNA behind.

But he couldn’t say the same for Wu Wang. If the Human Federation’s member nations shared their identity databases, they might be able to trace him.

However, with a new rule about to be released, everything else, no matter how urgent, had to be put aside. The rule came first.

The news also reported on the newly enacted Apocalypse Rules Management Law.

The new law had only been in effect for two days, but someone had already been made an example of and featured in the news.

The incident involved an Ascender with the "Fire Control" ability, who had used their power to set fire to an empty, ownerless wooden box on the side of the road.

Burning an empty wooden box hardly counted as property damage, especially since it was ownerless. Besides, nothing else and no one was harmed, so it didn’t seem like a big deal.

The Ascender thought so too, but he was caught red-handed by a Sheriff.

His actions had violated the "Ascender Code of Conduct."

The code stipulated that Ascenders were forbidden from using their abilities or items in public spaces without a necessary reason. Violators would be punished according to the severity of the consequences, with possible jail time.

Since no one was hurt in the reported case, the consequences were considered minor, and he was only fined some Sublimation Coins.

’How unlucky... But isn’t this rule a bit too strict?’

Guan Tong didn’t dwell on it after finishing the news. He opened his Terminal Panel to review his current status.

[Name: Guan Tong]

[Nickname: Shadow]

[Title: Civilization Observer]

[Psychic Power: 945 (945) (181,620)]

[Sublimation Coins: 4,957,280]

[Comprehensive Bio-information Evaluation: Excellent]

The only personal stat worth noting was his Psychic Power cap. The amount it had increased over the past month seemed a bit higher than usual.

He wasn’t sure if his natural growth rate had increased again or if it was because he had been in a few battles this month.

He then opened his storage, which was a disorganized mess.

Guan Tong looked through it. Many of the items were things he had acquired early on but had never had a chance to use.

For instance, he still had a [Basic Food Box], but now that he had the portable Book Page Sanctuary and a Storage Ring, he had plenty of space for all his supplies and no longer needed item-based food.

There were also items like the [Lock Opener], [Signal Detector], and [Multi-functional Protective Suit]. These early-game items were now basically just collecting dust.

It wasn’t just support items. Offensive items like the [Corpse Whistle]—an early acquisition that could summon the Living Dead—were also pretty much useless now.

However, the last time Guan Tong used the [Corpse Whistle], the summoned Living Dead had successfully attracted a Sound Hunter. This suggested that besides attacking and doing manual labor, the Living Dead might have some special uses, so he decided to keep it.

After tidying up, he moved the items he might still use to the front of his storage. There were only a few.

[Wordless Book], [Corpse Whistle], [Psychic Power Activation Needle], [Communication Secret Scroll], [Life-Saving Pendant], [Hourglass of Time], and [Gilded Guardian].

Other special items, like the [Qimo Star Chronicles] and the [Second Ascender Challenge Invitation Letter], he placed in the middle.

This didn’t include the items he was wearing, such as the [Giant Axe Warrior Hoodie], [Storage Ring], and [Thermoregulating Technology Underwear].

Looking at the list, he didn’t have that many frequently used items, and some of them were single-use or had limited charges.

If Guan Tong wanted to fill his storage, he could. All he had to do was spend Sublimation Coins in the market.

He might have done so in the early days of the Apocalypse Rules. But now, after thirteen rules, he was gradually developing a new philosophy.

That philosophy was: "focus on the core."

The "core" referred to the page-based abilities derived from his [Wordless Book].

He hadn’t been completely sure about this idea at first, but after his recent battles, he felt that the other strong contenders more or less shared this mindset.

Take Dragon Soul and Lucifer, for example.

Dragon Soul’s ability was muscle enhancement, and in battle, he relied almost exclusively on that power. The only extra item he used was a Triangular Military Dagger that could automatically track enemies.

Lucifer was even more extreme. Whether fighting Dragon Soul or, later, Guan Tong, he didn’t use a single item, relying solely on the power of his "Fallen Angel’s Wings" to fight. Only at the very end, when he realized he was losing, did he pull out a Teleportation Item to escape.

Then there was Wu Wang, whom Guan Tong had dealt with three days ago. That guy must have gotten a ton of items from Lado. Yet, from start to finish, the only things he used were a defensive [Gilded Guardian], a canister that quickly dispersed metal powder, and the super metal bomb hidden on his body.

The latter two offensive items were both used in conjunction with his own [Detonating Metal] ability.

From beginning to end, Wu Wang never suddenly pulled out some other type of offensive item to try and attack Guan Tong.

The fighting styles of these three individuals all answered one question:

With limited Psychic Power, should you prioritize using items or your own exclusive abilities?

All three of them had the same answer: prioritize exclusive abilities.

Guan Tong felt the same way.

If items didn’t consume Psychic Power, then of course you could use them freely.

But when they did, it seemed that spending precious Psychic Power on one’s own abilities offered more long-term value.

It was because of this realization that Guan Tong wasn’t inclined to buy a large number of items. He only opened the market to search and purchase things when he had a specific need.

’Using powerful items consumes a lot of Psychic Power. That must be the Achilles’ heel for people like Jiang Lanying.’

Even if those powerful figures could pool the Sublimation Coins of thousands of people and buy dozens or even a hundred items, they would run out of Psychic Power after using just a few, making it impossible to use them all effectively.

In such a scenario, the logical approach was to distribute Sublimation Coins to trusted subordinates to build the team’s combat strength.

Jiang Lanying’s Death Warriors were trained this way, but there were too few of them. This also revealed how deeply suspicious she was, trusting only the orphans she had adopted herself.

Meanwhile, the members of the Qingmei Association didn’t receive the same level of trust.

Take Liu Yuqiang, who shot himself in front of Guan Tong. In terms of management ability, was a chairman who had built an industry-leading company from scratch really less capable than that twenty-something woman, Han Ling?

And yet, the manager of Yongzhou Base was Han Ling, not Liu Yuqiang. If their positions had been swapped, perhaps Liu Yuqiang would have been truly loyal to Jiang Lanying, instead of feeling like an expendable pawn.

BZZT.

The short vibration of his phone interrupted Guan Tong’s thoughts. He picked it up and saw an official mass-text notification.

"The fourteenth Apocalypse Rule is about to be announced. Please remain indoors in a safe location and do not go outside. After the rule is announced, official departments will analyze it as quickly as possible and announce countermeasures."

The government sent out a mass text like this before every new rule. Guan Tong turned off his phone’s screen, wondering what kind of rule it would be this time.

Time ticked by, and soon, as all of humanity waited, the moment arrived.

The voice of the Fire Thief rang out, right on schedule.

[The Fourteenth Apocalypse Rule has been announced.]

[Apocalypse Rule Fourteen: Outer Heaven Parasite]

[Rule Content: Effective immediately, an adhesive spore from an alien planet will be released on Celestial Water Star. This spore can attach to any physical entity. Humans who inhale the spore will experience both physical and psychological changes and may develop special addictive symptoms. These symptoms can be resisted through personal willpower. Failure to resist will result in a failed challenge. This rule will last for 30 days.]

[Success Reward: 1,000 Sublimation Coins, Survival Treasure Chest · Silver Level]

[Failure Penalty: Survive as a Parasite.]

[Note: Humans of Celestial Water Star, would you believe it? This spore was once a bestseller throughout the universe.]

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