49 Apocalypse Rules

Chapter 302: Chapter 281: Rescuing Shangyuan Zi

December 5th, night.

Banzhen City, Sakura Prayer Official Administration Building.

On floors one through three, the office areas were brightly lit, housing several hundred staff members who bustled about, carrying documents.

They all wore identical dark blue business uniforms. Most of their faces were impassive; everyone focused solely on their own tasks, rarely even glancing at the person in the next cubicle.

Relationships in the age of the Apocalypse Rules were already cold, and this was especially true for the Yingqi People, who had experienced the tragedy of their homeland sinking into the sea. Although many had evacuated with the government, they were little more than the walking dead, surviving on instinct alone.

This all-encompassing indifference was why no one noticed a complete stranger walk out of the restroom.

Guan Tong was dressed in the same dark blue suit as the office workers, complete with a pair of black-framed glasses. His hair was styled like a typical salaryman, making him indistinguishable from the other employees.

He held a tablet and casually walked to the elevator bank.

Getting into the administration building had been easy, but to go above the third floor, he needed to swipe an ID card.

A card he, of course, did not have.

So his strategy was simple: just wait for someone to come down.

After waiting in the stairwell for a few minutes, he watched the elevator indicator travel up from the second floor, stop at the sixth, and then descend back to the first.

When the doors opened, a man walked out and came face-to-face with Guan Tong, who was standing at the entrance to the stairwell.

"Out of the way, you disrespectful punk." The man seemed to be some sort of manager. Treating Guan Tong like a low-level clerk, he rudely reached out to push him aside.

Guan Tong smiled at him. The man’s vision went black, and in the next instant, he lost consciousness.

With a flash of light from the Storage Ring on his hand, Guan Tong nonchalantly took the man’s ID card, stepped into the elevator, and pressed the button for the fifth floor.

Upon reaching the floor, the elevator doors opened directly into an office area.

There were fewer people here compared to the first three floors, but there were still dozens, each one just as busy as the last.

Guan Tong went straight to the restroom, locked the door from the inside, and then mobilized his Shadow to begin the search.

After his physical body passed through the barrier that defended against Psychic Power, he could use his Shadow from the inside without being affected by it. However, the longer he took, the greater the risk of exposure.

Moreover, when people realized they couldn’t contact the man, they would surely launch an investigation. Once they checked the usage records for his ID card, they would realize an outsider had entered a restricted area.

’I have to be quick.’

Countless hair-thin Shadow Lines spread out, rapidly searching every corner of the fifth floor.

Guan Tong believed that since the device Baqizi used to log into her account was here, he should be able to find clues to her whereabouts. After all, she had said she was under house arrest, not imprisoned—a major distinction.

The Shadow Lines infiltrated and scouted every workstation and room on the fifth floor, one by one.

This included even the rooms with tightly shut doors.

’No matter how securely a door is closed, can the gap beneath it be narrower than a strand of hair?’

Anywhere a strand of hair could go, the Shadow Lines could follow.

Soon, Guan Tong discovered a corridor on the fifth floor that was completely sealed off by electronic doors. A warning sign at the entrance read, "No Unauthorized Personnel." The corridor was lined with small rooms on either side.

He maneuvered the Shadow Lines through the gaps under the doors. The layout of each room was nearly identical: a bed, a desk, a cabinet, and a private bathroom—standard solitary confinement cells.

Some of these rooms were occupied; others were empty.

The people inside were mostly sitting in meditation or staring blankly at the ceiling.

They had nothing else to do. There were no network devices, not even a single book.

"Warning! Warning!"

Suddenly, a piercing alarm blared throughout the floor.

Someone outside shouted, "An unidentified person used Deputy Director Shangjing’s ID card! Seal the administration building immediately and conduct a floor-by-floor search!"

’They found out this fast...?’

Hiding in the restroom, Guan Tong heard the commotion and knew he had been exposed. It was only a matter of time before they found him.

’Got to speed things up.’

He accelerated the Shadow Lines’ search of the confinement rooms. When he reached the last one, he finally found his target.

Baqizi, wearing a blue plaid shirt, was staring at the wall in a daze. The next moment, she saw a mass of black substance pour in from under the door, rapidly expanding to fill the entire room.

An instant later, a figure appeared silently behind her.

Baqizi spun around. The identity of the person clad in Black Shadow Armor was immediately obvious.

"Shadow? You..."

"No time to talk. Let’s get out of here first."

Guan Tong raised a finger, and a torrent of shadows surged toward Baqizi, completely enveloping her.

He then took out the [Wordless Book], summoned a sanctuary, tossed her inside, and retracted it.

THUMP THUMP THUMP!

The sound of hurried footsteps came from outside. It was likely the internal staff coming to check on the confined personnel.

Guan Tong didn’t delay. He pulled the unfortunate man he’d knocked out from his ring, tossed him onto the floor, and immediately activated his Body Shifting ability to leave.

Half a minute later, someone from outside opened the door and was stunned to see the man unconscious on the floor.

"It’s Deputy Director Shangjing! How did he..."

"Damn it, the confined person, Baqizi, is no longer in her room!"

"Find her! Now!"

...

When Baqizi’s vision cleared, she found herself in a stretch of ruins.

She composed herself, realizing that Shadow had brought her out.

Although Shadow had told her via a private message on the website that he would rescue her, she was still astonished that it had actually happened.

"Should I call you Baqizi, or Shangyuan Zi?"

"Shangyuan Zi. ’Orochi’ is a surname others forced on me. I actually hate it."

Shangyuan Zi turned around. Shadow was still encased in black armor, apparently with no intention of showing her his true face.

"Thank you," she added.

"Don’t mention it. I said I would get you out, and I keep my promises." Guan Tong paused. "Besides, I also need your help with something."

"What is it?"

"...You don’t have your Psychic Power right now?"

Guan Tong asked, looking at Shangyuan Zi’s black pupils with some surprise.

When he had seen her before, her eyes had slitted, snake-like pupils. If that was an effect of her Psychic Power, it would naturally require Psychic Power to maintain.

"No," Shangyuan Zi said, raising her right hand to reveal a Silver Bracelet on her wrist. "They were afraid I would run, so they put this on me. It automatically absorbs any Psychic Power I naturally recover."

Guan Tong manipulated a Shadow Blade to strike the Silver Bracelet, but it had no effect.

"It’s no use," said Shangyuan Zi. "This item is very special. Unless the one who put it on removes it..."

Before she could finish, she saw a miniature, marble-sized black sphere appear in Guan Tong’s palm.

The moment it came into contact with the Silver Bracelet on her wrist, a section of the bracelet vanished, instantly destroyed and rendered useless.

Shangyuan Zi was stunned. In the next instant, Guan Tong retracted the "Spatial Realm" he had created.

She didn’t ask what it was, only shaking her hand out.

A few seconds later, her pupils constricted into vertical slits as her naturally recovering Psychic Power began to take effect.

"What do you need my help with?"

Shangyuan Zi was no longer a child. She was an office worker in her twenties who had been in the workforce for several years; she knew how the world worked.

Besides, she was well aware of her ordinary appearance and didn’t flatter herself by thinking Shadow held any romantic interest in her.

"You remember the Qimo Star Fragment, right?" Guan Tong got straight to the point. "Back when I was in the Andai Kingdom, Sakura Prayer launched a long-range bombardment against me and sent a ground team to recover the fragment."

"...I remember. I was the one who provided your location with the fragment."

"Who was the decision-maker?"

Shangyuan Zi understood what Shadow was getting at. "Are you looking for revenge? Unfortunately, the decision-maker has already killed himself."

Guan Tong was surprised. "Killed himself?"

"Yes. His name was Mu Tian City, the former instructor of the Chosen Team... The Chosen Team is one of the Ascender teams established by the Sakura Prayer government. It included me and two others."

"Mu Tian City always wanted to use this special era of the Apocalypse Rules to make Sakura Prayer the strongest nation in the world. Later, after a series of failures and setbacks, he probably lost all hope and committed ritual suicide."

"..."

Guan Tong hadn’t expected this.

He had planned to get the decision-maker’s information from Shangyuan Zi, but it turned out the man was already dead before he could even act.

However... Guan Tong asked, "This Mu Tian City you mentioned, did he really have the authority to deploy special forces and warships?"

Shangyuan Zi said Mu Tian City was the instructor of the "Chosen Team."

In Guan Tong’s view, this position was similar to that of Zhang Minglu from the North Star Strategy Research Room.

In fact, as the person in charge of all the Official Team Ascenders, Zhang Minglu’s authority was even greater than Mu Tian City’s.

But to say that Zhang Minglu had the authority to mobilize North Star’s official warships to launch missiles at someone overseas was absolutely impossible.

"He made the proposal, and it was approved by those above him," said Shangyuan Zi.

"Whose approval?"

"The Divine Son’s."

"The Divine Son..."

Hearing this title, Guan Tong’s expression grew grim beneath his armor.

The political system of Sakura Prayer was similar to that of the Soloma Empire. Multiple Merit Clans supported a single royal family, and the head of each generation of this royal family was called the "Divine Son."

The Divine Son held supreme authority in Sakura Prayer, even greater than that of the King of Soloma in the Soloma Empire. If the King of Soloma wanted to do something that the Senate collectively opposed, it would not be easy to push through.

But if the Divine Son had an idea, no matter how absurd, it would be carried out without question.

The reason no one opposed or overthrew him was related to the fact that the royal family controlled Sakura Prayer’s military power. Any dissenters who had appeared in the past were suppressed and eliminated.

"What do you know about this Divine Son?"

Hearing Guan Tong’s question, Shangyuan Zi asked one of her own: "Do you want to kill him?"

"If he wants to kill me, why can’t I return the favor? Just because he’s the so-called Divine Son? I don’t believe anyone’s life is more precious than another’s."

Guan Tong’s tone was dismissive. Shangyuan Zi listened and nodded. "You’re right."

"Tell me what you know about him, and then you can go investigate what happened to your parents. As we agreed, I said I would rescue you. I won’t get involved in the investigation into your parents."

"I don’t know how to investigate. I have no leads. And with the islands sunk, I can’t go back to my hometown to ask people questions."

"Start with the archives," Guan Tong suggested. "The Sakura Prayer government departments should have a database of citizen records."

"That would be very difficult for me to do," Shangyuan Zi said frankly. "Can you help me? In return, you can command my power."

Guan Tong’s interest was piqued. "What power do you have?"

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