49 Apocalypse Rules

Chapter 327: Chapter 304: Sincerity for Long-Term Cooperation

December 24th.

In the dead of night, the first thing Xin realized upon waking was that he was in an unfamiliar place.

He was bound from head to toe, unable to move.

"You’re awake."

Guan Tong’s voice rang out.

Xin looked up. The man was standing not far in front of him.

Standing beside Guan Tong was Shangyuan Zi.

And Suzuki, who was staring at him with eyes full of hatred.

Xin’s heart sank as he quickly recalled what had happened.

He had been preparing to counter Guan Tong’s Instant Teleportation attack, but something had gone wrong. It was as if time had hiccuped; by the time he realized it, he’d already been hit.

"If you’re smart, you’ll cooperate," Guan Tong said. "Otherwise, you’ll just be asking for pain."

"..."

Without a word, Xin bit down hard on his tongue.

With a sickening SQUELCH, he bit his own tongue off, his mouth instantly filling with blood.

Guan Tong, Shangyuan Zi, and Suzuki were all stunned. They hadn’t expected the man to be so ruthless—to himself.

THUD!

Guan Tong couldn’t let Xin die. Before he could harm himself in some other way, Guan Tong struck out and knocked him unconscious again.

"Looks like he’s not going to say anything," Shangyuan Zi said, then turned to Suzuki. "Can you get any intel with your Profile?"

Suzuki shook her head. "If he doesn’t say anything, my ability isn’t much use."

The two women looked to Guan Tong, wondering what he planned to do in a situation like this.

A man vicious enough to bite off his own tongue the moment he wakes up probably wouldn’t break, even under torture.

"This man certainly has guts. He’s not afraid to die. But this isn’t the old era," Guan Tong said coldly.

’As long as a person is alive, they can be made to talk.’

Even in the era before the Apocalypse Rules, things like Truth Serum were rumored to exist.

And now that the era of the Apocalypse Rules had arrived, abilities and items related to Hypnosis Inquiry were a certainty.

With the help of any one of those, getting intelligence from this man would be no problem at all.

"Even if he says nothing, at least we can be sure the Divine Son is really dead... right?" Shangyuan Zi guessed.

Guan Tong looked at her. "What? Didn’t you think the Divine Son was still alive before?"

"Well, this man is the Divine Son’s personal guard. If the Divine Son were alive, why would he abandon his duty and go to the prison beneath the official residence?"

"Hmm..."

Guan Tong felt Shangyuan Zi had a point.

If the Divine Son were alive, this man, his personal guard, really shouldn’t have left his side to act on his own.

But if the Divine Son was dead, why bother capturing and treating that Snake Servant? Did that mean the gene-mixing experiment he was leading was still ongoing?

Guan Tong couldn’t make a decision yet. He needed more intelligence.

Just then, they noticed Suzuki staring fiercely at the unconscious Xin, looking eager to do something.

Suzuki had told them earlier that after she was released, she was first interrogated at the Public Security General Administration, then taken away by the Divine Son for a second round of questioning by his guards.

The injuries on her face and body were all inflicted by this man during that second interrogation. The memory of his cruel methods still made her heart tremble, so it was only natural that she hated him enough to want him dead.

"Now’s not the time to kill him," Guan Tong said to Suzuki. "He’s definitely going to die, but before that, we need to squeeze every last drop of valuable intelligence out of him."

Suzuki nodded silently.

Shangyuan Zi asked, "Are there any items on the terminal market that could make him talk?"

"I just checked. Nothing. Those kinds of items get bought up by major organizations the second they’re listed."

"Then what do we do? You don’t have any abilities like hypnosis, do you?"

"I don’t, but that doesn’t mean I can’t find someone who does."

...

It was not yet six in the morning when an employee in the data department of the Strategy Research Room suddenly yelled, "Aaaah!" startling the other early shift workers in the office.

Before his colleagues could chide him, the employee blurted out, "Shadow just messaged us!"

Oh?!

Everyone in the office was stunned.

A dedicated team monitored Shadow’s account 24/7, ensuring that any post or message he sent could be viewed and reported immediately.

It had been a long time since Shadow’s last communication with the official account. A sudden new message was a matter of great importance.

The employee quickly reported it, and Zhang Minglu was woken from his sleep. As soon as he heard Shadow had sent a message, he rushed to his computer without even bothering to wash up.

Shadow: "I have an important and confidential matter to discuss with the authorities. It has wide-reaching implications and requires the head of the Strategy Research Room to be present."

The Strategy Research Room had dealt with Guan Tong several times, and he had a basic understanding of their organizational structure. He knew that the director, Gao Liangwei, held the real power.

Zhang Minglu replied: "This is Zhang Minglu. The director only went to bed at 1 AM and is still resting. You can tell me what’s going on first."

Shadow: "It’s about what happened recently in Sakura Prayer."

Sakura Prayer...

Zhang Minglu had his suspicions. He figured Shadow would only contact them for one of two reasons: either it was about the Alien Spores, or it was about his assassination of the Divine Son a few days ago.

Shadow: "Once Mr. Gao is available, I can do a video call."

Zhang Minglu: "A video call?"

Shadow: "You already know my identity, don’t you? Since that’s the case, there’s no need to hide anymore."

Zhang Minglu: "...I’ll have someone notify the director right away."

The matter was too important. Zhang Minglu couldn’t worry about letting Gao Liangwei get his rest.

As it turned out, just after he sent the message and before he could even leave his room, he got a call from Gao Liangwei, summoning him to the conference room.

Three minutes later, Gao Liangwei, Zhang Minglu, and two or three other department heads were gathered in the conference room.

It was true that Shadow’s identity had been exposed, but this information was still under a strict lockdown and hadn’t been leaked to the public.

Within the Strategy Research Room, aside from a few members of the leadership and some investigators, no one else knew the secret.

"Alright, let’s begin."

Gao Liangwei motioned to Zhang Minglu, who then sent a message to Guan Tong.

A moment later, the video call connected.

The moment the feed came up, Gao Liangwei and the others were shocked.

The video from Guan Tong’s side didn’t show him, but a huge crowd of people!

Most of them were looking at the camera with solemn expressions.

Then the camera flipped, and Guan Tong’s face finally appeared.

"Mr. Gao, Dr. Zhang, and the rest of you. The people you just saw are the ones we rescued from the Mizusawa Clan’s secret prison."

’The Mizusawa Clan’s secret prison?’

Guan Tong’s words carried an enormous amount of hidden information. Gao Liangwei immediately said, "Please explain. What exactly is going on?"

"I can do that."

Over the next ten-plus minutes, Guan Tong explained the situation: how the Mizusawa Clan had set up a private prison, captured dissidents, and was secretly conducting a gene-mixing and modification project.

The more they listened, the graver the expressions on the faces of Gao Liangwei and the others became. They clearly never imagined that the ruling family of Sakura Prayer could be secretly engaged in such utterly evil acts.

"...So, with the video I recorded and this many witnesses, the Mizusawa Clan’s crimes are undeniable. I’ve contacted you for two reasons. First, I hope the authorities can temporarily house these people within your borders and guarantee their safety.

The Mizusawa Clan has surely discovered the situation at the secret prison by now. If these people stay in Sakura Prayer, they’ll just be silenced. I can’t protect this many people on my own, but I can get them into North Star territory."

"Second, I hope the authorities can send an Ascender with hypnosis or interrogation abilities or items to question the Divine Son Guard we’ve captured. We need to get more valuable intelligence to use against the Mizusawa Clan."

"Wait," Gao Liangwei asked. "There must have been dozens, maybe a hundred people in that group just now. How did you rescue them, and how are you going to transport them all to North Star?"

"It’s one of my abilities."

Guan Tong had no intention of explaining the specifics of his Book Page Sanctuary. Even the people he’d rescued had no idea how they had been moved.

From their perspective, they were simply enveloped by something pitch-black, and after a while, their vision returned to find they were outside the prison.

Because they were wrapped in shadows for the entire transfer, they were completely unaware of the Sanctuary’s existence. The only thing they knew was that they had faintly heard what sounded like a beast’s growls during that time.

That, of course, was the sound of Coal Ball.

"...I see."

Gao Liangwei and the others knew just how rare an ability that could remotely transport large numbers of people was. While it could be done with mass Teleportation Items, even the government had few of those in stock. Many had been used up during the earthquake "Rule," making them an extremely scarce resource where every use was a loss.

Gao Liangwei looked at Guan Tong on the screen, his gaze profound.

’We still know too little about Shadow,’ he thought. ’Just how many hidden abilities does this young man have? It’s impossible to tell.’

"Alright. I can agree to your terms right now."

Gao Liangwei didn’t hesitate. The people Guan Tong had rescued included scholars and researchers from Sakura Prayer, former Andai People, and others who opposed the Mizusawa Clan. All of them had significant value.

Especially the scholars and researchers. Their willingness to risk their lives to oppose the insane gene-mixing experiments was a testament to their morality. North Star would naturally welcome people like that.

"Good," Guan Tong said. "I’ll send you the location after I’ve brought them to North Star. Please be ready to receive and settle them. That’s all for now."

"Wait." Gao Liangwei stopped Guan Tong as he was about to end the call. "Shadow—no, I’ll just call you Guan Tong. As you said, there’s no need to hide anything. The intelligence you’ve provided is very important. I can tell you what my next move will be."

"Oh?"

"After we receive the personnel you’re sending, I will convene an emergency Human Federation meeting as soon as possible and make the evidence public. Then, I will call on all member nations, including Sakura Prayer itself, to convict and arrest the involved members of the Mizusawa Clan, and establish a joint investigation team to look into that gene-mixing project."

Guan Tong listened silently, feeling that Gao Liangwei wasn’t finished.

"As a show of good faith for our long-term cooperation, I’d like to nominate you to be the head of this joint investigation team. I wonder, would you be interested?"

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