49 Apocalypse Rules

Chapter 337: Chapter 314: Identification and Despair

Ascender’s Home forums.

In the casual chat section, a flood of popular threads filled the front page.

This had nothing to do with the quality of the posters; there had simply been too many shocking events recently.

First was the matter of the Mizusawa Clan in Sakura Prayer. Following the exposure of a large amount of evidence, including a dungeon video filmed by Guan Tong, the country’s reputation plummeted.

Even though the Sakura Prayer government reacted quickly, publicly announcing the arrest of many Mizusawa Clan suspects, the public wasn’t buying it. Everyone felt that those captured were just insignificant small fry.

Moreover, after these crimes were exposed, public opinion on the Shadow’s assassinations also reversed.

Many netizens posted that this once again confirmed the Shadow God’s true worth, claiming they had known all along that the assassination targets must have committed grave sins.

There were dissenting voices, of course, arguing that conviction without trial did not align with procedural justice.

But in this day and age, regardless of whether these words were right or wrong, few people were willing to listen.

From the very first day the Apocalypse Rules descended, from the moment the hidden information of the first Rule was exposed, people had stopped believing in so-called procedural justice.

Because if they were to strictly follow that set of procedures, the authorities should have arrested everyone with the "Disorder Breaker" title back then and interrogated them using lie-detecting items or abilities.

Those who knew the hidden information and deliberately knocked others out should have been convicted of intentional homicide. Those who knocked others out without knowing the hidden information should have at least been convicted of intentional injury.

The reality, however, was that no government official in any country in the world did so. Thus, people knew in their hearts that in this unprecedented era of human history, procedural justice had become meaningless.

The other major event was the selection of the new Governor of Sisiya Country.

Many of this year’s academy students, in particular, were both shocked and delighted after watching the inaugural address and discovering the new Governor was Yelena, who had attended classes with them.

Even though Yelena had only attended classes for those few months without socializing or living in the academy dorms, and had no real interaction with other students, it didn’t stop some of them from feeling proud to have been classmates with a Governor.

Furthermore, many students now believed the reason the lecturer Guan Tong had given Yelena special, one-on-one tutoring was because of her special status, which made them feel relieved about it.

The buzz around these two events didn’t last long before it was completely overshadowed by the "Parasites."

After various countries announced the existence of the Parasites at the end of the Rule, people all over the world were on the verge of a mental breakdown.

Previous Rules, for the most part, were over when they were over. There was no need to worry about any lingering disasters.

Even if the Rules themselves had long-term effects—for instance, after the [Five Senses Elimination] Rule, a large number of people developed claustrophobia; after the [Self-Punishment for Lying] Rule, many people could never speak the truth again for the rest of their lives; and even the secondary disasters from the earthquake Rule have yet to be fully cleaned up.

But these effects were all within a controllable range.

But this time, with [Outer Heaven Parasite], the aftereffects of the Rule were almost uncontrollable.

Everyone was plunged into a fear of the unknown.

People would rather the Parasites be terrifying monsters than have them retain their human appearance.

It was like the uncanny valley effect: the more human-like a monster is, the more frightening it becomes. And when the monster is completely indistinguishable from a human, it triggers extreme panic and suspicion.

Who knew if there was a Parasite lurking among the people around them? Until there was a way to identify them, no one could feel completely safe interacting with others.

This led to a collective online discussion, with netizens trying to come up with "unconventional methods" to identify Parasites before the officials provided a solution.

Among them, a thread titled "The Ultimate Guide to Identifying Parasites: A Grand Discussion" was the most popular.

The OP started with a summary: "Official intel released so far: Parasites possess the host’s memories and intelligence, allowing them to disguise themselves and live and interact like normal humans. However, unlike normal humans, Parasites seem to operate under a ’prime directive’: to spread spores and create more Parasites."

"So they’re just normal people with a ’keyword.’ The moment that keyword comes up, they instantly turn into monsters," someone replied.

"Since the Parasites are bound by a prime directive and their core objective is to spread spores, I think there’s a simple method. In real life, just never discuss spores. Anyone who does is a Parasite!"

"Wrong. You should make everyone you meet curse out the spores. Whoever doesn’t is a Parasite."

"...How old are you, poster above? You think Parasites are elementary school kids?"

"Feels like there’s no good way to do this. There are probably Parasites replying in this very thread."

"I have an idea. Everyone knows about the fall of Black Banner Country, right? We humans can’t tell Parasites apart, but Parasites can distinguish between humans and their own kind. So, the solution is simple: just capture a few Parasites, turn them against their own, and have them identify their fellow kind, right?"

"Holy shit, you’re a genius!"

"Are you kidding? You think a monster like a Parasite can be turned? You think this is a spy movie?"

"If you can’t turn them, just use an item to control them! Would the great hypnosis technique of my man Liang God work?"

"Might actually be worth a try... Should we report this to the officials?"

"I think all your ideas are useless. The simplest and most practical method is to have no contact with others in real life. That way, you’re guaranteed not to run into a Parasite. Hell is other people!"

’Hell is other people...?’

Lu City’s eyes were bloodshot as he scrolled to this point.

He had spent the entire previous night alone in a study room, and then in the morning, he ran to a deserted spot off-campus and waited until nine o’clock.

As soon as it turned nine, the Fire Thief’s voice rang out. He was ecstatic when he heard the word "Congratulations."

’This meant he had succeeded! He passed the Rule without anyone’s help, even after getting addicted!’

Even though he couldn’t share this with anyone, the sense of accomplishment made him extremely satisfied with himself.

But this excitement lasted only a few hours before it transformed into an equal measure of fear and despair.

Lu City discovered that his "spore addiction" was flaring up again.

’He couldn’t believe it. The Rule was already over. He had passed it and received his reward, so why were the spores still inside him?’

’Weren’t they supposed to be automatically eliminated when the Rule ended, just like the Blood Plague Virus back then?!’

He couldn’t accept the fact that the spores remained in his body even after the Rule was over.

Moreover, an even more desperate situation was driving him to the brink of collapse.

The Rule was over. There were no more spores left in the natural environment.

But his addiction hadn’t disappeared.

The implication was self-evident.

Therefore, when other people browsed the forums, they were looking for ways to identify Parasites in order to stay away from them.

Lu City’s purpose, however, was the exact opposite.

Though he couldn’t see it himself, the expression on his face was nearly distorted, no different from that of a drug addict.

"Spores... After the Rule ends, only Parasites have spores inside them... I need spores... I have to find a Parasite..."

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