Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 361 Difficult Choice

Beixing, Countermeasures Research Office.

At the meeting to discuss the rules, people offered various suggestions.

The content is largely the same, with the core principle being to strongly prohibit private fights while ensuring that the spiritual power of the ascendant does not diminish.

After listening for a moment, Gao Liangwei, the person in charge, set the tone for these rules:

"The mental power of those who have ascended is extremely precious. Even those who are relatively weak should have their mental power cap preserved as much as possible. What we, the officials, need to do is to reassure these ascenders that they will not be attacked or plundered by stronger individuals if they do not abstain."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"This shouldn't be too difficult for us at North Star. The information of the vast majority of Ascended Ones is registered in the system, and almost all of them are assigned fixed shelters or other residences, so it's relatively controllable."

"Yes. With the city-wide surveillance network, if any Ascendant dares to use their strength to kill and plunder others' points, the research lab's mobile team can be dispatched quickly to arrest and prosecute them."

"Given this strict order, I think only a very small number of people who are not thinking straight would risk their lives. No one with a clear head would do something as stupid as committing murder for an uncertain ranking reward."

Because of the government's strong control over society, Beixing is destined to ensure that this rule will not cause too much chaos.

However, this rule has two sides; seeking absolute stability means withdrawing from the competition.

Understanding this, Han Qiu said, "Although the majority can be protected through strong official suppression, this will also deprive our country's strongest individuals of the opportunity to compete for ranking rewards. You all can see that, right?"

"Ranking rewards are a trap set by the fire-bringers to lure people into killing each other," a scholar said with displeasure. "Can't Academician Han see that?"

Han Qiu smiled: "Hehe, all I can see is that the purpose of the fire-stealers is to select the strongest among humanity. And our country's withdrawal from the competition means handing over the opportunity to become stronger to the ascendants of other countries."

"Humanity as a whole is already standing on the edge of a cliff. Is it really necessary to distinguish between our country and other countries at this time?" Some people felt very puzzled.

Gao Liangwei then interjected: "As long as the concept of a nation exists, it will be necessary to distinguish between our country and other countries."

"..."

"Academician Han, what are your suggestions?"

Han Qiu looked at the female representative from the entertainment industry and said, "I have an idea inspired by the show 'The Ascendant'."

Those present were all intelligent people, and they immediately understood his meaning upon hearing this.

"You want the Ascended Ones to fight to the death in one-on-one battles?" Zhang Minglu blurted out.

The variety show "The Ultimate Ascension" has aired its third episode so far, and each episode is incredibly popular.

Its popularity stems from the fact that the contestants advance through the simplest and most direct form of combat. The battles between these powerful ascendants are incredibly exciting, something ordinary people would never normally have the chance to witness.

However, the battles in the show are strictly speaking just friendly sparring, and they stop when the point is reached. There may be injuries, but no one will die.

The new rules stipulate that the only way to gain points is to kill other "competitors," turning the competition into a fight to the death.

"Not bad." Han Qiu nodded.

The people in the room immediately started discussing it.

Without saying a word, Zhang Minglu stood up abruptly and declared his position: "I firmly oppose it!"

Gao Liangwei's expression revealed no sign of his support for either side. He calmly said, "Dr. Zhang, please state your reasons for opposing this."

"The reason is simple! If we hold this kind of deathmatch, far too many Ascendants will die, and those who dare to participate are all strong. If the strong exchange pieces and kill each other, it's like we're digging our own foundation!"

"Dr. Zhang is right, how many people will die?"

"It's like raising a poisonous insect..."

"Doing this is indeed a big problem, and encouraging citizens to kill each other will only tarnish our official image."

Those who supported Zhang Minglu chimed in, and most of the others, even if they didn't speak, nodded frequently.

Zhang Minglu looked at Han Qiu: "Academician Han, I don't know if you've ever heard of an ancient method for selecting warriors. They would lock up all the warriors in a tribe together and make them fight each other. The one who survived to the end would be the strongest warrior..."

"You mean to say that doing this is wrong?" Han Qiu interrupted Zhang Minglu, "because the combined strength of those warriors who killed each other could easily defeat the strongest warrior. Right?"

"Yes."

"No, you're wrong."

Zhang Minglu frowned, waiting for Han Qiu to explain.

Han Qiu slowly said, "A few ordinary warriors working together might be able to defeat the strongest warrior, but they are still mortals after all. But are those who have transcended mortals?"

"Dr. Zhang, your responsibility is to select and train those who have undergone sublimation. I think you are most aware of the differences in strength between those who have undergone sublimation."

Do you think ten ordinary Ascendants working together could threaten the strongest Ascendant? I think it would be quite an achievement if they could even withstand one attack, let alone threaten him... Let me give you a recent example: the powerful Ascendant 'Shadow' from our country, who fought against dozens of parasitic Ascendants alone at the landing site. Many people have seen that, right?

Those parasites, enhanced by spores, were far stronger than human ascendants under similar conditions, yet what was the result? 'Shadow' almost single-handedly suppressed and essentially annihilated them.

Han Qiu paused for a moment and concluded, "I boldly predict that the strength gap between top-tier Ascension Realm cultivators and ordinary Ascension Realm cultivators may be greater than the gap between a human and a dog. Since the future belongs to the strong, is it right or wrong for us to give up on electing top-tier powerhouses now in order to protect the weak and save face by not wanting more deaths?"

The atmosphere in the office froze for a moment. Even those who had firmly stood by Zhang Minglu began to waver after hearing Han Qiu's words.

Yes, it's clear now that the strength of a hundred ordinary Ascendants is no match for that of a top-tier Ascendant.

This is not only reflected in "Shadow". On the front line of the Black Flag Kingdom, Adam of the Soro Empire, Bai Xuewu of the North Star and others have shown a powerful combat ability that can take on a hundred people, which ordinary ascendants cannot match.

If a Gu King can truly kill all other Gu worms, then whether or not to sacrifice those Gu worms to cultivate it requires careful consideration.

“…Indeed, the gap between those who have ascended is enormous. Han Qiu, what you said may make sense, but I still firmly oppose it. Other countries can do this, but we in Beixing absolutely cannot!” Zhang Minglu’s expression was firm and unmoved.

“Heh… Dr. Zhang is a good person, I can tell that. A high sense of morality is a good thing, but when it comes to survival, everything has to give way.” Han Qiu said, looking at Gao Liangwei, who had been silent all along.

"This is a difficult decision, and we ask the person in charge to consider it carefully."

All eyes were on Gao Liangwei, who was about to speak when someone knocked on the door and came in to give an urgent report.

"Report! The administrator of the Ascendant's Home has posted a thread containing hidden information about the sales rules!"

……

The Home of Ascendants, a forum for website owners.

This forum, where only the site administrator has the authority to post, has seen a new post after a period of silence.

Selling classified information related to the Sixteenth Rule of the Apocalypse

Details: The price of this information is 500000 Ascension Coins. This information will not be provided immediately; a unified notification will be given 1 hours later.

As soon as the post was published, countless users who were particularly interested came to "pay their respects" and leave comments.

"Long time no see, Station Master! I'm here!"

"Holy crap, the price of intelligence has gone up to 500,000? I remember it was 200,000 last time, and it's gone up to 300,000 in one go?!"

"It seems the site administrator is short of Ascension Coins. Surely not? He should have several million from the previous sales."

"Didn't enough people buy last time? Does the site manager feel they lost money?"

"Possibly! After the establishment of the Human Rights Consortium, all member states can buy one copy and share it with each other. There is no need for each country to buy its own copy as before, which will reduce the demand for many copies."

"I think the station manager might not be just one person behind him, but a large organization. If you have to support a large organization, then a few million Shenghua coins isn't really that much after all."

"The freebie hunters are ready and waiting for the official purchase and release!"

"I'll sit at the same table with you upstairs."

Since the site administrator's account hasn't been active on the forum much lately, this post caused quite a stir.

Those in government agencies and major organizations responsible for monitoring him naturally reported it immediately. And the decision-makers, faced with a price increase of 300,000 Ascended Coins, still had one word: Buy.

In this purely seller's market, unless the website owner raises the price to an extremely outrageous level, people will still have to buy, even if it's a bit higher.

Furthermore, the rules have only been released for an hour, leaving two hours to consider whether to discard the challenge invitation and abandon these rules. The site administrator's post saying they'll release a message in an hour means they have an extra hour to decide.

The buyer quickly contacted the site administrator via private message to complete the payment.

Guan Tong, currently inside the Sisya ruling building, counted the number of buyers: eight in total. This indicated that outside the Human Alliance, there were seven other financially powerful organizations.

No...not necessarily.

It's possible that the entire alliance claims to share the information, but powerful nations might secretly purchase a separate copy to ensure its reliability and prevent any unauthorized modifications by the purchasing party.

Aside from them, Guan Tong figured the Parasites and the Fire Stealers might also buy a copy. As for other large organizations, he didn't know much about them.

Of course, it doesn't matter to him who buys it, since he has to pay anyway.

"One share is 500,000, eight shares would be 4 million. Adding that to my original 4 million, I have a total of over 8 million, which is enough for me."

Guan Tong raised prices significantly this time for one reason: based on the sales situation last time, there were fewer buyers, and the "high volume" strategy of low profit margins and high sales volume was no longer viable.

Secondly, he has decided to spend Ascendant Coins to hire other Ascendants to transfer psychic power to him.

He needs to accumulate a massive amount of mental energy to enhance his strength and continue developing his "Book Without Words," which will inevitably require a huge expenditure of Ascension Coins.

(End of this chapter)