Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 413 The Out-of-Control Third Scarlet Experiment
The Federation of Peoples' Associations (FFPA) has dwindled to just nine member states since its inception.

Based on their strength, the nine countries are roughly divided into two superpowers, one strong country, and six weak countries.

The two superpowers are naturally the Northern Star Kingdom and the Soro Empire, the strong one is the Principality of Sisia, and the remaining six are all small countries.

The strength of these six small countries varies greatly. For example, the Sakura Kingdom used to be quite powerful, but after the earthquake, the entire country was relocated, which broke its backbone. After the rulers, led by the Misawa family, were purged, the kingdom became even weaker.

Now the country only retains two cities, and its armed forces consist only of the security bureaus that maintain street order; they are basically doing well if they can even manage their own affairs.

The third exploration experiment on Crimson Terra that is about to take place should be conducted in Sissia, the "strongest" nation, after Soroma and Northstar, according to the order of national strength. However, the Human Alliance chose Lure instead.

Lu Rui, as one of the six small countries, is actually the one with the strongest overall national strength among the six countries.

The plan to build megacities, proposed by the six small countries at the UN Security Council meeting, was spearheaded by Lu Ruiguo.

Although this country is not technologically advanced, its people are united and its population is large, so it was not seriously affected by the previous apocalyptic rules.

Especially during periods of earthquake regularity, the territory of Lu Rui Kingdom was relatively far from the epicenter, resulting in less population loss, and it still retains a population of nearly ten million. Among them, there are hundreds of thousands of Ascended Beings, who are the backbone and reliance of the nation.

It was precisely because of this confidence that Lu Rui took the initiative to propose conducting the third joint exploration experiment in his country and suggested using some special patients as test subjects.

Sisya had no objection to this, because Yelena had just eliminated the remnants of Rijeka's forces and was currently busy further consolidating the domestic situation, and did not want to divert her attention.

At the Lu Rui Testing Center, the experiment was being prepared in full swing.

Soromagna's expert, Finch, looked at the astronomical telescopes in the room with a somewhat strange expression.

Even though he had heard from Lu Rui's side that the experiment would be conducted indoors with a skylight, allowing testers to observe Scarlet Terra with a telescope, he still found it strange to see it with his own eyes.

He asked Lu Ruiguo, the person in charge of the experiment, "What's the difference between letting the testers observe with the naked eye and using a telescope? Either way, it will trigger scarlet phobia, but the latter will only be more troublesome."

The person in charge of Lu Ruiguo's experiment was a man in his forties, who was also Lu Ruiguo's deputy chief. His name was Mellens, and he had the distinctive dark brown skin and green pupils of the Lu Rui people.

Mellens said, "We have a saying in Lure, 'You can only see things clearly up close.' Observing Scarlet Terra directly with a telescope may provide a more detailed experience."

Finch scoffed at this claim, turning to the expert from the North Star: "You think so too?"

"Since Director Melens did this, there must be some reason behind it."

"Hmph, what logic could there be? We Soromanians have a proverb: 'You can't see the whole picture when you're close to something.'"

No one responded to Finch; this bearded man's questioning personality was undoubtedly annoying to many.

At this moment, the testers that Lu Ruiguo had prepared entered the room.

Some of the testers looked abnormal at first glance; several of them had mental health issues just by looking at their expressions.

Experts know that these are the people Lu Ruiguo referred to as "those who cannot perceive fear due to mental or physical illness."

These people were patients before, but now they have the opportunity to become heroes—a fact evident in the gleam in the eyes of two or three of them, who seem very proud to be participating in the test.

Finch stood aside with his arms crossed, observing coldly. He didn't think bringing in some patients would be of any use. Just as he had said before, the fear brought about by rules was irrational fear, not so easily resolved.

However, he also has many opponents, arguing that during the first apocalyptic rule, some people survived 72 hours without sleep by relying on stimulants and other medical drugs. If this "crooked method" worked then, it might work now.

Lu Rui prepared a total of twenty test subjects, more than the previous two times. Half of them were patients, and the other half were people with high mental abilities.

Once everything was ready, Melens announced the start of the experiment at the appointed time.

The cover on the astronomical telescope was removed, and the testers used high-powered lenses to directly observe the eerie red light emitted by Scarlet Terra.

"Ahhh!"

Just three or four seconds later, someone shouted out; it was a tester who had reached a high level of spiritual power.

This surprised everyone, because based on the experience of the previous two times, those who had advanced spiritual power could usually persist for a considerable period of time.

"Quickly, get him out!"

Seeing that the man's mouth was already foaming at the corners, Mellens immediately ordered his staff to take him away.

Once the first one appeared, the second and the third quickly followed.

Finch unconsciously lowered his arm, his expression turning serious.

He had realized that Melens might be right: observing Scarlet Terra with a telescope would drastically shorten the duration of Scarlet Fear attacks compared to observing it with the naked eye!

Not only those with high spiritual power who have sublimated, but also several patients who were previously diagnosed with "inability to fear" have begun to exhibit symptoms.

The effects on them were far more severe than on the Ascended; two of them died instantly from shock, without uttering a sound. Another suffered a heart attack and collapsed to the ground clutching his chest, while another had an epileptic seizure and convulsed.

"Quick! Take him to the emergency room!"

Melens was busy giving instructions, while the other experts were more focused on the screen displaying brainwave readings.

One particularly smooth brainwave line caught everyone's attention.

"Whose EEG is this? It seems completely unaffected by Scarlet Fear!"

"Wow, that's amazing! How did you do that!"

"The data shows it's even more stable than that parasite from Beixing before..."

Mellens also noticed this striking data and looked surprised: "This is the brainwave data of number 11..."

"Is this a patient? Is it?" Finch asked quickly, "What illness?!"

Melens looked toward the location of number 11, where a woman in her early twenties was sitting in front of a telescope, her half-face visible below the telescope's aperture expressionless.

"She...her prefrontal lobe was removed."

Everyone felt a chill run down their spines upon hearing this.

Lobectomy is not an advanced procedure; rather, it is a very classical one.

This surgery was initially developed by humans to treat mental illness. Because many mentally ill people are unpredictable and may suddenly harm others, causing fear among many normal people, it is necessary to treat this type of person for the safety of the majority.

Initially, people simply locked up mental patients and concentrated them in places like mental hospitals, not allowing them to come into contact with normal people.

Later, doctors discovered that removing the prefrontal cortex of a patient's brain would calm many mentally ill or bipolar patients down, so the surgery began to be used to treat mental patients. However, it was later discovered that the price of this calmness was the loss of emotions, intelligence, and a significant reduction in memory.

Some patients with acute mental illness can study, work, and live like normal people when they are calm, and only become mentally unstable when they have an attack. After a lobotomy, they seem to become emotionless idiots and can never return to a normal state.

Unsurprisingly, the surgery was banned shortly after it became legal, making it extremely rare to see a person who has undergone a lobotomy.

“No wonder the readings are so stable…” an expert murmured. “But the problem is, while she doesn’t feel fear, she can’t help us explore the source of that fear either!”

There's no such thing as a perfect sugarcane; while lobotomy can eliminate fear, it also comes with a significant drop in intelligence, making it impossible to understand and perform tasks.

Although the woman was sitting in front of a telescope looking at Scarlet Terra, she might not even be aware of exploring the "source of fear," so it was still useless.

"No!" Melens exclaimed. "She's different. Her intelligence hasn't dropped that low. I talked to her many times before I chose her. She can understand this mission!"

"That's impossible—"

"Ahhh!" the woman suddenly yelled twice and waved her hands in circles.

"This is our agreed-upon code for when we make a discovery!" Melens' eyes lit up with excitement. He rushed over, grabbed her shoulder, and asked, "What did you see? You—"

Melens stared into the woman's pupils, stunned for a few seconds, then his expression suddenly twisted, and he slammed his head against the astronomical telescope next to him, blood immediately staining the lens red.

"Deputy Prime Minister!"

"What's going on?!"

"It's Scarlet Fear! The person in charge has been affected by Scarlet Fear!"

The experiment leader, Mellens, suddenly contracted the virus, catching everyone present off guard and causing chaos.

Nobody knows what happened. Mellens didn't even watch Scarlet Terra, so why would he be affected?
His assistants all rushed over to help Mellens up, but they too quickly succumbed to fear. Some screamed, some froze, and one even punched the person next to him.

It wasn't just these few assistants; many experts also suddenly and without warning fell ill, experiencing a panic attack.

This unexpected and massive chaos terrified everyone in the room. Experts from various countries of the Associated Peoples' Union fled the room, leaving only a few people able to remain calm.

These people are all intelligent; they have already realized that the source of the outbreak is the woman whose brain lobe was removed.

"Don't look into that woman's eyes! She's the source of Scarlet Fear!"

"Quickly, restrain her and blindfold her!"

As they shouted, the group took out their mental power items and attacked the woman.

The woman was not an ascendant, but just an ordinary person, and was immediately knocked to the ground.

Several men rushed forward, pinned her down, tied a coat over her head, and completely blindfolded her.

At this moment, more Ascended beings rushed into the room, immediately stopped the experiment, and took control of the scene.

……

A few minutes later, the shocked group moved to a conference room.

The atmosphere in the room was heavy. No one expected the experiment to go out of control, and even Mellens, the person in charge of the experiment, was affected.

Shortly after, another expert from Lu Rui entered, his face grim. "The person in charge... Deputy Prime Minister Melens... he seems to have gone mad. We've used sedatives and mental stabilization devices, but nothing has worked. Not just him, the others affected are either dead or have gone insane beyond repair."

"..."

Everyone fell silent for a moment; this was already a major experimental accident.

“…I think we should discuss the reasons.” The expert from Beixing broke the silence first. “Why would that woman whose brain lobe was removed become the source of Scarlet Fear? It doesn’t make any sense.”

This is a problem that no one can understand and that has never occurred before.

Moreover, it is an extremely terrifying situation.

If humans themselves can be a source of transmission, then wouldn't it be unsafe to hide in a room?

“It might be related to her inability to feel fear!” Finch frowned. “I have a theory, listen to it! I think that woman may have completed the task that Melens assigned to her.”

Everyone was taken aback. Someone whispered, "You mean—"

"Since she doesn't feel fear, she's not affected by the images generated in her brain, so she quickly came into contact with that red blush. Yes, that's the thing we call the 'Source of Fear'!"

The Sisya expert exclaimed in horror, "So, does this mean that after humans come into contact with the 'source of fear,' the individuals themselves become the source of the scarlet fear?!"

"How could this be... The hidden information in the rules said that there was something unknown lurking within the Crimson Power, then..."

"Who says hidden unknowns are always good things?" Finch cursed, his face dark. "Not every treasure map points to treasure; it could point to a trap or death!"

"This……"

The group looked at each other, their faces showing confusion.

If this is the result of all the effort the Human Alliance put into planning several experiments, wouldn't all that work just result in punishment?

The expert from Beixing pondered for a moment and said, "It's too early to make a judgment. I think we need to have some communication with that woman. Director Mellens previously said that she still has some intelligence and can understand the tasks he assigned. Perhaps we can get some information out of her. And even if what Dr. Finch said is true, we're not without our gains."

"What does this mean?" someone asked, puzzled. "Does the source of infection still have any positive value?"

Finch suddenly said in a sinister tone, "It would be quite good as a weapon."

"..."

A young scholar exclaimed excitedly, "It seems so! If we put this woman in Black Flag... no, no, the parasite isn't really affected by Scarlet Fear. Put her in Fahe! It'll definitely get those cultists hooked; she can definitely be used as a weapon!"

After he finished speaking, he found that no one agreed with him.

Clearly, everyone felt that even when used to deal with enemies, doing so was still somewhat inhumane.

“We’ve decided to conduct a closed-door interrogation of the woman first,” said expert Lu Rui, “to see if we can get any useful information… As for using her as a weapon, that’s not on our radar.”

(End of this chapter)