Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 431 Title Upgrade, Crimson Vanishes

The moment the notification sound rang, Guan Tong chose to consume the item.

At the same time, many thoughts flashed through his mind:
This crimson blush, which humans call the "source of fear," appears to be actually called the "Wailing Furnace."

Just as humans once called the monster that could transform corpses into the undead "Screamers," its name in the hidden rules is "Mother Transformer."

Since this "Wailing Furnace" can be absorbed by the title to increase experience, it means that, like the previous nanite swarm, it belongs to some kind of special life form.

However, unlike the nanobot swarm that split off, on the one hand, the experience provided by a small portion of the nanobot swarm could not be used to upgrade the title; on the other hand, the nanobot swarm had certain strategic value, so Guan Tong decided to keep it temporarily and not use it to upgrade the title.

The experience provided by the "Wailing Forge" can directly upgrade the title, and Guan Tong has no control over it. He can only choose to consume it and use it as a stepping stone for the title.

After he made his decision, a golden net appeared, binding the "Wailing Furnace".

As the golden light shone brightly, the crimson halo gradually dissipated, causing the entire red consciousness space to tremble and collapse.

Countless shrill screams suddenly rang out from within, a mixture of various timbres, including human screams and screams in some unknown languages, making Guan Tong's head throb with pain.

Are all these screams from victims? Or...?

Listening to those sounds, Guan Tong could barely think straight. Fortunately, the process didn't last long. Seven or eight seconds later, the "Wailing Furnace" was completely swallowed up by the golden net surrounding it.

A new prompt appears.

[Title upgraded to 'Intermediate Civilization Observer']

Guan Tong was slightly taken aback.

Intermediate? It seems that upgrading once is not the limit; this title can be upgraded further.

Furthermore, it's unclear whether the title's effects will change after upgrading to the intermediate level.

At this moment, as the "Wailing Furnace" dissipated, the red consciousness space completely collapsed into fragments.

Guan Tong felt her consciousness being instantly pulled out, and the next moment she returned to reality, back to her body sitting in the metal chair.

……it's over?

He blinked his sore eyes, then widened them slightly.

Outside the porthole, the eerie crimson color was fading on Terra.

The rules still had one day left, yet Crimson began to recede from Terra, the implications of which were self-evident!

A few seconds later, several exclamations came from the communicator in the room.

Zhang Minglu's voice was particularly loud.

"Guan Tong! Why is the Crimson Fear on Terra disappearing? Have you defeated the rules?!"

"...I guess so."

Guan Tong couldn't say for sure, but he was fairly certain that the "Wailing Forge" was the core of this rule. Since it was consumed as an experience pack by the [Civilization Observer] title, without its core support, this apocalyptic rule would naturally end prematurely.

This is somewhat similar to when he killed the [Mother Transformer], after which the undead in that area also stopped transforming.

"My God! You actually did this!" Wilanco's shocked voice followed closely. "It's unbelievable! What happened in those fifteen minutes?!"

Only fifteen minutes have passed...?

Guan Tong checked the time; it really had been fifteen minutes.

However, he only had a few tens of thousands of mental energy left, which shows how much the "Wailing Furnace" counterattack consumed when he felt his palm was about to be burned through by the Stabilizing Anchor Totem in the final stage.

He glanced at his right palm; the anchor totem was still there, and his hand was unharmed. But the pain he had just experienced was excruciating, and he was still experiencing phantom pain due to the psychological impact.

"Just now……"

Guan Tong opened her mouth, but didn't continue.

His abilities and secrets have been exposed in considerable detail, but all within acceptable limits.

Shadow, Silver Hunter, and others will find out eventually; it's impossible to hide it from them, since Guan Tong often needs to rely on them in battle.

However, the most crucial secrets must not be revealed. The "Book Without Words" goes without saying, and the title of "Civilization Observer" and the passive ability "Killing Intent Perception" are also extremely important and must not be exposed.

Therefore, we need to carefully consider how to explain to the outside world what happened in the space of consciousness.

However, before he could even consider it for a few seconds, Zhang Minglu said, "Whatever happened, you're covered in sweat and you must be in a very bad state. You should rest for half an hour, and then we have something important to tell you!"

Upon hearing this, Guan Tong raised her hand and wiped her forehead, finding it covered in sweat.

It seems that although everything just happened in the consciousness space, his body was still affected.

Consider that in that space he first felt dizzy and nauseous, then experienced two incredibly realistic and terrifying scenarios, and finally endured a lot of burning pain in order to grab the "Wailing Furnace"... All of this combined, the fact that he only broke out in a sweat instead of collapsing completely is already an amazing display of his physical strength.

Although he didn't know what the "important matter" Zhang Minglu wanted to tell him was, he really needed to rest for a while.

"I'm going to clean up. I'll go to the main cabin in half an hour."

……

"Mengzhou-1" rocket spacecraft.

Inside the cockpit, Robert sat at the control panel, clutching an access card with a built-in chip in his hand, which read "Team Leader - Wei Xuan".

Zhang Minglu and others were right; Robert was able to obtain the highest operational authority over "Dream Boat No. 1" by using Wei Xuan's access card.

Upon discovering that the "Imperial Pioneer" had entered the orbit of Tianshui Star, he immediately manipulated the "Dreamboat No. 1" to change its orbit, intending to leave the orbit of Terra Star and head straight for the former.

However, after the crimson faded from Terra, Robert, who had been expressionless, suddenly trembled, a glimmer of clarity flashed in his eyes, and then he collapsed to the ground unconscious.

Meanwhile, on Tianshui Star, many people under the stress of the Scarlet Fear were experiencing similar symptoms. Many showed a glimmer of renewed sanity in their eyes before losing consciousness and fainting again…

……

Since there was no way to shower or take a bath in space, Guan Tong sprayed a small amount of granular water on her body with a spray bottle and then wiped herself with a damp towel.

He then went to the rest pod, lay down on the bed, and closed his eyes to rest. The mental exhaustion from those fifteen minutes was far more severe than the physical fatigue.

If he didn't have to go to the main cabin to communicate with the ground control later, he would have liked to just go to sleep right now.

"Terminal panel".

After clearing her mind for a moment, Guan Tong silently summoned the control panel.

Name: Guan Tong

Nickname: Shadow

[Title: Intermediate Civilization Observer]

[Psychic Power: 1093 (1093) (36251)]

[Ascended Coins: 6430170]

Overall Bioinformatics Evaluation: Perfect

The title has changed, but Guan Tong didn't rush to see the effect. Instead, she checked her mental strength growth first.

He remembers that he officially broke through the 1,000-point limit on March 1st, entering the second stage of sublimation. Since then, in less than a month, the limit has increased by a staggering 93 points!
The significant price increase is directly linked to entering the second stage of the enhancement process and achieving "perfection" in bioinformatics evaluation.

Currently, his maximum mental energy naturally increases by about 3 points per day, which amounts to 90 points per month. Only with the addition of extra stimulation can he achieve this astonishing increase.

This once again validates the "first-mover advantage" theory in the field of psychic power research, where the "stronger get stronger." As time goes on, the gap between top-tier ascendants and ordinary ascendants will widen.

Previously, multiple ordinary ascendants could win by overwhelming the opponent's numbers and exhausting their mental energy. However, as the gap widens, this tactic will only become less effective.

Guan Tong had no doubt that if this trend continued, the top Ascendants would eventually be extremely difficult to kill with sheer numbers. To eliminate them, either cutting-edge human technology would be used, or other equally top Ascendants would have to intervene.

As one of the "top" players, Guan Tong wasn't particularly excited. Perhaps it was because he was used to it, having maintained his lead from the very beginning.

Moreover, looking at the amount of mental energy he had stored up, he felt not excitement, but rather a sense of dread and fear.

He had accumulated a total of three million units of mental energy, along with the reserve mental energy transferred to him by the Beixing official this time. Now, he only had a little over thirty thousand units left, a devastating loss.

This made him feel terrified. If he had lingered in that space of consciousness any longer, and his mental energy had been exhausted, he might have been in real danger.

"This operation was too rushed and the preparations were insufficient."

Planning this action only a few days before the rules are released will inevitably lead to these kinds of problems. If preparations had started from day one of the rules' release, or even halfway through, there would have been more redundancy for error correction.

Guan Tong reflected on this experience and resolved to remember it, preparing in advance for any similar situations to come.

He then opened the title interface to view the effects of the upgraded title.

[Intermediate Civilization Observer]: Wearing this title grants the passive ability "Eye of True Sight" and the active ability "Crimson Forge".

[True Sight]: When your mental power is higher than the target's, you can see through the abilities or item effects they use.
【Crimson Forge】: Consumes mental energy to hijack the target's consciousness and place it within the Crimson Forge, where it will be corrupted by the fear generated by the forge. The strength of the effect depends on the amount of mental energy consumed.
[Note]: The history of the universe, the lost civilizations, gain meaning through your gaze. Note: This title can be upgraded by absorbing special life forms; currently, 1 special life form has been absorbed.

[Has absorbed a special life form]: Howling Furnace

Guan Tong was shocked when she saw the effects of the upgraded title.

He never expected that he would actually "seize" the power in this rule through title devouring and turn it into an active skill that could be activated on its own!
By expending his mental energy, he could hijack the target's consciousness into the "furnace," that is, that strange red consciousness space, which is somewhat unbelievable.

Could it be that... the "human source of transmission" that Zhang Minglu mentioned earlier is based on a similar principle?

No, that's not right!

Guan Tong looked at the nanobot glove on her left hand. The situation of the "source of transmission" seemed more like it!
In other words, he initially obtained a small portion of the nanite swarm, and the ability of this small portion was limited to deforming and disintegrating objects it came into contact with—because the acquisition was incomplete, the ability was also incomplete.

The human source of transmission in this rule is likely the same as before, having only obtained a very small portion of the power of the "Wailing Furnace". As a result, he is unable to control this power at all, and it will activate whenever he makes eye contact with someone!
Because Guan Tong used the title effect to devour the entire "Wailing Furnace," it was as if he had gained its complete power—meaning that if he invested enough mental energy, he could also create for his enemies the scene he saw in his consciousness space, namely the terrifying scene represented by thousands of "red dots"!
"If that's the case, would I gain new abilities if I let the title absorb the nanite swarm now?" Guan Tong wondered, but then immediately dismissed the idea.

"...No, the nanite swarm I have is only a tiny piece. Unless I absorb the entire 'nanite swarm intelligence' that descended on Tianshui Star, I might not have a chance to obtain its full power."

But no matter what, the gains they've already made are enough to excite Guan Tong.

The acquisition of this new ability is like giving him another powerful trump card!
Moreover, this trump card has broadened the scope of his ability types.

So far, his abilities have almost all been physical, such as Shadow and Silver Hunter, which damage enemies on a physical level. However, the Crimson Forge attacks enemies on a mental and conscious level, which is a type of ability he has never had before.

Guan Tong also discovered that, in addition to the addition of an ability, the descriptions of the title had also changed and been expanded.

The revised notes now explicitly state that the way to upgrade the title is to absorb special life forms, and also indicate the number and names of those absorbed.

Looking at the "Wailing Forge" in the absorbed list, Guan Tong wondered, "What kind of life form is this 'Wailing Forge'?"

Since the advent of the apocalyptic rules, humanity has encountered quite a few special life forms.

Mother Transformers, Sound Hunters, Qimo Star Beasts, Spore Parasites, Nano Swarms of Intelligent Beings, etc... If there's one thing these life forms have in common, it's that they all exist as physical entities.

As for this "Wailing Furnace"... Guan Tong doesn't believe that the "red blush" is a physical entity—because it doesn't exist in the real world at all, but only in the mental space and consciousness space!

How could something that seems to be a product of mixed fears actually be a living being?

This made Guan Tong sigh with amazement: the universe is truly vast and full of wonders...

After his initial reflection, he wondered if this thing possessed any intelligence.
Because Zhang Minglu had previously played him an audio recording of Lu Ruiguo's woman speaking, and from that audio, it was clear that someone was talking to her.

If the entity she was talking to was the "Wailing Furnace," a being resembling a collection of fearful consciousnesses, then it should prove that it possesses intelligence... But Guan Tong, within her consciousness space, didn't hear it say anything at all.

But he did sense its emotions. At that moment, in the space of consciousness, he personally felt its deep malice through the [Killing Intent Perception]... Without this malice, he would not have been able to locate it immediately.

"It's highly likely that it possesses intelligence. Otherwise, the [Civilization Observer] title wouldn't have identified it as a special life form and absorbed it..."

Guan Tong's conclusion was based on a previous attempt he made.

After obtaining the nanites and discovering the way to upgrade his title, he tried using the parasites as experience packs, but the title simply didn't recognize them.

Judging from the current situation, the parasites are not intelligent life forms at all... Indeed, those monsters act entirely based on the "spreading instinct" of the spores and the host's own "memory and cognition," so where is there any intelligence to speak of?

After thinking it over, Guan Tong lay down for a while longer before getting up and heading to the main cabin to contact the ground control center.

(End of this chapter)