Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 437 The Eighteenth Rule of the Apocalypse
Beixing, the base of the Countermeasures Research Office.

During the meeting, the heads of various departments, led by the chief person in charge Gao Liangwei, gathered here to await the release of the new rules and decide whether to start discussions immediately depending on the situation.

As the time drew near, the calm on everyone's faces could not conceal the tension in their hearts.

Even after going through so many rounds of rules, my body still trembles slightly every time a new rule is released.

This is an instinct that animals have when facing imminent danger, and humans, as advanced animals, are no exception.

Gao Liangwei rested his chin on his hands, expressionless and silent.

In this tense atmosphere, the voice of the fire-stealer arrived as expected.

The Eighteenth Rule of the Apocalypse Has Been Released

[Apocalyptic Rule Eighteen: Microplastic Violence]

[Rule Content: During the rule period, the toxic effects of microplastics in the environment on humans are significantly enhanced, and contact with items containing microplastics will lead to accelerated organ failure. This rule will last for thirty days.]

[Success Reward: 1000 Ascension Coins; Survival Chest - Silver Level]

[Failure Penalty: None]

[Note: Did you know? In the pollutant list of the Xinghai Court, microplastics are rated even higher than radioactive dust.]

……

After the rules were announced, the entire meeting room fell into a brief silence.

Immediately, an academician specializing in environmental science stood up in a panic: "Microplastics have become significantly more toxic? Are you kidding me! Humans are living in a plastic world!"

The silence was broken, and the meeting room erupted in an uproar.

Some people hadn't yet realized how serious this rule was when the environmental academician kicked away the comfortable chair and yelled, "The chair is made of artificial leather and has polyester fabric on it; it's all typical plastic!"

"what?!"

Upon hearing this, the others all stood up and moved away from their seats.

Some people were even shouting as they took off their outer clothes: "My clothes are made of synthetic fibers, and they must contain microplastics. Oh no, I can't get them off! Please help me!"

"Still drinking bottled water? Throw away that plastic bottle right now!"

"The cap of that marker in your hand is also made of plastic!"

The room was momentarily thrown into chaos by the abundance of plastic objects around it and the fear of increased microplastic toxicity.

Seeing this, Gao Liangwei shouted in a low voice, "Everyone, calm down!"

As soon as he spoke, everyone felt reassured and calmed down a bit when they saw the unfazed person in charge.

Gao Liangwei said in a deep voice, "The rules say that microplastics are more toxic, but they don't say that they are toxic enough to kill humans immediately. What are you all panicking about?"

The group exchanged bewildered glances. What they said was true, but who knew how much the toxicity had actually increased? What if organ failure occurred within minutes or tens of minutes? They had to race against time.

Fortunately, Gao Liangwei also realized this and, without wasting any time, immediately ordered: "Everyone, leave the conference room immediately, remove the plastic contraptions from your bodies, and move to the metal-constructed room inside the base to continue the meeting."

To cope with the various disasters that the rules of the apocalypse may bring, the Countermeasures Research Center base was designed with a large number of refuge rooms with different functions and materials from the beginning of its construction.

With the new regulations now in effect, the toxicity of microplastics has been significantly increased, making houses built with pure metals or other natural materials relatively safer.

Immediately, all attendees left the meeting room in an orderly manner. After quickly changing out of their plastic costumes (mainly clothes), they went to a room made of pure metal to continue the meeting.

The room was completely unfurnished, containing only a few makeshift solid wood chairs. Because there weren't enough, no one dared to sit, and everyone stood. Even so, everyone knew that staying here couldn't prevent the inhalation of microplastics—they were already dispersed in the air.

Everyone has changed into a set of pure cotton clothes. Because it was done in such a hurry, many of the clothes still have funny cartoon patterns that children like—because many of these pure cotton outer garments were prepared for the minors in the base.

But no one was in the mood to laugh at that moment.

"The meeting continues. Academician Qian, you are an expert in environmental science, please speak."

After Gao Liangwei made the announcement, the environmental expert who had kicked the office chair away earlier immediately started talking non-stop, his face full of horror as he spoke.

"Manager Gao, everyone! This set of rules is terrifying, more so than many of the previous survival rules! The reason is that there are just far too many 'microplastics'!"

"Clothing, food, housing, and transportation—clothing goes without saying, all kinds of synthetic materials are ultimately plastic! Even the pure cotton clothes we wear now have plastic stitching, buttons, and labels, or they are coated with plastic!"

"And what about food? Needless to say! Don't just look at bottled water; microplastics have already seeped into any processed food with plastic packaging! Even meat, fish... Have you ever seen documentaries about plastic pollution in the ocean? Except for a few deep-sea fish, most other seafood contains microplastics!"

"And then there's the housing. The rooms we live in are filled with plastic. Composite flooring, carpets, wallpaper, wall paint—which of them doesn't contain a lot of plastic? Chairs, tables, and even the casings and cable sheaths of various electronic devices are all made of plastic!"

Academician Qian became increasingly agitated as he spoke, until finally his face showed complete despair:
"In short, plastic is practically as ubiquitous as air in our lives! No, many plastic creations release microplastics into the air, and we inhale small amounts with every breath. Now, those hateful fire-stealers have amplified its toxicity through the rules, practically trying to wipe us out!!!"

Academician Qian's expression, coupled with his pitiful voice, terrified many people, turning their faces pale.

However, some people were not so afraid; they just frowned.

Zhang Minglu said, "Based on our understanding of the Fire Thief, it shouldn't issue a rule that guarantees death. Right now, if we can't avoid the toxic effects of microplastics, reducing contact should lower the degree of harm to the human body."

“Dr. Zhang is right,” Gao Liangwei said solemnly. “Academician Qian, you’d better calm down. We need you and the environmental department to use your expertise to offer practical and effective suggestions for protecting the people, instead of indulging in negative and pessimistic emotions.”

Academician Qian was taken aback upon hearing this, and his face showed shame: "I'm sorry, everyone. I... I just realized that the rules this time were too terrible, so I lost my composure for a moment. Please forgive me."

Everyone reassured him that it was alright and offered words of comfort. Academician Qian took a few deep breaths to calm himself down and said, "First of all, since the rules mention that microplastics can cause organ failure, it means that the toxicity has been greatly enhanced. But it would be best to obtain a definite result through experiments, which would help with data analysis."

Gao Liangwei operated his personal computer: "I'll arrange for a researcher to take care of it immediately. You can continue."

Academician Qian continued, "The reason we need to determine the toxic dosage is because it is directly related to the most important issue: food. Let's not forget that after the last earthquake, the external environment changed drastically, and large areas of soil became unsuitable for growing food. A large amount of food began to be grown in greenhouses—but the problem is that greenhouses are mostly made of plastic!"

Everyone was taken aback upon hearing this.

That's true. The film covering the greenhouse is mainly made of polyethylene, which is itself a type of plastic.

The increased toxicity of microplastics means that from the date this rule is issued, all existing greenhouse cultivation must be suspended, and the food grown in them must be discarded.

"Then let's just distribute the food reserves from before this month!" someone said. "Those foods should be relatively safe."

Academician Qian frowned: "The food may be safe, but are the containers used to store it made of plastic? Could some microplastics have infiltrated them? These are all questions. But let's go back to what I just said: we need to detect exactly how much the toxicity has increased before we can determine which foods can be kept and which must be discarded."

Another head of the purchasing department said, "I have already had people in the department procuring food at the end market."

"That's right! Food in the end market should be non-toxic and harmless!"

“But it’s expensive…” someone worried. “Not to mention how many food items there are in the market, even if there were an infinite number, we wouldn’t have enough Ascension Coins to buy enough for more than 600 million people for a month.”

"..."

A moment of silence fell over everyone.

According to statistics from March, the population of Northern Star is currently 600 million, while the global population with statistical significance is approximately 800 million. This means that the population of Northern Star accounts for three-quarters of the world's total population.

The advantage of a large population is greater strength, but the disadvantage is that there are many mouths to feed.

Although Beixing started a food rationing system early on, after the implementation of the earthquake regulations, the food problem has become a major issue due to factors such as the loss of a large amount of arable land and environmental pollution.

With the new regulations in place, microplastics will inevitably contaminate a large amount of food. As Academician Qian said, food safety is of paramount importance and cannot be taken lightly.

If you rely on buying from the end market, no matter how many Ascension Coins you have, it won't be enough. Besides, once the rules are released, those Ascensionists who sell food and items will definitely raise prices high or remove them from the market for their own use if they react quickly enough.

“We can’t rely on props and food,” Gao Liangwei said. “And don’t be too pessimistic. Did humans stop eating before plastic became widely used? Humans have used pottery and metal utensils for thousands of years, and they still work today.”

"The person in charge is right! Depending on the situation, we can store some food in containers made of metal, glass, ceramic, etc., away from plastic containers, which can reduce microplastic pollution. Didn't Academician Qian just say that deep-sea fish are not polluted? Then we can also find a way to send ships to fish for them to make up for the food shortage."

Academician Qian nodded: "The issue of accommodation also needs to be considered. We need to notify all city shelters as soon as possible to remove all non-essential plastic products from indoor spaces! This includes daily necessities such as toothbrushes and toothpaste, which should be thrown away and replaced with tooth powder applied to the teeth with fingers. Considering the spread of microplastics in the air, ventilation filtration systems and high-performance masks should also be prepared in full..."

Academician Qian felt exhausted just talking about it, because plastic products permeate human life and have infiltrated every aspect of society. They are present in almost every field, and it is no easy task to remove them from human life immediately.

At this moment, someone asked hopefully, "I wonder if the administrator of the House of Ascended has released any hidden information about this rule?"

Upon hearing this, everyone felt a sense of anticipation.

While hidden rules have historically often come with negative aspects, it's all about trade-offs. If a minor setback can resolve a major crisis, then it's worthwhile.

……

After the rules were released, it wasn't just Beixing that was intensively discussing countermeasures; all member states of the Federation of People's Associations were holding high-intensity meetings.

After the internal discussions among the member states are completed, a meeting of the International Federation of Peoples' Associations (IFPA) will be held to share the decisions made by each country and discuss multilateral cooperation.

As for the general public, their first reaction after the rules were announced was generally divided into two camps.

Industrialists and naturalists.

Shortly after the rules were released, the two groups started arguing fiercely online.

Many proponents of naturalism say, "This rule proves a long-held view: that humanity should return to nature, return to rural life, and give up the continuous production of industrial products, which only poison the environment and our home!"

The industrialists vehemently retorted: "How could you post online without industry? Why didn't you say these things when you were enjoying the convenience? Without the formidable walls of industrial manufacturing, you would all have become monsters long ago, given the previous rule about the Nightmare Beasts!"

The nature advocates argue: "The earthen walls we build in the natural environment can also block out the smog. We live in nature, eat natural food, and at most we will only absorb some microplastics from the air—in contrast, you people living in big cities are now in an environment full of plastic, and you will soon be harmed by the rules."

The industrialists: "Pah! Do you think we're all like you savages wandering the wilderness, left unattended? Just wait and see, the authorities will soon come up with countermeasures, and then we'll definitely be able to get healthy food and reduce the harm of microplastics!"

The two sides exchanged barbs, engaging in a constant war of words.

Some people are more interested in the rule notes than in participating in the arguments.

"You all saw the 'Star Tribunal' that the Firebringer mentioned in the notes, right? My God, this means that there really are civilization alliances or something like that in the universe!"

"Is this really anything to be surprised about? Didn't everyone say the same thing when the alien spores were around..."

"The notes in the Spore Rules only mentioned that spores were once a best-selling product in the universe, and now there's a clearly existing 'Interstellar Court'! I really want to see what that court is like! And what kind of person would the judge be?"

"Is it possible that they are humans from another planet or galaxy?"

"That's unlikely... From a probability perspective, the emergence of humans is already a miracle within a miracle. For humans to appear on another planet would be too outrageous..."

"If you ask me, the courts are useless, or they have no jurisdiction over our galaxy. Otherwise, why would they ignore us?"

"That's right, if I were the judge, I'd sentence the fire thief to death first! Look at the mess this bastard has made of us!"

"I'm telling you, you guys are really dreaming. You can't even take care of yourselves and you're still thinking about other things. Let's get through this first..."

(End of this chapter)