Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 438 Hidden Rule Eighteen
In the lobby of an abandoned shopping mall in Yunhua City, Guan Tong and Shang Yuanzi were waiting.

Throughout the entire interval of the previous rule, they searched for traces of "Wei Huo" in Yunhua City. Guan Tong's shadow searched almost every block and every underground shelter in the city, but still found nothing, which made him wonder if the prophecy of the Moon Key was wrong.

But he didn't leave yet, intending to wait and see.

Now that the new rules have been released, Guan Tong and Shang Yuanzi exchange a glance.

Unlike many others, they didn't rush to take off their clothes as soon as the rules were announced, because neither of them was wearing any clothing with plastic material.

Guan Tong's clothes, from the inside out, including her underwear and the outermost trench coat, were all props made of mental energy; she didn't wear any normal clothes at all.

Shangyuan Zi was even more outrageous; the scales covering her entire body could actually serve as "clothes," since the essential functions of clothing are twofold: warmth and coverage, both of which scales fulfilled. However, she wasn't quite at the point of walking around with her entire body covered in scales, so she wore a lightweight latex suit over it.

Latex, being a purely natural material, happens to be free of plastic.

“Let’s leave from here first,” Guan Tong said. “There’s too much plastic here.”

The abandoned shopping mall lacked everything except plastic, so the two left immediately.

Guan Tong led Yuan Zi to a spacious open space, and then summoned the Book Page Refuge.

Shangyuan Zi was somewhat surprised when she saw the two-story building in front of her: "It seems to have changed."

As a core member of Guan Tong's organization, Shang Yuanzi knew that Guan Tong had such a shelter prop. She had even been inside it once, but back then the shelter was only one story high, not the two-story building it is now.

“Yes, this shelter can be converted. There are microplastics in the air outside, let’s go inside first.”

The two entered the shelter, and Guan Tong took a few breaths: "The shelter is generated by mental energy, so the air inside should be clean. Even if some outside air is brought in when we go in and out, it won't have a big impact."

Uehara nods: "It will be very safe to stay here."

Guan Tong's shelter is a "special weapon" against environmental pollution rules. For example, during the last outbreak of the blood plague virus, he didn't leave the shelter at all and passed the rules without any risk.

With the increased toxicity of microplastics in this new set of rules, he could easily follow the same approach as before. However, unlike last time, he is now preoccupied with many other matters, making it impractical for him to stay in the shelter for a full month.

While Shangyuan Zi was observing the new changes in the shelter, Guan Tong opened the terminal panel and began to check the hidden rules of this rule.

[Hidden Rule 18: Symbiotic Cleaner]

[Hidden Rule Content: During the specified period, actively injecting high-density microplastics into the body has a 50% probability of causing some of the body's cells to bind with the microplastics, triggering a plasmosis reaction. This reaction alters physiological functions, the immune system, and the ability to purify the absorbed microplastics. Once a plasmosis reaction occurs, fertility will be permanently lost.]

[Note: The pollutant rating in space is based on the difficulty of purification. Radiation dust in space can be handled in various ways, making its purification far less difficult than that of microplastics. Given that microplastics can almost only be biodegraded—are humans prepared to be 'microplastic cleaners'?]

After reading the hidden rules, Guan Tong felt a chill run down her spine.

What surprised him was not the 50/50 conversion probability, nor the hidden rules, but the information mentioned in the notes.

"Microplastic cleaners"—this is practically how the Firebringers define the human race within this framework!

This can be seen from the fact that humans lose their fertility after a successful plastic reaction.

Although few people give birth in the post-apocalyptic era, this is precisely out of "love." Which parent would want their child to be born in such a terrifying time?
Based on the current rotation of the apocalyptic rules, people believe that at most three more years will pass before all forty-nine rules come to an end. Many are thinking of gritting their teeth and surviving these three years; if they are still alive by then, it won't be too late to have children. If they don't survive, and even all of humanity becomes extinct, then whether or not they have children will be irrelevant.

Therefore, the "permanent loss of fertility" in this hidden rule is definitely not a price that the general public can accept.

But with hundreds of millions of people worldwide, everyone has different ideas. Perhaps many people only care about survival and would rather forgo having children. Or perhaps many people simply don't like children and wouldn't have them even in peacetime.

For these people, the price is bearable.

Therefore, he wants to release this information so that those willing to bear the consequences have another option.

Guan Tong sat down at the computer, logged into the Ascendant's Home website, and posted a new thread in the [Webmaster Domain] channel.

Selling classified information related to the Eighteenth Rule of the End Times

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.

The price was the same as last time, and within a minute of posting, several customers contacted him via private message. The number of people was exactly eight, no more, no less.

Guan Tong received four million Ascension Coins, which, combined with his own six million or so, brought his total Ascension Coins to over ten million for the first time.

The excitement or thrill he had imagined didn't materialize. If he had gotten so many Ascension Coins earlier, he would probably have been overjoyed.

But now, in his eyes, ten million Ascension Coins are roughly equivalent to ten million Flowing Mental Force, which translates to two million Reserve Mental Force... which is less than the total amount that the North Star official had continuously supplied him for three days.

There's strength in numbers; that's the principle.

The North Star now accounts for three-quarters of the world's population. Even if only tens of millions of the 600 million people are ascended, the combined power they wield under unified command is terrifying.

but……

Guan Tong thought to herself, "This new rule poses a great threat to Beixing. With such a large population, most of whom are ordinary people, the consequences would be unimaginable if there were problems with food and water."

At this moment, Uehara Yuki came down from the second floor and said, "Captain, since Black Star and the others are already members of the Phantom Troupe, should we also let them move into the shelter to protect them from microplastics?"

Guan Tong turned off the computer, thought for a moment, and said, "Okay."

This shelter was originally intended to defy the rules, but after he established the "Source Tracing Brigade," he planned to use it as a "mobile base" for the organization.

Since it is a mobile base, every member who joins the organization is entitled to know of its existence and can use it to evade rule violations—but the issue of individual privacy cannot be ignored.

Shangyuan Zi seemed to understand this point very well, and took the initiative to say, "Since it is divided into two levels, it can be divided into two spaces. The leader can use one space, and the members can use the other. I think this sense of boundary is very necessary for an organization."

Guan Tong nodded: "Then I'll move to the second floor, and the group members can use the first floor."

After moving his computer and other belongings to the second floor, he sent a video call to Black Star.

"Commander?" After answering the call, Hei Xing addressed Guan Tong in the same way as Shang Yuan Zi.

"The new rules have been released... What are you doing?" In the video footage, Black Star is sitting in a moving vehicle, with his sister White Star sitting beside him.

“We’re going to take refuge!” Black Star said. “With the new rules, we can’t stay in bars anymore; there are too many plastic things. White Star and I plan to take Allen out of the city and find a less crowded place to spend the next month.”

Fewer people mean fewer man-made objects, and less plastic – this is indeed the most direct solution. However, given that microplastics can be transmitted through the air, perhaps only places like Antarctica, which have historically been largely untouched, are truly safe.

“Come to my place,” Guan Tong said. “I have a shelter made of mental energy that can effectively isolate you from microplastics.”

"real?!"

"That's great, Commander!" Bai Xing leaned over to express her gratitude. "Where are you now? Are you far from us?"

"It's far, you'll need to use a teleportation item to get here. I'll send you the coordinates."

Guan Tong sent over the coordinates of the area where the shelter was located, and soon a teleportation light appeared.

Then Black Star, White Star, and their younger brother Alan appeared, and Guan Tong, wearing a high-security filter mask, was immediately spotted.

"Let's go."

He led the three into the shelter. Shirahoshi looked around the interior, her face full of shock: "This is a house formed from psychic power? It has its own electricity and water supply, it's amazing... Boss, this kind of item must be extremely expensive, right?"

Black Star gave a light scolding: "White Star, don't ask so many questions."

"I'm just a little curious..."

"These kinds of props are priceless; they're completely unavailable even at exorbitant prices."

As a top-tier middleman, Black Star understands better than White Star how precious this item is.

If the teleportation item he just used was expensive, then compared to this shelter that can isolate rule-based disasters, his teleportation item is probably just a drop in the ocean.

"How is your brother?" Guan Tong asked, taking off her mask. "He's still not awake?"

Half a month ago, Guan Tong and Shi Jingyi worked together to treat him, and the boy's eyelids twitched slightly at that time, but unexpectedly, he was still in a coma half a month later.

"It might take a little more time," Bai Xing said. "But he's been moving his hands and feet occasionally these past few days, so he should wake up within this rule period!"

"That's good. You can stay here during this period of rule."

Shang Yuanzi then said, "The second floor is the commander's room. You can use the bedroom on the first floor. I'll stay in the living room."

Black Star and White Star shook their heads repeatedly upon hearing this. Black Star laughed and said, "How can we let the deputy commander stay in the living room? We'll stay in the living room!"

Shang Yuanzi looked puzzled when she heard Hei Xing address her. When did she become the deputy commander?

“That’s right, we can stay in the living room, it’ll be easier to take care of Alan. Deputy Commander, please don’t be so polite,” Bai Xing also said.

Upon hearing this, Guan Tong thought to himself that before, the organization only consisted of him and Shang Yuanzi, one as the leader and the other as a member. Now that there are more people, it wouldn't be a problem for her to be the deputy leader.

"Then let's leave it at that," he said to Shangyuan Zi. "Don't be so polite."

Hearing Guan Tong say this, Shang Yuanzi knew that her position as "deputy commander" was confirmed. She didn't care and nodded, "Alright then."

After putting her younger brother Alan down, Black Star and White Star took out some belongings.

He opened a large suitcase he was carrying, which was filled with canned metal food: "As soon as these rules were issued, we knew that ordinary food had been contaminated. So we only brought these canned foods. These cans don't contain plastic and are tightly sealed, so there shouldn't be any problems."

"Okay." Guan Tong nodded. "I also have some metal cans and containers here. We can drink the tap water from the shelter directly; it won't be contaminated."

Black Star had a sudden inspiration and said, "Captain, the water source generated by your shelter is absolutely clean, so why don't you sell it? Rich people would definitely be scrambling to buy it!"

He had barely finished speaking when Shirahoshi, standing beside him, looked displeased: "This isn't quite right... Besides, brother, didn't we agree that we wouldn't act as middlemen after healing Allen? Now that Allen will be waking up soon, and we've joined the Phantom Troupe, you shouldn't be thinking about how to make money all the time!"

Black Star paused, then scratched his curly hair sheepishly: "It's like this. It's just my occupational habit; I always want to make money when I see a good deal."

The words of the brother and sister made Guan Tong seem thoughtful.

“You’re right. The water source in this shelter is clean. If microplastics cause serious pollution to the external water source, we can fill the shelter’s water into plastic-free containers and take it out to help others. However, we need to see how toxic it is and what the specific procedures would be if we were to do so.”

After exchanging a glance, the Hei Xing siblings nodded in unison, and Shang Yuanzi also supported Guan Tong's idea.

Food is not a major issue for these ascended beings, as it is closely related to the lasting transformation of their bodies by their spiritual power. Guan Tong, who has already entered the second stage, goes without saying, and Shang Yuanzi, Hei Xing, Bai Xing, and others can also go three days without food without any problems.

Only ordinary people need to eat at least one meal a day, so food problems have the greatest impact on this largest group.

Later, Guan Tong had previously told Shang Yuanzi that they would hold an organizational meeting after the matter in Yunhua was settled. Although the matter was not yet finished, all the members were present, so there was no better time than to hold the meeting now.

The four sat down in the living room, and Guan Tong got straight to the point: "Our organization is called the 'Tracing the Origins Brigade,' and our goal is to explore the secrets behind the Firebringers, the rules of the apocalypse, and so on. To achieve this, we must first ensure our survival and live within each of these rules."

The three listened silently, their expressions serious. From Guan Tong's tone, it was clear that this organization was not a spur-of-the-moment decision, but rather had long-term goals and plans.

"As you all know, human life is very fragile in this post-apocalyptic world. Therefore, we must protect each other and act as lights to illuminate each other's paths. As the leader, I will do my best to ensure the survival of every member within these rules. Similarly, every member must do their best for the survival of other members. This is the first and most important rule of the guild: to be lights for each other and help one another."

"To be each other's light, to watch over and help one another." Although there was no formal agreement, the three of them recited the rule set by Guan Tong.

Guan Tong continued, "Then, every member must keep in mind the goal of the group's establishment and never give up on pursuing the secrets, unknowns and truths behind the rules. So the second rule is: go back to the source and pursue the truth."

The three of them said in unison again: "Go back to the source and pursue the truth."

“The third rule,” Guan Tong said, her tone suddenly turning cold, “is that the first two rules, which stipulate mutual protection and the pursuit of truth, are based on our mutual trust and ideals. Trust and ideals are both extremely precious and must never be desecrated. Therefore, the third rule is: those who betray will be utterly destroyed!”

The three were shocked, sensing the resolve in Guan Tong's words. They had no doubt that anyone who betrayed the group would be relentlessly hunted down by him.

"Those who betray will be utterly destroyed!"

(End of this chapter)