Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 441 Old Grudges Escape

As night fell, the abandoned Yunhua City appeared even more desolate.

Under the moonlight, the ruins resemble tombstones, inscribed with the city's former glory.

A gaunt figure appeared in front of a supply warehouse. The man kicked open the locked warehouse door, kicking up a cloud of dust.

These supply warehouses were built along with the underground shelters when Beixing was constructing them. The purpose was to allow the shelters to transport supplies nearby in the event of a sudden disaster, thus avoiding the situation where "distant water cannot quench a nearby fire".

In the early stages of the "Earth Dragon Turns Over" rule, the official organization evacuated people from coastal cities. Due to the tight schedule, only people could be evacuated, but a large amount of other supplies could not be taken away, so they were left behind to accompany the cities in their destruction.

There aren't many supply warehouses like this that are still relatively intact in Yunhua City. Most of them collapsed after the strong earthquake or were destroyed by the subsequent tsunami.

This is one of the surviving supply warehouses.

The warehouse was filled with various daily necessities, including a large quantity of food and water with extremely long shelf lives.

"There should be some canned goods in pure metal boxes."

The person who kicked open the door muttered something and hurried inside. He scanned the food area and found several large, nailed wooden crates. When he opened them, they were full of tin cans.

"very good!"

Her eyes lit up, and she reached out to pick up a box to examine it. Then, without warning, she paused, and suddenly threw the can of food towards the door!

Clang!

The can fell to the ground with a crisp sound, blocked by a vertical shadow.

The woman stood up warily and looked at the person who had appeared at the warehouse door.

The latter was mostly shrouded in shadow, with only the hem of his trench coat fluttering gently in the night breeze.

"Who are you?" she asked, secretly preparing her own special tools.

Guan Tong took a few steps forward, her upper body emerging from the shadows.

"You must be 'Wei Huo'. I've been looking for you for a long time."

Upon hearing the name "Wei Huo," the woman's pupils contracted sharply, and she whispered urgently, "Damn Han Qiu! You betrayed me?!"

Han Qiu?

Guan Tong caught the name with her keen hearing and immediately took action to subdue the person.

Multiple shadows he manipulated emerged from around Wei Huo and bound her body, but were shaken off at the last moment before contact, hindered by the mental defense artifact.

"shadow!"

Upon seeing the shadows, Wei Huo immediately confirmed Guan Tong's identity and gritted his teeth, saying, "Yes, the shadows found me! How am I supposed to know what's going on?!"

Guan Tong realized that Wei Huo was using some kind of tool to communicate with someone, so he immediately urged his shadow to continue attacking and weakening Wei Huo's defenses in order to end the battle as soon as possible.

Wei Huo then took out his weapon, which was a mirror similar to a makeup mirror.

She pointed the mirror at Guan Tong: "Look at this!"

Even though Guan Tong hadn't looked in the mirror, she still felt a jolt in her mind, followed by a warm sensation in the palm of her right hand.

His own "mental anchor" totem was on his right hand, and the reaction at this moment meant that Wei Huo was using some kind of mental attack. This made him realize that Suzuki's "suicide" was likely due to this kind of mental influence.

At this moment, while using her own items, she also took out a teleportation item from her storage space, saying, "I know, I'll retreat right away!"

"Withdraw? Was my permission obtained?"

Upon hearing Guan Tong's voice, Wei Huo was immediately shocked. Her [Illusory Mirror] item could cause the person it illuminated to become disoriented, unable to recover for at least a minute or two. Even if the other person was a shadow, it shouldn't have stopped working so quickly!
She subconsciously looked up at Guan Tong, but the moment their eyes met, she felt a jolt throughout her body, followed by a sharp pain that seemed to be forcibly pulled out of her body.

Before she could even scream, she found herself in a strange red space.

"This is...my body! Where did my body go?!"

Wei Huo was horrified to discover that when she looked down, she couldn't see her own body; it was as if only her consciousness existed in this space.

Immediately afterwards, small red dots appeared before her eyes, which rapidly expanded and transformed into terrifying scenes from the depths of her mind, engulfing her.

"No……!!!"

Time in the realm of consciousness is not synchronized with that in the real world.

When she came to her senses, she found herself limp on the ground, drenched in sweat, her muscles still spasming and aching from excessive fear.

Before she could recover, several shadows bound her hands and feet, rendering her unable to move.

Guan Tong walked up to her and looked down at her, saying, "Your props are related to your mind. How do you feel now that you're being mentally attacked? If you don't want to suffer any more, answer my questions honestly."

“What were those just now…” Wei Huo gasped for breath before looking up at Guan Tong in horror, “Crimson Fear! It must be Crimson Fear! You killed the demons and took their power?!”

Previously, information about "Shadow" eliminating the demon and prematurely ending Rule Seventeen had spread online, sparking a barrage of criticism against him. Although Wei Huo had been lying low during this time, he hadn't completely isolated himself from the world and had learned about the matter online.

Considering the identity of the person in front of her and the scene she had just witnessed in the strange consciousness space, she could naturally guess that it was the power of Scarlet Terror!

“I don’t have much patience and I don’t want to waste my breath on you.” Guan Tong asked, “Who exactly are you? Did you kill Suzuki? Who are your accomplices? What is your purpose? Tell me everything in detail. If you don’t, I’ll make you cycle through that terrifying space until you die.”

Wei Huo's teeth chattered, and cold sweat poured down her face. The terrifying scenes were simply too horrible; she knew she couldn't bear any more, and being scared to death was undoubtedly a crueler fate than being tortured to death!

"I……"

She raised her head, a hint of resentment flashing in her eyes.

I'd rather die than tell you!

She gritted her teeth, and a soft "click" sound made Guan Tong's expression change drastically.

He immediately manipulated the shadow to pry open her mouth, and the drug hidden in a broken denture had flowed into her oral cavity.

In that instant, he was reminded of Han Ling's death at the Yongzhou base! Both of them committed suicide by hiding poison in their dentures.

"You're one of the 'Commander's' men?!"

The poison took effect quickly, and upon hearing this, she managed a weak, cold laugh: "We...will...avenge...the...commander..."

After speaking, she rolled her eyes, lowered her head, and gradually faded away. Guan Tong frowned deeply.

He never expected that even though Commander Jiang Lanying had been dead for so long, there would still be former subordinates acting on her behalf.

From this perspective, although the commander-in-chief and her trusted henchmen had all died at the border, some of them still managed to escape and were not identified.

"These fugitives, seeking revenge for her, have targeted me. Suzuki... is probably being targeted because I helped contact the rehabilitation center."

Guan Tong felt heavy-hearted. Although he had long guessed that Suzuki's death was related to him, he never expected that the enemy would be a former subordinate of the commander.

He stood there for a long time before returning to the shelter.

Since Kuroboshi and Shiraboshi did not know Suzuki, they did not get involved in the matter.

Shangyuan Zi was very concerned, and after learning about the situation, she didn't know what to say for a moment.

A tall tree will inevitably attract the wind; this is not determined by the tree itself.

Moreover, given "Shadow's" current global fame, countless people are secretly watching him, not to mention those who have old grudges against him.

These people probably know they can't do anything to Guan Tong right now, so they need to find a breakthrough from other angles.

“This woman’s death isn’t the end of the story,” Guan Tong said to Shang Yuanzi. “There must be spies from the Commander’s team inside the Countermeasures Research Office, otherwise how would they know that I was the one who helped Suzuki find the withdrawal center?”

Shangyuan Zi nodded: "That's true."

"I will find the person."

After Guan Tong finished speaking, she went upstairs to the second floor, contacted Zhang Minglu, and frankly told him about the matter.

After hearing this, Zhang Minglu's voice rose eight octaves on the phone: "What? Who is that name she mentioned? Repeat it again!"

“Han Qiu, it seems her alias ‘Wei Huo’ was derived from these two characters,” Guan Tong said. “Judging from Dr. Zhang’s excitement, it seems this person is already inside the research lab.”

Zhang Minglu hurriedly said, "Han Qiu is... wait a minute! I'll call you back later!"

After hanging up the phone, Zhang Minglu immediately ran to Gao Liangwei's conference room to report the matter to him.

Upon learning this, Gao Liangwei immediately contacted the security office, and shortly afterward, the security guard reported in astonishment: "Han Qiuren is missing!"

The person has disappeared!

This news greatly surprised Gao Liangwei and Zhang Minglu.

[Third Kind Contact] When that rule was in effect, Han Qiu submitted her resignation to leave the Countermeasures Research Office. However, according to regulations, there is a six-month waiting period, also known as a declassification period, between the approval of the resignation and the person's departure from the base.

Counting from the end of January when that rule ended, it has only been two months until the beginning of April. He still has four months before he can leave the base. How could a person just disappear into thin air?
Gao Liangwei immediately announced: "Go and check the base's surveillance footage!"

He personally went to the monitoring center with Zhang Minglu and asked the monitor to retrieve all the surveillance footage of the "observation area" where Han Qiu had been after resigning.

According to the surveillance footage, Han Qiu left her room at the same time every day to eat and rest, appearing calm and regular—until tonight.

The surveillance video shows that he did not come out for dinner at the usual time tonight, but stayed in his room the whole time.

Zhang Minglu speculated: "He must have contacted that woman through the [Secret Telephone Scroll] or a similar tool, and knowing that he had been exposed, he managed to escape from the base."

"How do we escape?" Gao Liangwei asked. "His identity and access are frozen, so he can't get through the gate. Besides, this observation area has special settings that prevent the use of teleportation items."

"...He must have some unreported hidden items or abilities," Zhang Minglu said. "Think about it, sir. Han Qiu is very smart. Since he's that commander's subordinate, he must have planned his escape route in case he was exposed long before he entered the research lab!"

Gao Liangwei's face was gloomy. This incident undoubtedly showed that he, as the person in charge, had made a mistake in the screening of personnel.

He just couldn't understand why, if Han Qiu was connected to that commander, they hadn't been able to find out during the thorough investigation. And why would Han Qiu risk everything to deal with Shadow after the commander's faction had been almost completely wiped out? Was it merely to avenge the dead?
He recalled Han Qiu's ambiguous smile and realized that this young man, who already possessed numerous prestigious titles at such a young age, was by no means the kind of person who was blindly loyal.

"Sir, what should we do now?" Zhang Minglu asked worriedly. He knew that once a smart person like Han Qiu escaped, it wouldn't be easy to catch him again.

Gao Liangwei said solemnly, "This matter must be reported to the higher-ups, and a global arrest warrant must be issued at the same time. His actions have threatened national security, and even human security, and cannot be ignored."

"What about Guan Tong..."

"Tell him the truth."

"Understood, person in charge."

……

Outside the northern border of Beixing, a young man in protective clothing looked towards Beixing and sighed deeply.

"Even without teammates, it's better than having terrible teammates... That's absolutely true."

This person was Han Qiu. After receiving the message from "Wei Huo" and learning that she had been found by the Shadow, he knew that he could no longer stay in the research lab. So, before being placed under strict control, he quickly used the methods he had prepared in advance to leave.

He had nothing to say about Wei Huo, his terrible teammate. From the moment she took it upon herself to attack Suzuki, he felt that this woman was a ticking time bomb and he needed to get rid of her as soon as possible.

His original plan was to secretly execute the woman after the six-month declassification period ended and he left the research lab normally. However, before the three months were even over, "Shadow" found her.

"Speaking of which... how did Shadow find her?"

Han Qiu was slightly puzzled by this.

At his suggestion, the woman not only avoided densely populated cities but also went to Yunhua, a completely abandoned metropolis. He was certain that under normal circumstances, no one would find it, but it seems that was not the case.

"That woman may be stupid, but she shouldn't expose herself on her own... 'Shadow' must have some unique way of finding people? Or is she using some kind of tool or something? Hmm... I need to be careful too."

Han Qiu knew that his name had been exposed and that he would likely become a target of "Shadow".

He also knew that once he discovered his escape, Takayoshi from the Countermeasures Research Office would definitely request a global arrest warrant for him. This would severely limit the places he could go.

"Before the 'super city' plans of small countries like Lure are implemented, they will only be vassals of the three major powers and are not worth visiting. The new governor of Cissia is getting along very well with Beixing and seems to be related to 'Shadow'. Don't say he will welcome me; he might even arrest me... Hmm, that leaves only the Empire of Soroma."

After a moment's deliberation, Han Qiu made a choice that he had already anticipated.

He smiled slightly and said, "The commander who wanted to escape back then should have also targeted Soroma, but unfortunately she left a step too late, and even more unfortunately she chose the wrong person to meet her. Hiring a brainless killing maniac like Lucifer to meet her, it's understandable that she couldn't escape... But I, Han Qiu, am different."

He raised a hand to the sky, as if to grasp something: "I won't leave this game designed by the Firebringers before I've finished it. If I'm not the predetermined 'winner,' then finding the right person is crucial... 'Shadow' is definitely not just one of them."

(End of this chapter)