Recaps

During Rule Thirteen, Wang Xiang and Zhu Jun used the rule to ask invasive questions, ruining their relationship as roommates. Guan Tong reviewed the authorities’ advice and the hidden rules, then decided not to risk forming a True Word Contract with anyone.

• Wang Xiang and Zhu Jun questioned each other under Rule Thirteen, and Zhu Jun refused to answer whether he was happy about his parents’ deaths before storming out of the dorm.
• The Countermeasure Research Institute updated the Apocalypse Rules White Paper, advising people to speak and write less and not use the rule to pry into others’ private matters.
• Guan Tong read public reactions to the rule and considered how failing it would permanently prevent someone from telling the truth.
• Guan Tong planned to sell only the first and third parts of the Hidden Rules, withholding the part that rewarded one-sided lying.
• Guan Tong decided against forming a True Word Contract with Shi Jingyi, Xu Xiaotian, or anyone else during the rule period.

During the Rule Period, Guan Tong taught a quiet sparring class and sold hidden information, then received a message claiming to know Big Sister’s location and identity. He decided to investigate the lead himself, though he suspected it might be a trap.

• Guan Tong held a mostly silent sparring class and guided his students through their matches.
• Guan Tong sold hidden information to nineteen buyers for 1.9 million Ascension Coins, bringing his total above five million.
• After North Star Official published the information, Guan Tong ignored private messages trying to bait him into answering questions.
• End of the Road told Guan Tong that Big Sister was Jiang Lanying, revealed that Jiang Ming had been her grandson, and offered information about her location.
• Guan Tong considered whether End of the Road was deceiving him on Big Sister’s orders, but decided to investigate the lead himself.

Guan Tong rejected the risky plan to form a True Word Contract and began plotting to track down End of the Road, while Jiang Lanying secured her guards’ oaths before preparing to flee across the border. Chen Na agreed to join an operation against fugitives, and Silver Fox offered to take her to visit Guan Tong before it began.

• Guan Tong told Xu Xiaotian he would not pursue Double Reward and advised him to wait until the rule’s final moments before making a contract.
• Guan Tong reviewed End of the Road’s demands for Jiang Lanying’s location and planned to trace the account’s device, refusing to offer the requested guarantee.
• Jiang Lanying told her guards they must leave North Star’s border area and made each swear not to betray her; one guard lied despite knowing she would face punishment.
• Wang Yan worried about Chen Na joining the operation, but Chen Na explained she wanted to contribute and received her mother’s permission.
• Silver Fox recognized Guan Tong as the academy’s temporary lecturer and offered to take Chen Na to visit him before the operation.

Guan Tong learned that Jiang Lanying planned to flee North Star and resolved to settle his long-standing grudge before she escaped. Five days later, Chen Na joined Dragon Soul’s team for Operation Falling Petals, a mission to capture Jiang Lanying and eliminate her subordinates.

• Chen Na and Silver Fox visited Guan Tong at the academy, where he declined Chen Na’s invitation to join the base and showed them around.
• Silver Fox explained that she and Chen Na were leaving for a classified mission, and Guan Tong realized it carried some risk.
• Guan Tong read End of the Road’s messages revealing that Jiang Lanying planned to meet a contact at the border in five days, and he decided to track End of the Road and confront her before she fled.
• Chen Na boarded a transport plane with Dragon Soul and other Official Team members as they set out for Xun'an Town to capture Jiang Lanying and eliminate her trained subordinates.
• Li Meng briefed the team that Jiang Lanying might have electronic jamming equipment, a concealment barrier, and unknown reinforcements, while Dragon Soul assigned Silver Fox to protect Chen Na.

Guan Tong tracked End of the Road to Xun'an Town and watched as Dragon Soul’s pursuit team attacked Jiang Lanying’s group. After End of the Road escaped and the squad nearly captured Jiang Lanying, Lucifer arrived as the promised reception party and attacked Dragon Soul’s team.

• Guan Tong hid near Xun'an Town and sent Shadow to follow Dragon Soul’s squad as they entered the town and located Jiang Lanying’s group at a bank vault.
• Dragon Soul’s team attacked the vault, but Jiang Lanying protected herself and her subordinates with a barrier artifact while the squad blocked teleportation.
• When the barrier expired, the two groups fought; the pursuit team killed Jiang Lanying’s subordinates, while several team members also died.
• Jiang Lanying demanded to contact the authorities, but Dragon Soul ordered his team to capture her; End of the Road used the confusion to flee.
• Silver Fox shoved Chen Na out of danger but lost an arm when a black-winged attacker struck, then the attacker killed five more team members.
• Lucifer landed beside Jiang Lanying, asked why she had not told him he would have to fight while receiving her, and Dragon Soul recognized him as the reception party.

Guan Tong found End of the Road and killed her after learning why she had betrayed Jiang Lanying, then realized Lucifer had joined the battle to help Jiang escape. Dragon Soul fought Lucifer while the surviving North Star team members withdrew or hid, and the battle remained unresolved as Dragon Soul tried to outlast Lucifer’s Mind Power.

• Guan Tong confronted End of the Road, who explained that she had betrayed Jiang Lanying because she feared dying, then tried to attack him and was killed by his Shadow Thorn.
• Guan Tong saw through Shadow’s visual feed that Lucifer had arrived and was turning the fight around, so he rushed toward the bank vault.
• Dragon Soul confirmed that Silver Fox, Chen Na, and You Hao were alive, ordered Silver Fox to withdraw with Chen Na, and told You Hao to play dead.
• Lucifer refused to leave with Jiang Lanying and fought Dragon Soul, who broke Lucifer’s right arm with a midair punch while using the bayonet as a second attack.
• Lucifer unleashed a storm of feathers, but Dragon Soul hardened the muscles on his back to withstand them and waited for Lucifer’s airborne flight to drain his Mind Power.

Silver Fox left Chen Na in hiding and returned to support Dragon Soul, who was badly wounded and nearly out of Mind Power after fighting Lucifer. Guan Tong arrived, restrained Jiang Lanying, and trapped Lucifer inside his shifting Shadow Domain, where Lucifer could not escape.

• Silver Fox hid Chen Na in a building, then rushed back toward the battlefield to help Dragon Soul and keep Lucifer from rescuing Jiang Lanying.
• Lucifer broke one of Dragon Soul’s wings with a high-speed strike, then killed You Hao to absorb his Mind Power and recover his own wing.
• Dragon Soul prepared to use his final attack against Jiang Lanying, but Guan Tong arrived and restrained her with shadows.
• Guan Tong fought Lucifer with Shadow Thorns, then covered the area in his Shadow Domain, blocking Lucifer’s vision and draining his Mind Power.
• Lucifer tried to fly upward through the Shadow Domain, but Guan Tong reshaped the living maze to keep him trapped.

Guan Tong trapped Lucifer in the Shadow Domain, but Lucifer escaped with a teleportation item after being badly wounded. Guan Tong refused to hand Jiang Lanying over to Dragon Soul and took her away, where he rejected her offers and threats and resolved to kill people like her.

• Silver Fox returned to Dragon Soul and learned that Shadow had trapped Lucifer in the black domain, while Dragon Soul confirmed that You Hao had been killed.
• Lucifer tried to teleport out of the Shadow Domain, but Guan Tong froze time and struck him with a Shadow Thorn before Lucifer escaped, severely wounded.
• After the Shadow Domain dissipated, Guan Tong refused Dragon Soul and Silver Fox’s demand to hand Jiang Lanying over and left with her restrained by Shadow Lines.
• Jiang Lanying offered Guan Tong wealth and protection in exchange for helping her flee, but he questioned why she had not been satisfied with the power and resources she already possessed.
• Jiang Lanying threatened Guan Tong and urged him to change his mind, but he calmly declared that he would kill people like her.

After Jiang Lanying vanished, the search was called off, and Guan Tong reflected on the end of her criminal network and the limits of his Shadow Domain. As Rule Thirteen approached its end, fear of accidentally lying drove people into silence, leaving the world oppressively quiet.

• The search teams failed to find any trace of Jiang Lanying, and authorities ordered them to stop searching and return.
• Li Meng questioned Dragon Soul about Shadow’s intentions, then suggested the changing world might soon alter what counted as a major concern.
• Guan Tong accepted Jiang Lanying’s death as the end of the old case and considered how to make his Shadow Domain prevent escape by Teleportation Items.
• Guan Tong tried adding the word “space” to the [Wordless Book]’s “Domain” page, but stopped when the attempt depleted his Mind Power.
• As Rule Thirteen neared its end, people avoided speaking or posting online for fear of violating the rules, and the world fell into an oppressive silence.

Yelena and Rieka began competing to inherit their father’s position, and Rieka plotted to incapacitate her sister. Meanwhile, malicious True Word Contract scams spread across the internet; after Guan Tong publicized the danger and officials promised a crackdown, widespread suspicion led many Ascendants to abandon plans to form contracts.

• Yelena and Rieka both refused to withdraw from the succession contest, which would end with one of them inheriting their father’s position and the loser being exiled to Sainantata.
• Rieka asked Gaelkin for advice, then agreed to have Yelena severely injured so she could not compete, despite Sigaqin protecting her.
• Ascendants began seeking partners for True Word Contracts before Rule Thirteen ended, while Guan Tong chose not to make a contract.
• A forum user exposed scammers who lied before forming contracts to make their partners suffer the Failure Penalty, and Guan Tong pinned the post to spread awareness.
• North Star Official announced that it would punish people who deliberately caused others’ Rule Challenges to fail, but proving such misconduct remained difficult.
• Widespread suspicion replaced plans to establish contracts on the final day, and many Ascendants chose to forgo the Double Reward rather than risk being deceived.

After the Thirteenth Apocalypse Rule ended, Wang Lan discovered that its failure penalty prevented her from telling the truth, while Guan Tong followed rising demands for laws to address rule-related crimes. At the Countermeasure Research Office, officials began proposing new laws, but no solutions had yet been settled.

• Wang Lan learned that failing the Thirteenth Rule meant she could no longer speak the truth, and she struggled to answer her fellow villager honestly.
• Guan Tong saw online debates intensify over deliberate rule sabotage and the authorities’ failure to define or punish such conduct.
• Guan Tong worried that unrest among displaced people could lead the authorities to restore strict wartime management.
• Gao Liangwei asked the Countermeasure Research Office to propose legal responses to public demands for updated laws.
• Researchers suggested a crime for deliberately obstructing another person's Rule Challenge, an Ascendant behavior law, and restrictions on abusing Mind Power-related items.

After Rule Thirteen ended, Guan Tong learned that Shi Jingyi would soon return to the academy and confirmed that he would leave when she did. He told his students he planned to travel the world and use his remaining classes to share his personal understanding of Mind Power.

• Guan Tong checked his Terminal Panel and found that the Rules had raised his Mind Power Cap by thirty points, bringing it to 930.
• Guan Tong told Dean Zhou Qinfeng that he would leave the academy when Shi Jingyi returned, despite Zhou's offers to keep him on as a teacher or administrator.
• On November 2nd, Guan Tong told his students that Shi Jingyi would resume teaching and that he had chosen to leave the academy.
• Guan Tong explained that he planned to travel around the world, though his students worried that doing so was dangerous.
• Guan Tong announced that his remaining classes would focus on his personal understanding and experience of Mind Power, then wrote “Mind Power” on the classroom screen.

Guan Tong taught his students a theory that Mind Power was a passage to an immense energy source and that humanity might one day use superior strength to suppress the Apocalypse Rules. After class, Shi Jingyi returned to the academy and joined Guan Tong, who was preparing to leave.

• Guan Tong rejected the two prevailing schools of thought and proposed that Mind Power was semi-idealist energy that the Fire Thief could also control because it was an Evolver with an extraordinarily high Mind Power Cap.
• Guan Tong described Mind Power as a bridge that let intelligent life draw on an unknown universal energy, and argued that humanity could suppress the Apocalypse Rules if its Mind Power surpassed theirs.
• A student suggested that concentrating other people's Mind Power might enable someone like North Star's great Shadow to suppress the Rules, prompting excited speculation about a chosen one.
• Guan Tong urged the students to preserve and increase their Mind Power through Mind Power Circulation and frequent sparring or actual combat.
• Shi Jingyi praised Guan Tong after class, and he told her he planned to leave the academy; she invited him to a scenic place to talk.

Guan Tong and Shi Jingyi discussed old grudges, the consequences of revenge, and the dangers of acting in anger. Shi Jingyi gave him her Mind Power Circulation research, while their conversation ended with concern about the coming unusually warm winter.

• Shi Jingyi told Guan Tong that she had killed her master's longtime rival as a teenager, and that she was now the only person left in Guiyun Martial Arts School.
• Shi Jingyi said she did not intend to persuade Guan Tong to abandon his revenge, but warned that anger could lead to irreversible choices.
• Guan Tong told Shi Jingyi he had already dealt with the person responsible for the long-range attack that injured her and said he would face any further trouble with her help.
• Shi Jingyi gave Guan Tong a hard drive containing her insights on optimizing Mind Power Circulation, and he stored it in his Storage Ring.
• Guan Tong and Shi Jingyi discussed relationships in the Apocalypse Rules Era and the planet's rising temperatures before winter.

Guan Tong’s lecture drew widespread attention, prompting Gao Liangwei to investigate his suspiciously clean past and consider recruiting him for an official department. As Guan Tong left the academy, he declined the offer and kept his plans to himself.

• Guan Tong’s lecture spread online, and the Countermeasure Research Office requested his background records.
• Gao Liangwei reviewed Guan Tong’s history, then asked Li Meng for details about his connection to the kidnapping case and asked Dean Zhou Qinfeng to sound him out about joining an official department.
• Zhang Minglu pointed out that Guan Tong’s combat advice suggested extensive real-world experience and told Gao Liangwei that Chen Na and Wang Yan might know about his past.
• Gao Liangwei instructed Zhang Minglu to investigate Guan Tong through his personal connections while postponing questioning Shi Jingyi because of her public status.
• Shi Jingyi returned to the academy but declined a celebration, while teachers gathered to bid farewell to Guan Tong.
• Dean Zhou Qinfeng offered Guan Tong a position in an important official department, but Guan Tong politely refused.

Guan Tong left the academy and returned to his shelter, then chose his first target for collecting debts: the people behind an account that had framed Shadow. He planned to travel to Yingqi territory, where he also hoped to confront the force that had bombed him and rescue Orochi Murasaki.

• Guan Tong left the academy after saying goodbye to the guard and reflecting that he no longer needed to consider the students' future assignments.
• Guan Tong returned to his shelter outside Pinglu City and reunited with Coal Ball, then reviewed the cultivation materials Shi Jingyi had given him.
• Guan Tong traced the account that had accused Shadow of attacking Prince Lado's convoy to the former Andai State, now part of Yingqi territory.
• Guan Tong suspected the account's operators had attacked Prince Lado and were using fake low-price commissions to obtain Ascension Coins.
• Guan Tong chose the account's operators as his first target because the trip could also let him confront the Yingqi force that had bombed him and rescue Orochi Murasaki.

Zhang Minglu and Silver Fox questioned Wang Yan and Chen Na about Guan Tong, but Chen Na concealed some details because she trusted him more than the authorities. Meanwhile, Guan Tong completed the Space Domain and prepared to set out after his Mind Power recovered.

• Zhang Minglu questioned Wang Yan about how she and Chen Na met Guan Tong, and learned that she had seen him kill a wild boar but never use an artifact or ability.
• Silver Fox questioned Chen Na and suspected she had withheld information about Guan Tong; Chen Na privately resolved not to betray his trust, partly because of Gu Fei’s warning about official organizations.
• Guan Tong finished writing “Space” on the [Wordless Book] and spent more than ten thousand Mind Power creating a small spatial cube.
• Guan Tong discovered that the cube could cut through objects or swallow them into its internal space, making it both a potential transport tool and a powerful close-range weapon.
• Guan Tong put away the [Wordless Book] and decided to rest one more day before setting out to collect debts and settle accounts.

At the UHC conference in North Star, member nations discussed sending astronauts to Terra and forming a joint team to deal with the Fire Thief Cult in Fahuo Nation. Afterward, Gao Liangwei learned that Guan Tong had vanished while under surveillance and ordered agents to watch his friend Xu Xiaotian.

• Mary described Solloma's intelligent robots and offered to help other nations build a robot society, while officials raised concerns about hidden backdoors.
• Gao Liangwei and Mary announced plans for manned rocket launches to Terra and agreed to form a UHC immigration team with candidates selected by the end of November.
• Gao Liangwei presented evidence that Fahuo Nation had become the Fire Thief Cult's headquarters, and UHC members agreed to send elite Ascendants into Fahuo to find and eliminate the culprits and their accomplices.
• Gao Liangwei reviewed Li Meng's report about Guan Tong subduing Shen Zuohu and ordered agents to contact him.
• An agent told Gao Liangwei that Guan Tong had disappeared from surveillance, so Gao ordered the team to monitor Xu Xiaotian for signs of contact.

Guan Tong entered Antu City to lure a suspected convoy attacker into an in-person meeting and planned to use Orochi Murasaki to find the Yingqi officials behind the bombing. He learned that the gang had taken the bait, while its hooded boss prepared for their planned robbery.

• Guan Tong crossed into Antu City and arranged to meet Photography Art WW there at 10 a.m. the next day.
• Guan Tong decided to deal with the suspected attacker first, then seek Orochi Murasaki in Banzhen City after the Fourteenth Apocalypse Rule appeared.
• Guan Tong headed for the outskirts of Antu City to place his shelter.
• The bald man told the hooded gang boss that an Yingqi target had agreed to meet, and the boss approved sending men to rob him.

Guan Tong investigated a suspicious riverbank trade and discovered that a gang of robbers had planned to ambush him. After subduing them, he learned they had bombed Prince Lado’s convoy and framed Shadow, leaving the gang’s confession in his hands.

• Guan Tong read forum discussions about the planned Terra rocket launch and the upcoming second season of Decisive Battle Ascendants.
• Guan Tong sent Shadow to scout his meeting place and discovered that seven or eight robbers were waiting to ambush him by the river.
• Guan Tong secretly planted Shadow Lines on the robbers, then arrived and killed the attackers when they tried to seize him.
• Guan Tong restrained the bald gang leader and asked whether his group had bombed Prince Lado’s convoy.
• Guan Tong revealed his identity as Shadow and threatened the gang leader, who confessed that his group had bombed the convoy and that their boss had framed Shadow.

Guan Tong tracked Wu Wang to downtown Antu City, where the metal-detonating filmmaker was staging explosions to record a panicked crowd. Wu Wang spotted a stranger removing his camera and rushed toward the building, leaving the confrontation unresolved.

• Guan Tong learned from the bald thug that Wu Wang led the raider gang and had gone to Antu City to gather footage, then found the gang's base deserted of its leader.
• Guan Tong interrogated the remaining thugs and learned Wu Wang was filming in the city center.
• Wu Wang set up his camera in a half-collapsed building and recalled how he had used Detonate Metal to create and sell footage of disasters and attacks, including the ambush on Prince Rado's convoy.
• Wu Wang detonated a supply truck and a sedan at a busy intersection, killing people and sending the crowd fleeing as he filmed them.
• Wu Wang saw a stranger removing his camera and sprinted toward the building, shouting for the stranger not to touch it.

Guan Tong used a remotely controlled Shadow to battle Wu Wang, whose metal-detonating ability and vicious tactics killed more than twenty Yingqi People. Wu Wang ultimately detonated himself in a massive blast, while Guan Tong watched from a safe distance.

• Guan Tong took Wu Wang's camera to lure him away from the crowded street, then confronted him in an abandoned building.
• Wu Wang detonated steel balls and relied on a powerful defensive item, but Guan Tong's Shadow attacks steadily drained his Mind Power.
• Wu Wang lured Guan Tong toward the street and released metal powder, then detonated it inside himself and nearby passersby; more than twenty Yingqi People died, while the armored figure remained unharmed because it was only a remotely controlled Shadow.
• As Wu Wang's defenses failed, he grabbed the Shadow and threatened to detonate a Super Metal Bomb, but the Shadow turned intangible and left a phone behind.
• Wu Wang realized he had been fighting a fake Shadow and detonated himself, destroying much of the street as Guan Tong watched from afar.

Guan Tong reviewed Wu Wang’s videos, confirming the group’s crimes and Lado’s death, then decided to hand the evidence to the North Star authorities. After acquiring Wu Wang’s defensive artifact, Guan Tong counted one debt settled and planned to pursue the Yingqi side after the Fourteenth Apocalypse Rule was released.

• North Star News reported the new Apocalypse Rules Management Law and Terra Immigration Plan before announcing a massive explosion in Antu City.
• Officer Yoshino’s investigators found steel balls and used an ability to infer that two people had been at the blast site, then began collecting DNA evidence.
• Guan Tong watched Wu Wang’s videos of bombings and Lado’s death, and decided to send the recordings to the North Star authorities after a delay.
• Guan Tong took Wu Wang’s Gilded Guard artifact and considered how the authorities might investigate the Antu City explosion.
• Guan Tong declared one debt settled and planned to find the people on the Yingqi side responsible for bombing him, waiting for the Fourteenth Apocalypse Rule before acting.

Guan Tong reviewed his supplies and reflected on why he prioritized his own abilities over Mind Power-consuming items before the Fourteenth Apocalypse Rule was released. The new rule introduced alien spores that caused physical and psychological changes and could make humans addicted, beginning a thirty-day challenge.

• Guan Tong checked the news about the Yingqi bombing investigation and a Fire Control Ascendant fined for using his ability in public.
• Guan Tong sorted his items and concluded that he should focus on abilities derived from the Wordless Book rather than buying many items that consumed Mind Power.
• Guan Tong received the authorities’ warning that the Fourteenth Apocalypse Rule was about to be announced.
• The Fire Thief announced the rule, which spread adhesive alien spores across Tianshui Star and required humans to resist their addictive symptoms for thirty days.

After the Alien Spores rules were announced, officials debated how to prevent exposure and investigate the spores’ addictive effects. Guan Tong uncovered Hidden Rule Fourteen, learned that controlled doses could strengthen and improve people, and decided to warn the authorities while sheltering through the rules.

• Gao Liangwei convened a strategy meeting where experts discussed the spores’ parasitic failure penalty, addictive nature, and prevention measures.
• The authorities planned to keep people indoors, distribute protective equipment, and study the effects of exposure and possible treatments.
• Guan Tong checked the Hidden Rules and discovered that controlled doses of Alien Spores could strengthen bodies and improve psychological conditions.
• Guan Tong decided to reveal the hidden rule so authorities could warn the public about the dangers of overuse.
• Guan Tong chose to remain inside his sealed Page Shelter and postpone his plans to visit Banzhen and search for Orochi Murasaki.