Changes in the Wordless Book

The dead were gone. Those who survived still had to keep living.

Seventy-two hours after Rule One took effect.

Countries around the world began releasing the number of people in their nations who had perished under the rules.

The countries with the highest and most devastating death tolls were those where Apocalypse Rules Descend had occurred in the middle of the night.

Because the warning had not come in time, the mortality rates in those countries had almost all exceeded 90%.

In the most extreme case, one country's estimated mortality rate had reached a terrifying 97%.

At that point, the entire country could practically be considered gone.

Countries that had been in daytime fared somewhat better, but they had still Paid a tremendous price.

For example, according to the rough figures released by Beixing Nation's government, its mortality rate under the rules had reached 27%.

More than a quarter of its population had simply vanished.

Of course, that included many who had actively sought death.

For those trapped in the torment of illness, leaving this way might perhaps have been a good thing.

But no matter what, the Apocalypse Rules had inflicted enormous harm upon All Humanity.

Yet humanity had almost no time to grieve or mourn.

Because only twelve days, or 288 hours, remained until the next rule was announced.

No one knew what Rule Two would be like, whether it would be harder or easier than Rule One, or whether the Failure Penalty would still be death.

That pressure was enough to crush most ordinary people.

As a result, the entire world had nearly ground to a halt over the past three days.

Most industries had stopped working, and students had almost all stopped attending school.

Officials announced that they would provide free food, free cultural and entertainment products, and more.

That might be manageable for a few days, but if it went on too long, society would undoubtedly collapse completely.

So, on the fifth day, governments across the world issued a joint declaration.

"We cannot submit to the Apocalypse Rules or submit to the Fire Thief! We humanity must defend our civilization and defend our way of life!"

Sweeping social reforms began on a massive scale.

The sixth day.

Guan Tong sat in his study, the [Wordless Book] spread open on the desk.

Over the past few days, he had repeated one thing over and over: wait for his Mind Power to recover, then use it to keep writing his name. Wait for his Mind Power to recover, then use it to keep writing his name.

He had gotten stubborn about it. He had to write his name onto the page.

And now, he had made considerable progress.

Guan Tong looked at the words on the page. He had finished writing the character "Guan," while for "Tong," he had only written the left-side "eye" radical. The right-side portion was still unfinished.

That left him somewhat frustrated, because the character "Tong" had quite a few strokes and consumed more Mind Power.

He felt that if his name had been something like "Wang Yi," with only a few strokes in total, he probably would have finished it two days ago.

...Though he had no idea what writing his name would actually do. Still, it was something to hold on to.

Bzz bzz bzz.

The phone on the desk vibrated. Guan Tong picked it up and saw that the caller ID was actually "Public Security Bureau."

After he answered, a clear female voice came through. "Hello, is this Mr. Guan Tong?"

"This is he. May I ask who is calling?"

"This is the newly established Investigation and Collection Department of the Public Security Bureau."

"Investigation and collection? Investigating what?"

"It concerns Mind Power. The authorities are currently compiling Mind Power data from surviving individuals to better conduct research. Would it be convenient for Mr. Guan Tong to disclose your exact Mind Power value? I can record it here."

Guan Tong frowned. To some extent, a person's exact Mind Power value counted as private information, didn't it? Was it really appropriate to investigate that?

Perhaps sensing his concerns, the woman on the other end continued, "Please rest assured that our data will be kept strictly confidential and will not be Leaked Out to unrelated individuals or organizations."

Guan Tong said, "That may not be very convenient."

There was currently no indication that having his Mind Power value Leaked Out would pose any risks. But Guan Tong had always been cautious and still did not want to make it public.

"All right. We do not require mandatory collection. However, a reminder: if Mr. Guan Tong's Mind Power exceeds 80 points, reporting it may give you the chance to receive special state support."

"Special support?"

"Yes. This is a newly introduced policy. The authorities will select individuals with outstanding potential for training and support, helping them develop better in order to face the challenges brought by the Apocalypse Rules."

"All right, I understand."

After the call ended, Guan Tong searched online.

Sure enough, many people said they had received calls from their local Public Security Bureau, requesting to investigate and collect data on their Mind Power values.

Targeted Support had also been mentioned.

Quite a few people had doubts about it.

Some whose Mind Power was below 80 said this was unfair treatment and that they too should receive special support, but those protests did not attract much attention.

Under the shadow of the Apocalypse Rules, many things and beliefs were changing rapidly.

Many previous definitions of fairness and justice would undoubtedly rank behind the threat of extinction facing All Humanity.

Guan Tong did not pay much attention to it.

His experience passing the first Apocalypse Rule had taught him that sometimes, paying attention to too many things would only scatter his focus.

In the final twenty-four hours, he had simply spent the time playing offline games, and his mind had been calm.

Wenren Yizhi was another example.

Because of Fang Qian, Guan Tong had also learned about Wenren Yizhi's 72-Hour Go Marathon challenge.

He had specifically looked it up yesterday and discovered that Wenren Yizhi had truly played Go continuously for seventy-two hours, livestreaming her way through the Apocalypse Rules under the watchful eyes of countless people.

Her fame had completely broken out of its usual circles, drawing enormous attention.

After learning about it, Guan Tong admired her, but he also felt that this was the power of calmness and focus at work.

So he stopped looking at more news and continued eating, sleeping, entertaining himself, recovering Mind Power, and using it up to write every day.

Then, on the tenth day, he finally completed the last stroke of the character "Tong."

"Done!"

Guan Tong used up all his Mind Power and let out a long breath as he wrote the final horizontal stroke.

He looked at his name on the page. The two characters "Guan Tong" gave him an indescribable feeling.

It was as if... he could communicate with it through his mind.

Rustle!

All of a sudden, the page bearing Guan Tong's name began fluttering without any wind!

Startled, Guan Tong stood up and backed away. What was going on? Had finishing my name triggered something?

The next moment, an astonishing scene unfolded.

The two characters "Guan Tong" on the page slowly floated upward, expanded, and detached from the page, hanging in the air.

Then, they gradually began to distort, developing toward an outline.

At first, Guan Tong was only shocked. But as he watched, a chill ran down his spine, and dread surged into his heart.

He saw it. The strokes that had risen from the page and grown larger were forming the outline of a human figure!

Even more terrifyingly, that figure's height and build were exactly the same as Guan Tong's!