Hidden Rules II

Green Plum Association, group chat.

After the second Apocalypse Rule was released, the members immediately started discussing.

"It's actually a marathon! Isn't this specifically targeting us middle-aged and elderly folks? How infuriating!"

"Exactly, even most young people can't finish a Full Marathon, it's even harder for us."

"Is there a member in the group who likes running?"

"I do like running, and I've run a Half Marathon before. But a Full Marathon, especially one within three hours... To be honest, out of a hundred people who can finish a marathon, only a single-digit number can squeeze their time under three hours."

"That hard?! Then what do we do?"

"Let's see if there's another way, like the sugar news Old Zhao shared last time."

"Right, right! Everyone, try your own channels and see if you can get info on the Hidden Rules!"

"What about Brother Zhao? Can his channels still work?"

"I'm here. I'll ask around. Even if the source can dig something up, it'll take some time. They need to study it too, you know."

"Right, right, that makes sense. No rush, we still have ten days anyway!"

"Yeah, if it really doesn't work out, failing is fine. At least this rule's penalty isn't death."

Liu Yuqiang watched the group messages and could sense that, compared to last time, the members weren't as anxious now.

This was undoubtedly related to the Failure Penalty not being fatal.

Even if they ultimately failed, it would only be a reduction in Mind Power.

However, the people in the member group had all passed the first rule by relying on sugar, so their Mind Power wasn't high to begin with.

For those with a single-digit Mind Power Cap, how much could they even lose?

With that mindset, no one was too worried.

But Liu Yuqiang was different.

The reason he had built his fortune from scratch was his keen sense for opportunities and trends.

Ever since the authorities began large-scale collection and surveying of Mind Power data, he had acutely realized that a new class was being born.

The High Mind Power Class.

Although it hadn't manifested yet, it might not be long before people of this class stood at the forefront of the storm, becoming the top tier, or at least a group courted and valued by the top tier.

Liu Yuqiang, aware of this, would naturally strive in that direction.

He knew that his business empire, built around entertainment and pleasure, was no longer important and would soon be eliminated by this era of "Apocalypse Rules."

He judged that to board the ship of the new era, he had to ensure a high Mind Power value!

"This rule's reward is only 100 Ascension Coins, no Mind Power. But the top three in the final rankings get extra rewards. Could it be Mind Power?"

"Regardless, I have to give it my all. Even if I can't reach the top three, I at least need to pass. I absolutely cannot end in failure!"

Liu Yuqiang silently resolved. He would never allow himself to be eliminated by the times, which meant he absolutely could not let a challenge failure cause his Mind Power to decline!

[Hidden Rule Two]

Guan Tong saw the reassembled text and felt a stir of excitement inside.

Hopefully, this Hidden Rule will be something I can use!

If it was like the first Hidden Rule, which required harming others to benefit oneself, then it would undoubtedly be another one Guan Tong couldn't use.

[Hidden Rule Two: Mind Wins]

[Hidden Rule Content: Flexibly use Mind Power to complete the challenge; results can be counted toward your score.]

[Note: Mind Power is the root of all power. Dig into it, use it, and you will be invincible.]

"Mind Wins... The key is Mind Power..."

Guan Tong looked at the details of the Hidden Rule and immediately understood something.

"That's right. If I rely on myself to run, no matter how much I train, I can't achieve a Full Marathon within three hours in just ten days. Not even if the world marathon champion were my coach."

"This means that to complete the challenge, or even to get a good ranking, I need to flexibly use Mind Power."

Guan Tong thought of his [Wordless Book] and of "Shadow."

His heart stirred: "Shadow can jump and run too. Can the distance it runs be counted toward my running score... It must be able to!"

Guan Tong immediately affirmed: "The Hidden Rule already states that flexibly using Mind Power to complete the challenge can be counted toward the score."

With an idea in mind, Guan Tong felt much more at ease.

He temporarily suppressed the urge to try it out immediately and first spent some time checking the newly appeared [Group] function in his Personal Terminal.

After selecting it, a prompt popped up first.

[About to randomly assign a group. Detected that no nickname has been set. Proceed with your real name?]

"Oh, right."

Guan Tong saw the prompt and only then remembered he hadn't set his nickname yet.

He immediately chose "No"—he had no intention of entering a multi-person group chat under his real name.

Then he tapped the nickname field, stared at the blank box, and typed in a name he'd once given to the silhouette that leaped out from that book page.

"Shadow"

[Nickname confirmed]

With his nickname set, Guan Tong reopened the group function.

The next moment, a massive group chat window appeared before his eyes, occupying most of his field of vision.

[You have been randomly assigned to: Group 9178]

[Current group members: 20,000]

[Number of Rule Challenge completions: 0]

Guan Tong was a bit surprised by the prompt.

Twenty thousand people in a single group?

He remembered the rules mentioned that only first place in the group could advance.

That meant he needed to get first place out of twenty thousand people in the Full Marathon.

It was both hard and not hard.

Hard because most people were at similar levels—few had specifically trained for this. If he got lucky and no one in his group had trained, then who would stand out was anyone's guess.

Not hard because if the group had a professional runner, given the distribution ratio, that person would likely dominate the whole group and take first with just a decent performance.

Unfortunately, Guan Tong noticed that among his twenty-thousand-person group, there seemed to be exactly one professional runner.

Someone with the nickname "On the Road" was speaking in the group.

On the Road: "Haha, funny coincidence—I happen to be an amateur marathon enthusiast. I run one every year on average, and I've broken 3 hours a few times. Looks like first place in this group should be mine. Sorry, everyone."

As soon as "On the Road" posted, a flood of messages erupted in the group.

"???"

"This is so unfair! Why aren't marathon runners grouped with other marathon runners?!"

"Jumping in to flex is a death wish, thanks!"

"We're screwed. That bastard's definitely taking first."

"Wait, do you all really think you can even finish? I can't even run 6 hours, let alone 3!"

"I'm worried about that too. I think Rule Two is harder than Rule One!"

"Why are you all taking this so seriously? It's not like failing this challenge means death."

Guan Tong watched the chat window explode with messages and silently closed it.

Even a few hundred people in a group chat was too many messages to keep up with, let alone twenty thousand.

Besides, what he needed to do now wasn't waste time in the chat—it was to actually test how Shadow performed when applied to running.