Hidden Rule Two

Green Plum Association, group chat.

After Rule Two of the Apocalypse Rules was released, the members immediately began discussing it.

"A marathon?! Isn't this specifically making things difficult for us middle-aged and elderly people? How hateful!"

"Yeah, most young people can't even finish a full marathon. It's even harder for us."

"Are there any members in the group who like running?"

"I like running, and I've done half-marathons. But a full marathon, especially one under three hours... honestly, out of a hundred people who can finish a marathon, only a single-digit number can get under three hours."

"It's that hard?! Then what do we do?"

"Let's see if there's another way, like the information Old Zhao shared about the candy last time."

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

"Where's Brother Zhao? Can his channels still be used?"

"I'm here. I'll ask around. Even if my source can get the information, it'll take time. They need to look into it too, right?"

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

"Yeah. Even if we fail, then we fail. At least the penalty for this rule isn't death."

Liu Yuqiang watched the messages in the group. He could sense that, compared to last time, the members were not nearly as anxious this time.

This was undoubtedly related to the fact that the Failure Penalty was not fatal.

Even if they ultimately failed, their Mind Power would merely decline.

However, the people in the member group had all passed Rule One by eating candy, so they did not have much Mind Power to begin with.

For those with a single-digit Mind Power Cap, how much could it decline anyway?

With that mindset, no one was in much of a hurry.

But Liu Yuqiang was different.

The reason he had risen from nothing was his sharp sensitivity to opportunities and shifting trends.

Ever since the authorities had begun collecting and investigating Mind Power data on a large scale, he had keenly realized that a new class was being born.

The High Mind Power Class.

Though it had not yet emerged, it might not be long before the people of this class stood at the forefront, becoming the elite—or at least a group the elite would seek to recruit and value.

Since Liu Yuqiang could recognize this, he would naturally work toward that direction.

He knew that the business empire he had built around food, drink, and entertainment was no longer important. It would soon be eliminated by this era of the "Apocalypse Rules."

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

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

"No matter what, I have to give it everything I've got. Forget reaching the top three—I at least have to pass. I absolutely cannot end in failure!"

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

[Hidden Rule Two]

Guan Tong looked at the reassembled words, excitement stirring in his heart.

I hope I can make use of this Hidden Rule!

If it was like the first Hidden Rule, where he had to harm others for his own benefit, then without a doubt it would be useless to Guan Tong again.

[Hidden Rule Two: Mind Wins]

[Hidden Rule Content: Flexibly use Mind Power to complete the challenge, and it may be counted toward your result]

[Note: Mind Power is the source of all strength. Unearth it, use it, and nothing will stand in your way]

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

The moment Guan Tong saw the details of the Hidden Rule, he immediately understood something.

"That's right. If I rely on myself to run, then no matter how I train, there's no way I can run a full marathon in three hours within ten days. Even if the world marathon champion became my coach, it would be impossible."

"That means that to complete the challenge—and even to achieve a good ranking—I need to make flexible use of Mind Power."

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

An idea struck him. "Shadow can jump and run too. Could the distance it runs count toward my running result... It definitely can!"

Guan Tong immediately said with certainty, "The Hidden Rule already explains it: flexibly using Mind Power to complete the challenge can be counted toward the result."

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

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

After selecting it, a prompt popped up first.

[You are about to be randomly assigned to a group. No nickname has been set. Would you like to enter using your real name?]

"Oh, right."

Only after seeing the prompt did Guan Tong remember that he had not set a nickname yet.

He immediately chose "No." He had no desire to enter a group full of people under his real name.

Then he opened the nickname field, looked at the blank box, and entered the name he had previously given the silhouette that had emerged from the book page.

"Shadow."

[Nickname confirmed]

After setting his nickname, Guan Tong selected the group function again.

The next moment, an enormous group chat window appeared before his eyes, taking up more than half his field of vision.

[You have been randomly assigned to: Group 9178]

[Current group members: 20000]

[Number of people who have completed the Rule Challenge: 0]

Guan Tong was somewhat surprised by the prompt.

There were actually as many as twenty thousand people in this group?

He remembered the rules mentioning that only the first-place person in the group could advance.

In other words, he had to take first place among twenty thousand people in the full marathon.

That was both difficult and not difficult.

It was difficult because most people were at roughly the same level, and few had trained specifically for this. If he was lucky and no one in the group had trained before, then it was uncertain who would ultimately stand out.

It was not difficult because if there was a professional runner in the group, then based on the assignment ratio, he would most likely dominate the entire group and easily take first place with a little effort.

Unfortunately, Guan Tong discovered that there seemed to be a professional runner among the twenty thousand people in his group.

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

On the Road: "Haha, what a coincidence. I happen to be an amateur marathon enthusiast. I run one about once a year on average, and I've gone under three hours a few times. Looks like I'll be taking first place in this group. Sorry, everyone."

The moment On the Road's message was sent, a flood of messages immediately erupted in the group.

"???"

"This is so unfair! Why aren't marathon runners put in the same group as other marathon runners?!"

"Getting in people's faces like this is asking to die, thanks!"

"We're done for. First place will definitely go to this asshole."

"No, do you all really think you can finish? Forget under three hours—I couldn't even manage it if the time limit were doubled to six hours!"

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

"Why are you all taking this so seriously? Failing this challenge won't kill us."

Guan Tong watched the group chat scroll wildly before silently closing it.

A group chat with only a few hundred people already produced too many messages to read, let alone one with twenty thousand.

Besides, what he needed to do now was not chat in the group, but actually test the effects of using Shadow for running.