The Power of Shadow

Guan Tong left his home and stepped outside.

There were hardly any people on the street. It made sense; the demise of over a quarter of the population wasn't something to take lightly.

Others might not know, but Guan Tong had taken a look at his school's group chat earlier. Out of forty to fifty people, only about ten had responded to indicate they were still alive.

Despite such a heavy blow, the nation and society were still functioning.

This was thanks to technological development. Guan Tong had discovered on his first day after transmigrating that Tianshui Star's technology was a bit stronger than his home planet, Earth, perhaps ahead by about twenty to thirty years.

For instance, in the Beixing Nation, technologies like drone delivery and basic autonomous driving had become widespread, and robotic technology was also widely used in major factories.

However, the future remained uncertain.

Although various countries had jointly announced they would not yield to the Apocalypse Rules and would protect civilization while vigorously developing high-end technology.

But if the rules became increasingly difficult and the population dwindled, the development of technology might slow down, or even stagnate and regress.

Guan Tong didn't dwell on it too much. He was a person who largely believed in living in the moment.

And what he needed to do right now was to get through the second Apocalypse Rule first.

He went to a nearby park and found many people already jogging.

Most of them were young people, which wasn't surprising.

Although the authorities hadn't released the age distribution of those who perished, it was easy to guess that the elderly and middle-aged would constitute the majority.

Their stamina was significantly less than that of young people, and very few could stay awake for 72 hours straight.

"Damn it! I haven't even reached five kilometers yet... How am I supposed to finish a Full Marathon!"

A male student, who looked like he was in college, stopped not far from Guan Tong, exhausted. He leaned on his knees, panting heavily and cursing.

Many others were in a similar situation, and some were even worse off, unable to run even one kilometer, let alone five.

Guan Tong knew he was pretty much the same.

He looked at the dense crowd on the park's running track and decided to leave for a solo self-service gym instead.

These kinds of gyms were rare on Guan Tong's home planet, Earth, but they were quite popular in various countries on Tianshui Star.

After paying and swiping his card, you could enter a small private room. The room contained a treadmill, yoga mat, small dumbbells, and other equipment.

These self-service gym cubicles were designed for people who preferred quiet or suffered from social anxiety, and they were perfect for the current situation.

Guan Tong stood in front of the treadmill. The rules didn't state that running on a treadmill was forbidden, so it should be fine.

However, cheating with it wouldn't work. The rules would be extremely precise about running and timekeeping, and no matter what method was used, the record would be accurate.

Guan Tong took out his [Wordless Book] from the Storage Box in his Personal Terminal.

Then, he channeled his Mind Power into it. The words "Guan Tong" immediately detached from the pages and appeared in the form of a Shadow.

Guan Tong had the Shadow stand on the treadmill and then started the machine.

The running belt began to move backward, and the Shadow, under Guan Tong's mental control, started running.

After running for a short while, a number appeared before Guan Tong's eyes.

Current Distance: 100 meters, Current Time: 35 seconds.

"Is this the timing and duration provided by the rules..."

Guan Tong mused. Only the rules could do something like this, projecting numbers and time into one's vision.

However, the appearance of this record confirmed for Guan Tong that the Shadow running and him running would be counted the same way for the score.

This gave him an idea.

For example, he could run on the treadmill while the Shadow ran in place beside him.

Since the Shadow had no physical form, how it ran wouldn't make a difference.

This way, the distances run by both of them could be added together, significantly reducing the time required to complete the Full Marathon.

"Most importantly, the Shadow has no 'stamina' limitation, meaning I can have it run at its fastest speed for as long as it can exist!"

Guan Tong's heart stirred, and the Shadow immediately began to sprint!

Its fastest speed was Guan Tong's fastest speed, which he estimated to be about 15 seconds per 100 meters.

Currently, with his full Mind Power, Guan Tong could sustain the Shadow for a maximum of five minutes.

If the Shadow ran at 15 seconds per 100 meters for these five minutes, it would cover a total of... two kilometers.

"...That's still too much of a difference."

A Full Marathon was 42 kilometers. If the Shadow could only run two kilometers, it would only cover a tiny fraction of the distance for Guan Tong, not nearly enough.

To solve this problem, there were only two directions to consider.

First, extend the duration the Shadow could exist.

Second, increase the Shadow's speed.

Guan Tong felt the first direction was unrealistic, as maintaining the Shadow's existence required Mind Power.

He didn't know how to increase his current Mind Power limit, so he could only sustain it for five minutes at most.

He could only focus his efforts on the second direction.

Speed up, hmm...

Guan Tong looked at the buttons on the treadmill, and his eyes suddenly lit up.

"If I turn the treadmill speed to the maximum, and then let Shadow... No, Shadow has no physical form and cannot come into contact with the running belt."

Guan Tong frowned in thought.

At this moment, the sunlight from outside shone in, feeling very warm on his body.

Warm... Hmm? Wait... Sun, sunlight... Shadow?

Guan Tong suddenly looked down at the ground. The sunlight shone on him, casting a shadow on the ground from the side.

It's also a shadow, could it be...?

Guan Tong manipulated the "Shadow" within the Wordless Book to touch the shadow cast by the real sun.

After the two came into contact, they immediately merged, without any sense of incongruity.

Moreover, Guan Tong could clearly feel that the shadow he could control had grown larger, which instantly filled him with surprise!

"I never thought of this before?"

Guan Tong found it incredible.

He realized at this moment that the "Shadow" he controlled could incorporate other shadows created by light sources into its range of control after coming into contact with them.

For example, if he walked out now and found any building, he could manipulate his shadow to connect with the building's shadow and control a vast area of the building's shadow.

This gave Guan Tong an instant feeling of "too powerful."

Although Shadow had no physical form and couldn't do more, it was more than enough to deal with this second Apocalypse Rule!

Guan Tong's eyes gleamed; he already knew what he needed to do.

He immediately pulled the curtains to block the light, then took out his phone, turned on the flashlight function, and aimed it at the treadmill's running belt.

This way, the shadow of the running belt appeared.

Guan Tong then manipulated his own shadow to connect with the shadow of the running belt.

He could immediately control the shadow of the running belt!

Then he walked to the treadmill, set the speed to the fastest, and pressed start!

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh--!"

The running belt spun madly under the machine's power, and the long shadow controlled by Guan Tong also spun at an extremely fast speed and over a great distance!

That's right, Guan Tong couldn't make Shadow transform, but as long as the controlled shadow was large enough, regardless of whether the shadow was humanoid, as long as it was "moving," it counted as an increase in distance!

At the same speed, a humanoid shadow might take half a meter per step, but how far would a building's shadow "walk" in one step? It could be hundreds of meters!

Guan Tong looked at the number displayed before him, and a smile appeared on his face.

Current Distance: 347 meters, Current Time: 4 seconds

This average speed of 86 meters per second meant he could run a full marathon of 42 kilometers in less than 500 seconds. It was simply invincible!