Shadow's Strength

Guan Tong left his home and went outside.

There was almost no one on the streets. Thinking about it, that made sense—more than a quarter of the population vanishing was no trivial matter.

Others might not know, but Guan Tong had checked his school's class group earlier. Out of a group of forty or fifty people, only around ten had popped up to say they were still alive.

Despite suffering such a devastating blow, the country and society were still functioning.

That was thanks to technological development. On his first day after transmigrating, Guan Tong had discovered that Tianshui Star's technology was somewhat more advanced than that of Earth, his old home—probably twenty or thirty years ahead.

In the Beixing Nation, technologies such as drone delivery and basic autonomous driving were already widespread, while robotics was extensively used in major factories.

As for what the future held, that was hard to say.

Although nations around the world had jointly declared that they would not yield to the Apocalypse Rules, that they would protect Civilization and vigorously develop cutting-edge technology...

If the rules grew increasingly difficult and the population continued to dwindle, technological progress would likely slow, stagnate, or even regress.

Guan Tong did not think too much about it. He believed more in living in the present.

And what he needed to do now was pass the second Apocalypse Rule first.

He went to a nearby park and found that many people were already running there.

Most of them were young people, which was hardly surprising.

Although the authorities had not released the age distribution of those who had vanished, it was obvious that middle-aged and elderly people must have made up the majority.

Their stamina was still far inferior to that of young people. Very few could stay awake for seventy-two hours without sleeping.

"Damn it! It hasn't even been five kilometers yet... How the hell am I supposed to finish a full marathon?"

A college-aged boy had run himself ragged and stopped not far from Guan Tong, bracing his hands on his knees as he panted and cursed.

There were many people like him. In fact, plenty were worse off than he was; forget five kilometers, they could not even finish one.

Guan Tong knew he was about the same.

Looking at the dense crowd on the park track, he decided to leave and went to a single-person self-service gym.

This type of gym was rare on Earth, Guan Tong's old home, but it was popular in countries across Tianshui Star.

After paying and swiping a card, one could enter a small private room. Inside were a treadmill, yoga mat, small dumbbells, and other equipment.

These small self-service gym rooms had been designed for people who liked quiet or suffered from social anxiety. They were just what he needed now.

Guan Tong stood in front of the treadmill. The rules did not state that he could not run on one, so there was no issue.

Of course, relying on it to cheat was impossible. The rules' tracking of running and time had to be extremely precise. No matter how he ran, the record would not be wrong.

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

He then gathered his Mind Power and poured it in. The two characters "Guan Tong" immediately detached from the page and appeared in the form of a Shadow.

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

The running belt began moving backward, and under Guan Tong's mental control, Shadow began to run as well.

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

Current distance: 100 meters, current time: 35 seconds.

Is this timing and distance provided by the rules...?

Guan Tong thought that only the rules could accomplish something like projecting numbers and time directly before someone's eyes.

But the appearance of that record confirmed that Shadow's running counted the same as his own.

That gave him an idea.

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

Since Shadow had no physical form, how he ran made no essential difference.

That way, the distance covered by the two of them could be added together, greatly reducing the time needed to complete a full marathon.

"Most importantly, Shadow has no limitation called 'stamina.' In other words, I can make him maintain his fastest speed for as long as he exists!"

Guan Tong's heart stirred, and Shadow immediately began sprinting wildly!

Its top speed was Guan Tong's top speed. After testing it, it was roughly fifteen seconds per hundred meters.

With his Mind Power full, Guan Tong could currently keep Shadow in existence for at most five minutes.

If Shadow kept running at fifteen seconds per hundred meters for those five minutes, it could cover... two kilometers in total.

"...That's still far too little."

A full marathon was forty-two kilometers. If Shadow could only run two kilometers, it would merely be a tiny fraction of the distance for Guan Tong. It was nowhere near enough.

There were only two directions to solve this problem.

One was to extend Shadow's duration.

The other was to increase Shadow's speed.

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

He did not know how to increase the upper limit of Mind Power. At most, he could only keep Shadow around for five minutes.

That meant he could only focus on the second direction.

Increase the speed, huh...

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

"If I set the treadmill to its highest speed, then let Shadow... No, Shadow has no physical form. It can't touch the running belt."

Guan Tong frowned as he thought.

At that moment, sunlight streamed in through the window, falling warmly over him.

Warmth... huh? Wait... the sun, sunlight... Shadow?

Guan Tong suddenly raised his head and looked at the ground. Sunlight shone on him from the side, casting a shadow onto the floor.

They were both shadows. Could he...

Guan Tong controlled the Shadow from the Wordless Book and had it touch the shadow cast by the real sun.

The moment the two made contact, they merged together seamlessly.

Moreover, Guan Tong could clearly feel that the Shadow he could control had grown larger. That instantly filled him with delight!

"I can't believe I never thought of doing this before!"

Guan Tong found it unbelievable.

Only then did he realize that after the Shadow he controlled came into contact with shadows created by other light sources, it could bring those shadows under his control as well.

For instance, if he went outside now, found any random building, and controlled his Shadow to connect with the building's shadow, he could control an enormous stretch of the building's shadow.

Guan Tong instantly felt that this was unbelievably powerful.

Although Shadow had no physical form and could not do much else, it was more than enough to deal with the second Apocalypse Rule before him!

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

He immediately drew the curtains to block out the light, then took out his phone and turned on its flashlight, aiming it at the treadmill belt.

This caused the running belt's shadow to appear.

Guan Tong then controlled his own Shadow and linked it with the shadow of the running belt.

He was immediately able to control the running belt's shadow!

Then he stepped up to the treadmill, set its speed to the maximum, and pressed start!

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—!"

Driven by the machine, the running belt spun madly, carrying the long Shadow Guan Tong controlled along with it as it rotated at incredible speed over an enormous distance!

That was right. Guan Tong could not reshape Shadow, but as long as the shadow he controlled was large enough, it did not matter whether it was human-shaped. So long as it was "moving," the distance counted as increasing!

At the same speed, a human-shaped shadow took one step and covered only half a meter. But what if a building's shadow took one "step"? It could cover several hundred meters!

Guan Tong looked again at the number appearing before his eyes, and a smile immediately spread across his face.

Current distance: 347 meters, current time: 4 seconds.

At an average speed of eighty-six meters per second, he would need less than five hundred seconds to complete the forty-two-kilometer full marathon. It was simply invincible!