Saturation Appeal

"How much?!"

The moment the notification appeared, the entire group chat erupted after a brief dead silence.

Countless messages flew across the screen at lightning speed.

"Holy shit!!!"

"21 seconds?!"

"Bro, did you run on a plane or what?!"

"How is that even possible?!"

"This is terminal timing, no way it's cheating..."

"Did he use some hidden rule? Like that Sobering Mint Candy before?!"

"Yeah, Hidden Rules!"

"Big Boss Shadow!!! Please share!!!"

"Is World First about to come out of our group?!"

"I can't accept this!"

"Dad! Take me with you!"

The group messages refreshed like crazy. Out of twenty thousand members, at least ten thousand were posting.

On the Road, who was at the stadium, had barely been smug for a few minutes before he was completely dumbfounded.

Running a Full Marathon in 21 seconds? Was this even human?

Impossible. Absolutely impossible.

How the hell did this guy with the nickname "Shadow" pull it off?

Many people felt the same way he did. They all wanted to figure it out, wanted to ask this "Shadow" directly.

But the Personal Terminal only had group chat functionality for communication—no "add friend," no "private message."

So unless "Shadow" spoke up in the group, no one else could actively reach him.

And at that very moment, the Party Involved, Guan Tong, sat at home, staring at the chaos in the group chat interface, feeling a bit helpless.

Even if he made his secret public, others couldn't use it.

Because not everyone had the same artifact he did, and not everyone could use their shadow to clear the challenge like him.

Besides, the core of it all was about learning to tap into Mind Power.

Guan Tong didn't need to explain that. Plenty of people online had already posted about it.

Many had discovered on the very first day that results achieved with the help of Mind Power Artifacts could be recorded by the terminal.

That meant the Hidden Rule [Mind Wins] had already spread since day one. Anyone paying attention to outside information would know.

Since everyone already knew, the next step was naturally every man for himself.

Each person had to figure out their own way to pass the challenge by digging into how to use their Mind Power Artifact.

Still, Guan Tong felt a little secretly pleased.

His "Shadow" was just too perfect for this rule.

"At this rate, maybe I really can get into the world's top three?"

Actually, Guan Tong thought he could even take first place. But there was always someone better out there. Maybe someone in the world had a Mind Power Artifact even more suited to this rule than his.

And 21 seconds wasn't even the limit.

Guan Tong could definitely look for something with a faster spin rate and a bigger shadow to push his time even further.

He estimated he could probably get it down to around ten-something seconds.

By the afternoon, keywords like "Shadow 21 Seconds" had already appeared online.

People from Guan Tong's group had posted about it on the internet.

Since terminal group chats couldn't be screenshotted, and the overall rankings couldn't be viewed before Rule Time ended, most netizens didn't believe it.

But as more and more people from Guan Tong's group posted, people gradually started to believe that there really was a guy named "Shadow" who ran a Full Marathon in 21 seconds and passed the rule.

For a time, everyone was searching for "Shadow," wanting to know how he did it.

Among them were plenty of social elites, tycoons, and Big Bosses.

On a globally popular social platform called "Liaoduo," many users with verified celebrity tags posted updates.

Some posts were relatively restrained, while others were blatantly direct and wild.

A chairman of a world's top 100 company posted: "I hope this 'Shadow' will contact me and provide the method for clearing the challenge. I offer three hundred jin of gold as a reward. Anyone who has 'Shadow's' contact info, or can provide information, will also receive a reward of fifty jin of gold."

The moment the post went up, the comments below went insane.

"Three hundred jin of gold?! That's a huge move!"

"He's really going all out."

"Lucky bastard, I wish I were 'Shadow'!"

"Gold's value has skyrocketed now—three hundred jin would last you forever!"

No wonder everyone was amazed. Ever since the first Apocalypse Rule ended, the value of gold had nearly doubled.

This was closely tied to the fact that food and entertainment products in many countries had become free.

Once those things were free, the value of currency like money shrank to almost nothing.

This meant that some high-end, scarce items could no longer be bought with money at all—only gold transactions were accepted.

As a result, gold, a hard currency with limited supply, had seen its value explode.

A single jin of gold now was worth more than five jin before the Apocalypse Rules descended. Imagine how massive a sum three hundred jin was.

Another fairly famous and beautiful international movie star posted a status, expressing a desire to privately meet "Shadow," saying that whether male or female, they could explore biology together.

That post immediately drew a flood of scolding from fans, accusing her of selling her looks for secrets.

But the star didn't care at all. She saw it clearly: after the Apocalypse Rules appeared, celebrities like her in the entertainment industry would only get less and less attention.

Better to cash in on her fame while it lasted and use her star power to grab some real benefits.

Those openly seeking cooperation were still polite, but some factions and forces were secretly hunting for "Shadow."

The Green Plum Association was one of them.

As soon as the news spread, the Green Plum Association's private group chat lit up with discussion.

"Who the hell is this 'Shadow'? How did they pull it off?"

"No idea. Even with a Mind Power Artifact, you couldn't reach that level."

"Could there be some unique trick to it?"

"I've seen online that this 'Shadow' is most likely from our Beixing Nation. Can we find a way to track this person down?"

"Hard. I heard that in the top-level countermeasure office, some top computer experts tried to crack the terminal groups and all failed."

"Finding them through tech is impossible. The Fire Thief's power is divine—how can we humans crack it? I think we have to use the media."

"Right. Everyone, contact whatever media resources we can still mobilize, and try to get this 'Shadow' to willingly step forward and reveal their identity."

"Okay, I still have a few media departments running. I'll get on it right away."

The Green Plum Association's members were all titans in various business sectors, and their companies had ties to many media outlets. Some even funded their own media, whether to wage corporate wars against rivals or to muddy the waters and divert attention when their own affairs went south.

Now it was time to put those to use again.

That evening, many media outlets went into overdrive, reporting on "Shadow's 21 Seconds."

The most popular video featured a well-known host speaking emotionally on camera:

"According to relevant sources, this person with the nickname 'Shadow' is very likely from our Beixing Nation.

In the face of the great disaster of the Apocalypse Rules, the people of Beixing Nation should unite and overcome the hardships together. Although the Failure Penalty for Rule Two isn't fatal, passing it should help with survival in the more brutal rules to come.

Therefore, on behalf of our nation, I strongly appeal to this 'Shadow' to embrace a spirit of great love, step forward voluntarily, and help fellow countrymen pass the Rule Challenge. I believe everyone will regard you as a hero and sing your praises!"

The host was so moved he was nearly in tears, and the comment section was full of praise.

"Support the host!"

"That's right! If 'Shadow' is willing to help everyone pass the rule, they'll be a hero to our whole nation!"

"We're all from the same country—we have to help each other!"

"I believe that if 'Shadow' is from Beixing Nation, they'll step up. Our country doesn't have people that selfish!"

"Waiting for the hero to show up!"

That wasn't the only video. Many similar ones popped up across major websites that night.

The content was more or less the same, all with one theme: hoping "Shadow" would come forward and share the method for completing a full marathon in 21 seconds.

Guan Tong sat on the sofa, watching several channels airing similar videos, completely speechless.

"Is this a saturation campaign?"

He wasn't stupid. Multiple channels, multiple media outlets all running these videos at once—if that was a coincidence, he'd eat his hat!

Guan Tong strongly suspected someone was pulling strings behind the media, orchestrating this whole show.

"I'm not falling for that..."

Originally, there was nothing to hide about this matter, but with the media pulling this stunt, Guan Tong was now wary of revealing his identity.

He knew that no matter how nice these videos sounded, once they found him, the treatment he'd get would be anything but gentle.

This wasn't paranoia—it was just facing reality.

How many of those deeply entrenched Big Bosses didn't want to make their move in this era of rules?

If there was a chance to seize the advantage, they'd never let it slip.

That was also why, when Guan Tong got that call from the new department in the Public Security Bureau, he refused to register his Mind Power data.

They said that over 80 points might qualify for special support—but then what?

Nothing comes for free—with rights come responsibilities.

Guan Tong had no desire to register only to receive a mandatory notice one day, ordering him to assist with some experiment or task.

—And you couldn't refuse, because you'd accepted the support.

Others could do as they pleased, but Guan Tong himself kept his distance from such things.

So in the following days, no matter how the media saturated the airwaves with bombardment, no matter how much they called "Shadow" selfish and self-serving, he acted as if he saw none of it and continued doing what he did.

It wasn't until the eighth day after Rule Two descended that the online tide of condemnation against Shadow gradually subsided.

On one hand, the ten-day deadline was almost up, and Shadow still refused to show his face—wasting more breath was pointless.

On the other hand, with time running out, most people had accepted reality.

If they couldn't complete the challenge, they couldn't complete it. Even following the official advice to try using Mind Power Artifacts flexibly, they still couldn't grasp the trick.

After all that fuss, finding it useless, they simply gave up.

After all, the punishment wasn't death—just a decline in Mind Power.

Now, many people's mindset was to live each day as it came; let the decline happen.

As for the powerful magnates, they too had given up searching for "Shadow" and instead began public recruitment.

These magnates were recruiting those with high Mind Power.

As time passed, the public gradually realized that high Mind Power would become increasingly important.

So these magnates started building their own new factions, aiming to gather a group of elites into their teams early.

That way, whether banding together to face subsequent apocalypse rules or competing with other magnates on various levels, the more elites in the team, the greater the advantage.

This wasn't limited to civilian magnates—official governments of various nations were doing it too.

Beixing Nation was among the quickest to act. Earlier, when the Public Security Bureau set up a new department and called everyone to register their Mind Power values, it was all preparation for this step.

Many high Mind Power users posted online, saying that shortly after registering, they received official invitations to join subsidiary departments of the Apocalypse Rules Countermeasure Research Office.

The Apocalypse Rules Countermeasure Research Office was the institution that published the Apocalypse Rules White Paper, a special department deliberately formed by the government.

In the post-apocalypse rules era, just from the name alone, one could imagine how many resources this Countermeasure Research Office could mobilize. Even being a mere member of its subsidiary departments meant wielding no small amount of power.

Besides Beixing Nation, other countries with any real strength had also set up similar institutions, all vigorously recruiting high Mind Power users worldwide.

As for compensation, it certainly wasn't money anymore.

Someone online had leaked that the rewards these institutions offered for recruitment included not only gold but also many things unavailable outside.

For example, scenic vacation properties in prime locations, access rights to certain special venues, and knowledge of a few classified matters.

There was plenty of information online about this—some true, some false, some particularly outlandish, impossible to verify.

However, someone did clarify that joining such institutions required signing confidentiality agreements; things that couldn't be said wouldn't be posted online. Therefore, most of what circulated on the internet could be judged as false.

All this commotion was lively enough, but it had nothing to do with Guan Tong.

These past few days, he had spent all his time studying his own "Shadow."

Ever since discovering the new usage, whenever he had free time, he went out, "connecting" to shadows everywhere, feeling the differences.

For instance, he connected to the shadow of a tiny ant—such a small little shadow; he also connected to the shadow of a large stadium—enormous. The sensation of manipulating these two, one small and one large, was certainly different.

The advantage of small was flexibility and concealment—hard to detect.

But large was different. A shadow that big—any slight movement would catch a passerby's attention. Unless they were blind, they'd notice something was off!

These experiments made Guan Tong feel almost blissfully oblivious, finding it so fun that he couldn't sleep unless he drained every bit of his Mind Power each day.

This continued until the tenth day, the last day of Rule Two.

After 9 AM, the results would be tallied.

Guan Tong woke up at 7 AM, wolfed down some breakfast, and prepared to go out for more experiments. But when he casually glanced at his Personal Terminal, he froze.

[Name: Guan Tong] [Nickname: Shadow] [Title: Order Keeper] [Mind Power: 97] [Ascension Coins: 0] [Comprehensive Biological Information Evaluation: Ordinary]

"My Mind Power cap... increased by 1 point?"