The moment Guan Tong opened the Ascension Shop, he immediately noticed that the [Bronze Grade Basic Food Crate] was gone.
"Did it sell out and get taken down?"
Three days ago, it had shown a remaining quantity of ten million. Three days later, it had completely sold out and been removed... That was truly astonishing.
However, considering the number of Ascendants worldwide, if even one percent—or perhaps one-thousandth—had Ascension Coins and some purchasing power, they could buy out ten million crates.
Guan Tong had previously thought that once he had plenty of coins, he could buy Food Boxes to live on. Now, that seemed rather unrealistic.
Still, he could not say for certain, since it was possible that removed items would be listed again after some time.
He refocused and looked at the new items listed after this rule. There were three in total.
[Multi-terrain Marching Boots]: Long boots suitable for moving across all kinds of complex terrain. Appearance can be customized. [Price: 100 Ascension Coins] ... [Thermostatic Tech Underwear—Basic Model]: Once worn, keeps the body at a constant comfortable temperature for 6 hours. Cooldown: 24 hours. Appearance can be customized. [Price: 120 Ascension Coins] ... [Gene Optimization Fluid—Inferior]: Improves certain genetic defects after consumption. [Price: 150 Ascension Coins] ...
After looking over the three newly listed items, the Gene Optimization Fluid was what surprised Guan Tong the most.
This [Gene Optimization Fluid—Inferior] was undoubtedly the same type of product as the [Gene Optimization Fluid] he had previously obtained from a Glory-grade crate.
It was just that one was an optimization serum, while the other was inferior optimization fluid. There should have been an enormous difference in quality.
If I hadn't obtained the serum from that crate before, this optimization fluid would definitely be my top priority, Guan Tong thought. But since I've already consumed the serum, taking this inferior optimization fluid probably won't have much effect.
Having made his judgment, he decisively gave up on buying it.
As for the other two items, one was multi-terrain boots, while the other was underwear capable of maintaining a constant body temperature for a set period. Both were excellent tools.
But Guan Tong felt that he did not need either of them right now. Previously, he definitely would have saved his Ascension Coins and waited until he needed them before making a purchase.
Yet the precedent set by the Food Boxes made him wonder: were all items limited in quantity?
If every item was like the Food Boxes—initially not displaying a limit, only showing the remaining quantity once sales dropped below a certain threshold—then that would be highly disadvantageous for Guan Tong.
Unlike many people who stayed online for more than ten hours a day, Guan Tong spent most of his time developing his Mind Power and resting.
The advantage was that his emotions were relatively stable, and his daily routine was fairly normal. The downside was that he did not receive the latest news very promptly.
If a new product quickly dropped below the threshold and began displaying its limited quantity, Guan Tong might miss the information and end up opening the shop only when he needed it, only to discover that it had already sold out.
Moreover, the shop had no "limited quantity alert" function, and Guan Tong did not want to open his terminal every few days just to check.
After considering it for a moment, he spent 120 Ascension Coins to buy the more expensive [Thermostatic Tech Underwear—Basic Model] first.
After buying it, he had 70 coins left, which was not enough to buy the 100-coin [Multi-functional Marching Boots]. However, he could make Binding Coins himself. He did not need rewards to make up the shortfall of thirty coins.
Guan Tong then closed his Personal Terminal, got up, and went out to eat. After being hungry for three or four days, a little milk and a piece of chocolate were nowhere near enough to fill his stomach.
On the internet, which Guan Tong did not check often, the end of the third Apocalypse Rule sparked another huge discussion over the three-day interval before the next rule.
"The fourth rule is coming in three days?! You've got to be kidding!"
"Why is it so soon... Wasn't there a whole month between the last ones?"
"Fire Thief really has no intention of letting humanity rest! It keeps finding new ways to torment us!"
"The interval can be as long as a month or as short as three days. Looks like there's absolutely no pattern to it."
"What are you guys planning to buy from the new shop listings?"
"Do you even need to ask? Obviously the Gene Optimization Fluid!"
"I also think that's the most important one. It can improve your genes!"
"Better wait for the Countermeasure Research Institute's experimental results..."
"I'm not waiting. What if it's gone by the time I decide to buy it? This thing will definitely be the hottest item!"
Someone started a poll on which product to buy. More than 95% of people chose the [Gene Optimization Fluid], showing that everyone's views were basically the same.
Most people believed that improving genetic defects was a long-term benefit to their bodies. The other two items, in the end, were still external objects.
However, the discussion boards were soon flooded by a single post.
The post was titled: <Why Is My Personal Terminal Bugging Out? Am I the Chosen One?!>
The poster wrote, "After the rule ended, I silently said 'Personal Terminal,' but nothing happened. The terminal interface simply won't appear. Has anyone else encountered this? Or did I get a bug? Could Fire Thief send me a huge compensation package later and make me instantly invincible?"
The post received countless replies as soon as it was published.
"?????"
"Personal Terminals can malfunction? This is the first time I've seen that."
"Post your numerical ID, OP. I'll add you and see whether it works."
"Waiting. OP, remember to give me a heads-up when you get that huge compensation package."
"When you get rich and powerful, don't forget us, OP!!!"
The early replies were mostly confused comments or requests to be taken along. But more than a thousand replies in, one comment appeared that left many people utterly horrified.
"What are you fantasizing about, OP? My guess is that your Mind Power decayed to zero, so your Personal Terminal automatically shut down."
There were hundreds, even thousands, of replies beneath that comment.
"Holy shit! Is that real?!"
"Your Personal Terminal automatically shuts down when your Mind Power decays to zero?!"
"Does anyone have a reliable source?! Urgent!!!"
"Damn it, don't scare me! My Mind Power dropped to single digits after failing this challenge. If it decays again, won't I be unable to open my terminal too?!"
Very quickly, the reply posted by that user sparked heated discussion across the internet.
As more and more people who had failed their challenges came forward to say that they could not open their terminals, the claim was finally confirmed by multiple sources.
Three hours later, the Apocalypse Rules Countermeasure Research Office officially released a statement, saying that its experiments had confirmed the claim.
Once Mind Power decayed to zero, the Personal Terminal would automatically shut down.
The moment this alarming truth was verified, it immediately caused an enormous uproar across the globe.
Especially the Ascendants who had failed two consecutive rule challenges and had little Mind Power remaining. They fell into an indescribable terror.
In this Apocalypse Rules Era, if someone could no longer use their Personal Terminal, did that not mean they would be abandoned and eliminated by this era?
Before you continue