Apocalypse Rule Four

Over the next two days, with so little time available, Guan Tong did not open a new page in the [Wordless Book]. Instead, he continuously tested Shadow's "Phasing" ability.

During the tests, he discovered a flaw.

It was a matter of line of sight.

Shadow itself had no five senses. Its movements all required Guan Tong's direction.

That meant if Guan Tong wanted it to go somewhere outside his field of vision, it simply could not get there.

Guan Tong was still considering how to solve this problem. He could either leave it alone or find a way to give Shadow sensory abilities—but not full sensory abilities.

If it had full sensory abilities, then its advantage of not fearing pain would be gone.

Guan Tong had considered attaching a hidden camera to it and carrying a receiver that could continuously transmit the footage. But it might be disrupted by signal interference, and once Shadow phased, the camera on its body would immediately lose its support and fall to the ground.

Perhaps starting with the [Wordless Book] and "adding words" again might work, but Guan Tong had no time to try it right now.

He could only put the matter aside for now.

He also tested whether phased Shadow could materialize while fused with other shadows.

He conducted an experiment in a secluded outdoor area, controlling phased Shadow to connect with a car's shadow before ordering it to materialize.

The instant he gave the command, all his Mind Power was drained, and the transformation still failed.

That made him realize that if he had enough Mind Power, he might really be able to materialize the entire "shadow car."

Still, the failure was expected.

With his current Mind Power Cap, even controlling an ordinary physical shadow lasted less than two minutes. Let alone materializing a shadow fused with a large object.

Finally, he tested its operating range.

The first time, he stood atop an abandoned building and controlled phased Shadow to travel down the road until it nearly reached the limit of his vision. He ordered it to materialize, but it failed.

Afterward, he shortened the distance in each test and finally succeeded at around one kilometer. This meant the current maximum distance at which he could control a physical Shadow was one kilometer. Beyond that, it would automatically phase.

Now that he understood Shadow's limitations, Guan Tong would have a clearer idea of what to do when facing different situations.

The two days flew by amid his development and testing.

On the third day, he stopped consuming Mind Power and saved it to deal with tomorrow's new rule.

That morning, he went downstairs to collect the delivered food provided by the Life Support Bureau. As he passed the hotel reception desk, Guan Tong noticed that very few room key cards remained on the table.

It seemed quite a few more people had moved into Limei Hotel over the past few days. The hotel had a total of 150 rooms, so there would indeed be quite a lot of people if all of them were occupied.

[Please enter verification code]

A prompt appeared on the delivery drone vehicle stopped outside the hotel entrance. Guan Tong entered the verification code he had received on his phone, and the vehicle's side door opened automatically. A mechanical arm delivered a small plastic box.

After Guan Tong took it, the drone vehicle drove away automatically, heading to the next registered delivery location.

Back in his room, he opened the plastic box. Inside were two cartons of fresh milk, a fruit bun, a pork floss bun, two sausages, and some snacks. It was quite a generous breakfast for one person.

Although food was now distributed free of charge, there was a limited amount each person could claim every day. It was impossible for someone to order a ton of supplies and have it delivered.

After eating, Guan Tong had nothing to do but wait until 9 a.m. tomorrow, when Fire Thief would announce the new rule.

With nothing better to do, he went to the Countermeasure Research Institute's official website and looked over the updated Apocalypse Rules White Paper.

The entry for Rule Three, [Fasting Therapy], recorded that Food Boxes could be used to assist with challenges, as well as the fact that their numbers were limited.

It also recorded the hidden setting that when Mind Power declined to zero, the Personal Terminal would automatically shut down and become unusable.

What surprised Guan Tong was that the Countermeasures Office had already conducted detailed tests on the three newly added shop items.

[Multi-terrain Marching Boots]: Tests showed that after wearing them, users could walk normally on sand, mud, ice, and water, and could even walk through swamps.

[Thermostatic Tech Underwear · Basic Model]: Tests showed that with only this underwear worn and its thermostatic function activated, testers could maintain a temperature suitable for the human body in rooms heated to 75 degrees Celsius and chilled to minus 30 degrees Celsius.

[Gene Optimization Fluid · Inferior]: After multiple complex tests, every tester shared one result: a 1–4 point increase in Mind Power Cap. The differences depended on each person's genetic defects, which were repaired at random.

Tester A (congenital color vision deficiency): Reported after 28 hours that the condition appeared to have improved; testing confirmed this.

Tester B (congenital albinism): Developed a high fever after 19 hours. Examination showed some improvement in the body's melanin production, with a chance of recovering to normal levels within the next two to three years.

Tester C...

As Guan Tong looked over more than a dozen densely packed test reports, he thought, No wonder the Gene Optimization Fluid is the most popular purchase among Ascenders.

Something this good that could correct bodily defects and benefit a person in the long term would naturally be the most popular. Even healthy people with normal bodies might have unknown genetic defects. Improving them a little would still be beneficial.

The next day, June 1st.

A little after eight, Guan Tong was in his room when he suddenly heard a great deal of noise outside.

He went out and downstairs, only to find more than a hundred people gathered in the lobby. It looked like nearly everyone staying at the hotel had come down.

Some stood, some sat in chairs, and quite a few sat directly on the floor. Everyone was crowded together in a noisy mess, apparently planning to wait for the new rule to be announced at nine.

Guan Tong watched for a moment before returning to his room. At a time like a rule announcement, he still preferred to be alone. That way, after it was announced, he could calmly think through a way to tackle the challenge.

The moment the clock struck nine, Fire Thief arrived with the new rule right on time.

[Apocalypse Rule Four has been released]

[Apocalypse Rule Four: June Snowfall]

[Rule Content: From the moment this rule is released, snow will fall continuously across the globe for the entirety of June]

[Success Reward: 150 Ascension Coins, Bronze Survival Chest]

[Failure Penalty: None]

[Note: Extreme environments are one of the best ways to test a creature's ability to survive. Please do your best to stay alive this month]

The moment Fire Thief's voice fell silent, Guan Tong walked to the window and looked up.

Today had originally been bright and sunny, with not a cloud in the sky. Yet at this very moment, he watched the weather change abruptly, and the sunlight vanished without a trace.

In its place were thick, leaden clouds that blocked out all light.

And goose-feather snowflakes drifting down from the sky.

Guan Tong opened the window and held out his hand.

He watched a snowflake land in his palm. It was nearly half the size of his hand, and his expression shifted slightly.

"Such heavy snow, and it's going to continue for an entire month..."

"No wonder this reward includes a Survival Chest while the Failure Penalty is none. Because failure means... death."

Guan Tong felt a heaviness in his heart.

He knew that unlike the previous [Extreme Marathon] and [Fasting Therapy]... this [June Snowfall] was more like Rule One, [Sleep Deprivation]—the kind of rule where one absolutely could not live peacefully just by choosing to give up!