The Fourth Apocalypse Rule

For the next two days, due to the short time, Guan Tong didn't open new pages of the [Wordless Book]. Instead, he continuously tested Shadow's "Phasing" ability.

During the tests, he discovered a flaw.

It was the issue of line of sight.

Shadow itself had no Five Senses, and all its actions required Guan Tong's command.

This meant that if Guan Tong wanted it to go somewhere he himself had no vision of, it was completely impossible.

Guan Tong was still considering how to solve this problem. He could either ignore it, or find a way to increase Shadow's perception, but it couldn't be full perception.

If it had full perception, then its advantage of not fearing pain would be lost again.

Guan Tong had considered putting a hidden camera on it and carrying a real-time transmission receiver himself. However, this might be subject to interference, and once Shadow phased, any camera on it would immediately lose its support and fall to the ground.

If he started from the [Wordless Book], that is, "adding words" again, it might be useful, but Guan Tong didn't have time to try it right now.

He had to put the issue aside for the time being.

He also tested the possibility of Shadow, in its phased state, fusing with other shadows and then becoming tangible.

He conducted an experiment in a secluded outdoor area, controlling the phased Shadow to connect with the shadow of a car, and then commanded it to become tangible.

The moment he gave the command, his Mind Power was completely drained, and the transformation was unsuccessful.

This made him realize that if his Mind Power were sufficient, he might truly be able to materialize the "shadow car" as a whole.

However, the failure was within his expectations.

With his current Mind Power Cap, manipulating ordinary tangible shadows lasted no more than two minutes. Let alone materializing the fusion of a large object's shadow.

Finally, he also tested the manipulation distance.

The first time, he stood on the roof of an abandoned building, controlled the phased Shadow to move along the road until it was almost at the edge of his vision before stopping, and commanded it to become tangible, but it failed.

After that, he reduced the distance in each test, and finally succeeded at around a thousand meters. This meant that the distance he could manipulate tangible shadows was currently no more than a thousand meters; beyond that, it would automatically phase.

By understanding Shadow's limitations, Guan Tong would have a better grasp of the situation when facing different circumstances.

The two days passed in a flash as he developed and tested.

On the third day, he stopped consuming Mind Power, conserving it to deal with the new rules tomorrow.

In the morning, he went downstairs to pick up the delivered food provided by the Life Support Bureau. As he passed the hotel front desk, Guan Tong noticed that there were few room cards left on the table.

It seemed that quite a few more people had checked into the Limei Hotel these past few days. The hotel had a total of 150 rooms, and if they were all full, that was indeed a lot of people.

[Please enter verification code]

A prompt appeared on the transport drone parked outside the hotel. Guan Tong entered the verification code he received on his phone, and the side door of the drone automatically opened, delivering a small plastic box via a robotic arm.

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

Back in his room, he opened the plastic box. Inside were two boxes of fresh milk, a fruit bun, a meat floss bun, and two ham sausages, along with some small snacks. It was a rather generous single-person breakfast.

Although food was distributed for free now, the quantity each person could receive daily was limited. It was impossible for someone to order a ton of supplies and have it delivered.

After Guan Tong ate, the remaining time was spent waiting until 9 AM tomorrow for the Fire Thief to release the new rules.

Idly, he went to the Countermeasure Research Institute's official website and took a look at the updated Apocalypse Rules White Paper.

In the rule section for the third item, [Fasting Therapy], it was recorded that Food Boxes could be used to assist in challenges, and that the number of boxes was limited.

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

To Guan Tong's surprise, the Countermeasures Office had already conducted detailed tests on the three newly added items in the shop.

[Multi-terrain Marching Boots]: Tested, wearing them allows normal walking on sand, mud, ice, and water, and even walking in swamps.

[Thermostatic Tech Underwear · Basic Model]: Tested, wearing only this underwear with the thermostatic function turned on, testers were able to maintain their body temperature within a suitable range even in rooms with temperatures of 75 degrees Celsius and -30 degrees Celsius.

[Gene Optimization Fluid · Inferior]: After multiple rounds of complex testing, the commonality among all testers was an increase of 1-4 points in Mind Power Cap. The differences depended on each person's individual genetic defects, which were randomly repaired.

Tester A (congenital color blindness): Reported 28 hours after consumption, color blindness appeared to be improved, confirmed by testing.

Tester B (congenital albinism): Developed a high fever 19 hours after consumption. Examination showed improvement in endogenous melanin production, with prospects of returning to normal levels within the next 2-3 years.

Tester C...

Guan Tong looked at the densely packed dozen or so test reports and thought, "No wonder Ascendants buy the most Gene Optimization Fluid."

This was a good thing that could change physical defects and be beneficial in the long run, so it was naturally the most popular. Even people with perfectly healthy bodies might have some unknown genetic defects, and improving them was a good thing.

The next day, June 1st.

Around 8 AM, Guan Tong was in his room when he suddenly heard a lot of noise from outside.

He went out and downstairs to find over a hundred people gathered in the lobby. It seemed that almost everyone staying at the hotel had come down.

Some were standing, some were sitting on chairs, and many were sitting on the floor. Everyone was gathered together, in a chaotic mess, seemingly waiting together for the new rules to be released at 9 AM.

Guan Tong watched for a moment before returning to his room. He preferred to be alone when rules were about to be released. This way, after they were released, he could calmly think about how to challenge them.

At precisely 9 AM, the Fire Thief arrived with the new rules.

[Fourth Apocalypse Rule Released]

[Apocalypse Rules 4: June Snowfall]

[Rule Content: From the moment the rule is released, it will snow continuously worldwide for the entire month 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 survival ability. Please strive to survive this month.]

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

The day had started bright and clear with not a cloud in the sky. But at this very moment, he watched with his own eyes as the sky changed dramatically, the sun disappearing.

In its place were thick, lead-colored clouds that blocked out all light.

And then, large, fluffy snowflakes began to fall.

Guan Tong opened the window and reached out his hand.

He saw a snowflake, as large as half his palm, land in his hand. His eyes shifted slightly.

"Snow this heavy, and it's going to last for a whole month..."

"No wonder this reward includes a Survival Chest, and there's no failure penalty. Because failing means... death."

Guan Tong felt a weight in his heart.

He knew that unlike the previous [Extreme Marathon] and [Fasting Therapy]... this [June Snowfall] was more like the first rule, [Sleep Deprivation]. It was the kind of rule where you couldn't just give up and expect to survive peacefully!