Conflict at the Supply Point

Green Plum Association group chat.

After the fourth Apocalypse Rules was announced, everyone was unusually happy for once.

"At last, a rule that doesn't torture people."

"Yeah. With these old arms and legs of mine, how am I supposed to run a marathon or go without food? This snowfall rule is much better."

"That little compound I spent hundreds of millions on two years ago finally comes in handy. It has everything—food, water, supplies—and there's even a generator in the warehouse, so I don't have to worry about losing power. If anyone in the group has nowhere to go, you're welcome to come here."

"Listen to you. Who in this group doesn't have a place to take shelter?"

Liu Yuqiang looked over the chat messages and nodded slightly.

Without a doubt, every billionaire began considering shelters, disaster preparedness, and other contingencies after achieving financial freedom.

Besides protecting their assets, protecting their personal safety was equally important.

As a result, most people in the group had not only built their own shelters, but also held passports from multiple countries. At the slightest sign of trouble, they could immediately relocate.

This fourth rule was exactly what these people most wanted to see.

It no longer tested an individual's physical or mental limits, but their ability to mobilize resources.

Under heavy snow, whoever held greater power and could mobilize more resources had a higher chance of surviving.

Even if the money held by the Green Plum Association members had become useless, they could still rely on the connections they had built across various fields over the years, along with vast assets such as gold and the manpower of their many company employees. By supporting one another, they could still form an enormous Resource Body.

That was right. Even though many people's company services had become free, their companies were still operating, still providing services, and still forbidden by the Official Department from shutting down.

As a result, the people steering those major companies still held power. Many of their employees had also chosen to remain at the company, believing that in such circumstances, sticking together was the best option.

Take Liu Yuqiang, the head of Jule Group. He was currently at the company's headquarters in the capital, Yong'an, where several hundred employees had chosen to stay and gather around their boss to survive together.

In an apocalyptic environment, many people developed a tendency to cling to the strong. They wanted to stay by the side of powerful people, receive their protection, and follow their commands.

Wasn't someone like Liu Yuqiang, who had built a business empire from nothing, exactly the sort of strong person ordinary people admired? To his employees, gathering around their iron-willed boss gave them far more security than trying to muddle through alone.

Liu Yuqiang was not the only one. Many owners of major companies possessed a certain personal charisma that could drive others to work and risk their lives for them.

That was why, even in the Apocalypse Rules Era, the heads of those industry-leading companies still held considerable influence.

This was especially true in fiercely competitive fields where toughness mattered, such as coal mining, earthworks, real estate, and logistics. Most bosses who rose to the top in such industries possessed the air of "chairman in prosperous times, mountain king in chaotic times."

Liu Yuqiang had fought tooth and nail for years, so he naturally had a bit of banditry in him. As soon as the rule was announced, he gathered the hundreds of employees stationed at the company for a meeting.

At the meeting, he loudly declared, "As long as we stand united, I, Liu Yuqiang, will never let a single brother come to harm! I guarantee every one of you will survive this rule!"

The employees naturally clustered around him, cheering loudly.

The company currently lacked no survival supplies, and diesel generators had been prepared for power. Liu Yuqiang had even specifically sent a group of employees out to procure more diesel as backup.

When he finally had a moment to spare, he looked through the group chat. Then a message suddenly caught his attention.

Chairman of Hengyun Real Estate—Zhao Jiping: "Brothers and sisters, someone is investigating me. It looks like the Official Department has its eye on me. Anyone with connections, please help me find out what's going on!"

Snow drifted through the air, and cold spread in every direction.

Guan Tong wore a hood and scarf as he walked along the road toward a nearby supply point.

Around the time of the second Apocalypse Rules, the Official Department had announced the establishment of supply points throughout the city, allowing people to collect emergency supplies for themselves in urgent situations.

Guan Tong planned to collect more high-calorie food and common items like windproof lighters from the supply point, then find a car and leave the city.

He saw many people on the road. Following the Official Department's recommendations and answering its call, they were heading toward nearby large buildings that could shelter many survivors.

The Limei Hotel Guan Tong had left was already packed to capacity. Other places like libraries, schools, and stadiums had surely gathered huge populations as well.

Yet according to the Hidden Rules, the more people gathered together, the heavier the snowfall became. By that logic, wouldn't everyone be better off spreading out?

But would that really work?

Guan Tong was not sure.

He only had the courage to leave the crowd and head alone into remote areas because he had the powerful support of Shadow.

But for those without useful Mind Power Artifacts, or those who had even shut down their Personal Terminals, were they really suited to following the Hidden Rules?

For them, wouldn't sticking together instead be more conducive to survival?

Take Xu Xiaotian. His artifact could use Mind Power to generate one box of Instant Noodles each day. Could that alone really support him if he went out to survive by himself? Just thinking about the risks made it seem incredibly dangerous.

Guan Tong believed that even if the Official Department discovered this Hidden Rule, it would most likely still maintain its policy of centralized rescue. However, it might disperse a small number of more important people into remote areas.

It might not be fair, but there had never been fairness in this world to begin with.

When the first [Sleep Deprivation] Apocalypse Rules had been announced, what about those who were asleep, those who had just worked the night shift the day before, those under anesthesia for surgery, or infants too young to understand what rules even were... Where was the fairness for them?

Still, Guan Tong believed the Hidden Rule would be discovered soon.

After all, some people lived in remote villages, but that did not mean they lived primitive lives.

They still went online, played games, and had the same internet-based lives as city dwellers.

Once those people went online and saw that densely populated cities were receiving such heavy snow while the small villages where they lived received far less, they would definitely post about it.

As long as the Official Department saw it and discovered differences in snowfall between regions, the smart people at the Countermeasure Research Institute would soon be able to determine the contents of the Hidden Rule.

Just like the three Hidden Rules corresponding to the previous three rules: [Plunder Wakefulness], [Mind Wins], and [Spend Money to Avoid Disaster]. The Official Department might not have known those three names, but it had quickly uncovered their contents and recorded them in the White Paper.

If Guan Tong had any advantage, it was that he could personally see the contents of the Hidden Rules. That gave him an edge in timing and firsthand information.

He believed that was extremely important.

The rule [Plunder Wakefulness] had already shown that under certain circumstances, the Official Department might discover the contents of a Hidden Rule but choose not to reveal it for various reasons.

What had happened before would happen again.

Failing to disclose information, or selectively revealing only part of it, would surely happen again in the future.

That would create an information gap between those inside and outside.

Since Guan Tong could personally see the Hidden Rules, he did not have to consume secondhand information that others had already "chewed over." He could obtain firsthand information at the earliest possible moment, giving him a tremendous initiative.

After sorting through his thoughts, Guan Tong quickened his pace and soon arrived at the nearest supply point.

Dozens of people were crowded in front of the warehouse entrance. They looked angry, but also frightened enough that they did not dare go inside.

What was going on?

Guan Tong sensed that something was wrong and stepped forward to investigate.

As soon as he got closer, he noticed a group of people in matching blue work uniforms standing at the warehouse entrance. They held wrenches, pliers, fire axes, and other tools, guarding the door and threatening the people outside to keep them from entering.

"The supplies here belong to us! Go get your stuff somewhere else!"

"Why?" someone could not help asking. "There are only seven or eight of you, and you're taking so many supplies?!"

"Because I've got these locking pliers!" A fierce-looking man waved the pliers in his hand. "If you don't like it, come over and take a hit!"

"You dare hit people? Believe it or not, we'll call the peacekeepers!"

"With snow this heavy, the peacekeepers would have to be ghosts to get here! Besides, what's wrong with us Longxiang Pharmaceutical workers taking a few supplies? Believe it or not, I can make one call and bring dozens more brothers over from the factory?!"

The others shrank back somewhat at that. Those pharmaceutical factory workers were sticking together and all had weapons. If a conflict really broke out, they would be the ones at a disadvantage.

For a moment, many people left helplessly. Yet some more stubborn people refused to go and continued confronting the factory workers.

Guan Tong silently withdrew to the rear and hid inside an already abandoned milk tea shop.

He was not leaving. In fact, he could not leave. Going to another supply point would waste too much time, and he could not accept that.

He raised his hand slightly, and the Wordless Book appeared in his palm.

Then he removed his coat, pants, shoes, gloves, scarf, mask, and everything else, leaving only a piece of [Thermostatic Tech Underwear] on his body.

"Shadow, come out."

The next moment, Shadow stood before him.

"Put these clothes on." Guan Tong issued the command through his thoughts, looking toward the supply-point warehouse. "Then go knock those people down."