July 9, Apocalypse Rules Countermeasure Research Office.
The atmosphere in the conference room was somewhat oppressive. As of today, several days had passed since Rule Four ended, yet casualty statistics still could not be compiled.
This differed from Rule One. Far more people had died under Rule One, but most of them had died at home, in their beds, making the aftermath relatively easier to handle and transport.
This time, however, countless people had been swallowed by heavy snow or buried beneath collapsed buildings. Even recovering their bodies quickly was difficult, let alone producing precise statistics.
A statistical researcher said, "The main difficulty in compiling casualties lies with rural populations. Many villages have been completely buried under snow and become 'vanished villages,' while rescue personnel are severely insufficient."
"Has there been no progress in rescue robot technology? Didn't we invest substantial resources into research and development after Rule One?"
"Rescue robots are still undergoing data calibration. There are too many different scenarios they may encounter, making the logic processing extremely complicated..."
"Although specific casualties cannot be counted, based on current conditions and big-data projections, total casualties in our country may reach the millions. Globally, total casualties will certainly surpass one hundred million."
The conference room fell silent.
Gao Liangwei, the person in charge, said, "Everyone, the reason for such severe casualties was certainly related to the rules themselves being tricky and difficult, but we must also bear responsibility for our psychological complacency and inadequate response."
"Because of the 'nonlethality' of the first two rules, everyone, myself included, developed a sense of wishful thinking. We believed that if we could not clear a rule, we could simply give up. At worst, our Mind Power would decline. As long as we survived, that would be enough."
"But that mindset is completely wrong!