First Night

58:05:10

At eleven o'clock at night, it should have been a quiet, peaceful time. Yet the cacophony was unceasing.

Throughout the entire residential complex, who knew how many households had their windows open, speakers turned up to maximum volume, blasting deafening music.

Every home had its lights on. Officially installed floodlights also lined the streets, their glow overlapping until the night looked almost as bright as day.

To avoid getting too comfortable, Guan Tong and Fang Qian sat on hard stools in the Living Room and watched TV. A suspense drama was playing, but the noise coming from all directions was so loud that neither of them could focus on it.

"Is everyone really this hyped..." Fang Qian said with a bitter smile. "Looks like everyone's scared now that it's this late."

"Yeah. It's eleven at night. People who usually sleep early would already be asleep by now." Guan Tong picked up the remote and pressed pause. There was no way to watch anything amid this noise.

Fang Qian got up, walked to the window, and looked up at the night sky.

The scarlet countdown had acquired a glowing outline against the darkness, making it stand out even more.

"There are still fifty-eight hours left... I wonder how many people can hold out. Guan Tong, don't you think the people in our country who worked the night shift yesterday are unbelievably unlucky? This is far too unfair to them."

"The most unfair ones are probably those who were already asleep, or were undergoing surgery under anesthesia. But when have the Apocalypse Rules ever cared about fairness?"

"Yeah..." Fang Qian yawned instinctively as she spoke, then immediately covered her mouth once she realized it.

Guan Tong asked, "Are you sleepy?"

"Maybe a little... Should we have some coffee?!" Fang Qian looked slightly panicked, but after thinking about it, she shook her head. "No... It was just a yawn. It hasn't gotten to the point where I need coffee yet."

"Mm." Guan Tong also felt it was not yet time to rely on outside help.

He believed that, on the first night, the vast majority of people should be able to make it through.

Especially young people. Since smartphones became widespread, many young people could stay awake all night during holidays. Some could even wash their faces after pulling an all-nighter and go straight to work.

With no work pressure right now, if all they had to do was stay up, the first night should definitely be manageable.

Perhaps anxious because of that yawn, Fang Qian took out her phone and entered a livestream.

The stream showed only an electronic Go board, with two people playing a match.

"She's incredible..." Fang Qian said admiringly. "Wenren Yizhi started livestreaming herself playing Go not long after the countdown began. More than ten hours have passed now, and she's still playing!"

"She really is impressive." Guan Tong picked up the TV remote and changed the channel.

Fang Qian watched for a while, but the noise outside made it impossible to calm down, so she exited the stream.

By then, Guan Tong had switched the TV to a live news channel. It was a seventy-two-hour special broadcast established by the authorities, which would promptly update viewers with information.

At that moment, the host was reporting the latest news.

"...At present, more than a thousand experts and scholars have joined forces to discuss and investigate ways to resolve the Apocalypse Rules."

The footage showed numerous professionals in places resembling laboratories and conference rooms. Every one of them wore an extremely grave expression.

Fang Qian sat back down on her stool and looked at the TV. "My parents should be in some research room too... Guan Tong, do you think this will help?"

"...I don't think we should get our hopes up too much. The Fire Thief is simply too powerful."

If the Fire Thief had merely placed a countdown in the sky, perhaps people would not have been terrified to this extent.

But after it announced that the rules had taken effect, the simultaneous deaths of hundreds of millions of people All Over the World had been enough to prove that it possessed power beyond human imagination.

Faced with an existence like a god, even if the smartest minds in the world gathered in a single office, what countermeasure could they possibly devise?

Guan Tong suddenly thought of that Hidden Rule.

Since the authorities already knew about it, would they share it with those experts as well... Perhaps they could find some loophole based on it?

If they could truly uncover a loophole in the Hidden Rules and obtain Sobering Mint Candy without fulfilling the condition of "using violence to render others unconscious," it might provide the most effective aid to the people still alive.

But was that really possible? Did the Hidden Rules truly have a loophole?

Guan Tong was not optimistic about it.

Time passed second by second.

Several hours later, it was past three in the morning.

This was when people staying up late were most likely to get drowsy, making it the most dangerous time as well.

Many people understood this, so the noise outside became especially loud during this period.

Guan Tong and Fang Qian had already exhausted most of their topics during the first half of the night. Now, they could only stare at each other and force themselves to keep talking to stay awake.

"Fang Qian, what university were you originally planning to apply to?"

"Um... Yun University. I think Yunhua is pretty nice, and I don't want to go somewhere far away."

"I see."

"But university doesn't mean anything anymore, does it?" Fang Qian said. "Not just university—so long as the Apocalypse Rules exist, is there anything meaningful left? Can everyone only live their lives around the rules?"

"I think so." Guan Tong could not deny Fang Qian's words.

"Just thinking about it is enough to make someone despair." Fang Qian said pessimistically, "I can kind of understand those people who chose to end everything by going to sleep... At least they won't have to endure any more pain."

Guan Tong frowned slightly.

"Aren't you afraid, Guan Tong?" Fang Qian asked. "Even if we survive... what if the next Apocalypse Rule is even more terrifying?"

"I don't know. But I don't want to give up." Guan Tong said, "I want to live."

"Why? Do you... have someone you care about?"

"No. On one hand, it's simply a biological survival instinct. On the other, I want to learn more... about the Apocalypse Rules, about the Fire Thief."

Fang Qian stared blankly at him. "Something this terrifying, and you actually want to learn more about it?"

"It is terrifying, that's true, but aren't you curious?" A strange light flickered in Guan Tong's eyes.

"Aren't you curious where the Fire Thief came from? What the Ascension Plan's ultimate goal is? Or what the Apocalypse Operation after passing the forty-nine rules will be?"

"...I'm not curious. Really... I'm not." Fang Qian lowered her head. "I just want a peaceful life..."

"...Sorry." Guan Tong knew he had gone too far.

But everything he said had been sincere.

He truly was curious—not only about what he had said, but also about what he had left unsaid.

For instance, why could he see the Hidden Rules?

Could even his crossing over into this world have something to do with the Fire Thief?

These mysteries held a fatal allure for him.

That was why, before uncovering every answer, he did not want to die.