Chapter 76 Reunion and Speculation
When Guan Tong and Shi Jingyi arrived at the entrance of the industrial park, there were already more than thirty armed soldiers and several armored vehicles parked there.
They had set up a temporary machine gun position at the entrance and eliminated many of the approaching undead.
A man who seemed to be a squad leader stepped forward after seeing Shi Jingyi and said, "Hello, the commander has ordered us to escort you back. Please get in the car."
Escort...
Guan Tong glanced at Shi Jingyi, wondering what other identity she might have.
"Thank you, but there's no need for an escort," Shi Jingyi said. "We can go back on our own."
"But... alright."
The squad leader didn't insist, and Shi Jingyi said to Guan Tong, "Come with me."
Guan Tong followed her a short distance from the entrance to the left and found an ordinary white car parked by the roadside.
Shi Jingyi stepped forward, unlocked the door with her fingerprint, and opened the door, saying, "Where are you going? I'll give you a ride."
Guan Tong wanted to say that he could go back on his own, but considering the situation of the armed soldiers and the man with the curved knife, he thought it would be good to ride with Shi Jingyi for a while.
Shi Jingyi looked at Guan Tong, who had gotten into the passenger seat, and smiled, "Are you still wearing that motorcycle helmet in the car?"
"..."
Guan Tong took off his helmet, revealing a clear face that surprised Shi Jingyi. Although the front of the helmet was transparent, it was still a layer of light, and combined with the dim lighting in the industrial park, it looked somewhat blurry.
"I didn't expect you to be so young. You were a high school student before the disaster, right?"
"I was a senior in high school," Guan Tong said. "If it weren't for the apocalyptic rules, I would have already finished the college entrance exam and be waiting to go to university."
"That's true, it's already August."
Shi Jingyi started the car and asked, "Where are you going?"
"Just drop me off at Xiuming Road on South Avenue."
The car started moving, perhaps because an armed team had come along and cleared out the undead in the vicinity. Shi Jingyi drove for a while without encountering any undead.
Guan Tong, however, knew perfectly well that after he crushed the "Mother Transformer," this area—though he didn't know how big it was, it certainly encompassed the entire Yunhua City—would no longer have any new undead.
Without new recruits to replenish the ranks, the remaining undead will soon be wiped out by the armed forces. After all, Yunhua is one of the major cities, and the government has deployed a substantial amount of armed forces there.
"Aren't you curious why the soldiers let us leave?" Shi Jingyi suddenly asked.
Guan Tong was naturally curious. However, although he and Shi Jingyi had fought side by side, their relationship wasn't quite that close, so he hadn't asked proactively.
Now that Shi Jingyi had brought it up herself, he nodded and said, "I am a little curious."
"Because I'm about to become one of the academy's lecturers," Shi Jingyi said. "You should know about the Mind Power Development Academy, right?"
"Of course I know,"
Guan Tong replied, quite surprised. Because Shi Jingyi looked only a few years older than him, probably in her early twenties, yet she had been invited to be a lecturer at the academy.
However, considering Shi Jingyi's unique way of using mental power…
"The academy invited you to be a lecturer, is it to teach you how to strengthen the body using mental power?"
"Yes." Shi Jingyi nodded, "The key lies in circulation, treating mental power as a kind of 'qi' within the body."
"That seems a bit profound, can everyone learn it?"
"Unlikely." Shi Jingyi said, "It's very complex, requires a certain talent, and most importantly, it requires patience. But as you know in this era, not many people have enough patience." "
…"
Indeed, a few months after entering the apocalyptic rule era, the idea of enjoying life to the fullest has become the mainstream. No one knows whether they will die in the next rule, so before that happens, it's better to enjoy each day as it comes rather than exhausting oneself.
"But even if only a very few people can learn it, it can increase the chances of survival, then my lectures will be meaningful."
Guan Tong nodded. He admired Shi Jingyi's thinking and understood why the soldiers had let her go and even escorted her away.
From the authorities' perspective, someone with such exceptional talent and a willingness to teach others as Shi Jingyi must be one of the most valuable individuals of this era, and certainly deserved to be protected.
"The academy starts on August 10th, and I'll probably be heading to Yong'an in a couple of days," Shi Jingyi said, glancing at Guan Tong. "Do you plan to go to the academy?"
Guan Tong shook his head: "Not for now."
"Really? That's a bit unexpected. With such powerful firearms, your mental strength must have met the admission standards."
"Meeting the standards doesn't necessarily mean I have to enroll."
"That's true."
"I don't think academies are a good fit for me," Guan Tong said. "In this day and age, going to class every day feels strange."
"Hahaha," Shi Jingyi laughed a few times. "Yes. I'll probably leave after I've finished teaching what I need to teach."
The car had already reached Xiuming Road. After parking, Shi Jingyi said, "The academy's courses should all be publicly recorded and uploaded online. If you're interested in my mental power circulation, you can check out my online courses later."
"I will," Guan Tong said, getting out of the car.
He was indeed interested. Regardless of whether he had the talent or could learn it, he would definitely watch it.
"Well then, Guan Tong. Live well, and see you again someday."
"Goodbye, Shi Jingyi."
Guan Tong watched Shi Jingyi's car drive away, thinking to himself that this trip had truly been full of ups and downs.
If it weren't for Shi Jingyi, he estimated that he could have killed the "Mother Converter" using his shadow, but he probably wouldn't have much mental energy left after the battle.
In that case, encountering that special team again would be extremely troublesome.
Guan Tong still didn't know who they were. But their teamwork was excellent, and four of them were willing to stand aside with the [Instant Burning Rod], watching the captain, the man with the scimitar, eliminate the undead without any envy in their eyes...
This was undoubtedly very abnormal.
Who would want to be a supporting character to highlight others? If it were Guan Tong, asking him to be a tool, using the [Instant Burning Rod] to control the undead's movement range, and then letting others eliminate the undead to obtain Ascension Coins, he definitely wouldn't want to.
But those four didn't show the slightest resistance or dissatisfaction on their faces... This meant that either they weren't normal people, or they didn't need to consider obtaining Ascension Coins.
Furthermore, even armed soldiers were assisting them… Guan Tong felt that the identities of these people were becoming increasingly clear.
"Is this a special squad funded and built by the government?"
If it was, then everything made sense.
Their indifference to acquiring Ascension Coins was because the government would allocate funds to them; the armed soldiers' cooperation was also due to orders from higher-ups.
"Judging from what that man with the scimitar said, their squad was targeting the 'Screamers,' also known as 'Mother Converters.' They were furious because I eliminated them first…"
Guan Tong frowned. If similar rules were to be implemented again, he would definitely do the same thing; he wouldn't abandon pursuing his own interests just because he was worried about competing with the "official team."
"However, if something similar happens again, Shi Jingyi won't be there to help me. I'll have to rely on myself."
Guan Tong secretly resolved that after receiving the rewards from this rule, he would further strengthen himself from a combat perspective. His goal was to have the ability to calmly deal with even the official team.
He checked the time; it was exactly noon. With 21 hours remaining in the rule period, it wasn't time to go back and wait for it to end.
Although this trip had eliminated hundreds of undead and one "Mother Converter," the rewards already tallied must be astonishing...
Guan Tong's unease had intensified after the confrontation with the "official team." He wanted to take advantage of his remaining mental energy to eliminate as many undead as possible; even obtaining an extra Ascension Coin would be beneficial.
With that thought, Guan Tong put his motorcycle helmet back on and started moving forward.
Time ticked by, and the 24-hour rule period quietly slipped away amidst the rising and falling roars...
Chapter 77 End Rewards
8:00 AM, August 2nd, the community property management storage room.
Guan Tong returned around 1:00 AM and had just woken up.
Because the rules ended in an hour, the sky outside was still dark.
"So tired..."
Guan Tong sat up on the folding bed, rubbing his slightly sore right shoulder. He had been holding the Silver Hunter rifle for over ten hours straight; although the gun wasn't heavy, the time was incredibly long.
He couldn't remember the total number of undead he had eliminated.
In the industrial park warehouse alone, he had eliminated at least two hundred undead. After saying goodbye to Shi Jingyi, he wandered the city alone, eliminating some lone or grouped undead.
"I'll check the terminal's statistics at 9:00 AM."
Guan Tong took out his phone and, with an hour to spare, surfed the internet.
From online posts and information, it seemed that there weren't many casualties in this rule.
Due to the fourth rule, "June Snow," many individually owned houses had collapsed, so many people were still clustered together in gathering points to survive.
This led to a rapid and coordinated effort after the fifth rule was announced, with everyone working together to build defenses at gathering points, blocking entrances and exits with various debris to prevent the undead from entering.
Then, official armed soldiers quickly joined the fray, and with powerful firepower, the hordes of zombies within the major cities were quickly wiped out.
However, it seemed that some smaller cities hadn't handled the situation well, and the "Mother Converter" hadn't been eliminated, resulting in an increasing number of converted undead. Ultimately, the survivors could only hold out and wait for the rule's time to expire.
Guan Tong saw online that not every area had eliminated the "Mother Converter." Because this monster possessed a certain level of intelligence and consciously avoided large groups of armed soldiers, and because it couldn't be killed by non-psychic weapons, eliminating it wasn't easy.
Furthermore, when it sensed danger, it could summon a large number of undead to "protect" it by howling, making its elimination even more dangerous.
Guan Tong also saw posts saying that soldiers in their areas would assist ordinary people in completing the rule challenge. However, this was only to assist in achieving the required 10 kills; once 10 kills were achieved, the person would be replaced immediately, and no more kills were allowed.
In addition, some self-proclaimed strong individuals spontaneously formed teams, left the safe zone, and actively sought out and eliminated hordes of zombies to farm Ascension Coins. Successful individuals posted boasts online, while those who failed certainly disappeared from the internet.
An hour passed quickly as Guan Tong browsed, and at 9 o'clock sharp, the Fire Stealer's voice rang out precisely on time.
[The rule time has ended]
[Congratulations on passing the fifth test of the Apocalypse Rule]
[In this test, you eliminated 367 undead, earning an additional 367 Ascension Coins]
[In this test, you eliminated 1 Mother Transformer, earning an additional 500 Ascension Coins and a random item]
[Rewards have been sent to your storage box]
[More items are now available in the Ascension Shop, viewable through your personal terminal]
[The "Team Up" option in the social features is now enabled]
[In thirty days, Ascensionists holding the item "Invitation to the First Ascensionist Challenge" will participate in the challenge. Please prepare accordingly]
[This challenge supports 1-5 player teams. Team members must be in a team before the start of the competition]
[The sixth Apocalypse Rule will be released in forty-five days]
After the Fire Thief's voice faded, Guan Tong got off the folding bed.
What surprised him most wasn't the more than one thousand Ascension Coins he had accumulated this time, but the information about the challenge—it actually supported a 1-5 player team mode!
Although Guan Tong had been looking forward to this challenge, she couldn't help but feel a little frustrated now.
He seemed to have no potential teammates to team up with.
"Never mind..." Guan Tong felt he didn't need any teammates; "Shadow" and "Silver Hunter" were his best teammates.
"The challenge starts in a month, and the sixth rule will be released in another half month... I need to hurry up and prepare."
Since he had decided to participate in the team competition as a lone wolf, there was no doubt that he had to prepare more than others. Only in this way could he compete with other teams on his own.
Guan Tong opened the terminal and looked at the panel.
[Name: Guan Tong]
[Nickname: Shadow]
[Title: Lawkeeper]
[Mental Power: 96 (128) (50)]
[Ascension Coins: 1047]
[Overall Bio-Information Evaluation: Excellent]
The maximum mental power increased by 1 point, I wonder if it was related to the excessive battles that day.
As for the Ascension Coins, just as Guan Tong expected, the original 30 plus the 150 fixed from this rule challenge, plus the 867 from eliminating the undead and the Mother Converter, successfully broke through the thousand mark!
This amount made Guan Tong somewhat excited. He knew it couldn't compare to large organizations or official departments that could mobilize resources from multiple people, but personally, it was already quite good.
He then opened his storage box, which contained an extra item—an additional reward for eliminating the Mother Hunter.
[Corpse Whistle]: Consumes 20 points of mental energy. Blowing it summons 3 undead, who will exist for up to 15 minutes. During their existence, they will act according to the whistleblower's commands. This item is tradable.
"This…"
Guan Tong looked at the item he had received, somewhat amused and exasperated.
Summoning 3 undead that would exist for 15 minutes… In reality, given the undead's mad dog-like behavior, they possessed some combat power, but not much. Against elite Ascended Ones, they would likely be instantly killed.
Its value lay in the fact that it wasn't a one-time use item. Furthermore, it could be used repeatedly, consuming mental energy, and had no cooldown.
"In other words, if I had unlimited mental energy, I could keep blowing it and continuously summoning an army of undead…"
Guan Tong knew that unlimited mental energy was pure fantasy. But upon closer reflection, this item was definitely more valuable to him than to other Ascended Ones.
This was because he could store mental energy through the [Book of No Words]. This meant that in crucial moments, if needed, he could indeed summon a large number of undead by continuously whistling and consuming a large amount of mental energy in a short period. While forming an army-sized force was far-fetched, creating a small horde was certainly achievable.
"...I was just complaining about not having teammates in the challenge, and then this item came along," Guan Tong thought. "Does this mean I have to use the undead as teammates?"
Despite his complaints, he actually thought the item was quite good and definitely wouldn't trade it on the market; he'd keep it for himself. He could consider selling it when the undead's combat power became irrelevant to him.
However, with his current resources, Guan Tong felt it wasn't enough to participate in the challenge. The thousand-plus Ascended Coins he had weren't accruing interest, so the wise thing to do was to spend them as soon as possible and convert them into actual combat power.
"As for spending... the upgraded shop in the terminal has new items, I can check if there's anything I need. I can also browse the market to see if there are any items worth buying."
Chapter 79 Crazy Market, Offense and Defense Combined (Seeking First Subscription)
Post-Apocalyptic Rules Countermeasures Research Lab.
"After the rules ended, the remaining undead automatically died," the researcher reported.
"Let's cremate their bodies as soon as possible," someone sighed. "I never thought the Fire Stealers would use corpses in the rules; it's truly inhuman."
"From the very first rule, the Fire Stealers' inhuman nature has been exposed. There's no point in treating them as beings with feelings."
"However, this time the rule-related casualties weren't too high. Although quite a few people failed to complete the challenge… at least they survived."
Gao Liangwei listened to the crowd's words and turned to ask Dr. Zhang, "How did the apocalypse teams perform?"
Dr. Zhang said, "Of the five teams, the first, second, and fourth teams all completed their missions, eliminating the 'Screamers' in the area. The third and fifth teams did not complete theirs."
"Two teams actually failed to complete their missions?" Gao Liangwei frowned; this was not what he expected. "What was the reason?"
"The fifth team was about to succeed, but the 'Screamer' suddenly summoned a large number of undead to attack the team members. It took the opportunity to escape and has not been found since."
"The reason the third team failed to complete the mission is..." Dr. Zhang paused, "...According to the report, they arrived too late; the 'Screamers' in their area had already been eliminated by the civilian Ascended Ones."
Gao Liangwei asked in surprise, "Civilian strongmen?"
"Yes. There were two in total. One of them is Shi Jingyi, one of the specially invited lecturers of the Mind Power Development Academy. The identity of the other is currently unknown, but he is suspected to be related to Shi Jingyi."
Gao Liangwei's expression turned grim after hearing this.
Dr. Zhang said, "Actually, there are quite a few powerful Ascendants in the civilian population,
so this situation isn't impossible." "You mean, the third squad, with the support of the local armed forces and the ability to pinpoint the target location immediately, is still less efficient than some civilian powerhouses? That's reasonable?"
"..."
"Dr. Zhang, we've invested huge resources in building these five squads, not to let them fail."
"I understand. I will strengthen their management and training."
Gao Liangwei pondered for a moment and said, "The third and fifth squads, give them another chance. In the Ascendant Challenge a month later, if they participate as a team and still can't achieve satisfactory results, then it means they're not worth further focused training."
Dr. Zhang's expression hardened, and he nodded: "Understood."
...
Guan Tong opened the Ascendant Shop. The first thing that caught his eye wasn't the newly listed items, but the [Basic Weapon Box - Bronze Grade], the earliest listed box, with the remaining quantity already displayed.
"It seems quite a few people are buying weapon boxes this time."
It wasn't unexpected. He had seen online that many people bought these boxes simply to use psychic-related items to eliminate the undead and obtain extra Ascendant Coins.
Most people chose "spears" as their preferred melee weapon, and there are many related videos online—at a certain gathering point, people block the doorway with debris and then use their chosen spears to stab the heads of the undead through the gaps.
This is undoubtedly a relatively safe way to kill enemies.
Guan Tong definitely had no intention of buying one; he already had Silver Hunter and had no need for such a basic melee weapon.
Guan Tong selected "Sort by Listing Time" to view the new items listed after this rule was implemented. There were two items in total.
[Multi-functional Lockpick]: Can be used to open various basic locks, a one-time use item.
[Price: 30 Ascension Coins]
...
[Small Reconnaissance Drone]: After use, it can scan a 100-meter radius to locate human targets, a one-time use item.
[Price: 80 Ascension Coins]
...
"Lockpick and drone?"
Guan Tong found it strange after looking at the two new items.
He felt that these were not introduced for the sixth mode rule, but rather new items introduced for the Ascension Challenge.
Especially the [Small Reconnaissance Drone], which could only be used to scan humans, most likely for human-to-human combat.
Guan Tong didn't buy anything immediately. He closed the shop, opened the market, and wanted to see if there were any items he wanted.
As soon as he opened it, he discovered that all item prices had skyrocketed!
Guan Tong glanced at a few items; their effects were mediocre, yet they were priced at several hundred Ascension Coins.
Some items with better effects were priced over a thousand.
He even saw items priced over ten thousand.
[Panacea]: Eliminates all current negative status effects and restores all physical and mental energy.
[Price]: 15,000 Ascension Coins
"...This Panacea is very powerful, but the price..."
Guan Tong quickly understood what was going on.
It was related to the fifth rule.
Those large organizations and official entities must have obtained a large amount of extra Ascension Coin rewards under the fifth rule.
Those responsible for distribution, after pooling these Ascension Coins, possessed extremely terrifying purchasing power.
Coupled with the challenge competition a month later, any large organization would definitely want to gain something from this competition, so they spared no effort in buying up items in the market to invest in their members' participation.
This naturally drives up the prices of good items in the market rapidly!
Some savvy investors even treat this market like a stock market. They first buy up a large batch of items, then wait for the Ascendants to accumulate more coins, causing "inflation," before selling them at a higher price to profit from the difference.
"I thought I had a lot of Ascendant coins, but..."
Guan Tong said helplessly. He had underestimated the market's frenzy and the resource integration capabilities of large organizations.
After looking around for a while, he couldn't find a single item he wanted to buy. Even
the slightly better ones cost over a thousand, and the less effective ones were still several hundred.
Guan Tong didn't want to be ripped off, so he closed the market.
He reopened the shop and bought a [Multi-functional Lockpick] and a [Small Reconnaissance Drone], spending a total of 110 Ascension Coins.
He planned to save the rest of the coins for later, once the market's "frenzied buying spree" had subsided.
Now that the fifth rule had just ended, some large organizations had plenty of coins and wanted to quickly acquire as many good items as possible, so he wouldn't join the frenzy.
"I'll see if I can buy anything in ten days or half a month,"
Guan Tong said, closing his terminal, taking a stool outside, and sitting in the warm sunshine around nine o'clock, pondering his plans for the next month.
His goal was clear: to further enhance his combat power.
To achieve this goal, he planned to do the following:
First, as before, stockpile ammunition for Silver Hunters.
Silver Hunters had proven very useful in this rule. Although Shadow ultimately prevailed by taking down the Mother Converter, Silver Hunter was still needed to clear out multiple enemies.
Secondly, there's the issue of mental energy storage.
He had stored over a hundred points in the previous week, and this time he aimed for even more over a month.
This challenge was a team competition, meaning he would face a full five-person team alone. Even if each member only had an average of 80 mental energy points, that would be 400 points. If each had 100, that would be 500!
Guan Tong didn't intend to store that many, but he planned to store at least 300 points to have the confidence to handle multiple enemies simultaneously.
The third area for improvement, he believed, should focus on Shadow.
After having Shadow eliminate the Mother Converter through "impulse," Guan Tong gained a new understanding of Shadow's power.
As long as the enemy was unprepared, its ability to switch between reality and illusion could penetrate anyone's body and then implode in a physical form. Thus, the enemy might not even know how they died.
However, this was contingent on the enemy not having any information. If the enemy knows the characteristics of the shadow and is prepared, it will become several times more difficult to succeed.
Therefore, keeping the shadow's abilities secret is of utmost importance.
But this also made Guan Tong think in the opposite direction—what if the enemy also has similar covert methods? He can use the shadow to ambush others, and others can use the same methods to ambush him.
"Only by staying alive can I deal damage. If my main body's defense is insufficient, even if the shadow is strong, it will be severely limited."
Guan Tong thought, took out the wordless book, and summoned the shadow.
After staring at it for a while, Guan Tong suddenly had an idea.
Since the shadow can transform, why can't it be used for both defense and attack?
Thinking it, Guan Tong immediately used his mind to transform the shadow.
The shadow stretched from the middle, part of it covering Guan Tong's body, and the other part extending forward.
Materialization.
With a thought, the part of the shadow covering his body immediately transformed into shadow armor, while the extended part of the shadow transformed into a long spear.
"It really works!"
Guan Tong's face lit up with joy.
He had previously been somewhat fixated on the shadow's single transformation. In reality, the shadow can be "divided and deformed," one part becoming this and the other that, thus achieving a unified offense and defense.
However, this also faces an unavoidable problem: excessive consumption
of mental energy. "The larger the volume of the deformed shadow, the more mental energy it consumes. If the enemy is close, it's fine, but if the enemy is far away, then the 'shadow armor' part used for defense and the 'weapon' part used for offense will need a long shadow line connecting them."
This "shadow line" will also consume a lot of mental energy after it is materialized.
"What if this line is thin enough?"
Guan Tong made the shadow ethereal, and then used his mind to stretch it into a shadow as much as possible to see how thin the line could be.
He found that in the extreme state, the shadow could be as thin as a hair, a fraction of a millimeter, and it couldn't be thinner than that.
This width seems to consume very little mental energy when materialized. But the length must also be considered—imagine a hair a fraction of a millimeter long; if its length were infinitely stretched, the overall volume would not be small.
Therefore, to achieve a unified offense and defense, the distance from the enemy cannot be too far, otherwise, one can only defend one side and cannot defend both.
"...Ultimately, it's because my mental strength isn't enough. If my mental strength reached a thousand, I could use the shadow much more freely."
Guan Tong shook his head, not wanting to be overly ambitious. He recalled the shadow and turned the pages of the wordless book.
The first page was "Transforming Entity Guan Tong," the second page was "Gun," the third page was "Mental Strength"... He turned to the fourth page, hesitated for a moment, and then turned back.
With his current level of mental strength, even writing on the third page was so difficult. If he started a new page, even if he could write something over a month, he definitely wouldn't be able to materialize it.
Rather than wasting time, he might as well work on the earlier pages.
The "Shadow" and "Mental Strength" pages were not easy to work on. Firstly, he didn't have many ideas right now, and secondly, both of them currently met his needs and didn't require any changes.
But that single word "gun" on the second page…
Guan Tong flipped to the second page, looking at that solitary word, and began to consider whether he could add some new "parts" to his Silver Hunter… After all, his gun currently only had the ability to fire three types of ammunition and display the number of bullets; it had no other functions.
"If I could add some other types of ammunition… or perhaps a silencer? When dealing with the undead before, the noise from firing was really loud. Killing one group of undead would attract another… It's fine against mindless enemies like the undead, but if it were a human enemy, the sound of the gunshot would definitely cause them to immediately seek cover."
Chapter 80 Studying the Three Major Courses
August 9th, morning.
Guan Tong had just gotten up when he suddenly received a call from Xu Xiaotian.
"Brother Tong!"
"Xiaotian, what's up?"
"Nothing special, the academy starts tomorrow, and I just moved into my dorm. I was just bored, so I called you."
"How's it going in the dorm?"
"Great!" Xu Xiaotian laughed. "They're all double rooms, very spacious. And they have all the appliances I need, it's really comfortable!"
"That's good."
"Brother Tong, where are you staying now?"
"I'm just staying anywhere."
Guan Tong was still living in that small property storage room. He didn't envy Xu Xiaotian or anyone else; where he lived was irrelevant to him, as long as it was a place to shelter from the wind and rain and sleep.
"By the way, Brother Tong, I've been working on developing my instant noodle gadget lately. Guess what happened?" Xu Xiaotian's voice was filled with excitement.
"I've developed noodles that can increase movement speed! Pretty amazing, right?"
"Not bad," Guan Tong exclaimed in surprise. "If you could develop more noodles with different abilities, your items would be very useful."
"That's what I was thinking too! Hehe. By the way, Tong-ge, there's that challenge... You know I passed the fasting rule with instant noodles, and I have an invitation.
I was going to ask you if you wanted to team up, but it seems like teaming up requires face-to-face interaction, and you're not coming to Yong'an... So I'm planning to team up with a few classmates who enrolled together."
"It's okay, you guys can team up," Guan Tong said.
"So, Tong-ge, do you have a team?"
"Yes." Guan Tong thought to himself, "My own one-man team is a team too, Xiaotian, don't worry about it."
"Okay then," Xu Xiaotian said, "I'll call you again next time, bye!"
"Okay." After
hanging up, Guan Tong thought for a moment.
Over the past eight or nine days, people have pretty much figured out the newly opened "team up" feature.
First of all, as Xu Xiaotian said, this feature must be used face-to-face; you can't just add someone as a friend remotely by number.
Secondly, after forming a team, some special mental power items can be shared between teammates.
For example, Xu Xiaotian's [Instant Noodles], during the third rule [Fasting Therapy], could only be eaten by him; others couldn't eat it.
However, after the "team" function is activated, if two people are teammates and there's a similar fasting rule, Xu Xiaotian can give his instant noodles to his teammate, allowing them to complete the challenge.
It's foreseeable that after this team function is activated, the status of those Ascended users with "supportive" mental power items will be elevated.
Like Xu Xiaotian, his [Instant Noodles] item was weak before, but he developed noodles with special effects. And with the ability to share them with teammates, it might come in very handy at crucial moments.
Guan Tong thought, "I guess teams that pay attention to team composition will have one or two teammates with supportive items."
Returning to himself, Guan Tong wasn't envious of others. He knew that as long as he had enough time to develop, he could satisfy whatever he needed with the [Wordless Book].
This was also his greatest source of confidence to survive alone. As long as his mental strength gradually increased and he opened enough pages in the [Wordless Book], he could write whatever he needed.
If he needed food, he could write "food"; if he needed transportation, he could write "vehicle."
Guan Tong was confident in himself; he believed that once he developed, he could completely support himself with the [Wordless Book].
But not yet.
"Among the people I know, besides Xu Xiaotian, Shi Jingyi should also have an invitation and will participate in this challenge."
Guan Tong thought that Shi Jingyi's special "mental strength flow" ability was indeed powerful, and she could naturally achieve both offense and defense. Teaming up with her should give them a high chance of winning.
But not to mention that Guan Tong hadn't exchanged contact information with her, even if he had, she was currently in the capital, Yong'an, and he had no plans to go there for the time being.
"I should just focus on doing my own thing."
A phone call from Xu Xiaotian made Guan Tong think for a moment. Then he resumed his daily routine and strengthened himself according to the method he had previously set.
From the very beginning of the apocalyptic rules, he had become accustomed to slowly accumulating and improving his abilities alone. This was, to some extent, his comfort zone, and it had also fostered a calm and unanxious mindset.
By the evening of the 10th, a third of the thirty days had passed, and he had accumulated 280 points of mental energy.
That's right, he had stored all the mental energy he had recovered in the first ten days at a conversion rate of one-tenth.
Adding this to the remaining 50 points, he now had accumulated 330 points of mental energy. For
the next 20 days, he planned to allocate them to storing bullets for Silver Hunter and adding words to the second page of the [Wordless Book].
That evening, sitting on his folding bed, Guan Tong opened his laptop and logged into the official website of the Mental Energy Development Academy.
Just as Shi Jingyi had said before leaving, all the courses for the first day of classes had been recorded and uploaded.
Although the academy had a mental energy cap requirement for admitting students, it was only a necessary measure due to limited space.
Otherwise, without the admission requirements, a large number of people from all over the country would definitely flock to enroll. At that time, not only would the academy not be able to accommodate so many people, but the entire Yong'an might not be able to support such a large population.
Therefore, to ensure that those who haven't yet reached the required level can also learn simultaneously, all courses have been recorded as online videos.
The only difference between online and offline learning is that online learners cannot ask questions or receive personalized guidance from teachers offline.
Guan Tong didn't rush to watch the videos; she first checked the academy's "faculty."
The academy's staff list was publicly available on its official website.
The dean was "Zhou Qinfeng," a former president of a renowned university with extensive experience, who had been transferred to the academy as dean.
Following him were three main lecturers, corresponding to the three main courses:
"Philosophical Reflections on Mental Power," lecturer Ouyang Shanyue; and
"Research on Mental Power Tools," lecturer Zheng Kexue.
"The Flow of Mental Power," taught by Shi Jingyi.
Besides these three main courses, there are other courses such as "Disaster Survival Studies," "Analysis and Research of Fire Stealers," and "Apocalyptic Psychology," etc.
If the other courses are more like electives, then the three main courses are required core courses.
Although Guan Tong didn't attend the academy, he simply disliked the environment; he was still willing to learn from good courses.
He didn't immediately watch Shi Jingyi's "The Flow of Mental Power," but instead followed the order, watching the first lesson of Ouyang Shanyue's "Philosophical Reflections on Mental Power."
Ouyang Shanyue was originally a philosophy teacher, but after the apocalyptic rules arrived, he turned to studying mental power.
In this first lesson, standing on the high platform, he succinctly posed a question:
"What is the essence of mental power?"
Some students said it was "special energy," some said it was "the power of fire stealers," and others said it was "dark matter."
After listening, Ouyang Shanyue gave his own perspective.
"I believe that the essence of mental power is the essence of this world—that is, this material world is created by our minds, or consciousness, and mental power is the medium through which transformation occurs."
As soon as he finished speaking, the classroom erupted in an uproar.
One student immediately questioned, "Isn't this typical idealism?"
"Yes. How is this different from 'the universe disappears when I close my eyes'?"
"Consciousness determines matter? That's a bit outdated."
Faced with numerous questions from students, Ouyang Shanyue didn't get angry, but patiently waited for the classroom to quiet down before continuing.
"Classmates, I used to share your views, believing that idealism was unacceptable. But after the emergence of psychic power and my personal experience of its usefulness, I developed a completely new perspective."
"This perspective is: while the essence of the world is idealistic, our human minds are too weak to interfere with it. 'Psychic power' strengthens this power and, as a medium, allows us to change reality with our consciousness."
"The main focus of my course is to continuously explore the essence of psychic power, centered around this core concept."
At this point, a student stood up and asked, "Professor Ouyang, I'd like to know what the significance of this course is? Even if your viewpoint is correct, how does it practically help us?"
Ouyang Shanyue smiled and asked, "May I ask this student how long it takes for your psychic power to naturally recover one point?"
"Uh, about fifteen minutes. Is that important?" Ouyang
Shanyue said, "It takes me three minutes to recover one point." A gasp rippled through the classroom
. Guan
Tong, watching the video on her laptop, also looked surprised.
Three minutes to recover one point?
Guan Tong himself recovered one point of mental energy every five or six minutes on average, which he thought was fast enough. He was surprised to find that Ouyang Shanyue's recovery speed was almost twice as fast.
The student who asked the question was even more stunned, exclaiming incredulously, "Three, one point every three minutes? That's five times faster than mine..."
Ouyang Shanyue waved his hand, gesturing for the student to sit down. He then said, "I believe that the more thoroughly one understands the essence of mental energy, the faster the recovery speed will be. It's like solving a math problem; when you thoroughly understand the concepts, your answering speed will naturally be much faster... Therefore, I hope everyone will study diligently."
"No problem!"
"We'll definitely study hard!"
The students were instantly motivated. One point of mental energy recovered every three minutes—that was more tempting than anything else!
Even Guan Tong decided to watch online courses whenever he had free time, hoping he could improve as well.
He then watched two other courses.
Zheng Kexue's "Research on Mental Energy Tools" course mainly focused on the analysis, listing, and in-depth research of various tools. The aim was to help students better match tools according to their own needs.
Guan Tong watched for a while, feeling a sense of déjà vu about the content of this lesson, reminiscent of "customized equipment for online game characters."
It was definitely useful; the academy, backed by the official organization, possessed a vast database of items. At the very least, watching more would allow him to learn more about the effects of various items.
Finally, he watched Shi Jingyi's "Flow of Mental Power" lesson. Unlike the other two lecturers, Shi Jingyi's entrance into the classroom elicited gasps from the students.
This was understandable, given Shi Jingyi's extremely rare, striking beauty. Coupled with her years of martial arts training, her exceptionally tall stature, and her long, waist-length braid, she would be visually striking even in real life.
However, the students soon began to complain. Because Shi Jingyi immediately posted a "human body acupoint chart" on the big screen and stated explicitly, "If you want to achieve anything in my course, you must first memorize these hundreds of acupoints!"
Guan Tong couldn't help but smile wryly, "Memorizing hundreds of acupoints right off the bat, no wonder Shi Jingyi said before she left that this course requires 'patience'..."
After watching the three lessons, Guan Tong closed his laptop and lay down.
"I can do my own strengthening during the day, and rest at night, and when my mental energy recovers, I can watch online courses and learn a thing or two."
He thought to himself, without any intention of entertainment.
This made Guan Tong feel very strange. When the rules first came out, he would play games and read novels, but now he was completely focused on mental energy all day long, and he didn't even feel tired. Nothing
happened that night.
The next day, Guan Tong was awakened by the rumbling sound of an excavator.
He went outside the community to take a look. After the fifth rule, the urban reconstruction work continued, and the demolition work had now reached the street where his community was located.
"Looks like they'll be demolishing my neighborhood next month..."
The thought of having to find a place to live again filled Guan Tong with annoyance.
He really wanted to take out the [Wordless Book] and materialize a "shelter" or something similar for himself—it might actually work, but it was definitely beyond his current mental strength.
"I shouldn't need to move before the challenge... Hmm, I'll think about where to go after the competition. Today, I'll start adding words to the second page of the Wordless Book."