Chapter 157: Chapter 147: The Method of Unlocking In the Strategy Research Room, the third follow-up discussion regarding the eighth Apocalypse Rule was underway.
The topic of the meeting was the "Mind Lock" problem.
Unlike previous meetings, which were attended only by internal members of the research room, this one included three outsiders.
They were three head lecturers from the Psychic Power Development Academy: Ouyang Shanyue, Zheng Kexue, and Shi Jingyi.
Gao Liangwei said, "I’ve invited the three lecturers from the Academy here today to continue our discussion on a solution for the Mind Lock. Please, share your thoughts."
Ouyang Shanyue said, "The Mind Lock restriction is indeed a major problem. Its consequences haven’t fully manifested yet, but as time goes on, just as the recovery rate of Psychic Power keeps increasing, the natural growth rate of one’s Psychic Power limit will also increase...
I was among the first to study the nature of Psychic Power, and I even founded the world’s first civilian research group. Back when the rules first descended, our group discovered that the Psychic Power limit grows naturally. In the beginning, it only rose by one to two points a month, then three points, four points... and it will continue to accelerate in the future...
It’s clear that if the Mind Lock cannot be broken, the Ascenders who have taken the lead now will all find themselves stagnating in the future."
"Professor Ouyang, this isn’t a classroom, and we don’t have time for a long-winded lecture," Gao Liangwei said. "What we need now is a solution. You are an expert in the fundamental research of Psychic Power. Do you have any strategies?"
Ouyang Shanyue pondered for a moment before shaking his head. "Unfortunately, I haven’t found an effective solution yet. However, I firmly believe that this Mind Lock can be overcome through an Ascender’s own breakthrough. I’ve always held that the essence of Psychic Power is an individual Ascender’s spiritual will, and nothing can keep a person’s spirit and will locked up forever."
"Ouyang, I’m afraid you’re being a bit too optimistic," another lecturer, Zheng Kexue, said grimly. "After all, Psychic Power was brought and unlocked by the Fire Thief. If this Mind Lock was set by the Fire Thief, how can humanity unlock it on its own? I believe we should focus on items."
Gao Liangwei asked, "Professor Zheng, you are an expert on Psychic Power abilities and items. Do you know of any way to unlock it?"
Zheng Kexue frowned. "I believe to pick this lock, we have to ’fight fire with fire.’ Only an ability or item obtained from the Fire Thief can undo a Mind Lock set by the Fire Thief... It’s just that I’ve searched the existing database and have yet to find any directly related items or abilities.
However, there are some unique abilities and items we could perhaps try. For instance, the database has records of people with special abilities like ’Prophecy,’ ’Concept Alteration,’ and ’Personal Time Reversal.’ Perhaps these special abilities could work... If the database’s scope could be expanded to cover the entire population, there would certainly be more options."
Currently, the North Star Country’s ability/item database is most complete for the roughly 100 million people living in the shelters. Preliminary data has also been collected from people in various Gathering Points within the cities. Only the data for the tens of millions living outside the cities is largely missing.
As the lecturer for the course *Research on Psychic Power Items*, Zheng Kexue’s greatest wish was, of course, a complete dataset.
If he had the chance, what he truly wanted wasn’t just data on every citizen of the North Star Country, but a database that covered the abilities and items of every Ascender on the planet.
Of course, that was impossible at this stage. Even with the appearance of the Fire Thief, a common enemy of humanity, the nations of the world were still unable to fully unite or share intelligence and resources with each other.
Gao Liangwei said, "A new batch of shelters is under emergency construction. We expect to house over thirty million more people before the ninth rule is announced, which will further improve the data. However, regarding the special abilities Professor Zheng mentioned, we’ve already found a few individuals and run some tests."
"Oh? And what were the results?"
Gao Liangwei looked at Dr. Zhang Minglu, who spoke up, "Not good. For example, we found the Ascender who can ’alter concepts.’ His ability is powerful, but it’s completely unusable at this stage. The only concepts he can alter are those with very low public consensus... According to our research, if the total Psychic Power of all people who share a consensus on a concept exceeds his own, he is unable to alter it."
"I see... It seems that ability is difficult to use. But then again, extremely harsh restrictions are a common trait of many special abilities."
Zheng Kexue understood what Zhang Minglu meant.
If this person wanted to alter the concept of an "apple," but hundreds of millions of Ascenders around the world had a consensus on what an "apple" was, his Psychic Power could never surpass the sum total of theirs, making it impossible to alter.
Gao Liangwei then turned to Shi Jingyi. "I heard that among the three lecturers, only Professor Shi did not take any ’firsts’ and is not restricted by the Mind Lock?"
All eyes shifted to Shi Jingyi, their gazes a mixture of surprise and reverence.
They knew very well that with Shi Jingyi’s status and power, taking multiple "firsts" would not have been difficult. But she hadn’t, which meant it wasn’t that she couldn’t, but that she didn’t want to.
"That’s right," Shi Jingyi said. "My school of thought advocates for self-sufficiency. Therefore, for me, it’s enough to simply pass the Apocalypse Rules. I don’t feel the need to pursue the fulfillment of hidden conditions."
"A true master of cultivation," Zhang Minglu said, his face full of admiration. "To be able to resist the temptation of the hidden rules’ rewards and stay true to yourself... No wonder Professor Shi mastered a special technique like Psychic Power Flow at such a young age."
Zhang Minglu himself had studied Shi Jingyi’s Psychic Power Flow and had even tried to learn it for a time, but he could never grasp the basics and eventually gave up.
He believed the reason was likely his inability to truly quiet his mind and enter that state of "forgetting both self and the world." As the person in charge of the Ascender training program for the Strategy Research Room, he had far too much on his plate every day. His mind was racing from morning till night, making it impossible to calm down and cultivate.
"I wonder, does Professor Shi have a way to break the Mind Lock?" Gao Liangwei asked.
Shi Jingyi thought for a moment and said, "In my view, Psychic Power is a kind of ’qi’ condensed from the spirit. As long as the spirit continues to strive, this qi should be generated endlessly. I haven’t personally felt the restriction of a ’lock,’ so I don’t know what that feels like... But if I were to guess, I believe that breaking the restriction still requires a breakthrough on the spiritual level."
"Are you saying that cultivating your Psychic Power Flow could help break the Mind Lock?"
"I believe it’s possible," Shi Jingyi said. "Because once the ’qi’ completes a full circulation, it stimulates the generation of even more ’qi’."
"That sounds like the echo valley effect," an expert interjected. "You provide an initial sound, and as it circulates within the valley, the sound continuously multiplies and expands."
Shi Jingyi nodded slightly. "Perhaps. But this is just my speculation."
At this point, Zhang Minglu asked, "If I may be so bold, Professor Shi, what is the current natural growth rate of your Psychic Power limit?"
"Mine?" Shi Jingyi replied calmly. "Right now, it naturally increases by one point every two days, on average."
Her words stunned everyone present.
"One point every two days... that’s a natural increase of fifteen points a month! That’s... that’s an incredible amount..."
"No wonder Professor Shi didn’t need to fight for firsts. Why would she? Her natural growth alone is fast enough!"
Hearing this, Gao Liangwei said in a solemn voice, "Professor Shi’s method is well worth trying. From now on, we need to pay close attention to the students at the Academy who have been practicing Professor Shi’s curriculum and are affected by the Mind Lock. If they can successfully break through, it will prove that Professor Shi’s theory is correct."
Everyone nodded and then fell silent, still reeling from the shock of Shi Jingyi’s natural growth rate.
After a moment, someone suddenly brought up, "Speaking of which, that famous ’Shadow’ must have snatched up quite a few firsts during this rule, right? I wonder if he’s been affected by the Mind Lock?"
When Shi Jingyi heard someone mention Shadow, her interest was piqued.
She also wanted to know if Guan Tong was restricted by the Mind Lock. She hadn’t contacted him since the eighth rule began.
"Who knows... We’re still not even sure if Shadow is a single person or a group. The intelligence on him is too chaotic."
"Well, based on the rankings from Holy Grail Island, Shadow is one person. But even if he’s formidable, he’s just a stronger Ascender. He’ll still be subject to the rules’ restrictions."
"Right now, I’m more suspicious of the administrator of that Ascender’s Home website. That guy probably knew about this consequence all along and only sold partial information."