Chapter 96: Chapter 91: The Sixth Apocalypse Rule Guan Tong immediately ran some tests for network tracking and the like.
He randomly logged into a few websites and checked his IP location. The result was always "Unknown Location."
After that, he tried several other methods to test his IP and location, but they all came back as either unknown or undisplayed.
He even opened a map application and selected "locate me." After a few seconds, the app displayed a message: "Service is not available in the current area."
’...It feels like this shelter is in an "Otherworld," completely cut off from reality.’
Guan Tong ran an experiment. He took his phone outside, started recording, then went back inside and closed the door. When he went out again and checked his phone, the house was still there in the recording; it hadn’t disappeared.
This proved the shelter existed on a physical level. It was just that its functions—more accurately, its energy—were self-generated, or rather, generated by Psychic Power. That was why it had no connection to the outside world.
The electricity, water, and even this untraceable wireless network were all products converted from Guan Tong’s Psychic Power by the shelter.
This discovery made Guan Tong realize for the first time that this shelter was far more incredible than he had imagined.
’At the very least, I definitely can’t convert Psychic Power into electricity, water, and internet... I guess it really is an all-purpose shelter, huh? Did I underestimate it?’
’This makes browsing the internet much more convenient.’
Guan Tong thought to himself. He had always rarely posted online, preferring to just lurk. He was worried that if he revealed any important information, someone with ill intentions could track him through the internet and find him.
Now that he’d confirmed he couldn’t be traced, if he obtained any crucial intelligence in the future, he could post it online without worry. That way, he could help some people out.
BUZZ BUZZ...
His phone vibrated. Guan Tong picked it up and saw it was a call from Xu Xiaotian.
"Hey, Xiaotian, what’s up?"
"Nothing much, Tong. The challenge just ended, right? I wanted to tell you, our team ran into a group that was teaming up illegally. We got wiped out right at the start," Xu Xiaotian said with a sigh.
"The Wolf Pack Team, right?"
Guan Tong had also seen many contestants online furiously denouncing the Tulip Federation’s Wolf Pack Team. The other countries’ teams all acted on their own, but the Federation’s Wolf Pack Team was something else. Dozens of teams grouped together to act as one. How was anyone else supposed to compete?
However, Guan Tong hadn’t encountered them himself. He didn’t know if the Wolf Pack Team had come to fight for the Holy Grail later on. All he knew was that he had eliminated everyone who entered the smoke without discrimination.
"That’s them! I really don’t know what they were thinking. Even if they wiped out all the other countries’ teams, wouldn’t they still have to fight each other in the end to decide the top ten?"
"They probably thought that this way, all the top-ten rewards would fall into the hands of their own Federation’s teams."
"True... But it still feels pretty ridiculous. Oh, right, something big is happening." Xu Xiaotian’s tone turned serious. "Tong, you might not know, but Yong’an is probably going to restrict entry soon!"
"Is that so?"
"It seems like it’s because too many people from all over the country are coming to the Capital every day. You have no idea how crazy it is. A lot of the newcomers have nowhere to live and can only sleep on the floor at the station. A classmate of mine said Yong’an’s population has passed a hundred million!"
"...That really is a lot."
Guan Tong knew that ever since the snow disaster and the Living Dead rule, megacities had been accelerating their siphoning of the nation’s population. In Yunhua as well, the number of new people entering the city had surged.
But thinking back to Wang Yan’s yearning for the Capital, her hope for her daughter Chen Na to study and live there... many people across the country must have had similar ideas, which would naturally lead to a population explosion in Yong’an.
"Yeah. That’s why I’m calling to let you know, Tong. If you don’t come soon, it’ll probably be hard to get into the city once the restriction order is issued. If you’re worried about having nowhere to stay, I’ll make a spot for you in my dorm room!"
"Thanks, Xiaotian, but I really have no plans to go to Yong’an anytime soon. You just focus on your studies at the academy. Don’t worry about me."
"Alright then. Well, if you ever decide to come, give me a call! I’ll come pick you up!"
"No problem."
After hanging up, Guan Tong thought, ’In the future, there probably won’t be many people left anywhere besides the megacities.’
This situation wasn’t unique to North Star Country; it was likely similar in other nations. When faced with disaster, people tended to band together for protection.
’I should just watch the online course videos.’
Overthinking was useless. Guan Tong refocused his attention on the online course.
Over the next ten-odd days, he mostly focused on watching Shi Jingyi’s online courses, memorizing the locations of the human body’s acupoints and trying to learn the method of Psychic Power Flow.
According to what Shi Jingyi said in class, learning the basics of circulating energy would take a diligent student about three to six months. But that was based on pre-apocalypse experience.
In this era, a sufficiently talented person would learn much faster. What used to take half a year might now only take three months. What used to take three months might now only take one.
The reason for this was that with the emergence of Psychic Power, people’s bodies were gradually and subtly being transformed.
Various experts had been tracking and studying the effects of Psychic Power on the human body, and they periodically published some of their findings.
In the publicly available reports, it was clearly stated that individuals with higher Psychic Power saw their various bodily functions improve by 30% to 50% in just a few months.
And this was an increasing trend. According to research estimates, after another 3-4 rounds of rules, the physical functions of High Spirit Users would generally be 80% to 100% better than before the Apocalypse Rules.
This meant that even excluding abilities and items, purely from the perspective of physical fitness and function, a High Spirit User of that time would be about twice as strong as their former self.
A twofold enhancement might still seem mortal, but the most important thing was the growth trend. If this trend continued, humanity would sooner or later reach a level they previously couldn’t even imagine.
What society would look like then was impossible to predict. So, all people could do now was not think about such a distant future and focus only on the immediate rules they had to face.
Ten-odd days flew by.
On the evening of September 14th.
Guan Tong was lying in bed. His black cat, Coal Ball, was sprawled next to him, stretching lazily.
’The new rule will be announced tomorrow...’