Guan Tong opened his terminal and accessed the Sublimation Store.
No new products had been added.
Before the Ascender Challenge, the store had stocked drones and Lock Openers, which were clearly items added for the challenge.
But since the challenge ended, up until today, the Sublimation Store hadn’t added any new items.
This made it difficult for people to make any general predictions about the type of the sixth rule.
’The research departments are probably freaking out even more than I am.’
Without being able to predict the rule, they wouldn’t know what preparations to make or what resources to mobilize in advance. Waiting until after the rule was announced would definitely be too late.
Guan Tong closed the store and opened the trading market.
Ever since the Living Dead rule, the prices of items on the market had remained high, only dropping slightly now.
If Guan Tong had been concerned about this before and eager to buy, after experiencing the challenge he now felt that many items were actually quite useless.
This was especially true for offensive and defensive items.
If your own Psychic Power items or abilities could provide both, you were better off saving your Sublimation Coins to buy something special.
Just like how Guan Tong himself had Shadow, which was both offensive and defensive, ordinary attack and defense items weren’t very important to him.
Quite a few people thought this way, so the prices of some items with more unique effects on the market were ridiculously high.
The Universal Medicine he’d seen before, listed for fifteen thousand, was gone now. He didn’t know if it had been sold or taken down. He scrolled for a while and came across another piece of equipment with an outrageous price.
[Soul Pendant]: When equipped, reduces Psychic Power consumption by 15%
[Price]: 500,000 Sublimation Coins
The effect was indeed good; the more you used it, the more you saved. But the price was absurd. 500,000 Sublimation Coins. Probably even small and medium-sized organizations couldn’t afford it. Only official and large private organizations could possibly buy it.
’Looks like the good stuff on the market is out of reach for a solo, unaffiliated person like me for now...’
Guan Tong didn’t look any further and closed his eyes.
Tomorrow was the day the new rule would be announced. It was best to get some sleep and conserve his energy.
...
The next morning, just like before the last rule announcement, the sounds of excavators, transport trucks, and so on all ceased outside. The entire city seemed to have been muted.
He didn’t know which rule it started with, but on the day of a new rule announcement, the city would become unusually quiet. Everyone stayed by themselves or with a few others, silently awaiting the rule’s arrival.
Some people didn’t just wait silently; they would perform all sorts of strange "welcoming ceremonies." These were mostly religious personnel.
Guan Tong had seen online that after entering the era of the Apocalypse Rules, various religions similar to the Fire Worshipers had been established in countries abroad.
The followers believed the Fire Thief was the incarnation of a god, or a messenger sent by a god, specifically to purify this filthy world.
Every time a rule announcement day arrived, these followers would gather to hold ceremonies and sing hymns. Some of the leaked videos of these rituals were very unsettling for ordinary people to watch.
This wasn’t surprising. Even in an era when gods were merely ethereal concepts, religious power could be so strong. Now, the Fire Thief had truly demonstrated the great power to manipulate nature and reap lives at will.
To these various believers, wasn’t such a "god"—one that lived and breathed and periodically displayed its immense power—more real and more worthy of worship than any god that had only ever existed in legends?
Guan Tong naturally didn’t pay much attention to this. Besides, these religions were mostly expanding wildly overseas; they didn’t have much fertile ground to grow in North Star Country.
But he felt that the authorities might be worried. What if those Fire Worshiper followers aided the enemy, not thinking about resisting the rules but instead helping the Fire Thief execute them better? That would undoubtedly be a disaster for all of humanity.
Time ticked by until it was 9:00 AM.
Just like every time before, the Fire Thief’s voice arrived right on schedule, resounding in everyone’s mind.
[The sixth Apocalypse Rule has been announced.]
[Apocalypse Rule Six: Deadly Blood Plague]
[Rule Content: From the moment of this announcement, a virus transmitted through the air and blood will begin to spread across the world. This virus is highly lethal. The Infected will hemorrhage and die within 24 hours. This rule will last for 15 days.]
[Success Reward: 300 Sublimation Coins, a Silver Level Survival Treasure Chest.]
[Failure Penalty: None.]
[Remark: Since the dawn of humanity, plagues have followed you like a shadow. Fortunately, humanity has always survived the great epidemics. But this time, will your luck continue to hold?]
As the Fire Thief’s voice faded, a chorus of curses rose and fell throughout the city.
"A contagious virus! And it’s airborne! Damn that Fire Thief, how many people is it trying to kill?!"
"Why is it another survival rule?!"
"We’re screwed. The moment I saw ’Survival Treasure Chest’ in the rewards, I knew a ton of people were going to die this time..."