Free Web NovelChapter 101: Chapter 96: Making Up One’s Mind
Apocalypse Rules Strategy Research Room.
"We now have a general understanding of the hidden content of the sixth rule."
A researcher summarized during the meeting.
"Over the course of yesterday, based on reports from relevant departments in major cities, people have appeared in every city who did not hemorrhage after being infected with the virus. Furthermore, after a period of infection, these individuals gained the ability to identify other Infected people within a certain range."
"For now, we are tentatively calling this group ’Blood Plague Adaptation Bodies’."
Everyone nodded. The name was fitting. After all, these people weren’t immune to the virus; their bodies had adapted to it and even gained a special discriminatory ability.
"There’s another major discovery. Some regions have drawn blood from these Blood Plague Adaptation Bodies, used centrifuges to separate the serum, and injected it into the Infected. The red spots on the Infected faded quickly afterward. This means the serum from an Adaptation Body can cure a Blood Plague infection."
After the researcher finished speaking, the office fell silent.
After a moment, someone said, "If this information is made fully public, I’m afraid these Blood Plague Adaptation Bodies will face immense danger."
"Yeah. Everyone will want their serum."
"Can’t we have medical personnel research and analyze their serum to try and create a vaccine?"
"I’m afraid it’s not that simple." A medical expert shook his head. "Vaccine development typically takes years. Even if we concentrate our efforts to shorten the timeline and everything goes smoothly, it would still take several months. By the time we succeeded, this Apocalypse Rule would have long been over."
"Besides, based on the data reported from various locations, Blood Plague Adaptation Bodies are extremely rare. The overall ratio might be as low as one in a hundred thousand... one for every hundred thousand Infected. There’s nowhere near enough serum. If we make the news public and every Infected person demands a serum injection, what do we do?"
"Exactly. It might sound cruel, but I’ll be the one to say it—with a limited supply of serum, we must reserve it for important personnel and the hardworking frontline social services staff."
The former group’s status, position, and power were undeniable; we have no choice but to reserve it for them. The latter, as frontline personnel, not only work tirelessly to distribute protective gear but are also directly responsible for finding and retrieving those afflicted by the Blood Plague.
If we don’t give them this information and they get infected, the losses would be catastrophic.
But if we do give them the information, and then they get infected, what happens if we don’t give them the serum treatment? When other frontline workers see that, who would still be willing to give their all to complete missions and carry out orders from above?
If frontline personnel start to feign compliance and deliberately sabotage their work, then even the most correct orders from the top become useless without effective implementation.
"This information cannot be made fully public. Aside from frontline personnel, no other unrelated departments are to be notified," Director Gao Liangwei decided. "Otherwise, the situation will devolve into chaos, just like it did in the later stage of the first Apocalypse Rule."
Everyone nodded in agreement. During the later stages of the first rule, Sleep Deprivation, as more people ventured outside, an increasing number discovered the Sober Mint Candies, leading to outbreaks of chaos everywhere.
But at that time, the number of people involved wasn’t too large, so the situation remained controllable.
This time, however, is different.
The Deadly Blood Plague rule itself is far crueler than Sleep Deprivation. One is a painless death in your sleep; the other is hemorrhaging to death from every part of your body. It’s obvious which is more terrifying.
If the news gets out this time and the Infected can’t get the serum injections they demand, they will surely unleash their full destructive potential. Especially now, with many people possessing all sorts of Psychic Power items, if they truly commit to causing destruction together, it would create immense trouble for the authorities.
Once the Strategy Research Room made its decision, all related information was swiftly locked down.
But this time, they didn’t just shut down the internet like before. While that method is simple and crude, it also immediately tips people off that you have secret information you don’t want spreading.
So, learning from past experience, professionals in network technology had spent this time developing a "One-Way Mirror System" that uses an advanced AI to automatically identify keywords.
Once this system was activated, any message a netizen posted that contained content related to the designated keywords—whether it was homophones, similar characters, foreign languages, etc.—would be identified and blocked by the One-Way Mirror System.
After a message is blocked by the One-Way Mirror System, no one else can see it; only the original poster can. This way, the poster thinks their message has been sent, but in reality, it was blocked the moment it was posted, with no notification whatsoever.
Following the Strategy Research Room’s decision, a series of related keywords like "Blood Plague Adaptation Body," "sense infection," and "serum" were immediately added to the One-Way Mirror System, where they will remain until this Apocalypse Rule ends.
...
In a derelict residential complex on Baishui Road, Chen Na and Wang Yan were living.
At this moment, both were dressed in professional-grade viral protection suits, the very ones delivered yesterday by the woman with short hair and a business suit.
"Mom, have some water."
Chen Na brought a glass of warm water to the bedside. Her mother, Wang Yan, was lying on her side, eyes closed, her brow furrowed in pain. The sight made Chen Na’s heart ache.
Hearing her daughter’s voice, Wang Yan opened her eyes and forced a faint smile. "Thank you, Nana. Mom’s not thirsty... just put it on the side for now."
"Okay." Chen Na placed the glass on a nearby table, which was cluttered with a pile of painkillers and a hospital diagnosis report.
Among the dense text, one line clearly read: "terminal stomach cancer."
Wang Yan herself had never expected this result.
Back when she got the results at the hospital, the doctor told her she had one or two months at most. In that moment, she felt like her world had come crashing down.
Before she knew the result, it seemed like aside from a period of stomach pain each day, she could still walk and drive like a normal person. But after learning the news, her body seemed to collapse in an instant. Now, the pain makes it difficult to even walk.
Looking at her daughter sitting by the bed, watching over her, Wang Yan couldn’t help but cry. "Nana, I’m so sorry. I promised I’d take you to Yong’an. I never expected this... What will you do... in the future..."
The fact that she didn’t have much time left terrified Wang Yan. She wasn’t afraid of her own death, but of how Chen Na, with no one to look after her, would survive in this age of Apocalypse Rules.
When she first got the results, her immediate thought was of Guan Tong. Based on their time together during the snowstorm rule, she felt he was a trustworthy and kind-hearted young man. If he were willing to take care of Chen Na, he would be the best choice.
But she didn’t have Guan Tong’s contact information. Besides, she knew that even if she did, why should he be expected to take care of her child? Their relationship was nowhere near that close. But for her daughter’s sake, she was willing to swallow her pride and beg.
But now... she no longer knew who she could entrust her daughter to. Her relatives had long since died in previous Apocalypse Rules, and she didn’t trust the official adoption agencies.
"Mom, don’t be sad." Chen Na held her mother Wang Yan’s hand. "Didn’t the kind lady who brought us the protective suits yesterday say so? Your illness isn’t hopeless, Mom!"
"...Silly girl, she was just trying to comfort you. Even the doctors said there’s nothing they can do. How could she..."
"So what if they’re doctors?" Chen Na stubbornly tilted her chin up, her small face filled with determination. "The kind lady said that as long as we have one of those powerful medicinal items, even terminal cancer can be cured!"
...
Wang Yan knew this herself, of course.
Even back at the hospital, the doctor had tactfully mentioned it: "With ordinary medical techniques, it will be very difficult to save your life. But if you can obtain a special medicinal drug from the Terminal, there might still be a chance."
But Wang Yan had seen the prices for those kinds of drugs in the Terminal’s market herself. The terrifyingly exorbitant cost was something a common Ascender like her could never afford.
Chen Na seemed to have guessed Wang Yan’s thoughts. With an incredibly determined look in her eyes, she said, "Don’t worry, Mom. The kind lady told me. She said that if I can pass a selection, I can join a team. After I join, the person who founded the team will help pay the Sublimation Coins for the medicine. Then your illness can be cured!"
Wang Yan was slightly startled. "When did she tell you this? How come I don’t know?"
"It—it was when I was seeing her out. She told me privately just before she left."
Wang Yan frowned. "A team? What team? It doesn’t sound safe. Nana, listen to your mother. Don’t get involved in this kind of shady business..."
Chen Na shook her head. "Don’t worry, Mom. That lady must be a good person. Why else would she give us clothes to protect us from the virus?"
"Silly child, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Think about it. How did she know we were here? And she didn’t say it in front of me, but told you privately. She did that to hide it from me. Something is definitely wrong."
Chen Na pursed her lips. She didn’t know how the short-haired lady had found her and her mother, nor did she know if the woman was good or bad. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
But she did know one thing: that lady could save her mother. That was enough. Other than this one lifeline, she had no other chance to earn the massive amount of Sublimation Coins needed to buy the medicinal item.
"Nana, did you hear what I said? You are not allowed to participate in any selection! You’re so young, how could you? I don’t want you to be in danger!"
"...I understand, Mom. Don’t be angry. Get some rest. I’ll go prepare your medicine."
Hearing her daughter say that, Wang Yan relaxed a little, nodded, and closed her eyes to rest.
But what she didn’t see was that when Chen Na turned around, the expression on her small face hadn’t wavered in the slightest.
She had already made up her mind. This time, she wouldn’t listen to her mother. To save her mom, she would accept the short-haired lady’s invitation, participate in the selection, and she had to succeed!
...
"Phew... I think I’m starting to feel something."
In his shelter cabin, Guan Tong opened his eyes, ending a meditation session that had lasted over two hours.
Since he couldn’t leave the shelter and lacked the ability to ’save the world,’ he decided to stop taking in too much external information and focus on what he needed to do.
And what he needed to do right now was study Shi Jingyi’s Psychic Power Flow course.
For two straight days, he had been memorizing various human acupressure points and, just as Shi Jingyi taught in her online course, entering a kind of flow state through meditation and mental focus.
The attempts were going pretty well.
Guan Tong especially felt that his memory had improved significantly, which he figured was related to the modifications Psychic Power made to his body.
’I thought it would take forever to memorize so many acupoints,’ he thought, ’but at this rate, a month should be enough.’
"If I can learn this, I’ll be able to make full use of my Psychic Power reserves, which are over three thousand."
Guan Tong thought that if he could get his Psychic Power to circulate throughout his body like Shi Jingyi, his own physical functions would definitely improve significantly.
In that case, his Shadow might also be enhanced, as its functions were completely linked to Guan Tong, its host.
If Guan Tong’s own defenses were stronger and his body "harder," then the Shadow would also be stronger when solidified.
Then, perhaps he could avoid a repeat of what happened on Holy Grail Island, where his Shadow Wall was nearly shattered by a single blow from that guy with the giant hammer, or easily sliced apart by Lucifer’s sharp wings.
