49 Apocalypse Rules

Chapter 103: Chapter 98: Ascender’s Home

At the Li Mei Hotel, a ceremony was underway to rename their mutual aid group to the "True Kindness Hall."

The man who was yesterday’s host had become today’s Hall Master. He stood among the crowd with a smile on his face, sharing his insights on truth and kindness.

Ever since he survived an infection a few days ago and gained the ability to identify the Infected, his status among the people had become something transcendent.

They didn’t see him as a god, but they all believed he was a powerful individual with special abilities. They revered him in the hope that they too could survive if they were ever infected, just like him.

"...and so, we must love everyone. We cannot hate. Hate is a thief that steals all the beauty from life. We must..."

As the Hall Master spoke, he suddenly looked at a woman to his left.

As she met his gaze, terror slowly crept onto her face.

She knew that whenever the Hall Master suddenly stared at someone, that person was the next to be infected with the Blood Plague.

This had happened ten times in the past week, and without exception, his predictions had all come true.

And of those ten people, not a single one had managed to emerge from their room, healthy and unharmed, after being isolated for 24 hours like the Hall Master had.

"No, no!" the woman screamed. "I pray every day! I strive for truth and kindness! Why is it me!"

"It seems your piety was not enough. You still harbor selfish thoughts, which allowed the virus to exploit your weakness." The Hall Master said, stepping forward to help the woman up. "Go back to your room. I hope you can pass this test."

"No... Hall Master, save me, save me..."

The woman struggled, refusing to go. The Hall Master shook his head and sighed.

At that moment, two able-bodied young men stood up, forcibly dragged the woman away, and locked her in her own guest room, forbidding her from coming out for 24 hours.

The others watched, their hearts pounding in fear. They silently prayed that they wouldn’t be the next to be tested.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

Just then, a rapid knocking came from the door. An employee from the Emergency Management Bureau had arrived.

The Hall Master walked to the window and asked, "What is it?"

"A new batch of virus protection gear is out. You didn’t want any last time, did you? What, regret it now?!"

The visitor was the same staff member who had come to deliver protective gear a week ago. The people at the Li Mei Hotel had refused it then, which he found incomprehensible.

This time, with the new gear made, he had come back feeling vindictive, specifically to see the looks of regret on their faces.

To his surprise, the Hall Master still refused with a smile. "We still don’t need it."

"What?" The man outside frowned, scanning the people in the lobby through the window.

"I can see you have far fewer people than last time. They must have been taken by the infection, right? And you still say you don’t need it? What on earth are you thinking?!"

"I need it, I need it!"

Suddenly, someone from the crowd rushed to the window, shouting at the man outside, "I want protective gear! I want to leave this place!"

Seeing this, the crowd was both shocked and angry. The smile that had been perpetually on the Hall Master’s face vanished.

The staff member outside saw this, realized something was wrong, and looked at the Hall Master warily. "What kind of game are you playing? Are you forcing them to refuse protection?"

The Hall Master shook his head and said to the person at the window, "You are so lacking in piety. It seems the next one to be infected by the virus will be you."

"Nonsense! You’re all crazy! I want out! I don’t want to stay here anymore!"

The staff member outside also yelled, "Open the door and let him out immediately!"

The Hall Master was unmoved, saying coolly, "This is our internal affair. I’ll ask outsiders not to interfere."

"Bullshit!" the staff member cursed, then immediately pulled out his walkie-talkie. "Hey, someone’s freedom is being restricted here at the Li Mei Hotel! Notify the armed team to come and resolve this immediately!"

After sending the message, the staff member pointed at the Hall Master and said, "Do you have any idea you’re committing a crime? You’re a criminal!"

As soon as he said that, the members of the True Kindness Hall surged to the door, glaring angrily at the man outside.

"Don’t you dare slander our Hall Master!"

"Our Hall Master strives for truth and kindness. Not only is he immune to the virus, but he can also detect those who have been invaded by it. He is a truly enlightened master."

"As long as we’re here, no one will lay a single finger on our Hall Master!"

The staff member outside was shocked to hear this. He stared at the Hall Master. "What? You didn’t die after being infected, and you can detect other Infected? There’s actually a ’Blood Plague Adaptation Body’ here..."

He immediately grabbed his walkie-talkie again and whispered urgently, "A ’Blood Plague Adaptation Body’ has been found at the Li Mei Hotel."

As soon as he finished, a response came through the walkie-talkie: "We’re on our way."

Not long after, several fast vehicles arrived, carrying both staff from the Emergency Management Bureau and a heavily armed tactical squad.

After being briefed, the team leader came to the door and addressed the people inside: "Listen, there’s no such thing as an ’enlightened master.’ He just got lucky and has antibodies to the Blood Plague Virus!"

"Nonsense!" the people inside retorted. "What antibodies? How come we haven’t heard of them? If something like that existed, it would be all over the internet."

"Exactly! The official channels haven’t announced anything. You’re just trying to trick us!"

The team leader’s expression became extremely complicated. He was at a loss for words for a long moment.

He wanted to say, ’It’s not that there isn’t any news, it just hasn’t been made public,’ but the problem was that they had all been ordered to keep it confidential. Even if he were to tell them, this was not the time or place.

However, his hesitation only confirmed to the members of the True Kindness Hall that they were right and that the people outside had been rendered speechless.

The other staff members who knew the situation also had conflicted expressions.

They all knew the information was being withheld to prevent chaos—to prevent everyone from demanding serum and causing destruction when they couldn’t get it.

But this led to the exact situation before them: because the news wasn’t public, people didn’t know about the existence of the "Blood Plague Adaptation Body," which in turn led them to treat someone they encountered as a great man, an object of worship.

It was even possible that the Hall Master himself genuinely believed he was some kind of "chosen one." He wasn’t a charlatan deceiving others; he truly believed he was different from ordinary people.

The team leader steeled himself and gave the order: "Breach the door! Take this Hall Master away!"

The standing order—the highest order—was that any Blood Plague Adaptation Body, once discovered, must be immediately brought back to the bureau for proper placement. For that, he couldn’t afford to worry about anything else right now.

The armed team acted immediately, blasting open the wooden door to forcibly take the Hall Master.

However, the other members of the True Kindness Hall panicked. Some of them believed the only reason they weren’t infected yet was because of the Hall Master’s presence. If he was taken away, they might soon contract the virus and die a miserable death.

"They won’t let us live! Let’s fight them!"

"Goddammit, let’s fight!"

"Protect the Hall Master!"

Dozens of people surged forward. Some were bare-handed, while others summoned various Psychic Power items, attacking the armed squad that had breached the gate.

The armed squad, under attack, immediately returned fire.

TATATATA, TATATATA!

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!

After a deafening volley of gunfire, the lobby fell silent.

The Hall Master fell to his knees with a thud before the bodies of the slain, turning his head to glare at the armed squad. "You... Heaven will surely punish you! You’ll all die a horrible death!"

"...Take him away!"

At the team leader’s command, several men forcibly escorted the Hall Master to a vehicle.

As for the team leader, the expression on his face behind his mask was incredibly grim. He had never expected things to escalate to this point. But it had come to this, and there was no other way.

"Team Leader, do you think hiding the truth was really the right thing to do?" the staff member couldn’t help but ask, looking at the tragic scene in the hotel lobby. "If they had known..."

"If they had known, would no one have died? I’m afraid even more people would have," the team leader interrupted.

"..."

"Let’s go. The higher-ups just sent down an order yesterday, urging our Yunhua branch to provide more serum. It’s a good thing we found another Blood Plague Adaptation Body today. Otherwise, the serum extracted from the ones we’ve already found... it’s nowhere near enough to meet the demand from above."

"Why do the higher-ups need so much serum? Who is it all for?"

"Who knows. The big shots, probably."

"Unbelievable..."

"Alright, stop complaining. Don’t forget, we are also eligible to use the serum... For that reason alone, we have to do our jobs well to be worthy of the preferential treatment we’re given."

...

「Three days later, at the shelter.」

"Success... online."

Guan Tong tapped a key on his keyboard. The website he created was officially online.

For now, he was temporarily using his laptop’s built-in hard drive to store data. It couldn’t hold much, but this was just a test.

Besides, a brand-new website wouldn’t have any traffic to begin with, so there wasn’t much that needed storing anyway.

At a glance, the website had a dark gray background with white UI text—all about high contrast.

As for the interface, you could charitably call it minimalist, but in reality, there was basically nothing there.

Aside from a few simple options to navigate to other sub-pages, all that remained was a large logo bearing two simple, artistic words: Ascender’s Home.

That’s right. Guan Tong wanted to build this website into a home for Ascenders. In the future, not only could they make trades and post commissions, but they could also chat anonymously and share trivial matters.

He felt this kind of feature was essential. From the Ascenders he had met so far, at least half of them had psychological problems—either violent or self-destructive tendencies.

Some had both, two sides of the same coin. Guan Tong had seen more than a few news stories online about Ascenders challenging each other to pointless fights and killing each other, with some even committing suicide together.

In short, under immense pressure, people needed an outlet. That’s why Guan Tong wanted to create a small corner of the world on his website, a place where Ascenders could let down their guard and just chat with one another.

This was unlike other communities or social apps, where any Ascender with something valuable to share wouldn’t dare speak up, afraid that they’d be tracked down in real life the moment they posted something useful.

After all, not every powerful person is a tech expert who knows how to hide their tracks online. Over time, the stronger Ascenders would tend to stay silent online, which was actually detrimental to ordinary Ascenders.

It was like playing chess with a bunch of terrible players—you’d only get worse. But if you played with a group of masters, even if you didn’t improve dramatically, you’d eventually pick up a few clever tricks.

Guan Tong looked at the main interface. There were currently four sub-forum options.

They were: Information, Items, Commissions, and Lounge.

The Information section was for buying and selling information.

In the Items section, Guan Tong had set up a "WTB" (Want to Buy) function. This way, people could post what they needed, unlike the terminal market where you could only list items for sale but couldn’t search for specific needs. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm

The Commissions section was exactly what it sounded like. An Ascender with a need they couldn’t handle themselves could post a commission with a price, and other Ascenders who felt they could do the job would accept it.

The Lounge section was what Guan Tong envisioned as a place for Ascenders to chat, share, and relax.

Later, Guan Tong also planned to add a mysterious new section named the "Webmaster Realm."

The "Webmaster," of course, was him. The "Realm" represented that he would post some rather important things in that section. In time, only those with the proper qualifications would be able to enter this section and see the content.

The reason for creating this section was that Guan Tong wanted to see if he could use it to recruit some experts to help him. Or if not help him, even just exchanging information would be good. freeωebnovēl.c૦m

However, he hadn’t finalized the specific plans for this section yet, so he would hold off on launching it. It could wait until the website had a bit of traffic and some users.

At this moment, looking at the fledgling website, Guan Tong felt a sense of deep satisfaction. The time he’d spent tinkering with it over the past few days had not been wasted.

He thought to himself, ’Once the website’s construction is complete, the goal is to have it running on every single Ascender’s smart device!’