49 Apocalypse Rules

Chapter 106: Chapter 101: The First Message in the Intelligence Section

After a group of several dozen Infected charged into the hospital, they immediately found themselves in a bind.

After several rounds of the Apocalypse Rules, places like hospitals had also been converted into Gathering Points.

The first-floor lobby was still piled with sandbags previously used to block the Living Dead. Useless promotional boards, information desks, and even security scanners had all been dismantled and discarded to free up maximum space for supplies and equipment.

In the past, going to a hospital meant following signs to the right department for treatment. But now, in the converted hospital, all the signs had been removed, leaving the dozens of people feeling lost.

"Where’s the blood collection room?"

"We don’t know what floor that woman is on. Do we have to search floor by floor?"

Actions born from the pressure to survive, without meticulous planning or thought, inevitably lead to such situations.

Even after forcibly taking down several guards to break in, they had no solid plan for what to do next.

"Listen up, you trespassers!" Suddenly, the hospital’s PA system blared to life, a stern voice echoing through the building. "You are in serious violation of the law. Cease your actions immediately!"

"We just want to live! Is that against the law, too?!"

"Use the hospital’s app on your phone." Someone recalled their past experiences seeking medical care. "It has a directory of all the departments."

"That’s too slow! Let’s split up and search room by room!"

As soon as the words fell, a few people immediately pulled out their phones to check, while the others scattered to start searching the rooms one by one, beginning on the first floor.

The hooded man who could make metal objects explode was also holding his phone, but he wasn’t looking up information. He was recording.

The voice from the PA system continued to issue warnings, but the Infected were no longer listening. They soon found a locked door on the first floor.

A few kicks failed to break it open. One of them, holding a gun, said, "Move aside, let me!" ƒrēewebnovel.com

He fired a few shots at the lock. Then, with a combined, forceful kick, they finally broke the door down.

Inside the room were seven or eight people, all in white coats, who appeared to be doctors and nurses.

They stared in terror at the crowd barging into the room, paralyzed with fear.

"What do you want?"

"We’re just hospital staff, not the people you’re looking for..."

The Infected exchanged glances. One of them asked, "You heard that announcement, right? Which room was it coming from? And did people from the Bureau bring a woman in here earlier? Where did they go?"

The staff members hesitated and stammered. The Infected immediately lost their patience. "Speak! Or we’ll light you up!"

"Don’t! I’ll talk, I’ll talk!" a young doctor quickly said. "The broadcast room is Room 306 on the third floor! As for the woman the Bureau brought in, we didn’t see her! We don’t know where she is!"

"Quick, everyone to the third floor! A few of you stay here and watch them."

The Infected immediately rushed to the third floor. When they reached Room 306, they cornered the Bureau’s team leader just as he was coming out.

"You’re all Infected?"

The team leader asked calmly, facing the murderous crowd.

One man pressed the muzzle of his gun against the team leader’s chest and threatened, "Cut the crap! The woman you brought in has the antibody, right? Where did you hide her? Talk!"

"...Even if I told you, do you really think you could all be saved? There are dozens of you here. There isn’t nearly enough serum for everyone. Besides, before you could even process that much serum, our armed support will arrive. Do you really think you can get away clean?"

The team leader’s calm words only enraged the crowd.

An Infected tore off his protective face shield, punched him hard in the face, and grabbed him by the collar, yelling, "So we, the ones who got infected, just deserve to die, is that it?! What do you bastards think our lives are worth?!"

The team leader took the punch, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, but he didn’t back down. He held his ground. "If you want to talk about fairness, go find the Fire Thief. It’s useless telling me this. Everything we do is from a higher perspective, hoping to let more people survive, not to let this country destroy itself through infighting under the Apocalypse Rules."

"Then you—"

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Before the questioner could finish, the man with the gun suddenly opened fire. The team leader let out a grunt and collapsed.

Everyone else stared at the gunman in shock. The shooter’s eyes glowed with a feral, wolf-like green light. "I don’t give a damn about any bigger picture! All I know is my own life is the most important thing! Anyone who wants me dead, I’ll kill them first!"

"..."

"All right, let’s keep searching. We have to find her before their backup arrives," someone said after a brief silence.

The group continued searching inside the hospital, but in a large facility like this with over twenty floors and a staggering number of rooms, it was incredibly time-consuming even for a group of several dozen people searching room by room.

Just as they reached the fifth floor, a voice shouted from outside.

"You are surrounded! Surrender immediately!"

A few Infected heard this and looked out the window. They saw several armored vehicles parked at the hospital entrance, and a large contingent of fully-armed soldiers was filing into the building.

At the same time, a large number of drones took off, locating targets through the windows on each floor and providing the soldiers with data for precise tracking and engagement.

Seeing this, the Infected knew it was pretty much over. This was an expected outcome, one they had considered before they started this.

In the end, they never really thought their chances of getting the serum and being saved were high. They just wanted to take one last gamble before they died. It was better than dying from a bloody explosion in some forgotten corner, unknown to anyone.

Most of the Infected were quickly eliminated by the soldiers who entered the hospital. In the end, only a few remained, holed up on the first floor, holding the doctors and nurses hostage and demanding the authorities provide the serum.

However, from the moment they stormed the hospital, they were no longer parties for negotiation in the eyes of the authorities, but terrorists to be eliminated.

So, after a flashbang cleared the way, soldiers stormed the room, quickly eliminated the last few Infected, and rescued the hostages.

The cleanup operation followed.

Body after body was carried out and taken away. The woman with the antibody, Yu, who had been hiding in a hospital storage room, was also found, rescued, and escorted into a vehicle by a team of protectors before departing.

No one noticed that high up on the eighteenth floor, through an open window, the hooded man who could make metal objects explode had filmed everything on his phone.

He then pulled down his hood. If any of the other Infected were still alive, they would have been stunned to see him now.

Because after he removed his hood, the neck he revealed had no bright red spots. From the very beginning, this hooded man had been a Blood Plague Adaptation Body, merely pretending to be an Infected to blend in with their group.

No one had suspected him, because no one could have imagined someone would do such a thing.

It was normal for an Infected to pretend to be an ordinary person, but it was extremely rare for an Adaptation Body to pretend to be an Infected.

The hooded man checked the video on his phone and nodded in satisfaction. "My camerawork is actually pretty good. It has the cause and effect, the emotions, the conflict, the ending, the climax... It should sell for a good price."

「 」

"File download complete."

Guan Tong looked at the downloaded file. ’This "Mask" character is really efficient,’ he thought.

He’d only said he’d help with optimization yesterday, and today this one-click optimization package was already done.

Guan Tong looked at the file. He didn’t know much about computer technology, but he knew enough not to download random files. They could contain viruses or Trojans that would hijack your computer.

He figured "Mask" probably had exactly that in mind; otherwise, he wouldn’t have created this optimization package so quickly.

’But he’s probably in for a disappointment.’

No matter what kind of computer virus it was, it wouldn’t work on the shelter’s special network.

Guan Tong opened the file, unzipped it, and then loaded the optimization content onto his website with a single click. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com

When he logged back in, the website looked completely new.

The overall interface layout hadn’t changed much, but the quality and feel of every aspect had been elevated by more than just a notch.

For example, the icons, progress bars, and option button styles on the site before were all default templates, which looked very plain.

Now, after applying the optimization package, all these details were significantly improved, with many new animations. For instance, hovering the mouse over an option would trigger a color gradient effect, which looked very impressive.

’This "Mask" really knows his stuff.’

Whatever Mask’s objective was, the optimization was genuinely useful.

But while the interface was now beautiful, the most important thing was still the content.

Without high-quality content, even the best-looking exterior was useless.

Guan Tong clicked through the different sections. Only the "General Chat" section had a single post from Mask; all the other sections were blank.

’I should add some content myself first.’

Guan Tong thought as he opened the "Intelligence" section.

Intelligence is just information. The entire network is full of information, so how do you make yours valuable, something people would clamor to see?

It’s simple: you publish information that can’t be found elsewhere. You have an independent source.

If Guan Tong had an independent source of information, it was his ability to see the hidden rules. This was his most valuable asset. But this kind of information had to be disclosed or sold depending on the situation.

Hidden rules like [Pillaging the Sober] and [Genetic Lottery], which were self-serving at others’ expense, he was not inclined to make public.

But hidden rules like [Difficult Choice] and [Transformation Source], he could make public.

Especially [Difficult Choice]—the information that snowfall was directly proportional to the population density of an area. He had considered releasing it immediately back then, but ultimately decided against it because he lacked a secure channel to do so.

As for the [Transformation Source] rule—that eliminating a "Mother Transformer" could end the transformation of the Living Dead—if he’d had the "Ascender’s Home" platform back then, he could have definitely chosen to sell this information.

He could have sold this information to the Ascenders who had the power to eliminate the "Mother Transformer." That way, he would have made a huge profit; the person who bought the information would get an extra reward for eliminating the "Mother Transformer"; and ending the transformation process early would save ordinary people from further threats.

It would have been a win-win-win situation. Why wouldn’t he do it?

So, what should be the first piece of information to post in the Intelligence section now?

The hidden rules from the first few Apocalypse Rules had actually already been summarized in the official Apocalypse Rules White Paper, so posting them again wouldn’t have much value.

He didn’t plan on posting the hidden rule for the currently active sixth Apocalypse Rule just yet.

’So, what information can I post that I know and others don’t...’

’How about I post something about the Holy Grail first?’

Guan Tong thought to himself. This was indeed a piece of information that only he knew.

From beginning to end, the Holy Grail had been in his possession. The other contestants had no idea what its effects were or how it had been found.

Guan Tong felt that if he revealed the key to obtaining the Holy Grail—the line of small text on the statue’s base, "Feed it blood to awaken the grail"—along with the Holy Grail’s effect of "Infinite Psychic Power while held"... posting these two pieces of information would definitely cause a huge stir.

People might believe it, or they might not, but it would definitely generate some discussion and buzz.

’However, this is all information that "Shadow" knows. If I post it, I’m essentially telling people that the administrator of the "Ascender’s Home" website is very likely Shadow himself, or someone connected to him.’

Doing so would attract huge traffic, but it would also undoubtedly draw the prying eyes of many. He couldn’t imagine how many people or organizations would then try to dig up Shadow’s real identity through the website.

If it weren’t for the untraceable nature of the shelter’s network, Guan Tong would never dare to even consider doing this.

’...This is fine, too. Isn’t a big name like "Shadow" meant to be monetized?’