Free Web NovelChapter 113: Chapter 108: The Wartime State Officially Begins
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.
At noon, a knock on the door startled Wang Yan awake.
Ever since discovering her daughter, Chen Na, was missing last night, she had been too worried to sleep. She had just succumbed to exhaustion and dozed off for a moment when the sudden knock came.
Thinking the Public Security Bureau had a lead, she scrambled to her feet and went to the door. But when she opened it, no one was there.
She looked around and saw a small box on the ground.
She took it inside and opened it. Inside was a letter and a sealed medicine box.
Wang Yan unfolded the letter and immediately recognized the elegant handwriting as her daughter Chen Na’s.
"I’m sorry, Mom. I have to be away for a while. Please don’t worry about me. I’ll be back."
Following Chen Na’s brief message was another section of text, written in a different hand.
"Ms. Wang, your daughter has passed our selection process, and we will be taking her elsewhere for training for a period of time. The medicine box contains a drug that can cure your illness, which is the result of an agreement we made with your daughter. Do not try to find us—you lack the ability. When the time is right, your daughter will return to see you."
"Nana..."
By the time Wang Yan finished reading the letter, her face was streaked with tears.
She sat in silence for a long time before opening the medicine box. Inside was a single pill. After she picked it up, her personal terminal automatically identified it.
[Special Healing Pill]: Cures various diseases upon consumption. This item is tradable.
Wang Yan knew that a medicinal item like this would probably sell for several hundred thousand Sublimation Coins on the market. freёwebnovel.com
Now that the mysterious organization that took her daughter had actually delivered the medicine, she couldn’t feel happy at all.
Having knocked around in society for many years, she knew there was no such thing as a free lunch. The fact that this mysterious organization was willing to spend hundreds of thousands of Sublimation Coins meant they believed they could get a return from her daughter, Chen Na, far exceeding that amount.
This made Wang Yan’s heart ache with worry, not knowing what kind of treatment her daughter would face.
But she felt that what Guan Tong had said on the phone was probably right. The organization went to great lengths to take Chen Na, not to harm her, but to use her abilities. So, she likely wasn’t in any mortal danger.
After a long silence, Wang Yan looked at the pill and swallowed it.
This was what her daughter had traded her freedom for. She had to take it. And she had to live—live until she could find her daughter.
...
On Mingdao Mountain.
Guan Tong sat at the entrance of his wooden cabin, sunbathing, while Coal Ball clambered around in a nearby tree.
In less than a full day, it had already adapted to and even grown to love the environment here. Being able to climb up and down trees was definitely better than being cooped up in a small room all the time.
Watching Coal Ball’s lively figure, Guan Tong felt that the little creature was enjoying its freedom.
’Coal Ball is like this, and so am I.’
A free life, one lived as he pleased, was what he had always wanted. This freedom was especially precious after entering the era of the Apocalypse Rules.
’Looks like I’ll have to turn down Shi Jingyi’s invitation for now.’
After a morning of consideration, Guan Tong finally made his decision.
Truthfully, the conditions Shi Jingyi described were quite good: the teaching assistant job didn’t involve much work, he could get registered, and he’d have his own separate faculty dormitory.
However, the trade-off was an inevitable slide into a formulaic, fixed lifestyle.
When that time came, forget him—even Coal Ball would probably have a hard time finding a tree to climb and would have to be locked up indoors again.
Besides, the academy was in Yong’an. As the nation’s Capital, its controls on all fronts were bound to be the strictest.
Guan Tong thought it over and over and concluded that he wasn’t suited for life in the Capital—at least, not right now.
He took out his phone and composed a text message to Shi Jingyi.
"Thanks for the invitation. After thinking it over, I’ve decided not to go."
About ten minutes later, Shi Jingyi replied.
"Just do what you think is best. And like I said on the phone, my offer is a standing one. If you ever change your mind, just let me know."
Guan Tong put away his phone and began to pass the time at his own pace.
Just as he had planned, he spent his days watching online courses, maintaining his website, and taking walks on the mountain to relax.
During this time, Wang Yan contacted him once to update him on what had happened.
Although Chen Na was still missing, Wang Yan’s terminal illness had indeed been cured by the medicinal item. No matter how you looked at it, this was a good thing.
Wang Yan told him that she had registered and applied to join the Public Security Bureau, and that the officials had already notified her that her application was successful.
This surprised Guan Tong quite a bit, but then he thought of Wang Yan’s item, the "Oil Transfer Pot" that could convert any liquid into oil. A resource-type item like that would certainly be of some value to the officials.
Furthermore, it had been revealed online that various government departments, especially those on the front lines, were massively recruiting. Manpower was extremely scarce.
He figured that during the Blood Plague rule, due to the chaos and conflict everywhere, a large number of frontline personnel hadn’t died from the virus, but at the hands of rioting Infected.
Therefore, it was now very easy for anyone who was able-bodied and had a decent moral compass to get their application for a frontline government position approved.
As for Wang Yan’s motive for joining the Public Security Bureau, it was obvious: she wanted to find her daughter, Chen Na.
Time flew by, and before he knew it, it was October 10th.
This was the day the country officially entered a state of war. Guan Tong turned on his computer and watched the live announcement.
He knew that starting today, the country was about to undergo a massive transformation.
After the official declaration of a state of war, the atmosphere online changed immediately.
Certain outrageous statements that had previously been tolerated were swiftly suppressed.
Major cities dispatched numerous drones to begin patrols. These drones were equipped with facial scanning capabilities. If they scanned an unregistered person, they would transmit the location to the Public Security Bureau, which would then dispatch personnel to investigate.
In addition, the first batch of officially constructed shelters was completed. They were randomly assigned to registered personnel, with each shelter accommodating about a thousand people. The living conditions were similar to university dormitories.
But unlike university dorms, each shelter had two power systems: one supplied from the outside and one independent system. If the external system went down due to natural disasters or man-made calamities, the shelter could still operate on its internal system for a while.
Beyond that, large quantities of supplies like food, medicine, and equipment were stockpiled in every shelter to ensure that shortages would not easily occur.
Guan Tong saw someone on the local Yunhua forum mention that everyone who moved into a shelter had to undergo a detailed registration process.
It wasn’t just name, age, and facial data, but also their personal terminal’s digital ID, Psychic Power items, abilities, and the amount of Sublimation Coins they possessed... all of it had to be registered, and they had to sign an agreement.
The content of the agreement wasn’t posted online directly, but the gist was that by moving into a shelter, you agreed to resource sharing.
In other words, if the government had a need for unified resource allocation, shelter residents were required to obey and contribute their items or Psychic Power.
Some people felt this wasn’t great, but others didn’t mind. They felt that since the government was providing protection and would help them pass subsequent rules, it was perfectly reasonable to obey and accept unified resource management.
There was also a sizable group of people online raising a lot of questions: they claimed that while the shelters were supposedly assigned randomly, their observations suggested that nearly all of the new residents were Ascenders.
That’s right, this group was the non-Ascenders—those whose Psychic Power had dwindled to zero and whose personal terminals had shut down after failing several rule challenges.
This group had started to appear as early as after the third rule, [Fasting Therapy]. After the fifth rule, their numbers grew significantly.
By now, the group was quite large, and when they banded together, their collective voice was massive.
They believed the government was prioritizing Ascenders for shelter placement, while people like them, whose personal terminals had shut down, were being put at the back of the line. This was blatant discrimination.
The government didn’t respond to this, but some Ascenders expressed their contempt online, saying things like, "What use will a bunch of people with no Psychic Power be in the future? Giving shelter spots to them is a complete waste."
This triggered strong dissatisfaction from the non-Ascender groups and sparked many protests. As for the outcome, Guan Tong couldn’t find any follow-up. There were only scattered reports of some people being assigned to shelters, while others said they had chosen to leave the city and live elsewhere.
After browsing through the current situation, Guan Tong’s heart was also uneasy.
If the division among people after the third rule was still latent and not so obvious, then this latest outbreak of conflict had pushed things to an irreparable point.
Perhaps the government was helpless as well. With only so many shelters built, some people were bound to get in before others. When it came to Ascenders and non-Ascenders, the choice of who went first was a simple one.
A completely random assignment was impossible. No matter how much you preached equality, everyone knew in their hearts that the value and potential of an Ascender were higher than those of a non-Ascender.
The government had already stated clearly in a previous live press conference that everything was for the survival of more citizens, and to that end, some sacrifices had to be made.
These sacrifices included not only lifestyles but, surely, some people as well.
But when it was your turn to be the one sacrificed, how many could accept it calmly?
However, what was both surprising and not surprising to Guan Tong was that after the nation entered a state of war, the traffic to his "Ascender’s Home" website began to skyrocket.
Registered users had now surpassed two thousand and were still increasing rapidly.
’It seems other social media sites are no longer places where you can speak freely...’
Guan Tong thought that even if his site couldn’t be tracked, he couldn’t allow users to spout nonsense. Discussing daily life and sharing information was fine, but anti-humanitarian speech had to be forbidden.
He quickly wrote a "Posting Guidelines" notice and pinned it to the top of every section. It stated that healthy, positive, and harmonious discussions were encouraged, and that users who posted anti-humanitarian content would be silenced or have their accounts banned.
As soon as the post went up, dozens of comments quickly appeared.
"We support the admin!"
"After the state of war was declared, other sites have obviously tightened up. I feel like this forum will be the only safe haven..."
"Anyone from Wu’an City? I got assigned to Wu’an-114 Shelter. If anyone else is assigned there, we could be roommates!"
"You got assigned to a shelter so quickly? I don’t think I made it into the first random batch. I’ll probably have to wait for the second or third batch of shelters to be built before I can move in."
"What’s so great about the shelters... four people to a room, and they don’t even let men and women live together. Isn’t this just forcibly separating me and my girlfriend?!"
"I seem to remember the shelter agreement saying that strict management is only enforced when an Apocalypse Rule is active. During non-rule periods, you can still apply to go out and meet people from other shelters."
