49 Apocalypse Rules

Chapter 117: Chapter 112: The Shadow Is Enough

Guan Tong sat up. He remotely controlled his Shadow, making it intangible to follow the vehicles and see what was happening.

His own car, the one he’d driven from Yunhua, was parked in these very woods. He would need it later if he had to return to the city or go elsewhere. It would be a huge hassle if someone stole or damaged it.

The vehicles stopped at the edge of the forest. Three people—a man and two women—jumped out of the small truck in the lead and immediately ran deep into the woods.

Several jeeps pulled up behind them, and a dozen or so men armed with knives, guns, and clubs got out and gave chase.

Guan Tong received the feed from his Shadow in real-time. It looked like a hunt.

He continued to control the Shadow, following them. The man and two women in the lead were trying to use the dense forest to hide and shake off their pursuers.

But their pursuers were numerous and spread out as they advanced. It would be impossible for the three of them to hide without first gaining a significant lead. freeweɓnovel.cøm

Just then, one of the three, a young woman, accidentally tripped on a tree root and let out a low cry.

’This is bad.’

Seeing this, Guan Tong knew she had broken the rule.

Her two companions, who had been about to help her up, froze when they heard the sound. After a moment’s hesitation, they had no choice but to abandon her and keep running.

However, the Sound Hunter hadn’t arrived yet. Instead, the pursuers who caught up were exceptionally vicious. One of them, armed with a club, brought it down on the fallen woman’s head, killing her instantly.

Guan Tong’s heart jumped at the sight. ’What kind of grudge do they have to be this ruthless?’

Just then, the bearded man used a tablet to speak: "Keep chasing. Kill the other two, then we’ll go back and collect the supplies."

’They’re using a text-to-speech device...’ Guan Tong saw the remaining man and woman running east, apparently intending to climb the mountain via the eastern slope.

Mingdao Mountain wasn’t very large. Coming up the eastern slope, it wouldn’t take long to reach the mountainside. At that point, Guan Tong’s own shelter would surely be exposed.

During this harsh Rule Stage, he really didn’t want to get involved with anyone else. But from the looks of it, they were definitely heading up the mountain.

Sure enough, the man and woman ran up the mountain first, with the dozen or so pursuers following close behind.

Guan Tong got up, grabbed his Silver Hunter, and left the cabin. After stepping outside, he had another thought. He manipulated a mass of shadow, solidifying it into a human form, dressed it, and sent it to intercept them on the path they were bound to take.

Before long, the man and woman in the lead suddenly spotted a figure standing ahead of them in the moonlight.

At first, they were startled, thinking it was one of the bearded man’s crew, but a second thought told them that was impossible.

The bearded man’s group were all non-Ascenders. They couldn’t possibly be fast enough to circle around and block their path.

’Could it be someone camping on the mountain?’

A sliver of hope grew in Yu’s heart. She hurried forward and showed the person the text she had quickly typed on her phone: (Can you help us? A group of thugs are trying to kill us!)

"..."

Although the Shadow possessed all five senses, it couldn’t speak on its own. Under normal circumstances, this might arouse suspicion, but during the Silent Moment rule, not speaking was perfectly normal.

The man with Yu also typed: (Please! They’re a bunch of homicidal maniacs!)

Hidden from view, Guan Tong saw the words they typed on their phones through his Shadow’s eyes and considered how to handle the situation.

Just then, the bearded man arrived with his dozen-plus followers. When they saw the extra "person," their expressions turned wary.

The bearded man used his tablet to ask, "You there, the one in the helmet. Who are you?"

To disguise the Shadow as a human, Guan Tong had not only dressed it in clothes but also had it form a helmet over its head, completely concealing its face.

At that moment, one of the bearded man’s underlings used his phone’s text-to-speech: "Boss, this guy isn’t with them. He must have already been on the mountain."

A vicious glint flashed in the bearded man’s eyes. He typed and the voice synthesizer spoke: "Already living on the mountain? That means he has supplies, too. Perfect. Kill them all. We’ll take back two sets of supplies. Go."

The electronic female voice faded, and the dozen or so underlings swarmed forward.

Guan Tong now had confirmation that these people were indeed thugs who murdered for supplies. There was nothing more to be said.

He controlled the Shadow to meet them head-on. It raised its hands, and two black Shadow Blades extended from its wrists, piercing through the chests of two thugs in the first clash.

SHLICK!

The Shadow pulled its blades free in a spray of blood. It then lunged toward the others, taking at least one life with every pass.

Meanwhile, the thugs’ attacks were all effortlessly dodged by the Shadow.

Since the Shadow’s physical capabilities were linked to his own, Guan Tong now realized that with his current constitution, dealing with these ordinary people had become remarkably easy.

In just seven or eight seconds, more than half of the dozen or so thugs were on the ground. This terrified the rest, who started to back away.

But they had made their choice, and now they had to face the consequences.

As far as Guan Tong was concerned, since these thugs had chosen to murder and rob for supplies, he would be the one to deliver their consequences.

The Shadow continued its pursuit, quickly finishing off the remaining thugs.

When almost all of his underlings were down, the leader, the bearded man, finally snapped out of his terror, pulled out a pistol, and frantically emptied the clip at the Shadow.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

The bullets struck the Shadow’s body, but aside from tearing a few holes in its clothes, they had no effect.

"Monster!" the bearded man shrieked, his composure shattering. In his experience, very few Ascenders could withstand bullets.

"You’re a monster!"

This shout came directly from his own mouth, not from his tablet’s text-to-speech.

In response, the Shadow, which had been about to pierce the bearded man’s chest with a Shadow Blade, stopped. Instead, it took a few steps back and watched him in silence.

The bearded man had assumed he was about to be killed, which was why he had screamed without a second thought. But at the last moment, the figure had aborted its attack.

He immediately realized this wasn’t an act of mercy, but one of malice.

’This thing wants to wait for the Sound Hunter to kill me!!!’

The moment the bearded man realized this, his mind was completely consumed by terror.

He had seen how Sound Hunters kill. The monsters were completely invisible to the naked eye, like ghosts that silently pierced the speaker’s throat.

That uncertain time of death, when it would descend without warning, was the greatest form of torture for a human being.

Most people would rather die instantly than wait in terror for an inevitable death.

It was like how some death row inmates in the Middle Ages, with no set execution date, would sometimes scare themselves to death before the sentence could even be carried out.

"Damn you, monster! Don’t even think about it!"

The bearded man roared, raised the gun, and shoved the barrel into his mouth. He was going to kill himself, denying his enemy the chance to observe the Sound Hunter kill him.

But before he could pull the trigger, a Shadow Blade severed his fingers and wrist. The pistol clattered to the ground.

"No..."

The bearded man bent over, trying to pick up the gun with his other hand, but it was too late.

The instant he bent down, his neck was suddenly pierced by something invisible. Blood gushed out.

Guan Tong, observing from the shadows, narrowed his eyes. ’The Sound Hunter has Invisibility?’

The bearded man had been right. The reason Guan Tong hadn’t killed him was indeed because he had made a sound. Guan Tong wanted to wait for the Sound Hunter to attack so he could observe what it was, how it attacked, and how strong it was.

Guan Tong watched very carefully. With his own eyes and the Shadow’s vision providing a dual perspective, he hadn’t detected the Sound Hunter’s presence at all.

This meant the Sound Hunter possessed Invisibility and couldn’t be perceived by the naked eye.

’How am I supposed to fight an enemy like that?’

Looking at the fallen bearded man, Guan Tong had an idea. A large amount of shadow spread out from the surroundings, transforming into countless tiny tentacles as fine as strands of hair, trying to capture the Sound Hunter’s presence through the sense of "touch."

But his attempt ended in failure. Of the hundreds or thousands of shadow tentacles that spread out, not a single one sent back any tactile feedback.

’Was it because the Sound Hunter was too fast and left immediately after killing the bearded man...?’

Guan Tong’s heart sank.

Invisibility and high speed. These two traits alone were enough to demonstrate just how dangerous the Sound Hunter was.

Meanwhile, Yu and her male companion had not noticed Guan Tong hiding in the dark, nor his attempt to make contact with the Sound Hunter.

The two of them were still reeling from watching the Shadow annihilate the thugs. Its speed, its strength, and the blades it used for assassination sent a chill down their spines.

’This has to be an Ascender! And a very powerful one who’s skilled in combat!’

Yu came back to her senses, composed herself, and typed a line on her phone before approaching the Shadow to show it: (Thank you for saving us!)

Guan Tong saw it but wasn’t particularly concerned.

He had realized as soon as he started fighting that these thugs were not Ascenders. They were likely the kind of people whose Psychic Power limit had decayed to zero and whose personal terminals had been shut down. They banded together, using their numbers and ferocity to kill and plunder in the wild, making them a de facto gang of marauders.

Eliminating them was like getting rid of a public menace; Guan Tong felt no unease about it.

As for any tension from the fight, there was none. He didn’t even need to show up himself to deal with these guys; the Shadow was more than enough to defeat them.

However, his initial thinking hadn’t changed: during the Silent Moment rule, he didn’t want to have too much contact or form any connections with others.

So, in response to the middle-aged woman’s typed message, he didn’t reply. He just had the Shadow nod and then turn to leave.

Yu and her male companion were taken aback. The man mustered his courage, stepped forward, and showed his phone: (Excuse me, do you have a camp on the mountain? Can we join you?)

The Shadow shook its head, continued walking, and soon disappeared into the night.

The man looked disappointed. Yu then typed for him to see: (It seems they don’t want any contact with us. Let’s not bother them.)

(Then, Yu, what should we do? Our camp... should we go back? But there are only two of us left...)

Yu: (We can’t go back. We don’t know if those thugs had other accomplices. Let’s go bury Sun first. Then we can set up a temporary camp at the foot of the mountain for now.)

Sun was the young woman who had been escaping with them. If she hadn’t accidentally tripped on that root, she might still be alive.

(Okay, I’ll listen to you, Yu.) The man nodded, and they headed back the way they came together.

After they left, a Shadow Surveillance Eye hanging on a nearby tree transmitted the image back to Guan Tong, who was already back in his cabin and felt reasonably satisfied.

The middle-aged woman, Yu, was quite perceptive. She had realized he didn’t want to be disturbed and hadn’t continued up the mountain to find his camp.

’Though it could also be out of fear,’ Guan Tong thought.

After all, he had controlled his Shadow to effortlessly eliminate over a dozen thugs. This meant that if they angered him, the two of them would likely meet the same fate.

But more than the thugs, what occupied Guan Tong’s thoughts now was the Sound Hunter.

How could he use his advantages to eliminate a fast enemy with Invisibility? This was something that definitely required careful thought and planning.