49 Apocalypse Rules

Chapter 123: Chapter 117: Base and Commission

Liu Yuqiang gazed at the distant mountains and fields, his heart heavy with melancholy.

It had been exactly one month since he left Capital Yong’an.

Because "Big Sis" had access to inside information, he had learned that wartime management was about to be declared long before the official live press conference.

After sharing the news, Big Sis ordered the members of the Qingmei Association to evacuate the city and head to a secret base she had established outside its walls.

Although this was an order from Big Sis, Liu Yuqiang knew that even if she hadn’t forced the issue, he wouldn’t have stayed in the city to live in a sanctuary.

However, choosing to come out here meant abandoning everything he had built up. The vast majority of his surviving employees had chosen to stay behind, either moving into or waiting to move into the sanctuaries. Only a handful of his most trusted confidants had come with him.

And this "Qingmei Base" was the place Big Sis had mentioned at that previous Qingmei gathering.

It was a sprawling, fully equipped base built inside a mountain.

Liu Yuqiang suspected it might have once been some kind of doomsday command center built for a nuclear war, but for some unknown reason, Big Sis had taken control of it and extensively modified it.

The renovations added many new functional areas, such as a prison for Ascenders. In the early days after the rules were announced, all the Ascenders captured from the various cities were imprisoned there.

After arriving at the base, Liu Yuqiang and the other Qingmei Association members were all assigned jobs and positions according to their specialties.

Liu Yuqiang was assigned to be the director of the logistics department. His daily job was to coordinate the distribution of various supplies. In return, he periodically received Sublimation Coins and some items as "wages."

This life was not what Liu Yuqiang had hoped for, nor was it what most Qingmei Association members wanted. But now that they were on this boat, they had no other choice.

Besides, they needed Big Sis’s resources to stay alive more than she needed them. Anyone with eyes could see that the rules set by the Fire Thief had always favored the young and strong.

For people like them, with an average age of over fifty, if they didn’t band together and use Big Sis’s power to seize resources from other Ascenders, they would inevitably be eliminated by the Fire Thief one by one.

That was a fate they were absolutely unwilling to accept.

"Director."

Just then, a subordinate came over, reporting to him with text on a tablet.

"The collection operation is about to begin. The higher-ups have requested the list of needed supplies."

Liu Yuqiang nodded and transferred the list to his subordinate.

The Qingmei Base had a large population, and its daily consumption of supplies was enormous.

After the state declared wartime management, all factories capable of producing supplies were taken over by the government. Combined with the documentation needed to enter or leave the city, transporting supplies to the outside became extremely difficult.

For this reason, Big Sis had previously instructed him to periodically compile a list of supplies that were often in short supply. She would then send people to "collect" them.

Liu Yuqiang knew perfectly well that "collect" meant raiding the camps of other wilderness gangs. Even if they didn’t get much each time, every little bit counted.

The subordinate who received the list quickly handed it to a short-haired woman.

The short-haired woman entered a room.

Inside the room were five people, all wearing uniforms imprinted with a black Qingmei emblem.

One was sitting on the sofa watching TV, one was in a corner listening to music with headphones on, one was fiddling with building blocks, one was toying with a curved blade, and a little girl was staring blankly into space.

As soon as the short-haired woman entered, all five looked over.

The woman used a device to convert text to speech: "A mission has come in. This is your first mission since forming a team."

"..."

The five of them stood up and approached.

The woman took out a supply list. "The mission is simple. Search for the supplies on this list within the areas marked A1 through A9 on the map. You don’t need to bring them back. Just eliminate any threats, send the coordinates back to the base, and the base will dispatch logistics personnel to retrieve them."

The young man wearing headphones typed a line on his phone and held it up for the woman to see: "What do you mean by ’eliminate any threats’?"

The electronic voice replied flatly, "Exactly what it says."

Gu Fei snatched the list, his gesture a clear acceptance of the mission.

The others didn’t object either and began to head out the door.

When it was the last girl’s turn, the short-haired woman made a point to pat her on the shoulder and said in her electronic voice, "You don’t need to fight when you encounter a threat. Just assist your teammates and let them know the exact number and location of the enemies."

The girl nodded slightly, her face a little pale.

The short-haired woman paused, then added, "After this rule ends, I will apply to the Commander-in-Chief to let you see your mother."

Upon hearing this, a flicker of light finally appeared in Chen Na’s eyes.

...

BOOM!

Guan Tong fired a series of No. 2 slug rounds, taking down another Sound Hunter.

[Received 350 Sublimation Coins]

’Still no Communication Secret Scroll drop...’ freeweɓnovēl.coɱ

Guan Tong felt a tinge of disappointment as he saw the notification.

By now, he had already killed more than five Sound Hunters.

However, a Secret Scroll had only dropped on the first and fourth kills. The first time, three dropped, but the fourth time, only one dropped.

This showed that the drop rate for this thing was really not high; he had just gotten lucky the first time.

But disappointment aside, it was definitely still worth it.

Guan Tong had sold the fourth Communication Secret Scroll for twenty-five thousand, and now his total Sublimation Coins were close to sixty thousand! For a lone wolf like him, this was a number he could never have dreamed of before.

However, unlike before, other people had now started selling Communication Secret Scrolls on the market as well.

This wasn’t surprising.

Never mind the various organizations; the official departments of at least a few of the more powerful nations had the strength to eliminate Sound Hunters. They couldn’t do it at first simply because they hadn’t figured out the Sound Hunter’s behavior patterns.

Once they understood, eliminating them wasn’t difficult for the authorities; it would just consume some resources at most.

It was just that, compared to the vast Blue Ocean market, there still weren’t enough Communication Secret Scrolls in circulation. Demand still outstripped supply.

After all, one Secret Scroll only allowed for ten minutes of communication. Ten scrolls were just a little over an hour and a half. For certain specialists, even a hundred of these wouldn’t be too many.

With demand exceeding supply, even with others starting to produce them, the low drop rate meant each scroll could still sell for a price of over 20,000.

Guan Tong continued to farm mobs.

After a few optimizations, he no longer needed to spend a large amount of Psychic Power to summon the Giant Axe Warrior. He could just use a Living Dead to attract a Sound Hunter and then take it out with about twenty of the Silver Hunter’s No. 2 slug rounds.

If he used No. 3 rounds, it would still take a dozen or so shots. This was because the Sound Hunter was too small, so the full power of a large explosion couldn’t be brought to bear on it, weakening the effect.

The ammo consumption was actually quite high, but since Guan Tong had previously used the Holy Grail buff to stockpile a lot of bullets, he could now put them to good use.

This was no time to be stingy with ammunition. He could always use his Psychic Power to slowly generate and save up more bullets later, but opportunities like this to farm mobs and sell currency were rare.

He continued farming until dusk, eliminating another ten Sound Hunters, but in total, only two Communication Secret Scrolls dropped, leaving him feeling quite frustrated.

Once it got dark, he stopped farming and returned to his wooden cabin to take stock of his remaining ammunition.

He was now down to only 10 rounds of the Silver Hunter’s No. 2 ammo, which he had saved intentionally. He still had about 200 rounds of No. 3 ammo. The No. 1, 4, and 5 types were mostly unused, as there was no need for them.

Scatter Shot, Smoke Bombs, and electromagnetic pulses were all ineffective against Sound Hunters. The only things that could cause effective damage were the No. 2 slug rounds and the No. 3 High-Explosive Bombs.

’Two hundred rounds of No. 3 ammo... if I’m accurate, I can take out a dozen more Sound Hunters,’ Guan Tong thought. ’After that, I’ll have to start generating bullets with my Psychic Power.’

He had originally planned to use his large reserves of Psychic Power for farming, but the extremely low drop rate of the Communication Secret Scrolls made him abandon that idea.

If they dropped every time, using his reserved Psychic Power would be well worth it. But if, on average, it took several kills for just one drop, then it wasn’t worth it.

The reason he had stockpiled so much Psychic Power was to save his life in emergencies when facing multiple enemies. He certainly wouldn’t play this trump card unless he could get a massive return several times over.

While the price was still firm, Guan Tong sold the two newly dropped Secret Scrolls on the market for 28,000 each, earning another 56,000.

With that, his total Sublimation Coins reached 120,637—over 120,000. Compared to before this rule began, it was as if he had struck it rich overnight.

Thinking back to how he had struggled so hard to get just 10 coins using the Wordless Book, Guan Tong found it a bit funny... but it was also related to how low his Psychic Power had been back then.

If he were to do that now, he would surely get a lot more Binding Coins—though he probably wouldn’t do it again.

Guan Tong knew very well that every page of the Wordless Book was now crucial. When the time came to write on the fifth page, he would definitely write something that would bring him a tangible improvement.

So far, there was the Shadow on the first page, the Silver Hunter on the second, the reserved Psychic Power on the third, and the All-Purpose Sanctuary on the fourth... Each one had played an irreplaceable role in his growth. Without any one of them, he wouldn’t be as strong as he was today.

So, when it came to the fifth page, he had to think it over carefully and manifest an item or ability that could continuously improve him.

Opening the Ascender’s Home website, he saw many people discussing the Communication Secret Scrolls being sold on the market, and many were also asking for the person who could eliminate them to share their secret.

Guan Tong didn’t think there was much of a secret. To sum it up in one sentence: attack the Sound Hunter at the exact moment it launches its own attack. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm

But to eliminate one, two conditions had to be met.

First, someone had to make a sound to attract the Sound Hunter. Guan Tong could summon a Living Dead to make noise in place of a human, but most other Ascenders probably didn’t have such an item.

This meant that if they wanted to try attacking a Sound Hunter, they would need someone else to make a sound. But who would be willing to risk their life just so you could test out an attack?

Second, the attack’s power had to be strong enough.

The Sound Hunter wasn’t large, but its defense was astonishing. An attack that wasn’t strong enough wouldn’t kill it. If it was only injured, it would quickly turn invisible and teleport away, wasting the previous attack.

Therefore, meeting these two conditions was not easy. The reason Guan Tong hadn’t immediately publicized the method was that he was worried. If he did, some people would definitely force others to make noise to attract Sound Hunters so they could try to kill them.

He knew that some groups or organizations were probably already doing this, but the fewer, the better.

Just then, he saw a post in the "Commissions" section that had a fair number of replies.

Can anyone get their hands on the "Anti-Speech Masks" issued by the sanctuaries? I’m willing to buy a batch, can trade with Sublimation Coins or supplies.

The poster said he was the leader of a wilderness camp. He’d heard that the sanctuaries were distributing officially designed and produced "Anti-Speech Masks" and wanted to get a batch for the people in his camp.

"That mask is actually great. I’m in a sanctuary. After putting it on, you can’t talk even if you want to. Your tongue is held in place by what feels like a small splint made of silicone."

"Are these masks only being given out for free to people in sanctuaries and city Gathering Points? People outside the city don’t get them?"

"Of course, people inside the city get priority. The populations of the Gathering Points and sanctuaries are all registered, making distribution easy. People outside the city aren’t registered, so they can’t even determine the quantity needed to distribute them..."

"Isn’t this basically official profiteering? If someone could smuggle a batch out of the city, they could probably make a killing!"

"Anyone brave enough can give it a try, but if you get caught, it probably won’t end well."

"How would you even smuggle them? People in the sanctuaries can’t get out, so you’d have to buy them from people in the Gathering Points. But getting them out of the city would be a huge hassle."

"I’ve got to say, what you guys are discussing is pretty dangerous. Aren’t you afraid the officials will track you down through the website and arrest you?"

"Not afraid! We trust in the security of the webmaster’s site!"