49 Apocalypse Rules

Chapter 129: Chapter 122: The Ability to Absorb and Release

For the selection of the five official squads, there were initially one hundred candidates.

From these one hundred, thirty to forty people were chosen to form the five squads. The rest, though not selected, joined the combat rosters of various cities as reserve members, with the prospect of filling future vacancies.

The entire selection process took place at the same training base, so many of the participants knew each other. This was especially true for the thirty to forty people who were eventually formed into squads, as they had trained together for some time, with some even becoming good friends.

That was why the members of the fifth squad now looked utterly stunned to see Gu Fei step out of the vehicle.

Gu Fei, upon seeing the members of the fifth squad, was also visibly taken aback. His expression quickly darkened.

The youth in headphones held up his phone for Gu Fei to see. On it were three words: (You know them?)

Gu Fei nodded, then hesitated for a moment before typing a reply on his phone: (They’re a team established and funded by the officials.)

The youth in headphones glanced at it, his expression as placid as ever, showing no change.

Just then, Xu You, the captain of the fifth squad, used his phone’s text-to-speech to ask, "Gu Fei, who are these people with you?"

The other squad members all knew that Gu Fei had been kicked out of the third squad. Some had tried to contact him about it, but he never replied and had been missing ever since.

They never expected to see him again, especially not outside the city.

What’s more, judging by the fact that Gu Fei and the other four were wearing matching uniforms with a black Qingmei pattern, he had clearly joined some organization.

Gu Fei used his phone’s text-to-speech to reply, "None of your business. Get lost."

Xu You frowned. But then, the youth in headphones shook his head and typed a line of text for Gu Fei to see: (They’re from an Official Team. We can’t let them go.) freewёbn૦νeɭ.com

Gu Fei’s expression changed slightly, but ultimately, he didn’t type a rebuttal.

Although not a single word had been spoken between the two sides, the shift in the tense atmosphere couldn’t have been more direct.

Both sides could feel it: a battle was inevitable.

Xu You glanced at his teammates, giving them a signal with his eyes, and then immediately made his move!

He was taking the initiative. The moment he raised his hand, he summoned a silenced pistol and, without even aiming, fired several shots at the youth in headphones.

He knew Gu Fei. That guy had always been wild and defiant, yet he was completely subservient to the youth in headphones. It was obvious the headphone-wearing man was the leader of the group.

’To catch bandits, first catch the king. If I can take him out first, the rest might just surrender without a fight.’

However, he had underestimated their reaction speed. The instant he raised his hand, the young man with glasses, who looked like a college student, summoned a sphere of light.

The sphere generated a circular Light Shield, enveloping both him and the youth in headphones. Xu You’s bullets dissipated the moment they hit it, unable to break through.

Xu You’s brow furrowed. At the same time, his teammates also moved, some to defend, others to attack.

The speedy Xu Wei circled around to the flank to launch an attack but was intercepted by the teenager in the sweater.

He summoned his own item—a large collection of irregularly shaped building blocks. At the direction of his fingers, they assembled into three wild wolves that surrounded Xu Wei.

The burly man holding a giant axe, Old Iron, attacked from the front, swinging his great axe down. Gu Fei rushed out to meet him, engaging him with his scimitar.

The other two members of the fifth squad, Zhang Qian, who was responsible for communications and healing, lacked combat strength. He didn’t advance but instead immediately contacted the base to report the sudden battle.

The other man, Liu Ze, who excelled in defense, was now protecting Zhang Qian and Xu You, vigilantly guarding against any enemy attacks on their team’s "healer" and "marksman."

On the other side, there were also five people. Gu Fei and Old Iron, two melee fighters, were locked in combat. The sweater-wearing teen was holding up Xu Wei. The one with glasses was continuously holding the sphere of light, maintaining the shield.

The remaining youth in headphones hadn’t moved; he was just watching. And the very young girl was simply standing behind the vehicle, apparently with no intention of joining the fight.

Xu You quickly analyzed the battlefield and signaled Liu Ze with his eyes to cover him. He then gathered his Psychic Power. The gun in his hand transformed; the silencer vanished, replaced by a long, thick barrel.

This was the result of his in-depth development of his exclusive weapon. It had started as just a silenced pistol, but now it could switch to a second, sniper form.

He raised it and aimed at the youth in headphones, intending to take him out in a single shot.

However, the instant their eyes met, an indescribable sense of fatigue washed over him from within, and the hand holding the gun became unsteady.

"BANG!"

A muffled gunshot rang out. The bullet shot straight through the glasses-wearing youth’s defensive Light Shield, startling him.

But the bullet didn’t pierce the headphone-wearing youth’s head. It just grazed his face, leaving a shallow cut.

What was most surprising was that the youth in headphones, who had just narrowly avoided getting his head blown off, didn’t even flinch. He kept his gaze fixed on Xu You, the shooter. Xu You tried to look away but found he couldn’t. His whole body grew weaker and weaker, until he could no longer hold his gun and it disappeared.

The defender, Liu Ze, saw that something was wrong. He quickly used an item to summon a large shield, breaking the line of sight between Xu You and the youth in headphones.

The moment the connection was severed, Xu You’s knees buckled, and he nearly collapsed. Fortunately, Zhang Qian caught him in time, his eyes filled with worry and questions.

Xu You glanced at his own status panel. ’Just as I thought.’ He managed to type on his phone and have it speak: "Don’t make eye contact with that bastard in the headphones. His eyes can drain people’s stamina and Psychic Power. These enemies are dangerous. Use all items."

’He can drain Psychic Power through eye contact?’

The squad members had never heard of such a bizarre ability. At a time like this, they could only trust their captain’s judgment. Almost simultaneously, they all took out a large number of offensive items and hurled them at the enemy team in a saturation attack!

Members of the Official Teams never lacked for items. This was part of the investment in them and their method for unleashing maximum firepower at critical moments.

Twenty to thirty different offensive items rained down, instantly breaking through the glasses-wearing youth’s light sphere defense. Explosions and fire engulfed both him and the youth in headphones.

Gu Fei, however, had managed to get clear in time and wasn’t caught in the blast. Having come from an Official Team himself, he was very familiar with this tactic and knew not to face it head-on.

But because the [Silent Moment] rule was still in effect, he couldn’t speak to warn his teammates. And it went without saying that the level of coordination in his current team was abysmally low.

After the fire and smoke from the explosions cleared, the college-student-like youth with glasses lay on the ground, his condition unknown. But the youth in headphones was completely unscathed, without so much as a tear in his clothes.

Xu You and the others were shocked. They saw the youth’s pupils shift and had a sudden realization: ’Don’t tell me his eyes can’t just absorb stamina and Psychic Power, but also the damage from Psychic Power-based items? If so, how can we hurt him? Do we have to rely on physical attacks?’

The youth in headphones then closed his eyes, as if to signal that it was now his turn to attack.

Xu You immediately gave Old Iron and Xu Wei the hand signal to retreat.

Xu Wei, who had just destroyed the sweater boy’s block-monster wolves, immediately pushed off her toes and retreated at high speed.

But Old Iron had charged too far forward and couldn’t pull back in time.

At that moment, the youth in headphones opened his eyes again. Unlike the black pupils from before, this time they had turned white.

The switch from black to white seemed to signify a switch from absorption to release.

SWISH SWISH SWISH SWISH!

Hundreds of white beams, as fine as needles, shot out from his eyes. Old Iron threw out several defensive items to block them, but the white beams swiftly broke through and pierced his body.

"AHHH!!!"

Overcome by excruciating pain, Old Iron couldn’t help but cry out. Not only was he severely injured, but he had also violated the seventh rule.

Xu Wei spun around and rushed toward Old Iron, thrusting her dagger toward the front of his neck, seemingly trying to stop the Sound Hunter’s attack.

But she was too late. A mere three seconds later, Old Iron’s carotid artery was pierced. Gushing blood splattered all over Xu Wei...

...

「In another wilderness camp.」

An electronic female voice spoke up: "Captain, when is the admin of that website going to show up? The second and fifth squads get to go have all the fun, and here we are, stuck waiting. This is so boring."

Another electronic male voice replied, "Silver Fox, stop complaining. Our mission is just as important."

The ones waiting in the camp were none other than the first Official Team.

As the strongest squad, their assigned mission was to wait for an opportunity to secure and control the admin of "Ascender’s Home."

Guan Tong’s previous assessment had been correct. The request in the commission section was indeed bait, specifically designed to lure him, the "snake," out of his hole.

The officials’ original plan had been to set up an ambush near the supply warehouse inside the city and deploy a large number of surveillance devices. They hoped this would reveal how the admin was getting in and out of the city and transporting goods while avoiding the patrol drones.

But to their surprise, the admin was risk-averse and refused to transport goods from the official supply warehouse. Just as the officials were about to change their plan, the admin sent a private message saying he had his own goods that he could deliver.

After a quick discussion, the officials decided to agree. The message was reported up the chain, and the base dispatched the first squad to the designated wilderness campsite. They were just waiting for the admin to appear with the goods, at which point they would restrain him and then interrogate him for intelligence about the website and other matters.

The first squad had now been waiting at the camp for over twenty hours, but there was still no sign of the admin, and the team members were growing impatient.

Silver Fox: "Could it be that the admin has noticed something?"

Dragon Soul: "We shouldn’t have revealed any weaknesses so far."

"You can’t be so sure," Silver Fox’s electronic voice, a mature and sultry one, replied. "Who knows if he has some special reconnaissance ability."

...At that moment, Guan Tong, listening in from Mingdao Mountain, thought, ’You’re not wrong about that.’

While the members of the first squad were still waiting, Guan Tong’s Shadow Line had already slipped into the vicinity of their camp.

After he activated his auditory sense through the five senses connection, the sounds of their electronic dialogue were transmitted back to him. This confirmed it: the commission was indeed a trap. And it wasn’t set by some violent gang or wilderness organization, but by the officials themselves.

Although Guan Tong knew the officials were eager to find him, he hadn’t expected them to resort to this kind of method...

"If the admin really is Shadow, I’d quite like to meet him." Silver Fox’s electronic female voice once again reached Guan Tong’s ears. "Hopefully, he’s a handsome older man."

Dragon Soul: "What, you don’t like pretty boys?"

Silver Fox: "What’s so great about pretty boys? I prefer rugged, older men."

Dragon Soul: "I don’t think you’ll be in a position to be picky. If it really is Shadow, he’ll probably be placed under tight official protection immediately. Once he’s confirmed to be reliable, they’ll invest massive resources into training him. We might not even get a chance to meet him then."

Silver Fox: "The higher-ups think Shadow is that important?"

Dragon Soul: "Yes. The major world powers now believe that the Apocalypse Rules are a filter where the strong get stronger. It’s possible that in the end, one truly top-tier powerhouse will be able to match thousands of other Ascenders combined. Shadow already showed that potential during the battle on Holy Grail Island."

Silver Fox: "Wasn’t that just because he had the Holy Grail of Infinite Psychic Power?"

Dragon Soul: "Even with infinite Psychic Power, you still need the right abilities to make use of it. Let me ask you, with your abilities and mine, even if we had infinite Psychic Power, could we withstand a siege by hundreds, or even thousands, of people?"

Silver Fox: "...Now I’m starting to understand what the higher-ups are thinking. No wonder Dr. Zhang values that girl, Bai Xuewu, so highly. He must think she also has the potential to fight ten thousand enemies at once, right?"