Free Web NovelChapter 134: Chapter 127: The Eighth Apocalypse Rule
[The Eighth Apocalypse Rule has been released]
[Apocalypse Rule 8: World’s First]
[Rule Content: From the moment this rule is released, everyone may create challenges of any type. You may also view and participate in challenges created by others via your Terminal Panel. To succeed, you must obtain and maintain a "world’s first" record in any one challenge until the rule ends. This rule will last for 15 days.]
[Success Reward: 400 Sublimation Coins]
[Failure Penalty: Decrease in maximum Psychic Power.]
[Note: Have you ever imagined yourself achieving a world’s first in a specific, limited scenario? Try creating a challenge that only you can dominate, or you can enter a challenge set by others and snatch the victory they thought was a sure thing.]
The moment the eighth Apocalypse Rule was announced, Ascenders all over the world were stunned.
’I only pass if I get a "world’s first" record?’
For other rules, this might mean there would only be a single victor. But with this rule, since everyone could create the challenge scenario and content, it meant everyone had a chance to get a world’s first and pass the challenge.
After a brief moment of shock, people everywhere began to discuss it enthusiastically online and with each other.
"Create any challenge? I’m great at eating cake! I’ll create a cake-eating challenge. I’ll definitely get world’s first!"
"I’m good at spacing out. I even won a staring contest held at a mall once. If I just create a spacing-out contest, I should be able to get first place and pass, right?"
"To the guy who said he’s creating a cake-eating challenge: As soon as you create it, I’m coming to challenge you. You want to compete in eating against my bottomless stomach? You’re seriously overestimating yourself. Believe it or not, I can eat more cake in one day than you can in half a month!"
"Since anyone can create a challenge and also participate in others’ challenges, if everyone just sticks to their own and doesn’t interfere with anyone else, couldn’t we all just pass by default?"
"You might not interfere with others, but that doesn’t mean others won’t interfere with you. I think I’m a good sprinter—I got first place in high school—but I’m nothing compared to the pros. If I created a 100-meter dash challenge, wouldn’t a professional just come and smoke me?"
"Afraid of competition? That’s easy. I’ll create an eat-shit challenge. Let’s see who’s willing to compete with me then!"
"Hey, to the person before me, if you don’t eat enough, I’ll seriously compete with you. Having my Psychic Power decrease is worse than eating shit."
"You guys are seriously twisted..."
With the release of the eighth rule, Ascenders all over the world descended into a chaotic frenzy.
However, everyone’s mood had visibly relaxed quite a bit. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
The reason was simple. After going through two consecutive survival-type rules, [Deadly Blood Plague] and [Silent Moment], everyone was physically and mentally exhausted.
Now, the eighth rule was finally a non-survival type where failure wasn’t fatal. The nerves that had been stretched taut could finally relax a little.
Although failure would still cause a decrease in one’s maximum Psychic Power, at least there was no danger to their lives. Besides, everyone was very confident about this rule, believing they could surely find a challenge where only they could take first place.
...
Apocalypse Rules Strategy Research Room.
After the eighth rule was released, the strategy meeting was convened immediately.
Just like the relaxed mood among the general public, this meeting in the Strategy Research Room wasn’t like the ones for the previous two rules, where everyone had been tense and worried.
Since this rule seemed relatively lenient and wasn’t life-threatening, most of the experts attended with a fairly relaxed attitude.
The only one who remained serious and solemn was the person in charge, Gao Liangwei.
Ever since he became the head of the Strategy Research Room, his expression had always been stern during discussion meetings, regardless of whether the rule was "easy" or "difficult." This time was no exception.
After the meeting began, the experts started discussing among themselves.
"This rule finally lets everyone catch their breath. Honestly, if we got another survival-type rule, I feel like the pressure would have crushed a lot of people."
"Indeed. But we can’t underestimate this rule either. A decrease in Psychic Power from failure is no small matter."
"That’s right. It seems like anyone can create a challenge, but in reality, what kind of challenges can most people come up with? Special talents in eating or drinking, things like that. They might be unique within a small circle, but on a global scale, even the most niche talent becomes common."
Hearing this, everyone nodded in agreement.
Currently, the recordable population of North Star Country was over 700 million, and the total worldwide was around three billion.
With so many people, even if you’re skilled in a niche Domain, there’s bound to be someone with similar interests whose skill level might far exceed yours.
Therefore, ensuring you could get world’s first in a challenge would require a lot of careful thought.
"I think there’s one point worth noting," someone said. "Based on the previous rules, any abilities or items related to Psychic Power will be considered an extension of the Ascender themselves.
So, even if an Ascender doesn’t have a special talent that could win a world’s first, they can achieve it with items or abilities, and it will count. We can publicly encourage the masses to try using their own exclusive items or abilities to help design their challenges."
Dr. Zhang nodded upon hearing this. "That makes sense. However, considering that some abilities and items have ’superior’ and ’inferior’ versions, we’ll probably still see some overlap in challenges."
Another person said, "The tricky part of this rule is the time limit. It’s not enough to create a challenge and get world’s first; you have to maintain it until the rule ends. This gives others the opportunity to snatch first place from you midway."
Someone had a flash of insight and said, "What if we have everyone create their challenges on the last day, or even in the last minute? Wouldn’t that be a surefire way to secure first place?"
"What if the challenges overlap?" someone immediately retorted. "What if the challenge you create at that time has already been created by someone else? There’d be no time to adjust."
"Makes sense..."
"I believe there’s not much our Strategy Research Room can do for this rule. It’s up to each individual to discover or create a challenge that suits them."
"That’s right. And you can’t be sure you’ve passed until the very last second before the rule period ends. The most despairing thing would be if someone suddenly popped up in the final second and stole your first place."
"I remember a teacher in school once said that every child, regardless of their grades, has some aspect that is unique in the world. If that were really true, then everyone could pass this rule."
Hearing this, everyone smiled faintly, their faces showing a nostalgic glow.
Perhaps not everyone present had wonderful school days, but compared to the era of the Apocalypse Rules, even the worst of times back then could be considered a golden age worth remembering.
In the eyes of the public, the only people who would think the era of the Apocalypse Rules is a good thing were probably the misanthropes, the ambitious, the anarchists, or the extreme few who found the real world boring and craved a new, fantastical one.
At this point, the head, Gao Liangwei, announced, "Our main focus for the next few days will be data collection. Additionally, all of you must also strive to pass the rule. As experts in your respective fields, I trust it won’t be a problem for you to create a challenge in your own Domain and achieve world’s first."
Everyone nodded. They were confident in the accumulated knowledge within their own professional fields.
This was especially true for physicists and mathematicians. Many of the things they studied in their specialized fields were things the general public had never even heard of, let alone compete with them on.
...
Yong’an, Psychic Power Development Academy.
One week after the seventh rule ended, regular classes had resumed.
Since the academy’s students were all considered talents in the eyes of the officials and the future pillars of society, their protection was very thorough.
Whether it was being the first to receive professional-grade protective suits and oxygen masks during the Blood Plague rule, or being the first to receive officially designed Anti-Speech Masks during the no-talking rule... the care they received was evident.
And at this very moment, the students and academy lecturers were all gathered in the main auditorium, waiting together for the new rule to be announced.
After the eighth rule was released, a fierce reaction erupted among the students.
"I love this rule! No one’s going to die, finally!"
"It really is pretty good. The main thing is that the last two rules were so oppressive, I was on the verge of getting depression."
"Me too... You guys have any ideas? About creating a challenge?"
"I don’t think I have any particular strengths. I’m planning to look at the challenges others create first, see if I can get some inspiration."
"For any challenge I can think of, there’s definitely someone stronger than me out there. It’d be pointless to create it..."
"I think we need to think outside the box, come up with something disgusting that no one would want to compete with you on."
"Like what?"
"Like..." The boy who spoke looked at his roommate next to him. "Like, what if the two of us French kissed for an hour?"
"?????"
"Yeah!" another person clapped his hands. "We could totally create challenges involving people right next to us. That way, others can’t challenge us even if they want to!"
"You mean, I could create a challenge for, say, the number of times I clap hands with you? I clap hands with you 100 times, and as long as you don’t clap hands with anyone else more than 100 times during the rule period, I’m guaranteed to get world’s first?"
"Exactly! Wouldn’t that be a way to exploit a bug?"
"...It’s a good idea, but I feel like it won’t be that easy."
"You’re right about that," a person in the front row said, turning their head. "You’ll know once you try. The content of the challenge can’t include other people, or maybe it can’t specify a particular person."
"Huh?"
"In other words, you can create a hand-clapping challenge, but you can’t specify who you clap with? Then what’s the point of exploiting a bug!"
"Anyway, all the challenges I tried to create that specified a person’s name failed. You can only create ones without restrictions on specific people."
"Sigh... I thought this would be an easy pass, but it looks like it’s going to be a real hassle after all..."
Although the students were complaining, none of them seemed to be under much pressure.
Because being admitted to the academy meant their maximum Psychic Power was over 80. Even if they were just barely over 80, they didn’t have to worry about losing it all from failing one challenge.
Many students believed that even if they failed and lost ten or even twenty-something points, they could just get it back later through natural growth.
For them, they were far from having to worry about their Psychic Power dropping to zero and their Terminal Panel being forcibly shut down after failing a challenge.
While the students were discussing, the dean and three main lecturers around the podium were also discussing the rule.
The old, white-haired Dean, Zhou Qinfeng, said, "You three teachers should be able to pass this rule easily, right?"
Zheng Kexue, the lecturer in charge of the "Research on Psychic Power Items" course, was the first to nod. "I consider myself the most knowledgeable when it comes to Psychic Power items. If I create a challenge about item knowledge, no one should be able to surpass my information reserves."
Ouyang Shanyue, who was in charge of "Philosophical Reflections on Psychic Power," also smiled. "I am confident as well."
With that, he looked at Shi Jingyi, the youngest among them. "And there’s no need to even mention our highly skilled master of Martial Arts. When it comes to the application of Psychic Power Flow alone, no one in the world can surpass her, right?"
Zhou Qinfeng and Zheng Kexue both nodded in agreement. They didn’t look down on Shi Jingyi because of her age. On the contrary, after interacting with her over this period, they were all amazed that her control over Psychic Power had nearly reached a point where she could do as she pleased.
Shi Jingyi herself said, "There’s always a mountain beyond the mountain, and a person beyond the person. Somewhere in the world, there might be someone better at this than I am."
"Too modest..."
"Oh, right." Dean Zhou Qinfeng remembered something and asked, "I recall you mentioning last time that you’d found a candidate for a teaching assistant for your course? Has this person not reported to the academy yet?"
Shi Jingyi shook her head gently. "He rejected my invitation. For now, let’s just leave the teaching assistant position vacant."
Ouyang Shanyue was quite surprised to hear this. "He actually refused? It seems that candidate must be an extraordinary person as well."
Shi Jingyi smiled. "You’re not wrong about that."
