「Noon, April 1st. The Argan Grassland.」
Sunlight spilled from a sky as clear as old blue cloth, landing upon a land of yellow and green.
At the foot of the hill, by the side of a stream, a few yaks slowly chewed on green grass, their tails swishing leisurely.
In a sheltered spot not far away, several black tents were pitched. A few people were scattered about, some standing, some sitting. They were of various ages, both old and young, but all wore thin woolen clothes, their skin flushed a healthy red from constant exposure to the sun.
One of them, a tall, sturdy man with dark skin, clapped his hands and said with a smile, "Today, our big family has a new member. Let’s give her a warm welcome."
Under the curious gazes of the crowd, a woman wearing a robe patterned with stars walked over slowly and said to them, "Hello, everyone. I am Moon Key."
"Moon Key? What a strange name..."
"A newcomer in our tribe? How rare!"
Led by the tribal chief, the tall, dark-skinned man, the tribe members all began to applaud.
The man said, "Yue, we’ll just call you that. The names of our tribe members are all simplified to make things easier. You can call me ’Jie’."
Moon Key nodded in agreement.
A young girl with twin braids asked curiously, "Where are you from? And how did you find us?"
The other tribe members also looked puzzled, as their tribe had been formed under unusual circumstances.
In the early days of the Apocalypse Rules, some people who firmly believed that modern technology could not save humanity connected online. The most radical among them thought the only way to survive the disaster was to get away from industrial society and return to a primitive, pastoral life.
So, a portion of them gathered offline and chose to come here together, to the Argan Grassland, a high-altitude and rarely-visited place, to live a raw, natural existence.
As extremists, these people had abandoned all industrial products, no longer even using the internet, and had completely cut off contact with the outside world. Even if other groups entered the Argan Grassland, the odds of encountering them on such a vast prairie were very small.
That was why they couldn’t help but feel bewildered that this mysterious-looking woman had managed to find them and wanted to join.
Moon Key said, "My Superpower is ’Prophecy.’ I prophesied that this place would be my ’destined place,’ or, you could say, my ’promised land,’ so I came here. Since you all live here, I believe joining you is what I am meant to do."
The power of Prophecy!
Hearing this, the tribe members all looked astonished.
The chief, Jie, smiled at everyone. "Everyone, this is a good thing. Since we chose to return to a pastoral, tribal life, doesn’t the arrival of someone with the power of Prophecy symbolize that our choice was the right one? Yue will be our Priestess!"
"A Priestess?! Yes, that’s perfect!"
"It really is..."
"The tribe really does need a Priestess! A warm welcome to Miss Yue!"
Jie’s declaration of Moon Key’s status as "Priestess" was met with an immediate and enthusiastic response from the crowd.
Moon Key calmly accepted the role.
The girl who had asked the question was even more excited. "Moon Priestess, I’m Hua... Please, stay in my tent! There’s still a lot of space inside."
Moon Key smiled. "Then thank you, Hua."
Just then, a middle-aged woman brought a woolen sweater out from a tent and handed it to Moon Key. "Moon Priestess, please change into this. It’s a pure wool sweater we knitted by hand. It doesn’t contain a single bit of plastic, so it’s the safest."
"That’s right! This Rule is very simple for us. We’ll pass it without having to do anything," another young man said, puffing out his chest with pride.
"Our tents might look black and old, but they’re woven from pure yak hair. The clothes we wear are pure wool, we eat fresh meat and jerky, drink yak and sheep’s milk and clean stream water. There’s zero plastic pollution! Unlike in the cities, where there are contaminants everywhere!"
Moon Key gave a slight nod without saying much and followed the girl named Hua into the tent. The furnishings inside were simple: a sheepskin rug was spread on the ground, with some wooden jars, rawhide ropes, and other miscellaneous items on top.
After she had settled in, the chief, Jie, came to see her. "Moon Priestess, everyone is very curious about your power. If you don’t mind, please give us a demonstration tonight. Also, people want to know what’s happening in the outside world. You can tell us about that then."
Jie chuckled as he spoke. "It’s been over a year since we came to the grasslands from the city, and we’ve completely cut off all contact with the outside. Though everyone says they’re not curious, deep down they’d like to know how the cities are doing."
"Alright," Moon Key nodded.
After Jie left, Moon Key took out her Crystal Ball. She hadn’t brought any of her other divination tools; a single Crystal Ball was enough.
She gazed at the faint light swirling within the Crystal Ball, her eyes deep with thought. ’Is this really my promised land? What does fate mean by guiding me here...?’
...
Information about the hidden Rule was quickly released by the various organizations that obtained it.
As expected, its shocking contents immediately sparked a massive global debate.
"This so-called ’Plastimorphosis’ reaction... it forces people to sacrifice their fertility, and all you get in return is a fifty-fifty chance of success?"
"That’s insane! Who would actually do something like that?"
"That said, this ability to ’become immune to and purge microplastics’ is basically a Superpower, right? You Ascenders might not care, but it’s pretty tempting for us normal people."
"???"
"Is the person above me joking? A normal person would take that kind of risk? Don’t forget, you become permanently sterile even if you succeed!"
"So what if you can’t have kids? Plenty of people were infertile back in the age of peace, and it’s not like they couldn’t go on living."
"Everyone, don’t do anything rash... For this Rule, as long as the government properly coordinates food, shelter, air filtration, and other issues, we should be able to get through it alive."
"The person above is even more delusional. You think it’s that easy to coordinate? Just look at food and water. A lot of the food stored in supply depots is packaged in plastic film, what they call ’soft cans.’ Most of the drinking water is stored in large plastic barrels. Who knows if this food and water is even usable now, or how much microplastic is in it?"
"Even if the toxicity of microplastics is greatly increased, it won’t kill you instantly. Today is only the first day the Rule was announced. It won’t be that fast."
"I wouldn’t be so sure. Don’t forget, our bodies already contain a lot of microplastics. There’s no telling what will happen once their toxicity is ramped up!"
"That’s true! The government should give everyone a physical, right?"
"I’m going to wait and see for a few days. It would be best if the government can coordinate things well and the casualty rate isn’t high. But if this Rule is highly lethal and the government has no solution, then I’m seriously going to gamble on that fifty percent Plastimorphosis chance!"
The internet was rife with endless debates about choices, safeguards, and other issues. Although the governments of various nations all stated they would release response plans as soon as possible, an atmosphere of spreading panic was unavoidable.
It wasn’t long before a dissenting voice cut through the arguments.
"This is the Fire Thief’s punishment for humanity’s pollution of the environment! From the highest mountains to the deepest oceans, plastic bags are everywhere. This plastic breaks down into particles, becoming microplastics. Animals eat them, and then they’re passed up the food chain to our dinner tables. We brought this on ourselves by not caring for the environment!"
However, this voice had barely emerged before it was swarmed and suppressed by others.
"That’s completely confusing cause and effect. If plastic was this toxic from the start, why would humanity have ever developed it? This is the Fire Thief’s fault for drastically increasing its toxicity."
"Are you seriously trying to defend the Fire Thief? Go back to reading your ’Word of God’!"
"These Cultists still dare to show their faces. Looks like the Human Federation didn’t bomb them hard enough."
"Anyone who thinks the Apocalypse Rules are justified is an enemy of humanity!!!"
While the internet was in chaos, the real world was no different.
In a women’s shelter in North Star, several sharp screams suddenly erupted.
"AHHH!!!"
"Someone, help!"
The screams drew people from several dorms to see what was happening. Hearing the noise, the shelter’s administrator also immediately rushed toward the dorm where the screams originated, bringing along the medical personnel assigned to every shelter.
As soon as the administrator pushed open the door, she saw two panicked, helpless women standing by the entrance, another woman lying unconscious on a bed with blood trickling from the corner of her mouth, and a fourth woman performing chest compressions on the one in bed.
"What happened? What’s wrong with her?!" The shelter’s medical personnel hurried over to examine her, while the administrator shouted at the other three roommates.
The roommate performing the chest compressions said hastily, "I went to get some water, and when I came back, I found her unconscious, bleeding from the mouth, and her skin was breaking out in yellow spots... I... I don’t think she’s going to make it!"
The medical personnel quickly examined the unconscious woman, finding abnormal breathing, skin discoloration, hemorrhaging, and swelling. They immediately made a diagnosis.
"These are symptoms of organ failure! And it’s multiple organ failure throughout the body!"
The three roommates and the administrator were shocked to hear this.
Organ failure... this was undoubtedly caused by the microplastic toxicity mentioned in the new Rule.
"No, that’s impossible... How could it be so fast? This is only the first day of the new Rule!" one of the roommates shouted, grabbing her hair in disbelief.
The medical personnel frowned. "It’s possible she already had a high concentration of microplastics in her body and then absorbed more from an external source, pushing her past the critical threshold. Have you cleared all the plastic items out of your dorm?"
Shortly after the Rule was announced this morning, the government had notified all shelters to remove all plastic items and move them outside. Because of this, various tables, chairs, sofas, and even clothes and bedsheets made of synthetic fibers had been cleared out, leaving every dorm room looking as bare as an unfurnished house.
Another roommate was on the verge of a breakdown. "We cleared everything! We threw everything out, so how could this still happen?!"
The shelter administrator’s eyes swept across the dorm. She indeed saw no obvious plastic items. After a moment’s thought, she walked into the bathroom. When she saw what was on the sink, she flew into a rage.
She took a piece of pure cloth from her pocket, wrapped the item in it, came out, and demanded harshly, "Look at this! What is this?!"
The three roommates stared, stunned. Wrapped in the cloth was a small glass bottle containing some liquid.
"Th-that’s facial cleanser that was poured out of a plastic bottle... We threw the plastic bottle away. Glass is fine, isn’t it?"
The administrator’s face was ashen. "Facial cleanser was on the official list of plastic items! Didn’t you see it?! Did you think only the bottle was plastic? Many deep-cleansing facial cleansers contain large amounts of microplastic particles in the liquid itself! She must have washed her face with it after the Rule was announced, didn’t she?!"
The three roommates were too scared to speak, having never imagined that facial cleanser could also contain microplastics.
"Administrator," the medical worker said, looking over with a pained expression. "She’s gone."