Early morning, after the routine meeting of the Suroma Empire's Senate-affiliated council, the council members left in small groups.
Andrew gathered his document bag and walked out of the council chamber alone.
Once outside he tugged at his collar and let out a long breath.
Being a council member was not as pleasant as he had imagined. It was not that the work itself was boring, but he realized he could never fit into this circle.
The other councilors did not even pretend; they openly isolated him. Several times he had mustered the courage to propose suggestions during meetings, and each time his ideas were ignored.
That was right, there weren't even people outright opposing him, they simply ignored him.
Specifically, every time he finished speaking, the meeting room would fall silent for a few seconds, and then everyone would naturally move on, bypassing whatever he had said.
After a few rounds of that, Andrew understood that as a parachuted-in council member, the others would never accept him.
So he simply gave up. Apart from attending necessary meetings, he stopped showing up. He spent his days in the large house he had recently moved into, throwing parties and numbing himself with sensory stimulation.
There were a few sober moments in that time when he remembered what Gill had told him at the National Cemetery that day. He had tried to contact Gill, but the latter seemed to have vanished and never replied.
He suspected that after that conversation Gill had left Suroma in disappointment, leaving him, his friend, behind.
Whenever Andrew thought of that he felt a mixture of loss and guilt. He knew Gill had been right, but he had no courage to face the unfathomable darkness behind that truth.
What he didn't expect was that, with the Shadow's appearance and its statement, he was immediately sucked into a whirlpool of public opinion.
Many Suromans wanted this "array item holder" to step forward and explain what had actually happened back then.
Some even got his address and threw bottles at his house late at night, which left him at a loss.
"I hope nothing troublesome happens today..."
Andrew muttered as he watched, then saw several men in uniforms wearing ID badges walking toward him, and his heart tightened.
When they approached, the one in front said, "Andrew, we are special agents from the Security Investigation Bureau. Come with us."
"Special agents from the Investigation Bureau?"
Andrew's face showed unease. That department was notorious in Suroma; from the director down to the special agents they were a bunch of thugs, often abusing the special investigative privileges granted by the Senate.
Every Suroman knew that many major miscarriages of justice during peacetime had been orchestrated by that agency, so they felt both disgust and fear toward those agents.
"What do you want to investigate me for? I'm a council member, you have no authority to investigate me!"
Although Andrew had not been a councilor long, he had seen enough to know that one of the privileges of a council member was internal investigations. If someone had committed wrongdoing, the council would investigate internally before other departments intervened.
"Normally, we indeed cannot take a council member away." The lead agent sneered and produced a document. "But with this, it's different."
Andrew took the document and felt the world spin; his vision darkened. It was an investigation order personally signed by King Bruce. A council member's privileges were worth nothing before the king.
"Convince him to cooperate as much as possible," the agent said coolly, "otherwise don't blame us for being polite, council chamber."
Hearing that, Andrew twisted his head to look and saw many councilors standing at the side, none of them showing any intention to defend their colleague; they all just watched in silence.
Andrew felt a wave of despondency and nodded before following the agents down from the car.
At the Investigation Bureau, they took him into an interrogation room. He had been sitting for maybe ten minutes when someone entered.
Andrew jumped up in surprise at the sight of the newcomer. "Dean Joiessen!"
Joiessen smiled, "It's me. Sit down."
Andrew did not sit and anxiously asked, "What exactly is going on? Why am I being brought in for investigation? I did everything you told me to do. After I came back I never mentioned that operation again!"
"Don't be anxious, Andrew." Joiessen spoke slowly. "We're not here to harm you. We want you to cooperate with one thing, something related to protecting national interests."
"Protecting national interests... what do you want me to do?" Andrew sat down with doubt.
"You must know about the Shadow's statement. The public uproar is huge. We need you, the item holder, to step forward and publicly refute and denounce the Shadow's claims."
Andrew felt a jolt inside. "You want me to lie in public?"
Joiessen smiled, "If it protects national interests, even killing or arson can be necessary. A harmless little lie is nothing."
Andrew's anger flared despite himself. Seeing Joiessen treat the matter so casually made his temper rise.
"Dean Joiessen, it's easy for you to be indifferent because you're not the one lying in public! And when you say 'protect national interests'—really? I think you're protecting certain people's interests. If you truly cared for the country, you wouldn't have let me activate the array item that killed so many Suroma Ascendants that day!"
When Andrew finished, the smile on Joiessen's face vanished, replaced by a businesslike expression.
"You may refuse to cooperate, but you must bear the consequences. Don't forget that as the item holder, the right to use it is yours. Firing the high-energy laser was your decision."
"But at that time—"
"If you tell the truth, the only thing awaiting you is disgrace. A disgraced 'hero,' whether he later dies in a gutter or is burned to ashes, no one will care—just like your friend."
Joiessen pulled out his phone and showed Andrew a photo.
Andrew's whole body stiffened and his breath froze when he saw it.
The photo showed a corpse lying in front of a crematorium, and it was Gill, the friend he had met during the last Rule.
No wonder Gill hadn't answered his calls all this time—he had already been...
More than anger, what Andrew felt now was fear.
He did not want to die. Even after facing so many Doomsday Rules, he still couldn't accept life and death easily.
He knew he was not alone; many Ascendants were the same. The more rules they passed through, the more they feared death and became cautious.
It's like a gambler with nothing to lose going all-in, but as the chips pile up the gambler becomes increasingly constrained.
In earlier Rules, death came quickly; after all there are forty-nine rules in total, and if you didn't die now you might die later—dying early was acceptable. But now that twenty Rules had passed, many Ascendants began to think: since we've persisted this far, maybe if we keep going carefully we'll make it to the end.
Andrew thought the same, and especially after becoming a "hero" he felt sheltered by official power and believed his odds of clearing the game increased, which made his fear of death multiply.
Joiessen, experienced and perceptive, saw through Andrew's inner thoughts, pocketed his phone, and the smile returned. "You don't need to be afraid. As long as you don't do anything that harms national interests, there's no danger to your life."
"And being a councilor must feel good, right? I heard you moved into a big house and often throw parties. How many people get to live like that nowadays? Do you want to go back to living in a shabby place eating canned food every day, worrying about the next Rule?"
Andrew's face showed inner struggle for a while, and finally he made a choice. "I... I understand. I'll do as you say. Whatever you want me to say, I'll say it."
"That's the right attitude." Joiessen stood. "The officials will hold a press conference. I'll send you the script as soon as possible. Memorize it and repeat it at the conference. It's simple."
As Joiessen turned to leave, Andrew suddenly recalled something and called out, "Wait, about security..."
"Hm? I already said that as long as you cooperate there won't be a problem, the Investigation Bureau won't bother you again."
"I'm not worried about the Bureau. I'm worried..." Andrew hesitated, "the Shadow is still active, right? What if he sees the press conference and, seeing me lie, seeks revenge?"
Joiessen seemed not to have expected the question. He paused, frowned, and scolded sharply, "What are you afraid of? This is the New Covenant era, the capital of Suroma. If the Shadow dares to come here to sabotage, it would be a suicidal path!"
After saying that he left angrily. Andrew watched his retreating figure, suddenly realizing that this was the only time Joiessen had shown anger to him.
When Andrew had accused him of being self-interested he had shown no anger, only cold indifference. But when Andrew mentioned the Shadow, Joiessen flew into a rage.
Although not a psychologist, Andrew could see a clue.
He thought, "Could Joiessen's sudden fury mean he, too, has no idea what to expect and also fears the Shadow's retaliation?"
...
Lianluo'an City: when Guan Tong and Adam arrived in the city it was already late July, only a few days before the new Rule would be released.
Adam sighed, "Without teleportation items, travel is much slower."
"Too expensive," Guan Tong said.
Among all items, teleportation-type items were among the most expensive.
Their high price came from their general usefulness and scarcity.
Such items could be used for surprise attacks or for crucial escapes to save lives.
Because their output was limited and most were one-time use, and because governments and large organizations competed to buy them, their market prices remained sky-high. Any slightly cheaper item would be snapped up the moment it appeared.
At present, ordinary and even elite Ascendants could not afford them. Only the wealthiest individuals, officials, or big organizations could.
When Adam had served under Suroma's official structure, items were supplied by the government and he hadn't felt the cost. Now that he was independent and had no Ascension Coin income beyond Rule rewards, he simply couldn't afford high-priced items.
Guan Tong was slightly better off, but previously he had only used teleport items supplied during joint operations with officials.
In his own Storage Box he only had one or two teleportation items, reserved for critical moments. Even though his multiple income streams could allow him to buy a few more with grit, he still considered it not cost-effective and would rather buy Flowable Mind Power.
Usually when he traveled far he combined his Shadow with Body Swap to drastically shorten travel time. This time, teaming with Adam, he knew Adam would inevitably slow them down.
"Too bad I still don't have enough Mind Power," Adam said, "otherwise I could just fly here from Beixing every time."
Guan Tong knew Adam could indeed fly: by adjusting a gravity field he could do that, perhaps even generate repulsive fields to achieve high-speed flight.
But like Lucifer when he first used wings to fly, that application consumed vast amounts of Mind Power; a thousand points would vanish quickly.
If Guan Tong himself did not have massive Reserve Mind Power, he would not dare to open the Shadow Domain at the start of every fight. Relying solely on a thousand Flowable Mind Power, the Shadow Domain would likely collapse from insufficient supply as soon as it opened.
"Look at this city, it doesn't seem like anyone lives here anymore." Adam gazed at the ruins.
After suffering many disastrous Rules and prolonged high-altitude bombing by the Human Consortium, Lianluo'an City had no intact skyscraper in sight; broken walls and ruins were everywhere.
"This city is so big there must be places people can live," Guan Tong said. "As long as the Fire Thief Worship Cult is hiding here, we'll find them sooner or later."
Adam nodded, "Finding people will be your Shadow's task; I'm not good at that."
"Let's split up. I'll search other places, you check their central cathedral headquarters and see if you can find clues."
"Okay," Adam said. "But splitting up in movies always ends badly."
Guan Tong was speechless. "I'll have a sliver of Shadow follow you."
"Just joking." Adam smiled, then went serious. "I hope the High Priest shows himself soon. I have a lot of questions to ask him."
They each began to act.
Guan Tong released countless Shadows to scout around the city, while Adam headed to the Fire Thief Worship Cult's headquarters cathedral that had been attacked before.
Lianluo'an City's area was roughly similar to Yunhua's. When Guan Tong had searched for Wei Huo previously, he had used Shadows to probe for many days; he did not expect to find results quickly this time either, and was prepared for the twenty-first Doomsday Rule.
On the other side, Adam reached the blasted cathedral and manipulated his gravity field to lift the collapsed bricks and toss them aside, revealing what lay beneath.
Under the rubble, apart from books, items used by worshippers, and the heads of some cultists, there seemed to be nothing noteworthy.
Adam investigated carefully and suddenly remembered that the coordinates he'd used to teleport his team the first time were the cathedral's basement.
He searched his memory for the basement location, moved the stones covering it aside, and went down to look.
The basement was pitch black. Adam did a quick circuit and saw nothing.
Just as he was about to climb the steps back up, his foot halted. Guan Tong's voice sounded in his head; the two had established a Mind Network link before setting out.
"My Shadow found a secret passage behind the south wall. Open it and take a look."
"A secret passage?"
Adam had not noticed it before. He turned back and walked to the south wall, lifted his external exoskeleton leg, and kicked the wall with a single blow.
Crash!
The wall collapsed, revealing a dark tunnel behind it.
"Sure enough, a secret passage." Adam bent and entered. "I'll check the end."
"You don't need to go. I'll send a Shadow to scout." Guan Tong said. "Your ability is inconvenient in narrow terrain; you'd be in trouble if you encountered enemies. Go back up first."