As a large number of incendiary shells rained down, the valley was instantly engulfed in a sea of flames.
On a helicopter in the distant sky, two people were gazing into the distance.
"Doctor, it looks like the vegetation in the valley will burn up quickly. This should eliminate the threat to the city."
Dragon Soul said to Zhang Minglu beside him. As his personal bodyguard, Dragon Soul had to follow him wherever Zhang Minglu went.
"This is partly thanks to Guan Tong." Zhang Minglu said. "He must have eliminated the source of mutation in the valley, making the remaining ones much easier to handle."
Dragon Soul nodded. "The 'Shadow' seems to have grown even stronger. This rule posed no threat to him at all."
"His strength has always been an unknown quantity. Fortunately, he's not the type like Lucifer, or else the harm he'd cause humanity would probably exceed a hundred Lucifers combined."
As Zhang Minglu spoke, an analyst contacted him by phone.
"Dr. Zhang, there's a newly recorded piece of information in the database related to this current rule. It's triggered a highlight alert."
Every time a rule was released, Beixing would filter its massive Ascendant ability/item database, specifically targeting those that could be applied to the rule. Now, new information had triggered a database highlight alert, meaning a registered wild Ascendant in the city had an ability or item applicable to this rule.
"Oh? What kind of connection?"
"It's an 'Incendiary Thrower' item. According to the person who registered it, it can cause significant damage to mutated plants."
"An incendiary thrower? Hmm, probably similar to the fire Yang Ran can produce. Send the detailed information to my tablet."
"Uhh..." The analyst hesitated. "The person who registered it isn't the item holder. According to them, the item holder is currently in grave danger and is hoping the authorities can send a rescue force."
"Hmm?"
Zhang Minglu frowned and scolded.
"Who allowed the registration of someone else's information? Inputting unverified data into the database, what the hell is the registrar thinking?!"
In the early days of the Doomsday Rules era, due to the massive volume of data and short input times, there had been many erroneous entries. Just like Chen Na had experienced back then—when information was recorded in the village, whatever Ascendants claimed about their abilities, items, or Mind Power upper limits was accepted without any verification process. This led to a huge amount of unreliable data early on. The authorities had searched several times only to find the individuals and realize the records didn't match up at all.
Later, to standardize the database, the authorities implemented strict verification protocols on top of conducting secondary confirmations for existing entries. Verification had to be done before recording.
With clear regulations in place, this false entry incident had still occurred. How could Zhang Minglu not be angry?
"Well, the person providing the information has very high Mind Power and a rather special ability, so the registrar thought what they said must be true." The analyst said.
Zhang Minglu became interested upon hearing this. "What kind of person? What's their ability?"
"It's a young man named 'Zhao Ming.' His ability is [Thought Palace], granting him ultra-high-definition image-based absolute memory. Because of this ability, the registrar felt he probably wouldn't make a mistake."
Shi Jingyi's eyes lit up. "Thought Palace... How interesting. Have this Zhao Ming brought to the Pinglu base. I want to talk to him."
---
In the Pinglu Park, compared to before, it had now become bare.
In the days following the release of the new rule, the authorities had cleared all parks and other areas with dense vegetation within the city limits.
Now, the city's greenery rate was approaching zero, making some people who loved green spaces feel very uncomfortable.
This was also why green and plant-themed wallpapers had become so popular online recently. Since real plants were dangerous, there was no problem using a plant wallpaper on a phone or computer, right?
At this moment, in the park pavilion, Chen Na and Silver Fox were sitting on stone benches. The former kept looking at the stone path leading here, full of anticipation.
"When will Brother Guan arrive?"
"We agreed on 3 PM. It's only 2:30 now." Silver Fox said helplessly. "We just came too early."
Chen Na felt a bit embarrassed. "I was afraid Brother Guan might come early. I didn't want to make him wait for us."
After the two had finished their previous mission and returned to base, they'd found a message from Guan Tong on their Ascendant Home accounts, saying he wanted to meet them. Both had naturally agreed. Chen Na had always missed Guan Tong, and Silver Fox wanted to ask him face-to-face about the details of the Gambling Round.
They hadn't hidden this meeting. They'd reported it truthfully, and the Research Office hadn't objected, approving it readily.
Silver Fox thought the authorities might not be too comfortable communicating directly with Guan Tong now, but they didn't oppose—and even seemed willing to see—their Ascendants having contact with him.
The two waited for over ten more minutes. When it was close to 3 PM, Guan Tong appeared.
Seeing him appear at the end of the stone path, Chen Na immediately ran out of the pavilion happily to greet him: "Brother Guan, you're finally here!"
Guan Tong patted Chen Na's hair, a smile on his face. "You came early. Didn't wait too long, did you?"
"No, no. We just got here too."
Silver Fox also walked out of the pavilion, looking at Guan Tong in front of her. She vaguely felt he had some indescribable, subtle difference compared to their last meeting.
She could see no external change in him—still that dark sportswear, now with an extra windbreaker over it. His clear, calm face under jet-black hair was as usual.
But she could still catch that subtle shift in his aura. In Dragon Soul's words, she vaguely felt Guan Tong might have grown stronger again.
"Long time no see, Silver Fox." Guan Tong greeted her proactively, his gaze at her slightly complex.
Saying it had been a long time, but he had actually seen her in the Gambling Space through the first-person perspective of the Life-Hunting Avatar.
He clearly remembered her willingness to stake her own life back then just to get an item for reviving her comrades.
Just from that alone, aside from their friendship, he had an extra layer of respect for her.
"Yeah, long time no see. You seem to have grown stronger again, huh." Silver Fox had reverted to her usual slightly cynical demeanor, speaking with a smile.
"Really?" Guan Tong touched his own cheek. "That's good news."
"Brother Guan has always been super strong, hehe." Chen Na said, and the three entered the pavilion to sit down. After a few casual remarks, Silver Fox went straight to the question on her mind.
"Guan Tong, after the Gambling Round ended, was it you who got back the stakes I lost?"
Guan Tong nodded. "Yes."
Although Silver Fox was already ninety percent sure this was the case before asking, she was still shocked to hear the confirmation.
Chen Na's eyes went wide too. "Brother Guan, how did you do it? Wasn't everyone in different places at the time?"
Silver Fox's eyes were locked onto Guan Tong, undoubtedly wanting the answer too.
While Guan Tong didn't plan to reveal the details about "Authority" or the "Mysterious Gambler," he had no problem telling them other things.
"Through a certain method, I triggered a hidden gambling round in the space. My opponent was the main consciousness of the Life-Hunting Demon. To force me into the bet, he threatened me with the ongoing rounds of others..."
"In the end, I won that round. The result was that the main consciousness of the Life-Hunting Demon was eliminated, and the stakes you lost, Silver Fox, were returned as promised."
Although Guan Tong spoke with a casual, lighthearted expression, making the process sound simple, both Chen Na and Silver Fox could sense the peril involved.
Betting against the main consciousness of the Life-Hunting Demon—if Guan Tong had lost, the consequences would have been unimaginable. But he was willing to take that risk for others. That was something an ordinary person could hardly do.
Silver Fox wasn't laughing and joking this time. She thanked Guan Tong very seriously. "Thank you, Guan Tong. If it weren't for you, I definitely wouldn't have come back."
"Helping each other between friends is what's right." Guan Tong said. "But, Silver Fox... I think that even with the power of Extinguishers, bringing the dead back to life would be extremely difficult."
Silver Fox was silent for a moment, then spoke softly. "I know. After this experience, I've let it go."
"Sister Silver Fox..."
"Heh, it's fine. Don't worry about me." Silver Fox smiled at the concerned Chen Na. "Your big sister here isn't that fragile."
Chen Na nodded, then thought of something. She raised her hand to show Guan Tong: "Brother Guan, look, I've been learning the Mind Power Flow."
Energized Mind Power glowed faintly in her palm, then flowed along her slender wrist. It looked a bit sluggish and not very smooth, but achieving this level was no small feat.
"Brother Guan, didn't you say last time that once I mastered the full-body flow of Mind Power, I could go on missions with you?" Chen Na's face was full of eagerness. "I feel like I'm almost at that level!"
Guan Tong was somewhat surprised upon hearing this.
He had indeed said that last time, but he hadn't taken it very seriously.
Because even though Shi Jingyi had been promoting this cultivation method for two years, Flow was still a very difficult way to apply Mind Power. Many people lacking talent could study hard for two years and make little progress.
Even Guan Tong himself hadn't been able to advance further after completing his full-body Flow.
He knew his talent wasn't sufficient to support further refinement. Imagining developing from Flow to the level of Mind Power Martial Arts, like Shi Jingyi had done, was nearly impossible.
Yelanka had similar talent to his. She too had been unable to progress further after completing her full-body Flow.
The talent requirements for this specific domain were too high. Only a very few could continue down Shi Jingyi's path.
Therefore, when Guan Tong had set this standard for Chen Na, his private intention was still to keep her in the Countermeasures Research Office, in the official base, where her safety would be more guaranteed than following him all over the place.
He hadn't expected Chen Na to actually take this standard to heart and practice diligently all along. At her current pace, she wasn't far from completing a full-body Flow.
Guan Tong glanced at Silver Fox, who wore an expression of "don't look at me, I can't do anything about it."
As an adult, she clearly understood Guan Tong's good intentions better, knowing that he had only said that back then to discourage Chen Na from leaving.
Seeing Chen Na's excited and expectant expression, Guan Tong couldn't bear to dampen her enthusiasm.
"You've trained well, Xiao Na."
"Actually, there are some things I don't understand..."
"I'll let Shi Jingyi know later. You can go to her for answers."
"Really? That's great!" Chen Na's eyes sparkled. "I actually thought about going to Sister Jingyi for questions during the holidays, but..."
"But what? Haven't you two met?"
Chen Na scratched her head. "I feel like Sister Jingyi has a kind of imposing aura. I was a bit worried about bothering her."
Guan Tong really couldn't connect Shi Jingyi with the word "imposing aura." In his eyes, she was clearly just a kind and amiable "big sister."
Silver Fox, however, seemed to pick up on something and joked teasingly, "Of course you don't think she's imposing, Guan Tong. When you're together, doesn't she only show you her gentle side? I've heard that her students are both respectful and afraid of her, saying she's terrifying when she's angry and scolding people."
Hearing this, Chen Na asked curiously, "Brother Guan, speaking of which, are you and Sister Jingyi... um..."
"Kids shouldn't ask too many questions."
"That's right." Silver Fox put an arm around Chen Na. "Kids need to act like kids."
Chen Na pouted unhappily. "I'm not a kid anymore. If I were still in school, I'd be in eighth grade!"