Chapter 41: Chapter 40: The Shadow’s Transformation Ability

After returning from the police station, Guan Tong sat in his room, reviewing what had happened recently.

Ever since those two gang members had randomly shown up at his house, the pace of his life had quickened considerably.

This kidnapping case, in particular, had wide-reaching implications. It turned out not to be an isolated incident, but a major case involving multiple cities, all remotely controlled by a higher-up.

On the way back, Guan Tong had wondered, ’How is this kind of remote control even possible? In this age of the Apocalypse Rules, why would gangs in different cities risk kidnapping people and going against the officials?’

It could be for profit, but not money, since that’s pretty much useless now. It would have to be Gold.

It could also be coercion—if they refused, they’d be eliminated.

Or it could be a combination of both, a classic carrot-and-stick approach.

’If it’s profit, the ones with the most Gold on hand right now are definitely the officials. After them, it would probably be some hidden tycoons, major corporate owners, and big capitalists.’

Guan Tong had often read reports about this before. For major corporate owners and big capitalists, cash only made up a small percentage of their assets. They held more prime assets like company stocks, Gold, and commercial real estate in key locations.

So, when faced with a black swan event like the Apocalypse Rules, even if all their money became worthless paper, the Gold and prime real estate they held still retained high value.

In fact, its value was even multiplying.

Guan Tong had seen online that after transportation was restored, a large portion of the country’s population was migrating to the major cities.

Many people believed that when facing a disaster of this magnitude, they could only receive timely and effective official aid in large cities.

Smaller cities and even villages, on the other hand, would soon be abandoned. Perhaps the officials didn’t want to do this, but it wasn’t a matter of choice. With insufficient resources, they had to prioritize supplying the densely populated major cities.

There were now rumors online that Capital Yong’an’s free housing application policy had been suspended. This was because too many people from all over the country had flocked to the Capital after the disaster, causing the number of applicants to skyrocket and the vacant housing to be quickly snapped up.

Although the officials still supported real estate transactions, people selling property in the Capital now only accepted Gold in payment.

This caused the real value of Gold to soar. If used to bribe gangs in other cities, it might be enough to get them to do the job.

After all, gangs were made up of people, and people first had to address their need for basic security. The city that could best provide this sense of security right now was undoubtedly Capital Yong’an.

It was therefore likely that gang bosses everywhere wanted to get their hands on a large amount of Gold as quickly as possible to buy a house and settle down in the Capital.

Guan Tong, however, didn’t have many thoughts on the matter.

Although Yunhua City, where he lived, couldn’t compare to the Capital, it was still a major city and decent in all respects.

Besides, he believed the idea that "living in the Capital is safer" was more of a psychological comfort than anything else.

"Personal terminal."

Guan Tong opened his storage box and took out the [Thermoregulating Technology Underwear - Basic Model] he had purchased earlier.

Since its appearance was customizable, he had simply set it to look like a pair of black boxer briefs.

The underwear felt incredibly smooth, like silk. He put it on and moved around a bit; it felt great.

’I can replace my regular underwear with this,’ Guan Tong thought. ’And once I buy the [Multi-Terrain Marching Boots], my everyday shoes will be replaced too.’

He figured that eventually, every Ascender would probably be kitted out from head to toe in shop items. After all, who could resist items that were not only comfortable but also had special functions?

He then took out the [Wordless Book] and placed it on the table.

He opened it to the first page, and the two words "Corporeal Guan Tong" appeared before his eyes.

’The first experiment in adding words was a success, which means the act of adding them is feasible.’

’But something too outrageous probably won’t work.’

Guan Tong felt that if he added the word "Invincible" before "Corporeal Guan Tong," it would definitely be useless.

The reasoning was simple. Writing the words down was no problem, but making them leave the page and become reality required consuming Psychic Power.

With his current Psychic Power limit of 119, no matter how optimistic he was, he didn’t believe he could turn the concept of an "Invincible Corporeal Guan Tong" into reality.

’The more exaggerated and powerful the concept, the more Psychic Power it consumes to manifest. And...’

With a thought from Guan Tong, the Shadow immediately detached from the page and stood beside him.

Guan Tong directed it to the window to touch the window’s shadow. Just as he expected, the ability it had in its non-corporeal form—to merge with the shadows of other objects—was gone.

Now that the Shadow had a physical form, it had also lost its non-corporeal abilities. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

’I wonder if I can make the Shadow switch between its corporeal and non-corporeal states? That way, I could switch to whichever state is needed at the time.’

As this thought occurred to him, he mentally commanded the Shadow to revert to its non-corporeal state.

The next moment, he was thrilled to see the Shadow rapidly "deflate," returning to its former non-corporeal state in just two or three seconds! It actually worked!

"Return to corporeal state!"

At Guan Tong’s command, the non-corporeal Shadow filled out again, returning to its solid, corporeal state.

Amid his excitement, Guan Tong didn’t forget to check his Psychic Power consumption.

Sure enough, switching between the corporeal and non-corporeal states consumed Psychic Power, instantly using about 20 points each time.

...What a bargain!

Guan Tong felt that forget 20, he would have accepted double that—40 points!

This ability to switch between corporeal and non-corporeal states was just too useful.

He could already think of many uses. For instance, to enter a sturdy room that was locked from the inside, he could have the non-corporeal Shadow slip in first, then make it corporeal to open the lock from within.

Or if he encountered an enemy, he could hide and direct the non-corporeal Shadow to silently circle around behind them, then turn it corporeal for a devastatingly effective surprise attack.

’It seems any ability the Shadow previously had can be retained and isn’t permanently lost with a change in form... That’s fantastic. From now on, I’ll call this ability "Voidform."’

’Void’ for the non-corporeal, insubstantial shadow; ’Form’ for the corporeal, substantial shadow.

Having developed the Shadow’s Voidform ability, Guan Tong’s confidence soared.

He felt that the [Wordless Book] in his hands had immense potential. As long as he ran enough tests, he was certain he could develop even more practical and powerful abilities.

The "Shadow" alone had multiple paths for development, to say nothing of the book’s many other blank pages.

If not for his lack of Psychic Power, Guan Tong would have loved to write on a new page every day, creating a new ability just to see if it would manifest.

’Unfortunately, the interval between rules is too short this time. In three days, the Fire Thief will release the fourth Apocalypse Rule... I don’t have much time to develop my abilities—only today and tomorrow. The day after that, I’ll have to conserve my Psychic Power to deal with whatever the new rule might be.’