Chapter 45: Chapter 44: Conflict at the Supply Point

In the Qingmei Association group chat.

After the fourth Apocalypse Rule was announced, everyone was happy for a rare change.

"Finally, a rule that doesn’t torture us individually."

"Yeah, with these old bones, how could I run a marathon or starve myself? This snow rule is much better."

"Perfect. That small estate I spent a few hundred million on a couple of years ago is finally coming in handy. I’ve got plenty of food, water, and supplies, and there’s a private generator in the warehouse, so no need to worry about power outages. If anyone in the group has nowhere to go, you’re welcome to come to my place."

"Listen to you. Who in this group doesn’t have a shelter?"

Liu Yuqiang read the messages in the group and nodded slightly.

Without a doubt, every billionaire, after achieving financial freedom, starts thinking about contingencies like taking shelter and avoiding danger.

Besides protecting their assets, ensuring their personal safety was just as important.

Therefore, not only had most members of the group built their own shelters, but they also held multiple passports, ready to relocate at a moment’s notice if something went wrong.

This fourth rule was exactly what these people were happiest to see.

It no longer tested an individual’s physical and mental fortitude, but rather their ability to mobilize resources.

Under the heavy snow, whoever had more power and could command more resources had a higher chance of survival.

And the members of the Qingmei Association, even if their cash was now useless, could still form a massive Resource Body by supporting each other. They leveraged the connections they had built up in various circles over the years, their vast assets like Gold, and the manpower of their many employees.

That’s right. Even though many of their companies’ services were now free, they were still operating, still providing services to the public, and were not permitted to shut down by the authorities.

As a result, the heads of these major corporations still held power. Many of their employees had also chosen to stay with their companies, believing that in this situation, sticking together was the best option.

Take Liu Yuqiang, the CEO of Jule Group. At his headquarters in Capital Yong’an, several hundred employees had chosen to stay, gathering around their boss to survive together.

In an apocalyptic environment, many people develop a tendency to gravitate towards the powerful. They hope to stay by the side of the strong, receive their protection, and follow their commands.

And wasn’t a man like Liu Yuqiang, who had started from scratch and built a business empire, a strong man in the eyes of ordinary people? In the employees’ minds, uniting around their iron-willed boss felt much safer than fumbling around on their own.

It wasn’t just Liu Yuqiang. Many heads of large corporations possessed a special charisma to some degree, enabling them to drive others to work their fingers to the bone for them.

This was why, even in the era of the Apocalypse Rules, the bosses of these industry-leading companies still commanded a certain degree of influence.

This was especially true in highly competitive fields where success depended on who was more ruthless, such as coal mining, earthwork, real estate, and logistics. The bosses who rose to the top in these sectors mostly had the air of a ’chairman in peacetime, a warlord in chaos’.

Having fought tooth and nail for so many years, Liu Yuqiang naturally had a bit of a ruthless streak himself. As soon as the rule was announced, he gathered the several hundred employees holding down the fort at the company for a meeting.

He announced loudly at the meeting, "As long as we all stick together, I, Liu Yuqiang, will absolutely not let anything happen to any of you! I guarantee every one of my people will survive this rule!"

The employees naturally crowded around him, erupting in cheers.

For now, the company had no shortage of survival resources, and they had diesel generators ready for power. Liu Yuqiang even sent out a team of employees specifically to get more diesel fuel as a backup.

He had a moment to himself and was looking at the group chat when a message suddenly popped up that caught his attention.

Chairman of Hengyun Real Estate - Zhao Jiping: "Brothers and sisters, someone is investigating me. It seems the authorities have me in their sights. Could everyone with connections please help me ask around and see what’s going on!"

...

The snow drifted down, and a biting chill filled the air.

Guan Tong, wearing a hood and scarf, was walking down the road, heading to a nearby supply point.

Around the time of the second Apocalypse Rule, the authorities had announced the setup of supply points throughout the city for people to grab emergency supplies in critical situations.

Guan Tong planned to get some more high-energy food from the supply point, along with some common items like a windproof lighter, and then find a car and leave the city.

He could see many people on the streets. Following the official recommendation, they were answering the call to head towards large, nearby buildings that could accommodate many survivors.

The Li Mei Hotel, which Guan Tong had just left, was now packed to the brim. Other places like libraries, schools, and stadiums must have also gathered large crowds.

However, according to the hidden rule, the more people gathered, the heavier the snowfall. From that perspective, it seemed everyone should scatter.

’But would that really work?’

Guan Tong wasn’t sure.

He only had the courage to leave the crowd and venture into a remote area to survive on his own because he had the powerful support of Shadow.

But what about the many others who didn’t have good Psychic Power items, or those who had even turned off their personal terminals? Was it really a good idea for them to follow the hidden rule?

’Wouldn’t it be better for them to stick together to survive?’

’Take Xu Xiaotian, for example. His item lets him generate one box of Instant Noodles a day with his Psychic Power. Could he really survive on his own with just that? The risks seemed immense.’

Guan Tong believed that even if the authorities knew about this hidden rule, they would most likely stick with a centralized rescue strategy. However, they might evacuate a small, more important group of people to remote areas.

It might not be fair, but there was no such thing as fairness in this world to begin with.

Think about the people who were sleeping when the first Apocalypse Rule, [Sleep Deprivation], was announced. Or the people who had just finished a night shift, those undergoing surgery under anesthesia, and the infants and toddlers who couldn’t even understand what the rules were... How was the world fair to them?

Still, Guan Tong thought the hidden rule would be discovered soon enough.

Just because some people lived in remote villages didn’t mean they were living primitive lives.

They still went online, played games, and had the same digital life as people in the cities.

So when these people went online and saw how heavily it was snowing in densely populated cities while their own small villages only had light snow, they would definitely post about it.

Once the official departments saw this and noticed the difference in snowfall between regions, it wouldn’t be long before the clever people in the Strategy Research Room figured out the contents of the hidden rule.

It was just like the three hidden rules corresponding to the first three rules: [Plunder Wakefulness], [Mental Victory], and [Spend Money to Avert Disaster]. Although the authorities didn’t know these names, they quickly uncovered their mechanics and wrote them into the white paper.

If Guan Tong had any advantage, it was that he could see the content of the hidden rules with his own eyes. This gave him the upper hand in terms of timeliness and first-hand information.

He considered this very important.

He could tell from the [Plunder Wakefulness] rule that the authorities might have discovered the content of a hidden rule but chose not to publicize it for various reasons.

What has been done will be done again.

Things like not disclosing information, or only selectively disclosing parts of it, were bound to happen again.

This would create an information gap between insiders and outsiders.

The fact that Guan Tong could see the hidden rules himself meant he didn’t have to rely on second-hand, filtered information. Instead, he would be the first to get his hands on the raw data, giving him a huge initiative.

After clearing his thoughts, Guan Tong quickened his pace and soon arrived at the nearest supply point.

Dozens of people were crowded in front of the warehouse’s main gate, their faces a mixture of indignation and fear, too scared to go inside.

’What’s going on?’

Guan Tong sensed something was wrong and went forward to check.

As he got closer, he immediately saw a group of people in matching blue work uniforms at the warehouse entrance. They were holding wrenches, pliers, fire axes, and other tools, guarding the door and threatening to keep everyone else out.

"These supplies belong to us now! All of you, go get them somewhere else!"

"On what grounds?" someone couldn’t help but shout. "There are only seven or eight of you, and you’re taking all these supplies?!"

"On the grounds of these bolt cutters in my hand!" a fierce-looking man shouted, brandishing the tool. "If you’ve got a problem with it, come over here and see what happens!"

"You dare to hit someone? Believe it or not, we’ll call the Sheriff!"

"A Sheriff coming in this snow? Yeah, right! Besides, what’s the big deal with us workers from ’Longxiang Pharmaceutical’ taking a few supplies? Believe it or not, one phone call and I can get dozens more of my guys over here from the factory!"

Hearing this, the others flinched. These pharmaceutical factory workers were sticking together and were all armed. If a real conflict broke out, they would surely be the ones to lose out.

For a moment, many people left in resignation, but some of the more stubborn ones refused to leave and continued their standoff with the factory workers.

Guan Tong silently retreated to the rear, hiding in a long-abandoned bubble tea shop.

He wasn’t planning to leave. In fact, he couldn’t. Going to another supply point would be too much of a waste of time, which he couldn’t accept.

He raised his hand slightly, and the Wordless Book appeared in his palm.

He then took off his jacket, pants, shoes, gloves, scarf, mask, and everything else, leaving only the [Thermoregulating Technology Underwear] on his body.

"Shadow, come out."

The next moment, Shadow stood before him.

"Put on these clothes," Guan Tong commanded telepathically, looking toward the supply point warehouse. "Then go take those people down."