The third day the third Apocalypse Rule was in effect.
Guan Tong sat at his desk, sensing his body's level of hunger.
'I'm very hungry, but not unbearably so.'
Maybe it was because of his high Psychic Power limit, but Guan Tong found his Perception Ability of his own body had grown stronger.
If he were to quantify his hunger, with the danger line being 90, he felt he was currently at about 70. He could still hold out for a while longer.
Others, however, weren't doing as well.
Especially the elderly and those with low Psychic Power limits; they had started frantically posting online near the end of the second day.
"I can't take it anymore! I'm so hungry I'm getting dizzy. Looks like I have to give up on the challenge!"
"Let me save you some pain: energy drinks don't count as water! I took one sip, and it immediately said 'challenge failed'!!!"
"To the person above… are you a caveman? Didn't someone explain this on the very first day the rule was announced…"
"Why the hell can't these damn Basic Food Boxes be traded! My sister has the coins, but she can't give the box she bought to me. This is such bullshit!"
"I can still hold on, but I'm worried my organs will fail from starvation after fifteen days. What am I supposed to do then?"
"If you're worried about getting sick, go to the hospital. Healthcare is free for everyone now."
"Yeah, to save as many people as possible, the government has made pretty much everything they can free. And the things that aren't free, we can't buy them anyway. They only accept Gold for trade."
"Persistence is victory! Don't give up!!!"
"My dudes, check out the secret-recipe burger I made myself. It's so good. [Super.Honey.Glazed.Giga.Burger.jpg]."
"Ban the guy who posted the burger pic!! Right now!!! Immediately!!!"
In this environment, people had nothing better to do than go online to chat and vent.
Guan Tong, however, had things to do. When his Psychic Power recovered, he would write in the [Wordless Book]. When it was used up, he would entertain himself. His days were relatively peaceful.
By the evening of the fourth day, however, he was starting to feel the strain.
It wasn't that the hunger was unbearable, but that the recovery speed of his Psychic Power had slowed.
Guan Tong went online and quickly discovered that others had already noticed this problem. The worse one's physical condition, the slower their Psychic Power recovery rate. In a near-death state, it would even stop recovering altogether.
Being hungry was one thing, but slow Psychic Power recovery was unacceptable! This would have a very real impact on his "Coinage" plan.
He immediately took a [Basic Food Box] from his terminal's storage, opened it, and received an All-Effect Vitality Pill.
He popped it in his mouth and swallowed. He could feel the pill rapidly dissolving inside him, supplying energy throughout his body.
In less than a few seconds, Guan Tong felt fully restored. The previous feeling of being faint from hunger vanished completely.
'Products from the terminal are really top-notch,' Guan Tong mused. 'Once I have more coins, I'll forget about eating. I'll just have one of these a day. So much easier, and healthy too.'
After fully recovering, just as Guan Tong was about to get back to his work, he suddenly heard the doorbell ring.
DING DONG, DING DONG.
Hmm?
Guan Tong's heart skipped a beat. Who would be looking for him?
He walked to the door and looked through the peephole. He saw two young men in their twenties, wearing baseball caps and white Sheriff uniforms, standing right outside his door.
Guan Tong didn't recognize either of them; they were definitely strangers.
He didn't open the door, nor did he say a word.
After a moment, one of the men outside knocked on the door and shouted, "Please open up. We're from the Sheriff's department, here to conduct an investigation."
Guan Tong frowned at their words.
'Who are they trying to kid? What kind of Sheriff conducts an investigation in the middle of the night?'
He still said nothing.
A moment later, the other young man pounded on the door.
BANG! BANG!
"Sheriff's inspection, open up! We know someone's home, we saw the light on from outside!"
'A light?'
Guan Tong was startled and looked toward his study's window.
How could he have overlooked that!
The curtains in his study were a bit thin and let light through. With the light on at night, it would be visible from downstairs.
After the first Apocalypse Rule, the population had been drastically reduced, with huge numbers lost in every city. It stood to reason that in Guan Tong's residential complex, while maybe not nine out of ten homes were empty, there weren't many people left alive.
As a result, a light on in his apartment at night would be exceptionally conspicuous, telling anyone outside that someone was still living there.
Since the people outside knew he was home, Guan Tong decided not to remain silent.
He picked up his phone, quickly dialed the Sheriff's department, and said to the door, "Even if you are Sheriffs, you can't just barge into my home and search it. Do you have a warrant?"
Hearing Guan Tong's voice, one of the men outside immediately replied, "Of course we have a warrant, open the door and I'll show you!"
"I'm on the phone with the Sheriff's department right now. I need to verify your identities first. Give me your Sheriff badge numbers."
"What?!"
"If you don't open up, we're going to force our way in!"
Guan Tong put his phone on speaker and said loudly, "Hello, Sheriff's department? Someone is impersonating Sheriffs at my home. Please send someone over immediately. The address is…"
"Shit!"
"You just wait, kid! Let's go!"
When the two men at the door heard Guan Tong inside actually calling the Sheriff's department, they each cursed and quickly ran down the stairwell.
After giving the information to the Sheriff's department dispatcher, Guan Tong put down his phone, his brow deeply furrowed.
'What was that all about?'
'Robbers? But the government is providing so many things for free now, what's there to rob?'
'Were they after Gold? But my complex is just a normal residential area, not some rich neighborhood. How many families would have Gold lying around?'
'Stealing Sublimation Coins? Even less likely. That stuff can't even be traded…'
'Or had the Apocalypse Rules broken their minds, and now they just wanted to commit random crimes?'
Such situations weren't unheard of, but they were mostly concentrated during the period of the first rule.
After the first rule ended, random crime had been largely suppressed by a strong government crackdown.
Guan Tong's brow was locked in a tight frown. A strong sense of unease settled in his heart.
It stemmed from his inability to figure out the two men's motives, and from the fact that his address had been exposed, making him a target.
'I was careless… I didn't think about the light showing through the curtains at night... I can't live here anymore. I have to find a new place, fast.'
Before running off, one of the men had said, "You just wait." It could have just been some tough talk to save face, but it could also mean they planned to retaliate.
Guan Tong felt that if they were serious, he might get cornered the next time he went out to procure food.
This was not good, because he currently had very little combat ability to speak of.
His "Shadow" had no physical form. It might be good for scaring people, but in a real fight… it was useless.
BUZZ! BUZZ! BUZZ!
His phone vibrated. It was a call from the Sheriff's department.
"Hello, we have dispatched two Sheriffs to your location. Their badge numbers are A1221 and C3306."
Guan Tong provided the information, "The moment I called the Sheriff's department, the two of them got scared and ran off, but they probably didn't get far. They were wearing Sheriff uniforms and baseball caps, and they're both under thirty."