58:05:10
It was eleven o'clock at night, a time that should have been quiet and peaceful, yet a cacophony of noise was incessant.
Throughout the entire neighborhood, countless residents had their windows open and their stereos cranked to the max, blasting deafening music.
The lights in every home were on. Out on the streets, officially deployed searchlights crisscrossed the sky, illuminating the night as if it were day.
To keep themselves from getting too comfortable, Guan Tong and Fang Qian were sitting on hard stools in the living room, watching TV. A suspense drama was playing, but unfortunately, the noise from all around was so overwhelming that they couldn't focus on it at all.
"Is everyone this wound up…?" Fang Qian said with a wry smile. "It seems like by this time, everyone's really scared."
"Yeah. It's 11 p.m. People who are used to sleeping early would normally be fast asleep by now." Guan Tong picked up the remote and hit the pause button. It was impossible to watch anything with this much noise.
Fang Qian got up, walked to the window, and glanced up at the night sky.
The bright red countdown, now outlined with a glowing edge in the night, looked even more conspicuous.
"There are still 58 hours until the end… I really don't know how many people can make it through. Guan Tong, don't you think the people in our country who were working the night shift yesterday got the worst luck imaginable? It's just so unfair to them."
"The ones who have it the most unfair are those who were already asleep, or under anesthesia for surgery. But when have the Apocalypse Rules ever cared about fairness?"
"Yeah…" As Fang Qian spoke, she subconsciously yawned, then immediately clapped a hand over her mouth.
Guan Tong asked, "Are you sleepy?"
"I think so… Should I have some coffee?!" Fang Qian was a little panicked, but after a moment's thought, she shook her head. "No… it was just a yawn. It's not bad enough to need coffee yet."
"Right." Guan Tong also felt it wasn't time to resort to external aids yet.
'He figured that most people should be able to get through the first night.'
'Especially young people. With the rise of smart devices, many young people today can pull all-nighters during holidays, and some can even pull an all-nighter, wash their face, and head straight to work.'
'Without the pressure of work, just staying awake, the first night should be no problem.'
Fang Qian, seeming a bit anxious after her yawn, took out her phone and entered a livestream.
The stream showed only an electronic Go board, where two people were playing a match.
"So impressive…" Fang Qian said with a look of admiration. "The countdown had barely started when Wenren Yizhi started livestreaming her Go match. More than ten hours have passed, and she's still playing!"
"She is impressive," Guan Tong said, picking up the TV remote to change the channel.
Fang Qian watched for a while, but because it was too noisy outside, she couldn't quiet her mind and ended up closing the livestream.
Guan Tong had already switched the TV to a live news channel. It was a special 72-hour official broadcast that would provide real-time updates.
On the program, the host was reporting the latest news.
"…Currently, over a thousand experts and scholars have gathered to pool their wisdom and are discussing and researching solutions for the Apocalypse Rules."
The screen showed many professionals in various places like research labs and conference rooms, every one of them with a very grave expression.
Fang Qian sat back down on her stool. Watching the scene on TV, she said, "My parents are probably in some research lab right now, too… Guan Tong, do you think this will do any good?"
"…I don't think we should get our hopes up. The Fire Thief's power is just too immense."
'If the Fire Thief had only put a countdown in the sky, maybe people wouldn't be this terrified.'
'But after it announced the rules were in effect, the death toll across all countries, numbering in the hundreds of millions, was proof enough that it possessed a mighty power beyond human imagination.'
'Faced with a god-like existence, even if the smartest brains in the world were gathered in the same office, what kind of countermeasure could they possibly devise?'
'At that moment, Guan Tong suddenly thought of the hidden rule.'
'Since the authorities already know about this rule, will they share it with these experts? Hopefully they can find some kind of loophole based on it?'
'If they could really find a loophole in the hidden rule, a way to obtain Sober Mint Candies without having to 'knock someone unconscious through violence,' then perhaps the survivors could receive the most effective help.'
'But was that really possible? Did the hidden rule truly have a loophole?'
'Guan Tong wasn't optimistic about it.'
Time ticked by, second by second.
「A few hours later, just past three in the morning.」
This was the time when people staying up all night were most likely to doze off, and therefore, the most dangerous.
Many people were well aware of this, so the noise outside was especially loud during this period.
Guan Tong and Fang Qian had already exhausted most of their conversation topics in the earlier part of the night. Now, they could only stare blankly at each other, forcing conversation to stay awake.
"Fang Qian, what university were you originally planning to apply to?"
"Just… Yun University. I think Yunhua is a great city, so I didn't want to move away."
"I see."
"But university is meaningless now, isn't it?" Fang Qian said. "It's not just university. As long as the Apocalypse Rules exist, is there anything meaningful left? Can we only live our lives revolving around the rules?"
"I think so." Guan Tong couldn't deny her words.
"It's kind of hopeless when you think about it," Fang Qian said pessimistically. "I'm starting to understand the people who chose to just go to sleep and end it… At least they don't have to endure any more suffering."
Guan Tong frowned slightly.
"Aren't you scared, Guan Tong?" Fang Qian asked. "Even if we survive this… what if the next Apocalypse Rule is even more terrifying?"
"I don't know. But I don't want to give up," Guan Tong said. "I want to live."
"But why? Is there… someone you care about?"
"No. On one hand, it's just the simple biological instinct to survive. On the other hand, I also want to understand more… about the Apocalypse Rules, about the Fire Thief."
Fang Qian stared at him, stunned. "You actually want to understand more about something so terrifying?"
"It is terrifying, yes, but aren't you curious?" A strange light flickered in Guan Tong's eyes.
"Aren't you curious where the Fire Thief came from? What the ultimate goal of the Sublimation Project is? Or what the post-apocalyptic action after completing the forty-nine rules is?"
"...I'm not curious. Really… I'm not." Fang Qian lowered her head. "I just want to live a peaceful life…"
"...Sorry." Guan Tong knew he had gone too far.
'But everything he said was what he truly felt.'
'He was genuinely curious, not just about the things he'd mentioned, but also about the things he hadn't.'
'For example, why could he see the hidden rule?'
'And could his transmigration into this world also be related to the Fire Thief?'
'These mysteries held a fatal attraction for him.'
'And so, until he had figured out all the answers, he would not give up.'