Chapter 139: Chapter 131: The First and the Proposal
Then, using Body Shifting, he instantly traveled from the Mountain Peak Stele to the ticket hall at the foot of the mountain, completing the challenge.
Opening the challenge details again, it now showed that he was the "World First" for this event. However, this "World First" would only be included in the final tally if no one surpassed him before the rules ended.
’I have two "firsts" for now. To meet the minimum requirement for the hidden rule’s reward, I need to get one more.’
Guan Tong opened his favorites list to look for the next challenge he would attempt.
...
「The next morning, at 8:50.」
An impromptu meeting was underway at the Apocalypse Rules Strategy Research Room.
"The time is almost up, isn’t it?" someone asked.
The person in charge of Sublimation Coin expenditures nodded. "Yes. If that site admin wasn’t lying, he said he’d send the intel to the buyers 24 hours later, which would be 9:00 AM today."
"Is it really reliable...?" Someone was still skeptical.
"The site admin’s credibility seems quite high for now, but we can’t rule out the possibility that this is a long con," an economist said.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, let’s say he really does provide accurate intel. When the next new rules are released, if he says he’s selling rule-related intel again, will you buy it?"
"Of course I’d buy! Why wouldn’t I if the intel is accurate? Is it really a loss to trade tens of thousands of Sublimation Coins for a piece of vital, rule-related intel?"
"Tens of thousands isn’t a loss," the economist said. "But let me ask you, what if he raises the price next time? Say, he doubles it to a hundred thousand."
"Well... I think that would still be worth it."
"Then what about the time after that? If he doubles it again to two hundred thousand, three hundred thousand, or even five hundred thousand or a million—would you still buy it?"
"That’s... that’s too big of a jump, isn’t it? Who would buy it for a million?"
"What if the site admin claims that the intel is just that crucial, which is why it’s so expensive?"
The person talking with the economist had a sudden realization. "...I get it. You’re saying he might use a few pieces of accurate intel to gain our trust, and then, once the price gets high enough, he’ll pull a huge scam?"
The economist nodded. "I just think it’s a possibility, so we still need to be careful. After all, we can’t hack that website. If we really get scammed out of a large sum of Sublimation Coins, we’ll have no way to hold them accountable."
"It’s time."
As soon as it struck 9:00, everyone turned to look at the trader.
The trader sat in front of a computer, projecting their screen onto the large monitor in the room, and nervously refreshed the private message interface.
Refresh, refresh, refresh... On the fifth try, the site admin’s private message finally arrived.
"It’s here! The intel is here!"
Everyone looked at the large screen. The intel, which had cost a hefty fifty thousand Sublimation Coins, was just a single, short sentence.
Site Admin: "Obtaining multiple world firsts during the effective period of these rules will increase one’s Psychic Power cap after it ends."
ROAR!
The entire office instantly erupted.
"Increase your Psychic Power cap? For real?!"
"This..."
"You’ve got to be kidding me! The hidden reward this time is actually this huge!"
Everyone was utterly shocked, including the director, Gao Liangwei.
For the longest time, even as the most well-resourced Strategy Research Room, they had possessed exceedingly few items that could increase Psychic Power.
The allocation of every single one of these incredibly precious items required a meeting, discussion, and a majority vote to be approved.
They never expected the hidden reward for these rules to offer an improvement in this area. It was simply...
"An opportunity! This is a golden opportunity!"
Dr. Zhang, who was in charge of training the Ascenders of the Official Squads, was so excited for the first time that his voice trembled slightly.
"Director, I propose we commit significant resources to help the captain of the Fourth Squad obtain more firsts! This is crucial for her!"
Gao Liangwei quickly calmed down and said in a deep voice, "The captain of the Fourth Squad... you mean Bai Xuewu?"
"Yes, her!" Dr. Zhang said in a rapid-fire burst. "The biggest thing holding her back has always been her Psychic Power cap. Her ’Snow White Traceless’ Mecha is immensely powerful, but its consumption is equally immense. If we can shore up this shortcoming—her Psychic Power cap—her overall combat power will take an explosive leap—
"Take the Holy Grail Island challenge, for instance. The one who took first, ’Shadow,’ relied on the Holy Grail’s Infinite Psychic Power buff. I believe that if Bai Xuewu had gotten the Holy Grail first instead of Shadow, she too could have used her perpetually active Snow White Traceless to eliminate hundreds or even thousands of enemies and take first place!"
Seeing Dr. Zhang so agitated, Gao Liangwei nodded slightly.
He was also somewhat familiar with Bai Xuewu’s abilities. The official weapons department had even run tests on her Mecha. Its construction material was completely unlike anything on Celestial Water Star; it was a special, never-before-seen material that even anti-materiel weapons couldn’t scratch.
"Besides, her Mecha’s potential is far from being fully tapped," Dr. Zhang added. "She mentioned to me that she can feel there are many more locked functional modules inside the Mecha that she can’t unlock because her Psychic Power cap is insufficient... Just imagine what level her combat power would reach if she could unlock all those modules!"
"...I agree." Gao Liangwei was convinced by Dr. Zhang. "All departments will cooperate and provide resources. But we won’t just be helping Bai Xuewu get more firsts; we need to invest in the members of other squads as well."
"Understood."
"One more thing," Gao Liangwei said. "I’ve decided to release this information to the public."
This statement surprised everyone present.
"Since we previously decided to make the data public, I believe it’s necessary to publicize this intel as well. After all, the Sublimation Coins we used to purchase it ultimately came from the people. They allow us to allocate these resources, and if we conceal this information, it would be a betrayal."
"But, Director..." someone said cautiously, "even if the common people know, they don’t have the power to take more firsts, do they?"
"That’s right. It’s already a feat for an ordinary person to hold on to first place in a challenge they created themselves..."
"I, for one, support the Director’s decision. I also have another proposal." The speaker then made a suggestion that sent a chill down everyone’s spine.
"And that is to have the people who haven’t created a challenge yet collectively create events specifically designed for the Official Squads to take first place. That way, we can secure many firsts without having to invest massive resources into competition."
"This... Forcing people to suffer a Psychic Power penalty just to hand over first place to the Official Team? Who would be willing to accept that?"
"Don’t forget, everyone living in the shelters signed the ’Allocation Agreement’."
"Agreeing to the allocation of Sublimation Coins and items is a completely different matter from agreeing to a Psychic Power penalty!"
"I also object to this. Unless people volunteer, forcing them will provoke intense rebellious sentiment!"
"So what? Isn’t it easy enough to suppress a little sentiment?"
"Suppress? What if they post about it on the ’Ascender’s Home’ website? How do you suppress that? Or are you going to stop people from even using the internet?"
"You..."
"Enough bickering!" Gao Liangwei barked, his face dark. "That proposal is rejected. Meeting adjourned!"
