Chapter 145: Chapter 136: Right or Wrong?
In the lobby of the Helu County Hospital.
The arrival of the unfamiliar young man took everyone here by surprise.
But after the young man shouted, "I am Cafe Cultivator," some of them quickly realized what was happening, their gazes turning even more peculiar.
’Someone actually came to deal with this because of an online complaint?’
Gao Xinjian frowned, watching the young stranger warily. "I don’t care who you are or where you’re from. You’d better leave now. Don’t meddle in our business."
"If I wasn’t going to meddle, why would I have come all this way?"
This young man, who appeared to be in his twenties, was none other than Guan Tong using the [Bystander Transformation Device]. After seeing "Cafe Cultivator’s" plea for help online, he had decided to come and resolve the situation.
He just couldn’t stand this kind of thing. It would be one thing if he hadn’t known, but now that he did—and since the victim was a user on his website, asking him, the site owner, for help—he had to come and fix the problem.
Hearing Guan Tong’s words, Gao Xinjian’s large face darkened. "So you’re really going to stick your nose in this? Don’t forget, we have dozens of guys here. You’d better think carefully."
Normally, when faced with a hostile stranger, Gao Xinjian wouldn’t have wasted so many words; he would have just ordered a few of his men to attack.
But this time was different. He had glanced at the online post. He figured anyone who would show up to meddle in this had to be an expert, because an ordinary person wouldn’t dare, nor would they have the ability to interfere.
Besides, the fact that this young man dared to come alone proved he had some skill. Gao Xinjian didn’t want to take the risk. He just wanted to use his superior numbers to scare him off and avoid the uncertainties that would come with a fight.
Guan Tong ignored Gao Xinjian’s threat and looked at the young man who was being restrained. He asked him directly, "You’re Cafe Cultivator, then? Is this guy threatening me the boss you mentioned in your post? And are the ones holding you down his hired goons?"
"That’s right!" the young man, whose surname was Wang, shouted. "It’s them!"
"Shut your mouth!"
Gao Xinjian growled, then his expression suddenly changed to a smile as he walked toward Guan Tong.
"My friend from out of town, there’s no need for things to be so tense, is there? There might be a misunderstanding here. Let’s talk things through first..."
Gao Xinjian was mid-sentence. As he reached Guan Tong, his eyes changed abruptly, and an item appeared in his hand.
PFFT!
The item had just materialized, but before Gao Xinjian could even use it, his chest was pierced by a pair of Shadow Blades.
He looked down at his chest in disbelief, his face filled with terror as blood spilled from his mouth. "No, impossible... You..."
After the Shadow Blades extending from Guan Tong’s wrists completed their attack, they shot out again toward the men restraining Cafe Cultivator.
As Gao Xinjian’s men, they were scared out of their wits watching him get killed. Some turned and ran, some stood frozen on the spot, and others tried to fight back, but the result was the same. All of them died by the Shadow Blades.
It all happened in just a few seconds. Before anyone else could process what was going on, Gao Xinjian and his men were all on the ground, staining the floor beneath them red.
"Ah!"
Someone let out a scream, but their mouth was immediately covered by the person next to them.
The crowd watched the strange young man in terror as he pulled up Cafe Cultivator, who was still on the ground with an equally dumbfounded expression.
Then, Guan Tong said to him and the others, "The challenges you’ve already created can’t be canceled, so your Psychic Power will probably take a hit. But the people controlling you are gone, so this won’t happen again."
"Th-thank you... You saw my message, may I ask..."
The young man with the screen name "Cafe Cultivator" stammered with excitement. Guan Tong patted his shoulder without saying anything more and turned to leave.
"If anyone wants to take Gao Xinjian’s place, they’ll be the next to fall. So, you all know what to do."
The crowd watched the young man speak his piece and leave, still in a bit of a daze even after he disappeared through the doorway.
If not for the still-warm corpses on the floor reminding them that this was all real, they would have thought it was more like a dream.
It took a long while before everyone gradually accepted reality. The young man took the initiative and bravely said, "Everyone, you all heard what that expert said... We... we have to stick together from now on. No one can use violence to coerce anyone ever again!"
"Yeah, we absolutely can’t have another Gao Xinjian..."
"What a ruthless character. He killed several people without even blinking!"
"Hey, Wang, do you know him?"
Someone asked, but the young man shook his head.
"I don’t. He must be a kind-hearted expert who lives nearby and came to help after seeing my post." The young man felt a surge of inspiration. "When I have the chance in the future, I want to help others too!"
After leaving the county hospital, Guan Tong stood at the entrance.
’It’s a trip of over a thousand kilometers,’ he thought to himself. ’Even though I came to help someone, I can’t just make the journey for nothing.’
With Gao Xinjian dead, the first-place rankings for all his challenges would pass to whoever was in second place.
The problem was, there were no second-place contenders for these challenges.
Because the challenge location was restricted to the entrance of this county hospital, the only actual challenger was Gao Xinjian himself.
And those challenges were titled: "Challenge: Speed of cycling XXX meters at the entrance of Helu County Hospital in Ganlin City, without using any other items or abilities."
A speed contest to cover a certain distance just by riding a bicycle...
As Guan Tong thought about it, he summoned his Shadow, had it transform into a bicycle, and then hopped on.
Moving at maximum speed, within just a few seconds, the first-place rankings for the dozen or so challenges tailor-made for Gao Xinjian were all transferred to Guan Tong.
"I can’t believe that actually worked..."
Guan Tong had only been trying it out, as he wasn’t sure if a bicycle formed from his Shadow would count as a bicycle. Apparently, it did.
Seeing that he had gained a dozen or so first-place ranks at once, he felt not happiness or excitement, but a profound darkness.
Nothing demonstrated the terrifying nature of the Supporter system more clearly than this.
If this phenomenon were allowed to continue, perhaps this single rule wouldn’t change much on its own. But once this system was established, any similar rules that followed would produce the same result.
At that point, the value of ordinary Ascenders would be rapidly squeezed dry, and they would become "supplies" for the ones being supported.
The end result would be that within each organization, a tiny minority of supported individuals would possess extreme power, capable of rivaling thousands upon thousands of Ascenders.
Would such a world be good or bad? No one could say for sure.
Perhaps some considered it the inevitable trend of the era of Apocalypse Rules, but others were staunchly opposed.
They felt that if the world became one belonging to just a few, or a few dozen, of the most powerful Ascenders, what difference would there be between that and the world’s destruction?
As for what Guan Tong himself thought, he couldn’t quite say.
He only knew that when it came to people like Gao Xinjian, or those who kidnapped and imprisoned others, he wouldn’t let a single one get away if he found them.
"Body Shifting."
With the matter here resolved, Guan Tong activated his ability and instantly returned to Mingdao Mountain.
While waiting for his Shadow to return, he opened his computer.
On the website, "Cafe Cultivator" had already updated his comment in the Supporter thread.
"An expert really came to save us! Thank you so, so much! I hope someone will also help the others who posted about their Supporter situations!"
Guan Tong silently closed the thread and noticed another very popular chat post on the homepage.
"Soloma Empire Cracks Under Public Pressure, Officially Issues a Warrant for the Mass Murderer Lucifer!"
Guan Tong didn’t usually pay much attention to foreign people and events, but this "Lucifer" was an exception; he was somewhat concerned about him.
The reason, of course, was that the two had clashed on Holy Grail Island. Lucifer’s "Fallen Angel’s Wings" had easily sliced through his Shadow, leaving a deep impression on him.
But now that his Shadow’s toughness had increased when in a small volume, he wasn’t sure if those wings could still cut it.
Guan Tong really wanted to test it if he got the chance. But for now, it seemed unlikely.
Post body: "OP here, located in the Capital of the Soloma Empire. After several major protests, the Senate finally gave in to the pressure. They’ve reversed their previous stance and officially declared the Ascender ’Lucifer’ a serial killer, issuing a warrant and a bounty for his capture.
According to rumors from the grapevine, this Lucifer showed up in a border city, killed a lot of people, and then fled the Empire’s territory. Some are guessing he’s gone to the wilderness to kill, while others speculate he’s been recruited by another country. I’ll update when I have more news!"
Guan Tong took a look. The reason the post was so popular was mainly due to Lucifer’s challenge. After all, a challenge based on the number of people killed was so extremely anti-human that it was bound to attract widespread attention.
He also discovered a new trend online: Ascenders becoming celebrities.
Certain famous Ascenders were being discussed at great length.
His own identity as "Shadow" was one of them. Even though he had never shown his face and there was no information about him, it didn’t stop people from discussing and speculating about him with great relish.
Guan Tong also saw many posts about "Shi Jingyi," mostly from academy students. Many of the titles were things like "My Dream Teacher" or "Teacher is so beautiful, I’m so in love," leaving him speechless.
Then there was "Snow White Traceless," who was also widely discussed by many Ascenders because of their cool mecha.
Another reason for their popularity was that, unlike Shadow and Shi Jingyi who never posted online, the user "Snow White Traceless" was a total internet addict, posting constantly on various social media platforms—and they didn’t even use alternate accounts, sticking to the same nickname everywhere.
These more famous Ascenders had been trending every other day. Guan Tong found it strange whenever he saw it, feeling as if an invisible hand from the authorities was intentionally promoting them.
After all, the online environment was also part of wartime management. It was impossible that this trending content hadn’t been approved by censors. If there were censors, and this was still trending, it could only mean there was a deliberate push to promote the popularity of Star Ascenders.
Guan Tong didn’t know what plans the authorities had. For now, he had to focus on getting more first-place ranks and keeping an eye on the "Supporter" thread, destroying as many domestic wilderness Supporter systems as possible during the Rule Stage.
However, he wasn’t doing this out of guilt or a desire to make amends.
He felt no guilt of the "I caused this situation by selling the relevant information" variety.
True, because the hidden rule was leaked, many groups began to act inhumanly. But at the same time, this exposed their evil and their very existence to the light of day, encouraging many Supporters to bravely reveal the truth.
Whether this was right or wrong, or how much was right versus how much was wrong, Guan Tong wasn’t in a position to judge, nor did he care about the judgment of others.
He only knew that just because evil wasn’t exposed didn’t mean it didn’t exist. If he could use this opportunity to eliminate as many Supporter systems as possible, it would definitely be a good thing for the vast majority of ordinary Ascenders.
