"Using violent means to put others into a sleep state allows oneself to obtain one 'Alertness Mint'..."

"Using this item maintains absolute wakefulness for 3 hours..."

Guan Tong frowned as he paced back and forth in the living room.

"If this Hidden Rule is real and applies to everyone, then someone will definitely discover its existence very soon."

"With billions of people worldwide, all doing different things at the same time, who knows how many people were fighting when the Doomsday Rules were announced. If someone just knocked another person unconscious and immediately received an 'Alertness Mint,' they would quickly realize this is a Hidden Rule."

"To maintain their advantage, those who discover the Hidden Rule will likely choose to keep it secret. But since the trigger condition isn't too difficult to meet, it will eventually be exposed and spread... Soon many people will know about this Hidden Rule, and what consequences would that cause? A nationwide free-for-all?"

"No, that's not right... If considered from a national level perspective, after confirming the authenticity of this Hidden Rule, to prevent massive chaos, the national authorities would definitely choose to block the information, prohibit people from going out, and wouldn't even rule out temporarily shutting down the internet to prevent people from fighting each other."

"Looking at it this way, if someone wants to profit from this Hidden Rule, the optimal approach would be to knock out more people to obtain enough 'Alertness Mints' before the information spreads and before people are prohibited from going out. Then lock themselves at home and rely on these mints to safely survive the seventy-two hours."

"This kind of thing..."

Guan Tong shook his head; he didn't plan to do it.

Knowing full well that others would die after falling unconscious, this approach was no different from intentional murder in his view.

And it wasn't just killing one person either.

Once started, it couldn't be stopped.

Because one "Alertness Mint" only maintains wakefulness for 3 hours, while the "sleep deprivation" rule lasts for 72 hours.

This means that to guarantee a 100% survival rate, taking one every three hours would require 24 mints total. Even cutting that in half would require 12 mints, equivalent to plundering 12 lives.

"To increase your own chances of survival, would you choose to plunder others' right to live?"

The note accompanying this Hidden Rule had clearly stated the essence of this matter.

Guan Tong's choice was "No."

"Ding dong ding dong dong."

His phone rang at that moment, not with a call sound, but with the distinctive voice call notification tone of a social media app.

Guan Tong glanced at it and was somewhat surprised to see the call was initiated from the class group chat. He answered: "Fang Qian?"

A female voice filled with anxiety came from the phone: "Guan Tong, are you home? Are you alone?"

Fang Qian was Guan Tong's classmate, a delicate-looking girl who wore thin-framed glasses and had excellent academic performance, never falling below the top three in class rankings.

"Yes, what's the matter?"

"Guan Tong, I... my parents are both at research institutes in other cities. Transportation everywhere has stopped now, they can't come back at all, and I'm home alone. The official recommendations say it's best not to be alone during these 72 hours, and keeping conversation with others is one of the best ways to maintain wakefulness... So I, I thought of you, because you..."

Guan Tong understood.

Everyone in class knew he was an orphan, so it was normal for him to be home alone now.

As for Fang Qian's parents, they were a pair of well-known scientists. They traveled frequently to various science academies around the country, something all classmates had heard about.

Now with this sudden emergency disaster, Fang Qian's parents couldn't return from other cities, so it wasn't surprising that she thought of Guan Tong in her fear.

"You want to get through these 72 hours together with me?" Guan Tong asked directly.

"Um... is that okay?"

"Sure. Come directly to my home now, I'll send you the address."

"Great! Thank you, Guan Tong."

"No need. Having someone to talk to will help me stay awake too."

"Okay... I'll come over right now!"

Guan Tong hung up and sent his home address to Fang Qian.

About half an hour later, the doorbell rang.

Guan Tong confirmed through the peephole that it was Fang Qian, then opened the door to let her in.

"Guan Tong, sorry to bother you..."

Fang Qian was still wearing her blue-striped white school uniform and carried two bags as she entered the room, looking somewhat reserved as she glanced at Guan Tong.

"It's fine, make yourself comfortable," Guan Tong said.

"Okay... I brought some food. Ah, and this."

Fang Qian took out a box of stick-shaped instant coffee powder from her bag, with about a dozen sticks remaining.

"I used to brew a stick with water when staying up late doing test papers before. Never thought it would come in handy now."

Guan Tong said: "School evening self-study ends around 9 pm, right? And you still stayed up doing test papers after getting home, no wonder your academic performance is so good."

Fang Qian pushed up her glasses somewhat sheepishly, then sat down in the living room with Guan Tong.

Noticing that Guan Tong hadn't turned on the TV or played any music through speakers, she asked curiously.

"Not necessary yet," Guan Tong explained. "Just like the coffee you brought, those things don't magically create energy - their essence is still depleting the body. Drinking it when not tired yet means there'll be nothing left when truly exhausted, because it's all depleted completely."

Fang Qian suddenly understood: "I see. Yeah, that makes sense. The same goes for listening to music - playing it so loud when not tired yet means the effect will be much weaker when truly exhausted and sleepy."

"Right."

After this brief exchange, the two didn't have much more to talk about.

They weren't very familiar to begin with - in three years of high school, they hadn't even exchanged a hundred words.

Guan Tong picked up a book to read, while Fang Qian restlessly scrolled through her phone, occasionally glancing at Guan Tong from the corner of her eye.

He's actually this composed... 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Online information and class group chats were exploding with activity, yet Guan Tong barely paid attention and still had the mind to read books, really...

Fang Qian thought to herself that the reason she thought of Guan Tong, found his social media account from the class group, and even gathered the courage to come to his home was because of Guan Tong's behavior before leaving school.

His earlier act of slapping Xu Beipeng in class to confirm he had stopped breathing, and being the first to leave school despite the homeroom teacher's instructions... these things made her inexplicably feel that being around Guan Tong would provide a sense of security.

After more than an hour of mutual silence, Fang Qian bit her lip and took the initiative to start a conversation with the reading Guan Tong using information she saw online.

"Guan Tong, did you know? Lots of people online are demanding to go to hospitals now."

"To hospitals?" Guan Tong looked up at her.

"Yeah," Fang Qian said. "Apparently some medical students said they could stay awake by taking medication or getting injections containing stimulant components... Do you think that's really feasible?"

"Maybe. But even if that method could help people survive, not everyone could use it. Those medications or injections are definitely limited and couldn't be supplied to everyone."

"That's true. Ah..." As Fang Qian spoke, she saw something on her phone and said incredulously, "There are actually people thanking the Fire Thief!"

Guan Tong guessed: "Probably people who wanted to end their lives."

Fang Qian looked at Guan Tong in surprise and nodded: "Yeah, the poster said they previously had cancer and had been suffering from cancer pain, having considered leaving several times but lacking the courage. Now just sleeping once would allow them to leave this world peacefully and painlessly... So they're very grateful to the Fire Thief for bringing the Doomsday Rules."