"Say what?!!"
The notification appeared, and after a moment of stunned silence, the entire group chat erupted.
Countless messages flew rapidly across the screen.
"Holy shit!!!"
"21 seconds?!"
"Dude, did you run this in a jet or something?!"
"How is that even possible?!"
"The terminal is keeping time, so there's no way to cheat, right…?"
"Did he use some kind of hidden rule? Like with the Sober Mint Candy before?!"
"Yeah, a hidden rule!"
"Master Shadow!!! Please share!!!"
"Are we about to have the world's number one in our group?!"
"I can't accept this!"
"Daddy! Carry me!"
The chat was refreshing frantically. In a group of twenty thousand people, at least ten thousand were typing at once.
"In transit," who was at the stadium, had only been basking in his glory for a few minutes. Now, he was completely dumbstruck.
'A full marathon in 21 seconds? Is he even human?'
'Impossible. Absolutely impossible!'
'How on earth did this guy nicknamed "Shadow" do it?'
Like him, many people wanted to get to the bottom of it and ask "Shadow" directly.
However, the personal terminals' only communication feature at the moment was the group chat function; there was no "add friend" or "private message" option.
Thus, if "Shadow" didn't post in the chat, nobody could initiate a conversation with him.
Meanwhile, the person at the center of it all, Guan Tong, sat at home watching the frenzy on his group chat screen, feeling a little helpless.
'Even if I shared my secret, no one else could use it anyway. Not everyone has the same item I do, which lets them use a shadow to clear the challenge. Besides, the core of it is developing and utilizing one's Psychic Power.'
Guan Tong didn't even need to say anything about that; plenty of people were already posting about it online.
Many had discovered on the very first day that results achieved with the aid of Psychic Power items were, in fact, recorded by the terminals.
This meant the hidden rule of "Mental Victory" had already been widely disseminated on the first day. Anyone paying attention to the news would know about it.
Now that everyone knew, it was up to each individual to leverage their own unique talents.
Everyone had to figure out their own way to pass the challenge by discovering new ways to use their Psychic Power items.
Still, Guan Tong couldn't help but feel a little lucky.
'My "Shadow" is just perfectly suited for this rule.'
'In that case, could I really get a top-three world ranking?'
In fact, Guan Tong felt he could even take first place. But there was always a bigger fish, and it was possible someone out there in the world had a Psychic Power item even better suited for this rule.
Besides, 21 seconds wasn't even his limit.
Guan Tong was sure he could find something that spun faster and cast a larger shadow to improve his time even more.
He estimated that getting his time down to the teens wouldn't be a problem.
By afternoon, the keywords "Shadow 21 seconds" started trending online.
People from Guan Tong's group chat had already posted about it online.
Since terminal group chats couldn't be screenshotted and the overall rankings wouldn't be visible until the event ended, most netizens were skeptical.
But as more and more people from Guan Tong's group started posting about it, people gradually came to believe that some guy named "Shadow" had actually completed the marathon and cleared the rule in just 21 seconds.
Suddenly, everyone was searching for "Shadow," desperate to know how he'd done it.
This included no shortage of socialites and business tycoons.
On a popular global social media platform called Liaoduo, many verified celebrities began posting.
Some posts were relatively reserved, while others were blatantly wild.
The chairman of a Fortune 100 company posted: "I hope 'Shadow' will contact me to share his method for the challenge. I am prepared to offer three hundred catties of gold as compensation. Anyone who has 'Shadow's' contact information, or can provide a lead, will also be rewarded with fifty catties of gold."
The post immediately went viral, and the comments section exploded.
"Three hundred catties of gold?! That's a huge sum!"
"He's really sparing no expense."
"So jealous! I wish I were 'Shadow' right now!"
"Gold's value has skyrocketed. Three hundred catties would last you a lifetime!"
It was no wonder everyone was so astonished. Ever since the first of the Apocalypse Rules ended, the value of gold had been rising exponentially.
This was closely tied to the fact that in many countries, food and entertainment had become free.
Once those necessities became free, currency like cash lost much of its value.
As a result, certain high-end, rare goods could no longer be bought with cash at all and could only be traded for gold.
Consequently, the value of gold—a hard currency with a finite supply—began to soar.
A single catty of gold was now worth more than five catties before the Apocalypse Rules arrived, which gives you an idea of just how immense a sum three hundred catties truly was.
Another person, a famous and beautiful international movie star, also posted, saying she wanted to "get in touch" with "Shadow" privately. She added that regardless of his gender, she was open to "discussing biology" together.
The post immediately drew a torrent of abuse from her fans, who felt she was selling her body for a secret method.
But the star couldn't care less. She saw the writing on the wall: after the arrival of the Apocalypse Rules, entertainers like her would receive less and less public attention.
She might as well use her fame and celebrity status to rake in some tangible benefits while she still could.
The people seeking him out publicly were at least being polite. However, there were other factions and powers searching for "Shadow" in secret.
The Qingmei Association was one of them.
As soon as the news broke, a discussion started up in the Qingmei Association's private group chat.
"Who in the world is this 'Shadow'? And how did he do it?"