4: Chapter 4 Convenience Store

Stepping out of the stairwell, it was pitch black outside.

The streetlights seemed to be broken; only a faint glimmer of light filtered through from the distant intersection.

Su Wan instinctively pulled her neck in and followed closely behind Gu Changming, nearly stepping on his heels.

Gu Changming suddenly stopped, turned his head, and looked back, wanting to make her feel less afraid.

But as soon as he turned around, Gu Changming remembered that he couldn't speak.

However, seeing him turn around and stare at her in silence,

She was startled and immediately stood up straight, the fear on her face instantly replaced by an "I'm fine, I'm okay" expression.

Seeing her reaction, Gu Changming knew she had likely misunderstood something. But since he couldn't speak anyway, he let the misunderstanding be.

Explaining would be too much trouble, so he simply ignored it.

He led her out of the residential area.

The streets were empty, without a single soul in sight.

Su Wan followed him step by step, not daring to stray too far.

Gu Changming didn't stop, turning two street corners before halting in front of a convenience store.

The glass doors of the convenience store were tightly shut and the lights inside were off, but snacks and instant noodles could be seen piled on the shelves from the outside.

Su Wan looked at the door, a pained expression on her face.

Food was right there—visible but unreachable. It wasn't that she hadn't thought about looking for food herself before, but the glass door might make a sound if touched, and she didn't dare take the risk.

She turned her head and looked at Gu Changming expectantly, wondering what he would do.

Gu Changming didn't look at her. He scanned his surroundings, and his gaze landed on several broken bricks piled at the corner. He walked over and bent down to pick up half a brick.

Su Wan's eyes widened instantly.

A brick? To smash the glass?

How much noise would that make?! Wasn't that just seeking death?

She wanted to call out to him, but she didn't dare make a sound; she could only watch helplessly, her heart pounding.

Gu Changming weighed the brick in his hand; it was heavy.

He didn't act immediately, instead confirming the distance between himself and the glass door.

Yes, it was over five meters.

Then, Gu Changming steadied himself and with a swing of his arm, violently hurled the half-brick toward the glass door!

The brick traced a short arc and slammed heavily into the center of the glass door.

"Crash!"

The ear-piercing sound of shattering glass suddenly exploded, sounding exceptionally startling in the dead silence of the night.

Su Wan trembled all over in fear, instinctively squeezing her eyes shut and clamping her hands over her ears.

A few seconds passed, but the expected punishment did not arrive.

She opened her eyes tremblingly to see glass shards scattered across the ground and Gu Changming standing unharmed in front of her, her eyes filled with shock.

Gu Changming turned his head. Seeing Su Wan still frozen in place with a pale face, he tilted his head toward the convenience store, signaling that she could go in.

The third of the Supplementary Rules: noises or movements created by oneself more than five meters away would not trigger death.

Still shaken, Su Wan looked at him and then at the dark doorway. She hesitated for a moment, but ultimately, her craving for food overcame her fear.

Standing on her tiptoes, she carefully bypassed the glass fragments on the ground and quickly slipped into the convenience store.

After seeing Su Wan enter the convenience store, Gu Changming turned and left.

His help ended there; he had no obligation to wait for her, nor did he want any further entanglement.

He returned home smoothly and gently closed the door.

...

On the other side, Su Wan was rapidly stuffing bread, biscuits, and bottled water into her arms inside the convenience store.

Her movements were both urgent and light, her heart still pounding with lingering fear from the loud crash earlier.

She only stopped contentedly when she couldn't carry any more.

With this food, she could at least survive these agonizing three days!

Clutching her "lifesaving rations," with the excitement of a survivor on her face, she carefully tiptoed out through the hole in the broken glass door.

However, as soon as she stood still, the smile on her face froze.

Outside, the empty street was shrouded in gloom; where was there any sign of Gu Changming?

Su Wan panicked instantly, her arms tightening around the food unconsciously.

She looked around hurriedly, but there was nothing but silence and darkness.

She hadn't felt it as much when someone was with her, but now, standing alone in this deathly silent night, her fear was instantly magnified several times.

It was too terrifying. She wanted to cry, but suddenly remembering she couldn't make a sound, she bit her lip hard and forced back her sobs.

She glanced down at her arms full of food and practically jogged on tiptoe, hurrying back toward the residential area.

...

The next morning, Gu Changming woke up from a half-sleep.

He hadn't dared to fall asleep, simply maintaining his Meditation as he had yesterday.

Upon waking up again, he instinctively reached for his phone by the pillow; the screen lit up, showing a mountain of messages in the class group chat.

He skimmed through them. Most people were still discussing the sudden turn of events. There were also teachers in the group giving reminders and comforting everyone.

Of course, there were also a few boys whose tone was exceptionally excited, as if they would become some kind of novel protagonist after this upheaval.

Besides these social media messages, there were also emergency push notifications from the authorities.

They roughly introduced some Supplementary Rules they had discovered or that others had reported, such as: sounds not produced by the body itself must not exceed sixty decibels, and so on.

Of course, the rules they had figured out were incomplete; for instance, they hadn't mentioned what Gu Changming had tested yesterday—that noises made more than five meters away would not lead to one's death.

Naturally, this was also due to the short amount of time that had passed.

However, those discovered Supplementary Rules were enough to put most people's minds at ease, knowing they wouldn't die from just any slight movement.

Afterward, Gu Changming didn't reply to any messages in the class group. After glancing through them expressionlessly, he turned off his phone.

According to his memory, after the first Assessment ended, the order of society would begin to loosen, schools would naturally come to a standstill, and everyone would struggle to survive on their own.

He had basically no further contact with these classmates later on, which was why, after being reborn, he didn't have much of an impression of those blurry faces in the class.

Gu Changming put away his phone, picked up the glass of leftover cold water from the night before on the nightstand, and took two careful sips to moisten his dry throat.

He didn't go to wash up; in the current situation, he would also be fearful of making any noise.

After a quick tidy-up, he walked to the door, intending to go to a further and more remote place today to continue testing that Hidden Rule.

He wanted to raise his score as much as possible to obtain enough benefits for himself.

Although it was daytime now, Gu Changming thought there probably wouldn't be many people outside.

He gently turned the doorknob and pulled the door open.

However, as soon as the door opened and he stepped out, his movements froze.

In the corridor, there was one more figure than there had been yesterday.