Forbidden Zone of Deception

Chapter 24 Fragrant Death (Please read on! Please add to your favorites!)
Jiang Jin remembered the first two rules of the tourist code of conduct very clearly.

Article 1: Welcome to ▇▇ Village. This is a beautiful ancient village with comfortable guesthouses. All water in the village is drinkable, except for the pond water. Do not wear blue clothing near the pond. If you are wearing blue clothing to the pond, or accidentally drink any pond water, please immediately seek help at the ancestral hall.

Article 2: After 9:00 PM, a Cantonese opera troupe will appear in the village for a night patrol. This performance is a traditional activity of the village, but the performance time will not exceed midnight. If you find the night patrol still performing after midnight, please do not watch, quickly return to your guesthouse and lock the doors and windows.

However, because of Task 1, he had to break the first rule and drink the pool water.

It was precisely for this reason that he was constantly haunted by evil spirits, and he narrowly escaped death several times.

Therefore, in principle, he should immediately revise the first rule of the tourist guide!
However, there are many problems in actually implementing it.

Modifying rules isn't arbitrary. First, you can only change existing words; you can't add or delete even a single word, and you can't change punctuation—at least not at LV1 level. Second, the modified rule must be logically coherent within its context for the modification to be successful. Of course, even if the modification is successful, the rule only applies to that specific person. Perhaps in the future, as the Lawyer's abilities upgrade, it will be possible to modify rules so that everyone must act according to the revised rules.

So here's the problem: how do we revise the first clause? Should we change "except for the pond water" to "also includes the pond water"? That would be very odd in terms of wording and logically flawed. And then there's the sentence "or accidentally drank the pond water," a full nine characters—how do we revise that? Revisions are calculated by character SAN value! After much thought, is it best to change "pond water" to "well water"?
But there's still one crucial question. Even if the rules are changed now, will it make a big difference? The villagers will still encounter all sorts of strange and terrifying things in their daily lives, even if they don't drink the water from the pool; they'll just die faster if they do drink it.

Then there's rule number two of the visitor rules! This conflicts with quest number two. Rule number two states that visitors must stop watching after midnight, even if the performance is still going on. But quest number two requires watching the entire performance, specifically emphasizing that you must finish even if the performance goes over time, or you'll be removed by the cleaners.

Lu Zhao had vanished without a trace from the village, and based on that alone, Jiang Jin absolutely did not want to violate the dungeon's mission. Therefore, if this night patrol performance went past midnight, he would have to change the second rule of the visitor guidelines!

"Please do not watch" can be changed to "You may continue watching". "Quickly return to the guesthouse" can be changed to "Return to the guesthouse at a little while". This way, the context flows smoothly, and the total number of word changes is only five.

However, if he changes the first rule, then once tonight's performance goes overtime, he will be unable to change the second rule for tourists because his ability will be on cooldown!

Therefore, the only way to judge what to do is to actually watch the performance...

And then... "The Princess Changping" continued to be performed...

Act Three: Begging for a Corpse, the Prince Consort prays for the remains; Act Four: Encounter at the Nunnery, the Prince Consort and Princess Reunite; Act Five: Submitting a Petition, a Tearful Plea...

The drama was incredibly moving, vividly portraying the tragedy of Princess Changping, the princess of a fallen kingdom. Although I had seen the Hong Kong drama of the same name before, I was too young then and couldn't remember the plot clearly. Only today did I realize it was about this princess.

Finally, we arrive at the sixth and final act—Xiang Yao.

At this moment, the villagers followed the night performance team and moved one by one to the old stage in the village.

The actress playing Princess Changping has stepped onto the stage, slowly raising her hand as her long sleeves slid down like flowing water, revealing her somewhat pale arms.

With a light tap of her fingertip, the music stopped abruptly.

The entire village fell into a deathly silence.

Then she spoke.

"Fallen blossoms fill the sky, obscuring the moonlight—"

The woman's singing style was like a musical instrument simulating a vocal style, sharp as a knife scraping glass, and deep as muffled thunder rolling.

Jiang Jin felt a stinging pain in his eardrums, as if fine needles were being stirred inside his skull.

The opera troupe began their performance.

The martial arts actor playing the role of the prince consort also stepped onto the stage, singing a duet with the woman in a phoenix crown. The two moved extremely slowly, like puppets controlled by invisible threads.

"Let me offer you a cup of wine on the Phoenix Terrace..."

"The Princess Changping offers incense with tears in her eyes..."

The martial arts actor playing the role of the prince consort suddenly drew his sword from his waist. He slowly handed the sword to the woman in the phoenix crown, and she stretched out her slender fingers and gently stroked the blade.

A drop of dark red liquid slid from her fingertip.

Jiang Jin's breath hitched slightly. One by one, the theatrical actors of the night patrol took to the stage, and the duet between the woman in the phoenix coronet and the martial arts performer continued, but Jiang Jin's attention was drawn to a small figure at the very end of the procession—

It was a child, dressed in a theatrical costume, with exaggerated makeup on his face.

He stared intently at Jiang Jin.

A chill ran down Jiang Jin's spine. He immediately remembered the last rule about children in both the tourist and village rules.

Just then, Jiang Jin heard the lyrics sung by the woman in the phoenix coronet again—

"I refuse to die for love and accompany you to the grave—"

Her voice seemed to come from the deepest part of the earth, each word carrying a mournful accusation.

The martial arts performer stepped forward, brandishing his spear, and thrust it fiercely into the air. A string of dark red blood droplets unexpectedly splattered from the spear tip.

Jiang Jin's pupils contracted slightly.

That wasn't for the performance effect.

Something in the air... it really was stabbed!
The musician's suona suddenly became mournful, and the erhu's strings sounded like the fingernails of a wronged soul scraping against a coffin lid.

Then came the lyrics sung by the martial arts performer:
"My heart longs to be buried with you."
Mandarin ducks nestled together.

A new house was built on the spring platform.
"I'll search for that Pingyangmen Alley again in the underworld."

The opera troupe's movements grew faster and faster; the woman in the phoenix coronet's flowing sleeves danced like a pale, phantom, while her lyrics became clearer and clearer—

Those who cherish flowers are willing to die for them—

"On his wedding night, the prince consort was forced to drink poison."

With a flick of her fingertip, a string of pearls slipped from her sleeve and rolled to the ground.

At this moment, the child's figure was already standing three steps away from Jiang Jin.

At this moment, Jiang Jin watched him warily.

Thick, black liquid dripped from the hem of his costume, and his lips remained silently moving.

The woman in the phoenix coronet suddenly turned around, her long sleeves wrapping around the martial arts performer's neck like white silk. The martial arts performer neither dodged nor avoided her; instead, he threw his head back and laughed loudly, singing the next line—

"A tragic calamity befell the nation—"

Jiang Jin stared intently at the night patrol team before him, paying attention to each and every one of them.

Then, he heard the woman in the phoenix coronet sing sadly:
Who would willingly witness the wedding night turned to bloodshed?

The woman's infectiousness was so powerful that even Jiang Jin felt shocked, as if he could feel the grief of his country being destroyed and his family being destroyed, and the princess having no choice but to go to the underworld with her lover!

"May the praises of the imperial son-in-law be inscribed on his memorial tablet for all time to come—"

The moment the last "up" fell, countless whispers rang in Jiang Jin's ears, as if thousands of people were reciting the same lyrics at the same time.

Just then, Jiang Jin suddenly saw...

Behind the theatrical actors who were taking the stage with the woman in the phoenix crown, suddenly... a blue figure appeared!

At this very moment, it is incredibly close to midnight!
(End of this chapter)