Rules of the Strange: I Became a God in a Bizarre World Through Taoist Arts

The white-clad butler's blood-stained eyes slowly moved, landing on his brother's now-damaged wooden puppet-like body.

His voice was hoarse, "Young Master... when Master is home, he clings to Master; when Master isn't here... he stares at the mirror..."

Shen Xingzhuo sneered upon hearing this.

"My little sister, carrying a doll, went to the garden to look at the flowers..."

Tongtong suddenly began to sing a nursery rhyme softly.

At this moment, the ghost story's voice reappeared.

The "Little Sister Carrying a Doll" ghost story has reached 97% completion. Congratulations to the chosen one for entering the truth-revealing stage.

[The chosen one must recreate the entire story within seven minutes. Note that only a recreation of 90% or higher is considered a pass!]

If the restoration fails, the chosen one will die, the Tianxia Kingdom will lose the corresponding national fortune, and a strange tale will immediately descend.

Shen Xingzhuo raised an eyebrow.

Is this a deliberate attempt to avoid mentioning the rewards for success and only talk about the penalties for failure, in order to put psychological pressure on her?

She gently shook her head and said to the void, "Alright, let's begin."

As soon as he finished speaking, a seven-minute timer appeared in front of Shen Xingzhuo.

As the countdown began, she started telling the story of her family.

"This is a family of four: father, mother, older brother, and younger sister. There are also three servants: a butler, a maid, and a gardener. Until the ghost story begins, only the older brother was a normal, living person in this family..."

The tragedy of this family began with the birth of the younger sister.

Of course, I'm not saying that the birth of the younger sister brought about a tragedy, but rather that the birth of the younger sister aroused the older brother's base possessiveness and jealousy.

The older brother felt that his younger sister had stolen the attention that originally belonged solely to him, and he harbored resentment towards her.

But because his younger sister had just been born, and the servants in the house were always by her side, he probably couldn't find an opportunity to make a move.

Until one day before his sister's birthday, he discovered in his mother's diary that his father's company's investment had failed, causing the stock to plummet. He knew that his opportunity had come.

Because he believed he knew his father very well—that his father needed to be the absolute power center in the family.

In fact, he was right.

After seeing the mother's diary, the father, as expected, became enraged because of his pride, believing that the mother was deliberately humiliating him, and killed her in a fit of rage.

You might think your father is sick, that it's just a diary, and that a normal person wouldn't be so extreme.

but……

My brother's leg was broken by my father.

The family photos in Mom's diary prove that my brother's leg was not congenitally disabled.

When I was treating my brother, I carefully examined him using the Qi Observation Technique. I found that the Yin energy at the fracture site of his leg injury was thick and heavy, indicating that it had been there for at least ten years.

And look at those old wounds; they're the kind of strength only an adult male would possess.

The fact that this father could be so cruel to his own son shows that he was inherently violent and extreme.

But the older brother probably didn't realize that his act of handing over the diary, trying to prove that "Mom favors her younger sister more" and forming an alliance with his father, would actually kill his mother.

This directly transformed him from a child vying for favor into an indirect murderer of his mother.

No matter how gloomy his mind is, he is still a child at heart, so fear and guilt will directly erode his spirit.

In addition, the nursery rhyme says that the older brother actually witnessed his father killing his wife.

The older brother's obsession with "a perfect family where everyone loves and cares for me" will be shattered in an instant.

At this point, Dad also became a destroyer and a threat to the rules set by his older brother!

So the older brother would use the methods his father had taught him—in other words, patricide—to eliminate the threat.

At this point, the progress bar has moved forward four notches.

Shen Xingzhuo was somewhat surprised that only the 'preface' section accounted for 40% of the progress.

She continued her analysis.

"But ironically, after killing his parents, the older brother actually tried to become the head of the family."

He and his sister were the only ones left at home. He wanted to get the family moving again, but he didn't know what the right thing to do was.

He takes care of his younger sister, but she misses her mother, so the little girl cries...

When things don't go according to his brother's script, his only guide is his father's past actions.

So, the older brother picked up the carving knife.

He established a set of behavioral rules for his sister, taking over his father's authority.

He forced his sister to strictly follow his rules, and would punish her with various means if she did not comply in the slightest.

Soon, the older brother will be shocked to find that he has become the new father, and the younger sister is him when he was a child.

My brother's feelings towards our father were a mixture of admiration and disgust.

Once he realized that he was just like his father, fear caused him pain.

Therefore, he used his identity as a carpenter as a fig leaf and concealed the information about his mother and father in this ghost story.

……

My brother's legs hurt even more on rainy nights.

It wasn't because of the severity of his leg injury, nor was it a reminder of his hatred for the father who had hurt him.

Instead, it was telling the older brother...

He had long since grown into his father's appearance.

The progress bar has reached 88%.

Shen Xingzhuo continued, adding the final analysis:

"This ghost story seems to start with the sister's struggle and rebellion against the rules."

Rather, it was more like the older brother was watching an "animal" performance.

The sister's suffering is the nourishment for the brother to live on, so the more terrifying the ghost story, the more it represents the brother...

The more excited you are!

After Shen Xingzhu finished speaking, the voices of the ghost stories seemed to be applauding her.

But soon, that emotionless voice rang out again.

[Congratulations to the chosen one! The story of "Little Sister Carrying a Doll" has been recreated with 92% accuracy.]

[Chosen One, please answer the following three questions correctly to achieve perfect success!]

Question 1: Please answer the order of death for all the individuals.

Shen Xingzhu rolled her eyes.

"Didn't they say that as long as the accuracy of the recreation reached 90%, you could pass the game?"

"Openly going back on your word, isn't that a bad idea?"

She raised her voice and questioned him.

But the ghost story didn't answer her at all; it just kept repeating the same question.

"They've completely lost all sense of shame!"

Shen Xingzhu clenched his fist again, but clearing the level was still more important.

"The order is: mother, father, maid, gardener, butler, younger sister, and lastly older brother."

"Except for Mom, who was killed by Dad, everyone else's deaths were caused by my brother."

"He used servants to conduct experiments on human-modified puppets. After succeeding, he wanted to harm his sister and killed the gardener and housekeeper who were protecting her."

The order in which they died is easy to determine: the gardener died first, and his blood splattered onto the butler's clothes, which is why there is the "red-clad butler" rule.

The butler was the one who pushed his sister away at the last moment, which is why he rushed out to protect me. Unfortunately, he was still killed by his brother.

"The next person to die was the younger sister; she died after being turned into a puppet by her brother."

"As for the last brother, after his sister, the very tool he used to establish his authority, died, everything he believed in collapsed. So the brother must have committed suicide."

【correct.】

[Question 2: Who is the person your brother loves most?]

"No one, including himself," Shen Xingzhuo answered without the slightest hesitation.

Please explain your reasoning.

"Is this the third question?" Shen Xingzhuo asked back. "If not, I have already finished answering the second question."

【…】

The second question was answered correctly.

[Question 3: Why did the older brother still have the idea of ​​turning his younger sister into a doll after becoming the "head of the family"?]

A hint of disgust flashed in Shen Xingzhuo's eyes.

"Because pain means his rules are taking effect."

"And the peace meant that, within the hell he created, his sister had a single second of freedom."

"Pleasure threatens his authority!"