Rules of the Strange: Starting with the Lunar New Year's Eve Dungeon

Viewers in the live stream who witnessed this scene immediately vomited.

"Ugh...this is way too much!"

"How can we eat this? This is a rule-based kill! The rules say we have to finish it!"

"Yunxi is doomed this time. Not eating is against the rules, but eating... is that even human?"

Despite the terrifying "dish", Yunxi remained calm.

He picked up his chopsticks and tapped the head of the person who was shouting.

"Village chief, these vegetables aren't fresh."

Yunxi looked disgusted.

"It's still squeaking, isn't it ripe yet? Eating raw food during the Lunar New Year can easily cause diarrhea."

The village chief smiled sinisterly.

"This is called eating it alive; it's highly nutritious. What, Young Master Li, are you afraid to eat it?"

This is Yang Conspiracy.

They force you to eat people, breaking your humanity; if you refuse, you'll break the rules and be killed on the spot.

Yunxi smiled.

"Of course I dare! Why wouldn't I dare?"

He picked up the human head, but instead of putting it in his own mouth, he tossed it into the bowl of the zombie king next to him.

"Grandpa! This is great! Brain is very nourishing! You're getting old, you need to nourish your brain!"

The zombie king was already drooling over the blood food, and seeing how filial his eldest grandson was, how could he resist?

"roar!"

He grabbed the severed head, opened his gaping maw, and snapped it off with a "crunch".

The scene was too beautiful to look at.

Yunxi picked up another one and tossed it to her ghost father.

"Dad, you've just finished evolving, you need to replenish your energy. Eat more and gain weight!"

The ghost father didn't stand on ceremony and took the head and started gnawing on it.

Yunxi picked up the last one, examined it, and then said to the village chief with a helpless expression:

"Village chief, look, this family is full of young and old people, all at the age where they need to grow. As a junior, how could I possibly compete with my elders for food? This last piece is for my mother. Mom, take it, it's good for your beauty!"

The ghost mother was flattered and took the food, eating it in small bites.

A plate of "lion's head" meatballs was devoured in the blink of an eye. Yunxi didn't even drink a drop of soup, yet she still earned a reputation for being "filial."

The village chief's face turned green.

This is actually allowed?

He set up this scheme to disgust Yunxi, but it ended up being a feast for this family of vengeful ghosts.

"Good...very good..."

The village chief gritted his teeth

"Since Young Master Li is so filial, then let's serve the second dish!"

The second dish was served.

This time it wasn't a human head, but a huge wine jar.

The paper maid lifted the seal, and a strong, rotten smell of alcohol wafted out.

The liquid had an eerie dark green color, and there were even some unknown insects and eyeballs floating in it.

"This is called 'Hundred Poisons Brew'."

The village chief introduced it in a sinister tone.

"It's brewed with a hundred kinds of poisonous insects and resentment from the village, and it's been buried underground for fifty years. Young Master Li, according to the rules, we have to have a drink."

Rule 3: [You must drink the toast offered by the village chief, and you must drink it all in one gulp.]

The village chief personally poured two bowls of wine, one for himself and the other for Yunxi.

"Here, I'll drink first as a sign of respect."

The village chief picked up his wine bowl, gulped it down, then turned the bowl upside down and looked at Yunxi defiantly.

He was an old ghost, and this poisoned wine was a great tonic for him. But for a living person, just one drop would be enough to cause their intestines to rot and turn into pus.

The viewers in the live stream tensed up again.

"This wine must not be drunk! It's poison!"

"But refusing to drink is disrespecting the village chief, and violating the rules means certain death!"

"That village chief is too cunning! He's trying to ruin Yunxi!"

Yunxi looked at the bowl of dark green poisoned wine, and there was an eyeball inside that seemed to be winking at him.

He picked up the wine bowl and swirled it around.

"Excellent wine!"

Yunxi exclaimed, "The color and aroma are clearly from a vintage cellar. The village chief has gone to great lengths."

The village chief sneered, "Then please."

Yunxi picked up the bowl and brought it to her lips.

Just when everyone thought he was about to drink it, he suddenly stopped.

"Oh, village chief, I suddenly remembered something."

Yunxi put down her wine bowl, looking troubled.

"I have a problem. I get flushed easily when I drink, and I tend to act crazy when I'm drunk."

"Last time I drank too much, I carried my old ox for three kilometers. Today is the first day of the Lunar New Year, and if I were to cause a drunken scene here and tear this house down... I'd be so embarrassed."

The village chief was stunned for a moment.

"Enough talk! Rules are rules! Not drinking is disrespecting me!"

"Drink! I'll definitely drink!"

Yunxi quickly waved her hand.

"However, we can't just drink this straight. As the saying goes, deep feelings are expressed in a gulp; shallow feelings are expressed in a sip. To show my respect for you, we need to add something!"

As she spoke, Yunxi pulled out a handful of incense ash from her pocket.

This is the incense ash he casually grabbed from a roadside shrine on the way.

"This is called 'Divine Soil,' it brings great fortune!"

Without saying a word, Yunxi sprinkled all the incense ash into the wine bowl and then stirred it with her finger.

The dark green liquor reacted instantly upon contact with the incense ash.

"Sizzle sizzle—"

A puff of white smoke rose up, and the originally dark green poisoned wine turned into a murky muddy color. Moreover, the pungent smell of decay disappeared, replaced by a faint sandalwood scent.

Incense ash, a substance of extreme yang, is specifically designed to counteract yin toxins!

This handful of incense ash neutralized most of the toxicity in the "Hundred Poisons Brew"!

"Come on, village chief, I'll drink it!"

Yunxi picked up the bowl of wine that had turned into "mud," tilted her head back, and gulped it down.

Although the taste was a bit pungent, like drinking muddy water, the deadly poison had been neutralized, leaving only a warm current spreading in the stomach.

"Ah—good wine!"

Yunxi wiped her mouth and turned the bowl upside down.

"Village chief, it's your turn. Good things come in pairs, shouldn't you have another drink with me?"

The village chief was dumbfounded.

Is this even human?

He drank poisoned wine laced with incense ash, but instead of dying, he looked quite pleased with himself.

And... what does "accompanying someone for a drink" mean?

Yunxi didn't give him a chance to refuse. She grabbed the wine jar and poured another bowl for the village chief, and very "thoughtfully" sprinkled in some incense ash.

"Come, come, village chief, this is your 'divine wine,' a tribute from your junior. If you don't drink it, you're disrespecting me!"

Now it's the village chief's turn to feel bad.

For a vengeful ghost like him, the incense ash was poison! Drinking it was like swallowing a handful of burning coals.

But not drinking? That would be breaking his own rule—the host must keep the guests company.

The village chief stared at the bowl of murky "divine wine," his facial muscles twitching.

"Good...good lad..."

The village chief gritted his teeth, picked up the bowl, and forced himself to drink it down.

"Gulp."

After drinking the wine, the village chief's face turned bright red, then pale and then flushed.

"Cough cough cough..."

The village chief coughed violently, and a plume of black smoke billowed from his mouth—a reaction caused by the burning of incense ash on his body's yin energy.

He felt like his stomach was on fire, and the pain was so intense that he almost dropped his cane.