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

Yunxi sneered

"Trying to fool me? No way. If we believe your nonsense and throw away all the red things, then when the Nian monster comes at night, the whole village will become a buffet."

Instead of taking off his big shorts with the red SpongeBob SquarePants pattern, he reached out and scratched at the rule notice.

The audience was on tenterhooks.

"What is he doing? Is he defying the rules?"

Yunxi pulled a pair of nail clippers out of her pocket.

He began to scrape hard against a dark pillar next to the notice.

"Sizzle—sizzle—"

The ear-piercing scraping sound gave everyone goosebumps.

The pillar was originally pitch black, as if it had been burned.

But under Yunxi's scratching, the black paint on the surface peeled off, revealing a bright, glaring red base coat.

Holy crap! He's gone mad! The rules say there can't be any red, yet he actually went and dug out red ones on his own!

It's like someone telling you that it's a landmine, and you insist on stepping on it to see if it goes off!

"Stop looking, let's all go. China is doomed to lose this time. I've already started sealing off the taps in my house."

However, what happened the next second silenced everyone.

The moment that vibrant vermilion red was revealed, the chilling, bone-chilling wind that had been swirling around the village entrance, seemingly capable of freezing one's soul, dissipated somewhat as if it had encountered something terrifying.

Even the two shaky, broken lanterns stopped making that eerie creaking sound, as if they had been subdued by some force and obediently drooped down.

Yunxi blew the dust off the pillar with satisfaction and clapped her hands.

"Just as I suspected. This pillar was originally red; it was deliberately painted black to cover it up by something."

He turned around, flashed a bright white smile at the air, and held up a finger, waving it.

"Hey everyone, remember this. In this instance, the rules are rigid, but people are flexible. Some rules are lifesavers, some... are death traps. Anyone who believes them is a fool."

After saying that, he strode into the village.

The live stream room was deathly silent.

After a long while, a single comment finally appeared.

"Did the wind stop just now?"

"It seems so... Could it be that red really can ward off evil spirits? But the rules clearly state..."

"Are the rules fake? Holy crap, this is outrageous! If it were me, I'd take off my red underwear immediately!"

"This is terrifying to think about! Who exactly is this guy? How dare he scrape against a pillar? Isn't he afraid a ghost will pop out and chop his hand off?"

Qin Shan's microphone froze in mid-air. He looked at the back of the person on the screen and suddenly felt that this young man was not as simple as he seemed on the surface.

"That's... we passed?" Qin Shan muttered to himself, his eyes changing.

"The way he looked at me just now was like... he was looking at a bunch of idiots."

Upon entering the village, the sense of oppression intensified.

The dilapidated mud-brick houses were scattered in an orderly fashion, with the doors of every household tightly closed and the windows covered with pale paper, exuding an indescribable sense of death.

Following the system's guidance, Yunxi arrived at a slightly more imposing mansion.

This is the old Li family residence, the home of the eldest grandson of the eldest branch.

Before even entering the gate, a sickeningly loud scraping sound came from the yard.

"Shh—shh—shh—"

It felt like something was being dragged across the ground, or like some kind of sharp instrument was scraping bones.

Yunxi pushed open the heavy wooden door.

"Squeak—"

The sound of the door hinges turning carried far through the quiet village.

In the very center of the courtyard, an old woman dressed in black funeral clothes with a full head of silver hair stood with her back to the gate, mechanically sweeping the ground with a worn-out broom in her hand.

The old lady paused for a moment when she heard the door open.

Her neck made a series of cracking sounds, and then she slowly turned her head at an extremely stiff, even somewhat ergonomic, angle.

His face was covered with deep wrinkles, and his complexion was as pale as paper, but his cheeks were painted with two strange circles of red, making him look like a paper doll in a paper craft shop.

The most terrifying thing was her eyes; they only had whites, no pupils.

She grinned, revealing a set of black, yellow, and broken teeth, and gave a sinister laugh:

"Hehehe... My eldest grandson is back..."

The scene was so impactful that many timid viewers in the live stream were so frightened that they threw their phones away.

"Is this Grandma?! This must be Sadako's grandma!"

"Run! Yunxi, run! This old woman looks like she's going to eat people! Last time, that Muay Thai expert was torn to shreds by one of these NPCs!"

However, Yunxi stood at the door, not only did she not run away, but she also frowned and looked at the terrifying old woman with disgust.

What is he thinking? Is he figuring out how to escape?

No.

Yunxi's inner monologue at this moment was:

Who did this old lady's makeup? Her taste is terrible! Is this what they call "underworld aesthetics"?

Also, why wear a black funeral shroud during the Lunar New Year? Aren't you afraid of bad luck?

He took a deep breath and did something that shocked the whole world.

He threw his backpack on the ground, put his hands on his hips, and shouted at the terrifying old woman:

"Grandma! Are you kidding me? What time is it? Why haven't we put up the Spring Festival couplets yet? Why haven't we hung up the lanterns? It's the New Year, and it looks like a funeral parlor. Do you want Uncle Er next door to laugh at us for being so poor that we can't even afford red paper?"

The old woman's smile froze.

A hint of bewilderment appeared in those eyes, which were mostly white.

These are... lines that weren't in the script?

Logically, shouldn't this bastard be so scared he wet his pants and begged for mercy on his knees? Why is he starting to nitpick right from the start? This isn't how the script is going!

Yunxi didn't give her a chance to react. She strode forward, snatched the broom from the old lady's hand, and tossed it aside with disdain.

"And this broom, it's practically bald! Don't they know it's the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, a time for dusting and sweeping? No wonder they can't sweep away this bad luck!"

"Go, go, go! Get me a new one right now, the kind made of bamboo! Hurry up!"

The live stream chat exploded.

"Holy crap! That's a monster! That's a boss-level NPC! He's actually reprimanding a monster? He's ordering it around?"

"Is this guy... really not someone who escaped from a mental hospital? Or is this the legendary thing... that if I'm fiercer than the supernatural, the supernatural will be afraid of me?"

Yunxi sneered inwardly: Playing tricks. In China, seniority is everything.

I am the eldest grandson of the eldest son. In a patriarchal society, apart from my grandfather and father, I am the one who calls the shots in this family.

Even if you're a ghost, in this special holiday setting, you still have to be coiled up for me!

Moreover, he was very clear about it.

The sweeping before New Year's Eve isn't just about removing dust; it's also about sweeping away bad luck and misfortune. The heavy gloom in this courtyard is because it wasn't cleaned properly.

"Grandma, what are you standing there for?" Yunxi glared at the old lady.

"I'm hungry, I want dumplings, pork and scallion filling, I'd better get the dough ready!"

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