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

Yunxi stood firmly on the ladder, glancing back at her ghost father. "If you can't even handle this little bit of yang energy, how are you going to work with me in the future? Bear with it! Hold on tight!"

The ghost father was so aggrieved that tears were about to fall.

This wasn't yang energy, it was practically magma! The heat emanating from those seven words was so intense it felt like his very soul was about to dissipate.

But he still didn't dare to run away. He could only tremble as he returned to hold onto the ladder, and even used his almost burnt hands to help Yunxi press the red paper onto the door frame.

Yunxi didn't hesitate either, and immediately wrote the second line:

Springtime fills the universe, and blessings fill every home.

boom--!

The moment the second line was pasted up, the entire Li family's old house trembled violently.

A visible red ripple spread wildly outwards from the gate.

The shadows that had been hiding in the corner of the yard, the little ghost peeking from the roof beam, and the ghost mother who had just been cutting paper snowflakes...

Forced by the red light, they all let out shrill screams, and then, as if they had encountered a natural enemy, frantically scurried into the darkest corner of the room.

Even the gray fog outside the courtyard was forced back a full three meters by this force!

The gate of the Li family's old mansion was now gleaming with golden and red light, showing no trace of its former haunted house appearance. It was clearly an impregnable fortress!

Looking at the horizontal scroll, Yunxi wrote only four characters in one stroke:

Happy Chinese New Year!

It may be cliché, but it works!

These four words, once uttered, were like the final seal on this fortress.

The live stream chat went wild.

Qin Shan jumped up from his chair in excitement, and the cigarette he had just lit fell out of his hand again.

"What... what kind of technique is this? Is it Taoist magic? Or superpowers?"

Looking at the rapidly rising numbers on the data screen, Xiao Li stammered...

"Elder Qin... According to the energy detection, when Yunxi was writing that couplet, the 'fear value' of the entire instance decreased by fifty percent, while the 'safety value'... soared to two hundred percent!"

"That couplet...that couplet created a high-energy field! Any malicious creature attempting to enter through the main gate will be instantly purified!"

Qin Shan swung his fist fiercely.

"Good! Good lad! So red isn't taboo after all, red is a weapon! We've all been fooled by that damned system rule!"

The live stream chat was flooded with comments.

"I'm kneeling! My mom asked me why I'm kneeling while watching the live stream!"

"Is this what they mean by 'knowledge is power'? I never knew Spring Festival couplets could be used like this! I always thought they were just pieces of paper!"

"I remember now! My great-grandfather mentioned in his notes that there was an ancient mythical beast called 'Nian,' which was most afraid of red and fire! Yunxi is exploiting the monster's weakness!"

"That was amazing! When that golden light flashed just now, I felt a warm glow all over my body!"

"Hahaha, that's hilarious! Look at that guy, his hands are practically smoking from the heat, and he's still holding the ladder. He's definitely the best father of the year!"

Yunxi jumped down from the ladder, clapped her hands, looked at her masterpiece, and nodded in satisfaction.

"That's more like it. With this thing, no matter what kind of demons or monsters come tonight, they'll have to knock on my door properly."

He turned around, looked at his ghost parents huddled in the corner trembling, and sighed.

"Alright, stop playing the victim. This little bit of yang energy may be a bit overwhelming, but it's good for you too. Go, go, hang up the lanterns. Remember, hang them in the highest place, so they can shine as far as possible."

The ghost parents, feeling as if they had been granted a pardon, scrambled to grab the red lanterns from the ground and climbed onto the roof.

Now, they would rather go to the rooftop to feel the cold wind than stay at this gate filled with the "light of the righteous path".

Just then, a series of urgent and pitiful knocks came from outside the courtyard wall.

"Bang Bang Bang! Bang Bang Bang!"

That's the neighbor next door.

"Help! Open the door! Please open the door! There's a monster... a monster is chasing me!"

Judging from the voice, it seems that he is not a chosen one, but a native NPC in this instance.

According to this rule, you must never open the door after dark, and you must never open the door to strangers.

At this moment, if it were a chosen one from another country, they would definitely hold the door shut no matter how much people outside shout, and they wouldn't budge an inch.

But Yunxi is different.

He was worried that the festive atmosphere wasn't strong enough and that there was no one to set off firecrackers.

He walked to the front door, but instead of opening it immediately, he casually called out through the crack in the door:

"Hey—fellow villager outside, stop knocking! You'll knock the door down if you keep doing that."

The voice outside the door was choked with sobs.

"Open the door! It's here! That black thing is here!"

Yunxi raised an eyebrow, a mischievous smile playing on her lips.

"I can open the door, but today is New Year's Eve. According to our village custom, when you visit someone's home to offer New Year's greetings, you have to say auspicious words. If you don't say auspicious words, I can't open the door."

The viewers in the live stream were going crazy.

"Brother! Dear brother! You're still asking someone to say auspicious things at a time like this? That person outside is going to get eaten alive!"

"Isn't Yunxi incredibly careless? What if the person knocking on the door outside is also a ghost?"

"Are you stupid upstairs? Yunxi is testing us! If it were a ghost outside, she wouldn't be able to say anything auspicious. If she can, it means there's still hope!"

The person outside was clearly taken aback by this request, paused for a moment, then heard heavy footsteps approaching behind them and shouted in fright:

"Happy New Year! Happy New Year! Wishing you prosperity and all your wishes fulfilled! Brother, help me!"

Yunxi chuckled and reached out to pull the bolt off the door.

"That's more like it! Happy Chinese New Year!"

He suddenly flung open the door.

"Splash—"

A burst of golden light!

The black monster outside the door, which was about to pounce on and tear the villagers apart, was caught off guard by the golden light of the Spring Festival couplets on the door.

"Awooo—!!!"

A heart-wrenching scream pierced the night sky.

The two-meter-tall black monster was like snow meeting a hot iron; instantly, billowing black smoke rose from its body, and it flew backward, clutching its face and screaming in agony, crashing heavily into the muddy ground more than ten meters away.

The villager NPC who knocked on the door stumbled into the courtyard, completely dumbfounded, staring at the Spring Festival couplets radiating a sacred light above his head.

Yunxi stood with her hands behind her back at the doorway, looking down at the monster still rolling around in the distance, and snorted disdainfully.

"What kind of class do you think you are? Daring to ram into the gates of the Li family? Didn't you see those seven big characters on the gate? If you can't read, go back and study for a few more years before you come here!"

At that moment, his figure appeared incredibly tall under the glow of the red lanterns.

In the live stream, the chat was so dense that the comments were barely visible; all that could be seen were "666" and "China is awesome".

Qin Shan took a deep breath, his hand trembling, and finally lit the cigarette.

He exhaled a smoke ring, and his eyes were even a little moist.

"This kid...did he really bring back the legendary Chinese folk customs?"