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

Zombie King: "Roar?!"

Live stream viewers: "???"

"Cutting a zombie's nails? I give that a perfect score!"

"Is Yunxi's nail clipper some kind of god-tier item? It was just scraping a pillar, and now it's cutting zombies. It's all-powerful?"

"I want to see the extent of the Zombie King's psychological trauma right now."

Under Yunxi's persuasion and "violent" suppression, the Zombie King's proud claws were trimmed neatly, and even forcibly rounded by Yunxi.

After dealing with her grandfather, Yunxi turned her gaze to the room she hadn't dared to enter before—the kitchen.

In this instance, the kitchen is a major disaster area.

According to the rules, the Kitchen God is the god in charge of a family's food, but in this bizarre version, the Kitchen God often turns into a gluttonous demon.

If the offerings are not made properly, or if he is not satisfied, the whole family will die suddenly after eating.

Yunxi walked to the kitchen door and took a deep breath.

A strong smell of blood mixed with the smell of burning wafted out from inside.

On the stove in the kitchen, there is a portrait.

The Kitchen God in the portrait is not a kind-faced old man, but a monster with a blue face and fangs, drooling, holding a big bone in his hand, and staring fiercely at everyone who comes in.

This is the corrupted version of the Kitchen God.

In the incense burner in front of the portrait, instead of incense sticks, there were three fingers stuck in the burner. The offering plate didn't contain candied melons, but a bunch of wriggling worms.

"Tsk tsk tsk, what kind of thing is this being worshipped?"

Yunxi shook her head in disgust.

"No wonder this family is living such a miserable life. They don't even have a proper deity; they just worship all sorts of random things."

He walked to the stove, and the Kitchen God in the portrait suddenly moved his eyes, staring intently at Yunxi, making a chewing sound that made your teeth ache.

"Hungry...hungry..."

A sinister voice echoed in the kitchen.

The viewers in the live stream were on tenterhooks.

"Watch out! The Kitchen God is alive!"

"I heard that last time, a chosen one in the chef profession was sucked into the stove and burned to ashes because his dishes didn't suit the Kitchen God's taste!"

"Yunxi didn't bring red paper into the kitchen this time, what should we do?"

Looking at the portrait, Yunxi was not afraid at all; instead, she laughed.

"Hungry? Why didn't you say so earlier?"

He pulled out a piece of maltose he had just bought from a roadside convenience store—in this world it's called "strong adhesive."

"Come, come, it's the New Year, let your elders have a taste. This is something special, so sweet it'll make your teeth ache!"

As she spoke, Yunxi unwrapped the candy and smeared the sticky maltose directly onto the portrait's mouth.

The Kitchen God in the portrait had clearly never seen such a thing before.

He instinctively opened his mouth to bite Yunxi's hand, but the maltose melted instantly upon entering his mouth, becoming incredibly sticky.

"Smack...smack..."

The Kitchen God's mouth is stuck shut!

Those two lips seemed to be glued together; no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't open them and could only make muffled noises.

"That's right."

Yunxi clapped her hands and said with a smile.

"As the saying goes, on the 23rd, the candy melon sticks. I've smeared honey on your lips, so that you'll be praised in heaven and protected on earth. With such a sweet tongue, you'll surely have a lot of good things to say about our family to the Jade Emperor, right?"

The Kitchen God in the portrait is struggling desperately, his eyes almost bulging out.

I want to eat meat! Who wants to eat this sticky stuff!

However, this maltose seems to have a special restraining effect on this kind of spirit, or a kind of suppression at the level of rules.

The Kitchen God struggled a few times, but found he couldn't get rid of it at all. In the end, he could only helplessly shut his mouth, and even his fierce eyes turned into a pitiful look.

As the fire in the kitchen went out, the strong smell of blood dissipated considerably.

The worms that had been wriggling in the offering dish had turned into a few ordinary pieces of pastry. The fingers in the incense burner had transformed back into three still-burning incense sticks.

Kitchen purification successful!

In the live stream, the chat was flooded with comments again.

"Awesome! That's what you call social skills!"

"I'm speechless. So this is the legendary 'sticky candy'? I used to think it was for kids!"

"Yunxi's understanding is spot on! The Kitchen God going to heaven to tattle? No way, his mouth's been glued shut!"

"This guy is practically a walking encyclopedia of folklore! Ghosts and monsters are like toys to him."

Qin Shan watched this scene and couldn't help but sigh.

"This is the cultural disconnect. Taboos we don't know are the keys to success in his hands. It seems we've really struck gold this time."

After dealing with the Kitchen God, Yunxi was in a great mood.

He rolled up his sleeves and looked at the dough that had already been kneaded on the cutting board, and the minced meat that had been chopped into small pieces in the bowl next to it.

Although the mother's cooking skills were mediocre, the minced meat smelled normal enough, at least it didn't have a rotten smell.

"Alright, stop standing there like an idiot."

Yunxi turned around and shouted at her mother, who was still standing there in a daze by the door.

"Come here, make dumplings! Don't tell me you can't even make dumplings properly. If you dare to make any that leak out, you'll be keeping the Kitchen God company tonight!"

The ghost mother was startled and rushed over, her movements much faster than before.

Then, a bizarre scene unfolded.

Under the dim light, a young man and a female ghost with a crooked neck stood side by side in front of the stove.

The young man skillfully rolled out the dumpling wrappers, his movements fluid and graceful, producing wrappers that were evenly thin and perfectly round, as if drawn with a compass.

The female ghost clumsily pinched the dumplings. Although her hands trembled a little, under Yunxi's occasional "death stare," the dumplings she made actually looked quite decent.

"Ah, that's right. Look how beautifully the pleats are made."

Yunxi was still pointing out the landscape while wrapping the dumplings.

"Even ghosts should have aspirations; they can't just be involved in fighting and killing all the time. If you learn this skill, even if you don't become a ghost anymore, you could open a dumpling restaurant in the underworld and make a fortune, right?"

Although the ghost mother didn't quite understand, she felt it was impressive and even silently memorized the suggestion.

Soon, a tray of plump, white dumplings was ready.

Once the water boils, put the dumplings in.

As steaming white mist rose, a long-lost aroma of wheat and meat filled the entire house.

The cold, terrifying, and oppressive atmosphere was completely washed away by this warm, human touch.

Inside the main room, the zombie king, who had been grinding his teeth, suddenly brightened his green eyes upon smelling the aroma, and made a gurgling sound in his throat.

The ghost father was also staring longingly towards the kitchen, his mouth watering.

Is this... the feeling of Chinese New Year?

They have been dead for many years, and every day they eat cold, bloody food and rotting flesh.

This hot, fragrant food, full of yang energy, is an irresistible temptation to them, a temptation that comes straight from the depths of their souls.

Yunxi came out carrying two large plates of dumplings and placed them on the table.

"Dinner's ready!"