Weird Rules: I'm so handsome, they all want to seduce me.

Su Xiaobai picked up the old record.

The black plastic disc feels cool to the touch.

He turned it over and looked at the back.

In the dim pink light that hadn't completely dissipated in the broadcasting room, he saw a line of small characters engraved on it.

The handwriting is a bit crooked, as if it was carved on with a fingernail or some sharp object.

"On the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month in the twenty-third year of the Republic of China... Jiang Hongyi... passed away."

Su Xiaobai read it aloud.

At the doorway, Jiang Hongyi's body visibly swayed.

"The seventh day of the twelfth lunar month..." Su Xiaobai looked up at her, "It's yours..."

"Shut up."

Jiang Hongyi's voice was low and trembling.

She didn't come in; she remained standing in the shadows of the doorway, but Su Xiaobai could see that her knuckles were white as she gripped the scissors.

"Senior," Su Xiaobai turned the record back, looking at the girl with dimples smiling on the cover, "when did you take this photo?"

Jiang Hongyi did not answer.

She just stared at the record in Su Xiaobai's hand, her eyes filled with complex emotions.

Several seconds passed before she spoke, her voice hoarse.

"The year I enrolled... in spring."

"The photos are great," Su Xiaobai said. "You have dimples when you smile."

Jiang Hongyi's shoulders twitched again.

"Put the record down," she said. "That's not something you should touch."

"Why?" Su Xiaobai asked, "Didn't you say you'd give it to me?"

"I...I regret it."

"That won't do." Su Xiaobai laughed. "Once something is given away, there's no reason to take it back."

He walked over to the old-fashioned record player and looked at it.

The machine is old, but it still works.

He picked up the record, aligned it with the central axis, and gently placed it on.

"What are you doing?!" Jiang Hongyi's voice suddenly rose.

"Listen to me," Su Xiaobai said. "I want to hear your voice."

"No!"

Jiang Hongyi tried to rush in, but as soon as her foot crossed the threshold, the pink light in the broadcasting room flashed violently.

She recoiled as if burned.

Her face turned even paler.

Su Xiaobai saw it.

He paused, placing his hand on the stylus.

"Senior, are you... having trouble getting in?"

Jiang Hongyi bit her lip and remained silent.

But her expression said it all.

Su Xiaobai understood.

The broadcasting room is the area for the "living".

Or rather, it is the last safe house left for the "chosen ones" in the rules—although according to the normal procedure, it may be a more terrible trap.

But for someone as "strange" as Jiang Hongyi, this place is off-limits.

"Then wait for me outside," Su Xiaobai said. "I just want to listen for a bit."

"You'll die!" Jiang Hongyi practically screamed. "That record...that record doesn't have any songs on it!"

"What is that?"

"It's...it's a curse." Jiang Hongyi's voice lowered. "It's the resentment of all those who died here..."

Su Xiaobai looked at the record.

The black plastic disc lay quietly on the turntable.

In his eyes, there was no resentment.

There's only one old record.

The cover features a beautiful girl.

"I don't think so," Su Xiaobai said.

He gently put down the stylus.

Shila-

A burst of noise arose.

Then, a sound came from the record player's speaker.

It was a female voice.

It was very light and gentle, humming a melody.

There are no lyrics, it's just humming.

The melody is a bit sad, but it's very beautiful.

Like the breeze on a spring evening, it carries a hint of coolness, yet also a touch of warmth.

Su Xiaobai listened for a while.

He turned his head to look at the doorway.

Jiang Hongyi leaned against the door frame, her head down.

Her long hair hung down, obscuring her face.

But Su Xiaobai saw something dripping from her chin.

It's not blood.

It is transparent.

One drop, two drops, fell to the ground.

"Senior," Su Xiaobai said softly, "Did you sing this?"

Jiang Hongyi didn't look up.

She simply nodded.

The movements were very small.

"It sounds great," Su Xiaobai said.

Jiang Hongyi's shoulders trembled even more violently.

The humming from the record continues.

But as he hummed, his voice began to change.

From gentle to choked with sobs.

Then, it turned into crying.

A suppressed, desperate cry.

The sound, played through the record player's speakers, echoed in the quiet broadcasting room.

Su Xiaobai didn't move.

He listened.

The crying lasted for about half a minute, then suddenly stopped.

The record has also come to an end.

The stylus lifted and returned to its original position.

The broadcasting room was deathly silent.

The suppressed breathing of Jiang Hongyi at the door.

"What happened on the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month?" Su Xiaobai asked.

Jiang Hongyi finally raised her head.

Her eyes were red and her face was streaked with tears.

In Su Xiaobai's eyes, the way she cried was even more heartbreaking than usual.

"That day..." Jiang Hongyi's voice was terribly hoarse, "was... the day I died."

Su Xiaobai was stunned for a moment.

"what?"

"and then?"

"And then..." Jiang Hongyi's eyes became empty.

"He led his men...and surrounded the school."

As Jiang Hongyi spoke, she looked down at the scissors in her hand.

"These scissors... were part of my dowry from my mother."

She said... the bride has to cut the "double happiness" character herself.

"I cut it."

"But in the end... I used it to cut my own neck."

She spoke very calmly.

But each word is like a shard of ice, stuck in the air.

Su Xiaobai didn't say anything.

He walked to the door.

This time, he didn't go out.

He stood inside the threshold, looking at Jiang Hongyi.

"Does it hurt?" he asked.

Jiang Hongyi looked at him, and tears fell again.

"It hurts," she said, "but now...it hurts even more."

Why?

"Because..." Jiang Hongyi took a deep breath, "I've hated him for so many years... but now I realize that I don't even have the strength to hate him anymore."

"I just feel... tired."

"Extremely tired."

Su Xiaobai reached out her hand.

His hand crossed the threshold and stopped in front of Jiang Hongyi.

"Then I won't hate you anymore," he said.

Jiang Hongyi looked at his hand.

Looked for a long time.

Then, she slowly placed her hand on it.

Her hands were cold.

But Su Xiaobai held on.

They held it very tightly.

"I'll be with you from now on," Su Xiaobai said. "When you're not tired, I'll take you out to play; when you're tired, I'll let you lean on me."

"How is it?"

Jiang Hongyi's tears fell in large drops.

But she didn't cry out loud.

She just bit her lip tightly and nodded.

[Target: Senior in Red (Jiang Hongyi)]

[Favorability: 65/100]

A system notification sounded in Su Xiaobai's mind.

Almost simultaneously—

hum!

The red microphone in the center of the broadcasting room lit up by itself!

Then, all the equipment in the entire broadcasting room started up automatically!

The buttons on the control panel clicked down on their own, and the knobs creaked as they turned!

"What's going on?!" Jiang Hongyi exclaimed in surprise, trying to pull her hand back.

But Su Xiaobai didn't release it.

He pulled her along, looking at the malfunctioning equipment.

"Don't be afraid," he said. "It seems... the audience wants to hear something else."

Sure enough, the next second, Su Xiaobai's own voice came through the microphone—

What he just said was recorded and is now playing on a loop!

"From now on, I'll stay with you... When you're not tired, I'll take you out to play... When you're tired, I'll let you lean on me..."

The sound was amplified through the school's loudspeakers, reaching every corner!

The live stream chat was so dense that the screen was completely obscured by text.

"Holy crap!!!"

"They recorded it?! And broadcast it throughout the whole school?!"

"What kind of move is this?!"

"My senior's hand! She reached out her hand!"

"I cried, I really cried, what an incredibly beautiful love story (?)"

"Wake up, one of them is a living person, and the other is a ghost!"

"I don't care! I'm going to die from this!"

"This streamer is amazing! He's really gone too far, trying to get away with this!"

Su Xiaobai was also amused.

He hadn't expected the broadcasting room to be so intelligent, even with automatic editing and loop playback.

"That's good," he said into the microphone, "saving me from having to say it again."

Then, he cleared his throat.

"Ahem, hello everyone in the school."

"That was my personal manifesto."

"Now, I'd like to formally announce—"

He glanced at Jiang Hongyi and smiled.

"Senior Jiang Hongyi, I've got your back."

"From now on, anyone who bullies her is bullying me."

"Although I don't know where I am now... just remember me."

"in addition--"