Twin female zombies come to the door: My lord, please have mercy!

The early morning in Taiping Old Street was unusually quiet.

The early winter sun shone on the bluestone slabs, but it couldn't dispel the white sand that the sanitation worker had turned into.

Lin Ye stood inside the glass door, holding the bronze [Bagua Soul-Fixing Mirror] in his hand. The dim light on the mirror reflected his bright black eyes.

"Stop crying, or you'll flood my newly replaced Persian carpet."

Lin Ye casually grabbed two tissues from the coffee table and smeared them on Ayougu's tear-streaked face, his movements as casual as if he were wiping the snot from the neighbor's rascal's nose.

"Hurry up and wipe your snot. The Holy Maiden of the Wan Gu Ancient Clan, running away from home and crying all the time, aren't you afraid of disgracing your Ten Thousand Mountains?"

Ayougu was taken aback by his rude actions.

She ripped the tissue off her face, blew her nose hard, and glared at Lin Ye with red eyes.

"Who...who's crying! I stayed up all night playing games, and I got sand in my eyes!"

Ayougu remained stubborn, but her hands, which were tightly gripping the straps of her backpack, unconsciously loosened their grip slightly.

"Okay, okay, sand's gotten in."

Lin Ye didn't bother to expose the girl's pitiful pride.

He turned around, put the Soul-Stabilizing Mirror back into his system space, and his gaze fell again on the pile of white sand outside the door. His tone became serious, the joke from before gone.

"This thing is much more troublesome than any cardinal or ancient demon."

"Big sister, don't smell it!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Lin Ye saw Shuangxing squatting on the ground, sniffing the scent of the white sand through the glass door. He quickly reached out and grabbed Shuangxing by the back of her neck, pulling her back.

"Brother-in-law, this sand smells hollow, like those empty shells I've seen in ancient tombs before, the ones that have had their souls drained."

Froststar rubbed her nose and, unusually, gave a serious evaluation, though she kept talking about food.

Leng Yue walked to Lin Ye's side, a solemn look flashing in her dark golden eyes.

"My lord, this thing has no causal relationship."

As a drought demon that has existed for millennia, Leng Yue's sensitivity to the energy of heaven and earth is almost intuitive.

"Whether it is a demon, a ghost, or a Western deity, as long as they exist in this world, there must be a cause and effect."

"But that pile of sand outside the door... it's more like an inanimate object, a 'rule' forcibly imprinted between heaven and earth."

"That's right, without cause and effect, there is no interaction with the Five Elements."

"It's like we're playing a game where everyone's hacking and slashing with swords, and suddenly someone posts a piece of Trojan code in the public chat. As soon as you see that code, your game character will be forcibly deleted. This is an attack on a completely different level."

Hearing Lin Ye's simple and easy-to-understand analogy, Helena, who was standing to the side, turned pale.

"Boss... this is the legendary 'meme contamination.' In the top-secret files of the Western Inquisition, this kind of disaster that directly distorts human cognition only occurs when those unspeakable ancient gods awaken."

Helena's voice trembled, clearly showing an instinctive fear of this invisible and intangible method of annihilation.

Just as the atmosphere in the hall became oppressive.

The air in front of Lin Ye suddenly distorted violently like ripples on water.

[Ding! A globally dangerous rule-based meme contamination (codename: White City Gate) has been detected and is spreading rapidly.]

[The "Please Behave Yourself, My Lord" system has been activated. As the top fishpond owner and extraordinary leader of the Great Xia Kingdom, facing this unethical and destructive attack, please make a choice befitting your status:]

Option A: Ignoring everything else and focusing solely on studying the classics.

Immediately close the doors of the funeral parlor, activate the highest defense of the Nine Netherworld Purgatory Tower, and give the whole family a pair of noise-canceling headphones and an eye mask. As long as I don't listen or look, the memes won't infect me.

Reward: One "Self-Deceiving Ostrich Shell" (Absolute physical defense, but IQ -50).

Consequences: The Great Xia Kingdom fell to the White Sand City, and the host became the sole lone commander in the post-apocalyptic wasteland, facing endless loneliness and teetering on the brink of madness every day.

Option B: Use magic to defeat magic, use brainwashing to fight brainwashing!

Since the other party is meme pollution, then we will create stronger memes! Immediately pull out a loudspeaker and play a DJ bass-heavy version of "Pure Land of Bliss" mixed with "Great Compassion Mantra" on a loop throughout Jiangzhou, forcibly overwriting the concept of "White City" in the minds of the citizens.

Reward: One "Sacred Sound System for Square Dance Aunties" (with the passive effect of mental pollution).

Consequences: Although the spread of the virus to Baicheng was prevented, all the citizens of Jiangzhou will become fanatical zombies who only know how to dance to otaku songs, and social order will collapse in another way.

Option C: Capture the king first, and physical methods will overcome all magic.

Since the rules are hiding in a higher dimension, let's go in and experience it for ourselves, actively accepting the memetic infection and descending our souls into "White City." In this alternate dimension, we'll find the core hub that spreads the rules and use the most basic physical methods of the Great Xia Kingdom to deliver a crushing blow!

Rewards: One concept-level weapon – "God-Slaying Brick" (can inflict real physical critical damage on incorporeal, conceptual, and rule-based targets), and 5000 Official Points.

Look at these three options.

Lin Ye's lips twitched violently twice.

This broken system is as abstract as ever.

Option A is simply waiting to die. Lin Ye has worked so hard to build up such a large fortune. Is he just going to watch the outside world turn into a dead city and not even be able to order takeout anymore?

Option B is even more outrageous: a mother opening the door for someone else is just ridiculous. It's ridiculous beyond belief.

The whole city dancing to the "DJ Version of the Great Compassion Mantra" to the Pure Land of Bliss? The scene was too beautiful; Lin Ye was afraid he would gouge out his own eyes if he saw it.

However, when his gaze fell on the reward of option C, his expression instantly turned strange.

"【God-Slaying Brick】?"

Lin Ye was mentally ranting and raving.

"System, did you get the art style wrong? It's supposed to be a God-Slaying Whip, and you gave me a brick?!"

Tucao returns to Tucao.

But Lin Ye could clearly see the small print that said: "[Can cause real physical critical damage to targets that are intangible, conceptual, or rule-based.]".

This thing is practically the father of all rule-based weirdness!

This brick, however, can directly drag the "concept" to the physical level and beat it up, instead of dealing with such an invisible and intangible concept.

This is like encountering a player in an online game who can use cheats to walk through walls; you can't hit them.

And this brick went directly through the network cable, giving the slacker sitting in front of the computer screen a huge shove in the butt.

Simple, direct, and to Lin Ye's liking right now.

Choose C!

Lin Ye gave the order in his mind without hesitation.

[Ding! Confirm selection.]

[The concept-level weapon "God-Slaying Brick" has been delivered to your system space. Please check your inventory.]

[Friendly reminder: When breaking bricks, speed, accuracy, and force are key. A blow to the back of the head is even more effective. May you, host, be invincible with this brick in hand!]

Hearing the system's shameless words, Lin Ye rolled his eyes and ignored it.

Just then.

"Bang!"

The door to the funeral parlor was pushed open forcefully.

Chu Hongyan strode in, carrying the chill of early winter.

Her eyes were bloodshot, her lips were chapped, and there was some white grit on her black tactical windbreaker.