Strange things happen, and I drive the evil god mad by chasing debts.

This is their only chance of survival.

Ten seconds felt like an eternity in the midst of a life-or-death struggle.

The black hair on the ceiling spread wildly, constantly testing the boundaries of the talisman's flames.

The eerie force outside continued to pound against the door, causing the cracks in the wooden door to widen until the entire door was on the verge of collapse.

A chilling, corrosive sensation continuously seeped into their limbs, gradually causing their hands and feet to stiffen and become numb.

Just as Fang Yue was about to give up—

Click!

The clocks on the wall, which had been jumping erratically, suddenly snapped into place.

The pointer, which had been moving backward, jerking, and erratically, suddenly stopped and then began to rotate steadily and regularly in the forward direction.

[The spacetime rift has been repaired!]

[The third layer of illusion rules has been reactivated and is now fully in effect!]

[Rules Reinstated: The search for the student monster prohibits attacking escaped targets and cross-regional pursuit!]

The moment the system notification landed, all the strange phenomena froze in place.

The black hair hanging from the ceiling suddenly stopped, and the hideous face froze into an eerie smile.

The eerie creatures rushing wildly outside the door all stopped in their tracks, and all the approaching black mist instantly receded and dissipated.

Just moments ago, it was bloodthirsty and relentlessly hunting down the monsters, but it was forcibly imprisoned by the restarted rules and completely lost its attack privileges.

They continued to stare intently at the two, their eyes filled with resentful ferocity, but they could no longer take a single step forward, frozen in place, firmly locked by the rules.

"It's done! The rules have been reset!" Fang Yue exclaimed with joy. His tense nerves suddenly relaxed, and his legs went weak, almost causing him to collapse to the ground.

"Don't let your guard down! Seize the time to break through!" Shen Qingchan didn't slack off at all and immediately raised her hand to remove the load-bearing steel bars.

"The rules only prohibit them from attacking, they don't eliminate them. Staying here is still dangerous! Take advantage of their restraint and rush out of the teaching building immediately!"

Without further hesitation, the two strode forward and yanked open the wooden door.

The corridor was densely packed with students searching for the suspect, blocking all the passageways.

He could only stand there stiffly, restless, watching helplessly as the two stepped out of the storage room, unable to stop them in the slightest.

The chilling whispers of resentment still echoed in the corridor, but they no longer held any power.

The two ran quickly along the edge of the corridor, ignoring the eerie, frozen figures on either side, and rushed straight to the stairwell, their feet crunching on the mottled floor.

On his way downstairs, Fang Yue looked at the immobilized monsters on both sides and said with lingering fear, "I really escaped death just now. I thought I was really going to die here this time."

Who could have imagined that a perfectly normal rules-based instance would suddenly trigger a time-space collapse and force a manhunt?

Shen Qingchan moved with lightning speed, her eyes fixed on the exit of the corridor ahead, calmly reviewing the situation: "This is the true terror of the Time-Space Ruins."

In a normal copy of the rules, the rules are constant and traceable, but the rules here are broken, fluid, and can collapse at any time.

The closer you get to the core of the instance, the more frequent these sudden, deadly mutations will be.

"The gentle illusion of the first two layers is just a deception to fool us."

Starting from the third level, the dungeon is no longer just about piercing the spirit; it begins to truly take lives.

The two ran wildly and soon burst out of the dark and oppressive teaching building.

The moment I stepped out of the teaching building, the chilling atmosphere of the entire building behind me vanished instantly.

All the eerie whispers and restlessness inside the building were shut out, completely isolating it from the outside world.

A cool evening breeze swept across the open playground, finally dispelling the biting chill that had enveloped me.

The two stopped in the middle of the playground, panting heavily. Their tense bodies completely relaxed, and the fabric of their clothes on their backs was already soaked with cold sweat.

[System notification: Successfully escaped the area where rules have broken down!]

[The third layer of spacetime illusion—the misplaced classroom—has been successfully breached!]

Current dungeon progress: 3/7!

[Unlocking the third hidden rule: The spacetime interlayer is highly susceptible to rule disorder. During the collapse, all established rules temporarily become invalid, leaving no safety protection.]

The moment I left the misplaced teaching building, the evening breeze suddenly turned cool.

The once dark and clear night sky was suddenly filled with swirling gray and black clouds, and fine, cold rain began to fall without warning.

The raindrops fell without making a sound, eerily quiet, and felt icy cold on the skin, unlike any ordinary autumn rain.

The entire school playground, old teaching buildings, and empty running track quickly blurred, faded, and collapsed in the rain.

The fragments of spacetime are violently altered, and the fourth layer of illusion has officially arrived.

[System notification: Entering the fourth layer of spacetime illusion—Homecoming Street on a Rainy Night.]

Current dungeon progress: 3/7.

[New plaintext rules updated:]

1. Do not carry an umbrella when walking in the rain at night, or you will be taken away by someone in the rain.

2. Never look back at a black car parked on the side of the road.

3. If you hear someone calling your name from behind on a rainy night, you must stop immediately, remain silent for three seconds, and neither answer nor run.

[High Risk Warning: This level is haunted by an entity with a "tracking and locking" ability. Violation of this ability will trigger an endless pursuit, and you cannot escape by changing areas.]

The scene has completely stabilized.

The two were no longer standing on the grassy playground, but on a wet, old city street.

The streetlights were dim and blurry, shrouded in the misty rain, and the distant buildings stood in layers, eerily quiet.

The entire street was deserted, with only endless rain and elongated shadows.

Fang Yue subconsciously raised his hand to shield his eyes from the rain, then felt a chill run down his spine and immediately exclaimed, "The scene's changed again! The fourth level is the Rainy Night Rules Book? Three explicit rules, and every single one of them is a trap!"

Shen Qingchan raised her eyes and scanned the entire long street, her gaze tense, and spoke very quickly: "This floor is even more ruthless than the classroom floor."

The previous Honkai was just a temporary pursuit, but this layer is a permanent pursuit.

Once you make a mistake, you can't shake it off.

"I've got the rules! No umbrella, no turning around, and don't run when your name is called!" Fang Yue immediately repeated, afraid of forgetting even a single word.

"But I always feel that these three are just the most basic bottom line, and there must be hidden rules waiting to trap us."

"That's right." Shen Qingchan nodded. "The rule of the Time-Space Ruins is that the further you go, the more hidden traps there are."

The explicit warnings are merely a safety net; the real killing blows are hidden.

The two dared not linger and, braving the cold drizzle, continued walking at a steady pace along the street.

They deliberately slowed their pace, neither too fast nor too slow, strictly adhering to the safest pace for the Ghost Stories dungeon.

Rainwater soaked through my hair and clothes, making my limbs numb with cold.

But more suffocating than the chill was the deathly silence of the entire street.

Just as the two had walked about a hundred meters, an old-fashioned, all-black sedan slowly slid over from the right side of the street.

The car body, glistening with rainwater, was quietly parked on the roadside, without the sound of an engine or the light of its headlights, silently standing in the rain as if it had been waiting for a long time.

Fang Yue glanced at it out of the corner of his eye, his heart leaping into his throat. He lowered his voice and said urgently, "Black sedan! Rule number two! No turning around, no looking back!"