A bizarre and terrifying experience; I messed up the dungeon world.

"That's enough." Han Yingying placed her chopsticks on the bowl.

"Eat more, you've lost so much weight." Liu Fang picked up another piece of braised pork and brought it over.

Han Yingying blocked him with her chopsticks. "I've said enough."

Liu Fang's hand froze in mid-air.

The restaurant suddenly dimmed. It wasn't a problem with the lights, but rather the overall brightness of the space decreased by a level, as if something had blocked all the light sources.

A line of text appeared on the wall: [Warning: User ID 41056 (Han Yingying), refused the elder's arrangements during the meal, first violation.]

The words lingered on the wall for three seconds before disappearing.

The lights have been restored to normal.

Liu Siqi lowered her head and ate her rice, her chopsticks trembling.

Chen Rui glanced at Han Yingying, his expression complex. There was concern, worry, and also a barely perceptible...satisfaction?

"Eat up." Liu Fang put the braised pork into Han Yingying's bowl.

Han Yingying looked at the meat in the bowl and ate it.

After dinner, Chen Rui said goodbye and left. Before leaving, he said to Han Yingying, "I'll pick you up tomorrow, let's go for a walk."

This is not an inquiry, it is a notification.

Han Yingying neither agreed nor disagreed, and went back to her room.

She sat at her desk and began to organize the information she already knew.

First, she has amnesia and doesn't remember anything from the past.

Second, this world is governed by certain rules, which are engraved on the walls and everyone follows.

Third, her stepmother deliberately arranged for her to be with a man named Chen Rui.

Fourth, Chen Rui is not normal. He walks without making a sound, and his shadow is out of sync with his body.

Fifth, violating the rules will result in a warning, and three violations will lead to punishment. She has already done it once.

Han Yingying opened the group photo on her phone.

Wandering aimlessly. Zhao Qiang.

These two names are clues. She must have a past, friends, and experiences. She didn't just spring from a rock. What did she experience before her amnesia?

My phone rang; it was a text message from an unknown number.

[You must be present tomorrow at 3 PM at 228 Fuxing Road to sign the prenuptial agreement. —Chen Rui]

Han Yingying looked at the text message and put her phone down.

She drew back the curtains and looked out at the night sky. The streetlights were on, but there were no pedestrians on the road—it was the rule not to go out after 10 p.m.

Her fingers tapped unconsciously on her knees, like a habit lingering from some memory.

Don't go.

She didn't know why, but those two words were firmly etched in her mind.

The next morning, Han Yingying went out.

She wasn't going to keep an appointment, but to find "Langligelang" and "Zhao Qiang." She scrolled through her phone's contacts, but couldn't find a single person who matched her. She couldn't find them on WeChat either. She recognized the school name on the student ID—Chengdong University, about a forty-minute bus ride from here.

She arrived at the school gate.

The wall at the school gate is covered with rules.

[Campus Rule #1: Valid identification must be presented to enter the campus.]

[Seventh rule of campus rules: Running is prohibited in teaching areas.]

[Campus Rule 13: No noise shall be made inside the library.]

There are more than thirty of them.

Han Yingying swiped her student ID to enter the school. The campus was quiet, with students walking in twos and threes, and no one was talking loudly. She found the academic affairs office and checked her class and dormitory information—but the system showed that she had already "suspended her studies."

"Are you student number 41056?" The teacher from the Academic Affairs Office—a middle-aged woman wearing thick-rimmed glasses—said, looking at the computer screen. "Your leave of absence was processed by your guardian, Liu Fang, two months ago."

Two months ago? During the time she had amnesia?

"I want to go back to school," Han Yingying said.

"A guardian's signature is required."

It's the guardian again. It's Liu Fang again.

Han Yingying bit her lip and changed the question: "Is Zhao Qiang still at school?"

The teacher checked. "Zhao Qiang is also in your class. However, he hasn't been to class for a month, and the system shows his status as 'unknown'."

What is meant by "unknown state"?

The teacher adjusted his glasses but didn't answer.

Han Yingying left the academic affairs office and walked around the campus. The playground, the cafeteria, the dormitories—every place had its own rules. She stood for a long time downstairs in the dormitory, looking up at a window on a certain floor, feeling a vague sense of familiarity, but unable to grasp it.

At 2 p.m., her phone rang again.

A call from Liu Fang.

"Yingying, where are you? Chen Rui is coming at three o'clock, come back quickly."

"I'm at school."

"What are you going to school for? You dropped out, have you forgotten?"

"You arranged for me to take a leave of absence, it wasn't my own decision."

There was a two-second silence on the other end of the phone.

"Yingying, Mom has told you that you're not in good health and it's not suitable for you to go to school. This is all for your own good. You need to come back right now and be home before three o'clock."

"I'm not going back."

"Han Yingying!" Liu Fang's voice rose, "You've already broken the rule once! Do you know what will happen if you do it again?"

Han Yingying hung up the phone.

3:01.

She stood on the school playground track, the sun shining brightly, with several students doing exercises around her. Everything seemed ordinary.

Then it got dark.

It wasn't the kind of darkness where clouds obscure the sun; it was as if the entire sky had changed from blue to gray, like a television set whose color saturation had been reduced.

All the students on the playground stopped what they were doing and turned to look at Han Yingying.

Words appeared beneath Han Yingying's feet.

[Warning: User ID 41056 (Han Yingying) failed to arrive at the designated location on time, violating Rule 3 of the Family Rules. This is the second violation.]

[Further violations will trigger penalty procedures.]

After the text disappeared, the sky returned to blue. The students turned around and continued doing their exercises as if nothing had happened.

Han Yingying's heart was racing, but her mind was clear.

That's twice already. You have one more chance.

She had to make a choice—obediently go back to be Liu Fang and Chen Rui's puppet, or take a gamble.

She chose the latter.

It wasn't out of courage, but because she instinctively felt that going back would be the only way to certain death.

Chen Rui, who walks silently, and the "fiancé" whose shadow is out of sync with his body, are not human.

It was already evening when I got home.

Liu Fang sat in the living room, her face ashen. Chen Rui was also there, sitting on the sofa with his legs crossed, fiddling with a coin in his hand.

"You're back?" Liu Fang's voice was so cold it could freeze.

"Um."

"Do you know what you're doing?"

"I don't know." Han Yingying was telling the truth. "I have amnesia, and I don't know many things. But there's one thing I do know—I won't marry him."

She pointed at Chen Rui.

The living room lights flickered simultaneously.

Chen Rui stopped coin-handling, looked up at Han Yingying, and smiled.

That smile finally revealed the truth to Han Yingying—Chen Rui's mouth stretched too wide; a normal person's mouth couldn't possibly be stretched to that angle. It almost reached his earlobes.

[Penalty triggered: User ID 41056 (Han Yingying), three violations accumulated.]