Rules of the Strange: I Can See Through All the Weird

He Lu tentatively asked, "Is it the village chief?"

Qi Tong nodded: "And Qian Yu's father. Or Qian Yu himself."

Qi Tong stood up, walked to the door, and looked out through the hole in the paper window.

There was no one in the courtyard, but it was already completely dark, with only a few houses in the distance emitting scattered candlelight.

Some players have already lit candles.

"We can't make any rash moves tonight. The rules say we can't go out at night. We don't have a deep enough understanding of the rules of this instance yet, so it's not worth testing its limits on the first day."

He Lu nodded, but did not appear relaxed.

Qi Tong lit the candle on the windowsill with a lighter from her spatial dimension. The flame flickered and cast a swaying shadow on the paper window.

Then she sat down and leaned against the wall.

"I'll leave at dawn tomorrow."

"I want to go see that statue again. There are too many people worshipping during the day, so I can't get close to the base, but there shouldn't be many people in the morning. Before they start their daily offerings, I want to see what's in the gap between the base and the ground."

He Lu didn't hesitate: "I'll go with you."

"it is good."

Just like the village chief said, someone would leave each meal at the door.

I listened to the footsteps as they walked to the door and then disappeared into the distance.

He Lu's stomach rumbled at just the right moment.

"Looks like the food has arrived?"

Qi Tong opened the door and sure enough, there were exquisite dishes and two bowls of rice placed at the entrance.

The rules don't say what you can't eat.

The two of them brought in their food and had a hearty meal.

Qi Tong patted her stomach; this was the first time she had ever eaten her fill in a dungeon.

She placed the empty bowl back on the table, the sound of the bottom of the bowl hitting the table echoing softly in the quiet room.

After finishing their meal and resting for a while, the two prepared to go to sleep.

Qi Tong had just crawled into bed when she heard the sound of footsteps "tap-tap" outside the window.

The sound came from afar, and since the window was right above the earthen bed, it seemed to be knocking on their heads.

A figure could be clearly seen in the candlelight, standing by the window.

"Thump--" "Thump--".

The figure tapped impatiently on the window frame again and again.

He Lu trembled slightly beside her, pulling the blanket tighter around herself.

She wanted to say something, but dared not make a sound, and gently tugged at Qi Tong's sleeve.

Qi Tong grasped He Lu's hand, signaling her to relax.

Qi Tong closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep.

He Lu waited until the figure stopped making noise before slowly falling asleep.

The man seemed resigned to his fate, his steps much more sluggish than when he arrived.

They walked step by step in a different direction.

Tan Yi, who had his own room, wasn't so lucky.

A figure stood outside the window, frantically pounding on it and occasionally calling out Tan Yi's name.

Tan Yi lay on the earthen bed, covered his head with a quilt, and endured it all.

As dawn broke.

Qi Tong got up.

He Lu was awakened by the sound of her pulling back the covers. Rubbing her eyes, she sat up, her hair sticking up, and asked groggily, "...What time is it?"

"It's just dawn. Let's set off before the villagers get up to perform the ritual."

He Lu rubbed her face a couple of times, threw off the covers and got out of bed, her movements much more agile than yesterday.

The two tidied up quickly and then opened the door.

The mermaid village was still shrouded in a gray mist in the early morning, with a thin layer of fog obscuring the view, but the outlines of houses in the distance were still visible.

The whole village was so quiet it was as if it hadn't woken up yet.

They walked along the dirt road toward the statue.

The statue was larger than it had been when we were closer yesterday. In the morning mist, its outline gradually emerged, becoming clearer and clearer.

When Qi Tong approached the base, he first glanced around.

no one.

She crouched down and cautiously asked the system a question.

"Rokuko, now that we're close to the base, can you sense anything?"

A few seconds later, the sound of "666" rang out, a bit more steady than last night.

[Yes, but not as heavy as yesterday. It seems inactive. Like... it's asleep.]

"Asleep?"

[Hmm, yesterday it felt like a wild beast patrolling its territory, and I was the prey. Today it feels like the beast is still asleep, not yet awakened.]

Qi Tong reached out and ran her hand along the seam between the base and the ground.

The line my fingertips touched was dry and smooth, as if it had been carefully sealed.

However, if you look closely, there is a gap about two fingers wide on the north side that is covered by loose soil. It is almost invisible unless you touch it with your hand.

She brushed aside the layer of loose soil, probed her finger a little further in, and touched something hard.

It's metal. The edges are smooth, like a thin sheet that's been embedded in.

He Lu squatted down beside her and asked in a low voice, "What did you touch?"

Qi Tong did not immediately withdraw her hand.

She ran her fingertip along the edge of the metal plate to gauge its size, which was about the width of a palm.

There are faint lines on the surface of the board, and when you run your finger over them, you can make out the outline of a fish tail.

It's almost exactly the same as the design on the back of the invitation.

Qi Tong withdrew her hand, her fingertips covered in a layer of brown ash. She patted it off and stood up.

"There's a metal plate underneath, maybe it's an iron box. I only touched the top layer."

"Are you sure you only reached the top?" He Lu squatted down beside her, her voice barely a whisper. "What if there's something else down there?"

Qi Tong did not answer immediately.

She squatted down again and ran her fingers along the seams of the metal plate once more.

This time she probed deeper, but still only touched a metal plate.

Qi Tong shook her head. "I can't feel anything else. There's not much space inside."

He Lu leaned closer to take a look. "Can that box be pried open?"

"Prying it open by force would be too noisy, the space above is too small, and there's a statue pressing down on it. This thing can only be put in before or during the placement of the statue."

"That metal plate is quite large; it's unlikely that the statue was already in place before they dug a hole to put it in."

"And we don't know what will happen after we open it." Qi Tong stood up and dusted off her hands.

"Today, let's observe the villagers' worship process and see what they do in front of the statue. Maybe we can find clues to unlock it."

He Lu nodded and stood up.

The two of them took a few steps back, pretending that they were just visiting the statue.

The morning mist was slowly dissipating, and in the distance, the door of a house was pushed open. A hunched old man came out, carrying a bowl of something, and slowly moved towards the statue.

Qi Tong pulled He Lu aside to make way for her.

The old man walked to the incense burner and poured the contents of the bowl into the stone trough next to it.

It was a bowl of murky water, grayish-white in color, resembling both rice water and seawater.

After pouring the contents, he put the bowl on the ground, put his hands together, closed his eyes, and began to chant.

He Lu whispered, "What is he doing?"

"I don't know." Qi Tong watched the gesture, which seemed like making a wish. "But he didn't bring any meat offerings or incense. He poured water."

After the old man finished reading, he turned and walked away shakily. Only then did Qi Tong step forward and glance at the puddle of water in the stone trough.

The water surface was quickly absorbed by the dry stones, leaving only a thin layer of white sediment at the bottom of the trough.

She didn't touch it, but just looked at the layer of white sediment and noted its location.

"Water," she whispered.

"Besides raw meat, some people also use raw water as offerings. The rule the village chief mentioned may not be complete. The Mermaid God only accepts raw offerings, but 'raw' doesn't only refer to meat."

He Lu glanced at it and nodded thoughtfully.