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

He Lu thought for a moment, then her voice trembled.

"There are seven players..."

Holy crap! This is terrifying to think about!

[Even without thinking, I am filled with fear; thinking about it only intensifies my fear. Fear, fear, fear!]

Are all seven players going to be sacrificed?!

The visuals absolutely have to be bloody; otherwise, it's pointless.

[Is this something people say?]

[Users have given away 10 luxury cruise ships]

[Users sent 10 rockets]

……

The two walked back to the main road and saw a figure walking towards them from a distance; it was Qian Yu.

He was carrying a wooden bucket half-filled with water. He wasn't walking fast, and when he saw them, his pace didn't change; he continued walking step by step in their direction.

"We meet again." He approached, smiled, and said, "You guys are up quite early."

"You're not late either." Qi Tong glanced at the wooden bucket in his hand. "Where are you going?"

"Feed the livestock." He paused. "And you? What are you planning to learn today?"

Qi Tong didn't rush to answer. She looked at the expression on Qian Yu's face.

He was smiling, but the smile seemed fixed in place, with a half-second misalignment between him and his eyes.

"Sister Lin just told us," Qi Tong said, "that seven people were missing from the village during the sacrificial ceremony ten years ago."

Qian Yu shook the wooden bucket in his hand slightly, and a few drops of water splashed out, landing on the dirt road where they were instantly absorbed.

He looked down at the few dark water stains, and the smile on his face slowly faded.

"...Why is she telling you this?" His voice was lower than before. "It's all in the past."

Where did those seven people go?

Qian Yu remained silent for a while.

He switched the bucket to his other hand, raised his head, and looked past Qi Tong towards the outline of the statue in the distance.

"Some wishes," he said, "come at a price that no one can afford to pay."

Then he picked up the bucket and walked past them without stopping.

Qi Tong watched his retreating figure disappear into the distance. The bucket of water swayed gently on its rim, splashing tiny droplets and leaving a discontinuous dark trail on the dirt road, stretching westward.

Qi Tong kept going through the clues she knew.

Suddenly, she thought of something, picked up the camera on her chest, and took a picture of the mermaid statue.

The village chief only said that cameras should not be pointed at the villagers' eyes, not that they should not be pointed at the statues of gods.

"Click".

Qi Tong watched the image slowly forming in the camera.

A photograph of a mermaid goddess statue is generated, but it differs from what the naked eye sees.

Black mist surrounded the statue of the Mermaid God, enveloping it layer by layer.

The statue's eyes gleamed with a white light, as if they were weeping.

The deity gazed ahead with pity.

Qi Tong followed the gaze of the statue.

It's the direction the player came from.

seaside.

Why do the villagers, protected by the gods, look towards the sea with a sorrowful expression?

Qi Tong stood in front of the statue, her gaze following the pair of eyes that shone with white light as she looked towards the sea.

A gust of wind blew, blowing her hair to the side of her face. She didn't brush it aside, she just looked at it.

"Let's go," she said, "let's go see the beach."

He Lu didn't ask any more questions and followed them.

The road to the sea was the same as yesterday, with weeds on both sides taller than a person, and the wind blowing from the sea carrying a salty, fishy smell.

Qi Tong walked slowly, but each step was steady.

Ten minutes later, they stood on the beach.

The tide is receding, further back than it was yesterday when we were transported here.

Large tracts of mudflats were exposed, the wet sand gleaming a light gray in the sunlight, and more of the distant reefs were visible, their black surfaces covered with watermarks, like spines rising from the sea.

Qi Tong walked up to the group of reefs and stopped.

She had been standing here last night, and now, with the light shining brightly and the entire beach spread out before her, she noticed a shadow behind the rocks.

In areas where the light doesn't reach, there seems to be some kind of depression.

She went around it, stepping on the slippery rocks as she walked forward, with He Lu carefully following behind.

After rounding the largest black reef, the scene before him made Qi Tong stop in his tracks.

It is a cave.

The cave entrance is about one and a half meters high, with irregular edges, as if it were formed naturally. However, there are several parallel, straight, and neat carvings on the stone walls on both sides of the cave entrance, which are obviously man-made.

The wind blew out of the cave, carrying a salty and damp smell, mixed with some other scent she couldn't quite describe.

It looked like something that had been stored away for a long time, quietly moldy in a dark place.

He Lu stood next to her, peeked over, and unconsciously lowered her voice.

"...This cave wasn't here when we first arrived at this instance yesterday."

"The tide didn't recede this low yesterday." Qi Tong squatted down and glanced at the sandy area at the cave entrance.

There are several blurry marks on it, washed away by seawater, and their shapes are not very clear.

But she noticed a mark on the stone wall at the entrance of the cave.

It's exactly the same as the fishtail pattern on the back of the invitation and the metal plate on the base.

The same forked tail fin, the same curve, as if they were printed from the same mold.

Qi Tong stood up and took a step inside.

The light inside the cave was much dimmer than outside, but she could see that the passageway wasn't deep; she could reach the end in about ten steps.

The cave walls were damp, with a thin layer of moisture clinging to their surface, as if they had been constantly permeated by sea breezes.

The ground at the bottom of the cave was covered with a layer of fine sand, drier than she had imagined.

She went inside, with He Lu following closely behind.

The footsteps echoed softly and hollowly between the cave walls.

The closer you get, the stronger the pungent stench becomes.

When they reached the bottom of the cave, Qi Tong saw it.

At the bottom of the cave, against the stone wall, there was something that looked like an altar.

There was a table with two white wax sticks on it, which had melted to the bottom.

On the table were pig's head, sheep's head, and cow's head.

The stench that I kept smelling was coming from the rotting sacrificial animals.

A layer of sticky black dog blood was sprayed on the table.

There was also a bowl containing dried blood.

There was a small knife next to it.

"Roku, can you sense the emotional fluctuations left behind in this cave by the person operating this altar?"

[Host, let me give it a try.]

System 666 struggled to capture the lingering emotions, and after three seconds, it continued speaking.

[Some hosts are driven by obsession!]

This feeling is something many players have experienced! It's the obsession with possessing something!

Qi Tong kept rubbing his fingers together in his palm.

What does the cave's owner want, and who is he? Are those seven people related to this altar, or were they taken elsewhere?

She glanced at the knife on the table. The hilt gleamed, as if it had been handled many times.

The three sacrificial animals were rotten to varying degrees, suggesting they were placed on the animals in multiple batches.

This altar has been used more than once.

If each wish is exchanged for a life, how many people have disappeared from this cave in the past ten years?

What kind of insane desire could possibly be built upon the lives of so many people?

Suddenly, a blinding light flew toward Qi Tong's face, and Qi Tong immediately dodged to the side.

She pulled He Lu over and made her stand in the corner of the cave behind her.

Turning my head to the side, I saw that the light from before was now firmly fixed on the rock wall.