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

"Hey! Little sister!" Zhao Jiayou waved his big hand in front of Qi Tong's eyes.

Qi Tong came to her senses, her eyes filled with a hint of apology.

"Sorry, I was thinking about something just now."

"The clue I can exchange with you is that the Mermaid God was also being manipulated."

Qi Tong paused for a moment, then continued.

"Tomorrow's sacrificial ceremony will likely see the seven of us players as offerings."

"The rules of this instance are very simple, and it's almost entirely possible to avoid them, all in order to ensure that all seven of us players appear in the sacrificial ceremony in an orderly fashion."

Zhao Jiayou and Zhou Peipei's initial shock upon hearing those words gradually turned into fear.

"No! I don't want to die!" Zhou Peipei collapsed to the ground, her expression filled with fear.

Zhao Jiayou reached out a hand and helped Zhou Peipei up. Compared to Zhou Peipei's panic, Zhao Jiayou was slightly calmer.

"Is there any way?"

"There is a solution, but we don't know if it will work."

Just then, Zhou Nan and Li Jianren stepped through the door.

Upon hearing the word "solution," Li Jianren eagerly stepped forward.

"What way? A way to get out?"

Zhou Nan's gaze remained fixed on Li Jianren's back.

His eyes betrayed his disdain.

This person is so stupid, yet they ask so many questions.

I had no choice but to share a room with him yesterday, and today when I went out to look for clues, he kept following me.

You can't chase them away; they're as clingy as a leech.

Li Jianren stood next to Zhou Peipei and noticed that no one spoke.

"Hey! Keep going! I've found a clue too! I didn't listen for nothing! I have a clue to exchange!"

Qi Tong raised an eyebrow slightly: "Tell me about it."

"Today I ran into the village chief, and the person behind her is the village chief! Tomorrow she will sacrifice the lives of the entire village to the Mermaid God!"

Zhou Nan frowned slightly, a hint of confusion in her eyes.

Why would Lee Kin-yan lie to people?

They didn't encounter the village chief along the way, but they did see the hospitable Qian Yu.

His intuition told him that something was very wrong with Qian Yu.

Although Qian Yu had a smile on his face the whole time, Zhou Nan couldn't feel that he was smiling at all.

There was also a faint, unpleasant odor emanating from Qian Yu, which probably only someone with a very sensitive nose like him could detect.

But Li Jianren said that "he met the village chief today" and didn't mention Zhou Nan, so Zhou Nan didn't say anything.

Qi Tong didn't miss the change in Zhou Nan's expression. She gave Li Jianren a deep look but still didn't say anything.

He Lu, who was standing to the side, was completely dumbfounded.

Qi Tong said that the mastermind behind the scenes was Qian Yu, while Li Jianren said that the person behind it was the village chief.

He Lu looked left and right, feeling that if she kept thinking, her CPU would overheat.

When has a pampered young lady ever bothered to think about these issues?

Even in her own small company, she just hires people to think for her while she sits and collects the money.

He Lu chose to unconditionally trust Qi Tong.

Putting everything else aside, just from how He Lu was carried through the last dungeon, you can tell that Qi Tong's brain is something that ordinary people can't keep up with.

He Lu quietly reached out and pinched the hem of Qi Tong's clothes.

When Qi Tong looked over in confusion, He Lu winked at her.

Qi Tong understood what she meant; she was comforting her.

Qi Tong smiled and continued, "No matter who is behind this, we must ruin tomorrow's sacrificial ceremony."

She looked at Li Jianren with a serious expression in her eyes.

"The person behind this is using the Mermaid God to collect the villagers' 'power of faith.' All we need to do is reveal the truth during the sacrificial ceremony and shatter the trust of all the villagers."

Lee Kin-yan nodded heavily.

"You're right, we need to make those behind this pay the price."

His gaze fell on the blood-stained machete on the stone table.

"Wow! This is a good item. Anyone want it? If no one wants it, I'll keep it!"

He looked at Qi Tong and assumed that the item belonged to Qi Tong.

The latter slightly raised his head and looked at Zhao Jiayou, indicating that it belonged to Zhao Jiayou.

Lee Kin-yan looked at Chao Chia-yu with a pleading expression.

Zhao Jiayou didn't know what the knife was for, or what Li Jianren wanted it for.

But since they were looking at him like that, he couldn't bring himself to refuse.

He flicked his slightly unsightly left bangs and said generously, "Take it if you want it!"

Li Jianren happily put the machete into his spatial storage, and didn't forget to express his gratitude.

Qi Tong silently contacted System 666 in his mind.

"Six, I want to know what Lee Kin-yan thinks of me."

Across from him, Lee Kin-yan blinked his innocent-looking big eyes, radiating goodwill.

[Host, Li Jianren's favorability towards you has been detected to be 10%.]

Li Jianren slowly exhaled a breath of stale air.

Qi Tong's lips curled up slightly.

"Understood, Liu Zi."

It seems there's more fun in this dungeon.

Everyone chimed in, and they began a lively discussion about tomorrow's plans.

So much so that no one noticed Tan Yi staggering into the courtyard clutching his chest.

Zhou Peipei, who was closest to Tan Yi, turned around and was startled.

"Aaaaaaah! A ghost!"

She fell flat on her backside again, rubbing her bottom, tears welling up in her eyes.

The pain from before hasn't completely gone away yet!

Everyone looked over at the sound, and if it weren't for Tan Yi's dusty gray shirt and the camera hanging around his neck, they would hardly have recognized him as a player.

Tan Yi now looks like a human body with a pig's head on his neck.

Zhao Jiayou, acting like the eldest brother, was the first to speak.

"Tan... Tan Yi? What happened to you? How did you get yourself into this state?"

As he spoke, he didn't forget to help Zhou Peipei up.

Tan Yi opened his mouth, his face stinging from the tearing.

It's not that he doesn't want to talk about it, it's that he can't bring himself to say it.

Tan Yi looked at Qi Tong with a resentful expression.

The culprit, on the other hand, smiled nonchalantly.

"Tan Yi, you're so naughty. Everyone else is out looking for clues, and you still have time to cosplay as a pig's head."

He Lu tried hard to suppress her laughter, her lips tightly pursed, but her trembling shoulders betrayed her.

Other players, unaware of the reason, assumed that He Lu was trying not to laugh because of Tan Yi's current miserable state.

After hearing Qi Tong's words, everyone started to suppress their laughter.

Everyone wore a constipated expression, except for Qi Tong.

He Lu's hands were tightly gripping her thighs under the stone table.

Hold on! You absolutely must hold on!

Lee Kin-yan was the first to break down in laughter.

When one person starts laughing, it's like unlocking the key to laughter; everyone who was trying to hold back their laughter starts laughing too.

Tan Yi was so angry that he trembled all over.

It took him a lot of effort to utter just two words.

"Pray...steal."

"Huh? Did you call me?" Qi Tong stared at Tan Yi with an innocent look.

"...Ni...Guo...Wait." The sentence was uttered painfully, but at least it was complete. Tan Yi closed his mouth with satisfaction.

"Huh?" Qi Tong looked puzzled. "Could you spit out the sock in your mouth before you speak?"

Tan Yi rolled his eyes in anger, while the players, though trying not to laugh, were clutching their stomachs in hysteria.

And the person who started all of this keeps adding to the numbers.

"Do you know how disrespectful this is?"

Knowing he had been very rude, Tan Yi rolled his eyes and fainted.

The last moment before consciousness faded, laughter echoed in my ears.

It's so noisy, so many people, and there's so much happy laughter.

Is this paradise?