Chapter 310: The Home-Field Advantage, and the Hidden Death Rules!
Hu Liuqi was someone who had spent decades crawling and scrambling in this line of work.
He was very familiar with the things in the shop, and he even knew how to use some of the props.
He felt that if he were the one going in for this round, he would have at least a seventy percent chance of surviving.
After all, in the past, he only ever “worked” after dark, so he was more than familiar with this kind of environment.
Of course, what he was considering was only survival. As for obtaining resources, that was not something he had thought about yet.
Hu Liuqi only had one clearing experience, and that time happened to be in a strange tale world he was relatively good at.
But strange tale worlds were always somewhat different from real-world understanding, and there would be many unusual settings.
The so-called home-field advantage was the ability to help a chosen one adapt to the strange tale world more quickly.
For example, in the previous round, Campbell, the chosen one from Britannica, had been able to rely on experience to find props that other chosen ones could not find. He even understood the use of some special props better than the others.
However, a home-field advantage was not necessarily a good thing.
Confidence was good, but overconfidence could indeed cause problems.
For this round, the Dragon Country’s audience basically felt that things were stable.
But many viewers on the world channel were voicing their own opinions.
“Oh my God, did you hear? This round is the Dragon Country’s home field. According to the Dragon Country’s saying, isn’t that like a fish in water?”
“I don’t think so. A chosen one on home ground will actually be disturbed by so-called ‘common sense,’ because many things in the strange tale world are different from reality.”
“In strange tale worlds with higher difficulty, there have already been several chosen ones who died on their home ground. The more someone knows, the easier it is for them to overlook details. I remember there’s another saying in the Dragon Country: ‘Those who drown are always the ones who know how to swim.'”
“That’s right. I don’t have much hope for the Dragon Country’s Heavenly Master either. If he hadn’t been lucky last round, he might not have made it out. With his reckless style of play, sooner or later he’ll die in the strange tale world.”
The viewers on the world channel did not think the same way as the expert teams, and they did not have Gregori’s wisdom.
In their view, although the Dragon Country’s Heavenly Master’s style was flashy, he was constantly testing the edge of death.
This guy could not possibly be so lucky every single time, right?
Inside the strange tale world, the chosen ones did not have so many thoughts.
Faced with such a terrifying scene, they were all somewhat frightened.
Rahman, the chosen one from the Pyramid Country, was most worried about the two candles on the table going out.
Those two candles seemed like his lifeline.
Because he had a feeling that if those two candles went out, many terrifying things would appear.
Just now, Rahman had glanced outside the door. One eerie small hill after another came into view, and together with the swaying black withered trees, they formed a scenery that no one wanted to look at directly.
Under the pitch-black night sky, it seemed as if black shadows flashed by, secretly watching this general store from hiding.
The occasional cries of crows made this strange nocturne even more soul-shaking.
When a chosen one stared into the darkness outside the door, they could also feel the darkness staring back at the chosen one.
Rahman took a deep breath and slowly began to get used to the smell of incense and candles.
After all, he came from a country with an ancient history, and he was also an archaeology major, so he was not completely unfamiliar with this smell.
It was just that when he first arrived, it felt a bit creepy.
Trying hard not to observe those terrifying things inside the shop, he began searching for the rules.
But at this moment, many chosen ones began to panic, including Rahman.
Because they could not feel their own heartbeat!
As experienced clearers, every time they came to the strange tale world, their heartbeat would speed up.
But this time, Rahman could not feel his heartbeat either.
So he used his right hand to feel the position of his heart through his clothes.
Then, with a shocked expression, he pulled open his clothes and looked down.
It would have been better if he had not looked, because the sight made his blood run cold.
Under the light of the candle, he could see that there was a stitched line in front of his heart.
Rahman swallowed, then continued touching his chest.
Sure enough, there was no heartbeat.
“Could it be that I don’t have a heart?”
Rahman was somewhat surprised. This was the first time he had encountered such a situation.
It was not just him. All the chosen ones soon discovered the same situation one after another.
When the supernatural beings even tried to use their power, their bodies would feel uncomfortable.
It felt as if their bodies were not right, as if they had entered a “severely injured” state.
And this state seemed to be one that could not be recovered from.
After all, without a heart, how could they recover?
“Two rounds ago it was a virus, last round it was blindness, and this round it’s no heart, right?”
Miller, the chosen one from the Eagle Country, complained.
He had just barely become a “supernatural being,” and now he felt that his advantage was not that great.
Without a heart, many of his abilities would drop sharply.
It was not just the power of a supernatural being. Even his body had entered a weakened state.
This made an already bizarre strange tale world seem even more horrifying.
The chosen ones had entered full of confidence, but as soon as they came in, they were dealt a heavy blow.
This was the strange tale world’s way of striking down the chosen ones’ confidence.
It was to let them know that they had not come here for vacation, but to undergo tempering!
Many chosen ones, like Miller, were not very comfortable with the situation of having no heart.
They seemed to have already been prepared for encountering viruses and blindness. Miller had even stacked poison resistance precisely to avoid being too greatly affected after being poisoned.
But who could have imagined that the strange tale world would play like this?
He did have poison resistance, but who could withstand the disappearance of their heart?
This made even the usually calm Miller somewhat uneasy.
If Zhang Yangqing knew what they were thinking, he would definitely say: It’s only been one round and you all can’t stand it? I’ve suffered through the negative effects of three rounds.
But in this round, Rahman’s way of thinking began to turn extraordinary.
He thought: Since I won’t die even without a heart, this might not be a disadvantage. Instead, it might be an advantage.
Because since I have no heart, if someone stabs me in the heart, nothing will happen to me.
Doesn’t that prove that I have one fewer death condition?
Or maybe it means that in this round, our hearts will suffer severe damage, so the strange tale world removed our hearts in advance, to prevent us from dying because our hearts were ambushed?
“If I think about it that way, it actually doesn’t seem to be a problem.”
Rahman quickly adjusted his mindset.
Next was to find the rules, because that was the key to survival.
There were many things behind him, and it seemed that all kinds of props filled the shelves.
To be fair, even though Rahman was not from the Dragon Country, he recognized some of them.
Some common paper umbrellas, paper people, writing brushes, and the like were all things Rahman recognized.
But many of these were not things meant for the living.
In the cabinet, he also found some bracelets. After careful inspection, the bracelets were actually made of human bone.
These were generally made from forehead bone, skull bone, leg bone, and so on.
Judging from the material, they seemed to have been around for quite some years.
Beside the counter, there was even a bone knife placed there.
Just as he was about to inspect the bone knife, Rahman suddenly snapped back to his senses.
Damn, my professional habit kicked in. Isn’t this the time to be looking for the rules?
As an archaeology professor, he was very interested whenever he saw these ancient objects.
Others might not recognize their value, but he really enjoyed studying these things.
If he continued researching and failed to find the rules, then when danger came, he would violate the rules because he knew nothing.
“So this is why chosen ones on home ground are actually disturbed instead. Now I understand.”
Thinking of this, Rahman still felt lingering fear.
Because chosen ones who were not on home ground were faced with the unknown.
So they would work hard to study the rules and gather information to survive.
But chosen ones with a home-field advantage, such as someone like Hu Liuqi, had a much bigger problem.
He knew how to use many props, and his mind worked differently from ordinary chosen ones.
You could also say that he had “unconventional tricks.” If those tricks were used well, they could indeed increase his rating, but if used poorly, there was a high probability he would get himself killed.
According to Rahman’s thinking, if Hu Liuqi went in, his chance of surviving would not only fail to increase, it might actually decrease.
Other chosen ones would not do outrageous things, but he would.
Rahman was just wondering whether that Dragon Country’s Heavenly Master, who had an absolute home-field advantage this round, would be disturbed as well.
Not just him, but many chosen ones from various countries, as long as they knew even a little, knew that this round was the Dragon Country’s home field, and they all thought the Dragon Country’s Heavenly Master was going to fail.
If Zhang Yangqing knew they thought that, he would definitely say: You have spare time to worry about me, so you might as well think about how to keep yourselves alive.
Seeing Rahman recover, the Pyramid Country’s expert team also breathed a sigh of relief.
Rahman found the rules later than the other chosen ones, but he still found them.
On the counter were several slips of paper, and in the drawer there was some small change.
They all looked quite old, and there was even a layer of dust on them. It seemed they had been sitting there for some time.
Rahman picked up the slips of paper and carefully brushed the dust aside with his hand, revealing many words.
Some of the slips recorded inventory lists, that is, prices.
One of them had the following written on it.
General Store Rules:
[Rule 1: You do not have a heart, but you cannot remain without a heart forever.]
[Rule 2: When the candle goes out, absolutely do not breathe. Otherwise, ‘they’ will find you.]
[Rule 3: Please try to keep the goods on the shelves sufficient. If a customer cannot buy what they want, they will be very dissatisfied.]
[Rule 4: When customers wearing black, gray, or white clothes come to buy things, please remember to remind them to pay. Do not overcharge, and do not undercharge. Sales revenue is the key to whether you can survive.]
[Rule 5: When customers wearing yellow or green clothes come to buy things, if they ask whether you have something, nod if you do, and shake your head if you do not. Never speak to them.]
[Rule 6: When customers wearing red clothes come to buy things, ignore all of their demands, unless they give you their eyeballs.]
[Rule 7: Never make ‘them’ angry. The angrier ‘they’ become, the stronger they get.]
[Rule 8: Do not interact too much with ‘them.’ Otherwise, ‘they’ will cling to you.]
[Rule 9: Remember, cats are people with two legs, and people are cats with four legs.]
[Rule 10: Not every customer will harm you, and not every customer will help you.]
[Rule 11: The general store does not provide black dog blood. If you see it on the shelf, drink it immediately!]
After seeing these rules, if Rahman had a heart, it would probably have started pounding wildly.
The last time he got an SSSS rating was because he could rely on teammates.
Rahman had relied on his own wisdom and his teammates’ strength to accomplish the feat of SSSS.
With teammates around, not only Rahman, but the other chosen ones would not feel afraid either.
But this round was a solo battle, and the rules listed so many “filthy things.” He did not even have a heart, so who would not be afraid?
Thankfully, the ones who came were all capable chosen ones. Otherwise, after reading the rules, they might have already wet their pants.
Because the rules stated that chosen ones were bound to encounter a huge number of terrifying things.
“These aren’t just a few death rules, are they? Why do I feel like almost all of them are death rules?”
Rahman muttered, because these rules were not very friendly at all.
He was not in a hurry to analyze. Instead, he cleverly looked around once before returning to the counter.
Trying hard to recall the “details” he had just seen, he began analyzing from the Yin-Yang General Store itself.
This place should be a place that sold props, and there were no other shops nearby.
From the environment, this place was on the mountainside of a mountain.
In the distance was mountainous land, but lower than this mountain.
Around them were some withered trees covered with “threads” or “wooden plaques.”
Because it was nighttime, he could not see clearly what exactly they were.
But when the wind blew, the wooden plaques knocked against each other and made faint sounds. That feeling was creepy enough.
It was not just Rahman. When the other chosen ones saw this, they all felt uncomfortable all over.
The chosen ones were not afraid of the type of situation where dangerous people appeared right at the start. What they feared was exactly this kind of start, where there was not even a person nearby.
All around was pitch black and terrifying, and they felt as if they were in the middle of a remote mountain forest. No, not “as if,” they really were in a remote mountain forest, and one that would be visited by “strange entities.”
This could be inferred from the rules.
The customers who came here were definitely not normal people, or they might simply not be people at all.
What normal person would come to a general store deep in the mountains for no reason late at night?
The more the chosen ones analyzed, the more they felt goosebumps rising.
And this was before any strange entity had even appeared, and they were already starting to feel afraid.
Once the strange entities appeared, they would not know what to do.
Not to mention ordinary chosen ones, even supernatural beings felt that the situation was bad.
The loss of the heart did not affect ordinary chosen ones much.
Because they did not originally rely on supernatural abilities.
But for supernatural beings, that psychological gap was truly uncomfortable.
The abilities they relied on for survival had been greatly weakened, and their bodies were weak as well.
To put it bluntly, a supernatural being’s confidence depended on their firepower.
If their firepower was insufficient, they would not be confident.
Ordinary chosen ones did not have much firepower, so they would simply come in as usual.
Some supernatural beings watching from Blue Star were worried about the people from their own factions.
In particular, Gregori was very familiar with the environment inside.
“This doesn’t look good. With a virus, you can still rely on medicine to hold on, and in the end it can still be cured. But how do you deal with having no heart? And Rule 1 already says that you cannot remain without a heart forever, which means that if the chosen ones can’t find a heart within the time limit, they will die.”
From outside, he also instinctively began analyzing the rules, as if it had become a habit.
“Then what should be done? There’s no rule saying how to get a heart, right?” a cardinal asked.
“That’s because you don’t have enough experience. At this stage, since the rules give you this kind of hint, you have to collect information to verify the rules. Next, you definitely need to gather relevant information.”
Gregori explained it in a normal tone.
But the people around still did not quite understand. They had never gone inside.
Basically, they would just say a few things from the sidelines and make use of rules that others had already fully figured out.
If they suddenly faced this kind of rules, they truly could not understand them.
However, as someone from their own faction, this cardinal was prepared to learn more. After all, Gregori and Sidney could not go in every time. They could not let the Pope go personally, right?
What if it was his turn next time? He could not just wait inside to die, right?
So he continued asking, “In other words, if I go in, I need to find someone among the customers whom I can talk to and ask for information, namely the customers wearing black, gray, and white clothes mentioned in the rules?”
In his view, only these three types of customers could be spoken to according to the rules, while the other rules did not allow you to pay attention to them.
And there were even more “indescribable” existences. Without information, he would have trouble making judgments.
This was only the “strategy” he had derived from the currently available information.
Hearing him say that, Gregori smiled strangely and said, “If you think like that, then you’re dead for sure.”
That sentence left the cardinal who had just spoken completely confused.
What do you mean I’m dead for sure if I think like that?
I didn’t think wrong, did I?
He glanced at the people around him, and everyone around him had puzzled expressions.
After all, Gregori had been inside, while they had not. How would they know how to analyze this?
Feeling the others’ gazes that were close to beating him up, Gregori continued, “You have to analyze it this way. The Dragon Country’s Heavenly Master is very good at linking rules together. We can also link them together.”
Gregori began teaching everyone step by step how to use Zhang Yangqing’s way of thinking to analyze the rules.
[Rule 1: You do not have a heart, but you cannot remain without a heart forever.]
Doesn’t this rule mention a human organ, and also the organ that they themselves were missing?
Then Gregori showed everyone another rule.
[Rule 6: When customers wearing red clothes come to buy things, ignore all of their demands, unless they give you their eyeballs.]
This rule also mentioned an organ. Although it was not an internal organ, the wording of the rule was also about giving an organ to someone else.
So the red-clothed customer knew the use of organs and the method for obtaining organs.
As long as the conditions were met, one could communicate with him and search for clues about the heart organ.
When Gregori said this, the others still did not understand. Didn’t the rule say not to pay attention to him? Why should they communicate with him again?
Hearing their comments, Gregori had a huge headache. Thank goodness you all didn’t go in this round, or else you really would have died inside.
Gregori first explained the literal meaning. This rule could be understood as ignoring the red-clothed customer, but when he gives you his eyeballs, you may pay attention to him.
“How can you communicate with him? That is, you have to find a way to make him give you his eyeballs. Understand?”
Even after Gregori said this, most of the nearby cardinals and holy knights still looked puzzled.
Only Sidney understood, but he was the type who could understand but could not explain it.
Gregori had no choice but to continue explaining.
Judging from the rules, the red-clothed one was the fiercest type of strange entity. If you ignored him, he would not harm you.
But at that time, if you did not take the initiative to communicate with him, you would lose a key clue.
So at the end of Rule 6, the chosen one was given one condition under which they could communicate with him.
“Let me put it more clearly. Not every red-clothed customer will give you their eyeballs. That means many red-clothed customers cannot be communicated with. You have to find the one willing to give you their eyeballs before you can talk to him. Do you all understand now?”
After saying all that, Gregori let out a long breath.
