I’m a Max-Level Taoist Master, and You’re Throwing Me Into a Rules-Based Horror Game?! - Chapter 157

Chapter 157: The Greater the Firepower, the More the Restrictions!

Mechanical Code:

[Rule 1: As a mechanical guard, if you use your own weapons or control other weapons to attack a human, the self-destruct system will be forcibly activated, resulting in failure.]

[Rule 2: You do not require food or rest, but you must maintain sufficient energy. If your energy is depleted, it will result in failure.]

[Rule 3: Guarding Tianwei City is your mission. If Tianwei City is destroyed, it will result in failure.]

[Rule 4: The creatures in the biological cultivation farm are the primary targets of this transport mission. If all creatures inside die, it will result in failure.]

[Rule 5: Without permission from the Tianwei City Commander, mechanical guards are prohibited from appearing in the upper three levels. Otherwise, they will be shot on sight.]

[Rule 6: If other creatures attack humans, you, as a mechanical guard, should intervene promptly. This will benefit you.]

[Rule 7: Tianwei City has a strict hierarchy. Always remember your place.]

[Rule 8: When abnormal images appear before your eyes, seek out a mechanical maintenance worker in Tianwei City. Note: Only maintenance workers on the fifth level are trustworthy.]

When the chosen ones saw these eight rules, if their faces could change color, they would have turned pale with fear.

Normally, the bizarre world would have at most one fatal rule—one that leads to failure.

But now? There are four straight away?
Did all the failure rules that were missing in the previous round get piled into this one?
From Rule 1 to Rule 4, triggering any one of them means instant death for the chosen ones.

Even superhumans cannot resist this.

Instant-death rules and instant-death items are two different things.

In other words, the chosen ones must memorize these four rules and avoid making any mistakes.

On top of that, they must guard against other dangers. This is the duty of the chosen ones.

No wonder the bizarre world immediately gave the chosen ones mechanical bodies upon arrival.

Argentina’s chosen one, Ramírez, is an ordinary person compared to superhumans.

He was once a soccer player, but Argentina has too many soccer players, and those at the bottom still struggle to make ends meet.

To make a living, he became an auto mechanic and is quite familiar with machinery.

If you ask how he ended up here, well, he was randomly selected.

When he first arrived, he was panicking. In this unfamiliar bizarre world, transformed into a mechanical being, he felt as though he were dreaming.

He slapped himself but felt no pain.

He thought he really was dreaming, but then he remembered that mechanical beings have no sense of pain.

Touch and pain are two different things. The sense of touch exists because the designers wanted mechanical beings to perform tasks more effectively and detect threats to humans.

The lack of pain, however, is simple: the designers wanted mechanical beings to charge forward fearlessly.

According to the guiding mechanical guard, Number 255, as long as the power core or head isn’t directly destroyed, all other components can be repaired.

The chosen ones, as mechanical beings, are not purely robots.

Mechanical beings possess certain biological features and senses.

Apart from touch, senses like hearing, sight, and smell still exist.

As for whether limbs can be detached, some bold chosen ones have already tried it. One even ripped off his hand and reattached it, finding it functional again—incredibly convenient.

In this area, all the beings moving about are mechanical, with no sign of so-called “humans.”

The place is filled with the stench of motor oil.

That smell of motor oil is something the chosen ones aren’t used to yet, since they are all human.

Strangely, although they find it unpleasant, they experience no adverse reactions.

In other words, they can smell it, but their bodies don’t react with vomiting, dizziness, or similar symptoms.

It’s still hard to adjust to having a mechanical body all at once.

Yet, that unpleasant smell of motor oil actually helped Argentina’s chosen one, Ramírez, relax.

It reminded him of his time at the auto repair shop, which was far smellier than this place.

After reading the rules and combining them with the explanations from guiding mechanical guard Number 255, he had a general understanding of the place.

A strategy for an ordinary person naturally formed in his mind.

That is, to combine the rules and intelligence to deduce the dangers the bizarre world would present.

He had also read the experts’ advice: if you can’t do this, the only thing waiting for the chosen ones is death.

Panicking is useless in the bizarre world; only by staying calm can you find a way to survive.

First, naturally, is understanding his own identity.

His identity this time is [Mechanical Guard]. As a mechanical guard created by humans, his responsibility is to protect the humans here and guard the safety of Tianwei City.

The guiding mechanical guard, Number 255, told him this, and the rules also mention it.

In addition, he must protect the creatures in the cultivation farm, though what they are remains unknown for now.

Most importantly, he must ensure his energy reserves are sufficient.

Only by keeping these four points in mind can he survive this [Transport Journey].

Thinking of this, Ramírez couldn’t help but complain: “Damn, so I don’t need to rest? I have to work 24/7? If anything goes wrong and this city is compromised, I die too?”

Back on Blue Star, a 24/7 work schedule would get the boss hanged from a lamppost.

Sometimes, not needing rest isn’t a good thing. The body might not tire, but the mind can’t take it.

However, this bizarre world has one advantage: no need to search for food.

In previous bizarre worlds, food was critical.

Eating the wrong food could mean instant death.

And according to most survivors’ recollections, the food in many bizarre worlds was far from normal, barely edible, and a torment for the chosen ones.

For the first four rules, Ramírez had a preliminary understanding.

Next were the remaining rules.

Rule 5 and Rule 8 are somewhat related.

[Rule 5: Without permission from the Tianwei City Commander, mechanical guards are prohibited from appearing in the upper three levels. Otherwise, they will be shot on sight.]

[Rule 8: When abnormal images appear before your eyes, seek out a mechanical maintenance worker in Tianwei City. Note: Only maintenance workers on the fifth level are trustworthy.]

According to mechanical guard Number 255, Tianwei City has six levels in total.

The upper three levels are where the so-called “humans” live.

“I heard” the environment up there is very good.

The harsh conditions down here are naturally where mechanical beings like them belong.

The fifth level is among the upper three levels, so if his mechanical body malfunctions, he must go to the upper levels.

But without the commander’s permission, going up there means being shot.

So, the first small goal appears: find the commander, win his favor, and obtain permission to access the upper levels.

As for how to win the commander’s favor, Rule 6 spells it out clearly.

[Rule 6: If other creatures attack humans, you, as a mechanical guard, should intervene promptly. This will benefit you.]

“Holy crap, so these rules seem random but can actually be connected?”

Argentina’s chosen one, Ramírez, seemed to have an epiphany.

In the bizarre world, without such realizations, survival is impossible.

Like Ramírez, many chosen ones also had similar insights.

However, here, further insight is needed—specifically, the so-called “abandoning humanity.”

Abandoning humanity means discarding so-called morals and ethics, even doing things considered “evil” on Blue Star.

This is why some chosen ones, upon entering, had their backgrounds scrutinized by expert panels.

Ramírez didn’t consider himself a bad person, but he felt that since he was a mechanical being, why should he think like a human?
So, abandoning humanity was a natural thing to do.

Because he abandoned humanity, he thought of something: connecting the rules.

If he wanted to go up, he needed the commander’s permission.

He could only gain the commander’s favor by helping him when he was in danger, which would then grant him permission to go up.

But the commander holds a prestigious position in Tianwei City. Who would dare attack him?
Mechanical beings definitely wouldn’t attack, because if he had such rules, other mechanical beings must have them too.

He couldn’t just wait around, could he?
Wait for the bizarre world to create an opportunity?
It’s not impossible, but no one can say for sure.

However, actively creating such an opportunity isn’t impossible either.

Because Rule 4 states:

[Rule 4: The creatures in the biological cultivation farm are the primary targets of this transport mission. If all creatures inside die, it will result in failure.]

This cultivation farm is on the third level, a place he can access.

The third level is close to the fourth level, where the commander might appear.

Mechanical beings cannot attack humans, but the creatures in the cultivation farm become the chosen one’s weapon.

Ramírez thought: if he used the creatures from the cultivation farm to attack the commander, wouldn’t that give him a chance to show off?

The rules say failure only occurs if all the creatures in the farm die, so losing one or two shouldn’t matter.

After analyzing this, Ramírez felt his mind had never been clearer.

While other chosen ones were still confused,

Ramírez had connected all the rules.

Once he reached the upper levels, there would surely be more clues and intelligence.

This created a terrifying phenomenon.

While many chosen ones were still exploring the lower levels, unsure what the rules implied, Ramírez was already preparing for the future.

Because the expert panel emphasized that locations mentioned in the rules must be visited if they are determined to be relatively safe, as they likely contain items beneficial to the chosen ones.

Moreover, people mentioned in the rules should be contacted, as doing so would yield unexpected gains and aid in survival.

Since the rules mentioned mechanical maintenance workers on the fifth level, Ramírez definitely needed to find them and see what intelligence they could provide.

With a clear goal in mind, Ramírez began preparing.

Mechanical guard Number 255 was the proper newbie guide, teaching the chosen ones how to survive as mechanical beings in the training base.

The electricity within was the foundation of a mechanical being’s survival.

The chosen ones gradually familiarized themselves with their body structures.

The chest of the mechanical body housed the power core, and the metal plate at the center could be opened to reveal the energy port.

The training base had energy guns. The chosen ones only needed to insert the energy gun into the port to begin charging.

Like most chosen ones, Ramírez came here first to charge up fully.

It was like a mobile phone: never wait until it’s at 1% to look for a charger.

If a chosen one ran out of power and “shut down,” they would never wake up again.

Normally, people charge their phones when the battery drops to 20% or 10%.

But when it’s a matter of life and death, the chosen ones would likely start charging at 80% or 70% to avoid any unexpected situations.

Some chosen ones wished they could just plug the charger directly into themselves, maintaining a 100% charge at all times.

Charging stations weren’t only in the training base; they were scattered throughout Tianwei City.

Finding as many charging stations as possible might be beneficial.

This was the chosen ones’ line of thinking.

After learning how to charge, the next step was crucial.

This place was called the training base for a reason: to allow the chosen ones to familiarize themselves with combat.

Mechanical beings, to put it bluntly, are human war machines, tools of slaughter.

If the chosen ones couldn’t grasp this, survival would be difficult.

This desperate journey wasn’t as simple as guarding this mechanical fortress in the air.

Without combat experience, they would undoubtedly perish during the process.

The fact that the bizarre world gave ordinary chosen ones such powerful mechanical bodies was a hidden hint that this level would be brutal, and their ordinary human physiques wouldn’t be enough to withstand it.

This was the so-called hidden clue.

But if you asked many superhumans, they wouldn’t want to become mechanical beings!

However, the bizarre world didn’t give them a choice, so there was nothing they could do.

Inside the training base, there were many targets and weapon equipment.

Mechanical guard Number 255 began explaining the weapons and equipment to the chosen ones.

This place was practically a large arsenal.

It contained weaponry most people would never come into contact with in their lifetime.

It made many weapons experts on Blue Star green with envy, wishing they could go in and see for themselves.

Their idea was to learn the technological skills of the bizarre world and create some advanced-era weapons and armor.

If possible, they might even build such massive aerial fortresses.

But that was basically impossible. Weapons experts daring enough to enter might not survive, and they might not even encounter such advanced-era bizarre worlds.

Ordinary chosen ones, fighting for survival, were racing against time and unlikely to spend time studying this stuff.

The weapons in the training base were roughly divided into two types.

The first type was firearms.

Pistols, rifles, Gatling guns, rocket launchers—you name it.

The heavier the weapon, the greater the firepower and the more ammunition it carried.

Carrying them consumed energy from within.

On the other hand, pistols and rifles were easy to carry but had limited ammunition.

Australia’s chosen one carried two Gatling guns, looking mighty and impressive.

He resembled Sylvester Stallone wielding a Gatling gun to shoot down planes and tanks.

Thankfully, he had a mechanical body; otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to lift even one.

Moreover, the powerful recoil of a Gatling gun was something no ordinary person could handle.

His actions left Australian audiences speechless.

“Are you trying to fight zombies and rack up damage or something?
This thing is heavy and clumsy. It’s fine if you’re the one attacking, but if you’re under attack, you won’t be able to dodge.
In movies, they have maxed-out evasion buffs. Playing like this is a death sentence, isn’t it?”
And carrying this thing required a significant amount of energy.

He’d probably run out of power before even finding an enemy.

The second type was energy cannons.

There were various energy cannons, including bio-hand cannons mounted on the arms.

There were also double-barreled heavy cannons carried on the back.

And hip-fired cannons attached to the waist.

These were powerful and easy to carry.

But as the name suggests, they required the user’s own energy to fire.

Each shot from a bio-hand cannon consumed 0.5% energy.

The heavy cannons and hip-fired cannons consumed 7% energy and required some time to charge.

From the energy consumption, one could tell how powerful the heavy cannons and hip-fired cannons were.

Russia’s chosen one loved these things. He carried two heavy cannons on his back and a hip-fired cannon at his waist.

He also mounted four bio-hand cannons on each arm, emphasizing firepower suppression.

It seemed that only with so many weapons could he feel secure.

All fear stems from insufficient firepower.

If possible, Russian audiences and expert panels really wanted to initiate a vote to kick him out directly.

This was operation at the level of embarrassing oneself.

One or two of these things would be enough. How could you mount everything possible?
Do you think you can plug a charging port into yourself and go fight?
Don’t end up killing yourself after firing a few shots before even finishing off the enemies.

These two guys, despite being heavily criticized by audiences, weren’t stupid.

They thought that if ordinary people could think of it, it meant there was a trick—the bizarre world wouldn’t be that simple.

Anyway, carry more and discard them if necessary. If they really encountered great danger, this would be their reliance!
This was the strategy they chose.

However, most chosen ones were quite normal. Popular configurations included: two hand cannons, one heavy cannon, one rifle, one rocket launcher, etc.

The others didn’t seem very reliable.

From testing the firepower, the chosen ones could see that firearms were weaker but had the advantage of not consuming energy when firing.

Energy cannons were powerful but had obvious drawbacks—they couldn’t be fired continuously.

Once energy dropped below 30%, the chosen ones would start to feel the crisis.

So, a mix was the standard configuration for most chosen ones.

Use up the bullets first, then switch to energy cannons.

Once energy drops to 50%, run!

Seeing so many destructive weapons, Argentina’s chosen one, Ramírez, sighed and said, “Now I understand why there are so many failure rules. This round is to prevent the chosen ones from going on a rampage in Tianwei City.”

Of course. Giving the chosen ones so many weapons and such powerful bodies, without rules to restrict them,

Some chosen ones might lose their minds and blast Tianwei City to bits first.

The more firepower the chosen ones have, the more restrictions there are.

Just as most chosen ones had finished selecting their equipment, the screen for Italy’s chosen one was dead silent.

Because Italy’s chosen one, Sidney, was still sitting motionless at the edge of Tianwei City, holding his head.

If he weren’t a Holy Knight of the Church, Italian keyboard warriors would have already started cursing.

Everyone genuinely didn’t know if he was scared, meditating, or doing something else, so no one dared to comment.

As for the Church, there was also silence. If the highly respected Sidney died so pathetically, the glorious image of the Church would suffer a significant blow.

Most importantly, in the previous round, even though Gregorio was terrible early on, he could survive once the restrictions were lifted.

In this round, no matter how much Sidney thought about it, could he summon his own body?
Not to mention the Pope, even a group of cardinals and Holy Knights weren’t very optimistic about Sidney.

Thankfully, Sidney had good character. If he were like Gregorio, who often offended others and had poor relationships with colleagues, these colleagues would probably already be preparing for his funeral.

Gregorio, seeing Sidney’s performance, appeared sad and sighed on the surface, but inwardly, he was gleeful.

He thought: I’m finally not the worst performer anymore!