I’m a Max-Level Taoist Master, and You’re Throwing Me Into a Rules-Based Horror Game?! - Chapter 192

Chapter 192: The Nameless Mountain Village with Undercurrents Surging! 

Zhang Yangqing had his own interpretation of the rules.

Other Chosen Ones might only feel that the rules hinted this place was dangerous, and a single misstep could lead to immediate death.

But Zhang Yangqing felt these were the conditions for the natives, or rather the supernatural entities, to attack him. In other words, these people wanted to kill him.

By reverse logic, didn’t that mean he could kill them all?

Furthermore, one thing could be determined.

That was, the Goatee Captain’s words did not conflict with the rules.

But the Square-Faced Man’s words greatly conflicted with the rules.

Rule 7 mentioned that each house only accommodates one outsider, but the Square-Faced Man said everyone could squeeze in.

This was to make the Chosen Ones violate the rules, fulfilling the conditions for them to attack the Chosen Ones.

Also, the Square-Faced Man mentioned not going out before dawn. If dawn here referred to 8 AM, then it conflicted with the rule stating one must leave before 8 AM.

In other words, the Square-Faced Man had no intention of letting the mountaineers go.

It was just that due to regulations, they couldn’t attack directly.

For other Chosen Ones, as long as they followed the rules, they could leave the village alive and might even obtain some information.

The Chosen Ones entering the strange world this time were all very smart. There was a temple at the place they first arrived, and there was also a temple here.

So the temple was definitely not a coincidence. What was the specific hint? Bolder Chosen Ones thought about coming to check at night.

Because when they arrived, they inspected it, and the temple temporarily didn’t have any strange aspects.

Moreover, many rules indicated that something would definitely happen here at night.

This was the approach of the other Chosen Ones.

For Zhang Yangqing, what were the rules?
Weren’t they just suggestions for me? Whether I follow them or not depends on my mood.

You’d better behave; no one can stop me this time.

As long as his teammates weren’t all dead, Zhang Yangqing had nothing else to fear.

After entering the villager’s room, unlike other Chosen Ones who were fearful, Zhang Yangqing went directly to the fireplace to warm himself and dispel the chill.

He didn’t even wait for the Square-Faced Man to say the polite words, ‘Make yourself at home, don’t stand on ceremony.’

Zhang Yangqing was actually a very proactive person, so he chose to do it himself without troubling the other.

Despite his boldness, he was still carefully observing the surroundings.

Because it was very dark and cold outside.

Upon entering, he felt a wave of warmth; the room was well-lit.

Next was the furnishings; the furnishings here were very exquisite.

The cabinets displayed many various items, as if collected from the far corners of the earth.

There were also many animal head specimens on the walls, many of which couldn’t be seen on Blue Star at all.

Like woolly mammoths, two-headed lions, saber-toothed tigers, etc.

These specimens gave people a vivid, lifelike feeling.

It was as if the specimens were only a part revealed by these fierce beasts; if the wall was broken open, there might be bodies inside.

Then there was the furniture, much of which seemed to be polished from bone.

However, the bones seemed to fit together perfectly without any nails or screws, showing considerable skill.

It’s just that the white bone furniture made many Chosen Ones avoid it like the plague; they feared the bones were what they imagined, making them uncomfortable sitting on it.

Finally, the more common items in the room were leather products.

Some important areas were covered with genuine leather rugs; you could even infer from the complete rug what animal’s skin it was.

The living room also displayed many leather hats, the kind the villagers wore on their heads.

Even the fur on these things was clean and smooth, it seemed the villagers cherished their collections.

When the Pyramid Kingdom’s Chosen One, Rahman, arrived at the fierce-looking villager’s house, the moment the villager knew he was staying, there was an unconcealable delight in his eyes.

He looked very fierce, but he still entertained Rahman according to the rules and offered to help Rahman with his luggage.

However, Rahman politely refused; it was better to keep luggage within his sight.

After all, the rules said food was precious here; he was afraid someone might tamper with it, and there would be no place to cry then.

Seeing this, the villager didn’t say much, only asked him to rest in the living room and inquired if he wanted something to eat, as the villager could prepare some meat for him.

Because generally, by the time Chosen Ones arrived at the village and went through the series of procedures, it was basically already 11 PM.

The villagers had already eaten dinner, so there was no reason to have the Chosen Ones join for dinner.

Rahman thought about the rules; it didn’t seem to mention anything about food being poisonous, but to be safe, he said he had already eaten and wasn’t hungry.

He had brought dry rations himself and didn’t need to eat anything else.

After some polite exchange between the two, Rahman also obtained a lot of information.

[Every household in the village has a husband and wife.]
[His wife wasn’t feeling well today, so she went back to her room to rest early.]
[There are three empty rooms in the house; only one can be chosen, and it cannot be changed after selection.]
[Some strange people who stayed over had been here before; perhaps those people left something behind, don’t find it strange.]
[If you find anything strange in the room, you can throw it out the window.]

Rahman felt that these messages, like what the Square-Faced Man said, weren’t necessarily all true, but he had to know them, as it would help him obtain more information tonight.

After all, the Chosen Ones in this round were no ordinary Chosen Ones.

They weren’t just here to clear the stage; they were all thinking about whether they could get an S rating or above to grind some skills.

Rahman himself already had one skill, which could be considered a safeguard.

In the strange world, who would mind having too many skills?

So to get a high score, intelligence naturally needed to be collected.

After exchanging a few pleasantries with him, the villager sat in the living room, cleaning the animal pelts.

When ordinary people clean pelts, they just wipe them casually or dust them off.

Rahman noticed that when the villager cleaned the pelts, he was almost meticulously cleaning every inch.

How to put it? It felt like one animal looking for lice on another animal.

At this time, the Chosen One from the Cherry Blossom Kingdom touched these pelts, hats, and animal specimens.

He wanted to help organize these things to seek the homeowner’s favor in exchange for information.

But when the homeowner discovered it, he angrily scolded the Cherry Blossom Kingdom’s Chosen One, telling him not to touch these things in the living room.

This made the Cherry Blossom Kingdom’s Chosen One somewhat afraid now, holding the purple alarm card in his hand. If attacked by the homeowner, he would immediately tear the card to seek help from those reliable teammates.

However, merely touching didn’t reach the level of triggering an attack.

The Cherry Blossom Kingdom’s Chosen One temporarily saved his life and no longer dared to touch things here randomly.

The experiences of other Chosen Ones were largely similar; they all seemed to have been taught a lesson by the homeowner.

Only when Zhang Yangqing touched them did the Square-Faced Man not dare to say anything.

Seeing Zhang Yangqing handling his collection, he indeed wanted to give Zhang Yangqing ten thousand cuts in his heart, but this didn’t violate his rules, so he couldn’t take action.

Besides, if they really fought, it was uncertain who would live and who would die.

He didn’t have absolute confidence he could defeat Zhang Yangqing, so he needed a special method to eliminate such a powerful outsider.

After chatting with the homeowner for a while, the homeowner would use the darkness as a reason to urge the Chosen One to choose a room to stay in.

When selecting a guest room, the homeowner also enthusiastically followed.

The guest rooms were on the second floor; there were three in total.

The first one looked relatively tidy, with a bed, and the furnishings were similar to a normal room.

The second one had some dust, with a bed and some animal specimens piled up, looking like a storage room.

The third one was about as tidy as the first, but it had two beds, one large and one small.

Seeing this, the Chosen Ones already knew which room would have supernatural events.

Actually, it was really hard to choose here, and the Chosen Ones were very hesitant.

The first room looked normal, but in such an eerie place, a normal room was often abnormal.

In the second guest room, those vivid animal specimens felt strange?
Because in the living room, the homeowner would clean things like animal specimens spotlessly; if there was dust here, it was rather intriguing.

Could it be that he couldn’t enter?
Or was there something inside that the homeowner feared?

Chosen Ones who thought of this might choose this room.

The third guest room was clearly the location where the supernatural would descend.

Because there was a small bed in the room; wasn’t this a crib?
This matched Rule 3 of the village. So, wasn’t this guest room the most dangerous place?
This was the Chosen Ones’ first impression.

But the Pyramid Kingdom’s Chosen One, Rahman, unhesitatingly chose the third guest room, the one with the crib.

This not only puzzled the audience but also made the homeowner show a trace of a strange expression.

However, this was within Rahman’s observation; he knew he had probably chosen correctly.

Each strange world wouldn’t follow the same old routine. This time, he felt the supernatural elements of the strange world could be utilized.

Just now, when Rahman saw the third guest room, he recalled the rule.

[Rule 3: There are no children in this village. If you hear the sound of a baby crying and are far away, ignore it. If you are close, shout at it loudly until it stops making noise.]

According to his understanding, the one that would emit the sound of a baby crying should be the special type of supernatural entity appearing tonight.

The supernatural entity was highly likely to kill the Chosen One, but it would also ‘protect’ the Chosen One.

Because in previous strange worlds, the rules only told the Chosen Ones the conditions for the supernatural to appear or for themselves to trigger the supernatural.

But in this strange world, the rules actually told the Chosen Ones how to deal with the supernatural conditions.

Or to understand it this way, this rule was telling the Chosen Ones how to prevent the supernatural from harming them.

So, by choosing the third guest room, as long as a supernatural event occurred, he could follow the rule and loudly scold the supernatural entity, and it wouldn’t harm him.

If Rahman’s guess was correct, at that time, wouldn’t the supernatural entity staying in the room become his guardian?

The supernatural entity would attack anyone entering the room; this was its attack range, meaning it would also attack the homeowner trying to enter here.

Since he already knew the homeowner wanted to kill him, seeking help from the supernatural was the best choice.

So Rahman chose this place to stay; it was indeed very bold.

But the thought of sleeping next to a supernatural being still gave him the creeps.

But to survive, he had to choose this; there was no better way.

Maybe choosing other rooms wouldn’t necessarily lead to death, but the probability of death would be much higher.

After Rahman entered the third guest room, the homeowner left.

Rahman looked at his watch; it was now 12:10.

At this time, some text appeared on the white card on his body, messages sent by other teammates.

The other teammates had more or less also discovered the strangeness here and were exchanging information.

Rahman felt this time point was very important.

There was still over an hour until 2 AM mentioned in the rules.

So, according to Rahman’s experience in the strange world, this more than an hour wasn’t for the Chosen Ones to rest but for them to discover special intelligence here.

Similarly, the homeowner could only attack him after 2 AM; it was relatively safe for now.

Otherwise, they could have attacked the moment he entered.

As long as these hidden rules were understood, everything became clearer.

How to find clues? Here, Rahman recalled two rules.

[Rule 2: If you hear cries coming from a room, do not enter casually, and do not act as if you heard anything. If the homeowner discovers you, they will be very angry.]
[Rule 4: The Village Chief is the only person you can trust, but he will not tell the truth.]

Within this more than an hour, he needed to find the room mentioned in Rule 2 and the Village Chief to gain something, or rather, to survive.

The room mentioned in Rule 2只是 (only) couldn’t be entered casually; it didn’t mean it couldn’t be entered. The condition was not to be discovered by the homeowner.

There was a mysterious female host who hadn’t appeared; he didn’t know if it was related to this rule.

According to the information on the white card, in the houses where other mountaineers stayed, it seemed only one person was seen; the other person didn’t appear, but the homeowner indeed said there was another person in the house besides them.

As for who the Village Chief was, there were no clues yet; it required observation.

Only Zhang Yangqing knew that the Village Chief hadn’t returned yet, or couldn’t ‘appear’ yet, and needed time to wait.

His room choice was very casual; he directly chose the first room, the one with problems.

Seeing him choose this room, the Square-Faced Man’s corner of the mouth revealed an unconcealable joy.

It seemed he saw Zhang Yangqing choosing the death option and couldn’t wait to take action against Zhang Yangqing.

Zhang Yangqing didn’t care; he chose it precisely because he knew this room had problems.

Compared to dealing with the supernatural, he preferred to deal directly with the natives.

Anyway, I’m not afraid; I don’t know if you are.

After midnight, the sky grew darker; without light, you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. You could only move more and slowly adapt to the dark environment.

At this time, the Purple-Eyed Woman’s white cards came in handy; they could emit some light when the corners were pressed.

The Chosen Ones were actively preparing: some were checking doors and windows, some were setting up mechanisms, and others were preparing ropes to go out the window to search for clues.

It was the second floor; climbing down from there wasn’t too difficult for the Chosen Ones in this round.

Moreover, there was thick snow below, so you couldn’t fall to your death.

Theoretically, seeking teammates’ help and several people gathering clues together would be safer.

But when the Chosen Ones tentatively asked about everyone’s situation, it seemed most teammates had already gone to sleep and didn’t reply.

Only a few teammates were still awake; what if this awake teammate was the supernatural one? Wouldn’t acting together be hitting the jackpot?
Waking others would require using the purple or pink cards; the Chosen Ones thought about it and decided against it.

As for Zhang Yangqing, he had no cards and couldn’t be bothered to call the others.

By 12:30, when the Chosen Ones climbed down, they could feel the extreme cold.

On this stormy, snowy night, the outdoor temperature was terrifyingly low.

And looking towards the outskirts of the village, it seemed hazy.

It gave people a feeling of entering a rule-based fog; it seemed if they couldn’t find a way out, they would be trapped here forever.

The Chosen Ones initially thought this place would be pitch black, but who knew there was a fire illuminating the central area surrounded by the village.

“Could this be the hint?”

Thinking this, the Pyramid Kingdom’s Chosen One calmed his nervousness, carefully observed the surroundings, and slowly walked towards the lit area.

These Chosen Ones took every step with extreme caution.

Not as casual as Zhang Yangqing.

If they were discovered by the villagers, they could die directly; at this distance, teammates couldn’t save them.

If the villagers discovered Zhang Yangqing, the villagers should die on the spot.

When the Chosen Ones approached the temple, they found the firelight was coming from inside the temple, and under the firelight, shadows were moving inside.

There seemed to be six or seven people, and some sounds were coming out. The Chosen Ones couldn’t hear, so they had to move closer.

Only by knowing what they were saying could they obtain the desired intelligence.

At this time, it was a test of the Chosen Ones’ wit.

If they walked over the snow, they might be detected.

Stepping on snow would make some sound.

Only by stepping in the existing footprints could they avoid making noise.

Most Chosen Ones had reached the vicinity of the temple, pressing their ears close, wanting to hear what these people were saying.

The first sound to reach their ears was an aged voice, completely different from what the Chosen Ones heard when they arrived.

The voice was very authoritative, and the words were all pleading to this ‘Harvest God’ for some power.

Then a familiar voice appeared; it was the Square-Faced Man’s voice. His voice was very rough, and coupled with his quick face-changing, it was memorable.

From their dialogue, the Chosen Ones could gather some information.

These people really were transformed beasts, a mixed race with some human bloodline; one could say the relationship was very complex.

They worshipped the Harvest God to obtain power.

This power was the so-called deprivation.

The ritual needed to wait 1 hour after completion; then, by eating any creature, they could seize that creature’s ability.

The ritual ended at 1 AM, meaning they could attack the mountaineers at 2 AM.

And their target was to attack the Eternal Clan in this snowy land.

The so-called Eternal Clan was a group of powerful people with ageless and immortal abilities.

It was said that eating their flesh could also grant longevity.

From these words, smart Chosen Ones could infer that the pelts and leather in the houses belonged to previous homeowners, the ancestors of these homeowners.

That’s why they were so angry when the Chosen Ones touched the pelts.

And those exquisite-looking decorations in the houses were things they obtained from hunting passing mountaineers.

If the Chosen Ones guessed correctly, that aged voice belonged to the Village Chief here.

Just as the Chosen Ones were thinking of countermeasures, the sound of the door opening suddenly came from the entrance.