Chapter 82 : Chapter 82

Chapter 82: Tearing Apart the Strange-Tale Rules!

Grandpa Ci shook his head. “They are still feeling their way through it. If they begin to break the deadlock, I will sense it!”

“Good.” Zhang Wen smugly shook his folding fan, wearing an expression of complete confidence. “How could someone personally trained by Su Jingyan be so foolish?”

“Oh, right!” Zhang Wen suddenly thought of something and turned to Xiao Jing behind him. “Go inform those above. Tell them to unfold, one by one, the road we have laid out for our young mistress!”

“Yes!” Xiao Jing cupped her fists and immediately withdrew.

…

At that moment, inside Wanci Town, which had been transformed by the rule-bound strange tale, Luo Li was bracing herself against the stone wall of the gate tower, her chest rising and falling violently as she panted in great gulps of air. Her bright, watery eyes were full of grievance as she glared at Chen Guan beside her.

“Brother Chen... how much more work do I still have to do for them? I’m about to die from exhaustion!”

They had already entered the town three times in a row while “Yin” was in effect.

In those three trips, she had either been helping blank-eyed old grannies search all over the town for their grandchildren or carrying goods for the shopkeepers.

Most outrageously of all, several older women had even dragged her home and made her scrub mountains of piled-up laundry.

Not only could she not refuse these jobs, she had to do them properly for them, too.

And what about this man?

He did not have the slightest thought of showing a woman any tenderness!

He just kept his hands tucked away and followed behind her like a supervisor, watching her work.

Not only did he refuse to lend a hand, he kept scolding her from the sidelines, saying she could not do this, could not do that, and that she was clumsy and useless.

“Soon. Very soon.”

Chen Guan still stood with his hands clasped behind his back, facing away from her and looking at the strange sunset at the horizon, his tone flat.

That little girl’s labor had not been wasted.

Through these rounds of forced labor, he had already completely grasped the loopholes in Ten Thousand Deaths, No Retreat. If he wished, he could take the girl out of this wretched place at any moment.

But who was Chen Guan?

He was an Escort Master!

On the road he walked, even gods and ghosts yielded the way!

If he did not collect that uncanny thing, how was he supposed to keep working in this line of business in the future?

Besides, in all his life he had only encountered two Uncanny Fiends, and he had never yet collected one and received a reward from the system.

Just now, through the things this girl had done and his own probing along the way, he had realized that this Uncanny Fiend truly possessed some depth.

And it was also extremely... cunning and cautious. It knew how to layer schemes upon schemes and exploit the weaknesses of the human heart.

If he collected this thing, the reward definitely would not be small.

Still, he was also curious.

By all rights, an uncanny strange tale was the manifestation of rules themselves—formless, immaterial, vague, and impossible for humans to capture or control.

So how exactly were those people using it to test Luo Li?

It seemed those remnants of the former dynasty truly did have some skill.

Of course, without some skill, how would they ever dare entertain thoughts of rebellion?

Still, none of that had anything to do with him.

As long as they did not provoke him.

He only handled the business of an Escort Master and only walked the road of an Escort Master.

If they provoked him, then whether they were princes and ministers plotting rebellion or demons, fiends, and uncanny monsters wreaking havoc on the world, none of them should expect to have an easy time of it!

Chen Guan withdrew his gaze, looked at Luo Li—her small face flushed red from exhaustion and fragrant sweat glistening all over her—and instructed her again, “Next, after you finish helping those people with their work, do not interrupt them when they continue speaking. Listen to what arrangements they give you at the end.”

Previously, every time Luo Li finished helping the townspeople, the moment they opened their mouths to say something further, she would immediately interrupt them out loud to prevent herself from receiving even more troublesome and outrageous tasks afterward.

And that, in fact, was the first loophole in this rule-bound strange tale, and also the lifeline at its core.

Ten Thousand Deaths, No Retreat.

The tasks they issued were tasks Luo Li would have to complete even if she died from exhaustion ten thousand times over.

And the loophole happened to be hidden within those four words, “Ten Thousand Deaths, No Retreat,” as well as within these tasks that seemed to have nothing to do with each other at all.

“Brother Chen, what exactly are strange-tale rules?” Luo Li finally could not suppress her curiosity any longer.

Chen Guan did not hide anything and explained directly.

“The formation of rules usually comes from the convergence of powerful human resentment, the baleful qi of heaven and earth, and the entanglement of the world’s countless laws.”

“To put it simply, it is like a house with a complicated structure.”

“It needs many different elements before it can be born—bricks, tiles, wood, stone—everything combining to form a complete structure.”

“And this body of rules is the same.”

“If you want to get out, then you need to find the main gate!”

“Of course, there is also a simpler and more brutal way to get out.”

“Simpler and more brutal?” Luo Li froze. Since there was such a simple and brutal method, why had he not mentioned it earlier?

She shot Chen Guan a furtive glare.

Chen Guan ignored her and continued, “And that simple, brutal method is to tear out the entire foundation of the house!”

“Without its foundation to support it, the house will naturally collapse in an instant.”

“And once the rules lose the support of their core pillars, they too will naturally fall apart and disintegrate!”

“Ah!” Luo Li’s heart jolted.

He... he actually wanted to tear the rules apart.

This was something she had never even heard of. Someone could actually dismantle rules?

She stared at Chen Guan with wide eyes. Was this man really just some mountain rustic?

Everyone else avoided strange-tale rules like the plague, but he wanted to tear one down. If word of this got out, most people would probably think he had gone mad.

Still, she did not doubt Chen Guan’s abilities.

Without ability, there was no way they could have made it this far toward Great Zhou.

She even found herself beginning to look forward to it. If she could tear down a rule herself, then this journey truly would not have been in vain. It would also serve as a sharp lesson for all those who had looked down on her.

Chen Guan glanced once more at the strange little lotus pond.

“Yin” had already arrived.

He wasted no more words. Immediately, he grabbed Luo Li by the hand and stepped into the town once more.

This time, Chen Guan did not take her directly into the central streets of the town.

Like someone completely familiar with the place, he slipped into a narrow alley to the left of the town entrance, twisted through several turns, then passed through a few more lanes.

Very soon, they arrived beside the lotus pond where they had previously helped look for the missing children.

The pond was still the same pond, its surface like a black mirror without the slightest ripple.

But the two innocent, lively children who had once been there were now gone.

That was the terrifying part of these rules.

Any strange-tale rule was bound to contain a “cycle.”

It was actually like a prearranged film. Every person and every event inside the rules had a complete script, from opening scene to final curtain.

And in Wanci Town, every person had their own fixed pattern of life.

…

Chen Guan led Luo Li around the little lotus pond and continued westward through the town.

Soon, neat stretches of rice paddies came into view.

It was now dusk, and along the field ridges, quite a few “farmers” were carrying heavy bundles of rice on their shoulders as they trudged toward the town.

Luo Li’s expression instantly changed. She tugged at Chen Guan’s sleeve.

“Brother Chen, you... you can’t possibly want me to... help them carry the rice, can you?”

“Well!” Chen Guan nodded as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “You guessed correctly. This is exactly where we break the deadlock.”

“Ah—?!” Luo Li felt like she was about to cry.

She was a delicate little girl who could not even truss a chicken. How could she possibly carry something that heavy? Those rice bundles looked bigger than she was!

“Relax.” Chen Guan glanced at her and said lightly, “Within the rules, they won’t force you to do something you’re incapable of doing.”

“If they’re telling you to do it, that means you absolutely can.”

At that moment, a sinister voice drifted over from the ridge.

“Young lady, you look unfamiliar.”