The moment Si Yehan spoke, delight appeared on the faces of the other four. None of them thought to ask how he knew. After all, everyone had secrets of their own, and pressing too hard would only make people dislike them.
Jin Zhiguang was overjoyed. As far as he was concerned, knowing the killing rules meant he was sure to survive the instance. As for threats from other people, he had absolute confidence in his own skills. "Brother Si, please, tell us. If I make it through this instance alive, I'll do you a favor in the outside world, no strings attached."
Everyone present had experienced firsthand the power participants possessed in the outside world, so they understood just how valuable Jin Zhiguang's promise was.
Chen Zhongshou took a deep breath and made what he considered a very weighty promise. "Mr. Si, rest assured. When I join Han Shu, I'll be sure to recommend you for membership."
Cheng Zhuiyu was silent for a moment before saying, "In this instance, I can help you get information from the locals."
Wang Yuxiu watched Si Yehan, her voice steady. "I'll also give you one piece of important information in this instance. Then we'll be even."
Si Yehan's expression was cold, revealing nothing. "No need. Telling you benefits me too. Now listen carefully to the eight killing rules."
Without being entirely certain whether the killing rules were true, Si Yehan naturally couldn't tell these people everything exactly as he knew it. He would tell them some truths and some lies, and make up a few rules himself.
Si Yehan planned to reverse the five killing rules Yan Jingxing had told him, combining them with the information mentioned in the eight envelopes to fabricate his own.
Naturally, he couldn't just make things up at random. That would only look suspicious. To make his words more convincing, he also had to let them rationalize the rules for themselves. "The first killing rule is mentioning anything related to sex."
All four listened intently, their eyes fixed on Si Yehan.
It was truly revolting.
Si Yehan suppressed the urge to gouge out their eyes and kept his expression calm. "The second killing rule is that falling asleep in a mildly pleasant mood means certain death. You have to be highly, even extremely, happy."
The four of them grew intent. This did fit the Weird Game's usual style. When they'd gone to sleep last night, they had all tried their hardest to recall happy moments from their lives, but they hadn't recalled enough. Presumably, they had only just reached the threshold of being highly happy. It seemed they would have to put more effort into their self-hypnosis tonight.
Wang Yuxiu lifted her eyes to Si Yehan. She wanted to question him, but as she looked at him, she sensed no jumbled emotions. Instead, he gave off a pure emotion, though she couldn't say exactly what it was.
Her teammates in the previous instance had all been decent people, and Wang Yuxiu didn't think teammates would go so far as to deceive one another. The kindness in her heart stirred. She stopped questioning him and chose to believe him.
So far, the information Si Yehan had given them could all be matched to the earlier envelopes. It seemed airtight; a lie could never have been so plausible.
Si Yehan was naturally watching everyone's reactions at all times, so he could adjust the next killing rule accordingly. "The third killing rule is falling asleep with malicious thoughts. There's already a clear example of this. Xu Yuanjin showed disgust at the banquet. You noticed that, didn't you? She probably thought about those things while sleeping too and had murderous thoughts, which led to her death."
Si Yehan's expression was unchanged as he spoke. If this rule were true, he would probably have died thousands upon thousands of times already, unless malicious thoughts meant actions like saving and protecting people.
The four recalled the disgust on Xu Yuanjin's face yesterday and became even more certain of this killing rule. They had completely dropped their guard against Si Yehan, and their impression of him had changed from "cold" to "cold on the outside, kind at heart."
Si Yehan spoke a little faster. "The fourth killing rule is that if several people look in a mirror for more than thirty seconds at night, they'll die for certain! At night, you must avoid places with mirrors as quickly as possible, or split up and look in them alone. But you must do so for more than a minute, and no longer than a minute and a half."
As Si Yehan said this, however, he was wondering whether he could find a place with lots of mirrors on the ship today, then lure someone there tonight to test the rule.
The part about looking in a mirror alone that Yan Jingxing had mentioned was also intriguing. Did "alone" mean believing that everything around you was dark and no one else was there, or did it mean that, objectively, you were the only person in the area?
In the former case, someone could secretly watch without the person knowing. In the latter, there would truly be only one person present, with no one watching.
Though all these thoughts were churning in his mind, Si Yehan didn't stop speaking. He showed no sign of distraction at all. "The fifth killing rule is that staying awake all night without looking at the sea means certain death."
Chen Zhongshou's face lit up, and he slapped his thigh. "I'm a light sleeper and wake up easily. Looking at this killing rule the other way around, doesn't it mean that if I stay awake all night and look at the sea, I won't die? I really do have a chance in this instance. Mr. Si—no, Brother Si, words can't express my gratitude! Once I get out of the instance, I'll treat you to a proper feast. We'll have a full spread at the best restaurant in the country."
The corners of Si Yehan's mouth curved into a slight smile. He had found someone to test this killing rule. As for the remaining four rules, he would try to lure one person into testing each of them.
That way, when he faced the ghosts, he would truly be safe from harm.
To everyone else, Si Yehan's smile looked like a polite refusal, further confirming their impression that he was "cold on the outside, kind at heart."
Cheng Zhuiyu remarked, "You really are cold on the outside but kind at heart."
The smile faded from Si Yehan's face. If these idiots could see him that way, they deserved to die. He didn't care about the compliment at all.
Only other people's screams of pain, or a magnificent, spectacular scene of slaughter, could make him feel pleasure.
As for curses or praise, neither could stir any genuine emotion in Si Yehan. At most, they might make him think, This stupid pig in front of me is truly an idiot, barking away without realizing death is right at its door.
Si Yehan said, "The sixth killing rule is that feeling fear when the deep sea is mentioned means certain death."
Si Yehan had derived this killing rule from the line, "The sea at midnight chooses people to devour."
He spoke a little faster. "The seventh killing rule is that failing to meet a real ghost's eyes means certain death."
Si Yehan had made up this killing rule by reversing "see no impropriety." The "impropriety" here might also include horrifying sights; after all, ghosts were everywhere in the instance, as were scenes of the Ghost Slaves under their command feeding.
Si Yehan condensed the eighth killing rule into seven extremely concise Chinese characters. "Attack a ghost, and you die."
Essentially, ghosts acted according to killing rules. As long as the rules weren't triggered, attacking a ghost would be safe. But participants in the instance possessed no supernatural powers and couldn't hurt ghosts at all. Whether they could even touch them was another question.
A ghost couldn't touch its prey if the prey hadn't broken a killing rule, but it could touch them once they had.
So, at that point, could a person touch a ghost?