The Altered Rules

Special Permission?

This outcome was unexpected by everyone. Now, not only Luo Jun, but everyone else also realized that there were hidden rules in this mission.

"Who is it?" Du Jincai's gaze swept over the others. "Who used hidden privileges?"

"Is that even a question? It's obviously an inside man!" Cui Zheng Hai analyzed. "They're afraid we'll expose him/her, so they'd rather provide another clue than miss the voting process."

"Who is the mole?" Elisa asked.

"Of course, it's the person most suspicious this round." After Zhu Sanyang finished speaking, everyone looked at Lao Miao Miao.

If being caught in the first round could be considered bad luck, then being dragged out until near the end twice in a row in this round is highly suspicious.

Faced with everyone's skepticism, Lao Miao Miao snorted coldly, "Let's examine the clues first."

At this moment, everyone noticed two boxes in the area: one was blue, the same color as the clue from the previous round, and the other was red.

The group stepped forward and opened the blue box, finding inside two stone spheres about the size of oranges, smooth in surface and heavy in their hands.

"Elderly people..." Du Jincai analyzed, "I'm the oldest person here, I'm not even fifty yet, I wouldn't be playing this kind of thing..."

Faced with the crowd's questions, Lao Miao Miao hesitated for a few seconds before finally saying, "This is my freedom."

"It's also possible that this tooth refers to a more subtle meaning..." Cui Zheng Hai frowned and said, "Otherwise, it really doesn't connect with the previous two clues..."

"Then could the analysis of the first two clues also be flawed?" Lao Miao Miao retorted, "You just think I'm suspicious, so you deliberately associate the clues with me. Black hair, six out of seven people have it, and exercise balls are indeed mostly used by the elderly, but what if this isn't an exercise ball, but rather the bead in the stone lion's mouth, or something else? Wouldn't that also make sense?"

Everyone watched her warily, then opened the red box.

"Then don't blame us for suspecting you!" Cui Zheng Hai looked into Lao Miao Miao's eyes.

A canine tooth, over ten centimeters long and incredibly sharp, belonging to some unknown ferocious beast!

"What's the use of this?" Elisa asked, puzzled. Cui Zheng Hai explained, "This is something that elderly people in Zhendan like to hold and play with in their hands. It's mainly to improve finger dexterity and prevent nerve degeneration..."

"What is this?" Elisa asked curiously. "Is it a weapon? Or a cannonball?"

There's a tooth inside.

The two were slightly taken aback. Zhu Sanyang nodded in agreement, "That's right, and the beasts I transform into usually have many teeth." As he spoke, he even pulled open the corner of his mouth, revealing a canine tooth. This tooth grew at a visible speed, soon becoming almost as long as the tooth in the box...

Luo Jun recalled that Lao Miao Miao had previously taken over the doors of Elisa and Zhu Sanyang, and looked at the two of them. "Elisa is a Creation Faction, and her Creation Branch can create ferocious beasts... Zhu Sanyang is a member of the Shapeshifting Faction, so he can also transform into ferocious beasts, right?"

As for Elisa, she could only admit, "I am indeed good at creation, but not very skilled; I can only simulate some wild beasts that exist in reality."

"Since you say it wasn't you, then please explain why you stayed behind the door for so long both times," Du Jincai asked. "If you don't explain this clearly, it's hard for us to trust you."

Lao Miao Miao had no rebuttal and could only look at the second red box. "Don't rush to conclusions, there's another clue."

As he spoke, he looked at Lao Miao Miao: "Then it can only be your surname."

"Tigers and lions can certainly have that, right?" Du Jincai asked. "It's not surprising that large felines have these kinds of canines."

It must be said that there is some truth to Lao Miao Miao's explanation.

"This must refer to some kind of ferocious beast," Du Jincai analyzed. "Who among us is associated with a ferocious beast?"

"They're exercise balls." Du Jincai took them out, held them in his hand, and with a flick of his fingers, the two balls began to spin nimbly.

"This is..." Cui Zheng Hai picked up the tooth and looked at Lao Miao Miao, finding it hard to connect with the girl.

Lao Miao Miao snorted coldly, "I can only tell you that I am on the same side as the majority of people. More than any of you, I want to pass this mission!"

"Then you should at least show some sincerity in trying to pass the test, right?" Du Jincai stepped forward. "Explain your strange behavior."

Lao Miao Miao shook her head slightly, then, intentionally or unintentionally, glanced in Luo Jun's direction.

Luo Jun was slightly taken aback, wondering if it was just his imagination.

"It doesn't seem like it. My intuition shouldn't be wrong..." He thought for a moment, then suddenly stepped forward.

"I have a suspicion," Luo Jun said, "There might be more than one mole?"

Everyone was taken aback by his words. Luo Jun pointed to the two boxes, one red and one blue. "Since they both provide clues, why are the boxes different colors? Could it be that the different colored boxes point to different targets?"

"That makes sense!" Du Jincai nodded, and Zhu Sanyang, standing beside him, said, "You mean, there are two traitors?"

"Perhaps not all of them are traitors." Recalling the ambiguous target indication given by the Dice of Heavenly Secrets, Luo Jun analyzed, "The positions of the red and blue sides may not be the same. One side, as the rules describe, is a traitor who deliberately sabotages our progress. The other side's purpose should be different, but what exactly it is, we'll have to ask Lao Miao Miao."

As he spoke, Luo Jun looked at the Senior Sister Miao and asked, "You received Hidden Mission, right? Do you have any information in your mind that is different from what others have?"

Upon hearing this, a glimmer of light appeared in Lao Miao Miao's eyes, but it quickly dimmed again.

"Share it," Luo Jun said. "If I'm not mistaken, you're a 'mole,' but not the kind of 'mole' we understand. At least you should be a human being, not Mimic Person."

The rules state that the mole is played by a Mimic Person Mimic Person, who replaces the original human and imitates the original's appearance and habits, making them extremely difficult to distinguish. However, Lao Miao Miao is very different from the Senior Sister Miao he remembers. If she were Mimic Person, she certainly wouldn't have revealed such a glaring flaw. Therefore, the only reasonable explanation is that she knows some hidden information, leading to some abnormal behavior.

"I..." Lao Miao Miao hesitated, then finally sighed, "I can't say..."

"Then I'll ask the questions, and you can answer them, right?" Luo Jun said. "You don't need to give a specific answer. If I'm right, you just agree. If I'm wrong, you can refute me. Is that alright?"

Lao Miao Miao nodded. "Go ahead and ask."

"First of all, the Blue Box do point to different people, right?"

Lao Miao Miao did not respond.

"The Blue Box contains clues about you, and the Red Box points to someone else, right?"

Lao Miao Miao remained silent.

"And you already knew what the clues in the Red Box were, which is why you made it public in hopes of clearing yourself of suspicion, right?"

Lao Miao Miao was slightly taken aback, hesitated for a moment, and ultimately did not express her opinion.

"So, your Hidden Mission is to find the person the Red Box points to, right?"

Lao Miao Miao frowned, then said, "Not really..."

No, that's not quite right... it means there's a partial match...

Luo Jun thought for a moment and continued, "You just said that you share the same stance as most people... So the person the Red Box points to is the 'mole' who wants to sabotage the mission, right?"

Lao Miao Miao looked into Luo Jun's eyes without saying a word.

"However, there are clues about you in the Blue Box, so your real target is different from others, making you a 'mole' in some sense?"

"No!" Lao Miao Miao refused firmly.

Luo Jun narrowed his eyes. "If what you said is true, then things are getting interesting..."

As he spoke, he looked at the others. "There's something wrong with the rules printed on the wall. The rules for this mission seem to have been altered!"

"Tampering with the rules?" Du Jincai exclaimed in surprise, "How is that possible?"

"Haven't you ever experienced Rules Horror?" Luo Jun asked. After returning, he learned that the first mission he had experienced, like the one at the Midnight Hotel, was collectively known as "Rules Horror."

"The rules of the Rules Horror cannot be completely trusted." Luo Jun's gaze swept over everyone. "Information from Chaos Mission that is directly inputted into the brain has higher priority than information written in the scene. If the two sides contradict each other, then there must be a problem with the scene. This is a common occurrence in Rules Horror."

"Therefore, this mission isn't actually a simple amusement park; it's a combination of Rules Horror and an amusement park." Luo Jun turned to look at Lao Miao Miao: "Now, besides her, who else has received extra information? Try to share it, otherwise clearing the level might not be so easy!"

"This..." The group exchanged glances, none of them seeming to have any Hidden Mission.

"The problem is, how can you be sure that what Lao Miao Miao said is true?" Elisa asked. "What if she is the mole and was just trying to mislead us?"

"Then the clues from these two boxes don't make sense." Luo Jun was willing to believe that Lao Miao Miao hadn't lied; the boxes were only one aspect, but more importantly, there was the information given by the dice earlier.

The term "traitor" is ambiguous, Hidden Mission is inevitable.

Combined with Lao Miao Miao's unusual behavior, Luo Jun was basically certain that she had definitely received Hidden Mission, and that she was not Mimic Person!

"We're not getting any results from this analysis..." Cui Zheng Hai sighed. "Time's almost up. Let's head to the next level; we might get more information there."

Upon seeing that the door to the next level had opened and the timer had started Countdown, everyone had no choice but to put aside their questions and enter the corridor leading to the next level.

But whether intentionally or unintentionally, everyone else kept their distance from Lao Miao Miao, and only Luo Jun walked alongside her.

"You're very close to the truth," Lao Miao Miao suddenly whispered.

Luo Jun was slightly taken aback, then glanced at her.

"But that's not enough." Lao Miao Miao looked up ahead. "Let's continue."

As she spoke, she quickened her pace and disappeared into the light at the end of the corridor.

Luo Jun frowned and followed.

The next level is still a white room, with seven doors around it and a huge miniature map in the center.

The map shows a combination of complex terrains, including mountains, jungles, swamps, and even a huge snow-capped mountain. Seven small flags, numbered one to seven, are planted on it in order. Not far in front of the number one flag, a cave can be seen.

What's going on?

Just as everyone was wondering what was going on, text appeared above the map...

(End of this chapter)