About the Rules

"Do you want to come with me?" As soon as Qu An asked, he met Xiao Ming's gaze and immediately sensed the dependence and trust in it, along with a hint of admiration and envy. A faintly doting smile naturally appeared on his face, though he did not notice it himself. "Okay."

Every Acceleration Team member had been given a map. The Castle of Terror and Carousel mentioned in the rules were both marked on it, but aside from those two, the rules did not mention any more specific locations.

However, Qu An had no intention of heading there. He felt it could not be that simple. He pointed at the center of the map. "Rainbow Plaza. Here. Want to go?"

Xiao Ming had clearly thought of the same thing again and nodded firmly.

"Rule Two: There is no orange in the Children's Amusement Park. If you spot it, destroy it immediately or stay away from it." This rule was highly suspicious, because the common "seven colors" were red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple. Orange was the second one, and Rule Two also happened to concern orange.

How could there be so many coincidences in an acceleration game, especially under these baffling "rules"? Though the rules were triggered, there had to be an order to them, and the sequence marked in the rules surely had meaning behind it.

Xiao Ming had already taken out his phone and headed straight for their destination with Qu An.

The two of them analyzed the ten rules as they walked.

When the show aired, the opening segment mainly featured footage of them entering the ten rules earlier, followed by their analysis.

[Rules horror? Oh my god, why was Full Speed Ahead! doing this kind of thing, and at night too?]

[Prosperity, democracy, civility, harmony; freedom, equality, justice, rule of law; patriotism, dedication, integrity, friendliness.]

[Back off! Back off! Back off!]

[Bullet comments, protect me!]

[But how were they supposed to play otherwise? What if they could never trigger anything?]

[Idiot, NPCs would definitely give them hints. I had a feeling this episode would be fun.]

[Why was a racing variety show turning into such a mess? You were a physical competition show!]

[I felt like this was more interesting. Otherwise, it was just doing tasks and hiding from hunters. How boring.]

Qu An said, "The order of the ten rules is interesting. It should also be connected to the order of the tasks we need to complete."

Xiao Ming nodded. "Right. The first rule is the basic one: don't get caught by hunters. But looking at every rule here, I felt none of them were simple. They probably weren't as easy to understand as they appeared on the surface."

"My thoughts were similar to yours. The first rule only mentioned people in black, but it didn't specifically say they could only be hunters. It's possible that we also need to avoid other people wearing black."

Just then, they spotted a young man dressed in black ahead of them. Alarm bells immediately went off in their heads. Xiao Ming pulled Qu An aside. The Children's Amusement Park was brightly lit at night, but their illuminated outfits were still extremely conspicuous. One walking blue lightbulb dragged another blue lightbulb behind a blue signboard. It was impossible to tell who the real lightbulb was anymore.

Quite a few people had come to the same conclusion about Rule Two as Xiao Ming and Qu An. So after the two hid for a while, others also came over. Xiao Ming was fairly familiar with the person in front, since they had recorded two episodes together—Shan Yi.

Shan Yi had probably never considered that Rule One might have some hidden twist. When he saw the young man in black, he neither kept his distance nor hid.

The Acceleration Team members' outfits were easy to recognize, so there was no chance the NPC could fail to identify them.

The moment Shan Yi approached the young man in black, an alarm suddenly sounded from the man's body. Such a noise could easily draw hunters in the darkness of the night. Combined with their several-watt lightbulb outfits, it was practically a double kill.

Shan Yi and the others quickly hid, vanishing from the black-clad man's sight. Only then did the alarm stop.

At the same time, their phones rang.

Notification

Be careful when encountering people dressed in black. Once discovered, an alarm will sound to alert the hunters.

Xiao Ming and Qu An exchanged a glance before Xiao Ming spoke. "It seemed every rule would only be officially issued as a notification after it was triggered. Guessing alone was useless."

Qu An nodded. Seeing that the black-clad man had gone far away, he gestured for Xiao Ming to come out and continue toward their destination. "And it should also be related to which rule it is. My guess is that a rule can only be triggered when both its trigger condition is met and the previous rule has already been triggered."

[Qu An and Xiao Ming were really progressing way faster than everyone else.]

[I didn't know why, but since last episode, this show had started feeling more and more brain-melting.]

[That grouping-and-undercover-agent setup last episode was seriously insane. It twisted my brain into knots.]

[The two of them were seriously like they had read the script. If I weren't watching it for the second time, I'd really think they had a script and were acting.]

[Those two could basically always survive until the final task even without becoming the Acceleration King. They really had skills.]

[I felt like the others were different from the previous episodes too.]

[Even their guesses felt insanely accurate.]

"The Acceleration Team members truly didn't disappoint me. They're very clever. I believe they'll complete this successfully as well," the marshal of the Interstellar Empire said with a smile. A-Bai watched from the side, deep in thought.

There were many children in the Children's Amusement Park. One little girl was especially pretty, like a doll carved from pink jade, and she held an orange lollipop in her hand. But the next moment, a woman took the lollipop from her. She appeared to be the girl's mother.

"What candy are you eating? It's so unhealthy! Go home, and I'll peel an orange for you."

The little girl's candy was thrown to the ground and shattered into several pieces.

She hated orange the most, she thought.

By the time Xiao Ming and Qu An reached Rainbow Plaza, Shan Yi was already there, along with He Songyi and Wu Qiyi.

There were seven pillars in Rainbow Plaza, each emitting a faint glow from within. However, the lights grew dimmer and dimmer before going out completely, leaving only the orange one still shining.

"Rule Two said orange is dangerous. Should we find a way to get rid of this orange one?" Shan Yi asked.

Xiao Ming did not immediately respond. He stared at the pillars in thought.

The seven colored pillars could not be that simple, could they? And the rule said orange should be destroyed or avoided. With such a huge pillar, destruction did not seem feasible. Besides, why did that orange light look... so much like warm light?

A maintenance worker in a white uniform approached them from nearby. "Guests, the lights here are broken and need repairs. The replacement lights are in the Lighting Shop over there. Could you help me bring them over?"

Shan Yi agreed, and the repairman smiled before adding, "Please bring me a few more orange ones. Orange is a very beautiful color, isn't it?"

The other three agreed and headed toward the shop, but Xiao Ming instantly became vigilant. "There was no orange in the Children's Amusement Park. Why did this repairman want orange lights? Something was wrong."

Qu An realized it too and grabbed Xiao Ming by the wrist. "Come on. Catch up to them and explain it. They can't bring any orange ones back."

Xiao Ming glanced at his captured wrist and inexplicably felt his face heat up. Qu An's hand had slid down afterward and clasped his hand. No matter how he looked at it, it felt strange. But he was not someone who would dwell on this kind of thing for long, because the task came first.

The two ran quickly and caught up to the others in no time.

[Crycry, what were you doing?!]

[Xiao Ming blushed, ahhh!]

[It was just holding hands! XMX, pull yourself together! QAQ could probably do anything to you and you wouldn't resist!]

[I really loved the sense of two equally powerful people working together.]

[They were strong, but they also seemed kind of dumb.]

[Seriously, I used to think Xiao Ming had that aloof, smart top-student vibe, but now he inexplicably seemed a little dazed sometimes.]

[I had an immature guess: when he had no expression, was it possible he was spacing out?]

[Everyone was watching XMX. Did no one notice the smile at the corner of QAQ's mouth?]

[Wasn't Crycry always smiling? What was so special about that?]

[No, this was different. Think about it. Really think about it.]

"Wait!" Qu An had already released Xiao Ming's hand. The two caught up from front and back.

"What's wrong?" Wu Qiyi asked.

"Think carefully about Rule Two," Xiao Ming reminded them. The three froze for a moment before realization dawned on them. The NPC's words had led them into treating it as a task, and they had completely forgotten they might be stepping into a trap.

Task One Notification

When 75 minutes remain, the number of hunters in the area will increase to 8. Please head to Rainbow Plaza before time runs out and assist the repairman in replacing the light tubes.

"But this task didn't specify anything either. Didn't that repairman tell us he wanted orange ones?" Shan Yi asked, looking puzzled.

"And there's Rule Three. Rule Three said not to trust anyone, which meant NPCs might deceive us," Xiao Ming added at the right moment.

Shan Yi had participated in the previous recording too, and Qu An and Xiao Ming had tricked him so thoroughly he had practically lost his pants. So he did not really trust the two of them, especially because of Rule Three. "But Rule Three also suggested another possibility: Acceleration Team members might not necessarily be trustworthy either. What if you two were working with the hunters? And since it said 'people,' weren't we more human than the NPCs?"

Xiao Ming was left speechless. He looked at Shan Yi, unsure what to say, because the speculation was not unreasonable. He himself had been considering the same point when he saw Rule Three today.

"It was normal for you not to trust us. But as long as we follow the rules and complete the task, avoiding orange as much as possible isn't a problem," Qu An said. He knew what they were all thinking, but infighting was not the best option right now. "Let's form a temporary alliance. After we complete the task, everyone can consider the rest."

Xiao Ming naturally had no objection. He trusted that Qu An would not harm him.

[Shan Yi was seriously traumatized by getting tricked by those two last episode, wasn't he?]

[Who understood this? Qu An and Xiao Ming both looked like good people. Who would have expected it...]

[Rule Three was really suspicious. Could someone actually be an undercover agent?]

[If they were playing undercover agents, Qu An was still the best at it. No one suspected him until the very end.]

[Qu An and Xiao Ming were really good at coordinating. How many episodes had it even been?]

[It was our blessing that these two joined this variety show.]

On the way, Gu Wuping called Qu An and asked where he needed to go. Qu An directly told him to come to the Lighting Shop. They only had five people now, but six extinguished light tubes needed replacing, along with one dangerous orange one, so they needed to take at least seven. "Brother Wuping, do you have anyone with you? If so, call one more person over. We need to carry seven tubes."

"Weren't there only six that had gone dark?" He Songyi asked.

Shan Yi's intelligence finally came back online for once. "The one that was still lit is orange."

As he spoke, Xiao Ming swallowed his own explanation. He looked at Shan Yi now with the feeling that he was teachable. "Shan Yi's right."

Hearing that, Qu An turned to glance at Xiao Ming and lowered his voice. "I was the one who brought it up first."

He looked like a child competing for affection, as if he felt he should have been the one praised.

"Mm, you're the best," Xiao Ming blurted out almost immediately. The moment he said it, he felt a little embarrassed. Why did that sound so much like he was coaxing a child? Qu An would not get angry with him, would he?

However, the person being coaxed like a child merely smiled. Xiao Ming could see a trace of smugness in it.

Why was he so happy just from one compliment? Xiao Ming's ears turned even redder, though thankfully the night concealed them.

Wu Qiyi gave the two of them a strange look. Only after receiving Qu An's calm, unfathomable gaze did she withdraw her eyes.

Not long after they reached the Lighting Shop, Gu Wuping arrived too, accompanied by Guan Jun, with Mi Jierui arriving later as well.

"That was really terrifying just now. A young man in black holding an orange balloon suddenly turned into a hunter and caught Zhuang Qiaofang," Guan Jun said, still sounding shaken.

While they were heading to the Lighting Shop, their phones rang twice, notifying them that Zhuang Qiaofang and Pang Ba had been captured.

The hunter who caught Zhuang Qiaofang disappeared instantly after making the capture. Fourteen Acceleration Team members remained in the field, along with six hunters. Moreover, there might even be many hidden hunters.

Shan Yi had seen people dressed in black before and knew they would issue alerts, but he had not expected Rules One and Two combined to turn one into a hunter.

When they arrived at the Lighting Shop, there was not a single person inside. Numerous light tubes were placed on the cabinets along the wall and on the tables.

The eight of them searched around and found the words "Rainbow Plaza Special Lights." There were eight colors in total. Besides the usual seven colors, there was also white.

Each of the eight took one color, and Xiao Ming held blue.

The orange one symbolizing danger was in Mi Jierui's hands. The others explained Rule Two's requirement to him, but he did not take it seriously because he had also gone to Rainbow Plaza earlier and heard the repairman's request.

The instant they stepped outside carrying the light tubes, an alarm suddenly sounded from Mi Jierui's body. As if receiving some kind of signal, the hunters rushed in this direction.

The group scattered like startled birds and beasts. Mi Jierui continued running while clutching the light tube. No one knew where he ran off to, but the alarm kept sounding. Xiao Ming could only feel the noise growing farther and farther away until it finally disappeared.