How Truly Bizarre This Was!

The swaying lamplight stretched the newcomer's shadow long and thin. Only when he drew closer could they make out his face.

"More guests... Lost travelers, please help me find the fuel that can light the lamps... I will illuminate the road ahead for you..."

He looked young, but he spoke in fragments, his eyes utterly vacant, like a puppet on strings.

"The Lantern Bearer! We can't refuse his request!"

Zhu Zhuqing and the other two immediately recognized him. Hearing his words, they also realized that the clue to leaving might lie with him.

"Where should we look for the fuel?"

Ning Rongrong hurriedly asked. It seemed the fuel was the key to breaking the deadlock.

"The fuel is inside the rooms... But not every room contains fuel..."

The Lantern Bearer pointed at the open rooms. Zhu Zhuqing and the others' expressions instantly darkened. How was that any different from sending them to their deaths?

"Go... I'll wait for you ahead..."

Fortunately, the Lantern Bearer did not force them to enter the open rooms directly. Could there really be a way to retrieve fuel from an open room?

"Why don't I give it a try?"

Xiao Wu was the only one who could still use Law Power. However, her Love God Law was rather strange, and she did not know whether it would work.

"Not yet! The barrage comments also said that rule-based horror has a solution. The Lantern Bearer didn't force us into the open rooms, so there must be some method we can use!"

Ning Rongrong observed the open rooms again, thinking about what they could do.

Zhu Zhuqing also began racking her brains. She remembered that, aside from the Wind God Law, she had also gained a law-level speed enhancement ability.

This did not simply double her running speed. She could enhance anything related to speed!

At that moment, Zhu Zhuqing applied the enhancement to her thinking speed. Sure enough, her mind cleared in the very next second.

"We can't enter open rooms... yet the Lantern Bearer told us to enter them and retrieve fuel... Could it be that some open rooms close after a certain period of time... Or perhaps there's a way to make an open room close its door..."

Zhu Zhuqing seemed to have grasped the key. Either an open room's door could be shut, or the room would close its own door at a specific time.

"That makes sense! Should we find a door and test it first?"

Ning Rongrong and Xiao Wu both agreed with Zhu Zhuqing's guess. The three quickly went to an open room and studied it closely.

"What do you feel about this room?"

As they drew closer to the room, Zhu Zhuqing suddenly asked a seemingly random question.

"I feel like there's nothing but delicious food behind the door!"

Xiao Wu quickly voiced her thoughts. She had mentioned this feeling before.

"I feel like there's something bizarre behind the door!"

Ning Rongrong had a different opinion. She believed the delicious food Xiao Wu mentioned was a trap, and that there had to be something powerful and bizarre behind the door.

"But I feel like there's fuel behind the door!"

Zhu Zhuqing's conclusion made Ning Rongrong and Xiao Wu suddenly snap awake. They roughly understood what Zhu Zhuqing was asking.

"You mean this room is tempting us with whatever we fear most or desire most right now!"

Ning Rongrong feared the bizarre thing behind the door, Xiao Wu wanted the food behind it, and Zhu Zhuqing wanted the fuel behind it. Everything made sense!

"Perhaps the way to close the door is to face it without even a trace of selfish desire. We can't think about what we fear most or want most!"

Relying on her law-level speed enhancement, Zhu Zhuqing had forcibly guessed the method for closing the door.

But it was easier said than done. As long as there was even the slightest thought in one's heart, it was impossible to shut an open door.

The three took turns trying, but all of them ultimately failed.

"Maybe I was wrong..."

Zhu Zhuqing pressed a hand to her forehead. The unsolvable part of this problem was that even if one knew that thinking of nothing might allow them to pass, they simply could not stop themselves from thinking.

Zhu Zhuqing even used her speed enhancement to calm her emotions, but the speed at which her emotions fluctuated was still faster than the speed at which she could settle them.

"Let's check the rooms with closed doors first..."

Ning Rongrong suggested a new approach. Since they could not deal with the open rooms, they could try the closed ones instead. At least they would not have to worry about violating the rules.

Thus, the three arrived outside another room with a closed door. Still cautious, they did not open it immediately. Only after Zhu Zhuqing and Ning Rongrong had both taken pills to restore their Soul Power and recovered their uses of Law Power did they slowly peer inside.

Creak!

The door opened. Inside, there was only a simple bed and a note. There was nothing else.

[This lounge can only accommodate one person resting at a time. Those who violate the rules will be punished.]

It seemed this really was just an ordinary lounge, with a rule restricting its use.

Tap, tap!

Just as Zhu Zhuqing and the others were feeling disappointed, a series of footsteps sounded outside. It was not the Lantern Bearer returning. A man dressed in red was approaching!

"Why are you in my lounge?! You'll get me killed like this!"

The man in red hurried to a stop outside the lounge. His face was filled with panic as he roared at Zhu Zhuqing and the others.

Xiao Wu was about to respond when Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing both covered her mouth with their hands!

Rule Three: Do not respond to anything said by anyone wearing red!

Clearly, Zhu Zhuqing and Ning Rongrong had both realized it. This man was digging a trap for them!

"Come out quickly! Ghost Granny will appear soon! We're all going to die! We'll all die!"

The man displayed a terrified expression through the doorway. He even fell to his knees and kowtowed to Zhu Zhuqing and the others, as though some immense horror was truly about to appear!

Listening to his nonsense, Zhu Zhuqing and the others were nearly unable to tell whether he was lying or not. Yet they kept Rule Three firmly in mind and did not respond to a single word he said.

"Ah! She's here! She's here!"

The man suddenly screamed and ran away. As he ran, his body became increasingly transparent, leaving a trail of bloody footprints behind him...

"This place is way too sinister!"

Xiao Wu poked half her head out from behind Zhu Zhuqing. Even during her former life as a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, she had never seen anything like this!

"I wonder if that Ghost Granny he mentioned is real!"

Zhu Zhuqing cared more about whether the man's words were true or false. In this bizarre space, the line between what to believe and what not to believe was the hardest thing to grasp!

"Hehehe! More newcomers have arrived!"

Just as the three were still shaken by their narrow escape, a chilling laugh came from the open room opposite them. A withered old hand slowly reached out from the shadows, followed by an elderly figure clad in half-white, half-red clothing slowly emerging.

She looked like the kind of old granny one could see anywhere, utterly lacking in combat ability. Yet Zhu Zhuqing and the others still did not dare act rashly...