I am a full-level celestial master, you let me enter the strange talk of rules?

There was nothing they could do; the other chosen ones were in danger here because Zhang Yangqing's 'account' had reached the maximum level, and his strange consciousness had started to become arrogant.

It didn't even bother with weapons; with a wave of its hand, a blood-red aura swept out.

Before those strange creatures could even scream, they were torn to pieces by the malevolent energy and vanished into black smoke.

It clapped its hands, completely unconcerned.

Then I continued to worry: Where exactly is the safe house? If the rules say it exists, then it must exist.

But this godforsaken place is all trees, where are the houses?

It suddenly slapped its forehead, "Look at my brain! The expert said to look for possible traces based on the clues!"
Since there's a safe house and the area is so dangerous, there must be a 'humanoid monster' or a 'weaker monster' hiding inside.

The rules are to guide me to find these 'people' and get clues from them.

In that case, the weaker anomalies would leave traces, such as footprints, bloodstains, or signs of battle.

Having thought things through, the eerie consciousness immediately began searching the vicinity.

This time, it didn't search blindly, but instead followed Zhang Yangqing's instructions and purposefully looked for unusual areas.

Soon, it discovered obvious signs of a battle at the base of a giant tree.

The ground was pitted and uneven, with several pools of black blood—strange blood that hadn't completely dried.

The trail of blood stretched all the way to the roots of the giant tree.

The eerie consciousness crouched down to observe carefully.

There is a hidden crack at the base of the tree.

The crack wasn't big; it was just big enough for one person to squeeze in sideways.

A faint light shone through.

This is it!

It squeezed sideways into the crevice, winding its way through for a distance, until suddenly the view opened up before it.

This is a tree hollow, or rather, the interior space of a giant tree that has been hollowed out and artificially transformed into a small safe house.

The space is not large, about ten square meters.

The walls were made of rough wood, and the floor was relatively dry.

A lamp emitting a faint green glow was lit in the corner, illuminating the entire space.

There are already two "residents" in the safe house.

Leaning against the left side of the cave wall is a tall, eerie humanoid creature.

There was a fist-sized hole in his chest, running from his front to his back, through which he could see directly into the wall behind him.

That was where the heart was, but it was empty; there was nothing inside.

The other one was crouching in the right corner. It looked more human-like, but its facial features were incomplete, it had no mouth, and the rest of its body was normal.

He had a deep wound on his back, from which black blood was slowly seeping out, indicating that he had been injured recently.

It's likely that the traces of battle that the strange consciousness just detected were created by him.

The eerie consciousness stepped inside, nodded to the two neighbors as a greeting.

Then it walked straight to the heartless weirdo, plopped down, and asked familiarly, "Hey buddy, where are you going?"

The reason I came to this person's side was because the other one didn't seem to have a mouth, while this one seemed to be able to communicate.

An awkward scene unfolded: the Heartless Eerie ignored it, not even lifting its eyelids, as if it hadn't heard it.

The eerie consciousness paused for a moment, wondering what was going on. Why wasn't it responding? It then changed direction and waved at the mouthless eerie creature: "Hey, bro, you're pretty badly injured. Need some help?"

After saying that, the eerie consciousness even used sign language, hoping that if the other party couldn't speak, they could communicate using sign language.

The creature, which had no mouth, ignored the strange creature and simply covered the wound on its back with its hand, remaining motionless.

Being ignored twice in a row almost ignited the volatile temper of the strange consciousness. I am a dignified Celestial Realm expert, and I took the initiative to greet you, how dare you ignore me?!

But it stubbornly endured it.

As the master once said, in the world of ghost stories, you should follow the proper procedures as much as possible.

Taking forceful actions may trigger unpredictable rules or cause you to miss important clues.

It took a deep breath, suppressed its anger, and began to carefully observe these two strange details.

He realized that he might not have found the right angle to strike up a conversation.

It was only then that the eerie consciousness noticed that there were several dice scattered around the one that was missing a heart.

It wasn't an ordinary die, but a strange die that was completely black, yet the numbers on it shimmered with an eerie light.

Is this guy a heavy gambler?
The eerie consciousness tentatively asked, "Hey buddy, how about we play a couple of rounds of dice?"

No sooner had he finished speaking than his strange, heartless eyes suddenly opened!
It seems that I said the right keyword and triggered the conversation.

Those were cloudy, unfocused eyes, but they were staring intently at the eerie consciousness, their eyes filled with greed. It seemed to belong to an old gambler.

The man with the missing heart spoke up, his voice dry and hoarse, like sandpaper rubbing against a stone: "Want to gamble with me? Sure, but there will be a wager."

The eerie consciousness was overjoyed; there was hope! It quickly asked, "What do you want? Tell me."

The heartless creature stared at it strangely, saying slowly and deliberately, "Heart, if I win, you give me your heart; if you win, you can take my heart."

Upon hearing this, the eerie consciousness fell silent.

It looked down at the large, translucent hole in the heartless creature's chest, then at the other's expressionless face.

Your entire chest cavity is empty, what do you have to bet with me?

If I win, I'll give you my heart; if I lose, you'll give me something that doesn't even exist.

Is this what you call gambling? This is what you call getting something for nothing!
It wanted to slap this idiot to death, and even seriously suspected that the guy was playing a trick on it.

But then the strange thought came back to Zhang Yangqing's words, and I tried to follow the proper procedures as much as possible.

It took a deep breath, tried to calm itself down, and began to think: If the expert were here, what would he do?
A true expert would never get this angry at a simpleton like I did.

An expert will definitely analyze the situation calmly and find a way to break the deadlock.

What is a way to break this deadlock?
It stared at the large hole in the heartless, eerie chest, then glanced at the dice beside it, its mind racing.

Gambling can't be done normally; the dice are also faulty. Gambling directly is just suicide.

If you don't gamble, you might miss a clue or trigger some other trouble. What should you do then?
There's clearly a trap here, and the eerie consciousness has sensed it, but there's still a 'person' here, so why not let him give it a try?

At this stage, the eerie consciousness has begun to exhibit the thinking of a chosen one, and the answer to most problems lies nearby.

The eerie gaze of the consciousness quietly shifted to the mouthless, wounded creature in the corner.

The guy didn't utter a sound or give any reaction from beginning to end; he just silently covered his wound, acting as if it were none of his business.

Anyway, he's mute. As the saying goes, "a mute eats bitter melon," meaning he has no way to express his suffering. If I don't take advantage of him, who else will I take advantage of?
The eerie consciousness also learned some crooked ideas.

After figuring out what to do, the eerie consciousness stood up, ignoring the dim-witted gambler, and walked over to the mouthless eerie creature, squatting down beside it.

"Dude, who hit you?" (End of Chapter)