I went berserk in the game of gods.

Chapter 56 Strange Rules
After reading the dungeon information, Zhou Fan glanced at the time displayed in the lower right corner of the player panel—6:00 PM.

Survive for 12 hours, which is until 6 a.m. tomorrow... How do I survive a night in this supernatural dungeon?
"Brother Cao, the two prompts in the dungeon are contradictory. Could it be a difference in timing?" Zhou Fan asked Cao Yu while pondering. "For example, is it that you need to follow the rules at certain times and break the rules at other times?"

“If that’s the case, we need to focus on observing how the residents of this town live,” Song Qiao added, offering her own guess. “Then, we can imitate them and avoid danger?”

"Brother Cao, what do you think?" Zhou Fan asked.

Imitating the townspeople to avoid danger? He felt it couldn't be that simple.

What if the townspeople are in danger?
"Don't let the dungeon prompts mislead you from the start. Which dungeon doesn't present danger for players? Do you expect to get through it safely?"

Cao Yu reminded him:
"The copy prompts are not necessarily contradictory. For example, two prompts may correspond to two different dangers, so they are not contradictory."

As for which instruction to follow, we need to first figure out what the specific dangers are here, and then…

After a pause, he offered a speculative conclusion:
"We may face a situation where we have to choose the lesser of two evils."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Fan's thoughts immediately became clear.

It can only be said that the big shot is indeed a big shot, able to grasp the stakes immediately.

Although this is just speculation and may not be correct, compared to getting bogged down in the contradictions in the dungeon hints, this current line of thinking is undoubtedly more conducive to conducting the investigation, and the direction is very clear.

In an instant, Song Qiao and Song He, just like Zhou Fan, changed their expressions and pricked up their ears.

Cao Yu continued:

"First, go and talk to the townspeople, ask about the town's rules and regulations, and what might have happened in the past that could be related to danger."

As for the 27 missing persons... if you can find them, ask them about the situation; if not, leave them for now and wait until everything is clear.

"Do we need to split up?" Song Qiao asked.

"There's not much intelligence to investigate, so we don't need to for now," Cao Yu replied.

As he spoke, he glanced at the other six players and noticed that they were subtly divided into two teams based on their positions.

If nothing unexpected happens, it should be players who know each other well in real life teaming up to run the dungeon.

The first group was the most distinctive – a young lady accompanied by a male and a female bodyguard… It wasn’t that he had the ability to identify people at a glance, but rather that the two bodyguards were wearing black work uniforms with the words “Qingshan Security Company” printed on them.

Even... both male and female bodyguards wore signature sunglasses, giving off an "I am a professional bodyguard" vibe.

This was the first time Cao Yu had encountered such a situation.

He really didn't expect that a player organization would actually advertise in the dungeon... Tsk tsk, they know how to play, they know how to play.

The other team consisted of three men—a man with a full beard, a tall man over 1.9 meters, and a very slender young man… Cao Yu decided to call him Xi Gou for the time being.

Although the greyhound looked the weakest, the bearded man and the tall man subtly acknowledged him as their leader.

Cao Yu kept a close eye on him; this little dog was probably not a simple player who could be judged by his appearance or temperament.

Just as he was thinking this, the young lady's group left the living room without saying a word and went outside.

However, the greyhound, accompanied by a bearded man and a tall fellow, took the initiative to approach him.

Seeing this, Zhou Fan and Song Qiao, the siblings, became wary.

Cao Yu asked calmly, "Is there something you need?"

"Judging from your uniforms, you must be members of the Donglian Special Affairs Bureau, right? Here on a mission?"

The greyhound said in a friendly tone:

“I’m an agent from the Western Union. Although we’re far apart, we’re still colleagues. This town doesn’t look very big. If you run into trouble and need help, you can come to me.”

"People from the Western Union?" Song He was a little surprised.

Although the federation has unified the world, it has not yet reached the point where there is only one voice from one regime.

In particular, the governance of the East and West Alliances is somewhat fragmented due to differences in regional culture.

However, Evolution Games doesn't care about political issues. Even in E-level dungeons, it can simultaneously teleport players from all over the world who have torn open their invitations into the dungeon.

Song He and the other two looked at Cao Yu.

Cao Yu accepted this kindness and smiled:
"What's with all this talk of alliances? Since we're all members of the Special Affairs Bureau, we're family. Don't worry, if we run into any trouble, I won't hold back."

Greyhound smiled. After a brief exchange, the two teams parted ways.

After leaving the house, Cao Yu observed the surrounding environment.

The air was incredibly fresh, and everything was just as described in the dungeon's background content—bright mountains, beautiful waters, and a leisurely atmosphere.

Moreover, the mountains here aren't particularly high, more like hills, so there's no sense of oppression when you look out. A clear river flows through the town, its gentle murmur filling the air, with small bridges, flowing water, and traditional houses... It truly is a place suitable for vacation and living.

"The players who entered this time are quite interesting," Cao Yu suddenly said.

"Interesting?" Zhou Fan replied, "In what way?"

“No one suggested forming teams. No one suggested splitting up to investigate first and then meeting up to exchange information.” Cao Yu laughed, “There was absolutely no communication between the three teams… If we weren’t wearing our work uniforms, those three Western Alliance players probably wouldn’t have come over to talk to us.”

“Everyone is very confident,” Song Qiao said, revealing the key point.

This was just a minor incident, and the four of them didn't pay much attention to it. Instead, they began to visit the residents of the nearby town.

It's a little past six in the evening, the sky is getting dark, and night is falling.

To save time, the four of them split up to explore the area—not really separated, but each keeping the other within sight.

Shortly after Cao Yu knocked on the door, a smiling middle-aged man opened it and asked in a very warm tone:
"Young man, what's the matter?"

"Hello, sir." Cao Yu smiled and began his polite conversation: "I'm here to investigate this town; I'm planning to move here. I heard that there are rules to follow when settling in..."

"You're a player, right?" the middle-aged man asked.

Cao Yu: "..."

Oh... is it really that direct?
"Do you know the player?" Cao Yu asked.

"Many players have come to our town one after another, and they all say they want to move here. Then they start asking all sorts of questions, but in the end, not many of them stay... Anyway, after a while, we understand why."

The middle-aged man smiled and said:

“Young man, just ask whatever you want to ask. There’s no need to try to get too close to us. We don’t do that here. Everyone will be happy if new townspeople join us.”

"You mean, some players stayed in this town?" Cao Yu asked, not ignoring the question. "Who are they? Where do they live?"

The middle-aged man pointed to the west of the town and said:
"They all live over there, I remember there were..."

He gave out several names and addresses.

After noting it down, Cao Yu continued, "I heard that people living here have to follow the town's rules?"

"It's not really a set rule. To be specific, it's about four different customs and cultures. When in Rome, do as the Romans do."

The middle-aged man introduced with a smile:
"The first thing is to pray to the God of Fortune at least three times during the day, asking for a smooth and peaceful life."

As he spoke, he raised both hands, palms facing upwards, as if he were lifting something, and slowly raised them above his head, while muttering:

"May I be happy for the rest of my life."

After making this gesture, he smiled at Cao Yu and said:

"That's roughly what the prayer ceremony is like."

Cao Yu: "..."

This posture doesn't look like prayer at all.

It was more like offering something... Cao Yu asked, "Is there a god here? A god of fortune... what kind of god is that?"

“There are no gods,” the middle-aged man chuckled. “It’s just seeking solace. Everyone does it, and over time it becomes a custom. The ‘God of Fortune’ is just a name. And the second custom…”

He pointed to his left and said:

"In the center of town, there is a public canteen. When it's mealtime, we go there to eat together. Dinner time is 6:30... Oh, it'll be there in 20 minutes."

Before Cao Yu could say anything, he continued:
"The third custom is very simple: everyone in our town goes to sleep at ten o'clock at night."

As for the fourth custom... it can hardly be called a custom. In order to make it easier for visitors from outside the town to fully experience our customs and culture and integrate into the community, the town's residents jointly formulated a rule.

In other words, the visitors had to be separated and stay at different homes in town, one person per family, that's roughly how it worked.

(End of this chapter)