I went berserk in the game of gods.

Chapter 57 Look, it’s urgent

After listening to the middle-aged man's words, Cao Yu seemed to be deep in thought.

Pray to the God of Fortune at least three times during the day;
Eat at the public canteen during mealtimes;
You should be asleep by 10 p.m.

In addition, players must separate and stay at the homes of residents in the town, with only one person allowed per household.

Cao Yu sensed something was wrong.

The first three are fine; let's just consider them as customs.

The fourth one is clearly meant to separate the players... Should we comply?

After temporarily suppressing his suspicions, Cao Yu tentatively asked a rather bold question:

What happens if you don't follow these four customs?

"If you don't want to follow the rules, you don't have to. When in Rome, do as the Romans do; it's a matter of personal choice. But..."

The middle-aged man laughed:

“Young man, if you really intend to stay, I suggest you do as the customs say. People these days are becoming more and more restless. The customs in our small town are meant to cultivate healthy habits. If you want to live a happy and leisurely life, you have to start with the details.”

"Won't we be in danger if we don't comply?" Cao Yu probed again.

Forcing a test is actually a rather risky move.

However... he was quite confident in his abilities, and with night approaching, now might be the only opportunity to test the waters.

Unfortunately, the middle-aged man maintained a mild attitude.

"If you don't want to relocate, just leave. Why bring up danger? Sigh, you players always like to say such nonsensical things."

"Just asking," Cao Yu said with a smile. "By the way, has anyone gotten married in town recently?"

He remembered the "item node" he had seen before entering the instance, which was a framed wedding photo hanging on the wall.

"Marriage? I've never heard of that." The middle-aged man replied, "Our town isn't big, so if there's any happy event, it definitely won't be kept from me. I'm sure there haven't been any weddings lately."

"No... Then were there many outsiders visiting here yesterday?" Cao Yu described, "About twenty or thirty people."

“Yes,” the middle-aged man said. “I remember they all settled on the east side of town. But I haven’t looked into how many there are.”

"By the way," Cao Yu asked, "Are you a native of this town, or did you move here?"

“I moved here. Counting the time… it must have been almost 20 years ago.” The middle-aged man showed a look of reminiscence.

Next, Cao Yu found a few more topics to chat with the other party about, and after finding no problems, he left.

He quickly knocked on the door of the second town resident.

Not long after, a kind-looking old lady opened the door and came out. Looking at Cao Yu, she smiled and said, "Is there anything I can help you with?"

Cao Yu smiled and said, "Grandma, I have a few questions for you..."

"Young man, you must be a gamer, right?" the old lady interrupted.

Cao Yu: "..."

The old woman chuckled, "Players often come here, and they all ask about the rules. Actually, there aren't any rules. It's just four customs..."

……

After a brief conversation, Cao Yu bid farewell to the old lady and knocked on the door of the third town resident's house.

The information provided by the old woman was exactly the same as what the middle-aged man had said, but Cao Yu did not stop his investigation because of this.

Sampling only two households in a survey seems rather hasty.

Soon, the third household opened their door, and a young man in his thirties came out.

Upon seeing Cao Yu, the young man smiled and said, "You must be a player, right?"

"Yes." Cao Yu showed no surprise this time and went straight to the point, saying, "I'd like to ask about the rules here."

Speaking of which... why do all the residents of this town look so smiling?

Is the happiness index here really that high?
If players frequently come to inquire about the situation, the townspeople should logically be getting impatient, right?
The young man showed no impatience, smiled, and said:
"There aren't really any rules here, just three customs. Whether you follow them or not is up to you."

"Hmm...hmm?" Cao Yu's eyes narrowed: "Several customs?"

“Three kinds,” the young man replied. “The first is prayer…”

After explaining, the young man told Cao Yu about the customs of praying, eating, and sleeping.

After listening, Cao Yu asked directly:

"Are you sure there isn't a fourth custom? For example, that outsiders must stay separately in the homes of the townspeople?"

"Where did this custom come from?" The young man shook his head: "I've never heard of it."

“I just asked that family, and they said they have a fourth custom,” Cao Yu said, pointing directly to a house not far away.

This was quite a bold move. It directly challenged the townspeople's common sense... Cao Yu was prepared to deal with the crisis.

In other words, he is very confident in his current abilities; otherwise, he would not have attempted such a risky act.

As a result… the young man simply said calmly:

"Oh, they probably remembered it wrong."

Cao Yu: "..."

……

6:20 in the evening.

Cao Yu, Zhou Fan, and the other two met up and began exchanging information.

The four of them spent a little over ten minutes visiting 20 households, barely managing to complete a round of "sampling survey".

After compiling and comparing the intelligence, they discovered... the problem was quite serious.

Pray at least three times during the day, eat at the canteen at mealtimes, and go to bed at 10 p.m.—the information provided by every resident of the town corresponds perfectly to these three customs, with no difference whatsoever.

The fourth custom, which requires visitors to stay separately, does not match.

Some townspeople said yes.

Some townspeople said no, saying that there are only three customs in the town, and there is no such thing as separate lodging.

This is a bit intriguing.

Song Qiao's younger brother, Song He, even considered leading the two groups of townspeople to a confrontation.

However, there wasn't enough time.

It was almost lunchtime, and the townspeople had already gone out to the public canteen located in the center of the town.

Moreover... taking the townspeople to a standoff seems a bit suicidal, doesn't it?
Song He, Song Qiao, and Zhou Fan all felt a bit of a headache.

It's not just a matter of two conflicting dungeon prompts anymore.

The rules mentioned by the townspeople were all different... There were less than 10 minutes left until the 6:30 lunch break.

So, should we follow the rules and go to the public canteen first?

Zhou Fan looked at Cao Yu and asked, "Brother Cao, what do you think we should choose?"

"We still have two key points to investigate."

Cao Yu pondered for a moment and then said:
"Firstly, the western part of this town is inhabited by players who stayed behind in the past... Logically speaking, the idea of ​​players staying in the instance to live sounds a bit far-fetched. So I'm more inclined to believe that they are players who failed to clear the instance in the past and stayed in the instance to live in some strange way."

Instead of immediately discussing the issue, he continued:
"The second key is the 27 missing federal residents. We haven't met any of them yet. According to the townspeople, they now live on the east side of the town."

Logically, these 27 people should have been terrified and caused a ruckus after entering the instance.

However… according to the information we've gathered, so far, there hasn't been any trouble in this town, which is quite strange.

"I've noticed those two points too."

Song Qiao agreed, saying:
“However, the players who stayed behind are in the west, and the 27 federal residents are in the east. Now there are less than ten minutes left before lunchtime... We don’t have time to ask them one by one. We have to make a choice quickly.”

She asked Cao Yu:

"So, should we follow the rules and go to the cafeteria for a meal now?"

"Look, you're in such a hurry again," Cao Yu said with a smile. "I haven't finished speaking yet."

He didn't keep them in suspense and said directly:

"Have you noticed that the residents of this town... all love to laugh?"

“Brother Cao, now that you mention it…” Zhou Fan recalled for a moment: “The people I visited were indeed smiling the whole time they were talking to me, and they all seemed very gentle.”

"This place is called Happy Town, with a leisurely atmosphere and everyone loves to laugh... that makes sense, doesn't it?" Song Qiao's younger brother, Song He, asked, "Could there be something wrong with their smiles?"

"On its own, there's nothing wrong with it; at most, the happiness index here is very high. But when you look at the two strange details of 'players staying to live' and 'the Federation residents not causing trouble,' then there's something wrong."

Cao Yu reminded him:
"The background information of the dungeon mentions a line: 'This town can make people forget many troubles.'"

I'm starting to doubt that statement. It's not so much a description of the atmosphere, but rather that this small town truly allows people to forget many of their troubles in a physical sense.

"I forgot that after I came in, I wanted to stay and didn't want to leave, and I didn't cause any trouble..."

At this point, Cao Yu suddenly paused and looked at Song He—specifically, at Song He's right wrist.

All that could be seen was Song He's right wrist, which was fractured at some point and twisted in shape.

Song He then realized what was happening and felt a sharp pain shooting through his brain.

"Uh...! My arm is broken!?"

(End of this chapter)