The Mysterious Dungeon: A Survival Guide to the Twelve Talismans

A deafening roar echoed through the air.

Intense heat and shockwaves swept outwards to both sides.

When the flames died down, a large crater had been melted into the ground, but the strange creature was unharmed and continued to slowly walk towards them.

"These are... the rules?" Zhou An's pupils contracted slightly.

He understood why Li Shengsheng couldn't kill this guy.

Because this guy is protected by the rules.

He could just sense a trace of the power of rules emanating from the strange creature.

"You are indeed very strong, but you can't kill me. This is my territory," he grinned eerily.

"Uncle, what should we do? Should we retreat? This guy can only stay in the tunnel and can't get out." Li Shengsheng was a little anxious.

"Retreat? Heh, no need. I have plenty of ways to deal with him." Zhou An chuckled, then strode towards the strange figure.

Seeing this, Li Shengsheng wanted to say something, but considering Zhou An's strength, she let it go and simply followed behind him.

When the strange man saw Zhou An approaching, he paused for a moment, and then his smile became even more sinister.

"Knowing you can't kill me, you still dare to come here. Humans, you are too arrogant." As the eerie voice fell, the thigh bone in his hand was directly attacked towards Zhou An.

Zhou An could smell the rusty odor permeating the air.

This thigh bone was taken from a fresh, living person.

Zhou An reached out and grabbed the other person's arm. He asked, "Sheng Sheng, how many people died in this tunnel?"

Upon hearing this, Li Shengsheng said with a touch of sadness, "This is where the strange events that happened last night took place; it's the last train."

"There were 24 people on this last bus, including the driver, and half of them escaped."

Half of the people escaped, which means that twelve people died here.

"The scope of bizarre events has also given rise to rules, and the real world is becoming increasingly unstable." Zhou An sighed and looked at the strange event.

"Such strength, but it's useless, you can't kill me." Gu Yi felt Zhou An's terrifying power, but there was no fear on his face.

A layer of eerie light suddenly burst forth from his right hand, which then slashed directly at Zhou An.

With a thought, Zhou An's attack landed, but before it could land, the strange creature transformed into an ugly old dog.

"Ah... what is this? How did it turn into a dog?" Li Shengsheng exclaimed.

"What...what did you do? Why did I turn into a dog?" Wei Yi was shocked, his face full of disbelief.

“Although I can’t kill you, I told you, I have a hundred ways to deal with you,” Zhou An said softly, squatting down and pinching the other’s neck.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" Gu Yi cursed incessantly.

Zhou An took out the Momotaro rice ball, grabbed one, and stuffed it directly into the strange-looking mouth.

"Tell me, what exactly happened? Why can't I kill you?" Zhou An asked softly.

Upon hearing this, Gu Yi was about to unleash a torrent of curses, but Momotaro Rice Ball suddenly unleashed its fury.

The strange creature immediately straightened up and said, "I don't know either. I only know that after I descended here, this tunnel possessed the power of rules."

"Under the power of the rules, even a ninth-rank Ghost Emperor cannot kill me unless one possesses the power to break the rules."

"Then how can I kill you?" Li Shengsheng asked hurriedly.

He glanced at Li Shengsheng with a strange look, but didn't bother to pay her any attention.

"Uncle, why isn't he answering me?" Li Shengsheng asked, her face full of confusion.

"You didn't feed him Momotaro rice balls," Zhou An chuckled, then continued, "How am I supposed to kill you?"

"Find out the rules of this area, and you can use those rules to kill me. The rule inside the tunnel is that you can't make a sound. As long as you stay quiet, I can't attack anyone."

"I cannot be killed, I can only be killed by the rules. If I do not kill anyone within a week, I will be eliminated by the rules."

Gu Yi honestly told the whole story.

"You can't be killed, but if you don't kill anyone within a week, you'll be wiped out by the rules?" Zhou An pondered, stroking his chin.

“Uncle, I never expected that such a rule-bound area would appear. If people didn’t know the rules, I’m afraid a lot of people would die.” Li Shengsheng also realized the seriousness of the matter.

Zhou An spoke again: "If you don't tell me the rules of this place, how am I supposed to know them?"

After a strange pause, he said, "The rules here are similar to the environment here. As long as you observe carefully and stay calm, you can figure them out."

"Like the rules here, keep quiet. I can't attack anyone. At first, I couldn't attack, but when those humans saw me come out, they screamed in fright, and that's when I was able to attack them."

Zhou An understood that to survive, he had to remain quiet, and the rule-bound area would not restrict people from entering or leaving.

That's why the strange creature didn't kill all twenty-four people on the train.

“Uncle, we can’t kill this monster. It seems we have to seal off this area. He’ll be dead in seven days,” Li Shengsheng said.

Zhou An didn't leave immediately, and continued to ask, "If you are erased by the rules, will this land of rules still exist?"

The eerie reply was: "The Land of Rules will continue to exist, but without me, it will become safe."

"Okay, let's go." Zhou An nodded slightly, then slowly got up and walked towards the platform.

If this place is sealed off, the monster will die after seven days. The Land of Rules will not disappear, but it will become safe.

The two soon arrived at the platform.

"Notify the bureau to send people to seal off this tunnel for seven days," Zhou An ordered Chang Yu.

"Yes, Captain," Chang Yu replied immediately.

Then Zhou An took out his phone and dialed Director Wang's number.

The call was answered almost instantly: "Zhou An? You're out of the dungeon?"

"Yes, we're out. We were just caught in the crossfire here!"

Wang Ling: "Has the tunnel issue been resolved? Twelve people died there."

"It can be considered dealt with. The strange incident here has escalated," Zhou An said in a deep voice.

"Upgrade? What does that mean?" Wang Ling's tone became serious.

"A land of rules!" Zhou An uttered four words.

Zhou An then quickly recounted the events at the tunnel and the royal tomb.

Chapter 125 The Importance of Martial Arts Manuals and Techniques

Wang Ling asked solemnly, "Are you sure? That the power of the rules protects it and can't kill the strange creature?"

“I’m sure I used a rule-based tool to pry it out of the weird mouth. There are probably quite a few places like this all over the country,” Zhou An said slowly.

"Okay, I understand. This is very important. I'll report it immediately. You handle things at the tunnel." Wang Ling also understood the seriousness of the situation.

"By the way, Director Wang, are you at the headquarters of the Bureau of Mystery right now? I have something to report." Zhou An was preparing to trade martial arts manuals and techniques to the Bureau of Mystery.

“I’m here. Perfect timing, you can come over now. The director has returned and he’d like to see you too.” Wang Ling nodded.

"Okay." Zhou An nodded slightly and then ended the call.

"Are we going to headquarters?" Li Shengsheng came over.

"Mm." Zhou An nodded slightly.

The two immediately walked out of the airport and headed to the Changsha headquarters of the Bureau of Evil Affairs.

When Zhou An entered the director's office, he saw the two players who were the highest-ranking and most powerful in the Southern Province.

This also includes their contractual partners.

Their contract holder was also a deputy director, but he had gone to Beijing on business some time ago and only returned a few days ago.

"You must be Zhou An. I didn't expect you to have reached the third level in just a few days." A man wearing gold glasses and a suit kept looking Zhou An up and down.

"Zhou An, let me introduce you. This is Zhou Tianhan, the director of our Bureau of Mysteries, and this is Zhang Xiao, the deputy director and the director's spiritual partner."

"This is Yan Cheng, the deputy director of the Bureau of Mysteries, and this is his contracted party, Deputy Director Zhang Haili," Director Wang introduced them to Zhou An one by one.

"Hello, bureau chiefs!" Zhou An greeted them with a smile.

"Hello, bureau chiefs." Li Shengsheng greeted them just like Zhou An did.

"You're a really pretty girl. I saw from your information that you're only eighteen years old, right?" Zhang Xiaorao looked Li Shengsheng up and down with interest.

"Yes." Li Shengsheng nodded.

"Young and promising, young and promising indeed, I'm already old." Yan Cheng shook his head, his tone mature.

Zhang Haili glanced at Yan Cheng and said irritably, "You're only thirty, what's with all this talk about being old? All you ever think about is retiring."

"My dream is to retire at thirty, fish every day, and look at beautiful women. Unfortunately, the world overlaps, which is difficult." Yan Cheng sighed again.

The lighthearted atmosphere dissipated and became somewhat somber when the topic of overlapping worlds was brought up.

Zhou Tianhan said solemnly, "Director Wang has already told me about the Land of Rules. I just went to take a look, and it's so strange that I really can't kill it."

Upon hearing this, Zhou An's gaze sharpened. It took him about forty minutes to drive to headquarters.

Zhou Tianhan had actually already explored the area governed by the rules and made a round trip.

Indeed, those who reach the sixth rank should not be underestimated.

"We are truly powerless in the Land of Rules. The best solution is to seal it off, or to use the rules of the Land of Rules to eliminate the strangeness within, thus making it a safe place."

Zhou Tianhan slowly began to speak.

"The matter of the 'Rules of the Land' has been reported to the Kyoto headquarters. As of now, twenty minutes later, no fewer than thirty 'Rules of the Land' have been discovered nationwide." Zhang Xiao's expression turned serious.

“In just a few days since the worlds overlapped, the global death toll has reached seven figures, and at the same time, the number of players has also begun to surge,” Zhang Haili said, adding another point.

"It seems the situation is getting more and more difficult. Does the General Administration have any countermeasures?" Zhou An asked.

"There are solutions, of course. The only one is to increase the player base in order to stabilize the situation in the real world."

"Most importantly, the more players there are when the world completely overlaps, the greater our hope will be," Zhou Tianhan said in a deep voice.

Zhou An pondered for a moment, then took out some of the martial arts manuals: "Take a look at these."

"What is this?" Zhou Tianhan took the manual.

I paused for a moment when I saw the name on the book.

“Lingbo Weibu, Beiming Divine Skill, Xiaowuxiang Skill…wait, aren’t these martial arts manuals from Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils?” Zhang Xiao said from the side.

"Martial arts manuals? Zhou An, why are you taking these manuals out?" Wang Ling looked at Zhou An with a face full of doubt.

"Director, haven't you noticed something's wrong yet?" Zhou An said with a faint smile.

Whether or not one can cultivate them is not something he needs to say, because these martial arts manuals all have attributes that Zhou Tianhan can discover as soon as he comes into contact with them.

Zhou Tianhan came to his senses and nodded solemnly: "That's right, these martial arts manuals can be practiced. You can check their attributes."

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately gathered around and reached out to touch it, and then their eyes widened in surprise.

"They can actually cultivate, and it seems they can even use ghostly power to activate it?"

"According to this description, only humans can cultivate; we players cannot cultivate."

"Wait, veteran players can't cultivate, but new players can."

Suddenly, everyone became excited.

"Good, good, good! Where did you get this technique? This is quite a discovery." Zhou Tianhan was excited at this moment.

As one of the top players in the country, he has always been very concerned about national affairs.

He understood that the emergence of this martial art had a very important role to play for China.

“A special rule-making tool was used. These things are not important. What is important is whether these things are important to the country,” Zhou An said with a faint smile.

"Important, of course it's important. After mastering the martial arts manual, your survival rate in dungeons will definitely increase significantly."

"Even in the real world, it can be very effective in dealing with some strange events or out-of-control players."

“However, there is one thing we still need to test, and that is whether martial arts will harm the strange creatures,” Zhou Tianhan said in a deep voice.

Li Shengsheng said, "It works! I've already mastered the basics of Lingbo Weibu. When I use my lightness skill, even Guai can't catch up with me."

"However, I used ghost power to drive it. If you want to cultivate your own internal energy, you'll have to try it yourself."