Rules of the Strange: I Became a God in a Bizarre World Through Taoist Arts

Shen Xingzhuo's gaze was drawn to the rules.

The paper was pasted directly above the mirror; to see the words on it, one had to get very close.

She hurried over.

The closer you get, the more scars appear in the mirror's reflection.

Until the entire body was covered in dense, purplish-blue bluish-purple discoloration, with not a single patch of healthy skin remaining.

Shen Xingzhuo memorized the locations of the wounds on his body, then turned to look at the rules.

[Qualified students have the ability to manage their own lives. Just as families have rules, schools have regulations; those living on campus must abide by the rules of their dormitory and building.]

A line of bright red text followed immediately below, which was quite jarring.

[If any violation is discovered by the dormitory supervisor, the individual will be sent to the solitary confinement room for self-reflection!]

There was also a red bloody handprint on it, like the action of a little finger bending to write.

Shen Xingzhuo frowned and continued reading.

[1. The dormitory building uses a centralized water supply system, with a water room in the center of each floor. Students who need to wash, shower, or fetch drinking water must go in groups and complete this before 10 PM.]

[2: Lights out is at 10 PM every night. No loitering in the corridors or making noise in public areas.]

[3: Students' dormitories should be kept clean. No items should be placed on desks, and trash cans should not contain any garbage.]

[4: Students are not allowed to use prohibited items; dormitory supervisors will conduct checks every two days.]

[5. Discussions about study-related matters are prohibited in the dormitory.]

[6. Discussing other people's private matters is prohibited in the dormitory.]

[7. Sharing food, books, or daily necessities with others in the dormitory is prohibited in any form.]

[8: Each dormitory has a dormitory head who is responsible for inspecting the dormitory environment and recording the dormitory rating on the bulletin board daily.]

【9. Dormitory rating must not be lower than 5 points.】

Shen Xingzhuo read through them one by one.

The first nine lines were printed out, while the following lines were handwritten in black ink.

[10: Management must be structured, discipline must be enforced, and hygiene must be maintained—order must not be broken.]

[11: Anyone who becomes an outcast must automatically disappear!]

The handwriting was forceful, as if carved into the paper, with some strokes even tearing through the surface. The person who wrote these words held the pen very tightly, so tightly that the pen tip left more than one mark on the paper.

She compared the handwritten text with the altered text on the admission brochure, and found that it belonged to the same person.

She returned to her desk, opened the admissions brochure, found the page that was torn up with black ballpoint pen, and then compared the details of the strokes on the two sheets of paper—the angle of the strokes, the pressure of the beginning strokes, the rhythm of the ending strokes, and the way the strokes were broken—and was certain that it was written by Shen Xing herself, not by someone else.

Why did Shen Xing add these rules after the dormitory rules?

These rules weren't posted by the dorm manager; Shen Xing wrote them herself. By the time she added these two rules, she was no longer "following the rules." She was trying to remind the next person who saw the mirror.

However, the rules have been changed. The ink on Articles 10 and 11 is older than the previous nine, and the edges of the paper have slightly oxidized and yellowed, indicating that Shen Xing added them shortly after moving in.

Shen Xingzhuo looked at the battered reflection in the mirror again, finding no direct logical connection between it and the handwriting on the rule paper.

The location of the injuries on the mirror image is concentrated on her back, shoulders, and the outside of her arms—indicating that the injuries were not caused by her own collisions, but by things she could not avoid or prevent.

She memorized those locations, then turned and left the mirror without looking back.