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

"Forming cliques and factions."

Shen Xingzhu silently repeated the name of the skill in his mind.

Bullying is rampant at Jiashan Experimental Middle School, and bullies often appear in small groups.

Shen Xing, who had been bullied for a long time, actually acquired the skill of forming gangs?

Doesn't the eeriness feel ironic?

Shen Xingzhuo felt a slight throbbing pain in her chest.

But this feeling was fleeting, and she simply took it as Shen Xing's "consciousness" giving feedback.

"So... what do you think?" Hua Jiuyue asked tentatively. "I'm definitely willing to let you use this skill!"

Shen Xingzhuo looked at Hua Jiuyue with a scrutinizing expression, as if he were assessing whether Hua Jiuyue could be truly trusted.

Putting aside the question of whether she and Hua Jiuyue, as chosen ones from different countries, can truly entrust their backs to each other.

Just based on the phrase "99% trust" in the skill description, Shen Xingzhuo wouldn't use this skill on Hua Jiuyue.

Firstly, although Hua Jiuyue seems a bit dim-witted now, her martial arts skills were honed in a real-life environment. Although Shen Xingzhuo knows some martial arts, she is also aware of her own limitations; if she were to go toe-to-toe with a suicide squad member, she might not be able to defeat Hua Jiuyue.

Secondly, this level of trust seems very high. But the "rule-based mystery" operates on rules as its guiding principle. If it says 99%, then it means 99%, and that missing 1% could very well be the key to victory or defeat.

Shen Xingzhuo would never put her and Tianxia's safety on this ambiguous skill.

After a long while, Shen Xingzhuo finally nodded.

"OK."

A warm current surged through my heart in September.

"Let's go inside and find some props."

Shen Xingzhuo was the first to enter the inner room used for washing up in this time and space.

The locker, which was originally covered in slime, is now spotless.

Since it's a temporary locker for storing clothes, there's no lock on it when no one is using it.

Shen Xingzhuo opened one cabinet door after another with practiced ease, and found the lighter in the top cabinet in the far corner.

How did you know such a thing existed?

Shen Xingzhu shook another box in her hand. "I've heard from friends that most students who are disobedient in school have a 'proud' mentality, and these kinds of people often hide in the toilet to do bad things."

"Smoking is one of them." After pressing the lighter twice to make sure it worked, Shen Xingzhuo breathed a sigh of relief. "I was just trying my luck."

She smiled, "Clearly, as the strange one said, my luck is pretty good~"

Hua Jiuyue nodded thoughtfully.

She never went to school.

"If I had known this earlier, I wouldn't have almost died in the last ghost story."

Shen Xingzhuo turned his head and saw the dejection on Hua Jiuyue's face, but he opened his mouth, not knowing where to begin to comfort her.

"My last ghost story was called 'The Happy Family Plan'." She laughed self-deprecatingly. "There was a part in it where I had to go to school under my parents' supervision. But my character is a child who is very attached to his family, so under the rules, I can't show my independent side in front of my parents."

"You know what I used to do, so I often almost did things that went against the rules."

"But thankfully..."