Rules of the Strange: I Can See Through All the Weird

"Sorry, I'm not interested," Qi Tong replied indifferently.

Just as the door was about to close, another man who hadn't spoken until now blocked the door with his hand.

He said in a sinister tone, "You know Chen Guodong who died in the last dungeon, right? He died tragically in the dungeon because of your inaction. His younger brother is a member of our guild."

The man continued, his tone like he was comforting a naive child: "You live alone and haven't joined any faction. Nobody will care about the conflicts between guilds or the death of one or two individual players in dungeons."

He paused, then withdrew his hand. "But if you're one of us, it's different. Your enemy is the Dark Temple's enemy. The guild will take the blame for Chen Guodong's matter."

The man beside her, as if seizing an opportunity, pressed his ear against the door and said eagerly, "Yes, Ms. Qi Tong, joining the Dark Palace only requires you to submit five thousand points and one S-rank item each month!"

Upon hearing this, Qi Tong slammed the door shut.

The man clutched his ear in pain and cried out, "Damn it! This crazy woman! She won't listen to reason, so she'll have to suffer the consequences!"

Another man spoke leisurely: "We absolutely cannot allow her to serve another organization. If the Dark Palace can't have her, then it can forget about having her..."

Qi Tong, furious, cursed 666 after closing the door.

"He threatened me! He actually threatened me!"

"Are you out of your mind? I wasn't even there when Chen Guodong died! What does it have to do with me? And you call that just watching him die without helping? Did I help him just because I saw him die?"

[This is the kind of host who, in this bizarre world, even hatred becomes a driving force.] 666 rarely put away emoticons, and his tone was very serious.

"Then he's picked the wrong person. My motivation isn't hatred, it's being treated like an idiot." Qi Tong paced quickly around the room.

"I have to hand over 5,000 points every month, and even with the livestream tips, I only got 5,000 points after this one dungeon run. And this is called the Dark Palace? It should be renamed Bandit's Den!"

"Those who have nothing to lose are not afraid of those who have something to lose. What do I have to steal? A bubble of love?"

[...People think the "love bubble" is pretty good.]

Qi Tong quickly took a shower and got into bed.

Lying in bed, I couldn't help but think about the Dark Palace coming to my door earlier.

Although the people from the Dark Palace were threatening her, what they said wasn't entirely unreasonable. She was just a newcomer with no power to even kill a chicken. If she were really hunted down, they could do whatever they wanted to her.

She wasn't surprised that such a large guild as Dark Palace could find her items, but what if it was an enemy who came knocking?

With this in mind, Qi Tong silently put learning martial arts on his agenda.

Okay, I'll go when I wake up!

------

The first thing Xu Ning did upon returning home was to turn on her phone and go to the Weird World Forum.

The fact that someone has survived the Midnight Library incident for the first time, and that the instance has even collapsed, has caused an uproar on the forums.

The pinned post reads: "Two dungeon runs, two SSS ratings, 100% completion! She's the Rookie King?"

Clicking into the post reveals a long list of comments already.

Some who witnessed the live stream were marveling at Qi Tong's skill, while others were criticizing the store manager.

More often than not, it was disdain.

[Watched the whole thing, Qi Tong is truly amazing!]

[My ability to crack codes is absolutely no less than mine.]

[The scene where the female ghost attacks the shop manager was really satisfying to watch, but also very tragic.]

This store manager is simply inhuman.

[The person upstairs isn't even human.]

[What Rookie King? Chen Jie is currently at the top of the rookie rankings!]

[They're already bragging after only clearing two dungeons; young people are still too impetuous.]

[There are still two more rounds to determine if someone makes it onto the newcomer list. I hope I don't die in the third or fourth round. [Laughing with hands covering mouth] No offense intended.]

[I don't believe she's that skilled. If she's so capable, let's team up in the same dungeon.]

Just say you want to be carried.

......

Xu Ning exited the post and searched for Qi Tong in the friend list, but couldn't find her. The forum was different from the live stream; the live stream required real names, but the forum allowed users to change their names however they wanted.

Xu Ning couldn't imagine what name Qi Tong would choose, so she had to give up.

I plan to use the props to go find Qitong tomorrow.

Thinking of this, Xu Ning tidied up and prepared to go to sleep.

Although their mental strength didn't decrease much during this dungeon run, they remained on edge for three days.

The dual exhaustion of mind and body can only be relieved by rest.

Unlike Qi Tong, who had developed the ability to fall asleep instantly after years of hardship, Xu Ning had great difficulty falling asleep, even when she was very tired.

She tossed and turned in bed, as if she had many worries on her mind, and it took her two hours to finally fall asleep.

the next day.

Xu Ning woke up very early; seven hours was a good night's sleep for her.

Following the guidance of the bridge of the soul, she easily found Qi Tong's home.

Qi Tong, who was awakened by the knocking, got up grumbling. She thought it was the same two people from yesterday knocking on the door so early in the morning.

She got up irritably, rubbed her sleepy eyes, yawned, and walked to the door to open it.

He was still muttering, "Will this ever end? Coming here first thing in the morning..."

Opening the door, struggling to open her eyes which were blinded by the sun, Qi Tong saw who it was and the words caught in her throat.

"Xu Ning? Why are you here so early? What happened?"

Xu Ning shook her head. "It's almost ten o'clock now, it's getting late."

Qi Tong stepped back to make room: "Come in first, then we'll talk."

......

Xu Ning sat on the sofa, and Qi Tong made her a cup of flower tea with great interest before going to wash up.

After washing up, the tea was ready.

Qi Tong poured two glasses and handed one of them to Xu Ning.

Xu Ning took it and brought it to her lips; it smelled of roses.

She took a small bite, and the rich floral fragrance and subtle sweetness immediately won her over.

"Mmm! Delicious."

Xu Ning's eyes lit up, and Qi Tong knew what she was going to do at a glance.

"Exclusive recipe, not to be shared."

Xu Ning lowered her head, feigning disappointment. "Okay, I came here to ask if you've seen those posts on the forum."

"What forum?" Qi Tong asked, puzzled. She had never heard of it before.

"Don't you know about forums? Do you have a cell phone?"

"Of course there are."

"Take it out, I'll find it for you."

"You didn't come in with me."

"...I'm talking about your phone in the weird world!"

"There are cell phones in this weird world?"

Qi Tong's eyes widened. It wasn't that she was pretending to be stupid; she really didn't know. Even 666 had never mentioned it to her.

Qi Tong angrily woke up 666, who was pretending to be asleep.

666 blinked her innocent, big eyes and tried to charm her way out of trouble.

"Stop acting cute! Explain! Why does everyone else have a cell phone, but I don't?"

[Host, it's because you didn't buy it!]

"Nonsense! I'm saying why I didn't even know cell phones existed!"

Because they forgot too~