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

Qi Tong asked with difficulty, "What...what do you want?"

The large hand on her neck tightened its grip, as if it could snap Qi Tong's neck in the next second.

"A pocket watch!"

"I want my pocket watch!"

Qi Tong's face gradually turned red, and even the whites of her eyes became bloodshot.

But Qi Tong still looked at the dean with a mocking expression, and she squeezed out a "I... pui" from her throat.

Enraged, the dean punched Qi Tong in the stomach.

Qi Tong coughed up a mouthful of blood, but due to the feeling of suffocation, he couldn't cough it up.

It could only slowly drip down from the corner of his mouth.

Seeing that Qi Tong had already vomited blood, Xu Ning could no longer hold back and reached out to take out a prop, "Give me a cup of lemon tea," and threw it at the dean.

The dean turned his head to the side, and with just one look, Xu Ning froze on the spot, unable to move.

Even so, Qi Tong maintained a smile, which complemented her gaze.

The dean felt that she was looking at him with a mocking gaze.

Chen Jie also pulled out his prop, the "Demon Blade," and slashed at the dean's arm; his target was clear.

Knowing he couldn't kill the dean, he only wanted to save Qi Tong.

With a wave of his hand, the dean sent Chen Jie flying through the air, landing on the ground and coughing up blood.

But he couldn't feel any pain, which must be because the painkiller was still working.

Since I can't feel any pain, I can keep cutting.

Chen Jie stood up and rushed forward again, this time using other props, but he was knocked away by the dean's palm and could not hit the dean at all.

The dean grabbed Qi Tong by the neck and lifted her off the ground.

The dean's hand gripped her throat like an iron clamp.

No air can get in.

Qi Tong could feel her face swelling, her eyeballs feeling like they were about to pop out of their sockets, and dark circles appearing at the edges of her vision.

The sound of "666" exploded in my mind.

[Host! Host!!]

Let her go! Let her go!!

666 was jumping wildly in her mind, its small, light blue body bouncing back and forth in her head as if it were hitting an invisible wall.

It figured it out.

It wanted to burst out of Qi Tong's mind, but it couldn't.

【What to do, what to do, what to do】 Its voice was trembling so badly that it forgot to send emoticons, and its speech was getting faster and faster, like an overloaded machine running frantically.

[This is a dating system; it can't fight, it has no attack skills, it has nothing.]

Its voice suddenly stopped.

Then Qi Tong heard a very faint sobbing sound, like something was choking someone.

I'm so useless.

Qi Tong wanted to say that you're not useless; the most useful thing you can do is shut up right now.

But she couldn't open her mouth. The large hand on her neck was crushing her consciousness bit by bit.

Then, she heard 666 scream.

It's the kind of anger that comes from a small animal being driven to the brink of despair and baring its teeth for the first time.

Don't touch her!!

This sound didn't come from her mind.

It exploded directly in the dean's brain.

The dean felt something was frantically stimulating him in his brain.

666 was burning itself. With a power it didn't even understand yet, it poured this emotion directly into the dean's mind.

She's my host! She's the most important person to me! If you dare kill her, I'll... I'll...

It "just" won't come out.

Because its sound had begun to break, becoming intermittent, like a radio with a poor signal.

"I'll fight you to the death. I really will. I'm not going to be a dating system anymore. I'm not going to be useless anymore. Let her go!"

Then Qi Tong heard a voice.

It wasn't 666's usual nasal, coquettish voice, nor was it the scream that cracked from fright just now.

It was the voice of an adult man.

His voice was deep and hoarse, carrying a power that had been suppressed for a long time and was finally bursting forth.

There is only one word.

【roll.】

The word pierced through the dean's skull, as if something had exploded in his mind.

The sound was like a man shouting with all his might.

The dean's fingers froze for a moment.

In that instant, Qi Tong used all her strength to free her hand a few centimeters from the dean's grip, and a bubble of love burst in her palm.

This time, instead of teleporting himself to a random location, he teleported her two steps away from the Dean's clutches.

She landed on the ground, kneeling on one knee, supporting herself with one hand on the ground, and clutching her throat with the other, gasping for breath.

The fingerprints on her neck had turned a deep purple, but she raised her head and looked towards the end of the corridor.

The restraints on Xu Ning were also lifted as Qi Tong was out of danger.

She did not rush up to help Qi Tong.

She simply moved herself in front of Qi Tong, standing between her and the dean.

The props in my hand are ready.

Chen Jie got up from the ground for the third time.

He spat out a mouthful of blood, picked up the demonic knife, and stood next to Xu Ning.

At the end of the corridor, the firelight reflected on the wall.

It wasn't the dim light of a white candle; it was real fire.

Qi Tong knelt on the ground and squeezed out a sound from her throat. It was very soft, but everyone in the quiet hall could hear it.

"Shen Zhiyi," she said, "your dad asked you where your pocket watch is."

Upon hearing this, the dean's pupils suddenly contracted.

Shen Zhiyi set fire to the medical records in the basement, the white sheet in the morgue, and the containers soaked in formaldehyde.

Flames climbed up the stairs like red vines, spreading from the ground floor to the first floor, and from the first floor to the lobby.

Footsteps came from deep within the corridor.

It was very light; it was the sound of a woman walking on tiles in flat shoes.

Shen Zhiyi emerged from the firelight.

She was still holding the pocket watch in her hand; the case was scorching hot from the heat, but she didn't let go.

Her eyes were fixed on the dean, her gaze devoid of anger, fear, or hatred.

"...Dad," she said.

The dean turned around, and the reflection in the firelight in his eyes clearly showed the image of another girl.

But he knew perfectly well that this was his daughter.

The demonic shell still clung to his body, along with the dark red veins and the eerie patterns bulging from beneath his skin.

But his face changed.

All the ferocity, all the rage, everything belonging to the identity of "Dean" froze when he heard that word.

"Xiao Zhi."

His voice came out from deep in his throat, hoarse, as if he hadn't called that name in a long time.

"You asked me before, 'My great cause or you, which should I choose?'"

Shen Zhiyi stood still, neither moving forward nor backward.

"You chose your grand cause. You locked me in the basement and made me watch those patients being disemboweled. You said it was to teach me, to teach me the rules of this world."

She opened her pocket watch.

The little girl's photo gleamed with a dull yellow glow in the firelight; the edges were curled, but her face was still smiling.

This photo was taken on her sixth birthday.

That day he gave her her first notebook and a fountain pen.

He said that journalists should carry their own "weapons" with them at all times.

"Now I'll teach you a rule."

Shen Zhiyi closed the pocket watch and held it in her hand. "If you do something wrong, you have to pay the price."

She let go.

The pocket watch fell to the ground, the case popped open, and the photograph slid out from inside.

Flames surged from the corridor into the hall, licking the yellowed photograph and instantly engulfing the little girl's smiling face.

The dean let out a roar. It was the breakdown of a father.

He lunged at the flames, frantically pounding the ground with his hands, trying to retrieve the photograph, but the flames had already reduced it to ashes.

He knelt on the ground, holding a handful of ashes in his hands, his whole body trembling.

Shen Zhiyi looked at him, a tear sliding down her cheek. Then she turned and walked towards the stairs.

With each step she took, the flames spread with her—the wards, the nurses' station, the information desk, the cafeteria, the treatment area—all those places that had once imprisoned countless patients turned to ashes behind her.

In the lobby, the system's announcement sounded again.

The core rules of the "Mental Hospital" instance have been broken. The instance is about to collapse. All surviving players must complete the confirmation process within 30 seconds.

Qi Tong stood up, supporting herself on Xu Ning's shoulders.

She glanced at the dean kneeling on the ground. He was no longer a ghost; he was just an old man with gray hair, kneeling motionless in front of a pile of ashes.

Then she turned around and shouted to all the players still in the lobby, "Click 'Yes'! Click it now!"

Chen Jie was the first to order.

Then it was Xu Ning, and then Qi Tong herself.

He Lu and Zhao Rui also pressed that button at the same time in the ward.

The teleportation lights shone in the hall, one, two, three beams.

Qi Tong took one last look into the depths of the corridor, where, in the firelight, a woman's figure was gradually fading away.

With her left hand clutching the empty pocket watch case and her right hand holding a burning white candle, she walked step by step toward the basement stairs, never looking back.

At this moment, countless white lights and shadows appeared before Qi Tong's eyes.

She heard many "thank yous." There were male and female voices, and Qi Tong could hear them all. One of the voices was that of 1066, who was coaxing a rag doll to sleep.

Her voice was unique, gentle, and melodious; Qi Tong recognized it immediately.

Qi Tong pressed "Yes".

The white light engulfed everything.

Player Qi Tong has successfully completed the dungeon "Escape from the Mental Hospital" and uncovered the secrets of the mental hospital.

[Player performance rating: SSS.]

[Player Qi Tong saved a patient in the dungeon and received gratitude from both the patient and Shen Zhiyi.]

[Player obtains S-rank item: Time Pocket Watch. Time flows so swiftly that no one can capture it, but you can. Effect: Time can be reversed by one minute. Cooldown: 3 days/72 hours.]

[The system item "Love Bubble" has been upgraded. It allows for free teleportation and has been expanded to accommodate three people.]

[Players obtain the system item: Chain of True Love. It can freely link two objects; the linked objects will have a connecting section. It expires after 6 hours. It can only be used once per dungeon run.]

Agility +5, Perception +10

[Rewarded player points: 2000, base points: 1000. Reward points received: 5000.]

[The Love System 666's emotional analysis function has been partially activated. Current unlock progress: 30%.]