No strange things are allowed to evolve!

Jiang Shu didn't explain anything, just laughed it off.

Because he has now figured something out.

In this incubation facility, the bride is not the real protagonist, and the participants do not come here to become the bride's experimental subjects.

If she was the owner of the strange fog and the instigator of everything, then she couldn't possibly be unaware of the fog's true purpose.

In fact, Jiang Shu was indeed affected.

The strange fog contained not only aphrodisiac ingredients, but also a peculiar component that he could not identify.

That ingredient can cause those affected to hallucinate, seeing their beloved. That's why he was stunned when the bride appeared from the strange fog.

So here's the question: when the object of temptation is true love itself, how do we define whether crossing the line is succumbing to temptation or remaining true to love?

So from the very beginning, the bride's method of proving herself was wrong, and she was destined to never get the answer she wanted in her entire life.

As for why Jiang Shu saw the person she loved most deep in her heart, her body showed no reaction at all, seemingly completely unaffected, the reason is actually quite simple.

He saw himself.

Chapter Six exploded

[Task progress changed]

Unveiling the Secrets of the Hatchery (67/100%)

Looking at the progress bar changes, which were quite generous and completely different from the previous two, Jiang Shu fell into deep thought.

Meanwhile, the bride seemed to have completely let go of the past.

"Is there anything else you want to ask? Please ask it all at once."

Jiang Shu briefly organized his thoughts, then planned to verify all the currently unknown and observable doubts at once.

"You just said that I am the groom you like very much, which means that there were other people who came here and were grooms before me. The dates on the paper money you burned are their birth dates."

"Yes."

"There was no one in the courtyard, but the wedding ceremony was very lively. Although you couldn't see anyone, the voices of the men and women were very young. They were all people who died at your hands, and perhaps one of them was the owner of part of your current body?"

"Not all of them, but all the women whose voices you can hear are."

"The candles in the lanterns, the ones used during the wedding ceremony, and even the candles in the room now, were all fueled by corpse oil. The tea in the teapot was made with blood. And... after they died, you made use of all the materials."

"You observed very carefully."

[Task progress changed]

Unveiling the Secrets of the Hatchery (70/100%)

Just as Jiang Shu had guessed, the importance of secrets varied, and not every secret occupied the same percentage.

I drew the most conclusions during the first change, but the progress only increased by 17%.

Those conclusions mainly concern some hidden rules and the role those rules play.

The second change was the discovery of the bride's physical secrets, which increased the rule by 20%, meaning that the bride's own significance was almost equal to the rules that needed to be followed.

The third change occurred when Jiang Shu learned the reason why the bride did this and discovered that the bride did not understand the true function of the strange fog and was not the real protagonist in the hatchery. It was more like she was being used. This time, the change increased by a full 30%.

The fourth one, concerning those who participated before him, accounted for only 3%, and together with the secrets of the rules, it was cut into one-fifth, and was practically a side project.

Jiang Shu gradually came to understand everything.

He finally understood where that feeling of being pushed around came from, where linear processes in an open world, where the task objectives and the actual situation were constantly at odds with each other.

It turns out that the two overt mission objectives are merely the prologue, just the surface appearance, while the real difficulty lies in the hidden objectives.

The fact that the bride was conducting the experiment in the wrong way meant that the test itself was impossible for the participants to pass, and that the bride's experiment was meaningless.

But since the experiment itself is meaningless, and the existence of the hatchery cannot be meaningless, then only one possibility remains.

The bride herself is actually part of the rules; she is also another strange mist, a weapon in the hands of some behind-the-scenes being.

The rules of the incubator are all designed to ensure that participants remain motivated, cooperate with the bride to advance the process, and discover loopholes in the process, without being subjected to violence or coercion by the bride.

From another perspective, the bride is also a participant in another sense, only her task is exactly the opposite of Jiang Shu's—

[Mission Objective 1: On your wedding night, seduce the groom with all your might, but do not use violence or coercion.]

[Mission Objective Two: After successfully luring him, make sure he doesn't live past dawn.]

That's great, it's a two-way street.

So...

Jiang Shu slowly shifted his scrutinizing gaze toward the bride.

Is this considered raising a treacherous spirit?

Just as he was thinking this, a string of garbled characters suddenly appeared in front of him.

[WARNING: Attempts to attack the bride may result in retaliation. If you die in the hatchery, the challenge is considered a failure, and your life will be permanently lost.]

Alright, as expected of being part of the rules, being invincible in this aspect.

However, since physical attacks are ineffective...

Let's just mentally explode at her.

Why are you looking at me like that?

Noticing Jiang Shu's ambiguous gaze, the bride stood up, bent down to pick up the clothes that Jiang Shu had taken off as soon as he entered the room, and shoved them into his hand:

"If there are no other problems, let's leave it at that. Put your clothes on, sit there and wait for dawn. If nothing unexpected happens, we will never see each other again."

"Are you so sure?" Jiang Shu asked back.

"Yeah, anyway, I've never seen anyone who left from here again."

Jiang Shu was somewhat surprised: "Have other people left here safely?"

This doesn't make sense, does it?

Are there really people who eat pills like they're eating rice? Or is it that their willpower is just that strong, like Wolf Warrior, and they don't care about being electrocuted?

"Um...it was an accident." The bride said vaguely, "To be precise, it couldn't even be considered a person, it was a weasel. I just couldn't get over the mental hurdle, so I didn't tempt it. I just locked it outside in the yard for one night, which was considered letting it go. After that, no one came for a long time. You are the first one."

It's alright now, it turns out it was the bride's problem.

It's only natural to hesitate to eat something that's from another species.

But is it another weasel?

Jiang Shu suddenly felt that he had a special connection with this thing. Could it be that the two of them encountered the same one?

Unaware of Jiang Shu's extraordinary encounter, the bride said as if comforting herself, "In any case, we will definitely never see each other again."

"I don't think so." Jiang Shu shook his head: "Do you think it's possible that the person who gave you that strange fog and arranged for us to meet wasn't just a coincidence?"

The bride was startled, her face instantly changing to a terrifyingly grim expression, as if something had been touched on her sore spot. She glared at Jiang Shu, saying, "You shouldn't know this."

But Jiang Shu didn't explain, and just continued to herself: "Including that weasel, perhaps it wasn't an accident. You say you want to prove the correctness of love, but you reject it just because it's a weasel. What, do you think only humans can understand love? Isn't this... a desecration of your own beliefs?"

The bride was speechless for a moment.

"If someone doesn't understand love, how could they suddenly appear in front of you? So you can be sure that the person who comes here must have someone they love. Only then can you carry out your plan."

But from what you're saying, it seems you can only passively accept things and can't actively choose who will come to the yard.

If I'm not mistaken, the person who gave you the strange fog and the person who brought me here are probably the same one, right?

Jiang Shu joked:

"It's like an irresponsible mentor who dumps everything on the students and lets them do whatever they want. In fact, as a student, you've long realized that you can't get the results you want no matter what, but you never doubt that the problem isn't actually with you."

"What...what do you mean?" The bride's face was extremely ugly.

She didn't even have time to consider how Jiang Shu knew so much when he said those hurtful words that hit her so hard.

"If, I mean, if..."

Jiang Shu smiled, trying her best to appear gentle.

Although the smile was terrifying to the bride.

"Was that person planning to destroy you from the very beginning?"

Chapter Seven: Beware of Fire, Theft, and Male Best Friends

"Don't rush to refute me."

Seeing that the bride was about to speak, Jiang Shu immediately interrupted the spellcasting and changed the subject:

"Why don't you think back carefully? What was your original intention? In other words, why did you want to prove the uniqueness and correctness of love? What special meaning did it have for you?"

"Special significance..."

The bride frowned, seemingly unwilling to say more:

"I... have something I have to do."

Seeing that the other party was being evasive, Jiang Shu had no choice but to be more direct: "Was it that person who made you do this?"

To everyone's surprise, the bride shook her head without hesitation, her face unusually serious.

"No, I remember that very clearly. It has nothing to do with that great man. He just wanted to help me, so he gave me the divine mist to make my path smoother."

He is a very good person. He has helped me a lot. Even when I made serious mistakes, he never gave up on me and his attitude towards me never changed.

I am grateful to Him and respect Him, so I cannot tolerate your slander of Him.

"You're just lucky. I haven't spoken to anyone in a long time, and you've been acting exceptionally well so far, which has greatly increased my tolerance for you. If it were anyone else, based on what you just said, I would risk slap you to death!"

Seeing the genuine anger and hostility on the bride's face, Jiang Shu subconsciously glanced at the top of her head.

I always feel like an extra piece of health bar might appear there at any moment.

However, once the arrow is drawn, there's no turning back. Since we've made preparations, there's no reason to back down.

"Don't be impatient."

He reassured her, "Didn't I just say 'if'? I was just guessing."

"What if that doesn't work either!"

Jiang Shu sighed.

Although, to him, who possessed a great deal of intelligence, this guy who was sold out and was even helping to count the money was ridiculously foolish, Jiang Shu never mocked other people's feelings. No matter what kind of feelings they were, they were the most precious things to the person involved. He might not understand them, but he would definitely respect them.

The way to show respect is, of course, to shatter that illusion!

"What's truly frightening is when someone isn't genuinely trying to help you, and you're completely unaware of it."

Jiang Shu naturally reached out and ruffled the bride's hair.

Research has shown that unconscious and natural physical intimacy can reduce others' wariness. If this is combined with seemingly considerate words, it can easily increase the other person's goodwill.

Where did this research come from?

Jiang Shu researched it himself.

In practice, as long as there are no problems with the modeling, it's basically a breeze. However, it's not recommended to use it on people of the same sex, as it can easily cause unnecessary trouble.

As expected, although the bride immediately pushed Jiang Shu's hand away after realizing what had happened, the hostility in her eyes did lessen.

Instead of dwelling on Jiang Shu's malicious speculations about the person important to her, she seized upon this seemingly concerned concern and questioned, "What makes you think he's not sincere?"

"You've certainly never been affected by that kind of fog, have you?"

"how do you know?"

“Because the real effect of that fog, besides being an aphrodisiac, can also cause hallucinations, making people see their loved ones.” Jiang Shu calmly used the card at the most appropriate time: “The reason I am relatively calm is simply because I am immune to the aphrodisiac part and my consciousness is still clear.”

“Impossible.” The bride instinctively denied it: “He never said that.”

Jiang Shu shrugged: "Can't you tell if I'm lying or not? Why don't you try and see if what I'm saying is true or false?"

"How did you know?" the bride asked instinctively once again.

She realized she had said this more than once that evening, and she was getting tired of it.

But that's no longer important; all she wants now is to verify whether what Jiang Shu said is true or false.

Unfortunately, she discovered that it was actually true.