Free Web NovelChapter 123: Chapter 123: The Bus to Death
Jiang Che watched the live broadcast screen. He’d heard about rule-based dungeons before, but had never encountered one himself.
But whether it was rules-based or not, it was always up to the dungeon master to set the rules.
Some more laid-back Lords didn’t like rule-based dungeons, while others preferred everything to follow the formula, strictly by the book.
The evil spirits in the dungeon can’t change the rules they’ve set for themselves, though the rules aren’t always exactly the same every time; once the dungeon opens, the rules can’t be altered anymore.
Rule-based dungeons are generally agreed upon by humans to be the easiest dungeons to clear.
No matter how the rules shift,
as long as someone finds the pattern, then perhaps the whole team can make it out alive.
But it’s also possible that one life after another is sacrificed guessing the rules, and in the end, not a single person makes it out.
But overall, there are already plenty of mature guides online for dungeon rules.
Most of them are generic walkthroughs.
One of the main points is: ’Listen carefully to the rules set by the evil spirit, and carry them out to the letter.’
Liu Hong’s face turned grim, because he immediately thought of this rule.
Right off the bat, it requires a finger!
How are we supposed to play this dungeon after that?
He anxiously looked behind him. When the evil bus driver spoke to him, the people at the back hadn’t come close, hadn’t heard a thing.
"The vehicle is about to depart, passengers please check your tickets and board." The urging, reaper-like voice sounded again.
Liu Hong steeled himself, opened his suitcase, and took out a gem necklace.
The diamond pendant on the necklace sparkled in this bizarre world.
"Can I trade this for a ticket?" he asked, careful and nervous.
The evil spirit with sea-urchin hands stared at the diamond necklace handed to it, the silver chain dangling perfectly on its fist, covered in fingers.
The diamond pendant happened to rest on one of its fingernails.
"You look great wearing that," Liu Hong swallowed his disgust and discomfort, forced himself to praise.
The live comment barrage was in chaos.
No one expected Liu Hong wasn’t just bravely talking; he was actually doing it!
[Brave! Too brave!]
[We’re all just talking big, but bro actually did it!]
[Did he pull it off?]
[I’m just poor. If I had money, I’d gift too!]
...
Jiang Che saw the evil spirit stretch out its finger-plagued fist, two fingers grabbing towards Liu Hong, completely ignoring the necklace on its hand.
Instead, with a snap, it broke the finger Liu Hong offered.
Liu Hong didn’t even have time to scream; his finger had already been pulled away.
"Your ticket." A finger was handed over, clearly the one just broken off.
"The vehicle is about to depart, passengers please check your tickets and board."
Liu Hong’s face was ashen, the sharp, urgent voice echoing in his ears once more.
He didn’t even have time to scream about his broken finger, snatched the finger handed to him, and, clutching his bleeding hand, rushed toward the bus.
A rule that must be strictly followed in rule-based dungeons:
You must execute the rules to the letter.
Now the rule says get on the bus, so he has to hurry over.
Seeing Liu Hong clutch his fist, blood still oozing from his finger, the other dozen or so people had no clue what had just happened.
All they knew was, the urging voice was getting more frantic.
"Board! Board! You must board!"
Some ran for the bus, others toward the ticket booth.
The driver smiled as he took Liu Hong’s severed finger, carefully dropping it into the ticket box at the front of the bus.
"Welcome aboard Bus 344. The final stop for tonight’s route is Six-Star Pond." The driver stepped aside to make room for Liu Hong.
Liu Hong glanced at him coolly, then walked onto the bus.
The starting and ending stops weren’t his main concern; some things had to be done first, then pondered later.
Jiang Che followed his perspective. When Liu Hong boarded, the bus’s interior was revealed in full.
There were fifty seats in total, but forty of them were occupied by evil spirits of various appearances.
And outside, more than ten people were still waiting to buy tickets.
This meant ten people wouldn’t get on this bus.
He took a screenshot and sent it to Flying Tiger.
At that moment, Flying Tiger was reviewing materials for her next dungeon, not watching this live at all.
Most dungeon levels are too low; she’d studied way too many already, further watching felt pointless.
"What happens to the ten who don’t make it?" he asked, puzzled.
"They die. Even the ones who aren’t on board before departure will die." Flying Tiger answered instantly, without hesitation.
"Does it have to be your own finger?" Jiang Che frowned. He saw the finger snapped off and given back to Liu Hong, couldn’t understand the reasoning.
"Actually, it doesn’t have to be your own." Flying Tiger immediately provided a solution.
She knew this routine like the back of her hand.
"Someone’s about to die." Flying Tiger said flatly.
As soon as she spoke, Jiang Che saw a gunshot ring out in the livestream. Someone fell heavily to the ground, blood pooling beneath him.
Then Jiang Che watched as a person whipped out a small knife and sliced off a finger from the corpse, handing it to the ticket seller.
"Here, this is your ticket."
The ticket seller took the finger, checked it, and handed it back.
In almost no time, Jiang Che saw the corpse on the ground—someone cut off even its toes and tried to use those.
"Toes don’t count," Flying Tiger pointed out to Jiang Che.
"The rule says: fare—a finger."
Sure enough, the first person who tried to hand over a toe was rejected.
Gunshot rang out again, another person dropped dead.
The rest just bowed their heads, no one condemned the shooter.
Because right now, everyone needed a finger.
"Too late..." Flying Tiger turned back. "Even if the later ones offer fingers, the bus is full already."
She watched the stream, texting Jiang Che—a little lesson in rules.
When the Survivors boarded with their tickets, the bus driver started another announcement.
"Welcome aboard Bus 344. The final stop for tonight’s route is Six-Star Pond."
"Six-Star Pond!" Flying Tiger was shocked, rushed from the study into Jiang Che’s room.
She didn’t have time to message Jiang Che for confirmation.
"You heard it too, right? The driver just announced—it’s going to Six-Star Pond?!!" She was utterly agitated.
"Yeah, he’s said it twice now." Jiang Che wasn’t sure—what’s the deal with Six-Star Pond?
"Six-Star Pond! Dungeon number 1, SSS-grade, it’s called Six-Star Pond!"
"This is a bus heading straight for death!"
