Chapter 65

Chapter 65

Su Ximu silently read the contents of the paper in his hand.

The first line read: "Welcome Xiao Mu back to our new home. Your third brother, who loves you the most, worried that you’ve been away for too long, has prepared a small gift to help you quickly settle in. Please follow it strictly."

Just this one sentence reawakened the strong sense of dissonance that had previously been suppressed.

This note was written by his third brother—not only did the note use that self-reference, but he also recognized his third brother’s handwriting.

His third brother’s handwriting was much neater than when they were children, but he still recognized it.

When they were younger, he would often write and draw together with his third brother.

Su Ximu pursed his lips, ignoring the rest of the content for now, and just repeatedly read that one sentence.

He suddenly remembered the first day he came to this world, when his third brother sat by his bed, waiting for him to wake up.

Later, not understanding his situation, he hid in the bathroom. His third brother knocked on the door and spoke to him from outside.

He had sensed it then—the playful, almost careless tone in his third brother’s voice.

At the time, it felt off, and afterward, he thought his third brother was just angry about his hangover.

But now...

Su Ximu’s perspective had changed.

Back then, he had believed he had accidentally taken over the body of the "original owner," like a cuckoo occupying another bird’s nest. So, any thoughts about the family and its members could only be inferred from what he had read in books and the "original owner’s" memories.

It was like viewing flowers through a fog—unclear and indistinct.

But now, Su Ximu looked at the sentence on the paper again.

Language is a mysterious thing. Somehow, from this short sentence, he could picture the writer holding a pen, a smirk on his face.

Even though the note claimed to be from "the third brother who loves you the most," the words didn’t convey much warmth.

Su Ximu felt as though he were parsing each word, as if doing a text analysis assignment. After carefully examining the first sentence, he continued reading.

What followed was a list of family rules.

"1: Big Brother is a very strict person. When Big Brother is home, you must return home early."

Su Ximu nodded in agreement with the latter part.

In the past, when he went out to play, his Big Brother initially didn't pay much attention and rarely spoke.

But later, if he stayed out too late, his Big Brother would worry and would hug him first when he returned home.

"2: Second Brother has a good temper. Second Brother is trustworthy. When you go out to play, you can ask Second Brother to go with you."

Again, Su Ximu nodded, agreeing completely.

"3: When third brother is working, he doesn’t like to be disturbed."

The young man tilted his head, puzzled. But then he thought perhaps his third brother had come to enjoy his work as he got older, which was why he doesn't like being disturbed.

"4: When Big Brother is angry, you can hide at Grandpa Niu’s house next door."

He had only been to Grandpa Niu’s house next door once.

Su Ximu felt he wasn’t very familiar with Grandpa Niu, but the word "next door" unconsciously reminded him of the grandfather who had moved in next door.

Upon reflection, he thought Grandpa Niu looked somewhat similar to that grandfather, though not entirely.

"5: Please be up promptly at 8:30 AM for breakfast, have lunch at 11:40 AM, and dinner at 6:00 PM. These meals are carefully prepared by Auntie Zhao for the family. If any family member is late, she will be sad."

"6: Uncle Li is a very competent butler. Please go to Uncle Li to receive more family guidelines."

He had probably mostly ignored these two rules. After reading them, Su Ximu turned the page.

"7: Xiao Xi is excluded."

The young man holding the paper suddenly froze.

Xiao Xi... excluded?

A strong feeling of dissonance surged within him again. Su Ximu automatically turned back the paper to reread the first sentence.

He whispered to himself, "Welcome Xiao Mu home. Please follow the rules strictly."

"Xiao Xi is excluded."

"Welcome Xiao Mu home. Please follow the rules strictly."

"Who... is Xiao Mu?" he wondered.

Was it him?

Was it the him who had just arrived in this world?

Su Ximu felt as though he had plunged into a deep mystery. He had vaguely found a clue, but still couldn’t unravel it.

He began to question his earlier assumptions. While it’s rare to go through life without confusion, some things are better clarified.

He didn’t believe his third brother would harm him. But now, he no longer wanted to stay confused. He wanted to understand because he felt that, while he was unaware, something had happened to his third brother—a change he couldn’t yet call good or bad.

The same was true for his Big Brother and Second Brother.

It was all so strange. This world was too strange.

With this realization, Su Ximu began to study the paper with the same intensity he had once applied to reading comprehension exercises during his *gaokao*.

The self-delusion he had cultivated since childhood was already crumbling under recent shocks.

Moreover, his previous success in maintaining this delusion had been because he chose not to resist.

Now, whenever he felt the wave of confusion rising, he would shake his head hard, his gaze locked intently on the paper, trying hard to recall every detail of the past few days.

By the end, his eyes were tearing up from the effort of straining to keep them open.

Finally, through determined effort, the details that had begun to fade and be forgotten started to become clear again.

His memories traveled further back. After not blinking for so long, the young man finally blinked, and an image appeared in his mind—the terrifying teddy bear hidden in the deepest corner of his memory.

That teddy bear had handed him a piece of paper, saying it was the game rules. If you broke the rules in the game, you would be killed.

Rules

This term looked very familiar to Su Ximu now.

The rules of a game are rules.

What about the family rules? Could they also be considered a type of rule?

Suddenly, Su Ximu’s hand trembled as he held the note, and he recalled something.

That is:

Before he came to this world, in his original world, the hottest thing on the internet wasn’t short videos, TV dramas, or games—it was Rules-Based Strange Tales!

Rules-based strange tales have a simple and easy-to-understand initial setup, similar to online game instances. A rules-based strange tale can also be seen as an instance.

In each instance, there is a final boss, also known as the instance weirdness or the instance boss.

Players enter the instance with the goal of surviving or completing it. Their greatest asset, which could also be their greatest danger, comes from the instance rules they receive upon entering.

Su Ximu didn't have much knowledge about the forums and games related to rules-based strange tales on the internet in his previous world.

But his former roommate, Li Zhuofan, was someone who loved browsing the internet.

Much of his knowledge about the internet came from Li Zhuofan.

Su Ximu remembered that after playing a small rules-based strange tale game, Li Zhuofan once took off his headphones and casually complained to him: "I suspect there’s some scary huge profit chain behind these rules-based strange tales! Little Mu, can you believe it? For just one rules-based strange tale, so many forums, so many developers creating computer games, mobile games, and tabletop games—all have the exact same game settings!"

"Tsk, I really don’t think these rules-based strange tales are that fun. How did they become so popular worldwide in the past two years?"

"There must be someone pulling the strings behind the scenes! There’s definitely a mastermind manipulating this!"

"Hmm, or there’s another possibility: our world is actually just like the game setting, with real weird instances! The forces behind these games and forums are desensitizing us regular people."

Rules-Based Strange Tales.

Weird instances.

"Weirdness."

Inside the room, Su Ximu repeated the word.

Outside the door, Su Juzi stood quietly.

As a weirdness, his senses were extremely sharp. Even if he restrained himself and didn’t deliberately eavesdrop, the moment Su Ximu murmured the word, he heard it clearly.

Su Juzi stood outside the door, head bowed, listening to the sound of paper being flipped back and forth inside the room. Under the dim light, his skin was pale and cold, his thin lips bloodless, giving off a supernatural aura.

He stood there for an unknown amount of time until light footsteps sounded from inside the room.

With a quiet click, the door was pushed open silently from the inside.

Inside, the young man still holding the paper slowly poked his head out, looking left and right. When he noticed his Second Brother standing not far away, he wasn’t startled or afraid.

After all, his Second Brother had always liked to linger quietly in corners.

Instead, he immediately waved at his Second Brother and called out softly, "Second Brother."

Hearing this, Su Juzi looked up and stepped forward.

As he approached, the young man quickly welcomed him into the room.

The scene resembled a secret meeting.

After closing the bedroom door again, Su Ximu relaxed slightly but remained cautious, searching the seemingly empty room once more before carefully starting a whispered conversation with his Second Brother.

"I suspect this world is very strange. The powerful entities are called weirdnesses, and among them, there are boss-level weirdnesses. They can have instances!"

"Second Brother, this place is also an instance, right?" Having figured everything out and successfully resisted self-suggestion, the young man now had eyes clear and bright, looking quite clever.

Su Juzi nodded and started to speak.

But then, another knock came from outside the door. The young man looked cautiously toward the door and carefully opened it again.

There stood Butler Li, holding a tray with a small scented candle on it, waiting outside the door.

Su Ximu acted as if confronting a major threat, naturally taking the scented candle from Butler Li’s hands and thanking him politely.

After the butler left, he closed the door, leaned against it, and let out a deep sigh of relief.

He looked at his Second Brother with the look of someone who'd just escaped danger, then tilted his head toward the door, signaling with his eyes: "Second Brother, the instance boss is Butler Li, right!"

"Third Brother’s rules only mentioned a little, but they told me to go to Butler Li to get the complete set of rules!"

"And Butler Li is always elusive yet omnipresent."

"I’d played a bit of rules-based strange tales games before. In the games, it’s often said that the weirdnesses that seem most like bosses are actually very deceptive—like Third Brother."

"But the ones that seem inconspicuous are often the real bosses!"

"I had long suspected something was wrong with Butler Li!"

Author's Note:

Little Mu: There's only one truth!

Butler Li: Ah, right, right, right.