Chapter 2: The Emergence of the Rules

The phone screen emitted an eerie blue glow in the darkness. Lin Xi stared at the text message, her fingers trembling slightly. According to her memories from her past life, this message should have arrived tomorrow morning. Why had it come early?

Ding—

Another message arrived:

"Special Notice: Due to detected abnormal fluctuations, the game has started early. Good luck."

Lin Xi's heart skipped a beat. Abnormal fluctuations? Was it because she had tried to use her ability earlier? She quickly glanced around the room. Everything in the hospital room was eerily quiet, even the beeping of the heart monitor had stopped.

Suddenly, footsteps echoed in the hallway.

"Tap, tap, tap..."

The footsteps were light but unnervingly clear, as if they were right beside her ear. Lin Xi remembered this sound. In her past life, shortly after these footsteps appeared, a patient had mysteriously vanished.

She quickly hid under the hospital bed, holding her breath. The footsteps grew closer, finally stopping right outside her room.

"Creak—"

The door opened.

Through the gap under the bed, Lin Xi saw a pair of feet wearing red high heels. They belonged to the head nurse, but something was off—the shoes were on backward, the toes pointing behind and the heels facing forward.

"Miss Lin? Are you there?" The head nurse's voice rang out, but it carried an unsettling emptiness. "It's time for your injection..."

Lin Xi clamped a hand over her mouth. In her past life, it was because she had responded to this voice that she had first encountered the Rule Game. Now she knew this was a hidden rule: at midnight, do not respond to any calls.

"Drip, drip..."

Something wet was dripping onto the floor. Lin Xi saw a red liquid flowing from the direction of the head nurse, glistening eerily in the moonlight.

"Found you..."

The head nurse's voice suddenly sounded right beside her ear. Lin Xi turned her head sharply and came face-to-face with a pale, upside-down face—the head nurse was peering at her from under the bed!

Lin Xi's heart nearly leaped out of her chest, but she forced herself to stay calm. She remembered the rule: if you see red, close your eyes and count to ten.

She quickly shut her eyes and began counting silently: "One, two, three..."

The head nurse's laughter echoed in her ears, growing fainter and fainter. When Lin Xi opened her eyes after reaching ten, the room was empty. Only the bloodstains on the floor proved that what had just happened wasn't an illusion.

Lin Xi crawled out from under the bed, her back drenched in cold sweat. She glanced at her phone: 2:15 a.m. This time was critical. In her past life, a series of bizarre events would occur after this hour.

Sure enough, her phone vibrated again with a new rule:

"Special Rule: Between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m., do not look in the mirror."

Lin Xi immediately turned and covered all the mirrors in the room. Just then, she heard the sound of running water coming from the bathroom.

"Drip, drip..."

The sound was rhythmic, but Lin Xi knew there was no faucet in her hospital bathroom. This was another trap set by the Rule Game: creating enticing sounds to lure players into breaking the rules.

Lin Xi forced herself to ignore the sound and continued organizing the rules from her memory. Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the moon outside the window had turned blood-red.

"Rule Four: If the moon turns red, immediately seek shelter in an enclosed space until the moon returns to normal."

Lin Xi quickly crawled into the wardrobe in her room. As soon as she closed the door, she heard the sound of flapping wings and sharp screeches coming from outside the window. Those were the "Red Moon Messengers." In her past life, she had witnessed a player being taken by them, never to return.

The wardrobe was pitch black, and Lin Xi could hear her own heartbeat clearly. She closed her eyes and tried to summon that special ability again. This time, she saw more details: the rules weren't arbitrary. They operated like lines of code, following a specific logic.

Suddenly, something bumped against the wardrobe door.

"Thud!"

Lin Xi held her breath. She could feel something lingering outside.

"Lin Xi..." A familiar voice called out. It was Lu Chen. "Are you in there? I'm here to save you..."

Lin Xi's heart clenched. The voice sounded so real, so convincing that she almost responded. But she knew it had to be a trap. Lu Chen should be at home right now—there was no way he could be here.

"Thud! Thud! Thud!"

The banging grew more violent, and the wardrobe door began to warp. Lin Xi bit her lip hard, refusing to make a sound. Just then, she noticed a strange symbol in the corner of the wardrobe, emitting a faint glow.

That was... a loophole in the rules!

Lin Xi reached out and touched the symbol. In an instant, a flood of information rushed into her mind. She saw how the rules operated, the truth behind this world—the Rule Game was a massive experiment, and they, the players, were the test subjects!

"Bang!"

The wardrobe door burst open. Lin Xi's eyes snapped open, and she found herself sitting on the hospital bed. The moonlight outside was serene, as if everything that had just happened was a dream.

But on her phone, there was a new message:

"Congratulations on passing the first test. Special Reward: You may modify one rule."

Lin Xi looked at the message, a cold smile curling on her lips. She knew the real game had only just begun. This time, she would be the one to control the rules, not a pawn to be toyed with.

She opened the rule editor and entered her first modification:

"Rule One: Trust no one, including the rules themselves."

After sending the modification, the entire world seemed to shudder. Lin Xi knew she had taken the first step toward changing her fate.

The moonlight outside was still bright, but Lin Xi had already seen the darkness hidden behind the light. She gripped her phone tightly, her gaze resolute. In this life, she wouldn't just survive—she would uncover the truth of this world and find the source of the rules.

The game had only just begun.