Chapter 31: Hell's Death Row

"Is this the 18th Level?"

He had exited the Instance.

Chen Ran saw a gateway standing about ten meters tall. Three words were written in small seal script on its plaque: 18th Level.

The sky was somewhat dim, much like the nights of his childhood in the countryside when the moon hung high.

Chen Ran did not rush to approach.

He waited for nearly half an hour. After confirming that he was the only Newbie in this batch, he finally stepped forward. Upon walking through the gateway, the scenery of the 18th Level unfolded before his eyes. It was a dilapidated city.

There were pedestrians... of a sort on the street.

These people walked in a very strange manner. A normal person would swing their arms while walking, but these people kept their arms completely vertical and motionless.

Moreover, he noticed that mechanical, artificial smiles were plastered across all their faces, which looked incredibly eerie. The impression they gave him...

They were like a group of marionettes.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, Chen Ran caught sight of five stone pillars on both the left and right sides inside the gateway.

The first stone pillar on the right was snow-white all over and carved with small black characters, while the other nine pillars looked quite ordinary.

He approached the first pillar on the right.

The text inscribed upon it read:

First: Lying is prohibited.

Second: Fighting is prohibited.

Third: Profanity is prohibited.

Fourth: Robbery is prohibited.

Fifth: Loud noises are prohibited.

Sixth: Romance is prohibited.

Seventh: Wastefulness is prohibited.

Eighth: Pulling and dragging is prohibited.

Ninth: Damaging public facilities is prohibited.

Tenth: Public defecation and urination is prohibited.

...

Chen Ran looked at these ten rules. Aside from lying, which would trigger a Judgment, what kind of punishment would befall someone who violated the other rules?

'And another thing!'

'Since there are ten rules on the first stone pillar, it stands to reason that the other nine pillars should also have ten rules each.'

'But those nine are just ordinary stone pillars.'

'Is there some kind of restriction?'

Chen Ran could not figure it out. However, judging from these ten rules alone, the 18th Level did not seem as terrifying as the Masked Man had made it out to be.

Taking out his Cigarette Case, he extracted a Cigarette, lit it, and took a drag. He noticed that the players who had been walking down the street suddenly stopped and turned to look at him, their faces bearing those mechanical smiles.

Feeling a bit unsettled, he walked over to the two players closest to him.

To his surprise, the moment he approached, the two players frantically backed away from him as if they had just seen a terrifying monster.

'These people seem to be afraid of me.'

'Why would they be afraid of me?'

'It looks like I cannot hide my identity as a Newbie. Since that is the case...'

Chen Ran spoke to the crowd, "I just arrived at the 18th Level and I have no idea what I should be doing..."

He had not even finished his sentence.

The crowd in the distance parted, and a Beautiful Woman strolled over. She looked him up and down before asking, "Are you a Newbie?"

Chen Ran nodded.

"There are too many of the Death Row around here. This isn't the place to talk. Follow me." Just as the woman turned around, she seemed to remember something and glanced back. "I can introduce the 18th Level to you, but my fee is steep. Five Points, no haggling."

'Points?'

'She must mean the Points from the Liar-Slayer.'

'I have twenty Points.'

Chen Ran nodded.

"Nodding won't work. You have to speak." The woman frowned at this Newbie. Logically speaking, if he had cleared the Novice Instance, he should understand that verbal agreements were the only way to establish a contract.

Chen Ran thought for a moment and determined that she had not set any verbal traps before replying, "You will introduce the 18th Level to me, and I will pay you five Points. Provided, of course, that these Points can be transferred."

"Follow me."

Chen Ran followed the woman down the street.

It was a very long street. Gradually, it became less lifeless than the previous area. Groups of three to five players could be seen everywhere, chatting amongst themselves.

There were shops on both sides of the street selling food. They offered all kinds of ingredients, but most were fast food.

Seeing Chen Ran looking at the food, the woman said, "Most of this food is produced by the Death Row. The majority of their Liar Hunter Skills can manifest physical items."

"Death Row?" Chen Ran asked in confusion.

"At the gateway, besides the tenth stone pillar, the other nine pillars each have ten different rules engraved on them."

"You are a Newbie, so you can only see the ten rules on the first pillar. Stay in the 18th Level for three days, and you will be able to see the ten rules on the second pillar, and so on."

"Once you see the ten rules on the ninth pillar, you become part of the Death Row."

"That is because the ninetieth rule is: Participation in all Instances is prohibited!"

Chen Ran roughly grasped the operational logic of The Eighteen Levels of Hell. He had noticed earlier that the food in the shops required Points to purchase.

Being barred from Instances meant having no source of Points, which would eventually lead to starvation.

Therefore, the surviving members of the Death Row all had Liar Hunter Skills capable of creating physical goods. By trading these for Points, they could barely scrape by.

However, the Death Row inmates could see all ninety rules across the nine pillars. These rules became Shackles that bound them for the rest of their lives.

'No wonder those Death Row inmates looked like a bunch of marionettes. Having no hope while being bound by ninety rules... What an utterly miserable existence.'

"For instance, when you approached those two earlier, they immediately backed away because a rule on the seventh pillar states: Gatherings are prohibited."

"Three people constitute a crowd. The two of them, plus you, made exactly three. They would have triggered the rule, while you would not."

"They wore fake smiles because, on the sixth pillar, it is prohibited to cry loudly, prohibited to be expressionless, and prohibited to look sorrowful."

No wonder they were called the Death Row.

"According to what you are saying, does every player who stays here for twenty-four days become part of the Death Row?"

The woman corrected him, "They become part of the Death Row if they stay for twenty-four consecutive days. Every time you clear an Instance, that timer resets. So, to avoid joining the Death Row, you need to clear an Instance at least once every twenty-four days."

"However, many people cannot even last twenty-four days before frantically rushing to run another Instance."

Listening to her explanation.

Chen Ran's eyes widened in disbelief. Good heavens, among the first eighty rules, there were actually things like...

Single-eyelid players are prohibited from going out during even-numbered hours.

Double-eyelid players are prohibited from going out during odd-numbered hours.

Players with asymmetric eyelids are prohibited from going out.

Sleeping for more than six hours is prohibited.

Walking for more than one hour is prohibited.

Sitting for more than one hour is prohibited.

'There are twenty-four hours in a day.'

'Excluding six hours for sleeping, one hour for walking, and one hour for sitting, that leaves sixteen hours.'

'In those sixteen hours, you cannot sleep, walk, or sit. So what can you do?'

'Stand completely still in one spot?'

Just thinking about it made him feel like countless ants were crawling all over his body. Chen Ran decided that if he were ever condemned to the Death Row in the future, he might as well just end his own life.

"What happens if you break a rule?"

The woman halted and looked ahead, a profound sense of empathy for the suffering of her own kind flashing in her eyes. Pointing at a Youth running ahead of them, she said, "He was a Newbie who arrived at the 18th Level last month. Watch closely how he dies, and you will understand the consequences of breaking the rules."

Chen Ran looked over and saw a Youth running frantically like a madman, seemingly cursing louder and louder with every step.

"Haha, liars! You are all a bunch of liars! I am not playing with you anymore!"

Fwoosh! Eerie green ghost fire suddenly erupted from the Youth's body, instantly engulfing him.