Chapter 33: Three Corpses of the Spirit Terrace

'Mei Zhixu only mentioned earlier that the newbie who spontaneously combusted was tricked into telling a lie.'

'But, she never said that he died because he violated the Common Sense of the 18th Level.'

Having realized this.

Chen Ran simply said flatly, "Lead the way."

This street was extremely long.

Stretching endlessly into the distance, the street was populated with people wearing handcuffs and shackles. They crawled on the ground like livestock, trailing behind what appeared to be Veteran Players. Whenever a Veteran Player wanted to buy something, these people were the ones who paid.

Whenever their gazes met Chen Ran's, they blinked desperately, their eyes filled with urgency, as if trying to warn him to never fall for the tricks of a Veteran Player.

"You have already grasped the survival laws of the 18th Level, so there's no need to pay them any mind," Mei Zhixu stated without even turning her head.

"These people were caught in lies involving the Common Sense of the 18th Level. Now completely under the control of others, they live worse than livestock. Of course, if your heart is overflowing with saintly compassion, you can spend Points to buy their freedom."

Chen Ran was naturally no saint. Their life-and-death predicament had nothing to do with him, so he changed the subject. "Continue introducing the 18th Level."

"Such as?"

"Such as things that won't cause me to violate the Common Sense of the 18th Level."

"The Liar-Slayer Alliance and the Mind Cultivation Method. Neither of these touches upon Common Sense. Let's start with the Liar-Slayer Alliance, then."

"Given how cautious you are, you must have learned quite a bit of information about the 18th Level from the Veteran Players in the Instance, right?"

"The Liar-Slayer Alliance is an organization founded by the purest players in the 18th Level. Its primary goal is to slaughter all Ghost Whisperers and erase the rules they have carved onto the stone pillars."

"There are three types of rules in the 18th Level. The first is the Supreme Rule: the Liar-Slayer."

"Telling a lie makes you subject to Judgment."

"The second type is the Pillar Rules. It is exceedingly difficult to carve a rule onto them, and I do not know the exact method. However, once inscribed, both Liar-Slayers and Ghost Whisperers must obey them."

"The third type is Common Sense Rules. The vast majority of these were created by Ghost Whisperers."

"There are far too many restrictions within the Common Sense Rules, so many that normal survival becomes impossible. This is why the Liar-Slayer Alliance was born. As long as you kill the Ghost Whisperer who turned a lie into Common Sense, the corresponding Common Sense Rule will disappear."

Pausing here, she noticed Chen Ran looking as though he wanted to speak but hesitated, so she considerately explained, "Are you wondering how we confirm that a Common Sense Rule has disappeared?"

Chen Ran nodded.

There were many elements of Common Sense in the 18th Level, and they certainly weren't all created by a single Ghost Whisperer. So how could a player be sure which Common Sense Rule corresponded to the Ghost Whisperer they killed?

"That is very simple. In the main hall of the Liar-Slayer Alliance, there is a giant screen displaying the Common Sense tied to each Ghost Whisperer. This is also the alliance's bounty system. If you accept a mission to kill a Ghost Whisperer and succeed, you will receive a handsome reward of Points."

"Are you also wondering where the Liar-Slayer Alliance gets so many Points?"

Turning her head, however, she saw that Chen Ran had no intention of asking. Instead, he merely pointed a finger at the Newbies acting like livestock.

"Correct. The Liar-Slayer Alliance's Points are all extorted from these Slaves. Every Slave must hand over two Points per Instance."

Chen Ran sneered.

'As expected, the people of this world are all hypocrites. The Ghost Whisperers use Common Sense to oppress the players across the entire 18th Level.'

'Meanwhile, the Liar-Slayer Alliance parades around under the banner of benefiting players, yet relies on exploiting Newbies to fund the bounties for hunting those very Ghost Whisperers.'

Mei Zhixu shot him a glance, immediately seeing through his thoughts, and corrected him, "There might be a flaw in your reasoning. Whether in the Living World or Hell, the principle is always the Survival of the Fittest. The fact that these Newbies can be fooled proves their weakness. Sooner or later, they will die in Hell's Instance mechanics. Since they can't survive until the end, they might as well serve a greater purpose while they are still breathing. Otherwise, the 18th Level of Hell would just be an unsolvable dead end."

Chen Ran looked at her in surprise.

'That actually makes sense.'

'If you stretch out the timeline, there will be a continuous stream of Liar-Slayers turning into Ghost Whisperers.'

'To become a Ghost Whisperer, one must turn a lie into Common Sense. This means that the Common Sense Rules in the 18th Level of Hell will only continue to multiply.'

'Without constantly hunting Ghost Whisperers, the shackles binding everyone in the 18th Level will grow heavier and more numerous. Eventually, there will be so many that normal life becomes impossible, and even standing up to walk would be a luxury.'

'To curb this situation, they have to use bounties to hunt Ghost Whisperers. After all, if a player encounters a Ghost Whisperer in an Instance, they might or might not choose to kill them. But with a bounty on the line, the vast majority of players will choose to kill.'

'Issuing bounties requires money. Where does the money come from? Only by exploiting the weak.'

'Hell, huh...'

'What a truly dog-eat-dog place!'

'But thinking about it, that's only natural.'

'Are there any good people among those sent to Hell?'

"I stand corrected," Chen Ran said solemnly.

"In truth, every player here hopes to become a Ghost Whisperer. Once you achieve that, you are no longer bound by Common Sense. It's just that the path to becoming one is far too dangerous."

"Of course, if a Liar-Slayer wants to ignore the Common Sense Rules of the 18th Level, it is quite possible."

"When your Mental State reaches the Id, you can control your own emotions. And when you reach the Ego, you can ignore the vast majority of Common Sense Rules!"

"Vast majority?"

Mei Zhixu pointed toward the stone pillars. "You cannot ignore the Common Sense Rules inscribed up there."

"However, reaching the Ego Mental State is incredibly difficult. How could one possibly elevate their Mental State without enduring agonizing torment?"

"Rumor has it that in the entire 18th Level, only the leader of the Liar-Slayer Alliance has achieved the Ego Mental State."

"How do I obtain a Mind Cultivation Method?" Chen Ran didn't care about anything else; this was his only concern.

"By exchanging Liar-Slayer Alliance contribution points."

The two of them walked and talked like this for about half an hour until an eighteen-story Ancient Tower appeared in Chen Ran's line of sight.

During this time, Chen Ran learned that participating in an Instance was very straightforward. All one had to do was step out from The Gatehouse, and they would receive a prompt detailing which Star Rating of Instance they were eligible to join. Then, they simply had to walk in that direction.

At the same time.

A player's Star Rating was determined by their Liar-Slayer Level. For example, since Chen Ran's Liar-Slayer weapon was only at level one, he was considered a One-Star Player.

The Instances available to him would be a Novice Instance and a rank one difficulty Instance.

By the same logic, if a Liar-Slayer weapon reached level two, that player would be a Two-Star Player, and they could choose between One-Star Instances and Two-Star Instances.

This was the Downward Compatibility Mechanism.

The maximum cap for a Liar-Slayer was level eighteen, but currently in Hell, the highest recorded level was only ten.

He also asked about accommodations. Unsurprisingly, the answer he got was that while there were many rooms in the 18th Level of Hell, they were all controlled by the Liar-Slayer Alliance and the Deceiver Alliance.

To stay in one, you had to pay Rent, which cost five Points a month.

If Chen Ran had actually given Mei Zhixu the ten Points earlier, the remaining amount on him wouldn't even be enough to rent a room. And in the 18th Level, one of the Common Sense Rules dictated: Sleeping on the streets is strictly forbidden.

Traps everywhere!

A Newbie who had just arrived in Hell was nothing but a gullible mark, liable to be scammed the moment they let their guard down.

"So this is the Liar-Slayer Alliance headquarters?" Chen Ran muttered as he looked at the Ancient Tower.