Chapter 35: The Answer Lies Within the Rules

He finished filling out the Form.

Seeing that Chen Ran hadn't suffered any backlash from the Common Sense rules of the 18th Level, it meant he hadn't written any lies on the Form. Only then did Auntie Liu look down at it.

Name: Chen Ran.

Age: 26.

Birthplace: Jiangzhe.

Occupation Before Death: Webnovel Author.

Liar-Slayer Skill Name: Currently named Eternal Kingdom.

Liar-Slayer Skill Effect: Current effect allows the prohibition of others from using their Liar-Slayer skills. It currently only lasts for one hour.

Liu Cuihua noticed that Chen Ran had deliberately used the word "currently" when describing his skill. 'What a cautious guy,' she thought to herself.

She scrutinized it once more, confirming there were no other hidden tricks besides the word "currently," before carefully rolling up the Form.

Based on her years of experience working in the Liar-Slayer Alliance, a skill like Eternal Kingdom would undoubtedly prove useful sooner or later.

'If the higher-ups are ever short on manpower, I can easily submit Chen Ran's Player File.'

'During Infighting inside an Instance, as long as Chen Ran can fire the first shot, the next hour will become a pure battle of Lie-Judgment techniques.'

'When hunting down Ghost Whisperers with overwhelmingly powerful skills, Chen Ran might just be a trump card.'

At that thought.

Liu Cuihua's expression grew increasingly amiable. She fished a Booklet out of her pocket and handed it over. "It's not easy for you Newbies. This contains the Common Sense rules of the 18th Level. Take it back, read it thoroughly, and make sure you memorize everything inside."

"Thank you," he replied.

Immediately after, Mei Zhixu led Chen Ran to the housing registration window, where they paid 5 Points to receive the Key to Liar-Slayer Alley 250, Room 18-18.

Standing in the middle of the lobby, he glanced at the information regarding Ghost Whisperers displayed on the screen.

'Every member of the Liar-Slayer Alliance has to fill out a Form, so...'

'The ones with relatively complete profiles on the screen are all players who transformed from Liar-Slayers into Ghost Whisperers.'

'These types of players are very strong.'

'They turn lies into reality. Every single one of them is an entity you absolutely do not want to provoke.'

'Conversely, the Ghost Whisperers with incomplete information on the screen never left a Player File with the Liar-Slayer Alliance. That means they joined the Deceiver Alliance right from the very beginning.'

'Without the process of turning a lie into reality, their abilities are likely inferior, making them generally weaker.'

'In the future, when accepting Bounty missions, I should prioritize these Ghost Whisperers with incomplete information!'

"Let's go," Mei Zhixu urged.

"Is there a Common Sense rule in the 18th Level that forbids staying too long in the Liar-Slayer Alliance, or reading books inside, or looking through the Common Sense rules?"

Mei Zhixu: "..."

Of course, she understood exactly what Chen Ran meant. He just wanted to finish reading the Booklet detailing the 18th Level's Common Sense rules right here in the safety of the Liar-Slayer Alliance.

"No," she replied.

Hearing this, Chen Ran returned to the previous meeting room. He glanced around to ensure there were no "no smoking" signs before lighting a Cigarette and leisurely flipping through the contents of the Booklet.

"Are you going to do your own thing?" Chen Ran asked with a frown, glancing at Mei Zhixu, who was still standing rigidly by the door.

Mei Zhixu was practically tearing her hair out in frustration. She had never seen such a timid Newbie. However, bound by her earlier promise to introduce him to the 18th Level, she had no choice but to wait for Chen Ran to finish reading the book before escorting him to Liar-Slayer Alley 250.

Seeing that she wasn't leaving, Chen Ran ignored her and focused entirely on reading his book.

He quickly made a discovery.

The so-called Common Sense rules of the 18th Level were, in fact, based entirely on the universal needs and perceptions of the players.

For example: A Liar-Slayer Skill was the very foundation of a player's survival. Therefore, one of the Common Sense rules stated: "A player must not casually reveal their Liar-Slayer Skill to others."

However.

The Liar-Slayer Alliance was afraid of losing track of a member's information should they transform into a Ghost Whisperer.

As a result, a new Common Sense rule was born: "While inside the Liar-Slayer Alliance Ancient Tower, players are allowed to state their Liar-Slayer Skill."

Conclusion: As long as something satisfied the universal needs and perceptions of the players, it would become Common Sense.

'Death Row inmates are players without hope. They pose zero threat to ordinary players.'

'Yet, Death Row inmates are subjected to numerous restrictions.'

'An ordinary player could just gently push them, and if a Death Row inmate fell to the ground, they would violate the Pillar Rules and instantly die from Self-immolation.'

'But!'

'Death Row inmates can manufacture physical goods. To ensure the 18th Level has an ample supply of resources, the Common Sense dictates that ordinary players cannot easily kill Death Row inmates—whether directly or indirectly. It is strictly forbidden.'

Every single Common Sense rule was Within Reason.

And that was exactly what made them so terrifying.

'Humanity's base nature tells me that Death Row inmates are just a bunch of Corporate Slaves—a workforce of exploited drones. They don't pose any threat to ordinary players whatsoever.'

'If the leaders of the two alliances had even half a brain, they would monopolize control over the Death Row inmates. Doing so would equate to controlling all the resources in the 18th Level, effectively turning them into absolute Local Tyrants here!'

'Yet, they haven't done that.'

'I can guarantee that there's another Common Sense rule in this Booklet regarding anti-monopoly.'

Sure enough.

Chen Ran quickly spotted the anti-monopoly Common Sense rule: "All players within the 18th Level are forbidden from forcing Death Row inmates to use their Liar-Slayer Skills by any means, nor can they restrict the freedom of Death Row inmates."

'Are these Common Sense rules truly Within Reason?'

'It's nothing more than Hindsight is 20/20. If you look at it from the perspective of the very first batch of players, controlling the Death Row inmates offered massive benefits. Why would they ever allow a Common Sense rule that protects Death Row inmates to be born?'

'This absolutely has to be the handiwork of a Ghost Whisperer—turning a lie into reality, transforming it into a Common Sense rule capable of protecting Death Row inmates!'

'So...'

'Are the Ghost Whisperers actually maintaining peace?'

'Are the Liar-Slayers the true villains?'

'No, Liar-Slayers tell lies, turn those lies into reality, and thus degenerate into Ghost Whisperers...'

'Wait.'

'No one who comes to Hell is a good person.'

'But, if you do good deeds in Hell, you become a Ghost Whisperer. The problem is, as the number of Ghost Whisperers increases, the constraints placed on Liar-Slayers also increase. Therefore, Liar-Slayers must kill Ghost Whisperers.'

'I'm not trying to figure out who's good and who's bad.'

'And I don't care who's good or who's bad.'

'Rather...'

'I feel like there's a secret hidden within all of this: the secret to escaping Hell.'

'Guilty: Go to Hell.'

'Do good deeds: Degenerate into a Ghost Whisperer.'

'Too many Ghost Whisperers.'

'Turns into a bad thing.'

'But this bad thing...'

'Is only bad from the perspective of the Liar-Slayers.'

Having reasoned his way to this point.

Chen Ran felt as though there was a thin sheet of window paper right in front of him, yet he just couldn't manage to pierce through it.

It seemed he was missing a crucial clue.

'As long as I find this clue, perhaps I can deduce the method to escape Hell.'

'No wonder the Masked Man said that the method to escape Hell was hidden within the rules.'

He continued reading further down.

Equipped with the understanding of what was "Within Reason," he found that the subsequent Common Sense rules were all very simple and easy to memorize, with nothing that shattered his worldview.

'Hm?'

Chen Ran quickly turned to the final page.

The third-to-last Common Sense rule: "Tampering with the contents of this book is forbidden, and tearing out any of its pages is prohibited."

'That's easy enough to understand. It prevents people from using a fake book to trick Newbies who just arrived on the 18th Level.'

The second-to-last Common Sense rule: "Lying is forbidden on the 18th Level, but deceiving others is not. Do not completely trust anyone's words."