Chapter 13: Rules of the Small Town
At the edge of a small hill several kilometers away from Green Lake Town.
A group of well-dressed 'gentlemen' were observing the conditions in the small town using various methods.
Among them, a middle-aged man with a prominent belly and a receding hairline commented softly:
"It seems that many prestigious families are participating in this month's assessment. Isn't setting it in [Green Lake Town] too harsh... If the risk is too high, we might lose quality talents."
At this moment,
An elderly man with white hair, hands behind his back and an owl perched on his shoulder, responded:
"I'd rather raise the screening threshold than waste resources on weaklings who can't resolve crisis events.
The population inside the city is approaching its limit.
The supply of 'Skin' has been declining for several months. If this continues, the organization will struggle to provide effective gentleman training, and internal balance will be disrupted.
If Professor Siman is dissatisfied with this, he's free to raise his concerns to the higher-ups."
The chubby Professor Siman hastily raised his hand in apology,
"Professor Qian Bosen, I was just making an objective assessment. I have no objections to your choice of assessment location.
If any dangers far exceed the assessment level arise, I hope everyone present can intervene immediately to suppress them."
"That goes without saying."
Just then,
The white-haired elder noticed a peculiar young man who, instead of joining a team, was walking alone through the town streets.
His somewhat dark clothing design and the fleshy ball rooted on his shoulder were particularly eye-catching.
"Professor Siman, this young man doesn't seem to be recorded on the assessment list? He also doesn't appear to have any obvious family or school insignia."
Siman, who was specifically in charge of personnel matters, also turned his gaze to Yi Chen.
"Oh! Indeed, it's an unfamiliar face. This should be a candidate added to the assessment at the last minute today.
The referrer is the person in charge of [Seven Days Cemetery] - Wilbert Astorga. A raven from the cemetery specially delivered a letter requesting participation in this month's assessment."
When Qian Bosen heard this name, he seemed to fall into a moment of reminiscence,
"Wilbert... that lad was quite reclusive, had almost no friends during his studies, always came and went alone. In the end, he won the qualification to establish a cemetery by his own strength, living alone.
For someone like him to actually recommend talent to the organization."
As the two chatted,
The other gentlemen also noticed this solitary young man, and he even deliberately chose a rather odd inn.
"Without the decoration of 'Skin',
Relying solely on ordinary human senses, he's already detected the abnormalities in the small town and actively approaches danger? This young man is quite interesting."
The white-haired Qian Bosen, as the temporary person in charge of this assessment, originally came here with just the attitude of carrying out a task.
But this youth from the cemetery had piqued his interest.
...
[Green Shade Inn]
Yi Chen held an aluminum key card engraved with [#0206]
Aiming it at the lock covered in scratches, the internal mechanism made the sound of teeth aligning to unlock,
Creaking~ the door opened.
Diamond-patterned carpet covered the room, with dust tightly sealed beneath the carpet fibers, making it look marginally clean overall.
In the not-so-spacious guest room,
There was a 1.5-meter wide wooden bed, with dark bedding doing its best to cover stains left by the previous guest.
The vertical glass window was covered with newspapers titled 'Green Lake Town', blocking the sunlight from entering.
A wooden coat rack by the window still had a piece of clothing hanging on it, as if the last guest had left in too much of a hurry and forgot to take it... or perhaps, never left at all.
Drip~
The bathroom to the right of the entrance constantly emitted a dripping sound,
Upon inspection, it was just a leaky shower head, which had left a layer of water stains throughout the bathroom, making it damp and cold.
"Sigh... let's rest for a bit."
Yi Chen didn't seem to mind, plopping down on the soft edge of the bed.
He casually picked up the [Green Lake Town Brochure] from the bedside table.
It had a map of Green Lake Town drawn on it,
The entire small town was built around a lake, shaped like an inverted [L].
The busiest town center was at the intersection of streets.
The back of the brochure also listed some benefits for foreign tourists.
1. Green Lake Town provides free boat rides daily from 13:00 to 17:00, available to all tourists.
*Daily boat rides cannot exceed 1 time,
*This service is not provided at night. If you receive an invitation for a boat ride at night, please refuse immediately and report to the security bureau in the town center.
2. Green Lake Town provides tourists daily with 'Natural Green Water' drawn from the deep spring of the lake, which can eliminate impurities in the body and improve constitution.
*Green Lake is the heart and source of the small town. Waste is prohibited. Once you accept green water, you must drink it all.
*Staff providing free green water must wear green work uniforms. If anyone else offers green water, please be sure to refuse.
3. Green Lake Town holds bonfire parties in the town center every night, providing free delicious local food.
*Those participating in or passing by the party must wear masks.
*During the party, if you find anyone not wearing a mask, please immediately leave and report to the security bureau.
*The party will absolutely, never be held outside the town center.
Yi Chen stared at the text on the brochure with a serious expression, muttering:
"These things are similar to the employee handbooks in the cemetery, they're all a kind of [Rule]... Once violated, it might bring quite terrible consequences.
Are these rule-like things common in this world?
Moreover, the 'rules' in the brochure only cover the surface of the small town, they're quite broad.
Some details about the inside of the small town aren't mentioned, such as the inn I'm currently in..."
Just then,
A squirming sensation came from within Yi Chen's body,
A fluffy black ball crawled out from his sleeve and landed steadily on the bed.
Opening its big mouth full of white teeth, it made a mixed strange sound.
"[Rules] are set by you humans to reduce and avoid pathogenization and dangers.
The pathogens hidden in this world can spread through any channel, in any form,
They can also materialize into certain entities, influencing and invading individuals through some interactive behaviors.
If one can act according to certain rules, it can to some extent reduce the probability of pathogenization and the possibility of dangerous events occurring.
But it's just a reduction, not complete elimination,
To truly eradicate danger still requires forceful measures.
That's about it...
After all, my memories come from the 6th grave in the cemetery, obtained through integrating brain fragments, so I don't know that much."
"Who discovered these rules?"
"It should be some prophet among you humans, or some gentlemen with precognitive abilities? I'm not too sure either."
"Hmm, those are matters for later. Let's first investigate this inn in accordance with the current situation.
Try to find out the pathogenization problems existing in the small town."
As he said this,
Little Grape's eyeballs rolled between its teeth, saying somewhat excitedly,
"Hmm... I can sense a rather serious pathogenization occurring in this inn,
There must be even greater threats lurking in the depths of this small town... Perhaps there are big grapes to eat~ You need to be careful, don't go dying on me."
(End of Chapter)
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