"Born without the emotion of fear."
Gao Yiming's eyes narrowed slightly as he leaned against the desk, tilting his head to look out the window without speaking.
Under the rules of May.
Players were not to form any images or pictures of ghosts in their minds, lest they die violently after just three seconds.
Of course, merely thinking the word "ghost" wouldn't pose any problem.
Throughout the month, the globe used various methods to deal with this situation, including the unrestricted amplification of human desires to keep the mind in a state of constant arousal, with no time to think of anything else.
The foremost of the three poisons, lust.
At this moment, it had become a lifesaving medicine.
Beyond that, there were a series of measures like state-organized open-air disco parties.
Apart from an increased number of deaths a few days ago, the situation has gradually come under control, with massive fatal incidents largely avoided.
Despite the information blackout.
But to his knowledge.
There are already 14 cities around the world that have become ghost towns, empty of people.
When a city is filled with chunks of mangled corpses, when half-bodies can sometimes be seen high atop buildings, and when the sewers overflow with blood.
Even if there are many survivors left in the city.
Come the dead of night.
Nerves stretched to breaking—it might only take a gust of wind to be the last straw that breaks the camel's back.
There are already 14 empty ghost towns—of course, that term might not be accurate, as some children with no concrete concept of ghosts and some people with mental illnesses may still be clinging to life in some corner.
But how long they can survive is anyone's guess.
Those who reacted quickly did well to begin with, and the current order is still somewhat preserved, but many places are said to have already descended into chaos, each fending for themselves in a state of panic.
Being without fear meant that even if one thought of the image of a ghost, one could quickly purge it from the mind.
Essentially, one could be completely immune to the rules of May.
If Chen Yi were to open the chests, he could guarantee the opening of every chest and that the rewards would be critical hits!
His eyes, faintly tinged with red, licked the corner of his mouth and brought the phone to his ear, whispering,
"Bring the person back."
"Understood."
It's true that some basic order can still be maintained for now, but what about after the third version update? The fourth?
The inevitable outcome will be the collapse of order!
When that time comes!
On the ruins, a new set of rulers will rise!
And these rulers will be those like him, who started planning early!
...
At the cinema,
Chen Yi and Tuberculosis Rabbit were stuffing the body fragments in the theater into body bags, piece by piece, then tying the bags and throwing them down from the fifth floor.
Down in the lobby, someone was waiting to load these body bags into a vehicle and haul them away.
"Yi,"
Tuberculosis Rabbit took a breath, wiping the sweat from his forehead, and casually said, "Today is May 20th; it won't be long before the end of the month."
"We're about to face the version update on June 1st."
"Who knows what the rules for the month will be after the June 1st update."
"It happens to be Children's Day on June 1st, too."
Chen Yi casually tied up a body bag, stood up to stretch and limber up before replying.
"The April version update said a 'thrilling' themed rule would be added in May."
"So May added a 'Calm and Cool'."
"In the May update, it said they would add a 'Life' themed rule in June."
"So the rule for June should be related to life, like ... one must eat a thousand kilograms of rice every day."
"..."
Tuberculosis Rabbit said somewhat speechlessly, "If that's really the rule, I think it would be easier to just kill all the humans in the world. It's like not leaving any chance for survival at all."
"That's not known."
Chen Yi shook his head, "I'm not exactly sure what the rule would be, but it will definitely be about life, and it should be rather gentle; there won't be cases of dying for violating the rules."
"But April's rules will be going offline by the end of May."
"Finally, no need to converse with people for a thousand sentences every day, that rule is seriously lethal."
"Oh?"
Tuberculosis Rabbit, seemingly not yet satisfied, smacked his lips and said, "I didn't feel the presence of April's rules at all. If it were ten thousand sentences, then it might've been somewhat challenging."
"..."
Just as Chen Yi was about to say something with a displeased look, he suddenly frowned, remembering something, "Wait, did you just say that June 1 is Children's Day?"
"If we base it on the limited-time event on May 20, then it's very likely that a special, limited-time event will happen on June 1, Children's Day."
"You don't say..."
Tuberculosis Rabbit spoke with some hesitation, "After all, there were no limited-time events for April Fools' Day on April 1 and Labor Day on May 1, right?"
"It's being perfected."
Chen Yi took a deep breath and suddenly felt as if he had come to a realization.
"This global game that has enveloped the entire world is slowly being perfected."
"From the initial rules of April, to Points and Skill Fragments appearing in May, to the limited-time event gifts, titles, and props of May 20."
"It's apparent that this game is gradually becoming more comprehensive. The absence of limited-time events in the past is very likely because the Snow Sea Project Team hadn't developed that aspect yet."
"If my guess is correct."
"Then Children's Day on June 1 will definitely have a limited-time event, and it will also be based on the monthly theme of 'Life' rules."
He stopped talking and just stood there, frowning deeply in thought.
"What rule could be related to both life and Children's Day?"
But after a moment, he put the thought aside. There was too little information, and it wasn't something that could be forcibly figured out this way.
By now, the corpses inside the cinema hall had been almost completely cleaned up.
Not a single Skill Fragment.
All had been picked up by the perpetrators.
The bodies were fine, but cleaning up the blood was a bit troublesome; there was simply too much of it.
...
Four hours later.
Chen Yi stood in the almost completely cleaned cinema hall, breathing slightly wearily; the job had indeed been quite demanding.
If not for the passive Skill 'Calm and Composed,' he would have probably collapsed by now.
The Skill Effect of 'Calm and Composed' allowed him to double his physical attributes as long as he was completely fearless inside.
Just as they were preparing to leave.
A familiar notification sound suddenly rang in everyone's ears.
'Online patch update notice!'
'Effective immediately, all firearms with kinetic energy exceeding 1.8 joules per square centimeter are unusable.'
Gone.
The patch notice was just that simple sentence.