Tonight, unusually, three rules were given out directly. Depending on the location, the points to pay attention to are also different. Although there seem to be three rules, in fact, for Jiang Ran right now, only the fifth rule is useful.

"Insect Forest, Deserted City, Alice's Cabin..."

Jiang Ran is currently in the Insect Forest. Alice's cabin was the place they first arrived at. If they choose to stay, then the thing they need to be careful about tonight is the seventh rule.

The term "uninhabited city" is appearing for the first time. It should be a place where another road leads to a crossroads. Since it has rules on par with the insect forest, it proves that at the crossroads, no matter which road you choose, it is not a dead end.

"This is too strange, too suspicious."

Jiang Ran tapped the wall with her fingers.

"What's wrong?" Gwen spread out three fingers. "Three rules, corresponding to three different places. Is there a problem?"

“Gwen, there should be four rules!” Jiang Ran’s eyes darkened. “Didn’t you notice a problem? The eighth rule should be—if you are in the Lost City!”

That's right, the three rules were announced at once, proving that you can know the rules even if you don't go to the corresponding location, but none of the three rules mentioned the "Lost City" at all!

Is it certain that no one can reach the Lost City on the first day? But people are always full of uncertainties, and talent is also full of uncertainties. If someone really does reach the Lost City, but there are no rules related to the Lost City, wouldn't that be a loophole?

How could such a childish loophole appear in the world of ghost stories? Therefore, we can deduce several possibilities from these three clues.

First, the Lost City is a special location separate from these three places, and its rules can only be learned by actually entering the city.

Second, the Lost City will never appear in the world today for some reason. It can only be opened at the corresponding time. Therefore, no one can reach the Lost City today.

Third, their current location is the Lost City, or the Uninhabited City is the Lost City, or both places can be called the Lost City.

Fourth, there is no such thing as a lost city; that's just a misleading rule.

These four are the most likely possibilities. As for the other possibilities, there are simply too many to list. If we were to continue deducing them, we wouldn't be able to finish them all in one night.

[Rule 5: If you are in the Insect Forest, please hide in a safe area before the night storm arrives. Do not eat black insects. The insects are not hostile to you, but most insects are not discerning. Please make sure you have the means to deal with these insects.]

There's still some time before the night storm arrives, so staying in the cave is definitely safe. The cave is enormous, and it gets more spacious the further you go inside.

There are definitely more than one such burrow, and its purpose is to provide shelter for the insect swarms outside from the night storms. Over time, countless insect swarms will gradually move into the burrows.

However, with ventilation holes and entrances, the night storms inevitably affect the interior of the burrow, but the casualties are not many and are within an acceptable range for the entire swarm.

Jiang Ran looked at the six black crystals in his hand. Although he didn't know what they were for, he would find out sooner or later. What he needed to do now was to collect as many of these crystals as possible.

"Gwen, can you sense the location of the next crystal?"

"Yes, over there."

Without Gwen's help, or other locator talents, finding even one of these crystals in such a vast cavern would be a feat, so it's unlikely to be an essential item to collect.

The tunnel in front of them was covered with spider webs, and a large number of spiders clung to the earthen walls. Anyone with arachnophobia would probably collapse on the spot. Gwen also subconsciously moved closer to Jiang Ran.

She'd rather see a row of ghosts than a wall covered in spiders.

"Don't be afraid, little Gwen. Think about it, these aren't real spiders. After all, the creatures in the ghost story world are all strange and eerie. Doesn't that make you feel much better?"

"Um... a weird spider? That doesn't sound like a good thing."

These things shouldn't suddenly jump onto her, right?

What kind of bastard created such a strange world themed around insects?!

After passing through the corridor, Jiang Ran was presented with a huge cave. White spider webs occupied almost 4/5 of the entire cave area. A huge black spider crawled out of the spider webs, with one leg alone being nearly two meters long!

Gwen swallowed hard and silently retreated behind Jiang Ran.

Jiang Ran then looked at the letters carved on the giant spider's back—

"A"!

Mista? No, no, no, this is already the fifth letter Jiang Ran has seen, but the letters will not stop here. A word immediately popped into Jiang Ran's mind—

mistake!

It means—wrong!

If I'm not mistaken, the remaining two letters are in the area after the insect forest, and the entire word runs through the insect forest. Is it trying to suggest that choosing this path was a mistake?

"Adventurer, I'm not surprised that you were able to enter the cave, but I really admire you for being able to stand in front of me."

“So, I can give you a test.” The giant spider spat out a black crystal from its mouth. “Go and search in the cave. For every stone you find that matches the same one, I can answer one question for you.”

"Oh? You mean this?"

Jiang Ran opened his palm, revealing six black crystals.

"Huh?! Wait, six, six?!"

This time, it was the giant spider's turn to be dumbfounded. He had clearly hidden the crystals in various corners of the cave. An ordinary person would be considered incredibly lucky to find even one or two. Including the one in his mouth, there were only seven in total!

So, his test ended almost as soon as it began...

The giant spider was somewhat dejected: "Sigh, well, a bet's a bet. You have six questions, go ahead and ask. I'll answer everything I know. Of course, don't ask me anything too exciting, like how the universe originated. I can't answer those questions anyway."

"Okay, then first tell me where I can find food other than plants?"

“That’s easy.” The giant spider raised its head, its red compound eyes fixed on the tunnel. “Bring it up.”

Before long, a group of small spiders carried a simple container into the cave, inside which were wriggling fat worms.

“Cooking and seasoning are complicated and unnecessary steps,” the giant spider said. “We only need the simplest way to replenish our energy.”