“We’re not worthy,” Mary replied immediately, her mood worsening.
This suburban immigrant named Christine may not have been very knowledgeable, but what she said was incredibly accurate, leaving Christine speechless.
However, Mary's words served as a reminder to Cheng Zhu.
Her words were merely meant to comfort Mary. In reality, Cheng Zhu had another answer in his heart: if "Alice" was a purely chaotic and evil person, and the purpose of helping her was to bring greater despair, then this equation would also hold true.
All Cheng Zhu could do was keep his guard up to the highest level to avoid having "Alice" ruin his chances of clearing the game.
Does it matter who she is?
The chosen ones won't stay in the dungeon world for too long. Whether "Alice" is human or god, virus or artificial intelligence, as long as she can help them clear the dungeon, Cheng Zhu won't investigate too much.
There's no need to tell Mary these things, otherwise, given her mental state, she could easily fall into pointless panic.
Back in reality, Alice was no longer looking at those things. She was sitting on the sofa eating a piece of chocolate cake. There was a plate of crispy snacks on the table. She had also turned on the TV and was watching a video of a game commentary on the dormitory screen: "...There is no fairness in the world. The rocket launcher gives people fairness. As long as you get this artifact and enchant it with the attribute of unlimited ammo, you can easily push over all the enemies you encounter afterward."
On the screen, the player is using a rocket launcher to bombard the surging zombies, blasting a path through them.
"...If only this world were this simple." Cheng Zhu sighed from the bottom of her heart. It was a pity that the Rules of the Strange Tales dungeon could not be suppressed by firepower. Even if she obtained high-strength weapons, she could easily be corrupted by violating the rules for some reason, and ultimately seek her own death.
"You're back?" Alice looked at them with some surprise, then pointed to the scroll and said, "Two more dormitory rules have been added to make it a round number, so there shouldn't be any more."
Cheng Zhu immediately took a look:
19. There should be no water sound in the toilet when the TV is on. If you hear water sound or other strange noises, don't worry about it.
[20. Water stains won't appear out of thin air if someone is in the bedroom, but please confirm that the person in the bedroom is someone you know; otherwise, refer to point 18.]
The two new additions are meaningless and both benefit the students.
However, how exactly did the school obtain these rules? Based on Cheng Zhu's experience watching the previous instance's live stream, the rules in the instance should have been summarized by the natives, rather than being predicted by some kind of prophetic foreshadowing.
So far, the rules have always been in place before the anomalies occurred.
"The first three rules have changed."
A girl's voice suddenly came from the living room. It sounded familiar, but before Cheng Zhu could react, Mary hurriedly drew the rules on the wall.
Sure enough, after comparison, the first three rules have also been changed to varying degrees this time:
1. Each dormitory has exactly four rooms, and each room requires a specific student chip to open. Do not open the door for anyone; the dormitory manager and your roommates can open the door themselves.
2. Arguments, provocations, fights, theft, and other disturbances among dormitory residents are strictly prohibited. The AI will immediately report such incidents to the dormitory administrator and issue a broadcast reminder.
3. Compensation will be required for any damage to the dormitory's internal buildings and furnishings.
The first rule, needless to say, directly prohibits students from opening doors for others, indicating that artificial intelligence believes contaminants might disguise themselves as other students to infiltrate dormitories, thus eliminating this possibility through the rule itself; however, the second and third rules…
Chengzhu and Mary exchanged a glance, both noticing the other's confusion.
The changes to these two clauses are minor. The second clause only adds the phrase "between humans" to increase its rigor, and the third clause is simply a change from strictly prohibiting damage to dormitories to allowing damage but requiring compensation.
"Things have really changed..."
Alice, who had somehow gotten close, pinched her chin as she looked at the three rules: "The first rule says that pollution can disguise itself as a human, so don't fall for it; the second rule says that fighting will trigger a warning, in other words, you can tell if the other person is human by whether there is a broadcast; the third rule is compensation, which means the school encourages students to pick up furniture in rebellion."
"Huh? Is that how it's interpreted?" Cheng Zhu felt a subtle sense of unease once again.
Alice is indeed strange. Compared to natives or viruses, she seems more like an experienced Chosen One... But only two instances of Future Star have appeared. Even the Chosen One who survived the first instance wouldn't dare to say they are experienced, right?
"I think that's how it is?" Alice sounded unsure. "And how does your AI analyze it?"
Upon hearing this question, Cheng Zhu realized that the female voice that had appeared out of nowhere earlier was Angela from Mary. In comparison, his own Asia had been rather quiet since the advertising promotions were turned off.
Cheng Zhu looked at Ya, who looked back at her with a pitiful expression: "I wanted to remind her too, but Angela beat me to it..."
"Hehe." Cheng Zhu heard Angela's voice again. "I am a custom-made professional model, which is much faster than the mass-produced high-end models. It is normal for me to be faster, otherwise Mary would have wasted a million universal points."
Immediately, Cheng Zhu looked at Mary with the same eyes one would give a rich woman, while the latter looked away shyly.
Alice clapped her hands, turned down the TV volume, and said to the two of them, "School officially starts tomorrow, so let's rest well today. The real battle is yet to come. With the virus spreading so quickly, if we don't find a way to escape soon, even following the rules might not protect us."
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