Chapter 125: The Ritual’s End |
Inside Liant Town, Samuel and Falson were still discussing the work arrangements after Falson left.
“Do you have any thoughts on the job content?” Samuel asked Falson.
“No,” Falson shook his head, “I can do anything.”
“Is that so?” Samuel leaned back against the railing, “As I recall, your dream was to be a traveler?”
“In that case, help me collect the local customs and cultures of various places.” Samuel tilted his head back, “First, tour all of Reins, then expand outward, traveling from one place to the next.”
“Collect?” Falson repeated.
“Yeah, didn’t I already say that?” Samuel replied, “I want to open a theater in Liant Town.”
“When the time comes, you can help me collect and record various customs and cultures, then help me write the scripts.”
“Ah…” Falson blinked, “Me… can I do that?”
But deep down, he actually had quite a bit of confidence.
Maybe he really could write a script.
During the week he was trapped in Liant Town, he had read quite a few novels in the System.
If he tried writing a script, maybe he could actually come up with something.
Worst case, he could just directly copy the plots, since those novels didn’t exist in the Kingdom of Liastan anyway.
“If I really can, I’d be happy to accept,” Falson replied with a smile, “I just don’t know when we’ll be able to get out.”
“Probably today,” Samuel casually answered.
“Huh?” The reply left Falson frozen in place.
“Probably today. Things here are about to be resolved,” Samuel said with a smile.
He didn’t tell Falson that the entire Liant Town was a ritual targeting Wyatt, to see how they would struggle.
But he could clearly sense that the nodes in this ritual were dying one after another.
Today was the last one.
Once today’s “node” died, the entire ritual would end.
Ever since he was pulled into the mental world by General Miles, Samuel had formed some guesses and understood the operating pattern of this Liant Town.
In this Liant Town, some nodes had died, while others had endured, but every node would eventually be killed in the end.
Because if they weren’t killed, these nodes who had experienced things might awaken, just like the Bard from before, discovering Wyatt’s Law of [Pride].
That could affect the entire city.
And each time, when every node encountered the Sacred Law Knight, Samuel was basically present.
He would also try to enter the node’s memory after each knight attempt ended.
He had seen quite a few things.
In a memory from over a hundred years ago, Wyatt’s town had been attacked.
The reason was that his old butler hoped to stimulate Wyatt’s awakening by taking the lives of an entire town full of people.
But that was no longer important.
In Wyatt’s memory, that incident took a total of one week from start to finish.
So, the existence of this town was probably also one week.
After all, it was based on Wyatt’s memory.
As for Falson and the others’ attempts, Samuel had also seen them.
His assessment of them was “quite clever.”
They had successfully found a way to add rules to this town.
This rule would refresh on its own at midnight the next day.
And anything that happened the day before that might threaten the rules themselves would be prohibited the next day.
For example, just a few days ago, Sereia had only stayed here for less than half an hour due to an accident, and the very next day, a rule against “keeping pets” had been added.
Grill and Falson had noticed this and, over the past few days, had successfully misled the bulletin board, creating several contradictory rules.
And as early as yesterday, the rules were almost fully filled.
It was likely that today, the entire bulletin board would be completely filled, making it impossible to add any new rules, or even modify them.
Right now, Grill had gone to copy down the rules, and he should be back soon.
Clatter, clatter, clatter.
Footsteps came from behind, and Grill, holding a sheet of paper in his hand, emerged from the stairwell.
Just as he thought of him, he returned.
“I’ve copied down the rules. There are thirty-five in total, with several contradictory ones. It’s maxed out now, so there shouldn’t be any more additions,” he said, looking down at the paper in his hand as he walked.
“Success?” Samuel asked, leaning against the railing.
“Ah… pretty much,” Grill replied, handing the paper to Samuel, “If they want to modify all the rules now…”
“There are only thirty rules now. The original clause that ‘the law is still being supplemented’ is gone, and the clause that ‘the Enforcement Team has the right to interpret the rules’ is also gone.”
“Let me take a look.” Samuel reached out and took the rules.
[Liant Town Living Rules]
[Attention, citizens. Recently, 10 dangerous outlaws have infiltrated Liant Town. To ensure the personal safety, property safety, and mental safety of all citizens, please strictly follow the following terms and abandon your useless confidence. Any differences in interpretation of the rules should be based on the latest posted version.]
[1. From 6:00 AM this morning, Liant Town will be under closed management. Without permission, private entry or exit is prohibited. Whether entering or leaving the town, it is considered an illegal act, punishable by death.]
[2. Strictly prohibit all illegal acts. Those who violate the law will be marked, and Law Enforcers will carry out punishment. The severity of punishment will vary with the degree of violation.]
[3. Offenders will be punished. Even for the smallest violation, after multiple violations, the severity of the punishment will gradually increase. Citizens are advised not to challenge the authority of the law.]
[4. The Enforcement Team will strictly follow Liant Town’s rules and regulations most of the time, but when dealing with offenders, they have the right to temporarily violate the law.]
[5. Citizens are encouraged to actively report infiltrators from outside. The characteristics of infiltrators are as follows: strange behavior, strange language, strange speech, using counterfeit currency, etc…]
[6. Respect the rules and regulations of any location in the city. Do not knowingly break the law.]
[7. Protecting the town is the duty of every citizen. When citizens face outsiders, all their legal actions will be empowered by the city itself. Conversely, all actions of outsiders within this town will be suppressed.]
[8. Turn from darkness to light. When an outsider reports another outsider, they can qualify to leave this town safely. If an outsider reports multiple other outsiders, they can receive progressively increasing rewards based on the number.]
[9. Effective from today, Liant Town will enforce a curfew. After 11 PM, everyone is prohibited from going out and from loitering outdoors.]
[10. It is forbidden to contact the outside world through any means, including but not limited to phone, telegraph, letter writing…]
[11. It is forbidden to resist the Enforcement Team. Regardless of the form of resistance, each resistance counts as one violation of the rules!]
[12. Unless there is important information, it is forbidden to approach the Enforcement Team.]
[13. It is forbidden to commit fraud, deception, theft, mockery, or other acts against Enforcement Team members. Violators will be severely punished!]
[14. It is forbidden to harm Enforcement Team members.]
[15. It is forbidden to show genuine smiles within the town.]
[16. It is forbidden to let out genuine laughter within the town.]
[17. It is forbidden to feel genuine joy within the town.]
[18. It is forbidden to seek pleasure or gain happiness through any form of entertainment that does not conform to common public understanding.]
[19. It is forbidden to privately modify the rules of Liant Town.]
[20. It is forbidden to carry out large-scale destruction within Liant Town, including but not limited to explosions, arson, etc.]
[21. It is forbidden to possess any maps or draw terrain sketches. Violators will be charged with espionage.]
[22. It is forbidden to keep pets, especially dangerous creatures that may affect others.]
[23. It is forbidden for three or more non-related persons to gather for long periods in private places.]
[24. Citizens must live in harmony and love. Fighting, verbal abuse, and other behaviors are prohibited. Affecting others’ normal lives is prohibited.]
[25. It is forbidden to spread negative thoughts, negative emotions in public places, or to advocate inflammatory speech.]
[26. When life is threatened or faced with improper behavior, one may resist, and it will not be judged as mutual combat.]
[27. Citizens must report abnormal behavior of their neighbors. Those who conceal such behavior will be punished under the same charge.]
[28. The duty of the Enforcement Team is to protect citizens. Maliciously harming citizens of Liant Town is prohibited.]
[29. Citizens need at least three people to supervise each other. Walking alone is prohibited.]
[30. In special circumstances such as emergencies, fires, earthquakes, etc., the curfew can be broken.]
[31. The Enforcement Team must also obey the town’s laws. Even the Enforcement Team is prohibited from breaking the law.]
[32. Liant Town welcomes outsiders. Discrimination against outsiders in any way is prohibited.]
[33. When the Enforcement Team abuses their power, citizens may exercise legitimate self-defense.]
[34. Enforcement Team members, when breaking the law, are also subject to punishment.]
[35. The Enforcement Team does not have the right to interpret all rules. They must also follow the rules.]
There were a large number of contradictory rules within this list.
For example, there were both rules about being prohibited from going out at midnight and rules about being allowed to go out in special circumstances.
According to common sense, these two should be combined, allowing outings in special circumstances and prohibiting them in non-special circumstances.
But clearly, Liant Town’s rules didn’t have the concept of “combining.”
If it said no going out, it meant no going out.
Even in “special circumstances,” it still meant no going out.
But this then conflicted with the newly appeared rules, which reduced the overall binding power of the rules.
“You can feel it too, right? The punishment for breaking the rules has become much lighter. There’s no more of that suffocating feeling from before.”
“Ah… actually, no.” Samuel spread his hands.
He did feel a bit more relaxed.
But it was just a tiny bit.
A very, very tiny bit.
As for the “suffocating” feeling Grill mentioned earlier, he hadn’t felt it at all.
Falson also shook his head, saying he didn’t feel much of a difference.
Of the two people present, one was too strong to be bound much, and the other was too weak to feel much even if bound to the limit.
Only Grill, who was neither too strong nor too weak, felt the change the most.
Looking at the two innocent-faced men, Grill nodded helplessly.
“Alright, looks like I’m the only exception.”
“Uh… not really an exception, right?” Samuel glanced at Falson, “Wouldn’t the two of us count as massive exceptions?”
Grill curled his lip.
When the number of exceptions was greater than the norm, or even twice the norm, it was hard to say which side was truly the exception.
“Haha.” Samuel let out an unguarded mocking laugh.
“Even if you don’t feel that, you should still feel something in other areas, right?” Grill changed the subject.
“If that Miss Siren’s claim is correct—that suppressing ‘happiness’ in a certain area would indirectly weaken your power—then now that the rules have contradictions and the suppression has weakened, your strength should have recovered quite a bit.”
“Mm, that part is true.” Samuel nodded.
“Then I’m right,” Grill forced the conversation back on track. “Now the rules are maxed out, and there are quite a few contradictory ones.”
“Based on my speculation, the rules are at their weakest right now. If we try to break through Liant Town’s main gate now, we might actually succeed.”
He didn’t mention climbing the wall or any other method, but specifically said “main gate.”
Although, according to common sense, the main gate would be the most heavily guarded.
From an occult perspective, however, the “gate” connects the inside and the outside, symbolizing an entrance and exit, and is actually the easiest to pass through.
Any barrier has its own “gate,” and in a barrier created from a town, the “main gate” was most likely the barrier’s “gate.”
“So, you’re planning to rush the main gate tonight?” Samuel asked with a smile.
“To play it safe, we could wait another week to see if the rules refresh. And if they do, whether they delete everything or just a portion.”
“If it does completely refresh, we might be able to leave before a ‘prohibition on leaving’ rule appears.”
“So, my suggestion is to wait and see early this morning. After all, we’ve already confirmed this method is feasible. There’s no need to rush.”
“Is it because you have civilians with you, so you don’t want to take risks?” Samuel glanced at Falson.
Grill nodded matter-of-factly.
“Protecting civilians is my duty.”
“Is that so,” Samuel chuckled, “My advice is to wait until midnight.”
“After all, maybe the current situation will be resolved within today.”
“Is that so?” Grill didn’t know why Samuel would say that, but he sincerely hoped for it, “I really hope that’s the case.”