Fatty was stunned since Jiang Cheng agreed so readily. “Doctor,” His lips trembled, “The second choice is…”
“We’ll stay and wait,” Jiang Cheng answered.
Fatty sighed. He thought he was scammed again.
“When the things from Black Stone Town reappear at night, you’ll go interact with them and try to get information from them.” Jiang Cheng looked out the window and said encouragingly, “Since the mission is about to end, I believe they’ll have a lot more anomalies. Go and take a trip around town and tell me what you see.”
Fatty froze. Then, he gasped, “Am I supposed to go alone?”
“Naturally.” Jiang Cheng said, “Doesn’t your conscience hurt to drag me along, considering how dangerous it is?”
Just like that, they lit up some torches and picked up a few spares. Then, they went downstairs to wait. Of course, they didn’t use the white substance in the vessel this time. Fatty prayed that Black Stone Town wouldn’t appear after dark, but reality smacked his face. The city not only appeared…, but the townspeople also gushed out like waves. More than a hundred people came out of Black Stone Town to march their way.
Their perception was not wrong. These strange creatures could sense things that happened on the travellers’ side, but they had no idea how, whether it was through the stone plate or the aged woman.
“Doctor,” Fatty pouted, “It’s not that I’m cruel, but if we go down now, we’ll most likely die. In that case, why don’t we do something to the woman?”
“Doctor, I can’t do this. Don’t force me.” Fatty almost cried. On one side, there was a monster army in the skin of humans. On the other side… there was the monster itself. This problem would kill him.
Jiang Cheng took a deep breath. He looked at the torches moving on the sea. “Trust me one last time. Follow me down. I have something to verify.”
“Doctor, this is different from before. If you’re wrong… this is really our last time.”
Since the Doctor insisted, Fatty didn’t say anything else. After all, the Doctor easily took down Chen Ran. He might be able to handle the whole town of fish-human creatures too. With that in mind, Fatty felt calmer.
“Doctor,” Before they left, Fatty silently pointed at the aged woman who curled up in the corner. “Are… we just leaving her here?”
After realising the woman was staring at him, Fatty quickly pulled his finger back as if afraid that she might bite him.
Jiang Cheng thought about it. “Tie her up.” After they tied the woman up and shoved her into the basket, the two left. While Fatty helped the Doctor, he accidentally brushed past the woman’s stomach. He realised her stomach was bulging. He was so scared that he jumped back.
Armed with torches, the two walked down the stairs. Using this last opportunity, Fatty asked the Doctor a lot of questions… like what was his view of Black Stone Town.
The Doctor answered that Black Stone Town did exist in real life, but it wouldn’t be at the surface of the sea but at the bottom of the sea. The fact that it only surfaced at night probably had to do with the stone plate.
These ugly things used Black Stone Town under the sea as their base. They assaulted the ships that passed by. They made sure there was no survivor. It was how their secrets had remained until now. Of course, some larger organisations knew about them. However, they probably only knew that ships would always go missing mysteriously around this part of the sea.
“In other words, for the normal people, the things from Black Stone Town appear as monsters?!” Fatty asked.
“See them as humans?” Jiang Cheng glanced at him.
“It’s the same thing. The rules have limited me. We can’t see their real appearance, or how did they charm us?” Jiang Cheng said naturally.
“But… isn’t this a bit too unfair to us?” Fatty grumbled, “They have all the advantages. Even though we were chosen to experience this world, we had been given no benefits. Even if we have the white paper or the newspaper, we have to ensure we can survive first.”
“Two points.” Jiang Cheng suddenly said harshly, “Fatty, how can you still not get it? The rules are not just meant for us. Everything in this mission, even the single blade of grass in this game, has to abide by the rules.
“Let me ask you,” He turned around to lean into the wall, “What will happen once those things from the town encounter humans if we’re not in the nightmare realm?”
“The humans will be dragged away and eaten,” Fatty replied easily.
“However, they didn’t do that to us, at least not at first when they met us.” Jiang Cheng said, “They even invited us to a feast and told us about the curse and their experience. Of course,” he added, “It’s also true that they lied to us. You can understand this world as a highly realistic RPG game. Everyone has a role to play. We can only act within the perimeters of our given roles. This applies not only to the players but also to the NPCs.
“There’s one more thing.” Jiang Cheng turned to Fatty. The torch he had shadowed his face. For a moment, Fatty couldn’t recognise him.
“Without the rules, do you think… we can appear victorious over the strange things we’ve encountered?” Jiang Cheng asked lightly.
This simple question hit the softest part of Fatty’s heart. The family of four from the first mission, the girl with the broken jaw from the second mission… and the man-eating monsters in this mission. If they were not bound by the rules, they would be unstoppable. No matter how clever one was, one wouldn’t be able to fight against them. Their existence was beyond current human comprehension.
“Wait…” Fatty gasped for air. “Does this mean the rules have been set up to protect us?!”
Jiang Cheng turned away silently.