I Awakened as an NPC in a Rules-Based Horror Story

Lu Ling is an NPC. More precisely, he is the night-shift clerk NPC in the Convenience Store instance. Every day, his job is to stand behind the cash register, welcome the players who come in, and watch them die one after another under the rules. He was supposed to be a mindless tool. Until the thirty-third loop, when he awakened. The System came online, and his golden finger arrived: a Rule Editor. He can see the loopholes in every rule, trace each one back to its creator, and even alter the rules themselves. But there's a price: every time he uses his abilities, his existence value drops. If it reaches zero, he will become a true NPC and disappear forever. Worse still, while tracking down the source of the rules, he discovers that their creator has a Ling in their name, too. The same name as his. The Arbiter tells him: Three years ago, you didn't become an NPC. You were the creator of the rules. He must choose: hide and wait to disappear, or tear the rules apart and become the ultimate Boss of this world.

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to actual people or events is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.