The entire world is plunged into a “Rules Trial Ground,” where humanity becomes a test subject in the selection of civilization’s genes. Every participant must uncover loopholes in 108 deadly dungeons within seven days. Those who fail are subjected to “rule stripping” and turned into cold stone statues in the real world.
Jiang Lin is a loophole hunter who walks the edges of the rules. His awakened “Entropy-Reversal Eye” can freeze gaps in the rules, but at the cost of randomly awakening ancient rules that vanished from the real world long ago. When he uses a phone flashlight to drive back a mutant in the “Midnight Bus” dungeon, he triggers the astronomical rule of geocentrism, and the entire city’s starry sky twists into a medieval vision.
His partner Su Li’s “Empathic Blood” lets her glimpse the painful memories from when the rules were born. But a price-tag trap in the “Mirror Convenience Store” dredges up the bloody history of her grandfather’s role in creating the rules. As they venture deeper into the dungeons, the two discover that all rules are manifestations of humanity’s negative emotions. Once they gather the fragments of civilization’s genes, they must choose between options like “erasing the war gene” and “destroying the monetary system,” deciding the direction of human civilization’s evolution.
“Rules are never shackles. To a hunter, they’re gold waiting to be mined.”
When Jiang Lin stands in the Temple of Entropy and uses his Entropy-Reversal Eye to tear away the disguise of the final rule, he finally understands that this hunt is not about survival, but about the courage to reshape civilization with one’s own hands.
