Fragments of the Rules: I Can Read the Dead's Final Messages

[Rules-Based Horror + Outsmarting the Game + Global Cooperation]“When the old clockmaker’s house in Hangcheng claimed its fourth victim, I found the dead man’s white glove.

‘The clock hands are moving backward… Don’t trust the time it shows.’ The dead man’s final words rang through my mind just as the wall clock in the living room struck twelve.

The rules, written in blood, clearly said, ‘Never look at the wall clock at midnight,’ but the dead man’s watch showed that it was actually three in the morning.

I’m Shen Yan, a former captain of the criminal investigation team who was fired, and the only person who can read the messages the dead leave behind.

As the whole world is trapped in rule-based instances, as every visible rule turns out to be a deadly trap, and as the city is set to be swallowed by shadows in 72 hours…

I clutch my bloodstained copper pocket watch and hear the second victim’s dying obsession: ‘It’s afraid of the smell of iron. The gloves are only safe once they’re torn.’

It turns out rules were never meant to be followed. They were meant to be broken.

And every time I interpret the dead’s final words, I burn away a little more of my life.”