NOVEL NEXT Chapter 59: Every Rule Is Problematic
"Which rule is reliable, and which is not reliable..."
Seeing this sentence, Yun You was slightly taken aback and then immediately started contemplating along with Aurora's words.
Currently, Mayor Kong has mentioned four rules, which are "eating," "staying," "traveling," and the "curfew at night."
First is eating.
Not wasting food, in Yun You's view, should, and ought to be reasonable.
Just as Mayor Kong himself said, the resources in Yangshan Town are not abundant, and the free food is the town's greatest welfare, as well as the people's life guarantee.
It should be respected and cherished. Either choose not to eat, or if you do, absolutely do not waste.
Therefore, Yun You thinks it's rather reasonable and somewhat trustworthy.
Of course, the trustworthiness here is just Yun You's feeling that it's not that suspicious, and doesn't mean the little girl completely believes it.
The second rule is staying.
Like eating, in terms of staying, the host's requirement that guests do not damage the house is also reasonable. There's nothing to argue about this.
But Yun You always feels something's a bit off, an indescribable strangeness.
So, out of respect for her own instinctive thoughts, she gave this rule an ambiguous judgment.
The third rule is traveling, which is forbidding anyone from going out to the forest.
Regarding this, Yun You doesn't feel conflicted, directly choosing "disbelief."
The forest is full of suspicions, and Yun You doesn't believe it is as uncanny as Mayor Kong described.
Before the information is confirmed, she wouldn't easily believe the townsfolk's words.
As for the final "curfew," Yun You thinks it's okay to believe it simply for a bit.
After all, the townsfolk have seen dismembered bodies and people being taken away by "it" at night without wearing the Protective Stone.
Though seeing is believing is very important, being cautious... observing the rules for one night won't hurt.
Thus, Yun You summarized her views on these four rules as "barely believable," "skeptical," "disbelieving," and barely believable successively.
After determining the answers in her heart, the little girl looked at the notes on the floor again.
But what Aurora recorded next surprised her a bit.
[Alright, no more riddles, let's reveal the answer]
[My view is—none of the four rules are trustworthy!]
[...]
[Surprised to see this, right? Don't worry, let me analyze them one by one]
[First is the rule about eating. Wasting food is certainly disgraceful, but if... I mean if, the food they provide is problematic, then such a rule actually becomes a disguised compulsion]
[Forcing you to consume problematic food, forcing you to eat toxic substances]
[You might be curious why I came to such an extreme idea, right? The reason is simple, I spent two hours exploring the town, but found no staple food other than the free lunchboxes]
[Note, staple food]
[The tavern sells barbecue and drinks but doesn't offer rice or bread]
[The fruit stand is full of apples, pears, and other agricultural products, but similarly doesn't sell staple foods]
[People can fill their stomachs with barbecue and fruit, and it turns out they are edible (I've tried them), but it's hard for people to not eat staple foods for a long time. And truthfully, we wouldn't carry so much gold and silver around to exchange for those expensive fruit barbecues]
[In other words, Yangshan Town is actually using another invisible way to force us to eat their free lunchboxes]
[From a psychological perspective, those willing to provide free food are great, but usually, such food should be voluntarily distributed and voluntarily collected]
[Indirect coercion in distribution, and having to eat them entirely after collecting, can only mean one thing—that is, there's probably something mixed in the food]
[They want you to ingest these ingredients, but can't directly force you, making you suspicious, so they deliberately used this indirect compulsion method, making you unknowingly trapped]
[Of course, to be honest, this is still just my subjective guess, and I can't guarantee it's definitely right]
[I got a meal for lunch, didn't eat it, used a microscope and reagents to study it, but found nothing... yet I still maintain my view]
[If possible, let future newcomers try not to eat those meals, though they seem tempting, they are things that you have to eat, being cautious is not a bad thing]
[Second point, staying]
[This has even bigger suspicions]
[It seems like freely allocated housing, but in reality, it is disguised limiting our movement range, confining us within the area delineated by the townsfolk, and at the same time, the accommodation is for single occupants, further isolating us in a helpless state]
[The Mayor claims that housing is to protect us from "it" at night, but if that's truly the case, why not gather everyone together to build a communal dormitory?]
[United we stand, living together means looking out for each other. Is the rule afraid we'll be wiped out if we live together? That doesn't seem logical considering their own words]
[As for why rooms are indestructible, I am currently unsure about the rationale of this rule. Let me research further]
[And the third rule, traveling... no need for me to explain more, you should be able to see the problem with it]
[Even though the Mayor repeatedly emphasized the terrors of the forest, I asked around, and no one has ever seen anyone who entered the forest being killed]
[I always adhere to the logic of suspicion through evidence, questioning anything strange, but the issue with the forest is, it has never provided any "material evidence," I can't just question it based on the Mayor's words alone]
[In the future, I might enter the forest to search around. If I can return, I'll leave more information for you]
[Lastly... is the rule about the night watch]
[In the analysis of the second "staying" rule, I've already provided many speculations, so there's no need to repeat them here]
[I personally think, "it" might indeed exist and roam the town at night, but I don't believe this shabby house and the so-called Protective Stone can protect my life]
[If "it" is truly that powerful, a Protective Stone won't stop it... Conversely, it might not be as invincible as the Mayor suggests]
[Waiting for fate is not my style. Rather than being dragged in this house, it's better to take the initiative, get close to it, and find it! Only then can its mysterious veil be uncovered]
[Of course, still, this is just my own thought, I'll go do it, but I don't suggest that later ones do it rashly]
[Tonight, I will go out to face "it," if I can come back alive, I'll record everything I saw, and if not... then you better not go out yet, at least don't go to die until a safe way is found]