Rules with a History

"Instance? Transport?" Ren Yi repeated instinctively, his voice rising in confusion.

"Sigh, kids are always so jumpy. This is why you need to see more of the world."

Dr. Lin sighed and cleared his throat, finally beginning a proper explanation.

"The Alliance has encountered so many worlds, and there are always some with unique circumstances."

"In those worlds, things like Anomaly descents and Instance openings aren't common knowledge. Most people have no idea these things even exist."

"When those Participants enter without knowing anything about Anomalies or accepting reality, some Instance Anomaly abilities can be a bit too much of a 'spawn kill.' Newbies don't even have time to react before they're finished."

"So, the world's wills of those places are forced to intervene."

"For example, they might pair newbies with veterans to form a group at the start of an Instance, or establish a short-term safe zone to give the newbies time to accept reality and familiarize themselves with the rules."

"Of course, when a world's will establishes rules in this manner, it must make concessions elsewhere, so the Alliance is also happy to see this happen."

"However, Instances with coordinates outside the Alliance are fine; their world rules are transmitted uniformly, and they just need to draw a safe circle on the ground."

"But there are some rather special Instances within the Alliance's own territory where the situation is more complex."

"Interference from other world's wills is strictly forbidden here. That's why things like this subway train exist, specifically to handle these 'transport' operations."

Just as Dr. Lin finished speaking, a piercing roar of clashing metal suddenly erupted from the rear of the train.

Ren Yi poked his head out to look and saw several carriages at the very end suddenly detach from the rest of the high-speed train.

Those carriages showered sparks and flashing light as they ground against the tracks, screeching to a forced halt.

The violent jolting sent the "passengers" who had been sitting properly in their seats tumbling onto the floor in a tangled mess.

As the front part of the train continued forward, the detached carriages vanished into the darkness in the blink of an eye, leaving only a massive gaping hole at the rear of the train through which the pitch-black tunnel was visible.

Ren Yi noticed that the indicator light for "Jinghu East Station" above the doors quickly flickered out.

"Look, they've reached their station," Dr. Lin said, pointing toward the void several carriages behind them.

"Before they wake up, that carriage will transform into a shape that fits the Instance's story."

"Like a spacecraft crashed on an alien planet, a ship stranded on a deserted island, or a bus that's broken down in the middle of nowhere."

Ren Yi listened, dumbfounded. So that was how the safe zones at the start of Instances came to be?

The world really was like one giant, makeshift stage production.

"So, is this train actually an Anomaly specifically arranged to handle this business?"

"Mm-hmm, what else would it be?" Dr. Lin nodded. "We have no choice; we have to do it ourselves to distribute Participants to the various Instances."

"Then, what was the deal with those rules on Line 13 earlier?"

Since the Participants were inside this special "Instance transport vehicle," those increasingly frantic rules couldn't have been for the normal Line 13 train; they had to be for this place.

However, Ren Yi sensed the restrictive feeling around him. If the world's will had already provided rule restrictions, why were there so many "stories" happening?

"Uh..." Dr. Lin fell silent for a moment. "That's because this operation has gone through some evolution."

"The train wasn't like this at the beginning. Back then, every carriage was an independent, partitioned space, and the Participants were awake when they boarded."

"They had plenty of time to talk to each other, get to know one another, and adapt to the atmosphere of the Instance in advance."

"But, this Instance transport vehicle isn't an Instance after all, so the restrictions aren't that strict."

"As you've seen, we also have needs to enter certain special Instances, so many Anomalies wanted to hitch a ride."

Dr. Lin patted the subway handrail next to him as he spoke.

"We Anomalies believe in looking out for our own. The Anomaly responsible for this train's operations naturally felt awkward refusing, so it tacitly allowed everyone to hitchhike."

Ren Yi thought of that notice with over sixty prohibited rules and the blood-red exclamation marks behind them.

Looking out for your own? Awkward refusing? Are you sure about that?

"Then the problems started. Some Participants who weren't afraid of death just had to actively look for trouble with us Anomalies. When they saw strange 'people' on the train, they would actively provoke or even lay hands on the hitchhiking Anomalies."

"...We really didn't hurt them proactively, but we couldn't stop them from seeking death themselves. Sometimes, in the middle of a conversation, they'd suddenly take a blade to their own throats and end it right there. Can you really blame us?"

"Then the Instances that were supposed to receive those Participants got upset and started filing joint complaints."

"With so many complaints, there was no other way, so it became like this."

"Participants are knocked out as soon as they enter, and they only wake up after they reach their destination and enter the Instance."

"Moreover, there are rules protecting them during the journey, forbidding any Anomaly from proactively harming them. They didn't leave a single loophole."

Ren Yi's eye twitched. Dr. Lin seemed completely oblivious to the fact that his true feelings were leaking out as he spoke.

He had asked where "those rules with a history" came from.

But Dr. Lin had clearly just recounted the entire history of the accidents.

To summarize: due to the unique structure within the Alliance, the world's will's interference was limited to "inside the Instance." Since this train was not inside an Instance, a bunch of Anomalies had exploited the loophole.

Those Anomalies either reverted to their true forms or disguised themselves as ordinary people to hitch a ride, occasionally guiding some newbie Participants into passively triggering their rules, which ultimately led to the Participants having "unfortunate accidents."

As for the subway? Naturally, the subway train was fuming but didn't dare to speak up. It could only resentfully add more rules to its list.

But its rule power lacked the empowerment of other world's wills; its energy wasn't strong enough, so it couldn't control those high-level Anomalies at all.

After all, while there weren't a huge number of Participants on the train, nothing beats a free meal.

There were probably quite a few high-level Anomalies who frequently came here to "join the fun."

Ren Yi could tell from the hint of regret in Dr. Lin's tone that he had definitely hitchhiked here before.

In short, when the train reached its station, the destination Instance would look and see—hey, where'd the people go?

The Alliance would look and see—oh no, we've breached the contract; this is going to be hard to explain.

This led to an escalation of the rules.

It eventually evolved into the current situation where Participants are forcibly shut down inside the train to prevent them from being taken out early by certain Anomalies.

Ren Yi couldn't help but frown again.

Something seemed off. Why would something that seemed like a "mistake" by the world's will happen in the first place?

And what exactly was so special about the Instances within the Alliance?

Also, weren't they supposed to be going shopping? Were they going to some "boss trading market"?

"Dr. Lin, so, why do we have to take this train to get to Xinglong Entertainment City?"

"Oh, didn't I say?" Dr. Lin blinked. "That Xinglong Entertainment City is a special permanent Instance."