Chapter 86 The Singer, Oh, the Singer 19

This was completely different from Lin Xiangjun's guess!

She thought Rule 14 was correct, that it was because Zhang Minxian opened her umbrella that she summoned Hu Zhengzheng, who was responsible for the punishment.

The fact that Lin Xiangjun couldn't see Hu Zhengzheng when she wasn't holding an umbrella at the beginning also confirmed her hypothesis.

But, that wasn't right.

Zhang Minxian's state was wrong.

paper figures certainly wouldn't die from suffocation. After all, it was just a paper shell filled with some wandering ghosts. If anyone could choke a discarded paper shell to suffocation, Darwin would laugh three times, crawl up from the ground, and use a Barrett to blast his own research results.

What's the point of doing research then? Might as well just wait for aliens to pilot their flying saucers and grind the Earth into powder to scatter as ashes.

paper figures, at most, just get torn, tattered, or broken. They can be patched up at a paper craft shop and be as good as new. When they reach the point where they can't be patched up anymore, you just throw the paper shell away, and the ghost goes back to where it came from.

Therefore, Hu Zhengzheng's action of strangling Zhang Minxian's neck wouldn't cause her to die.

It was simply because Hu Zhengzheng's strength was too great; she was about to snap her neck!

Have you ever seen a gourd?

The middle of Zhang Minxian's neck was now sunken in, just like a gourd.

While taking out a paper figurine card from her pouch, ready to summon at any moment, Lin Xiangjun carefully observed Zhang Minxian's current state, pondering the strange things about her.

Now it was certain: when a player violated a rule, the "Songstress" would appear to punish the player.

"But, why is it different..." she muttered.

Hu Zhengzheng had appeared twice today and punished two people.

The first time was the Fluorescent Green Short Sleeve; Hu Zhengzheng threw him from the upper floor, and he died on the spot.

The second time was now; Hu Zhengzheng was strangling Zhang Minxian's neck, trying to choke her to death alive.

Even though they both violated rules, the punishments received were different.

The Fluorescent Green Short Sleeve was thrown directly from the upper floor, straightforward, with no chance of survival.

But Zhang Minxian, she had been held by the neck by Hu Zhengzheng for over ten seconds, and Hu Zhengzheng's movements hadn't changed in the slightest, only the force of her grip was gradually increasing.

It seemed... she was waiting for something?

A flash of inspiration struck Lin Xiangjun, and she carefully examined Zhang Minxian's attire.

A black coat, black pants, and no jewelry on her body.

【6, The Songstress does not like black coats and black pants. Do not wear such clothes. If you have, please change immediately, right now.】

Could Rule 6 be correct? That one cannot wear black clothes and black pants?

No, that wasn't right.

Lin Xiangjun's gaze moved upward, landing on Zhang Minxian's hairline.

Her hair was originally perm-dyed orange, and Lin Xiangjun felt it was too abrupt, so she got her a wig to cover it.

Wigs are supposed to be worn with a matching hairnet, otherwise, the real hair easily leaks out. Since both Lin Xiangjun and Zhang Minxian were wearing wigs for the first time and had no experience, the position of the hairnet was too far back.

Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't be noticeable, but Zhang Minxian had bought too many things and was flustered. While walking, things would often press against the wig, causing it to slide back a few inches, revealing a bit of the orange hair roots.

Was it really a problem with the clothes, or a problem with the hair?

Was Rule 6 really right or wrong?

This was an excellent opportunity for verification.

Lin Xiangjun certainly couldn't miss such a good opportunity, but Zhang Minxian's phone had already slipped from her hand, and she didn't want to shout and attract attention. If she wanted to verify... she would have to rely on herself.

"Born to work in an instance, wanting to take a break and find a helper, damn it, not letting anyone have a moment of peace."

She cursed twice in her heart.

Of course, she could only curse in her heart. After all, if she said this out loud and accidentally violated some death rule, what then? She didn't want to be strangled by Hu Zhengzheng or grabbed and thrown from a high floor.

No choice. Lin Xiangjun immediately closed her umbrella, pushed open the window, and leaped out.

She wasn't seeking death; the pouch was already placed in her sweatpants pocket. The opening of the pouch and the edge of the pants pocket were fixed with a small safety pin, so there was no need to worry about losing it, or that the color of the pouch would violate any rules.

Besides the pouch, the only item Lin Xiangjun had that might violate the instance rules was her bright red mask.

But what did that matter? Didn't she still have a pair of stockings around her neck!

If Rule 6 was correct, she could pull the stockings down and be a Western cowboy; if Rule 6 was wrong, she could pull the stockings up and still be a conservative.

While falling through the air, Lin Xiangjun even silently praised herself; a red mask with stockings over it was simply the second greatest invention of the century.

The first was getting a tattoo on one's hemorrhoids—hiding it away to take the civil service exam and showing it off to be a socialite, not missing out on either side.

The third floor wasn't very high, and besides, Lin Xiangjun had undergone physical enhancement and a month of martial arts training; her physical strength could no longer be compared to the novice she was when she first entered the instance.

She didn't hold an umbrella when she landed, so in her eyes, the alley returned to the state it was in when she first entered the instance. The small puddles on the ground and the continuous drizzle had disappeared, Hu Zhengzheng, who was wearing a black dress and facing away from her, had also disappeared, and the slogans on the opposite wall had also disappeared.

Before her, there was only Zhang Minxian, whose neck was deformed and who was rolling her eyes as if she were about to die, and...

Tiger Wang, who was poking his head out from the neighboring Building 39 and looking at her.

They had indeed moved into the new house, and by now, they had noticed the commotion over here and were pushing open the window to peer over.

Above Tiger Wang's head, there was vaguely something else,

Lin Xiangjun slightly withdrew her gaze. She ignored the palms of her hands, which were red, swollen, and painful from bracing against the rough ground, and opened the umbrella again.

The scene before her changed again.

Hu Zhengzheng had turned her head around and was staring at her intently.

She was still very young, at most twenty years old, with a round face, eyes that curved downward, and corners of her mouth that naturally turned up. Even when expressionless, she looked like she carried a hint of a smile; it was a very likable appearance.

Unfortunately, at this moment, her eyes were bulging out like a toad's, the whites of her eyes were muddy yellow with bloodshot veins, and there was a circle of purple bruises around her neck. Paired with her rigid, meticulous hair and clothes, she looked like a nun from the Middle Ages who had dedicated her life to a corrupt church but didn't get a good ending and died with her eyes wide open.

Terrifying, rigid, stern, and also a kind of disgusting repulsiveness.

Lin Xiangjun's gaze moved from her face to her chest.

A round, exquisite pearl brooch was pinned to her chest.

【2, The Songstress will not wear white shoes. If she does, please note whether she is wearing a pearl brooch. If she is not, then she is not the real Songstress. Kill her.】

When she saw this rule, Lin Xiangjun knew that the "Songstress" had two states: one wearing white shoes and a pearl brooch, and one not wearing white shoes and not wearing a pearl brooch.

Rule 1 mentioned that the Songstress's dress came in three colors: blue, white, and red. However, this rule did not mention that the Songstress only had dresses in these three colors.

The real major prerequisite of this rule was "after she finished singing," which meant that she would only sing while wearing these three colors of dresses.