48: The rules backfire! The house of rest collapses, and we fall into the graveyard of billions of toys

Gu Yanci took a deep breath.

He knew this was a critical moment.

He took a step forward.

He was about to make contact in the gentlest way possible.

Just then...

The girl's crying stopped.

Her shrugging shoulders also became still.

An eerie silence fell over the room.

Under everyone's tense gaze...

She slowly... slowly turned around.

Time, at this moment...

Seemed to slow down by countless times.

Everyone saw her face clearly.

Then...

Everyone's blood froze instantly.

On that tender face, there were bright tear stains.

But... she wasn't crying.

She was smiling!

A smile of immense ecstasy and boundless joy!

The corners of her mouth stretched into an exaggerated arc.

Her eyes gleamed with a nearly deranged light!

That sorrowful, heartbreaking cry!

It wasn't coming from her mouth at all!

Instead, it was emanating from a ceramic doll she was clutching tightly in her arms!

The doll was crudely made.

One eye was already shattered, revealing a dark, empty socket.

And that heart-wrenching cry...

Was continuously coming from it!

The girl listened to the doll's cries...

While smiling genuinely and happily from the bottom of her heart.

She reached out a finger.

With an incredibly doting gesture...

She gently wiped away the non-existent 'tears' on the doll's face.

A crying doll, a cackling girl.

This utterly bizarre scene...

Like a heavy hammer...

Smashed all the warmth and hope that had just risen.

"Boom—!"

The live stream exploded.

[King of Ten Thousand Dragons]: Holy sh*t!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Nine Nether Demon Lord]: A trap! It's a trap! I knew it wouldn't be that simple! This is scarier than a ghost!

[Star Sea Traveler]: Su Ke Ke, you... you really are... too insidious! I like it!

[Daoist Master Cang Xuan]: Wrong! All wrong! The mission hint was 'she won't smile'! This girl is smiling! She's not the target! This "House of Rest" was a perfect trap set to lure us in from beginning to end!

In the room...

Gu Yanci and the others' bodies had stiffened like statues.

The girl noticed them.

Her laughter abruptly ceased.

She looked up.

Her eyes, gleaming with ecstatic light...

Stared directly at Gu Yanci, who stood at the very front.

The smile on her lips didn't change.

She tilted her head and asked in an innocent, yet unsettling tone:

"Are you... new toys?"

The moment her words fell...

"Click—Click—Click—"

In the room...

On the small bed, on the carpet, on the cabinet...

All the heads of the plush toys...

All made a grating twisting sound.

And uniformly turned towards the five people at the door.

"Welcome, my new toys."

"Come on~ Come and play with me—"

When the girl's innocent yet cruel question fell...

On Gu Yanci's face, tight from forcing a smile...

His eyes suddenly erupted with brilliant golden light!

Without any hesitation or delay...

The will of this Human Emperor instantly...

Spread throughout the entire team!

"Move!"

At his command...

The dead silent room...

Was instantly torn apart by violent power!

"Whoosh—!"

Shadow Empress Ye Liuli was the first to move!

Her body transformed into an uncatchable, pure shadow.

Ignoring all the plush toys that had turned their heads to look.

Her target was directly the ceramic doll in the girl's arms that was constantly emitting mournful cries!

To catch the leader, first catch the king.

Control the source of the anomaly.

This was the most basic tactic!

Her fingertips...

Were wreathed in shadow power capable of annihilating stars.

So fast that even time seemed to stand still for it!

At the same time...

Shadowless Ghost - Ye Qiong also moved.

He didn't bother with the core target.

Instead, he transformed into a butcher of the night.

Countless sharp shadow blades erupted from behind him.

Like a black storm of death...

Enveloping all the 'living' plush toys in the room!

"Puff puff puff puff!"

Cotton wadding and fabric flew everywhere.

Those cute, eerie dolls were shredded into their most basic fragments in an instant!

However...

The next second...

A scene that made everyone's scalp tingle occurred.

Ye Liuli's hand, capable of piercing the body of a god...

Swept through the ceramic doll as if passing through air the moment it touched it!

"What?!"

Ye Liuli's heart was greatly shaken.

Her attack missed!

No, it wasn't a miss.

It was that the doll simply didn't exist on this physical plane!

It was just an image, a manifestation of a rule!

And on the other side...

Ye Qiong's shadow blade storm had just ceased.

The scattered cotton wadding and fabric scraps...

Suddenly seemed to come alive.

They began to writhe and coalesce madly!

They twisted and stretched...

Eventually forming a cotton monster...

Larger than all the previous toys combined...

Composed of countless eyes and stitches.

That monster...

It let out a silent roar!

"It's useless!"

Star Gazing Goddess Lingxi's eyes reflected countless star trails.

She cried out urgently.

"Attacking the physical entities is useless! We are attacking the 'rules' of this room! Its rule is 'play', and our current actions are being judged as 'breaking the game'!

"Anyone who breaks the game will be treated as a 'broken toy'!"

Seer - Cang Xuan's face was ashen.

He had already glimpsed a catastrophic future.

"Rules?"

In Gu Yanci's eyes...

That golden light grew even more intense.

He didn't retreat but advanced, taking a step forward.

His voice, like a great bell, reverberated through the entire space, "Then... break it!"

Before his words finished...

He extended his right hand, palm upward.

There were no earth-shattering energy fluctuations, nor any world-destroying laws manifested.

Only a single...

Faintly golden chain of order...

Composed of countless intricate runes, slowly rose from his palm!

Chain Breaker!

Its authority...

Was precisely to break all unreasonable rules and shackles in the world!

"In my name as Human Emperor, I command—Order Reshape, Break!"

Gu Yanci flicked his wrist.

That golden chain of order, like a living divine dragon...

Let out a clear dragon's roar.

Its target was not the girl, not the doll...

And certainly not the cotton monster.

But rather, it fiercely lashed out at this void!

He wanted to shatter the 'rules' of this room itself!

"Buzz—!"

Wherever the chain passed...

The space let out a mournful wail of unbearable strain!

The eternally joyful smile on the girl's face...

Froze for the first time!

The cozy room began to flicker violently.

Pink walls and gloomy prison scenes rapidly alternated.

Like a television with bad reception!

It worked!

Hope simultaneously burst forth in the eyes of the four survivors!

The audience in the live stream also completely erupted!

[Future Heavenly Emperor - Huang]: Good! Breaking laws with force! This is what a true powerhouse does!

[Lin Moyan]: Gu Yanci... actually managed to shake Su Ke Ke's rules! As expected of a 9th-tier Chain Breaker!

[Daoist Master Cang Xuan]: Not shaking! It's a provocation! He's challenging the very foundation of this world! Stop quickly! The backlash will destroy you all!

Daoist Master Cang Xuan's words were unfinished...

When an abrupt change occurred!

The girl, who had frozen for a moment...

Once again bloomed with a smile ten times brighter than before.

She clapped her hands...

And let out a silvery laugh:

"Wow, this toy... actually resists!"

"So much fun!"

"But..."

Her voice suddenly turned cold, devoid of any emotion.

"If you break the game, you have to be put in the 'trash can'."

As her words fell...

Gu Yanci's chain of order shattered inch by inch!

The entire '"House of Rest"' let out a deafening wail!

Immediately after...

The floor beneath the five people's feet...

Along with the entire room, instantly turned into nothingness!

A bottomless...

Immense dark abyss appeared beneath their feet!

Within the abyss...

Was a graveyard of countless broken toys.

Millions of resentful, shattered eyes...

Were staring fixedly at them from below!

A sense of weightlessness came over them.

The five people, along with the giant cotton monster...

Fell straight down into that endless darkness and despair!