The Strange Rules 2 (Rule System) 【Creation Dream】

PART 2: ADAPTATION.

Author’s Warning:

This story is not intended for readers under the age of sixteen.

The work contains language, situations, and emotional nuances that may be inappropriate for immature audiences.

Please consider carefully before reading, and continue only if you are truly comfortable with the content this story carries.

Chapter 2: Adaptation

Dawn slowly arrived after a long night.

The sunlight of Xuanjing City, in the year 2190, filtered through half-drawn curtains, brushing softly across the wristwatch resting quietly on the boy’s arm.

Zhao Di Huang opened his eyes.

There was no roaring sound, no collapsing earth, no blood staining the sky.

Only sunlight, the faint chill of early morning, and a young, fragile body weighed down by exhaustion.

He sat up, doubt still lingering in his eyes.

The sensation of returning to an eight-year-old body—of reliving a world that had not yet collapsed—still felt like a joke that refused to end.

> [PROGRESS: 1/25 BOOKS]

[STATUS: 30% RECOVERED – TEMPORARY ACCELERATION OF MENTAL CAPACITY]

A translucent notification hovered before him.

For the first time, the system’s voice sounded clear and distinct.

> [SYSTEM LINK ESTABLISHED: “PATH OF ANCIENT TOMES” UNLOCKED]

[EACH BOOK CORRESPONDS TO A GATE OF KNOWLEDGE]

[THE MORE YOU READ, THE MORE MISSIONS – SKILLS – RESOURCES UNLOCK]

[UNLOCKED: RAPID COMPREHENSION SKILL – LEVEL 1]

Zhao Di Huang raised an eyebrow.

“…A skill system?”

He focused his thoughts on the newly acquired ability. Instantly, a smaller panel appeared.

> [Skill: Rapid Comprehension – Level 1]

Reading speed increased by 20%.

Stamina consumption during reading reduced.

Silent Reading mode available.

Upgrade condition: Complete five books of the same category.

“Not bad… At least it’s more forgiving than the starting phase in the Rule World.”

Zhao Di Huang walked over to the bookshelf.

The remaining twenty-four books were neatly arranged, their spines thick and heavy—mostly foundational knowledge: physics, history, philosophy, linguistics, applied medicine… No more dry political texts.

He pulled out one volume:

Basic Anatomy – Youth Edition.

A faint smirk tugged at his lips.

“If I don’t read this kind of stuff, how could I be prepared to fight ten years from now?”

7:30 AM – School

An old-model electric vehicle turned into the campus gate.

There were no flying cars. No surveillance drones.

The city remained peaceful, just like any ordinary morning before the age of collapse.

Zhao Di Huang sat quietly in the back seat of Bus Line 219, his gaze fixed on the passing scenery beyond the window. A medical textbook lay open on his lap.

He spoke to no one.

And no one paid him any attention.

> [READING PROGRESS: 2/25]

[PHYSICAL LEVEL: INCREASED TO 2.5/5]

[WARNING: BODY UNSUITABLE FOR PHYSICAL SKILL ACTIVATION]

[SUGGESTION: SIDE QUEST “PHYSICAL TRAINING” WILL APPEAR TODAY]

He let out a quiet sigh.

“So in the end… I still have to start training from scratch.”

Class 5B – Noside Academy

Zhao Di Huang was assigned a seat at the back row.

In the eyes of the surrounding children, he was the new transfer student—from the “Eastern District,” an area known for poverty and high crime rates. Being labeled as “strange” was only natural.

A figure approached.

It was a girl.

Black hair tied loosely to one side, butterfly-shaped AR glasses, bright eyes, and a voice filled with curiosity.

“Are you the new student? What’s your name?”

Zhao Di Huang looked at her, his expression unreadable.

“…Zhao Di Huang.”

She blinked, then smiled.

“I’m Mai Luo Lan. You can call me Lan Lan—it’s easier. Want me to show you how to use AR glasses? The kind you’re using is already outdated.”

Zhao Di Huang frowned slightly.

“AR glasses?”

She winked.

“You’re using the old type—single-direction reflective lenses, no neural compatibility. This one here integrates directly with the frontal lobe, projecting information straight into your field of vision. Three times faster, and studying’s way easier.”

He fell silent for a moment.

A world without Demon Gods… yet technology was already stepping into the future.

Perhaps that was exactly why, when the world eventually collapsed, humanity was so easily dragged into the Rule World—when technology could no longer keep up with the new laws of existence.

“…Thank you,” he replied simply.

Recess

He continued reading the anatomy book in a quiet corner of the library.

Lan Lan sat across from him, eating a pastry while fiddling with her personal learning console.

“Do you always read medical books?” she asked. “That’s kind of unusual…”

Zhao Dehuang didn’t look up.

“You need to understand the human body,” he said calmly,

“to know how to save a life… and how to take one.”

The girl froze.

Only then did he realize he had spoken too frankly—but he didn’t correct himself.

Lan Lan stayed silent for a moment, then suddenly let out a soft laugh.

“You’re pretty cool,” she said.

“Like a character straight out of an academy novel.”

> [SYSTEM WARNING: UNEXPECTED EMOTIONAL RESPONSE – ‘SOCIAL LINK’ UNLOCKED]

[NEW SYSTEM UNLOCKED: BONDING SYSTEM – LEVEL 1]

[SUPPORT MODULE ACTIVATED: REAL-WORLD NETWORK – FIRST LINK ESTABLISHED]

[LINK TARGET: MAI LUO LAN]

Support Ability: Behavioral analysis suggestions, high emotional sensitivity

Growth Potential: 71%

Future Role: ??? (Hidden)

18:00 – Private Room

Zhao Dehuang finished his third book of the day.

A sharp pain pulsed through his head, cold sweat forming on his brow—

yet his body was adapting faster than expected.

> [PROGRESS: 3/25]

[NEW SKILL ACQUIRED: SHORT-TERM MEMORY – LEVEL 1]

[PHYSICAL CONDITION: 3/5]

A soft electronic chime sounded outside the door.

An automated delivery slid a package into the intake slot.

He retrieved it.

Inside was a silver envelope, with no sender’s name.

He opened it.

There was only one line inside—handwritten, something exceedingly rare in the 22nd century:

> “The one watching you… has not left.”

Zhao Dehuang stood still, staring at the words in the silver envelope.

The handwriting was smooth, written in deep blue ink, the strokes steady and deliberate.

It wasn’t a threat.

Nor was it written by a child of this era.

Yet the familiarity sent a chill down his spine.

He tightened his grip on the edge of the paper.

Memories resurfaced—of a classically dressed man, someone who had stepped out of a book and rewritten his fate.

Ancient words. Whispered phrases that felt like a curse.

> “Nunc tuum est. Ne fallas.”

(Now it is your turn. Do not disappoint me.)

He closed his eyes.

“You’re still watching…”

At that moment, another notification appeared—

the first one not belonging to the “Path of Ancient Tomes” system.

> [HIDDEN PROTOCOL LAYER ACTIVATED – FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE FRAGMENT DETECTED]

[TYPE: SUPREME OBSERVATION]

[ORIGIN: ANCIENT SCRIPT – A LANGUAGE ERASED FROM TIME]

> [REQUIREMENTS: INTELLIGENCE 10 – MENTAL STABILITY 7]

[CONDITION: NO OBSERVERS DURING DECRYPTION]

Zhao Dehuang frowned.

There was already a system—

and now, a hidden protocol layer?

Unlike the World of Rules, where every skill was clearly displayed,

this world was concealing something deeper, older—

as if someone had deliberately hidden the true rules of the game.

> [WARNING: REQUIREMENTS NOT MET]

[SUGGESTION: ENHANCE COGNITION THROUGH READING]

[RECOMMENDED TEXT: “A Brief History of Symbols and Early Human Ciphers” TO UNLOCK DECRYPTION PATH]

His gaze snapped toward the bookshelf.

The fourth book.

A thick, crimson leather-bound volume—

nothing like a modern textbook, but more like a replica of an ancient manuscript.

“…So this isn’t just about surviving.”

He pulled the book free.

> [SIDE QUEST INITIATED: UNLOCK HIDDEN TOPIC ‘PRIMORDIAL LANGUAGES’]

20:30

The room was quiet.

The city outside was still brightly lit, yet a heavy weight pressed down on the boy’s chest.

For more than two hours, he had gained a preliminary understanding of the earliest symbolic systems—marks once used to transmit knowledge before humanity had developed written language. Some of the symbols in the letter… matched almost perfectly with the opening chapter of this book.

> [KNOWLEDGE FRAGMENT “PROTOTYPE SCRIPT I” ACTIVATED]

[PROGRESS: 4/25 BOOKS]

[NEW SKILL ACQUIRED: SYMBOL DECRYPTION – LEVEL 1]

He began rewriting each symbol with a stylus on the glass tabletop.

A curved line.

Two short strokes.

A symbol resembling a broken clock…

His eyes twitched.

“It’s a symbol of the timepiece…”

At that exact moment, the watch on his wrist emitted a faint glow.

But unlike before, this time… the second hand began to move backward—an action that should only occur when time reversal was actively triggered.

He sprang to his feet. A system warning appeared.

> [ANOMALOUS TIME SOURCE DETECTED]

[TIMEPIECE RESPONDING TO EXTERNAL DATA LAYER]

[WARNING: ORIGIN CANNOT BE IDENTIFIED]

He clenched his fist.

“So I’m not the only one…”

---

At the same time — a dark room in Tokyo

A white-haired teenage boy sat at the center of a circle of ancient symbols.

His eyes slowly opened.

“…Time has begun to move.”

---

Back in Xuanjing City – 20:49

A knock sounded at the door.

A middle-aged woman—the caretaker of the residential block—stepped inside.

“Xiao Zhao, someone sent over a box of pastries. No name on it.”

He frowned.

He had no relatives. No one should even know who he was. So who?

He took the box. It was light, with no suspicious smell.

But beneath the pastries lay a small slip of paper.

Only one line was written on it:

> “The one who writes fate… is rewriting every chapter.”

Zhao Dehuang stared at the ink.

No trembling. No hesitation. No sign of correction.

It couldn’t be a prank from a classmate.

This person—just like before—did not belong to this world.

---

21:10 – Private Room

Zhao Dehuang sat motionless.

The final line on the small piece of paper remained sharply etched in his vision:

> “The one who writes fate… is rewriting every chapter.”

He was about to fold the paper when—

BOOM—

A sudden pain tore through him, from the top of his skull straight down into his spine.

It wasn’t an ordinary headache—

it felt as though someone was… forcibly stripping fragments of memory from his brain.

He collapsed to the floor, vision going dark.

> [SYSTEM WARNING: UNAUTHORIZED DATA STREAM INTRUSION]

[TYPE: LOCALIZED MEMORY ERASURE]

[FREQUENCY: UNKNOWN CLASSIFICATION]

[ACCESS LOCKED: “THE ONE WHO REWROTE TIME”]

“No…!”

Zhao Dehuang braced himself against the floor, sweat dripping down in heavy drops.

He struggled to hold onto the image—the man in an eighteenth-century room, the white light, the ancient voice…

but the harder he tried to remember, the larger the void became.

> [ERASURE SUCCESS: 41%]

[WARNING: USER RESISTANCE DETECTED – MINOR NEURAL DAMAGE CONFIRMED]

“Who are you…? I’ve… met you…”

No one answered.

Only a blurred image remained in his mind:

an old wooden desk, a notebook, and… a black quill pen frozen mid-sentence.

> [ERASURE SUCCESS: 74%]

“No…!”

Zhao Dehuang screamed without sound.

And then—like a candle being snuffed out—the light within his mind vanished completely.

All that remained was emptiness.

No more ancient voice.

No more promise of “Unus gradus… sufficit.”

No more man who rewrote reality.

> [MEMORY ERASURE PROCESS COMPLETE – TARGET ACHIEVED]

[SYSTEM HAS AUTOMATICALLY SEALED COGNITIVE LAYERS RELATED TO “ORIGIN OF THE TIMEPIECE”]

09:37 PM – 27 minutes later

Zhao Dehuang was panting, slumped against the wall. His eyes were dull and unfocused.

A vast blank space had just been erased from his mind—

and he… didn’t even realize it.

He only knew this much:

– The timepiece was still on his wrist.

– He had survived the World of Rules.

– Someone had once… helped him. But who?

There was no one left in his memory.

Only a single thought kept looping in his heart:

“You owe me an answer.”

> [SYSTEM NOTICE: HIGH-LEVEL ALERT REGARDING FORBIDDEN DATA]

> [MENTAL PRESERVATION MODE ACTIVATED — ALL HIDDEN INTERFACE LAYERS TEMPORARILY BLOCKED]

He lowered his head, his eyes slowly closing from sheer exhaustion.

And for the first time since his resurrection—

in his sleep, there were no nightmares.

No Demon Gods.

No collapsing worlds.

There was only a simple dream:

An eight-year-old boy, walking silently through an endless library.

---

At the same time — another space

The man in classical attire closed his notebook.

He gazed into a blurred emptiness, as if peering through the glass of time itself. His expression was calm, heavy with restraint.

“…You don’t need to remember me. Not now.”

He placed his hand on the page and whispered:

“Because if you remember me… you will become very dangerous.”

A beat of silence.

“…But next time—things will be far more interesting.”

---

Side Story

[FINAL MESSAGE — YANG LINTHIAN]

“— If you are hearing this… it means we were unable to return.

Do not look for us.

We are not dead.

But we no longer belong to the world you are living in.

During the development of weapons meant to liberate humanity, we accidentally discovered… something that no science could explain.

An object that could not be destroyed, could not be analyzed, and could not be affected by any form of energy.

Technology, physics, biology—everything failed before it.

But the strangest thing… was that it became linked to me.

I did not touch it.

It touched me.

From that moment on, the object began to change according to my imagination and desires—as if it were listening, or perhaps testing something through me.

We called it the ‘Artifact of God’, because there was no more fitting name.

And it was that artifact… that opened the door to another world.

I, Yang Linthian, was the last one left.

What we destroyed in that war was not the true enemy.

It was merely a thin outer shell, introduced from beyond.

Behind the AI uprising lay an intellectual structure that did not belong to Earth.

We faced it for only a few seconds—

but those few seconds were enough to change the world forever.

I leave you with two things:

First — Do not let fear freeze your progress.

Second — Do not repeat our mistake of touching what you do not understand.

Thirty-six years from now, when the ‘Genesis Threshold’ appears… humanity will have to choose.