Chapter 1: A Bizarre and Twisted World

“……”
Muxuan pressed his aching head, sitting up from the bed.

His bewildered eyes swept around the room, and he instantly sobered up.

This was a room of extravagant luxury—whether it was the gilded edges of the desk or the seemingly priceless Statue.

But these clearly weren’t things he should own, or rather, this wasn’t where he was supposed to be.

He had only gotten up in the middle of the night to play rock-paper-scissors with his reflection in the mirror, and just happened to beat himself. That shouldn’t be enough to transmigrate, right?

Yet the scene before him put him on high alert.

He cautiously pressed his hand against the bedside, trying to get out of bed. But soon, Muxuan raised his hand again.

There was a piece of paper there, with a few lines written on it.

【Rule One: You are the Pope. Make sure to dress yourself properly and go to the Praying Room at the sound of the Bell of Dawn, to lead the faithful in prayer to God.】

【Rule Two: The prayer is sacred and solemn. Do not allow any follower to make a sound, including yourself.】

【Rule Three: The Cardinal Archbishops are central to the Church’s operation. When they bring problems to you and ask for solutions, you must answer and provide reasonable solutions.】

【Rule Four: The Sanctified Quarters are also holy. No one will disturb your rest, nor will there be knocking. If there is, ignore it.】

【Rule Five: Sunday is the holiest day. You must worship at the Chapel alone.】

【Rule Six: Do not…】

【Rule…】

【……】

Upon seeing the contents of this paper, Muxuan’s first reaction was to recall those Rule Horror stories he’d read in his previous life.

Could it be that he’d really ended up inside a Rule Horror!?

This made Muxuan panic.

He knew how devious those Rule Horrors could be—each Rule more twisted than the last, a single misstep meant certain death. And unless you had some sort of cheat, surviving was basically impossible.

With that in mind, Muxuan’s eyes widened, trying to read on and memorize the Rules, but the words after Rule Six suddenly blurred. No matter how he looked, he couldn’t make them out.

What frightened Muxuan even more was that his body began to move on its own. His brows furrowed, and he spoke with some severity: “It seems the Church needs another round of reorganization…”

It was clear he simply thought there was an internal issue within the Church, and that this paper was just a prank—not taking its contents seriously at all.

Muxuan tried with all his might to control his body at this moment, but found he couldn’t move at all. He could only watch as his body leisurely put on the Pope’s sumptuous attire and picked up the complex Crosier nearby.

This made Muxuan realize that he might only be parasitizing the so-called Pope’s body.

He had no control over it at all…

Come on, man, if you want to die, don’t drag me along!

Muxuan wasn’t sure if the Pope’s death would affect him, but if possible, he instinctively wanted to avoid accidents. After all, even if he was only a consciousness attached to the Pope, that was still better than being dead.

Moreover, Muxuan could feel everything the Pope felt. Simply put, if the Pope got hurt, he would feel the pain too.

He really didn’t want to be tormented by something this bizarre!!!

But no matter how hard Muxuan tried, he couldn’t stop the Pope’s actions.

“Dong——” The Bell of Dawn rang out, causing the Pope’s steps to falter for a moment, but he then strode more steadily toward the end of the corridor.

Hearing the bell, Muxuan’s heart skipped a beat. He didn’t know the way, so he could only hope the Pope would follow the Rules on that piece of paper and obediently head to the Praying Room.

Unfortunately, the Pope had no intention of going to the Praying Room. He turned and entered a small room instead.

Inside the room were three Cardinal Archbishops, all dressed in red robes.

“Your Holiness, you’ve arrived…”

Seeing the Pope enter, one Archbishop placed a hand respectfully on his chest and bowed.

‘Seems… pretty normal!?’ Muxuan was surprised.

Could it really have been just a prank? The Pope hadn’t followed the instructions to go to the Praying Room, and nothing seemed to have happened so far.

And judging by the attitudes of the three Cardinal Archbishops, they were quite respectful toward the Pope—not strange at all…

Muxuan’s thoughts spun, but he couldn’t influence the Pope in any way.

After nodding at the Archbishop, the Pope pressed his Crosier to the floor and said sternly: “There have been some unruly elements within the Church lately. Find an opportunity to purge them.”

“Then, how should we carry out the purge?” the Cardinal Archbishop at the back asked respectfully.

The Pope said impatiently, “Decide for yourselves, but make sure every Fly that has infiltrated the Church disappears.”

As soon as the words fell, the Pope’s right hand suddenly raised the Crosier.

“Bang——”

The immense force caused the Pope to stumble back several steps, his face flashing with anger.

“More, how dare you! God will not let you get away with this!”

But the Cardinal Archbishop named More seemed not to hear, mumbling, “Violation… of the Rule…”

The Pope’s brows furrowed. He was about to speak when, in the next second, another Archbishop’s head rolled to the Pope’s feet.

The floor was covered in blood. Realizing something was wrong, the Pope quickly deployed a Bright Barrier.

Immediately after, a tremendous shockwave assaulted from behind.

“Kanit!!!”

This was usually the most obedient Cardinal Archbishop; the Pope truly hadn’t expected even she would betray him.

“Violation… of the Rule…” Kanit was muttering the same words.

This time, the Pope abandoned any sense of luck, taking the Rules on the paper much more seriously.

While the Pope was locked in a standoff with the two Cardinal Archbishops, Muxuan’s focus shifted from the Rule Horror to this world itself.

Muxuan had originally thought this was just a normal world without supernatural powers, with the Pope being the equivalent of a medieval Catholic leader. But it turned out this world truly had supernatural powers.

The Pope himself was impressive too—surviving two surprise attacks, while another Archbishop was instantly beheaded.

The contrast was clear. Muxuan suddenly felt the Pope might just be able to break the Rules through sheer power.

However, the Pope was having a hard time.

The Pope had never let anyone but himself have much access to Divine Favor—even the Cardinal Archbishops had only received it twice. He himself had experienced Divine Favor fourteen times.

Yet now, before the strange Black Power used by More and Kanit, he was forced onto the back foot.

Rule…

The Pope’s eyes narrowed, as if pondering what exactly was going on.

But soon, Screams rose up from the direction of the Praying Room, the waves of noise instantly making the Pope realize trouble had broken out there as well.

His anger was unmistakable, and the Pope stopped holding back.

A surge of Lightforce gathered at the tip of the Crosier, exploding within the small room. Such power did not destroy the two Cardinal Archbishops completely, but it did render them unable to move.

“Name the true culprit, and God will forgive your sins!”

But both of them only stared blankly, repeating, “Violation… of the Rule…”

The Pope’s patience wore thin. Judging them to be thoroughly Corrupted, he killed them both on the spot. His Divine Favor was insufficient to purify them.

For the power of Corruption to penetrate the Church, it meant this Corruption was very strong—he had to save some strength to protect himself.

The Pope quickly left the room and rushed toward the Church’s outer perimeter.

Along the way, witnessing one tragedy after another, people kept calling out, “Your Holiness, Pope!”

But the Pope had no intention of stopping, nor did Muxuan!

Right now, Muxuan only hoped the Pope could get them both out of this cursed place.

Soon, Muxuan saw the Church doors leading to the Outsider world.

“Can we leave now?”

But the Pope abruptly halted, Lightforce blazing from the Crosier as countless rays fell upon himself.

Yet his steps would not move.

“Move, now!!!” Muxuan was desperate—if they didn’t escape quickly, who knew what would happen next? No one in these Rule Horror scenarios ever met a good end.

Finally, after a pause of half a minute, the Pope stepped forward and crossed the threshold.

Immediately, all the surrounding radiance shattered. Endless darkness surged in, crashing into his mind like a raging meat grinder. Blood-red light flashed across the sky.

There, towering beyond all measure, was a rotten face with three pairs of “wings” formed of countless fingers—an… Angel…