Chapter 13
Chapter 13
[Rabbit Keeper: Humans have been littering on campus again. They never want to be good and die inside the areas I’ve designated.]
[Rabbit Keeper: Organizer, could you take the rubbish near you out of the school while you’re at it?]
Rabbit Keeper was a bit of a clean freak, with a compulsive streak.
Did rubbish here mean human corpses?
Rabbit Keeper’s messages were all in human writing.
Some entities in the large group chatted in human language too.
That meant it was nothing extraordinary for an entity to speak like a human.
Lin Yinxi had always replied to Rabbit Keeper with stickers before.
This time, she frowned, her fingertip hovering above the screen.
She stared at the chat box, hesitated for a while, then made up her mind and lightly typed “Mm” before sending it.
Two messages came back at once.
[Rabbit Keeper: Hmm? Fly actually left you the ability to type messages to others.]
[Rabbit Keeper: Fly must really like you.]
[Organizer: You too?]
After all, [Rabbit Keeper] could send human writing too.
He sent a sticker of an angry rabbit.
[Rabbit Keeper: Fly and I are of equal rank.]
Lin Yinxi paused. She had assumed too much.
Entities had their own hierarchy of status.
High-ranking entities could speak human language.
But being able to do so did not necessarily make an entity high-ranking. It could also mean a twisted entity like [Fly] had shown some mercy.
Lin Yinxi suppressed her tangled emotions. If she discussed this subject too much, she would give herself away. Better get back to work.
[Organizer: I’ve found the rubbish. How do I take it out? Can I use the staff entrance?]
[Rabbit Keeper: Bag it up and dump it anywhere outside the campus gate. Be careful not to let a cleaner see you littering.]
[Rabbit Keeper: There’s no separate staff entrance at the campus gate. This is a private assignment from me. I’ll issue you a temporary electronic staff badge. Gatekeeper will let you through when the badge is shown.]
[Rabbit Keeper: Just fill in the form however you like. I’ll approve it. Don’t worry too much about the warning below.]
Then Rabbit Keeper sent a link. It led to an external website, so she had to leave the chat page to fill it out. The data charges were separate.
Lin Yinxi opened it. The webpage contained a form in black text on a white background. At first glance, it looked no different from an ordinary company’s employee registration form.
Employee name, assigned area, position…
Each field had an input box beside it.
A line of small gray text appeared at the very bottom:
[Please provide truthful information. False declarations will be referred to Rabbit House for handling.]
Handled by Rabbit House?
Lin Yinxi did not know what that meant, but her instincts told her it could not be anything good.
The form was long. Only the first three fields were required. Everything else could be left blank.
Lin Yinxi looked down the list.
My God. It really did go on and on.
Entity number, origin classification, intelligence level, form level, contamination type, state of existence, danger level… It looked incredibly complicated!
Deng Miao obediently watched Lin Yinxi use her phone beside her.
She had noticed that before every move, her upperclasswoman had to communicate with the black-screened phone.
Ancient masters prayed to gods and Buddhas before saving people. These days, Yinxi prayed to her phone. Worship for the cyber age.
Lin Yinxi entered her name. The area defaulted to [Jincheng University], and the position automatically appeared as [Organizer 071].
After she pressed Confirm, the page loaded for a few seconds, then an electronic staff badge appeared.
Against a stark white background was the default image of a rabbit grinning widely.
A red access indicator kept flashing in the bottom-right corner: Temporary access active.
Seeing that the badge had been generated successfully, Lin Yinxi flexed her somewhat numb fingers.
Now, as long as she maintained the identity of [Organizer], her employee status could get her past the guard’s checks.
Deng Miao leaned close, clasping her hands over her heart in prayer. She whispered, “Yinxi, my all-powerful senior, have you thought of a way?”
Lin Yinxi glanced at the large green rubbish bin ahead. A thick black bin bag lined it.
She tugged the bag and said softly, “We’ll pull this out. You hide inside with the corpse, and I’ll take you both out.”
Deng Miao bit her nails nervously. “But how will you get past the guard?”
Lin Yinxi patted her shoulder. “Don’t worry. I’ve got connections in high places.”
The guard had returned to the booth by now and picked up the newspaper again.
Lin Yinxi secretly pulled out the bin bag. Something weighed down its bottom. When she tipped it out, she found Chinese parasol-tree leaves fallen on campus.
They slipped quietly into the shrubs and crawled toward where Heng Jiangyue had fallen.
Lin Yinxi parted the wet branches and leaves. The sight before her caught her breath.
No. Anyone with weak bazi could not bear to look at this.[^bazi]
Heng Jiangyue no longer looked like herself. Her neck bent to one side, and gurgling sounds came from her throat. Tumors bulged on the exposed muscles, slowly writhing like living things and crawling up her arms.
Deng Miao went white and clamped a hand over her mouth to stop herself from screaming.
“Yinxi, she’s still moving… Is she coming back to life?” Her voice shook.
Lin Yinxi stared at Heng Jiangyue’s continually twitching corpse, her eyelid jumping.
This was no return to life. This was mutation.
Just like the little bird soaked by acid rain.
Death was only the beginning of contamination.
If they delayed until Heng Jiangyue fully mutated, they would have to fight the guard in front and a mutated monster behind.
“We have to hurry,” Lin Yinxi whispered. “There’s no time.”
She spread open the black bin bag. The plastic rustled, and she instinctively looked toward the security booth.
This spot was outside the guard’s watch area. The guard was still looking down at the newspaper.
The acid rain had stopped now. Fighting her revulsion, Lin Yinxi wrapped the jacket she had used against the rain around her hand and reached out to drag Heng Jiangyue’s corpse.
Deng Miao also gritted her teeth and endured the nausea, helping beside her to drag the corpse into the bag.
With their earlier corpse-hauling experience, they worked quickly, packing the body into the bag and setting it on the flatbed cart.
Deng Miao kept muttering, “Amitabha. Om mani padme hum. Don’t rise from the dead. Please don’t rise halfway through.”[^prayer]
Heng Jiangyue’s arm hung limply. Deng Miao climbed into the bag, closed her eyes, and gripped Heng Jiangyue’s shoulders, keeping the corpse facing the guard while she hid behind it.
If Heng Jiangyue rose from the dead on the way, Deng Miao would be the first to die.
Lin Yinxi gripped the cart’s handle, took a deep breath, and pushed it toward the security booth.
[^bazi]: In Chinese fortune-telling, a person’s birth date and time are believed to indicate the strength of their fate; a weak fate may be considered vulnerable to supernatural harm.
[^prayer]: Amitabha is a Buddha’s name invoked in prayer; “Om mani padme hum” is a Buddhist mantra. Deng Miao mixes them while desperately seeking protection.