Chapter 200
Chapter 200
Not long ago, Zhao Qingqing had been captured by the Old Witch and taken into the Misty Forest.
Back then, the Old Witch had sent her straight into the Rabbit Den.
Inside the Rabbit Den, Zhao Qingqing met Ghost Face Doctor No. 002, who was injecting the Rabbits with drugs.
Dr. Ghost Face told Zhao Qingqing she had two choices.
The first was to stay among the Rabbit swarm and be gnawed apart by the drug-injected muscle Rabbits.
The second was for Zhao Qingqing to voluntarily give up her Little Red Riding Hood Player Identity, switch sides, and become one of the Rabbit Hunters.
As long as Zhao Qingqing became a Rabbit Hunter, she could avoid the fate of being killed by the red-eyed Rabbits after 12:40 a.m.
At the time, Zhao Qingqing had no other choice.
Red-eyed Rabbits surrounded her from every direction, glaring viciously at Zhao Qingqing in the middle. Every single Rabbit was so eager to eat her that drool streamed from its mouth.
Zhao Qingqing could only choose the second option, temporarily saving herself while also buying the other players a chance to escape.
And so, in front of Dr. Ghost Face, she voluntarily gave up her player identity and became a “Rabbit Hunter.”
At the time, Dr. Ghost Face injected Zhao Qingqing with a drug.
To ensure that Zhao Qingqing had the absolute strength to kill all the players, Dr. Ghost Face gave her five times the normal dosage used on a Rabbit.
Zhao Qingqing’s human fingernails fell off, and fur grew anew across her body. She became a true Rabbit.
Rabbits could kill players, but players could not kill Rabbits.
This game, where “players could only take hits and could hardly fight back,” would last for twenty minutes.
From 12:40 a.m. to exactly 1:00 a.m., it would all be Zhao Qingqing’s hunting time.
During this period, all players would be individually transported into specific scenes to ensure that every player was isolated, preventing them from rioting as a group.
As the Rabbit Hunter, Zhao Qingqing would then enter these scenes one after another and hunt the players down one by one.
At first, Zhao Qingqing thought she would be able to choose whether or not to kill.
But only after receiving the Rabbit Hunter’s rules did Zhao Qingqing realize things were not that simple.
12:40 a.m. was a crucial point in time.
The Rabbit Hunter’s rules told her that before 12:40 a.m. arrived, the Rabbit Hunter would be deeply affected by the Moon.
In the fairy-tale world, everyone would be unconsciously drawn to the Moon.
But only creatures like the Rabbit Hunter would have their pupils stained bloodred after looking at the Moon, their temperament turning violent and uncontrollable.
That was also why Zhao Qingqing had been wearing sunglasses when she entered the tavern.
When Zhao Qingqing went outside, she needed the sunglasses to block her view and guard against being drawn in by the Moonlight, preventing herself from looking directly at the Moon and having her personality change drastically.
After 12:40 a.m. arrived, however, the Rabbit Hunter would no longer be affected by the Moon.
Once Zhao Qingqing entered the “Hunting State,” whether or not she raised her head to look at the Moon, her pupils would become bloodthirsty, and her heart would be filled with an extreme craving for slaughter.
So the moment the time pointed to 12:40 a.m., Zhao Qingqing would enter a berserk state and lose control, killing all her companions.
At the entrance to the Kitchen, Zhao Qingqing was still arguing with the owner.
Zhao Qingqing needed to get the chocolate as soon as possible.
The chocolate had been laced with sleep-inducing ingredients. Jiang Li had told her this in the fairy-tale town.
So as long as Zhao Qingqing could find the chocolate and eat it, she could put herself into a deep sleep and stop herself from losing control and killing people.
Zhao Qingqing knew very well that, for her, this stage was an impossible dilemma.
Because Jiang Li’s role was extremely important. Jiang Li was the Chosen One.
If she did not kill the Chosen One, Jiang Li, she would fail the hunting mission and die.
But if she killed Jiang Li, then on the surface, she would have completed her mission and could leave the fairy-tale world alive. However, she had not forgotten that the world outside was not Huaguo, but the amusement park Instance!
If Jiang Li died, it would mean the Instance had failed. The people of the Ghost Face Organization would still kill every hostage from Jinlin City, including Zhao Qingqing herself!
Death was inevitable either way, so Zhao Qingqing decided she would die by “failing the hunting mission.”
As long as Jiang Li made it out of the fairy-tale world alive and successfully cleared the amusement park Instance, Zhao Qingqing would have one chance to revive.
That was the best solution Zhao Qingqing could come up with for the current situation.
“Boss.” Zhao Qingqing unbuttoned her thick coat and pulled a Rabbit corpse out from inside.
This Rabbit was one Zhao Qingqing had killed right before leaving.
It had taken Zhao Qingqing’s human belongings to trade for food, and Zhao Qingqing had caught it red-handed.
As it happened, Zhao Qingqing hadn’t put on sunglasses when she went out. She had accidentally seen the Moon, and her eyes turned red.
So, overcome by bloodlust at the time, she had lost control for a moment and slaughtered the Rabbit.
Dr. Ghost Face had watched the whole thing from the side, dumbstruck, and immediately added a rule that the “Rabbit Hunter” could not kill Rabbits either.
While he was at it, he also gave Zhao Qingqing a pair of sunglasses, so she wouldn’t accidentally harm her own kind before “Hunting Time” arrived.
Dr. Ghost Face told Zhao Qingqing to deal with the murdered Rabbit herself, so Zhao Qingqing had carried the Rabbit corpse around with her until now.
Zhao Qingqing held up the unlucky Rabbit, long since dead, and stuffed it into the boss’s hands.
“I’m not asking for anything outrageous. I just need you to tell me where I can get chocolate,” Zhao Qingqing said earnestly.
Since reasoning with him had gotten her nowhere, she wondered if she could bribe the tavern owner instead.
The boss looked at the Rabbit shoved into his hands. His expression softened, but he still seemed a little troubled.
In his simple, honest voice, he said, “It’s not that I, Lao Zhu, don’t want to tell you. It’s just that things like chocolate are all managed by the organization. We can’t just reveal that information casually.”
“Right, honey?” the boss asked, turning back to the Proprietress.
“Honey, do you remember your brother-in-law? The one surnamed Shi. Didn’t he use some organization Converter without authorization just to save your sister? Now he’s wanted, isn’t he?”
Hiding in the Kitchen, the Proprietress thought of her ill-fated twin sister, and a bitter feeling rose in her heart.
Deep down, she supported what her brother-in-law had done to save her sister, but she couldn’t exactly say so openly.
“Sigh. Actually, it’s not like I can’t tell you,” the Proprietress said, walking out of the Kitchen.
She snatched the dead Rabbit over, tossed it backhanded onto the Kitchen floor, and accepted the payment.
“Look at those two.” The Proprietress lifted her chin, indicating Jiang Li and Xu Haoran’s direction.
“Do you know either of them?” the Proprietress asked, recalling the scene from earlier when Xu Haoran had gotten entangled with Ms. Rabbit.
The Proprietress had to act according to the rules.
However, the rules of the Forest Tavern were:
[After staying inside the tavern for ten full minutes, you and your companion may ask the Proprietress one question. The Proprietress will answer truthfully.]
As long as Zhao Qingqing got Xu Haoran or Jiang Li to admit she was one of their companions, Zhao Qingqing would gain one chance to ask a question.
Zhao Qingqing looked at Xu Haoran’s back, feeling terribly conflicted.
She couldn’t reveal that she was Zhao Qingqing. So how was she supposed to make Xu Haoran trust her?
And she had just acted on impulse and slapped Xu Haoran across the face…
Jiang Li silently lowered her head and drank her beverage.
Xu Haoran, who was sitting diagonally across from Jiang Li, immediately stood up and strode over to Zhao Qingqing.
“Let’s be friends. My name is Xu Haoran, and I fell in love with you at first sight.”
Xu Haoran directly took Zhao Qingqing’s soft Rabbit hand.
The invisible guests inside the tavern suddenly let out an “Awooo-” and started laughing and cheering them on.
“Can you answer now?” Xu Haoran tightened his grip on Zhao Qingqing’s palm and looked straight at the Proprietress.