Chapter 24
Chapter 24
Su Chen felt disgust as he looked at Yamashita’s ingratiating expression.
He also understood the implication behind the man’s words.
Yamashita was trying to shame him into helping.
Unfortunately, his little scheme was doomed.
Talking morality with an enemy was pointless, especially an enemy bound to him by a blood feud.
Only someone with a hole in their head would do that.
Su Chen was certainly no self-sacrificing saint.
After a moment’s thought, a plan came to him.
“It’s simple. As long as a person hasn’t begun transforming into an animal, the white lions won’t kill them. They can even remove the contamination from your body.”
“If you don’t believe me, look inside. Aren’t all the normal people still alive?”
Su Chen pointed toward the narrow gap in the iron gate.
Yamashita Kenichiro stiffened.
Because the gap was so narrow, he had not seen the full situation inside the Lion Enclosure.
When Su Chen emerged alone, Yamashita had assumed he was the only survivor.
He heard that others had survived.
He hurried to the entrance and carefully peered through the gap.
He relaxed at once. The survivors inside were moving toward the exit.
He examined the dead as well.
Sure enough, Su Chen was right: all of them had undergone physical mutations.
The normal people were unharmed.
Yamashita finally relaxed completely.
He possessed a relatively tenacious nature and had acted cautiously. He had neither petted a rabbit nor taken the right-hand path in the Primate Enclosure.
Thus, even now, he had not begun transforming into an animal.
Seeing so many survivors made him believe nearly everything Su Chen had said.
The other survivors soon emerged one after another.
Yamashita’s eyes shifted as he quietly questioned each of them.
By the time everyone had come out, he believed Su Chen completely.
Without further delay, he prepared to reenter the Lion Enclosure.
Su Chen asked with a smile.
“Aren’t you afraid I’ll trick you again?”
Yamashita’s expression darkened as he remembered the earlier deception.
His heart trembled.
Then he recalled that he had questioned so many survivors.
Their accounts all agreed, and the facts were right before him.
None of them had died.
Why should anything happen to him?
Having convinced himself, Yamashita snorted and did not answer.
He strode proudly into the Lion Enclosure toward the four white lions at its center.
The man had clearly turned hostile now that he no longer needed Su Chen.
Su Chen had expected this.
A person whose sense of honor and humiliation outweighed right and wrong would bow and scrape when they needed something.
The moment they no longer needed you, they remembered their humiliation and sought revenge.
Yamashita’s confidence had come roaring back, so naturally his attitude changed at once.
But as Su Chen watched his retreating back, his smile grew brighter.
When Yamashita neared the white lions, Su Chen called out.
“Oh, right. I forgot to tell you: since you drank rabbit blood, you can’t enter the Lion Enclosure. You’re dead!”
Yamashita was horrified and spun around.
But all he saw was Su Chen’s radiant smile slowly disappearing behind the heavy iron gate.
With a crash, the gate closed.
Yamashita’s heart lurched. He knew something was wrong.
He remembered the relevant passage from the Employee Handbook.
[If the number of white lions suddenly increases beyond four, take out the “rabbit blood,” show it to them, and splash it on the first white lion that immediately runs toward you. Leave at once after doing so. Do not keep watching the extra white lions during this process.]
“Baka! Su Chen, how dare you deceive me again!”
Yamashita Kenichiro roared in furious humiliation.
Still cursing, he started to flee.
But it was too late.
As his heart raced and his emotions churned, dizziness flooded his head.
His eyes swelled painfully, and the top of his head began to tingle.
His anger vanished, replaced by panic.
He felt as though he were a rabbit.
“It’s over. I think I’m mutating! Why did it have to happen now?”
Yamashita sank deeper into despair.
He had drunk rabbit blood, but at least he had not yet mutated.
Perhaps he could still bluff his way through.
Instead, the mutation had begun in the most dangerous place possible.
Unfortunately, he did not know that an idiot would have been fine.
Someone who knew fewer rules would also have been fine.
So would someone carefree enough not to dwell on anything.
The problem was that his country had provided him with too many rules. He was suspicious by nature and exceptionally skilled at making connections.
Every earlier conversation Su Chen held with him had deliberately encouraged that suspicious chain of thought.
Only when Su Chen shouted that he had drunk rabbit blood and should wait for death did Yamashita recall the relevant rules.
Then his mind supplied all the terrible consequences.
His emotions lurched violently, and he began doubting the rabbit blood again.
That caused him to violate a rule once more.
[Do not read the label above the food, and pay no attention to what anyone else calls it. Ignore it. If necessary, treat it as ordinary food, buy it, and eat it. Do not let “It” know that you have noticed “It.”]
Together, these factors detonated the time bomb inside Yamashita Kenichiro at the most dangerous possible moment.
The next moment, Yamashita’s eyes turned blood-red.
At the same time, the largest and strongest white lion charged.
Its enormous jaws opened.
Squelch.
Blood sprayed everywhere.
Yamashita’s headless body slowly dropped to its knees and then toppled forward.
It looked as though he were repenting before the Longguo civilians he had caused to die.
A death notice sounded.
[Yamashita Kenichiro of Sakura Nation has died. Following a comprehensive assessment, Sakura Nation’s national fortune has been reduced by 10 points. 70 points remain.]
[Mount Fuji will erupt for 10 days.]
The people of Sakura Nation collapsed when they heard the announcement.
Those living near Mount Fuji were especially frantic.
Before the livestream closed, they cursed wildly.
“Baka! Yamashita Kenichiro was too stupid! He fell for that cunning Longguo man’s scheme! Even ten thousand deaths could not wash away this humiliation!”
“The Longguo man is even worse. He viciously harmed the Chosen One of a friendly nation. He has no morality at all. What an inferior race!”
The speaker selectively ignored everything Yamashita had done in the previous Horror World.
They gave full vent to their anger.
“Exactly! The great Sakura Empire should use this opportunity to regain its armed forces and teach Longguo a harsh lesson!”
“Agreed!”