Chapter 28
Chapter 28
Inside the Aquarium, Su Chen’s mind raced as he searched for a way out of this predicament.
At first glance, putting on a black uniform could save him temporarily.
But it would also make him susceptible to the other party’s control, turning him into an underling.
There was an even more serious side effect: Su Chen believed that once he put on the black uniform, he would lose all chance of escaping the zoo.
He could only keep that option as a final resort,
to be used when he had no other choice.
Second, he felt the key to breaking the deadlock might still lie in cognition.
But simply holding firm to his cognition was no longer enough.
Trying to wage a battle of cognition in front of the other party would be courting death.
He had to go one step further, find a point of attack, and then reinforce his cognition.
But he was still struggling to determine how to take that extra step.
The cross-eyed staff member in black spoke.
“Since no one is saying anything, I’ll take that as agreement. Everyone, follow me to see the whales!”
With that, he turned and walked deeper into the Aquarium.
The others did not dare disobey and followed him.
Knowing that escape was impossible, Su Chen simply went along as well.
As he passed the counter holding the black uniforms, however, he casually picked one up and draped it over his arm.
It was an emergency measure that might save his life.
The people behind him brightened at the sight and copied him, each taking a uniform.
Before long, the group reached the Whale Exhibit.
The cross-eyed staff member stopped.
Pointing at the glass, he giggled.
“Look! Isn’t the whale huge?”
No one dared resist. They looked in the direction he indicated.
The next instant, everyone was struck numb.
A dead elephant floated inside the Whale Exhibit.
Su Chen shuddered as well.
Although the notice had warned him in advance, the sight of something so bizarre still sent a chill down his spine.
The elephant’s four limbs were curled, and its long, slender trunk stretched desperately upward.
It plainly looked as though it had drowned.
In the end, its trunk had failed to breach the surface and find the air it longed for.
The sight was indescribably desolate.
For no apparent reason, Su Chen’s nose stung, as if he shared some connection with the elephant.
With that feeling in mind, he examined it again.
He soon discovered that its body was covered in wounds.
They resembled injuries inflicted during a fight with others of its kind.
As his gaze moved down, a conspicuous scar on the elephant’s left foreleg came into view.
Su Chen studied it for a long time. It looked familiar.
He had definitely seen it somewhere before.
Suddenly, a photograph surfaced in his mind.
It was a work photograph of a security guard he had seen in the security office.
That guard had possessed an identical scar on his left arm.
It was exactly the same as the scar on this elephant.
A terrifying possibility occurred to Su Chen.
If visitors in this zoo could turn into animals, what about the staff?
Could this elephant be the security guard?
The thought made every hair on his body stand on end.
Then he recalled what had happened in the Elephant Enclosure.
When he had fallen into a hopeless situation, a normal elephant had appeared before him.
Its enormous body had filled his field of vision
and helped him hold firm to his cognition.
That was how he had survived.
Su Chen vaguely remembered that elephant having the same scar on its left foreleg.
When Su Chen also considered how, after everyone was rescued, the staff in blue had faced the Elephant Enclosure with grief,
Su Chen could roughly infer the truth.
The security guard had turned into an elephant and cooperated with the staff members’ shouts, helping trapped visitors reinforce their cognition and escape alive.
His actions had clearly offended “It.”
That was why the guard had suffered “Its” retaliation.
First, the herd of elephants with rabbit ears had attacked him. Then he had been thrown into the Aquarium.
Su Chen was deeply moved.
When he looked again at the elephant floating in the Whale Exhibit, his eyes filled with respect.
This security guard had embodied the brilliance of humanity.
He was a true hero.
“Well? Isn’t the whale huge? Does everyone like whales?”
The cross-eyed staff member questioned the Chosen Ones.
The few Chosen Ones in front were closest to him. Their faces changed drastically as they exchanged helpless looks,
not knowing how to answer.
As everyone remained silent and the cross-eyed man’s expression grew increasingly displeased,
Su Chen spoke.
He said loudly, “Of course we do. Whales love humans, so naturally we humans love whales.”
Hearing an answer, the cross-eyed staff member smiled.
He clapped happily like a child.
Then he continued,
“But I don’t like whales. They’re too stupid. They always get stranded on land, and it takes me so much effort to put them back in the water.”
Su Chen drew a deep breath and stared directly into the man’s crooked eyes.
“You could leave them alone,” he said gravely. “Perhaps they prefer living on land.”
“Impossible. Whales live in water.”
“You’re not a whale. How do you know they don’t like living on land?”
“But you’re not a whale either.”
Su Chen smiled at that.
He replied loudly, “Perhaps I’ll be a whale someday too. Every one of us is a whale!”
The cross-eyed man pouted like a bullied child.
“I don’t like whales.”
He muttered the words to himself.
Then his expression changed, and a brilliant smile returned.
“Now that we’ve seen the whales, let’s go see the jellyfish. I like jellyfish.”
Without waiting for anyone to agree,
he walked ahead.
The others had no choice but to follow him toward the Jellyfish Exhibit once more.
As the group moved on, Su Chen stopped when he passed the floating elephant and bowed to it.
A hero deserved the proper respect.
Besides, this one had saved his life.
Yet because he lowered his head,
he noticed a small ball of paper in the corner.
Su Chen looked around and found that everyone was watching him.
His inexplicable bow to the elephant had clearly seemed strange and drawn their attention.
Since every gaze was already fixed on him,
Su Chen openly picked up the paper ball
and unfolded it in front of everyone.