Chapter 8
Chapter 8
And so, the people with rabbit ears and some of those who had no ideas of their own all took the right-hand path.
The several dozen remaining Chosen Ones were essentially of the same mind as Sakura Nation’s contestant.
They had all worked out the key point.
And so they stayed where they were.
Time slowly slipped by.
Roughly half an hour went by.
Yamashita Kenichiro began to wonder if he had guessed wrong.
Just then, a staff member in a blue uniform approached.
The Chosen Ones immediately crowded around him.
They described the strange incident all at once.
The staff member’s expression changed drastically when he heard them.
“Wait here. I’ll be right back.”
Without waiting for anyone to respond, he turned and ran toward the entrance of the Primate Enclosure.
He dug a sign out of the grass beside the road.
Then he planted it in the middle of the path.
Several large words were written across it.
“Primate Enclosure Temporarily Closed”
Once that was done, the staff member in blue ran back.
“Follow me,” he said, panic on his face.
He strode quickly toward the left-hand path.
Yamashita Kenichiro’s smile grew even broader.
He knew he had guessed correctly.
Lamb, who had bullied him, had clearly chosen wrong.
That damned man was finished!
He happily hurried after the staff member.
Meanwhile, Su Chen felt as though he had been walking through the fog for ten minutes.
At last, he emerged from it.
The instant he stepped out, his vision became clear and bright.
Su Chen let out a long breath.
He began studying his surroundings.
Then a crumpled ball of paper near his foot caught his attention.
Su Chen bent down, picked it up, and unfolded it.
Many lines had been scrawled across the page.
In one corner, in messy handwriting, were the words “escape”, crossed out, and “survive.”
1. “Rabbit blood” does not exist. It is “goat meat.” (This sentence had been written and crossed out repeatedly until the deleted words were illegible.)
2. The Goat Enclosure is the elephants. (Beneath the sentence was a crooked drawing of an elephant with rabbit ears.)
3. Rabbits eat primates. (This sentence had been crossed out, and a question mark was circled over the word “primates.”) In the Primate Enclosure, do not speak to staff, do not leave, do not feed the primates, and do not enter when there is only one path.
4. Do not enter the Aquarium when no one is there.
5. Only “goat meat” is safe to eat.
6. If the Aquarium turns off its lights at night, do not spend the night there!
7. The first four white lions are primates. The fifth white lion is a goat. Rabbits are elephants. Blue is black. (This sentence was heavily emphasized.)
8. You are a whale. I am a goat. (The handwriting was extremely messy.)
9. You are an elephant. I am a white lion. (The handwriting was unusually neat.)
Su Chen’s expression turned extremely grim as he read the note.
The incomprehensible yet deeply disturbing statements made his entire body feel profoundly uncomfortable.
There was the elephant with rabbit ears, as well as the rule claiming that rabbits ate primates.
They dealt Su Chen an enormous shock.
But Su Chen had one strength.
If he could not make sense of something for now, he stopped thinking about it.
If he kept studying these statements, the horrors might not even get the chance to kill him.
His mind might collapse first instead.
Su Chen put the note away and surveyed his surroundings again.
A security office, located close to both a shop and the Elephant Enclosure, caught his attention.
Su Chen turned toward it, intending to ask the security guard what was happening.
He soon reached the door.
He raised a hand and knocked several times.
No one answered.
Seeing this, Su Chen pushed the door open and walked inside.
The room was empty.
There was only an old desk. On it sat a photograph of a security guard and a note covered in writing and stuck to the desktop.
Su Chen frowned and approached the desk, looking first at the photograph.
It showed a dark-skinned, middle-aged man close to forty.
A long, conspicuous scar ran along his left arm. It looked like a wound left by a bite.
Nothing else about him seemed unusual.
Su Chen shifted his gaze to the note beside the photograph.
Before long, he finished reading it.
Shock spread across his face.
[Hello to whoever takes over my shift, anyone who happens to enter the security office, or any new employee who sees this note in the future. During your shift, you must do everything this note tells you. These are the working practices I have accumulated that will keep you safe and mentally stable. I do not want to lose another colleague. I do not want to experience any more inexplicable events. I am sure you do not either. After reading this advice, pretend you never saw it and go about your work.]
1. Always remember the color of your uniform. It may be any color: red, blue, or black. Do not change the color of your uniform. Remaining firm in your sense of self is extremely important. Do not let “It” discover that your understanding of the outside world is wavering in fear and shifting back and forth.
2. Believe. Believe. Believe. Animals deserve your trust. Only animals deserve it. (The latter portion was traced in blue.)
3. Rabbits eat people. People wearing rabbit-ear accessories do not. Shadows beneath trees eat people. People who trim those shadows do not. Elephants eat people. People who look at elephants do not, and neither do people who do not look at elephants. White lions eat people. Glowing jellyfish do not. (In childish handwriting: Is it because jellyfish don’t have brains?)
4. “It” cries when it is stopped. “It” laughs when it succeeds. Do not concern yourself with what “It” is. If you discover “It,” then have fun and play together. You cannot escape. (The latter portion was traced in blue.)
5. Food that inexplicably appears on a shelf anywhere is a test. Do not read the label above it, 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.” Eat. I like all of you. When you finish eating, we can go see the jellyfish together. (Traced in blue.)
6. Humans have two eyes, arranged horizontally on either side of the nose. Anything else is not human. When a human’s appearance changes, it means “It” is watching. At such times, try to keep your understanding aligned with “Its,” or at the very least, do not waver between possibilities.
(In childish handwriting: Are humans primates?)
After reading the note in the security office, thought after thought raced through Su Chen’s mind.
He continually compared the Visitor Rules and the crumpled note he had found against the contents of this note.
Before long, Su Chen had roughly worked out a chain of logic.