Chapter 330: Beware of Rabbits (Part 4) The Death of Miffy

The dim scene shattered like glass struck by a heavy object. Qi Si found himself still standing in the corridor of the teaching building, and the previously frozen scene and figures around him regained their dynamism.

The thin evening glow illuminated the walls with a warm yellow hue. The clamor of students came from downstairs, and the wind rustled discarded paper balls in the hallway, making a “swish-swish” sound.

Reiko breathed softly, a different frequency from the wind, which made the environment seem even more tranquil.

Qi Si lowered his head and saw the Rabbit God Statue lying quietly in his right hand. After he stared at it for two seconds, a countdown refreshed:

【The game “Escape from Rabbit God Town” will open again in 11:59:59】

Although this text-based game embedded within the dungeon wouldn’t cause players to truly die, it wasn’t entirely without restrictions.

It only opened once every twelve hours, and players could play a maximum of fourteen times within seven days. This didn’t seem like a small number, but if it aroused the suspicion of NPCs within the game, it would result in failure, so the fault tolerance wasn’t very high.

Although he reached a failure ending after only a few words into the game, Qi Si still gained a lot of information from the text narration at the end and the save file.

First, the “Xiao Qi” he played had some connection with an existence called the “Evil Ghost,” though the specifics were unknown.

Second, he had a kinship with the Kannagi family head of Rabbit God Town, and it wasn’t too distant; it could be father-son, grandfather-grandson, or uncle-nephew.

Third, a disaster would occur on the day of the Fireworks Festival, causing Rabbit God Town to have “no tomorrow,” and “Xiao Qi” would also die in the disaster.

More information would have to wait until twelve hours later, when he could re-enter the game to verify.

Twelve hours later would be five in the morning. Hopefully, he could find an alarm clock in the school dorm… “Lu Ming, what’s wrong? You look terrible…” Reiko’s concerned voice rang out.

Qi Si raised his hand to touch his face, feeling a coldness, and belatedly felt chilly.

It was strange. He clearly didn’t feel fear or any discomfort, yet his body reacted as if it had been scared by the text game, his shoulders trembling uncontrollably.

Qi Si tilted his head slightly and caught a glimpse of his pale face in the iron door of the fire cabinet at the stairwell, looking much more genuine than his acting.

He held up the statue in his hand and put on a serious expression: “Reiko, this is the Rabbit God Statue I told you about. I heard them say it’s cursed and will tempt its holder to harm others for their desires. We should quickly throw it away…”

Reiko’s expression also tensed upon hearing this: “Mm-hmm! Where should we throw it then?”

“Just throw it down from upstairs. From the third floor, it should shatter.” Qi Si said, gripping the Rabbit God Statue and swinging it out the window, retrieving it into his inventory at the last second.

In Reiko’s eyes, the Rabbit God Statue simply vanished from Qi Si’s hand, presumably thrown downstairs and smashed to pieces, just as he said.

The girl was still a bit worried: “Lu Ming, I heard that blaspheming statues might incur divine punishment. Will something happen to you for smashing it?”

“If this so-called Rabbit God truly had a way to punish me, it wouldn’t let me smash its statue.” Qi Si forced a comforting smile, “Even if it really comes after me, I’m not afraid. I’ve heard many ghost stories and I’m never scared of these things. If something happens, I’ll always have a better way to deal with it than you.”

…The players squatting in the live stream only saw the young man on screen smiling selflessly and radiantly. Those who knew the truth silently typed “6” in the bullet chat.

Although they, if in his shoes, would also try to take the Rabbit God Statue from Reiko, they truly couldn’t act so self-sacrificing after gaining an advantage.

As the live stream time lengthened, more and more players flocked to Qi Si’s live stream.

After all, the Unnamed Guild was too mysterious. No one could figure out the behavior pattern of this new force that had just emerged and was already clashing with Kyushu, nor how many trump cards it held.

Qi Si, as the Vice Guild Leader of the Unnamed Guild, starting a live stream at the height of the storm, undoubtedly provided players with a window to understand the Unnamed Guild. Even free players who were far removed from worldly affairs couldn’t help but peek in curiously.

And, predictably, he would soon be regarded as the spokesperson for the Unnamed Guild, his every action representing its demeanor, just like Fu Jue for Kyushu.

Bullet comments flew across the interface.

“This dungeon is interesting. It actually has an in-game game. The dungeon NPC designed a game for players to play. I didn’t expect a dual-line parallel mode like this; it’s quite novel.”

“What’s the use of novelty? I just checked, and this dungeon has over a dozen clear records. The reason there’s not much buzz is because it’s incredibly simple; as long as you don’t court death, you won’t die. It’s more like a beginner’s dungeon.”

“Everyone says it’s simple, but has anyone achieved a True Ending clear? I think Si Qi entered this dungeon probably aiming for the first True Ending clear. We can also see how good he is at puzzle-solving.”

…The small interlude with the Rabbit God Statue quickly passed. Qi Si followed Reiko down the stairs, out of the teaching building, and turned into the adjacent cafeteria.

The dark gaping door and concrete walls blocked out the light and clamor, making the entire building appear lifeless from a distance. Upon entering, one could smell damp disinfectant, and the walls seemed to have rotted in water, covered with patches of mold here and there.

The cafeteria’s interior was quite spacious, but there were simply too many students. At a glance, almost all seats were occupied, with only a few scattered empty spots in the corners.

Serving windows lined up in a row, each with an electronic board displaying dish names. A quick scan showed mostly ordinary dishes like “stir-fried greens.”

Qi Si quickly walked a few steps to queue at a window. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw half of the people in the cafeteria put down their chopsticks and turn their heads to stare at Reiko as she walked to the middle of the aisle.

Those gazes were filled with cold malice, like venomous snakes hissing and flicking their tongues.

“It’s Reiko again. I heard she loves to report to the teachers the most.”

“How does she even have the face to live in this world? She cursed her parents to death, and even cursed a boy who was very kind to her.”

“Dressing up so pretty every day, who knows who she’s going to harm next…”

This was undoubtedly bullying, with various slanders and insults coming from all directions.

Reiko seemed unfazed, or perhaps she was used to these words, her smile remaining. She only took a palm-sized rabbit doll from her pocket and squeezed it tightly with her fingers.

She squeezed it for a while, until the doll was a crumpled mess, then she walked to the window, got a plate of food, and carried it to a corner.

Qi Si inexplicably recalled the story of Miffy the Rabbit he heard in childhood—

After enduring bullying from her classmates, the girl gradually became radical. Upon hearing the screams of her pet rabbits, she thought they were mocking her, so she stapled their mouths shut.

She placed the rabbits’ corpses on the desks of the classmates who bullied her. Their screams made her feel the satisfaction of revenge, so she killed more rabbits in the same way, retaliating against each classmate one by one.

Finally, one night, she saw a rabbit with a bleeding mouth standing by her bed, calling her name repeatedly, Miffy, Miffy… She woke up with a start, suddenly feeling a sharp pain in her mouth. Before her eyes was no longer the ceiling, but iron bars.

She found herself transformed into a rabbit, trapped in a cage, with staples nailed to her mouth.

When Qi Si was a child and heard this story, he only savored its bloody implications and didn’t feel much empathy.

In his opinion, killing all the bullies after being bullied was the important thing; how could just scaring them be enough?

If he wanted to do it more elegantly, he would put a half-dead rabbit in some unlucky classmate’s drawer, making the latter, startled, accidentally kill the rabbit.

Then he would tell his classmates that the unlucky guy was a pervert who cruelly killed small animals, making everyone avoid and ostracize that person.

With a common enemy, unity is easy; conflicts are easily diverted externally, and the true monster hides among the rabble, feasting greedily.

However, at this moment, thinking of this absurd story again, Qi Si had a more concrete feeling about the four words “Beware of Rabbits” in the preceding hint.

Rabbits, unlike cats, are not mysterious, nor are they as hateful as mice. They have always been harmless and innocent.

Weak and easily bullied, unable to speak—these traits, when combined, make them the perfect targets for abuse.

When the strong are angry, they draw their swords against the stronger; when the weak are angry, they draw their swords against the weaker.

Rabbits are undoubtedly the weak, and horror stories involving rabbits seem to be related to oppressing the weak.

Miffy the Rabbit, the Fifth Rabbit in “Ten Rabbits,” are all victims.

However, players are undoubtedly weaker than rabbits that have become ghosts.

Therefore, beware of rabbits!

“If rabbits become ghosts, players will most likely get into trouble. So… who is the ‘rabbit’ in this dungeon? Reiko?”

While Qi Si was pondering, he finally reached the serving window.

He casually added some greens and rice to his plate, then turned around, found a corner seat, and sat down, burying his head in the sticky food, swallowing mouthful after mouthful.

It must be said that school cafeteria food everywhere is equally bad. The food here was almost as terrible as the dark cuisine he himself prepared in the Red Maple Leaf Boarding School – he actually tasted plastic in the greens.

If it weren’t for the need to survive seven days in this dungeon, he would definitely starve to death without eating, so he didn’t want to touch any of this food… On the other side, Reiko found an empty corner to sit in, at least ten meters away from Qi Si.

This distance wasn’t close, but for some reason, the murmurs surrounding her were exceptionally clear to Qi Si’s ears:

“People like Reiko can only sit alone in a corner.”

“No one will want to talk to her. Why doesn’t she just die?”

“People like her should have died long ago. The Rabbit God should take her life.”

Reiko mostly kept her head down, quietly eating her meal. Only when she heard the words “Rabbit God” did she slightly raise her eyes, a strange glint appearing in them.

Qi Si had followed her all the way here, and now, he suddenly felt a strange sense of incongruity.

Hope Middle School was like a giant text game, with Reiko as the main character, all NPCs performing around her with bared fangs and claws; players were the audience, or rather, a perspective, guided by a behind-the-scenes entity to witness everything.

Even in the classroom, Lu Ming was an unpopular student; yet in this collective bullying scene in the cafeteria, Qi Si, playing Lu Ming, was like a transparent person, uninvolved, not tainted by a shred of the unpleasantness.

It wasn’t because of the dungeon’s benevolence, but simply because in this scene, “Lu Ming” wasn’t the protagonist, had no lines, and shouldn’t overshadow the main character.

Everything seen and heard was a puzzle in the text-based game; the dungeon seemed to meticulously hope that players would do something after solving the puzzle… At this point, the students started discussing the “Rabbit God” again.

“I heard that you only need to sacrifice one person to the Rabbit God to grant any wish. Can we sacrifice Reiko so all of us can get into good high schools?”

“I’ve already found someone to give the cursed Rabbit God Statue to Reiko. She’ll die in seven days, and our wish will come true.”

“You guys keep your voices down. What if Reiko finds out and smashes the Rabbit God Statue or gives it to someone else?”

“It’s fine, she’s already cursed. It’s her destiny to be sacrificed to the Rabbit God.”

Qi Si heard clearly, and with lowered eyelids, looked at the Rabbit God Statue icon in his inventory. Sure enough, a new line of text appeared in the 【Effect】 section.

【Effect: After sacrificing Reiko at the appropriate time, any wish can be granted】

Any wish, huh?

Qi Si summoned the Rabbit God Statue from his inventory, quietly slipped it into his pants pocket, and stood up to walk towards Reiko.

A new prompt appeared at the opportune moment:

【NPC Reiko in this timeline has been locked by fate as the destined sacrifice and cannot be sacrificed again】

…Well, never mind then.

Qi Si was no stranger to the concept of “fate-locked sacrifices.”

Activating the effect of the 【Fate Watch】 also required sacrificing lives. He had once contemplated whether he could re-sacrifice an already sacrificed offering after rewinding, but the Eerie Game immediately informed him that the fate of those offerings had been locked.

Presumably, the sacrifice of the 【Rabbit God Statue】 followed the same principle, to prevent people from exploiting a bug to repeatedly’shear the Rabbit God’s wool’.

Reiko noticed Qi Si approaching and asked with a smile, “Lu Ming, what’s wrong?”

Qi Si composed himself and feigned sympathy, “How can they treat you like that? You haven’t done anything wrong…”

Reiko tilted her head and looked at him, her smile radiant: “Someone always has to bear all of this. It’s fate’s arrangement. Since I’m used to it, let me continue to endure it.”

Fate? Used to it? Continue to endure?

This PUA routine, why does it seem so familiar?

Qi Si narrowed his eyes and asked, “Who told you these things?”

“Lu Ming told me,” Reiko’s eyes were a bit hazy, as if lost in thought.

“Lu Ming? My brother told you?” Qi Si pressed.

“Huh? Brother?” Reiko’s face flickered for a moment, a grotesque rabbit mask faintly appearing, but instantly returning to normal.

She blinked: “Lu Ming, what are you talking about? You never told me you had a brother.”