Chapter 349: Be Careful of the Rabbit (23) The Hidden Dangers of Authority

In the middle of the night, after sneaking into the administration building and learning of Everlasting Technology’s conspiracy and the secrets of Rabbit God Town, Lu Ming—still human at the time—began to think: how could he save Reiko from the sacrifice?

During those six months, because the orphan mortality rate was too high, Everlasting Technology was investigated by the government and almost all sacrifices were halted.

However, the students somehow learned the legend of the Rabbit God and wantonly harmed classmates without backgrounds in private, hoping to please the Rabbit God and fulfill their wishes.

Lu Ming could sense the danger he and Reiko were in. Being at Hope Middle School as orphans, they were destined to die as sacrifices.

In his view, rather than both dying in vain, it was better to enter the game himself so that one person could live.

So, on another late night, he went to the lakeside and played kagome kagome with the Rabbit God that Shichiro had become for the whole night. Witnessed by the rules, he proposed to sacrifice himself in exchange for Reiko’s wish to live.

But he didn’t expect that Reiko had the same idea and had also made a wish to the Rabbit God, hoping to trade her life for his well-being.

Thus, in a kagome kagome game organized by the students, Reiko led away the boys and girls who came looking for Lu Ming and quietly replaced him as the “oni” in the game.

Reiko died, thrown into the lake by the students who killed her. Her strongest wish before death was for Lu Ming to live—and such a wish had to be fulfilled.

At the time, Lu Ming was completely unaware. That evening, he waited for Reiko to go to the cafeteria as usual, but even when evening self-study began, he still hadn’t seen the girl.

He searched and searched throughout the school, looking in almost every corner of the teaching and dormitory buildings, but never found a trace of her.

He already had a bad premonition, and one afternoon, he learned of Reiko’s death from Li Fang.

A plan formed in his heart from then on… “After a kagome kagome game, you killed yourself, thereby completing the sacrifice to the Rabbit God. According to the original rules, He not only violated Reiko’s Contract to let you live but also violated your agreement to let Reiko live, and thus suffered a backlash.”

Qi Si lowered his eyes and sighed. “His only way was to resurrect both you and Reiko together, because as long as one of you dies, the other can easily coerce Him through self-sacrifice.”

“But unfortunately, with His remaining divine power, He couldn’t resurrect two people at once. And your death exposed Hope Middle School to the public eye, making it difficult for the sacrifices to continue. Without divine power being replenished, it became a dead end.”

Faith is poisonous. Gods sit high above, enjoying the offerings of believers, but the incense and livestock they consume also become a responsibility and a shackle.

Just like a Soul Contract, besides collecting the other party’s Soul Leaf, one must also fulfill the promise made to them. Once a Contract is signed, no entity may refuse to perform its contractual obligations.

The Rabbit God’s encounter made Qi Si wary, and he made up his mind to use the authority of the Contract more cautiously in the future.

“It wasn’t a dead end.” Lu Ming shook his head. “He was too greedy, thinking He could collect sacrifices from both people at once, but He never thought I would make a deal with another god.”

“After I died, a paradox was formed, and He was trapped within the fate of Reiko and me. I created the ‘Escape from Rabbit God Town’ game to contain Him.”

“As long as He is willing to let go of Reiko’s soul in the space-time of Rabbit God Town and resurrect her, I will take the initiative to end all this.”

The Rabbit God accepted Reiko’s sacrifice first, so her soul had already been taken by Him. What remained at Hope Middle School was merely an empty shell.

After Lu Ming imprisoned Him in the ‘Escape from Rabbit God Town’ game, Reiko’s soul was imprisoned in the game as well, manifesting as Edo Reiko, who was close to Shichiro.

The reason the game’s background differed from actual history wasn’t because Lu Ming had made things up, but because Reiko’s soul was the sacrifice the current Rabbit God was destined to obtain.

Therefore, Shichiro could not be chosen; the one chosen had to be Reiko.

Correspondingly, the Head of the Shinnai Family could not be chosen either and needed to survive to take on the mission of informing Shichiro of the secrets, causing him to no longer be devout.

Conversely, the Rabbit God only needed to give up accepting Edo Reiko’s sacrifice, and Reiko would be saved, but that would mean ‘Shichiro’ would be chosen.

The Rabbit God at this time was actually the Shichiro who had seized the Rabbit God’s divine power hundreds of years ago; the Shichiro at this time was the player transported into the ‘Escape from Rabbit God Town’ game by Lu Ming.

If the Shichiro played by the player was chosen, according to the established history from hundreds of years ago, he would obtain the Rabbit God’s divine power and become the new Rabbit God.

And compared to losing divine power, the Rabbit God transformed from Shichiro would obviously rather lose His freedom and keep stalling with Lu Ming.

At this point, the fates of the two people and the god became an inextricable knot, inseparable.

Lu Ming said, “He cannot leave Rabbit God Town, but His leaking divine power can interfere with Hope Middle School. He makes Reiko die in cycle after cycle, hoping to intimidate me into giving up.”

“But God told me that Reiko will not have memories of dying. If I alone bear the pain, no amount of cycles is worth fearing.”

The clues had formed a closed loop, and Qi Si finally understood the true intent of this instance.

The “Rabbit” in “Be Careful of the Rabbit” must have originally referred to the “Rabbit God” and Shichiro, who was treated as a sacrifice.

When the main quest refreshed, the narration stated very clearly:

‘The girl’s ending has been written by the god. No matter how many cycles are repeated, she cannot escape the infinite loop of seven days.’

‘She is destined to die and will become increasingly painful. No one can change her fate, yet someone overestimates themselves and restarts the world.’

‘Let the pain and sorrow end as soon as possible. Please find all her body parts within seven days and let the dying person trapped in the loop rest in peace.’

Reiko was a predestined sacrifice and had to die as written. Lu Ming, however, could live according to Reiko’s wish—this was a plan the Rabbit God could accept.

However, Lu Ming was unwilling and used a paradox to imprison the Rabbit God in the ‘Escape from Rabbit God Town’ game, stubbornly starting cycle after cycle.

What the players needed to do was dispel Lu Ming’s delusions, end the infinite loop of the instance, and rescue the trapped Rabbit God.

Unfortunately, Qi and Li intervened, adding an optional main quest for the players: to find a new clearance route in the game to save Reiko.

And Qi Si happened to dislike rescue-type missions, regardless of whether the target was Reiko or the Rabbit God.

“If it’s as you say, things might be a bit troublesome.” Qi Si rubbed his chin. “You said the Edo Reiko in ‘Escape from Rabbit God Town’ is Reiko’s soul; I remember I seem to have killed her in passing.”

He suddenly understood Lu Ming’s anger when he discovered he had killed Edo Reiko.

At that time, from Lu Ming’s perspective, all his plans had likely been ruined with no room for reversal, and he probably felt like killing him.

But later, for some reason, he calmed down, gave up on strangling him directly, and spoke with him calmly.

“No, she’s still alive.” Lu Ming looked down at the pocket on Qi Si’s right side. “I originally thought you had killed her, but I soon felt her soul appear again.”

Qi Si reached into his pocket, touched a soft coolness, and instinctively pulled out the item.

It was a bright red blessing ribbon with delicate handwriting written in gold:

【Want to be with Xiao Qi. —Reiko】

This was Reiko’s Blessing Ribbon. When Qi Si was writing his own blessing ribbon, he happened to see it and tore it down in passing.

In the mountain forest outside Rabbit God Town, Reiko’s mind had been clouded by Ghosts. He used this blessing ribbon to awaken Reiko’s inner desire and signed a Contract with her.

【Name: Reiko’s Blessing Ribbon】

【Type: Item】

【Effect:???】

【Remark:???】

Silver-white prompt text appeared before his eyes. The originally ordinary blessing ribbon had somehow acquired the potential to become an item.

After being held by Qi Si for a while, the blood-colored blessing ribbon became slightly warm—the kind of temperature that released light and heat without burning the holder.

At the bottom of the Hall of Thought, a bright red leaf condensed once more, belonging to Reiko.

Qi Si recalled the words he had said to Reiko at the time—

‘You said you wanted to be with me, so let me ask, are you willing to believe in me and follow me forever?’

This undoubtedly constituted a Contract. The words “follow forever” caused Reiko’s soul to attach to the blessing ribbon, transforming it into an item.

Since becoming a formal player and using the Soul Contract skill, this was the first time Qi Si had encountered such a situation beyond his control.

Although it hadn’t led to a bad result this time and was even developing in a good direction, his heart remained cold.

The closer one got to the level of gods and the more secrets one learned about that level, the more one realized that the net of rules was full of dangers. A slight lapse could lead to a situation where one was at the mercy of others.

No wonder Li had agreed so readily when he proposed to replace Qi… but even Li had been plotted against and excluded by Qi and Fu Jue… “I see.” Qi Si’s expression remained unchanged as he asked knowingly, “So next, I just need to inherit the Rabbit God’s divine power at the Rabbit God Festival as Shichiro, and then return to Hope Middle School to resurrect Reiko, and everything will be over?”

“Yes, thank you.” A stiff and pale smile appeared on Lu Ming’s haggard face as a sign of gratitude to Qi Si. “You are the first player I’ve met who has the ability to end all this.”

His shadow gradually faded like a water-soaked ink painting, disappearing into the pitch-black background, leaving only Qi Si alone in the room.

The bullet chat in the live stream room began to refresh frantically.

“So that’s what the ‘Be Careful of the Rabbit’ instance was all about! I feel like I cleared a fake ‘Be Careful of the Rabbit’…”

“Should I say he’s a big shot? In a seemingly ordinary puzzle instance, Si Qi actually went up against an existence at the level of a god! If Unnamed Guild continues to develop, it feels like they might have a chance to compete with Jiuzhou Guild.”

“Whether the person above is praising or hating, just stop. Can the Rabbit God even be considered a god? He looks like a high-level NPC with a loud title at most. God Fu could take out a monster like that with one punch.”

“Wuwuwu… I’m so moved… Lu Ming sacrificed his own life for Reiko and even plotted against a god as a mere mortal. So the ‘Be Careful of the Rabbit’ instance was such a story…”

“You guys keep chatting, I’m going back to the Forum to write a guide. I wonder if I can grab the first post.”

Qi Si watched the audience emotion pie chart in the upper left corner of his vision flashing incessantly and remembered the live stream hadn’t been turned off.

He had never been interested in showing his face. Now that the attitude he wanted to convey had been mostly delivered, keeping the live stream open was a bit redundant.

Qi Si looked up at the ceiling and thought word for word in his heart: “Eerie Game, turn off my live stream room.”

The players in the Ruins of the Sunset saw the live stream room titled “Si Qi” turn into a black screen in a second, with a line of pale text appearing on it:

【Player Si Qi has closed the live stream】

“What’s the situation? It’s just getting to the critical part, how can he just turn off the stream? Doesn’t Unnamed Guild provide after-sales service?”

“Refund! I just bet ten thousand points on his te clearance; he better not pull any tricks and steal my points…”

“Disperse, disperse. It’s a solo instance, and the route is mostly determined by the later stages. What else can he pull off?”

The bullet chat discussed for a while and then thinned out. Many players silently followed Qi Si’s live stream room, anxiously waiting for the outcome of the instance.

At the Unnamed Guild base, Lin Chen sat in his office, watching the live stream screen go dark, a look of worry appearing on his face.

The clearance of the “Be Careful of the Rabbit” instance seemed settled at first glance, but he always felt that things were not that simple.

That was an existence at the level of a god. Although Qi Si was experienced and had sat at the negotiation table with gods before, could he really turn danger into safety as he had in the past in this instance where most items were banned?

From the available information, it was a certainty that by the Rabbit God Festival on August 7th, the Shichiro played by Qi Si would inherit the Rabbit God’s divine power.

The Rabbit God transformed from Shichiro would surely do His best to kill Qi Si before then to preserve His status and authority… Qi Si probably still had a tough battle to fight. Closing the live stream now was likely to prevent others from seeing his weak and disheveled side… Lin Chen clenched his fists and tried once again to contact Qi Si through the Soul Leaf, but as before, he received no response.

He sighed with a bitter smile: If he hadn’t set his real name as his display nickname, he might have been able to enter the instance with Qi Si as a team member, and he wouldn’t have to watch from the outside in a hurry… Qi Si rejected all messages and was happy to have some peace.

He knew that at this moment, he was a thorn in the Rabbit God’s side. Shichiro 1.0, the dragon-slaying youth, had finally become the dragon. If it weren’t for the constraints of faith, he probably couldn’t wait to immediately kill the Shichiro 2.0 he was playing.

The trouble was that although he couldn’t understand the low-efficiency, valueless behavior of Lu Ming and Reiko sacrificing themselves for each other, and had no kindness to help these two good people get a good reward, he was indeed determined to obtain the Rabbit God’s divine power.

Since the conflict between the two could not be reconciled, he could only let nature take its course.

Qi Si rummaged through another drawer of the desk and found Li Fang’s death certificate.

Li Fang died before Lu Ming. Calculating the time, it should have been shortly after she revealed the cause of Reiko’s death to Lu Ming.

Although the death certificate stated it was a sudden accidental death, the real reason was most likely that she was silenced by Everlasting Technology.

Qi Si more or less understood why Li Fang and Reiko were both important NPCs who could refresh prompt text.

It was simply because they were both dead, and their souls had been kept in the consciousness space by Lu Ming.

Souls in this instance world were pitifully few. Only Lu Ming, the Rabbit God, Reiko, and Li Fang truly existed. The other NPCs were likely replicas constructed by Lu Ming based on his memory.

“Boring. Even after becoming a vengeful ghost, he never thought of killing everyone in the school and locking them in his own world to play a Battle Royale?”

Qi Si shook his head in boredom and reached into the bottom of the drawer, pulling out a yellowed pamphlet. It looked like a book of ghost stories circulated privately among middle school students.

There was a sticky note on the cover, essentially saying it was confiscated from a student from a well-off family and would be returned to its owner after the student finished the exam and submitted a self-reflection on August 3rd.

Qi Si flipped open the pamphlet and saw a page in the middle written in scrawled handwriting:

【Kagome, Kagome, the bird in the cage, when, oh when will it fly away?】

【In the night of the early morning, the crane and the turtle slipped. Who is the one standing behind you now?】

【Legend has it that as long as you chant the above nursery rhyme and complete the kagome kagome game, you can have the Rabbit God fulfill a wish.】

The kagome kagome game needed a channel to spread among students, and for students of this age, the channels they could access were various pamphlets.

Qi Si tore off that page, picked up the ballpoint pen on the desk, and wrote new content:

【The Crimson Lord who walks alone through infinite time and space.】

【The Master of Soul who governs the authority of Contracts and transactions.】

【The unique existence that travels between reality and illusion.】

【Legend has it that as long as you chant the above divine names by the lake, you can have the Rabbit God fulfill any wish.】

Although he knew the hidden dangers of faith and the authority of the Contract, Qi Si didn’t intend to stop doing things because of the risks. Risk and benefit were equivalent. He had always liked to gamble and liked to use a small stake to gain a large profit.

Even if he couldn’t obtain more souls in this instance, he was very interested in undermining Lu Ming and the Rabbit God.

Besides, what was the problem with chanting his three lines of divine names and then going to the Rabbit God to realize a wish?

The Soul Leaf was his, and the responsibility and obligation belonged to the Rabbit God. How clear the division of labor was, and how logical the arrangement.

The Rabbit God far away in Rabbit God Town:…6.