Chapter 334: Beware of the Rabbit (Part 8) Suspicious Questioning

Bullet comments flew across Qi Si’s live stream.

“Lu Ming and Lu Ming (Ming) should be two personalities of the same person. Otherwise, there’s no explanation for why ‘Lu Ming’s Diary’ is with Lu Ming (Ming).”

“I don’t think so. If that strange tale wasn’t written falsely, then Lu Ming probably sacrificed himself to the Rabbit God. Lu Ming (Ming) is still alive, so they absolutely cannot be the same person. As for the diary, isn’t it normal for a brother’s relic to be with his younger brother?”

“Are there any experts here who have completed the NE ending? Please explain what’s going on with that ‘Lu Ming’!”

“I completed the NE ending, but I don’t know! When I completed it, there was no ‘Lu Ming’ in the instance, nor was there an item called ‘Lu Ming’s Diary’, and the main quest was different…”

At this moment, a bullet comment with a golden border suddenly appeared, floating above the screen.

【Yu Jinsheng】: “Allow me to share a piece of information for free: the ‘Beware of the Rabbit’ instance has a special mechanism. The plot development is highly random and extremely flexible. Different players may encounter vastly different storylines. So, friends who want to watch the live stream to learn strategies for clearing it can go to bed. Those who want to watch for fun can stay.”

As the acting guild leader of the Listening Wind Guild and the actual host of the most recent Guild Exchange Conference, Yu Jinsheng had certainly made a name for himself, and players still trusted his judgment.

However, the majority of players were there for the entertainment. The death rate in the ‘Beware of the Rabbit’ instance wasn’t high, and those who stayed in the live stream, if not for the reputation of the Unnamed Guild’s Vice Leader and the top rookie, “Si Qi,” wouldn’t have watched for so long.

And Yu Jinsheng himself brought a lot of traffic. Saying such a thing with his main account and real name, in the eyes of others, meant “the Listening Wind Guild is paying attention to Si Qi, and Si Qi holds important information.” As a result, the audience in the live stream didn’t decrease but increased.

Lin Chen sat in his office at the guild base, watching Qi Si’s live stream without blinking.

He knew that Qi Si always hated live streaming. In the past, not only did he not stream himself, but he also asked others to turn off their streams.

Now, with a storm brewing, Qi Si suddenly took the initiative to live stream his progress, probably out of consideration for public opinion, representing the entire Unnamed Guild to attract attention.

Because the Unnamed Guild only had two people, if he didn’t step forward, no one else could, and they would easily fall into an unfavorable position in public opinion.

Lin Chen couldn’t help but sigh with a bitter smile, feeling that his past self was too naive to set his nickname as his real name, even thinking it was forthright.

If his name “Lin Chen” hadn’t appeared in various records in the Ruins of the Setting Sun, preventing him from showing his face as “Lin Crow,” why would he trouble Qi Si to risk exposing his trump card and stand at the forefront to bear the pressure for the guild now?

…Qi Si, to focus on studying the instance, had already unilaterally hidden the live stream interface and refused messages from the Soul Leaf, naturally not bothering with what Lin Chen was doing at the moment.

He heard the thundering footsteps of a herd of horses approaching from afar, and felt the entire building tremble violently like an earthquake, knowing that the students were returning from evening self-study.

He casually tucked Lu Ming’s diary under his pillow, got up to turn off the dormitory light, then lay back on the bed, eyes tightly shut, and began to diligently feign sleep.

The wave-like footsteps thundered in the corridor. Amidst the clamor of the crowd and a cacophony of clattering, the dormitory door was kicked open, and a boy swaggered in, turning on the dormitory light with a “pa”.

Seeing Qi Si lying on the bed, he visibly froze, and an exaggerated look of disgust instantly flickered in his eyes, as if he had seen something filthy.

Another boy followed him into the dormitory and, upon seeing Qi Si, also showed a look of revulsion.

The two talked loudly, one after another:

“Lu Ming (Ming) rushed back to the dorm before us. Is he rummaging through our stuff?”

“Be careful, those from the orphanage aren’t clean-handed. Petty theft is inevitable!”

With such a commotion, it would be impolite not to wake up.

Qi Si obligingly opened his eyes, looked at the two, and honestly said, “Congratulations, you guessed right. I came back early to rummage through your things.”

The two boys froze simultaneously. Originally, they just wanted to make a fuss as usual, but they didn’t expect Qi Si to admit it directly, completely disrupting their plan.

“I’ve searched your beds, suitcases, and wardrobes,” Qi Si’s expression was sincere and earnest, as if he were genuinely considering their well-being, seriously offering them advice, “You’d best check now to see if anything is missing, lest too much time passes and it becomes unclear.”

The air froze for a moment. The two boys exchanged glances. Two seconds later, they gritted their teeth and returned to their respective beds, grumbling as they began to check.

While matching the names from the roster to the faces, Qi Si enthusiastically pointed out, “Number 1 bed, you’re not checking carefully enough. I suggest you flip over the mattress and see, maybe I damaged the other side.

“And you, with so many things in your suitcase, are you sure you can see everything clearly with just a glance? I suggest you take them out one by one to check.

“Judging by your expressions, you seem to want to hit me? Don’t worry, tomorrow I’ll let Teacher Li and the Dean of Students know what you’ve done.”

Children are children after all. Provoked by Qi Si’s words, they were completely put on the spot. They could only mess up their neatly arranged belongings under his direction, then tearfully reorganize them.

At a quarter past nine, the last roommate arrived belatedly.

This was a thin boy who looked familiar; he was the one who helped Qi Si clean the floor in the cafeteria.

By process of elimination, this person was the chuunibyou who recorded strange tales in the notebook, named Yang Fang, sleeping in bed number 4.

Yang Fang clearly didn’t want to bother with the other two. He lowered his head, walked around the mess on the floor, returned to his bed, and picked up a book to read.

Qi Si recalled the words in the notebook, feeling that this person must know something, and perhaps he could ask him about Lu Ming.

But the remaining two roommates were undoubtedly too much of an obstruction. If he asked publicly, who knew if some ambiguous rumors would spread tomorrow, drawing the attention of Li Fang or the Dean of Students.

After all, Li Fang seemed to be very wary of the name “Lu Ming.”

Qi Si silently pulled the quilt up, closed his eyes again, and replayed the contents of the diary in his mind.

The relationship between Lu Ming and Lu Ming (Ming) was still unknown, but it was certain that he had a significant connection to the Rabbit God, at least he wasn’t just a foolish dupe who sacrificed himself. His bullying also seemed to be due to his strange behavior.

The four lines of poetry at the end of the diary were clues corresponding to the main quest 【Find Lingzi’s Corpse】, concisely explaining the time of Lingzi’s death and the location where her body was stored—

Two locations were at the bottom of the pond, which is the bottom of the natural lake, and… in the woods.

The two boys finally finished tidying their things and jogged out to wash up. One of them didn’t forget to turn back and tell Yang Fang, “Keep an eye on Lu Ming (Ming), don’t let him rummage through our stuff again!”

Yang Fang gave a low “mm,” noncommittally.

Combined with their interaction in the cafeteria, Qi Si could roughly judge that Yang Fang held some goodwill towards the original owner, but he always remained silent and didn’t step forward.

He was a typical bystander, an ordinary person, without much responsibility or ill will, just drifting with the current, forming part of the rabble—the kind Qi Si usually looked down upon the most, but in this instance, he had value to be exploited.

Presuming the two roommates had gone far, Qi Si suddenly asked, “Yang Fang, have you met my brother?”

The pen in Yang Fang’s hand clattered to the floor, as if startled by Qi Si’s sudden voice.

He bent down to pick up the pen, and said, confused, “Lu Ming (Ming), what happened? You never told me you had a brother…”

It was the same answer as Lingzi… Qi Si continued, “You should know him. His name is very similar to mine, called ‘Lu Ming,’ the ‘Ming’ from ‘guang ming’ (bright).”

“Never heard of him,” Yang Fang shook his head and said.

He suddenly saw something and let out an “eh”: “I think I made a typo, I wrote your name as that ‘Lu Ming’… Lu Ming (Ming), don’t scare me, you’ve been so strange lately, you haven’t been cursed, have you?”

His voice carried palpable fear, probably thinking of how “Lu Ming (Ming)” once told him he would suffer misfortune, yet he was still alive and well today.

If “Lu Ming (Ming)” and “Lu Ming” in the notebook were the same person, it would be logically consistent: first exhibiting strange behavior, then making a wish to the Rabbit God, sinking deep into the mire, which aligns with the general development of supernatural stories.

But… was it really just a typo?

‘Don’t you know? Lu Ming’s brother jumped off a building and committed suicide. Yes, it’s that Lu Ming from the next class…’

The discussion from the boys in the back row was as if in his ears. Qi Si was certain he hadn’t misheard, but upon closer thought, the timing of that boy saying those words was very abrupt, carrying a strong sense of unreality… Yang Fang had written in his notebook about “Lu Ming’s disappearance,” and now “Lu Ming (Ming)” was perfectly fine in the dorm, but Yang Fang himself didn’t seem to find anything wrong… It was as if everyone’s perception had been altered, and only Qi Si, as a player, could glimpse a corner of the true world.

It seems he would have to find those boys who were discussing in the back row tomorrow and ask them one by one.

Qi Si made his decision, no longer bothering with Yang Fang, and simply pulled the quilt up, covering half his face.

The piercing lights-out bell rang. After a thunderous rush of footsteps, the boys scrambled back to their dorm, turning off the lights.

Everyone was in bed, sleeping with their own thoughts.

In the darkness, Qi Si took out the Rabbit God statue and held it in his hand. The cold touch was like the bones of the dead, chilling him to the bone.

The small statue seemed to possess a powerful suction, dragging his consciousness uncontrollably downward, as if covered by a layer of milky white glue, thickly sealed beneath the water’s surface.

The weight in his hand grew heavier and heavier, his limbs lost strength, and his body became correspondingly lighter and lighter. In a certain instant, it finally leaped upward.

The pitch-black night dispersed, replaced by a vast expanse of white mist. Qi Si saw his own figure emerge from the depths of the mist, then pull out a chair from somewhere and sit on it.

【Escape from Rabbit God Town, First Playthrough】

【Achieved ending: Ghost Seed Who Committed Murder】

【Obtained save point: “Suspicious Questioning”】

【Time until next opening of “Escape from Rabbit God Town” game: 06:53:17】

Four lines of text floated before his eyes, with golden and red prayer ribbons fluttering beside them, adorning the scene. Unlike before, time had not stopped; the countdown was still changing by the second.

Qi Si walked up to the seated young man and asked with a smile, “Are you Lu Ming (Ming)?”

The young man nodded and said, “Yes.”

Qi Si asked again, “Is it the ‘Ming’ from ‘ming jiao’ (Cry, to cry out) or the ‘Ming’ from ‘guang ming’ (bright, bright)?”

This time, the young man didn’t answer, but simply began to narrate, “Lingzi was a very pure girl. She was very smart in other areas, but she would never believe that I would deceive her.

“Even in the most absurd situations, as long as I could provide an answer, no matter how strange that answer was, she would choose to trust it.

“She shouldn’t have died. She was the one who least deserved to die. I was the one who should have died; she died because of me…”

“What do you mean?” Qi Si narrowed his eyes slightly. “Are you referring to the plot of this game, ‘Escape from Rabbit God Town’?”

The young man didn’t answer, but suddenly grabbed Qi Si’s hand, his gaze burning: “So, you must save her.”

Qi Si looked directly into his eyes, then suddenly smiled two seconds later: “Why should I? What good would saving her do me?”

The young man lowered his head and stopped speaking, only raising his hand to snap his fingers.

The prayer ribbons on the ground flew up and then settled, and the countdown to the game’s start rapidly decreased at dozens of times its previous speed, clearing in just a few seconds. The scene before him flickered with light and shadow for a moment.

【Game Name: Escape from Rabbit God Town】

【Mission Objective:???】

【Friendly Reminder: Beware of the Rabbit】

【Save Point: “Suspicious Questioning”】

【Do you want to load save and start game?】

Qi Si smiled at the young man, who was still looking down in silence, and said, “Yes.”

【Escape from Rabbit God Town, Second Playthrough, starting】

Golden light spots intertwined into vines, and dim mist surged like a tide. The scene before him twisted and changed like a lake into which a stone had been thrown, settling to reveal a vibrant street scene full of life.

Qi Si gained a bird’s-eye view, looking down as a young boy in a dark red long kimono and a girl in a red and white outfit walked hand in hand, conversing in soft whispers.

“This year’s Fireworks Festival will surely be lively!”

“The Fireworks Festival is still seven days away. How does Lingzi know it will be lively?”

“Little Qi, have you forgotten? This year, Rabbit God-sama will descend, and everyone must attend the Fireworks Festival! When there are many people, of course it will be lively! I wonder who will be this year’s Chief Priest-sama.”

“Chief Priest-sama?”

“Don’t you know? Every eighteen years, a Chief Priest is chosen to reside in the Rabbit Shrine’s divine residence and serve Rabbit God-sama.”

His soul suddenly plummeted, and the God’s-eye view turned into a first-person perspective. Qi Si still couldn’t control his body, only hearing himself ask in a measured tone, “Lingzi, can you tell me about things related to the Rabbit God?”

Lingzi’s lips curled into a strange smile, and she said the same lines as in the previous playthrough: “Everyone here knows the legend of Rabbit God-sama. Little Qi, you’re the best storyteller among us, why do you still want me to tell you?”