Doomsday Wonderland

Chapter 1384: There's Nothing in the Room

Even though everyone knew that venting their anger at the masked volunteer was useless, when his words fell, someone still rushed out from behind Lin Sanjiu, shouting, "So, it was your doing!"

She turned back to look, hurriedly reaching out to stop Nu Yue. The masked volunteer hastily retreated two steps, coughed, and said, "I had no choice. You can't attack volunteers."

"Welcome to this new game launch!" said a cheerful female voice, causing everyone in the room to freeze.

As Lin Sanjiu looked up, she realized that the content of the projection on the wall had changed. The projector also had a speaker installed; a fresh-colored, chubby cartoon character bounced onto the wall, laughing. "This game is interesting. I think everyone will enjoy it."

A cartoon elephant slowly walked into the frame. It had bright round eyes and ears and could even be described as somewhat cute—if you ignored the numerous human eyes covering its body.

"After the release is over, please go in that direction," the cartoon girl said, gesturing. Everyone's gaze followed, landing on a door at the other end of the room that had appeared at some point.

Lin Sanjiu heard a slight "hmm?" from Ji Shanqing.

"Go out through that door, and you'll enter the room where the game field is located. Everyone must be present when the game starts. If you have any questions, you can ask the volunteers on site."

The volunteer, who was now quite far away, nodded.

"After entering the game room, you'll find a row of backpacks on the ground," The cartoon girl said and turned around, revealing the backpack on her back. "Each backpack represents a job; please choose one each. You must continuously do the corresponding work to sustain your survival. If you don't work for three consecutive days, you will experience literal, physiological death."

Even though they all looked grim, everyone was silently listening.

"The game's goal is to find the exit and leave the room," said the cartoon girl, turning back and raising a finger in warning. "Be aware your abilities or power may not always be effective in the room. If you provoke a retaliation, you will suffer irresistible physical damage inside the room."

Provoke retaliation from whom? Suffer physical harm from whom?

Lin Sanjiu felt something was missing in the cartoon girl's explanation, and she'd probably have to keep listening to fully understand. She stared at the projection on the wall, only to see the cartoon girl bow and laugh.

"So, the game launch ends here, and the game will start in one minute. Please rush to the game room."

While Lin Sanjiu was taken aback, someone had already blurted out, "What? Just like that?"

"Strange," Han Suiping mumbled. "What's the purpose of that elephant?"

Nu Yue's anger from earlier surged even higher. She asked the masked volunteer, "Is this new game launch just that little bit of information? Do we just need to go into that room, work with the backpacks, find the exit, and leave?"

The masked volunteer raised his hand like a traffic director, gesturing for everyone to quickly approach the door. "Don't waste any more time, or there will be a penalty. All I can tell you is that the main rules of the game, whether explicitly stated or implied, are all included in the new game launch."

Lin Sanjiu subconsciously looked at the grand prize—his brow was deeply furrowed.

"As far as I know, there will also be some text prompts in the game room to help you adapt to the game quickly... Alright, you should hurry in," the masked volunteer said as he opened the door for them.

The door was just an ordinary iron door, nothing surprising; however, when Lin Sanjiu looked through the door, she couldn't help but exclaim in surprise and confusion.

In the room stood a gray elephant.

It was no longer a cartoon figure. Whether it was the spots formed by color fading on its skin, the fine wrinkles, the long nose swaying in mid-air, or the group of fan-like ears, all indicated that it was a real Asian elephant—except for the countless eyes all over its body.

"What... what is this thing?!" Nu Yue exclaimed while following everyone into the room. "It's hideous."

The gray elephant's skin was filled with holes, each containing a human eyeball, numbering in the hundreds. All of them were bald without eyelashes, only having distinct black and white pupils; some were initially looking up at the ceiling, and some looked down at the floor. However, as soon as they saw everyone coming in, they all turned together, staring at them.

Nu Yue was right. It was indeed quite disgusting.

The room's ceiling was only about three meters high, and when the elephant leisurely paced around it, its back almost touched the ceiling. Due to the elephant in the center, Lin Sanjiu found it hard to determine the room's size; however, when a group of eight people poured into the room, she felt as if the space was fully occupied, leaving little room to move around.

The masked volunteer poked his head in the door and dropped a "Good luck," then closed the door before anyone could react—the iron door disappeared from the wall as soon as it closed, as if it had never existed. Only his voice lingered faintly, saying, "Everyone is here, the game officially begins!"

Someone took a deep breath. "It's... starting already?"

The elephant took up most of the field of view; after a few seconds, Lin Sanjiu saw the others stretching their necks to look behind the elephant and realized there might be some text prompts.

Louisa, who was closest to that wall and the only one who could see the text, relayed the text for everyone. "We need to choose our backpacks within the next three minutes. The backpacks are laid on the floor against the wall... Do you see where the backpacks are?"

Horst bent down, looked through the elephant's legs, and answered, "I see them. They're on the other side of the room. Right be—"

"Shut up!" Silvan roared, cutting him off.

Horst jumped in fright and got to his feet, looking as if he wanted to ask but didn't know if he should. The room suddenly became quiet, with only the elephant's heavy footsteps, each step causing the floor to tremble slightly.

"There are only eight of us here," Ji Shanqing said in a deep, clear, and composed voice. "Do you understand?"

Everyone looked at each other with a puzzled look, but none of them spoke.

"Yes," Silvan replied, "you see, we're in a room."

And in the room, there was an elephant—this seemed to be the unsaid second half of his sentence.

Lin Sanjiu slowly began to understand.

During the game launch, the cartoon girl never once mentioned the elephant next to her, acting as if it didn't exist. Thinking about it now, the saying "elephant in the room" metaphorically referred to a clear problem that was collectively ignored, didn't it? The rule not verbalized during the game launch must be "Don't discuss the elephant in the room."

So, the missing piece from the little girl's explanation should be the elephant. If they attacked the elephant, they would invite retaliation and harm they couldn't fend off. Was that the idea? Fortunately, Nu Yue's comment was made before the game started. Otherwise...

"I understand," Han Suiping said quietly. "So... should we go get the backpacks now?"

Although it's easier said than done, the situation was challenging. The elephant, covered with human eyes all over its body, slowly moved towards the wall where the backpacks were placed, blocking it completely. Everyone quickly gathered towards the cleared area on the other side, bending over to scan the ground in the distance.

Even though the view was blocked by the elephant's legs, a row of backpacks could still be neatly lined up against the wall. A timer on the adjacent wall showed they had only two minutes left.

"Let me hook the backpacks over," Lin Sanjiu said to the group before quickly adding, "If none of you want to go over and get them."

Nu Yue stared behind her and let out a low gasp.

Lin Sanjiu quickly turned around and noticed that the elephant had stopped in front of one of the backpacks while she was speaking. It used its trunk to pry open the bag, rummaged inside for a bit, and then wrapped the entire backpack with its trunk and placed it in its mouth. After a few chews, it swallowed the bag whole.

Now, for the eight of them, there were only seven backpacks left.

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