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Chapter 1602 Final Chapter: Crossing the Sea [60] "The Struggle of the Nameless (3)"

"The big rabbit called out, the second rabbit watched, the third rabbit took revenge, the fourth rabbit fled, the fifth rabbit rolled down, the sixth rabbit laughed, the seventh rabbit tested, the eighth rabbit acted, the ninth rabbit cut off its own flesh, the tenth rabbit ate, the eleventh rabbit was locked up, the twelfth rabbit was burned. The thirteenth rabbit sat on the ground and cried. Chen Qingguang asked it why it was crying. The thirteenth rabbit said: The rabbits will never return!"

……

Just as Su Ming'an was about to kick Shen Xue away, he suddenly heard a sinister nursery rhyme in his ear.

"Click," a bright beam of light shone down.

The bathroom walls became a stage, the curtains a backdrop, and the leading lady, "Alice" Shen Xue, dressed in a tutu, made a dazzling entrance. A dozen or so patients appeared behind her, like backup dancers.

Su Ming'an took a step back, only to see them start dancing without warning, like an absurd stage play.

"Time! Time! The Mad Hatter's feast is about to begin, the feast is about to begin!" a patient suddenly shrieked, took out a pocket watch from his pocket, unwrapped the bandages on his hands, and danced and twirled.

All around, shouts rose and fell in unison: "Dance! Dance! The feast is about to begin!"

The patients waved their hospital gowns, their movements fluttering like wings as they spun. Some kicked the wooden floor, their steps clumsy yet exhilarating; others spread their arms, swaying and soaring like drunken birds; still others pounded on the walls, the wood creaking like drumbeats. Bed sheets were dragged down, like enormous cloaks, billowing as they spun.

Several teacups floated in from nowhere, scattering colorful flowers and petals. They tugged at their hospital gowns, singing and dancing.

—They are all ghost stories.

"What's wrong with these ghost stories?" Card Emblem Purple said speechlessly.

"It seems we triggered something," Su Ming'an said.

"The Mad Hatter's party has begun!" lead dancer "Alice" Shen Xue sang loudly, her pale toes tapping on the cold wooden planks as she danced around Su Ming'an.

"Dance! Dance in Wonderland!" The shouts rose in response. The sick gowns transformed into giant napkins at the Mad Hatter's Tea Party, and the bandages into exotic flowers in the Cheshire Cat's garden. They seemed to have drunk a magic potion that made them grow and shrink, their steps unsteady, as if they were walking on giant mushroom caps.

"Mr. Caterpillar, tell me..."

"Playing card soldier, tell me..."

"Am I a moth destined to perish in the flame, or a head that grows to be beheaded?" the patients sang.

"Ah!" they pointed to the distant sky:

"They've come to make us dance! Dance the final song before the guillotine!" They pointed to their mud-covered heads:

"Come on! Chop it off! Chop off this useless head and let it fly higher!"

"Come on! Chop! Chop off our rose petals! Let us grow more vigorously!"

"What are they doing..." Lu Shu, who arrived at the scene, froze on the spot. He had never seen such a frenzied scene before. Everyone seemed to have eaten mushrooms. The strangest thing was that this was clearly a restroom, but these people were singing on a stage, as if the dirt on the walls was part of the scenery.

The ghost stories were laughing and jumping as they walked out, as if they were going to attend a wonderful banquet.

The spotlight snapped back on, and the elegantly dressed Alice walked at the back, singing her monologue on stage in a beautiful, silky voice:

"The big rabbit called out, the second rabbit watched, the third rabbit took revenge, the fourth rabbit fled, the fifth rabbit rolled down, the sixth rabbit laughed, the seventh rabbit tested, the eighth rabbit acted, the ninth rabbit cut off its own flesh, the tenth rabbit ate, the eleventh rabbit was locked up, the twelfth rabbit was burned. The thirteenth rabbit sat on the ground and cried. Chen Qingguang asked it why it was crying. The thirteenth rabbit said: The rabbits are gone and will never return!"

“My love…” she looked at Su Ming’an, her eyes shimmering, “Please tell us, which numbers are we, rabbits…”

"Just chop him down." Lü Shu raised his knife.

“No, the story has its own logic and cannot be destroyed at will. It seems that the moment we met the heroine 'Alice,' we have also become a part of this story.” Su Ming’an said calmly, “Only by resolving the questions they have raised can this madness be quelled.”

“Who exactly are you…” Lu Shu looked at Su Ming’an, who was wearing cat ears.

Just as Su Ming'an was about to reveal his identity, he saw Anthony, Qi Meng and his group rushing over, and he ran behind Lu Shu, trembling.

"It was dark all around the school, but it was bright here! We made it through!" Hua De said, wiping away sweat.

“This wasn’t a part before; it must have been brought about by [White Sand Paradise].” Anthony observed the scene. “The ghost stories probably won’t leave willingly until this mystery is solved.”

Suddenly, they discovered that each contestant had a rabbit card in their hand, ranging from "one" to "thirteen".

Holding the rabbit card, Mizushima Sora quickly deduced, "It seems we need to hang the corresponding cards on the corresponding ghost stories. If we get them all right, we can clear the level."

"The problem is we don't understand these ghost stories, so how are we supposed to match them up one by one?" Zhou Sheng scratched his head, looking at the "Number Nine Card" in his hand: "Which ghost story is Nine Rabbits from...?"

At this moment, under the spotlight, the blue-haired boy holding a utility knife—WARNING-002—stepped forward and began to sing, following Shen Xue's lead:

……

"Ladies and gentlemen, please listen to my song!"

"Twelve rabbits build a nest, united and resounding."

"They gathered thatch and radish pens and built a warm nest and high walls."

"The second rabbit was good at writing rhymes, its pen sharp and strong. One day, its pen tip grew so long that it touched the sky outside the nest. The second rabbit said—'Someone is watching us! The readers are watching us! Look carefully, hide quickly!'"

"Twelve rabbits gathered together and looked out—and saw that the sky had eyes!"

……

With a click, the lights changed, and a blond young man holding a doll—WARNING-003—stepped out, then sang softly:

……

"Those eyes are incredible; they've seen the nest more than once!"

"They watched the birth of the twelve rabbits, they listened to the growth of the twelve rabbits, they sat and watched the play rise and fall, until they were spotted by the second rabbit!"

"The second rabbit has been punished; it was killed by its eyes! Its ears can no longer hear, and its mouth can no longer speak. Eleven rabbits are gathered together, holding flowers, to mourn it!"

……

The singing stopped for a moment, leaving everyone confused.

"The Second Rabbit is good at writing folk songs?" Zhou Sheng grabbed his hair, a little exasperated. The card in his hand was number two: "Who knows which ghost story is good at writing folk songs! Which one does the Second Rabbit correspond to?!"

"I run away as soon as I see a ghost story, without paying any attention to its characteristics..." Ward reflected on himself, which was unacceptable for a top-ranked player.

"It's not your fault. Everyone's afraid of something that's about to die," Anthony said, patting Ward on the shoulder with his large hand.

"This is clearly the final mystery, it's supposed to trigger only after we've encountered all the ghost stories, how did it trigger ahead of schedule!" Wu Yi said, arms crossed. Even with his extensive experience, he was completely baffled by this situation: "Who triggered it? Why did the ghost stories suddenly go berserk?"

Su Ming'an remained silent. He knew that his act of flipping forward had caused WARNING-001 to awaken prematurely, which in turn caused the ghost stories to go berserk and triggered the final mystery...

There's no way around it; for a player who's played through multiple times, the difficulty will increase significantly.

"Don't rush, we can always resort to exhaustive search if necessary," said soldier Liu Chongping calmly.

"You can use the brute force method when playing escape rooms, but if you get this wrong, you'll obviously die!" Xue Jiarui swallowed hard, feeling a chill run down his spine.

"...Huh? Everyone's gathered here?"

At this moment, the contestants from Xiao Su and Xiao Nuo's side, attracted by the light source, also came over.

Su Ming'an hadn't seen Xiao Su for a long time.

I thought Xiao Su had been beheaded in the cabinet and turned into Xiao Su popsicles, but I didn't expect her to still be alive. It must be the butterfly effect brought about by [White Sand Paradise].

Shen Xue frowned, very unhappy that a large group of people had come to her and Su Ming'an's private time.

“Let’s analyze the ballad,” Qi Zhou said, arms crossed. “The ballad says, ‘The 'nest' in the song refers to a creative organization led by the Magpie and Painter of the Second Era, which aimed to create a more perfect world with their pens. But here, the ‘nest’ should represent the whole world, and the twelve rabbits refer to a group of Rovasa people who want to make the world a better place.”

"But I don't understand who the 'eyes' refer to... It must be the villain in the song, perhaps referring to the Lord of the End of All Things?"

They didn't understand, but Su Ming'an knew very well.

[The twelve rabbits gathered and looked out, only to see eyes in the sky!] These eyes represent the awakened ones. Two rabbits accidentally discovered the awakened ones and were killed by them.

—This is a song that you can only hear if you decide to go to sea!

If I hadn't decided to venture forward across the sea, I wouldn't have turned the page, wouldn't have triggered WARNING-001's awakening, wouldn't have caused [Mingxi Campus] to become the inverted dark side [Baisha Paradise], and wouldn't have triggered this mystery.

Li Mingyue looked down at Su Ming'an, and only raised her head when she saw that Su Ming'an was not afraid.

Teacups and cutlery danced around them, and the patients continued to circling and dancing, as if they wouldn't be allowed to leave the dance until the mystery was solved.

"Click," the lights flickered, and Zhao Mingming—WARNING-004—stepped out, arms raised, singing softly as the temperature dropped:
……

"The third rabbit lowered its head and wept, determined to avenge the second rabbit! It picked up its hunting rifle, pointed it at the sky, and fired with a 'bang'!"

"The rabbits picked up carrot pens, knives, forks, and hammers at their sides, their gleaming teeth were weapons, and their sharp fingernails were spears!"

"Unite as one to fight eye strain, and go into battle with burning passion!"

"But then the four rabbits raised their walking sticks and jumped back with a thud. They walked towards the eye, grinning. It turned out that it had already given up on returning!"

"Three rabbits died from a gunshot; they were killed by their own eyes. Ten rabbits gathered together; they buried the rabbits and buried the gun!"

……

...the rabbit and the gun were buried.

Ian stroked his chin, his arrogant expression vanishing, and began, “The rabbits realized they couldn’t fight against eyes, so they decided to stop resisting. After the three rabbits were killed as an example, the rabbits buried their hunting rifles. Hmm… This sounds familiar. I think I’ve heard a similar story before… When was it… I remember the magpie telling me about it.”

A blunt voice rang out: "All you remember is that his eyes were like sunlight, what else can you remember?"

Enraged, Ian looked over and saw a red-haired figure standing in the corner.

Su Ming'an's heart skipped a beat.

……is her.

She died in the future, but she still lives in the past.

Nightingale, bad nightingale, good nightingale.

Contestant number eighteen, Shi Ying.

Upon catching sight of Su Ming'an, Shi Ying looked at him as if he were a stranger and quickly looked away.

No matter how deep their interactions or how moving their feelings might be in the future... nothing had happened at this moment; they were just strangers. She didn't remember him as Xiao Shanzhu, and he had never gotten close to her.

And her future is destined for death. Time, like a flowing river, is merciless.

With a click, the lights shifted again, and the golden-haired skeleton emerged. It had once sat in the laboratory, and now it wobbled as it grew from the darkness. Its song was far more beautiful than any other ghost story:
……

"The ten rabbits submitted, obeying their eyes and the heavens; the carrot pen became a mouth pen, and their fingernails became playdough!"

"The vast lair and high walls cannot tolerate a radish pen; anything that does not suit the eye must be turned into '***'!"

"Five rabbits stood up and shouted: 'If you want to block the mouthpiece in every way, if you want to bind the nest a thousand times, if you want the pen to be criticized by ten thousand people, if you want world affairs to be reduced to the eight-legged essay, then where will you find the mouthpiece and the hunting rifle?'"

"The Five Rabbits are dedicated to protecting history, fed up with history books being smeared. If the world is nothing more than a stroke of a pen, where is true love and time? It hops around with a plan, luring the eyes to possess it—glug glug glug, the Five Rabbits leaps down the stairs, and the eyes on its body are gone!"

……

"Five rabbits, get downstairs... It's WARNING-007!" Anthony and Ward exclaimed in unison.

Finally, one of them matches!
The bloodied blond man was a history teacher who died after being pushed down the stairs by a security guard. That makes sense!

However, judging from the song, this was all intentional on the part of the blond man. He wanted to kill the conscious person, and after being possessed, he rolled down the stairs and died!
The security guard who pushed him downstairs was probably a good rabbit too!

Anthony immediately took out the wooden plaque, examined it for a moment, and hung it around WARNING-007's neck. The blond man smiled slightly, pushed up his glasses, placed one hand on his chest, and bowed.

"That's right!" Anthony breathed a sigh of relief.

The first correct answer immediately inspired everyone. Geng Lan breathed a sigh of relief, while Wang Xingkong wiped his sweat.

Su Ming'an's eyes trembled, and he felt that this scene reminded him of the escape room game he played with Yueyue after his college entrance exam. At that time, he had some savings and could finally pursue things that interested him.

While others were screaming and howling, he and she remained calm and composed, one expressionless and the other undisturbed. Yueyue remained calm and focused as she solved the mystery, even the solo missions that everyone feared were undertaken by her alone.

She couldn't untie the rope and got stuck... In the end, Su Ming'an went to rescue her and get her out.

Memories seemed veiled in a fog, becoming hazy and indistinct... The way she solved the mystery, the way she led me out the door, the way she and he ate hotpot after playing together—all these images converged... Finally, they transformed into the cold symbol of "Spiritual Dream Messenger."

He wanted to take her home.

Unwilling to leave her behind in the world of games, this was one of the reasons he ventured forward across the sea.

With a "click," the lights changed, and a middle-aged woman—WARNING-006—who had been engrossed in playing a game, stepped out and began to sing in a low voice.