The Rabbit Swallowed the Moon

"Is that Bai Yang's rabbit?" someone in the know blurted out after watching the livestream outside.

[Here it comes again!!]

[I'm staring wide-eyed and shaking the doll in my hands as hard as I can. Why won't it transform? Come on, transform!]

[Did Moonlit Night slice that building apart? Is he even stronger than the B-rank eerie the officials predicted? Did he just ignore the rules and destroy the game room?]

[They actually joined forces.]

[What rank is this eerie rabbit? Can any expert tell?]

A giant rabbit head emerged beneath the ears. Its furry face filled the entire cross section of the severed building, and its bright red toy eyes stared at everyone, making their skin crawl.

A little plush toy could make people feel comforted and think it was cute, but a moving plush toy magnified so many times over inspired only a fear of gigantic things.

If the rabbit so much as stretched out a paw and pressed down, or accidentally twisted an ankle, they would all die here!

"Tch, move."

Moonlit Night patted the furry Rabbit Plush Toy blocking his way with distaste. Standing among the fur atop the Rabbit Plush Toy's head, Bai Yang gave him a sweet, fake smile. "What's wrong? Did I steal your thunder?"

Moonlit Night covered his mouth in disgust. "Your rabbit sheds."

Bai Yang: "..."

He pursed his lips and deliberately patted the plush rabbit. The rabbit slowly raised its head, giving the badly frightened eeries and players their space back.

After the plush rabbit got up, it walked away under Bai Yang's control, its fluffy tail bobbing. Seeing it go farther and farther away, everyone patted their chests in relief. "It's finally gone."

"What are you afraid of? That's a Weird Object belonging to us humans."

"What do you mean?"

The veteran players looked at the new players who had arrived before them, and the newcomers chattered away, telling them what they had seen.

Hearing how powerful Bai Yang's Weird Object was, everyone looked at An Ying in astonishment, seeking confirmation.

An Ying: "...Mm."

Although Bai Yang liked to put on an act, he was much better than Moonlit Night, who wore a fake smile every day.

He just didn't understand why he had appeared here. Destroying the venue wouldn't end the game. Unfortunately, they were still pinned firmly in place, unable to move. Otherwise, they could have tried escaping through that huge hole.

What exactly are they trying to do? They couldn't have shown themselves just to say hello to me... could they?

An Ying was full of doubt. If it was Moonlit Night, he might really do something like that just to enjoy the sight of everyone panicking.

"Wait, what's that rabbit doing?"

A hushed exclamation came from beside him, and An Ying, his thoughts in turmoil, instinctively looked toward the voice.

The giant plush rabbit, its body almost level with the horizon, was raising its head, its ten-meter-long ears piercing the clouds. Its three-part mouth, originally stitched together, suddenly tore open to either side. The enormous split spread across half its head, forcibly ripping most of the head apart. There was no flesh or blood inside, only fluffy cotton packed to the brim. Only a small strip of plush fabric at the back still held the head together.

"What's it doing?!"

Under the shocked gazes of the humans and eeries alike, the plush toy took a bite at the blood moon high above and swallowed it whole.

Inside the Rabbit Plush Toy's body, the moon looked like a giant ball of red-hot iron, dropping straight down through it.

The moon vanished, and the sky abruptly went dark. An Ying felt the energy around him grow violently agitated.

[Holy shit?]

[???? This rabbit will eat anything?]

[Was I hallucinating just now? You can actually eat the moon?]

[Those are some strong teeth.]

[So that moon wasn't fake. Could it be a Weird Object too?]

[That was eye-opening. It really was.]

[I think I saw the eerie's energy going berserk over by An Ying. I'm dying, it's raging helplessly.]

"Is your rabbit going to be okay?" Moonlit Night asked, tilting his head as he watched the red moon glowing faintly through the Rabbit Plush Toy's belly.

Bai Yang jumped off the rabbit and landed beside Moonlit Night. "My rabbit only has a rule for growing bigger. It doesn't have a digestive system, so it can't digest this eerie."

"Otherwise, would I have asked you to help?"

Moonlit Night smiled, holding his sword in both arms. A few strands of his half-long black hair fell across his brows, then were gently blown aside by the wind.

"Looks like I'm the only one who can claim the credit."

Bai Yang said, "We're the same person. What's the point? Hurry up. The rabbit can't trap this B-rank for long."

"That's different." Moonlit Night drew his long blade, and its deathly pale flash sliced horizontally through the rabbit's body. He was the original body's first character, so he was special.

The doll's body crashed to the ground. As cotton and fur flew everywhere, the red moon was cut in two and shattered into crystalline, glasslike fragments.

"Achoo!"

The fur filling the air made Moonlit Night sneeze several times. Meanwhile, Bai Yang found the little rabbit, with only half its body left, amid the fur covering the ground and blew on it with a pained look.

"Tch, with it damaged this badly, even the repair materials will cost a lot of points. The original body won't blame me for being wasteful, will he?"

"Achoo! Achoo!"

"Stay away from me," Bai Yang said in disgust.

Moonlit Night ignored him. Covering his nose, he walked over to where the red moon had shattered and picked up a playing card gleaming silver.

It was a silver joker card, a little joker.

Inside Game Room No. 2:

"Congratulations to our guests No. 2 and No. 16 on a successful match! Please turn over the playing cards in front of you to decide who wins this round!"

The lights drove away the darkness, and the game room had returned to normal. The host NPC forced the game to continue as though nothing had happened.

Only the many players still remembered what had happened. When they realized the constraining energy around them had vanished, they began murmuring among themselves.

"That Weird Object's power is terrifying, but it's seriously awesome too. Watching it made me want to try tasting the moon."

"...Aren't you getting ahead of yourself? You'd be better off figuring out how to survive this game room first."

"Doesn't anyone wonder why it swallowed the moon? It actually succeeded, too!"

The moon... the red moon...

An Ying was thinking about that question too. After the rabbit swallowed the moon, he had a vague idea, but he didn't dare be sure.

Moonlit Night had said he would break his death calamity, but he hadn't appeared since the game began. At first, An Ying thought he was still hiding here, staying out of sight, but it turned out he had gone after the moon instead.

And Bai Yang was cooperating with him too. Weren't those two like fire and water?

An Ying set aside the question of Bai Yang and Moonlit Night's relationship for now. He guessed that since Moonlit Night had gone to deal with the moon, he must have considered it more dangerous than the game. So, the moon might have been...

The eerie behind it all?

Yes, that's the only possibility.

But the instance hasn't ended yet. Did they fail to kill the eerie just now?

The game continued, and more players died in this round.

An Ying was still pondering Bai Yang and Moonlit Night's objective when a chorus of gasps suddenly rose around him.

He looked up. Players No. 11 and No. 13 were competing now. He couldn't see No. 13's card clearly, but he could see that No. 11 was holding the ace of spades.

Even he was startled. He had killed so many eeries, yet he hadn't come across a single ace or two.