Why Are You So Much Like a Dog?

Xu Kai got into the elevator. This time, it really was safe. No little figure would crawl out of the mirror and give him a fright.

He carefully recalled the rules he had seen in the cafeteria.

Killing is permitted in the cafeteria area. Please observe the following rules:

1. Do not disturb others while eating, and do not disturb anyone who is eating.

2. Sit in your own seat while eating. You must finish your meal and must not waste food.

3. To get a meal, press the button on your seat to join the queue. Wait for the announcement, then collect your meal in an orderly manner.

4. Plan your meals reasonably. Follow medical advice regarding the nutritional meal standards for the day.

Xu Kai had found nothing special about the rules; they seemed perfectly ordinary. But his previous experience in the instance had taught him that the more ordinary a rule seemed, the more likely it was to conceal a trap.

He kept that in mind and turned his attention to the elevator buttons.

Unlike the previous elevator, this one had labels on its buttons, clearly indicating the purpose of each floor. The cafeteria was only on the second floor; there were none elsewhere.

That meant patients, doctors, and nurses would all eat in the second-floor cafeteria.

Xu Kai thought it over. Noon would arrive soon, and according to the rules, he would have to eat in the cafeteria's Killing Zone.

Mealtime lasted a full half hour, and there were four elevators in total, each of which could also serve as a place to kill.

The arrangement might as well have told Xu Kai outright that this was going to be a no-holds-barred free-for-all.

As he thought this, he suddenly realized how fast the elevator was. Xu Kai had returned to the seventh floor.

As soon as Xu Kai stepped out of the elevator, he looked toward a corner and froze.

Good grief. Earlier, he had carefully made his way out of the corridor and, seeing no rules, assumed there weren't any.

Who would have thought they were hidden in a shadowed corner?

Didn't the game say the rules would be clearly visible in every room...

Xu Kai looked at the corridor again, at a loss for words.

All right, a corridor didn't count as a room.

He hadn't expected the weird entity in charge here to exploit even that loophole.

Xu Kai sighed and looked at the rules.

Fortunately, there was only one: the noise produced by an individual must not exceed 55 decibels.

Fifty-five decibels was the volume of normal conversation.

Seeing this, Xu Kai couldn't help feeling relieved. When he had passed through the corridor earlier, he had walked very slowly and hadn't spoken. Even his footsteps had been very light. Otherwise, he would have died without knowing why.

The weird entity had placed the rules in such a fiendish spot that one could only see them in the little corner after walking all the way down the corridor and turning around.

If Xu Kai had died inexplicably in the corridor, he might have had to use Save-Load many times just to barely reach the place where he could see the rules.

Now that he knew the rule, Xu Kai felt at ease.

He looked at the clock on the corridor wall. It was the same style as the one in the room. There were five minutes left before entry to and exit from the rooms closed.

He controlled the force of his steps, walking extremely quietly as he slowly made his way to Room Nine.

Just as he was about to reach it, Xu Kai saw the door to Room Eight open. A patient crawled out with a bowl in his mouth, suddenly scuttled over, and grabbed Xu Kai's foot.

Xu Kai's gaze hardened. He said nothing, merely trying to pull his leg free, but it wouldn't budge.

He found that the patient was holding on extremely tightly, with strength no ordinary person could possess. Like a rock, he had clamped Xu Kai's right foot in place.

Xu Kai wondered whether that kind of strength could really belong to a patient.

There were probably only three minutes left. Xu Kai tried shaking his foot again, but the patient clung on for dear life without making a sound.

Xu Kai steeled himself. You like holding on, huh? I'll show you the power of a bear.

He used the Weird Energy in his body to strengthen himself, then lifted his foot, successfully raising the patient with it. Patient Number Eight hung from Xu Kai's right leg like a pendant, following his every movement. But Xu Kai lifted his leg as though it weighed nothing and easily carried the patient to his room.

Once at the door, Xu Kai didn't open it immediately. Although he knew time was short, he still looked through the window to check inside the room. Only after confirming that nothing was amiss did he take out his key and open the door.

His room had only one bed, and the other rooms seemed to be the same. Interesting.

Xu Kai didn't think much of it. He went inside, bringing the pendant-like patient along, and shut the door.

A gleam flashed in his eyes. Now that they were in the room, the noise could exceed 55 decibels.

Patient Number Eight was still clinging tightly to Xu Kai's right leg, entirely unaware of what he was about to experience.

Xu Kai leisurely opened the game panel again and carefully checked it once more to see whether he had missed anything in the rules.

He looked at the rules for entering this instance. They said killing was forbidden outside the Killing Zone, but accidents were not restricted.

Whether one exploited the wording or considered the meaning of the sentence itself, it could be understood as: fighting outside the Killing Zone was allowed, but not killing someone.

What more was there to say? Naturally, Xu Kai didn't hold back.

First, he gently stroked Patient Number Eight's head, as though soothing him.

Then he lifted his right leg with all his strength and kicked the wall hard. With a thud, even the plastered wall caved in slightly.

As for Patient Number Eight, who was clinging to Xu Kai's right foot, his back came into intimate contact with the wall. His eyes nearly popped out, and he dropped the plate from his mouth, opening it wide to let out a heart-rending scream:

"Ah!"

The scream was so piercing that even the glass rattled.

But after that one scream, the patient said nothing else and continued clinging to Xu Kai's right leg for dear life.

Xu Kai began doing high-knee exercises. He raised his right leg and slammed it down hard, delivered a flying roundhouse kick, and hung upside down from the ceiling before slamming it down...

He swung his right leg a full hundred times, working up a sweat.

Xu Kai looked at the fruits of his labor. Patient Number Eight's entire body had swollen up, and he was hissing and crying out, but he still wouldn't let go. He was just like a dog!

A dog?

It suddenly occurred to Xu Kai that the movements described in the room's rules, the Nurse's movements, and this patient's movements were all just like a dog's, weren't they?

Could it be that not only their forms but their habits would change too?

Xu Kai thought for a moment, found a plate, and held it in his right hand, waving it in front of Patient Number Eight.

Sure enough, Patient Number Eight's eyes fixed on it. As Xu Kai moved the plate, Number Eight's gaze followed. Then Xu Kai threw the plate.

Whoosh!

Patient Number Eight displayed astonishing ability in that instant. He leaped after it, tracked it well with his eyes, and lunged at just the right angle. He caught the plate in his teeth and even gave it a smug shake.

If the patient had a tail, Xu Kai figured it would already be wagging.

While the patient was occupied with the plate, Xu Kai didn't remain idle. He found a stool and slammed it down over Patient Number Eight, underside first.

Patient Number Eight lay on the floor, pinned squarely beneath the stool, its four legs trapping his midsection. The patient struggled, but Xu Kai pressed down hard, leaving him completely unable to escape.

Xu Kai then snatched the plate from the patient's mouth and asked calmly:

"Can you talk?"

"Whimper, howl!"

Hearing the noises the patient made, Xu Kai frowned.

He took the milk out of the drawer. He hadn't had it that morning. After all, breakfast was eaten in the room, and nothing said he had to finish it all, so he had deliberately saved the milk.

He picked up the plate again, placed it in front of the patient, then tore open the milk carton with one hand and poured a tiny amount onto the plate.

Once he was done, Xu Kai said, "What's one plus one? Nod as many times as the answer. Get it right, and this is yours."

After he spoke, Xu Kai saw the patient nod twice and held the plate out to him.

Patient Number Eight immediately stuck out his tongue to lap it up. Number Eight's tongue had grown very long, with faint barbs on it, and the way he drank the milk was already much like a dog.

Xu Kai took paper and a pen from the drawer, wrote and drew on the paper, then held it up for Patient Number Eight to see and said:

"Is this what you're sick with? Nod if it is, shake your head if it isn't."

Patient Number Eight nodded. Xu Kai looked at the paper in his hand, somewhat dazed.

For the words written plainly on it were:

"Upright Ape Cognition Disorder: I believe humans are animals that walk upright and can use tools."

Xu Kai had spoken with Leng Chong before. Leng Chong was also a patient, and his medical record also said "Upright Ape Cognition Disorder."

At that thought, Xu Kai's heart tightened. It seemed he couldn't stay in this instance for long! Whether through the rules or the drugs, humans or "Evil" were being covertly guided toward transforming into some strange species.

But that wasn't something he could deal with right now. Xu Kai had to go to the cafeteria for lunch soon, and everyone would be there, including his opponents.

Xu Kai was a patient, and Leng Chong was a patient. One female player skilled with a blade was a Nurse, and another female player who could knock people back was a Nurse. Only the last player's identity remained unknown.

Looking at Patient Number Eight, who could understand human speech, Xu Kai suddenly had an idea. He didn't know whether it would let him probe the last player's identity, but he decided to give it a bold try.

"When we go to the cafeteria later, tuck this thing away and do as I tell you..."

Patient Number Eight looked at Xu Kai in confusion as Xu Kai imitated a doctor, writing and drawing on a sheet of paper. He even divided it up with many solid horizontal lines, making it look like some kind of form, complete with a signature.

Then Xu Kai stuffed the form into Patient Number Eight's hand and tried to make him understand through gestures and words:

"Later, do this, then this, and finally this..."

Time passed quickly. Patient Number Eight had clearly only recently suffered an intellectual decline and could still just about understand what Xu Kai meant. Xu Kai finally managed to teach the patient before the rooms opened at noon.

He watched the clock on the wall tick slowly toward eleven thirty.

Xu Kai checked his condition and prepared to face the feast in the cafeteria.