[Dear visitors, welcome to the largest zoo in our city. We house most of the world's animal species and guarantee a suitable environment for each of them. We hope you enjoy your visit! While touring the zoo, all visitors must follow the rules below to ensure their safety. Otherwise, you will bear responsibility for the consequences.] 1. If you are headstrong and stubbornly insist on your own views, you may ignore these rules and enjoy yourself freely. 2. There are absolutely no problems with this zoo's safety measures. The animals cannot escape. Small herbivores, in particular, are all kept in enclosed environments where visitors cannot touch them. Therefore, if you see an escaped rabbit, please soothe it and carry it to a staff member. The rabbit can comfort you (the latter portion is in blue text). 3. The ape enclosure has only one path and exhibits only apes. If you find two paths and the apes are dressed in black, choose the path on the left and finish your visit to this enclosure as quickly as possible. 4. If the elephants you see look different from what you know elephants to look like, please do not panic. Open your eyes wide and tell yourself that seeing is believing (the final sentence is in blue text). 5. The zoo's refreshment shops do not offer "rabbit blood." If you see it on a shelf, please ignore it and buy other food (the final sentence is in blue text). 6. Do not linger in the shade of the trees in the rabbit enclosure, but you may visit the aquarium during the day to cool off (the latter clause is in blue text). 7. This zoo has an aquarium. If a staff member offers to sell you aquarium tickets, accept. There is an emergency exit there. (The entire rule is in blue text.) 8. Rabbits do not laugh. If you hear a rabbit laughing, please tear off the section of the map marked with a dotted line and hold it in your hand. Do not let go of it until you have completely left the zoo. 9. If you violate any of the rules above, find the nearest staff member dressed in blue within fifteen minutes. He will take you to the lion enclosure. Do not be afraid. The lions here will not attack you. Once all the white lions begin roaring, the staff member will lead you out of the enclosure. 10. This zoo has only four white lions. If you see more than four white lions roaring, do not leave the enclosure. Inform a staff member and wait until the number of white lions returns to four before leaving. 11. If you see someone wearing rabbit-ear accessories following the crowd into the elephant enclosure, please watch the show with your eyes wide open. This will ensure your safety (the latter portion is in blue text). 12. The lion enclosure is safe. If you encounter any danger you cannot resolve and cannot obtain help, go to the lion enclosure immediately, by any means necessary. Do everything possible to get there. 13. You may buy any animal-themed toys for children aged twelve and under. If you buy animal plush toys for children aged thirteen to seventeen, please discard them within a month. People aged eighteen and above may only buy rabbit toys (the final sentence is in blue text).
After reading the rules, Su Chen's head instantly began buzzing.
Cold sweat kept breaking out across his back.
Before crossing over to this world, he had heard of Zoo Rules Horror.
Although he did not know the exact details, he knew that following that horror scenario's rules would definitely keep him alive.
But now something was wrong.
Why were so many parts of these rules marked in blue?
Moreover, in quite a few rules, the black text and blue text contradicted each other logically.
For instance, the second rule stated, [Small herbivores are all kept in enclosed environments where visitors cannot touch them.]
If the black text is correct, doesn't that mean rabbits that aren't confined aren't herbivores?
Then what do they eat?
The blue text tells me to pet the rabbits. Wouldn't that be suicide?
But then he went back and looked at the blue text in rules five and seven.
One pointed out the location of an emergency exit.
The other stressed that he should not buy rabbit blood.
No matter how he looked at it, that rabbit blood seemed sinister.
It definitely was not anything good.
Ignoring the rabbit blood should be the right choice.
More importantly, there was the first rule, written in black.
[If you are headstrong and stubbornly insist on your own views, you may ignore these rules and enjoy yourself freely.]
Ignore the rules in a world of rules-based horror?
Is this some kind of joke?
Do they really think I've got a Gatling gun spitting blue flames?
Seen that way, the blue text was actually more likely to contain the correct rules.
Su Chen also instinctively leaned toward believing that the blue text was correct.
It was not because he was jumping to conclusions.
Rather, if the blue text was false, what that implied was far too terrifying.
The visitor rules the staff had given him would be nothing but traps.
Wouldn't that mean all the staff were my enemies, too?
Faced with such an outrageously difficult opening, Su Chen was a little dumbfounded.
But he soon collected himself.
He remembered that he still had his reset-on-death ability.
He could simply try both approaches once.
As for which approach to choose first, he would see what the other Chosen Ones picked.
Su Chen decided to do the opposite of them. That way, he could also use their actions as a reference.
Having worked that out, Su Chen read through all the rules again.
Once he was certain he had memorized everything, he slipped the map into his pocket.
Before you continue