At last, he found a way to escape

Before long, the staff member picked up the food and handed it back to Su Chen.

As Su Chen thanked him repeatedly, the staff member left with a hand pressed to his chest.

Su Chen pressed his ear against the door, listening carefully to the retreating footsteps.

Once the footsteps had faded completely.

Su Chen took out the Employee Handbook, leaned against the headboard, and began reading by the light of his phone.

1. The Aquarium requires no daytime work. Your working hours are from 12:30 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. You may arrive a little late or leave a little early, but never arrive early or work overtime.

2. The hourly guest rooms to the left of the Jellyfish Area are provided for nearby homeless people and visitors who need them. After starting your shift, check that they have switched off their Jellyfish Night Lights before 1:00 a.m. If they have not, keep reminding them until they do. You are authorized to forcibly switch off the Jellyfish Night Lights. Under no circumstances may they remain on after 1:15 a.m.

3. The drowned elephant carcass in the Whale Area is an experimental 3D projection. No matter how real it looks, leave it alone and ignore it. Do not investigate the location of its switch, either. There is no need to turn it off.

4. The equipment in the surveillance room is damaged, and repairs are impractical, so please patrol once every hour. Sudden power outages and unidentified noises are normal. Do not worry about the safety of the fish. If you feel uneasy, you may rest in the Jellyfish Area. The Jellyfish Area has a fully functioning power supply and will never experience an outage.

5. It is normal for visitors to carry Zoo maps. Do not answer questions about "where the Aquarium is located in the Zoo." If they insist on asking, you may leave immediately.

6. Remember to charge the Jellyfish Night Lights before finishing your shift on Sunday. Under no circumstances should you forget.

7. Replace the food on the shelves once a day. If you find unfamiliar food labeled "Goat Meat," set it aside in the storage box in the Whale Area. Someone will take care of it for you.

8. You may walk anywhere inside the building during your shift, but do not leave the Aquarium. If overnight visitors attempt to leave before 6:00 a.m., do your best to dissuade them. If you cannot stop them, there is no need to resort to physical confrontation or follow them outside. Simply continue with your own duties.

9. If overnight visitors are wearing uniforms similar to yours but black, refuse to let them stay and use force to drive them away. There are stun batons and tranquilizer guns on the workbench in the Jellyfish Area.

10. If overnight visitors have rabbit-themed merchandise with them, steal it after they fall asleep and place it in the storage box in the Whale Area. The visitors will not question you when they wake up.

11. If overnight visitors try to chat with you, you may do so, provided it does not prevent you from switching off the lights on time. Do not mention the "Zoo" in conversation. If they bring it up, change the subject immediately.

12. The Aquarium operates independently. There is no Zoo outside. Remember this.

After reading through the handbook and making sure he had memorized every rule, Su Chen switched off his phone's light.

The rules repeatedly emphasized that the lights had to be switched off before one in the morning.

They even reminded staff that they could forcibly switch off the night-lights.

Clearly, leaving the lights on during that period was very dangerous.

Although the rules made no mention of light from phones or similar devices, Su Chen was not bored enough to deliberately test his luck.

In the darkness, Su Chen lay down on the bed.

He had already guessed the gist of most of these rules.

Quite a few of them had also been confirmed.

Only the first and eighth rules drew Su Chen's attention.

[Your working hours are from 12:30 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. You may arrive a little late or leave a little early, but never arrive early or work overtime.]

[If overnight visitors attempt to leave before 6:00 a.m., do your best to dissuade them.]

After reading all the rules, Su Chen felt that the Aquarium staff had relatively little contact with supernatural incidents.

Reading between the lines, he could tell these rules were written for people who did not know the truth.

He also compared them with the rules for the Blue-Uniformed Staff in the Zoo.

Those had stated right at the beginning that the pay and benefits were generous.

As everyone knew, money generally came in proportion to risk.

Taken together, this information indicated that the Aquarium staff were simply ordinary people who did not know the truth.

That brought him to the crucial point.

The rules specifically stated when these ordinary people should finish their shifts.

Did that mean they could return to the normal world if they left during that period?

Then another key point emerged.

They were not supposed to leave before six in the morning.

Yet another rule said they could leave a little early.

Wasn't that a contradiction?

Su Chen thought it over and decided that "a little" was clearly the opening he needed.

Still, he did not know exactly how early counted as "a little."

But that would not stop him.

He might not know, but the staff certainly did.

In that case, if he followed right behind a staff member, couldn't he escape the Zoo safely too?

At that thought, a smile appeared on Su Chen's face.

After so many trials and setbacks, he had finally found the way out of this Zoo.

Just then, footsteps suddenly sounded in the corridor outside.

When Su Chen heard them, he knew the staff member had discovered the Employee Handbook was missing and was coming back to look for it.

He casually tossed the handbook toward the door.

Then he rolled over with his back to the door and pretended to be fast asleep.

Before long.

There was a creak.

The door opened.

Su Chen did not react, continuing to feign sleep.

Then he heard the rustle of paper as the handbook was picked up, followed by the creak of the door closing.

After that, the footsteps receded into the distance.

Once the footsteps had faded again.

Su Chen breathed a sigh of relief. He knew he had gotten away with it.

The staff member probably thought Su Chen had knocked it down in the confusion when he fell earlier.

Meanwhile, Dragon Country's livestream chat erupted in celebration.

Some of the sharper viewers had also figured out these crucial clues.

"Oh my god, Su Chen is incredible! He actually found a way to escape! Once he clears this, I'm going to kowtow to him three times, good and hard, to thank him for saving my life!"

"Guys, this feels amazing! Every other country got wiped out, and only our Dragon Country is making it through. Talk about making us proud!"

"Based on past experience, the first country to clear the challenge gets 15 points of national fortune. At this rate, Dragon Country is going to jump to first place in the national fortune rankings."

"Where are those Sakura dogs who were barking so loudly earlier? Come on, keep barking! Are you jealous now?"

"And those shameless bastards from Pickle Country, do you see this? Without Dragon Country helping you, you're not worth shit!"

All of Dragon Country rejoiced.