Chapter 8: The Well-behaved Little Rabbit

"Old Du, can the characters obtained from reduction be used in synthesis?" Yu Liang asked, seemingly out of curiosity.

"Hmm?" Old Du paused, then shook his head, placing the decapitated turtle in front of Yu Liang. "You'll find out when you examine it."

——

Decapitated Turtle

Name: Turtle

Texture: None

Note: Due to certain physical changes, it can act as a power source.

"I understand." Yu Liang nodded, showing he understood. He glanced at Xiao Zhize, internally letting out a sigh of relief. Xiao Zhize's head was safe for now.

Neither the name nor the texture of the turtle had changed; they had not truly become "electricity" and still didn't comply with the rules of textual synthesis.

Turtle. Electricity.

Despite being somewhat prepared for this, Yu Liang still felt a strange sensation deep inside. He hadn't expected that the only difference between "turtle" and "electricity" would be half a head.

If the previous word building rules could bring out some cultural connotations of Chinese characters, this one for independent characters seemed a bit like a brain-teaser.

However, upon further thought, many independent characters are pictographs, which could potentially be manipulated through physical dissection of actual objects...

It seemed too suggestive of the concept of "pictographs".

Old Du's gaze fell on Yu Liang's hand. "Don't tell others about this. And it's not that I like sharing; I need you...both of you, to help me think. What other characters could this rule apply to?"

"I understand, thank you for sharing." Yu Liang promptly responded, "If I think of a good application, I'll let you know."

"Hmm." Old Du nodded slightly and continued on.

Yu Liang agreed without hesitation, understanding that Old Du's sharing was also a test. If he couldn't exploit the rule to find clever uses, Old Du wouldn't share other hidden rules with him.

However, he was slightly taken aback that Old Du started off by sharing such a precious method.

Electricity, a power source, and seeing Old Du's application, it didn't require much thought to place the decapitated turtle. All it needed to fit into the battery or power compartment.

Most mainline mission tasks in horror games involve finding a power source. From now on, he could simply put several turtles in his inventory to avoid worry...

No matter how he thought about it, the idea felt ingenious. He just wondered whether Old Du was the one who came up with it.

The zoo was massive. Although no boundary was visible, Yu Liang could clearly ascertain the repetitive nature of the scenery – lawns, ponds, trees, and gravel pathways were everywhere. This caused confusion in his memory. He had wanted to note some distinct landmarks for orientation, but all the scenes here looked similar, like some open-world games boasting a vast map only to find the textures were all identical.

"Is that...a rabbit?" At this moment, from the opposite bank of the lake, Xiao Zhize saw something white and uttered involuntarily. Seeing the rabbit leaping playfully, he couldn't help but chuckle lightly. "It's chubby and cute. Isn't anyone taking care of it?"

At these words, Old Du quickly turned to look in that direction. He recognized the animal too and murmured to himself, "A rabbit? Judging by its size, it's probably a meat rabbit. But I haven't seen any rabbits recently, so we don't need to worry about it."

Xiao Zhize understood Old Du's meaning. The tourist note mentioned that encountering animals recently seen in the exhibition area was considered a bad omen. They had only passed through the main road of the grassland animal zone and hadn't seen any rabbits.

"Rabbit...rabbit." Yu Liang stared at the opposite side of the lake. His pupils dilated and then returned to normal. He didn't let his inner shock show on his face, but with a serious look, he peered towards the opposite shore.

There was indeed a white object on the other side of the lake, but it was not a rabbit—it was a man.

It was a portly middle-aged man in only a pair of shorts. Dense fluff covered his exposed skin. Squatting on the ground, he moved slowly, occasionally pouncing about. His round belly jiggled, just like a little rabbit hopping around. His hands were placed on either side of his head making a "V" sign, mimicking long rabbit ears.

If such extremely juvenile behavior were exhibited by a child, Yu Liang would undoubtedly find it cute. However, when appearing on a potbellied middle-aged man, his feelings were a bit complicated.

It was somewhat nauseating but also instinctively fearful, probably due to the uncanny valley effect.

"Little bunny, open the door, open it fast, I want to come in…" The middle-aged man acting as a rabbit sang in a harsh yet gentle tone from across the lake, giving Yu Liang goosebumps.

He looked at Old Du and Xiao Zhize, wondering if they could hear that nursery rhyme. However, all Xiao Zhize said was, "So that's what rabbits sound like. I haven't really heard it much before."

"Hmm." Old Du only gave a nod, offering no further response, but judging from his facial expression, it was easy to assume that what he heard was only a rabbit's extremely low growl.

It seemed the middle-aged man pretending to be a rabbit sensed something and turned to look at the three of them from across the lake. At that moment, Yu Liang understood why the man pretended to have rabbit ears with his hands on his head.