Even though everyone knew that venting their anger at the masked volunteer was useless, when his words fell, soone still rushed out from behind Lin Sanjiu, shouting, "So, it was your doing!"
She turned back to look, hurriedly reaching out to stop Nu Yue. The masked volunteer hastily retreated two steps, coughed, and said, "I had no choice. You can't attack volunteers."
"Welco to this new ga launch!" said a cheerful female voice, causing everyone in the room to freeze.
As Lin Sanjiu looked up, she realized that the content of the projection on the wall had changed. The projector also had a speaker installed; a fresh-colored, chubby cartoon character bounced onto the wall, laughing. "This ga is interesting. I think everyone will enjoy it."
A cartoon elephant slowly walked into the fra. It had bright round eyes and ears and could even be described as sowhat cute—if you ignored the nurous human eyes covering its body.
"After the release is over, please go in that direction," the cartoon girl said, gesturing. Everyone's gaze followed, landing on a door at the other end of the room that had appeared at so point.
Lin Sanjiu heard a slight "hmm?" from Ji Shanqing.
"Go out through that door, and you'll enter the room where the ga field is located. Everyone must be present when the ga starts. If you have any questions, you can ask the volunteers on site."
The volunteer, who was now quite far away, nodded.
"After entering the ga room, you'll find a row of backpacks on the ground," The cartoon girl said and turned around, revealing the backpack on her back. "Each backpack represents a job; please choose one each. You must continuously do the corresponding work to sustain your survival. If you don't work for three consecutive days, you will experience literal, physiological death."
Even though they all looked grim, everyone was silently listening.
"The ga's goal is to find the exit and leave the room," said the cartoon girl, turning back and raising a finger in warning. "Be aware your abilities or power may not always be effective in the room. If you provoke a retaliation, you will suffer irresistible physical damage inside the room."
Provoke retaliation from whom? Suffer physical harm from whom?
Lin Sanjiu felt sothing was missing in the cartoon girl's explanation, and she'd probably have to keep listening to fully understand. She stared at the projection on the wall, only to see the cartoon girl bow and laugh.
"So, the ga launch ends here, and the ga will start in one minute. Please rush to the ga room."
While Lin Sanjiu was taken aback, soone had already blurted out, "What? Just like that?"
"Strange," Han Suiping mumbled. "What's the purpose of that elephant?"
Nu Yue's anger from earlier surged even higher. She asked the masked volunteer, "Is this new ga launch just that little bit of information? Do we just need to go into that room, work with the backpacks, find the exit, and leave?"
The masked volunteer raised his hand like a traffic director, gesturing for everyone to quickly approach the door. "Don't waste any more ti, or there will be a penalty. All I can tell you is that the main rules of the ga, whether explicitly stated or implied, are all included in the new ga launch."
Lin Sanjiu subconsciously looked at the grand prize—his brow was deeply furrowed.
"As far as I know, there will also be so text prompts in the ga room to help you adapt to the ga quickly... Alright, you should hurry in," the masked volunteer said as he opened the door for them.
The door was just an ordinary iron door, nothing surprising; however, when Lin Sanjiu looked through the door, she couldn't help but exclaim in surprise and confusion.
In the room stood a gray elephant.
It was no longer a cartoon figure. Whether it was the spots ford by color fading on its skin, the fine wrinkles, the long nose swaying in mid-air, or the group of fan-like ears, all indicated that it was a real Asian elephant—except for the countless eyes all over its body.
"What... what is this thing?!" Nu Yue exclaid while following everyone into the room. "It's hideous."
The gray elephant's skin was filled with holes, each containing a human eyeball, numbering in the hundreds. All of them were bald without eyelashes, only having distinct black and white pupils; so were initially looking up at the ceiling, and so looked down at the floor. However, as soon as they saw everyone coming in, they all turned together, staring at them.
Nu Yue was right. It was indeed quite disgusting.
The room's ceiling was only about three ters high, and when the elephant leisurely paced around it, its back almost touched the ceiling. Due to the elephant in the center, Lin Sanjiu found it hard to determine the room's size; however, when a group of eight people poured into the room, she felt as if the space was fully occupied, leaving little room to move around.
The masked volunteer poked his head in the door and dropped a "Good luck," then closed the door before anyone could react—the iron door disappeared from the wall as soon as it closed, as if it had never existed. Only his voice lingered faintly, saying, "Everyone is here, the ga officially begins!"
Soone took a deep breath. "It's... starting already?"
The elephant took up most of the field of view; after a few seconds, Lin Sanjiu saw the others stretching their necks to look behind the elephant and realized there might be so text prompts.
Louisa, who was closest to that wall and the only one who could see the text, relayed the text for everyone. "We need to choose our backpacks within the next three minutes. The backpacks are laid on the floor against the wall... Do you see where the backpacks are?"
Horst bent down, looked through the elephant's legs, and answered, "I see them. They're on the other side of the room. Right be—"
"Shut up!" Silvan roared, cutting him off.
Horst jumped in fright and got to his feet, looking as if he wanted to ask but didn't know if he should. The room suddenly beca quiet, with only the elephant's heavy footsteps, each step causing the floor to tremble slightly.
"There are only eight of us here," Ji Shanqing said in a deep, clear, and composed voice. "Do you understand?"
Everyone looked at each other with a puzzled look, but none of them spoke.
"Yes," Silvan replied, "you see, we're in a room."
And in the room, there was an elephant—this seed to be the unsaid second half of his sentence.
Lin Sanjiu slowly began to understand.
During the ga launch, the cartoon girl never once ntioned the elephant next to her, acting as if it didn't exist. Thinking about it now, the saying "elephant in the room" taphorically referred to a clear problem that was collectively ignored, didn't it? The rule not verbalized during the ga launch must be "Don't discuss the elephant in the room."
So, the missing piece from the little girl's explanation should be the elephant. If they attacked the elephant, they would invite retaliation and harm they couldn't fend off. Was that the idea? Fortunately, Nu Yue's comnt was made before the ga started. Otherwise...
"I understand," Han Suiping said quietly. "So... should we go get the backpacks now?"
Although it's easier said than done, the situation was challenging. The elephant, covered with human eyes all over its body, slowly moved towards the wall where the backpacks were placed, blocking it completely. Everyone quickly gathered towards the cleared area on the other side, bending over to scan the ground in the distance.
Even though the view was blocked by the elephant's legs, a row of backpacks could still be neatly lined up against the wall. A tir on the adjacent wall showed they had only two minutes left.
"Let hook the backpacks over," Lin Sanjiu said to the group before quickly adding, "If none of you want to go over and get them."
Nu Yue stared behind her and let out a low gasp.
Lin Sanjiu quickly turned around and noticed that the elephant had stopped in front of one of the backpacks while she was speaking. It used its trunk to pry open the bag, rummaged inside for a bit, and then wrapped the entire backpack with its trunk and placed it in its mouth. After a few chews, it swallowed the bag whole.
Now, for the eight of them, there were only seven backpacks left.
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