Chapter 18: Chapter 18: Rabbit
Zhang Wenda had no idea what the rabbit was thinking, but the longer he looked at his surroundings, the more unsettled he felt.
With that thought, he started to get up. "Uh, Teacher, I’ll come back tomorrow morning—"
Before he could finish, two furry paws pressed down hard on his shoulders, forcing him back into place. The pressure was painful.
When the enormous rabbit face appeared before him, Zhang Wenda couldn’t help but gasp. ’That rabbit’s head is huge! It’s almost bigger than my whole body.’
Just as the rabbit’s stare was making his skin crawl, it slowly raised a paw and held his severed arm. "This must have hurt a lot, didn’t it?"
’Is this... concern?’ Zhang Wenda froze for a moment. "It’s... it’s okay. I can actually handle pain pretty well."
"Close your eyes."
"What?" Before Zhang Wenda could react, he saw a furry palm cover his eyes. Immediately after, a tingling, numbing sensation spread from his severed arm.
A few seconds later, when Zhang Wenda opened his eyes again, he was astonished to find his severed arm had been completely restored.
In a place this strange, Zhang Wenda wasn’t surprised that the rabbit had such an ability. He was more surprised by the rabbit’s attitude toward him.
Although he had deduced from the rules that it was probably nice to students, experiencing it firsthand was another matter entirely.
"Th-thanks," Zhang Wenda said, a bit awkwardly. ’I guess I judged him too harshly.’
Everything here was strange, but maybe not all the strangeness was as harmful as the rules.
"Here. This is your reward, proof of your courage in saving everyone." A two-yuan bill appeared before Zhang Wenda.
Zhang Wenda looked at the two-yuan bill, unsure whether to laugh or cry. ’Was all my hard work and suffering only worth two yuan?’
Although he was a bit disappointed, Zhang Wenda didn’t say anything. Two yuan was two yuan. At least he’d gained something.
Seeing Zhang Wenda take it, the rabbit reached out, picked him up, and placed him on the back seat of the old-fashioned roadster bicycle.
The force was so great that Zhang Wenda thought he was being kidnapped. He had figured it out now: this rabbit had no idea of its own strength.
The rabbit then put the things it had collected into a red-and-white mesh bag, hung it on the handlebars, and kicked the kickstand away with a CLANG. Then, it just started pushing the bike toward the stairs.
The tires bounced on the steps, one by one. The jolting was so bad that Zhang Wenda couldn’t even be shocked anymore; he just quickly grabbed the seat with both hands. "Teacher, maybe I... maybe I should get off and walk."
But the rabbit ignored him, simply pushing the bike quickly up the stairs, and even started humming along to the music that gradually began to play.
By the time Zhang Wenda saw the plastic white clouds on the rainbow again, he felt like half his butt had gone numb from the bumping.
"Thanks, Teacher. I can get back on my own." Zhang Wenda jumped right off the bike. He hadn’t taken two steps before a large paw grabbed him, hauled him back, and pressed him onto the back seat again.
"It’s so late. I’m not comfortable with you going home alone. I’ll see you home."
With that, Teacher Rabbit pushed the bike forward a couple of steps, placed one foot backward on the pedal, then swung his other leg over in a wide arc. The motion clipped Zhang Wenda with his foot before he settled onto the seat and started pedaling.
Zhang Wenda rubbed his face, feeling helpless. ’With this rabbit’s style, there isn’t much difference between how it executes a kind act and a malicious one.’
But before he could even recover, one problem followed another. He realized the rabbit wasn’t heading in the right direction. This didn’t seem to be the way home.
No, it wasn’t just that it wasn’t the way home. To be more precise, it wasn’t a road at all!
"Teacher, there’s a utility pole up ahead," Zhang Wenda reminded him thoughtfully.
"Mm-hmm."
"Teacher, there’s a utility pole up ahead!" Zhang Wenda’s eyes widened as he watched the pole get closer and closer.
"Mm-hmm."
"Teacher! We’re about to hit the utility pole!!"
Just as Zhang Wenda threw his body back and instinctively squeezed his eyes shut, the violent collision he expected never came.
When he slowly opened his eyes, he saw an utterly shocking sight. The evening breeze blew past his cheeks as the slender bicycle wheels rolled swiftly along an equally slender electrical wire.
It was now eight o’clock. Illuminated by the lights of a thousand homes and a sky full of stars, a red-eyed rabbit was riding an old-fashioned roadster with Zhang Wenda on the back, traveling along a thin electrical wire high above the ground.
Looking at everything around him, Zhang Wenda felt utterly stunned, but at the same time, he thought it was all so beautiful, as if he were in a dream.
Glancing sideways at Zhang Wenda’s astonished expression, the rabbit’s three-lobed mouth curved into a slight smile. "Beautiful, isn’t it? What you got before was a reward from the Youth Palace’s organizing committee. This is a special reward from your teacher."
Then the rabbit reached out again and gave Zhang Wenda a hard pat on the back, pushing him flat against its own back.
Honestly, the rabbit’s strength was immense; the pat almost made Zhang Wenda cough up blood. But when his entire upper body was buried in the fluffy fur, he couldn’t bring himself to feel any annoyance toward the brutish rabbit.
’It’s trying to help me in its own way, even if this kind of help is completely useless.’
He lay there sideways on the rabbit’s back, looking at the surrounding lights that resembled sky lanterns. At that moment, his last bit of wariness toward this rabbit slowly faded away.
"Thank you."
"You’re still a kid. Think about happy things, play more, and don’t put so much pressure on yourself."
Hearing the rabbit’s concerned words, a bitter smile appeared on Zhang Wenda’s face. ’It’s not like I have a choice in the matter.’
「Ten minutes later, they were back at the entrance of the apartment building.」
Zhang Wenda quickly jumped off before the rabbit could manhandle him again. "Thanks for taking me home, Teacher."
"See you next week, Little Haozi." The rabbit nodded and turned to leave.
Watching the rabbit’s retreating back, Zhang Wenda’s expression grew a little complicated. Just as he saw it preparing to get back on the bike, he suddenly called out, "Hey, can I trust you?"
The rabbit stopped, holding onto its bike. It stood in the distance, looking at Zhang Wenda. After a moment’s hesitation, its expression became pained, and it clutched its own arm.
"There are rules attacking me. I don’t know what they are, but whenever I don’t do what they say, they attack me relentlessly."
"So far, I’ve only figured out three of them: don’t be late, don’t ask too many questions, and don’t save people. Every time I break one of these three rules, the rules make my life a living hell. Do... do you know what to do?"
The rabbit stood still for a while. Then, it pushed the bike over to Zhang Wenda’s side, knelt on one knee, and gently hugged him with a tenderness it had never shown before.
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