Chapter 41: Chapter 41: Rules
After walking with Song Jianguo in this bizarre world for a few minutes, Zhang Wenda wasn’t looking at the scenery anymore. He was looking at himself—he seemed to have changed, too.
He remembered clearly that before coming out, he had specifically worn a blue and white school uniform, worried it would be cold at night. But now, he was wearing a black T-shirt and a jacket.
It wasn’t just his clothes; his body had changed too. He touched his buzz cut and looked down at his legs. His height had changed. He was obviously not a child anymore—he had to be at least eighteen.
"Not too bad, I guess," Zhang Wenda muttered, rubbing his chin as he looked at his surroundings.
The moment he thought this, he expected to feel a flicker of joy. Instead, Zhang Wenda found he couldn’t. It was as if, by becoming an adult, he could no longer feel happiness.
’Does becoming an adult mean I can never be happy again?’ Zhang Wenda kept trying, but no matter what he did, he couldn’t summon any joy. He couldn’t even force a smile.
Furthermore, when Zhang Wenda looked down, he discovered a shackle on his left leg—he had no idea when it had appeared. It was the exact same kind of fetter he had seen on those strange, imitation people.
"Damn it, where did this thing come from!" He struggled violently, trying to break free of the shackle, only to find that the more he fought, the tighter it grew, biting painfully into his flesh.
At that moment, Zhang Wenda finally understood what the rabbit had meant by "I’m doing this for your own good." It was clear now that the changes that came with growing up had some serious side effects.
"MEOW! MEOW MEOW!" Hearing the cat’s cry, Zhang Wenda jerked his head up. He saw a little girl dangling Song Jianguo upside down by her tail. The loss of just one emotion was already unbearable, and he couldn’t stand this.
Seeing this, Zhang Wenda was horrified. Forgetting all about the shackle, he rushed over. "Hey, kid! You can’t grab a kitty like that!"
He carefully scooped Song Jianguo into his hands and quickly backed away from the brat, who was now rolling on the ground and throwing a tantrum.
He wasn’t afraid of the child. What he feared were the mother scolding her and the father watching from the sidelines. Heaven only knew what they really were from another perspective.
Besides, anything that could snatch up Song Jianguo with one hand couldn’t possibly be small.
After walking a few steps away, Zhang Wenda set Song Jianguo down and gave her another nudge. "Let’s go. If we’re out, head for home. Let me know when we get there."
"MEOW! MEOW! MEOW!" The cat, however, refused to move. She just meowed loudly at Zhang Wenda, apparently still angry about the incident.
"Hurry up, stop throwing a fit. I’m running out of time." Zhang Wenda gave the Little Black Cat a light push with his finger, making her stumble.
The Black Cat let out another loud meow at Zhang Wenda before baring her teeth and stalking forward, puffed up with indignation.
Zhang Wenda glanced down at his shackle again, then followed the Black Cat. Soon, he arrived at a road paved with prefabricated people.
Staring at the neatly arranged rows of spines, Zhang Wenda felt his stomach turn. But when he saw Song Jianguo walk right onto them, he ultimately forced himself to step forward.
The sensation underfoot was indistinguishable from stepping on a real person, and Zhang Wenda couldn’t help the goosebumps that rose on his skin as he walked.
The other people, however, showed no signs of discomfort like Zhang Wenda. Cars zipped past on the road at breakneck speeds.
The cars in this adult world didn’t have tires. Instead, they had giant fingers from prefabricated people.
Fingers as thick as telephone poles served as wheels, skittering across the road in a blur of motion as they dragged the car bodies along.
By now, though, Zhang Wenda wasn’t as shocked as he had been initially. At this point, nothing that happened in this world could surprise him; he’d just accept it as normal.
’Right, where’s my backpack? And my lollipop? I’m sure I brought them.’ Zhang Wenda rummaged through his pockets, eventually pulling out a leather wallet, a thumb-sized laser pointer, and a pack of cigarettes with only one left inside.
Zhang Wenda stared, stunned, at the cigarette that had been a lollipop. It was as if growing up had changed absolutely everything. He shook his head and hurried to catch up.
After two minutes on the person-road, Song Jianguo veered off the main path and started down a side lane.
"Hey, watch the time! Are we out of there yet?" Zhang Wenda asked Song Jianguo, his eyes fixed on the digits of his digital watch.
Song Jianguo didn’t answer, simply tucking her fuzzy black head down and continuing to bound forward.
Finally, with only one minute left, Song Jianguo stopped in front of a welcome tree that was laden with oranges.
He pushed aside the leaves and saw a small bird’s nest nestled in the branches. A look of understanding dawned on Zhang Wenda’s face. ’Looks like we really are out.’ They had made it back to Song Jianguo’s bird’s nest.
"Not bad, Jianguo. You’re pretty useful in a pinch." Feeling a wave of relief, Zhang Wenda snatched her up and started rubbing her cat head vigorously.
Song Jianguo clearly hated this, and promptly bit his hand hard.
"Alright, alright, cut it out." Zhang Wenda put the bristling Little Black Cat down. "I’m about to change back. You need to keep watch for me."
The seconds ticked by. As the yellow digit ’1’ on his watch ticked closer to ’0’, Zhang Wenda felt the world around him begin to destabilize.
With just tens of seconds left before he changed back, a thought suddenly struck Zhang Wenda. ’Will the rules punish me in this state?’
Seeing that his time was almost up, he decided to test his theory. If he wasn’t punished now, it would mean his age was the key factor in the rule’s enforcement.
The seconds ticked by. Zhang Wenda glanced around, then snatched up Song Jianguo and rapidly fired off questions: "I’m asking you! How old are you? Where did you get those cat ears? Where did you learn to read?"
He finished asking and waited anxiously, but then it dawned on him. ’No! This is useless. Song Jianguo is a cat right now! Asking her won’t trigger the rule!’
"10... 9..." Watching the digits on the timer shrink, Zhang Wenda tossed the cat aside, scanned his surroundings, and sprinted toward a distant pedestrian.
"6... 5... 4..." Zhang Wenda dashed in front of the person and yelled, "What’s your name?! How old are you?!"
The instant he shouted the questions, searing pain erupted. A mangled, bloody gash appeared on his cheek, and at the same moment, the entire bizarre world around him dissolved like smoke.
And in that instant, he saw it. He finally saw the ’rule’ that had been hurting him!
To his left, Zhang Wenda saw a monster that had appeared out of nowhere. It was a twisted creature, three or four meters tall, its body covered in holes and its joints hideously deformed.
It was now fading away rapidly along with everything else. In the final moment before it vanished, the last thing Zhang Wenda saw was the blood on the scythe in the monster’s left hand. All the punishments from the rules... they had been attacks from this creature all along!!
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