Chapter 198: Animal Zone
"I-I believe you! I believe you!" the Bearded Man stammered, stumbling backward in terror. He spoke in a frantic rush, petrified at the thought of being completely transformed into an animal.
Kaguya sighed with a hint of theatrical regret, as if she had just lost a fascinating new toy. She turned to Haruto, her expression shifting to one of inquiry.
"We need three sets of Red Staff Member uniforms," Haruto stated, his tone dropping into a stern, authoritative register. "And get this straight: we are on an incognito inspection. Not a single word of this is to leak out."
"Yes, yes, yes! I won't say a thing, I swear!" the Bearded Man agreed instantly, a wave of ecstatic relief washing over his face. Demands meant he had value. Demands meant he might just live. "Th-then my leg..."
"What's the rush? It will naturally revert after the game ends," Kaguya said, her voice laced with impatience. A sly curve then touched her lips. "Of course, if you grow fond of those rabbit legs by then, you're welcome to keep them."
"Revert! I want it to revert! The original is better..." The man shook his head so vigorously it resembled a rattle-drum. "Three leaders, please wait just a moment. I'll go get the clothes right now!"
He hastily pulled his pant leg down, concealing the furry limb, and practically fell over himself as he stumbled away.
It wasn't until his figure vanished through a side door that Kaguya raised a delicate eyebrow. "Will he really believe it?"
"He has no choice but to believe it," Haruto replied with a shrug. "Your little display just now was perfectly tailored to the atmosphere of this instance. It adds a tremendous amount of credibility. Anyone in his position would be bluffed."
Besides, it didn't ultimately matter if the man truly believed they were circus shareholders. As long as he feared death, he wouldn't dare make a reckless move until he could definitively prove they were impostors.
Things unfolded just as Haruto had predicted.
Before long, the Bearded Man hurried back, clutching a large bag. He jogged right up to them, breathlessly handing it over.
"My apologies, my apologies! We only had one spare uniform on hand, so we had to temporarily sew new ones. It took a bit longer than expected!"
"Temporarily sewn?" Haruto raised an eyebrow as he took the bag. Inside, he found three neatly folded red uniforms.
"There are specialists in the Animal Zone responsible for sewing these kinds of clothes," the man answered, his voice tight with anxiety.
"You can go," Haruto said, dismissing him with a wave. "Remember, don't mention our inspection to anyone. As for your leg, it will return to normal when the instance concludes."
The Bearded Man nodded nervously, then turned and fled as if the hounds of hell were on his heels.
Following the route he had indicated, Haruto, Kaguya, and Youmu soon arrived before a large, featureless tin house. The structure resembled a long agricultural greenhouse, but its walls and roof were made of corrugated metal. There was no lock on the door, only a simple sign posted at the entrance.
[Animal Zone Rules]
[1. Do not maintain eye contact with any animal for a prolonged period.]
[2. If an animal calls out to you, do not respond. It is merely an illusion.]
[3. You are human, not an animal.]
[4. Non-Red Staff Members are strictly prohibited from entering.]
The rules for the Animal Zone were remarkably concise—just those four. Compared to the convoluted staff regulations, they were refreshingly simple and clear. The core message was obvious: as long as Red Staff Members remembered they were human, avoided staring into the animals' eyes, and ignored any strange calls, they should be fine.
After committing the rules to memory, Haruto pulled a red uniform from the bag. It was less a full uniform and more of a thin, vest-like jacket.
The moment he slipped it on, a voice echoed in the depths of his mind. He couldn't make out the words clearly, but he understood its insidious meaning. It was a constant, wheedling suggestion, a whisper trying to convince him of a single idea: You are an animal, not a human.
Clearly, this was a side effect of wearing the red uniform.
Haruto took a deep breath, effortlessly walled off the intrusive thought, and pushed open the corrugated iron door, stepping into the Animal Zone.
The interior looked like an ordinary breeding shed. The metal sheets blocked out all sunlight, leaving the long hall exceptionally dim and suffused with a faint, damp coolness. The irritating voice in his head vanished the instant he crossed the threshold, the uniform's mental side effect disappearing along with it.
Haruto's eyes swept across the area.
There were pens holding pigs, parrots, rabbits, goats, and monkeys. At a glance, their appearances were no different from normal animals. Yet the feeling they gave off was deeply eerie, and not just because he knew most of them were humans who had been transformed.
It was... because it was too quiet.
A dead, unnatural silence hung in the air. Almost all the animals were perfectly still. The goats didn't lower their heads to graze, the monkeys didn't climb or leap, and the parrots didn't chirp or call. There was no madness, no despair, no sadness... no emotion could be seen in them at all. It was as if a universal pause button had been pressed, or as if these were nothing more than plastic replicas.
The only movement came when the trio walked past. As they did, the animals' eyeballs would slowly, mechanically rotate in their sockets to follow their progress.
A genuine chill crawled up Haruto's spine. He silently grabbed Kaguya and pulled her in front of him as a makeshift shield. If they were facing some massive, intelligent, or overwhelmingly powerful monster, he would have scoffed with disdain. But this oppressive, silent atmosphere… it successfully gave him the distinct feeling of playing a proper horror game with Kaguya.
And if he felt that way, Kaguya naturally felt the same.
She immediately bent her knees, shrank her body, and slipped out of his grasp like an eel. In a flash, she had circled around behind him and was now pushing him to the front.
The two of them shoved and dodged, trading places as each other's shield, until finally, Haruto gave up, grabbed the nearest person, and held her tightly in his arms.
Youmu, her face a mask of pure bewilderment, found herself being pushed forward by the two of them.
In her eyes, these animals were a trivial matter, dispatched with one or two sword strikes at most. She truly couldn't understand what Haruto-sama and Princess Kaguya were so afraid of. There were clearly no powerful entities here, just a collection of creatures transformed from humans. As long as they followed the rules, there was unlikely to be any danger. And given their current strength, dealing with a few animals shouldn't be difficult in the slightest.
Despite her confusion, Youmu kept one hand resting on the hilt of her sword, her senses sharpened and focused on her surroundings, ready to protect the two of them at a moment's notice.
Of course, if Haruto and Kaguya knew what Youmu was thinking, they would have undoubtedly shouted in unison—'How can that be the same! Being able to win is one thing, but being scared is another!'
And so, with the two of them using Youmu as their brave vanguard, they walked down the long passage and arrived at a new area.
There were many... "people" here.
Haruto wasn't sure if he could even call them that. They were half-human, half-beast, but the fusion was grotesque and utterly discordant.
Some had a left hand that had warped into a cloven pig's trotter while the right remained perfectly human. Others had a goat's foot for a left leg and a feathered chicken wing for a right arm, yet their heads were untouched. The abnormalities in their limbs were one thing, but the ones whose transformations had stopped halfway across their faces were especially nightmarish to behold.
They stood before a row of assembly line machines. Some were weaving clothes, some were making small gift boxes, some were blowing up balloons. Each had their own task, but every single face—human, beast, or a horrific mix of the two—was twisted into a mask of venomous resentment.
As they worked, they muttered malicious curses in low, hateful whispers that filled the air with a constant, droning malice.
Without a doubt, these were all former players.
Haruto could roughly guess their situation. Their Sanity Points had likely been on the verge of complete collapse, forcing them to either enter the Animal Zone willingly or be thrown in by their companions. Here, the oppressive nature of the zone suppressed their negative states, allowing them to barely cling to their sanity.
But this suppression was only a temporary reprieve. They would die if they left. Unless something drastically changed, they could forget about ever escaping the instance. They were trapped in this coffin-like iron shed for the rest of their miserable lives, painfully struggling to survive one moment at a time.
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