"All the ID cards are the same, apart from the names." Yu Liang picked up a few, scrutinising them. "They all can be used to enter into the server."
After a brief moment of shock, Xiao Zhize also started to collect the identity cards scattered on the ground. He tried to put them back into the original drawer but it was too small to hold so many rigid cards, so he opened up a larger drawer beside it.
Unlike the cramped situation in the small drawer, the big drawer only contained a hardback notebook and a box of marbles, with a few uncapped fountain pens on the side.
"There's a diary." Xiao Zhize took out the diary, blowing off the dust. To his left and right, Old Du and Yu Liang watched as he flipped open the book.
The first page held nothing but faded yellow paper, so Xiao Zhize quickly flipped to the next page. There, at last, text appeared in neat handwriting, seemingly diary entries.
Indeed, a horror exploration game could never stray far from diaries.
Yu Liang thought with a hint of disdain, but he was naturally happy to find such an important item. It harbored a wealth of information about the theater, first-hand information from decades ago.
He knew he couldn't escape from this role-playing game. Despite the character charms prepared in advance being of no use, the information he had learned beforehand would definitely prove useful.
——
April 28
Today was my first day on the job. The Director is a decent man. My colleague, Old Jiang, looks fierce with a large black mole between his eyebrows, but he's also a good man. He gave me this notebook, told me to keep a diary. I'm a rough and ready kind of person, not used these sorts of things. But he said that it could help future guards stay alive longer. I didn't understand the meaning, and he didn't explain why. Might as well write something though.
Nope, that'll do. I've written enough. End of today's entry.
"This page doesn't have much content." After reading the diary entry, Xiao Zhize turned the page, cautious not to tear the brittle paper.
——
April 29
The work in the park is pretty easy, but it makes me curious. Every colleague is good at locking up the animals; then why are there always animals running around in open areas? Fortunately, they never harm anyone. The Director is also quite good at spinning it into positive PR... What did he say, exactly? Anyway, the number of visitors is increasing. But rather than being happy about it, the Director seems worried. Can't figure out the reason.
Nevermind, at least my salary has increased again. Surely there's no job in the city that pays more for less work.
——
April 30
The park bought loads of funny mirrors. The tourists looked hilarious looking into them – some sprouting rabbit ears, others growing elephant trunks. However, when my colleagues and I stand in front of the mirror, we appear perfectly normal. Old Jiang said it's due to the special way park staff look into the mirror. But I'm pretty sure I don't know any special tricks, so why don't I undergo any changes in the mirror?
Old Jiang said something about the angle of the light and other stuff. I don't understand any of it. I have always been poor at math, and I dropped out in middle school. Oh wait, that might be physics..?
——
April 31
Nothing to write about for today.
But, Old Li spoke to me today, not the one with the glasses, the one with greenish eyes. He said there's a monster in the zoo, and warned me not to go near the Elephant Library. What a joke. Old Jiang smacked him right away, but he seemed to hit too hard. Why did he hit him so hard?
——
April 32
Old Jiang disappeared. I shouldn't have let him go to the Elephant Library alone. I was wrong. Old Li was right. There's a monster in the Elephant Library, a human-skin elephant.
The Director knew about it all along. He always knew. No wonder the salary is high. I can't escape. Why can't I find the exit?
——
April 34
I have to protect tourists. Those who don't know about it will be safe; those who know about it will be scared. Inform the scared visitors to find the exit before nightfall. If they cannot leave, they can come to the security room for help. There are hints left by them in the interleaf of this diary.
If you can protect more tourists, then don't protect the tourists. It will get mad. It will get mad!
——
April 35
I... I saw it.
Today it was a rabbit, a crazed rabbit. It ran around in the zoo, and there were rabbits everywhere. We couldn't catch it. Rabbits were fighting; lots of rabbits were biting it. Brows with mole rabbit, greenish eyes rabbit, short-sighted rabbit, they were all biting it. But they all died. They're all dead.
All the rabbits are dead.
You guys trying to put together a rabbit gang? (Written in childlike handwriting)
I looked in the mirror; today I was a mouse, I have always been timid, I knew it.
And you're not being brave again today (Written again in childlike handwriting)
——
April 37
Foxes aren't sly, it's the people who perceive them as sly. Snakes aren't greedy; it is people who perceive them as greedy.
It is people who are deceitful
It is people who are greedy
Humans are animals
Humans aren't animals (Written neatly)
Humans are the intersection of all animals. Humans are the complement to other animals.
"Intersection? Complement?" Old Du didn't understand these words and instinctively asked, looking at Yu Liang.
Xiao Zhize flipped back and forth between diary pages. The rest of the diary was blank. The guard's diary seemed to end here. He answered Old Du at the same time, "These are mathematical terms. Intersection could be understood as the common part between two entities; complement can be understood as the difference between two entities."
"So these two sentences..." Old Du wasn't very good at math. He barely understood Xiao Zhize's explanation, but when he tried to relate the terms to their context in the sentences, he felt confused again.
Yu Liang shook his head and said, "It doesn't matter. These two sentences contradict each other. The important thing is that the person writing the diary only had a middle school education, and these are high school math terms."
"Are you saying that by this time in the diary, someone else had taken over?" Old Du understood this time.
"Maybe." Yu Liang nodded. "It seems able to affect people's perception and transforms people into corresponding animals based on their traits. As long as you don't notice 'it', you'll be fine. But being in this zoo, that's only a matter of time."
He pointed to the date on the diary, "April does not have a 31st day. Old Li told him about 'it' on this day, so his perception began to change from that day."
And the diary did not record what happened on April 33. But there was a significant change in his attitude before and after that day. The Director must have done something then.
Similarly, the diary did not record anything for April 36 either. And the entry on April 37 also suggested that his perception had collapsed, and he had been completely 'polluted'.
Yu Liang noted these two points in his mind. They could be crucial clues in the role-playing game.
"Old Du... You know what 'it' is, right?" Xiao Zhize looked pale. The people in the diary began to change after "knowing". He also knew now and was worried that he would turn into some monster, like the followers in the Cthulhu mythos.
"I have never seen it, but I know it exists. I have been hiding from it." Old Du said, "It is known to lurk more around the Director's office, and like the 'elephant,' it has no fixed form, only more terrifying."
He paused for a moment, his tone chilling, "As for what it truly is, it comes down to a single word. But it's unspeakable."