Chapter 81: All Lies, Breaking the Rules

Chapter 81: All Lies, Breaking the Rules

"What kind of reaction is this?"

Ji Yan watched the Rabbit Player's intense reaction and released his grip.

Then, he was met with her murderous glare: "Don’t! Touch! My! Ears!"

"Or I’ll kill you!"

Ji Yan innocently raised his hands and replied simply: "Fine."

The Rabbit Player sat on the ground, taking several moments to recover before her complexion returned to normal.

Ji Yan sat down beside her and asked quietly, "Are you sure the Pathogen is on that Yellow-Skinned Monkey?"

"At the very least, there’s something wrong with him!"

"That guy’s hiding something from us. He’s got ulterior motives—who knows what he’s scheming, but one thing’s for sure: it’s nothing good."

Ji Yan glanced sideways at the Monkey Player, who was still foolishly trying to dig through the floor, and whispered to the Rabbit Player, "Then it’s simple. Kill him and find the Pathogen."

The Rabbit Player opened her mouth to speak but suddenly broke into violent coughing, blood spilling from her lips.

"Don’t mind her. She can’t even stand up. Come over here, Goat, let’s speed things up, or we’re both done for!"

The Monkey Player called out to Ji Yan from across the room.

The Rabbit Player lay weakly on the ground and said to Ji Yan, "The Zodiac Monkey’s [Wish] is special. I’ve seen it once before—it’s ever-changing. You’ll never know if he’s truly dead or not."

"Cut off his head!"

"Only during a Mission, when players can exploit medical accidents, can they kill each other."

"That monkey… I bet he’s planning to use the B11 Patient to eliminate us!"

"The Zodiac Monkey has no allies among the twelve Zodiacs. Anyone can kill him."

After saying this, the Rabbit Player gasped for breath, her lung failure worsening.

Ji Yan nodded and turned to walk toward the Monkey Player.

"Is that rabbit on her last legs? Why bother with her? Rabbits and Goats aren’t even compatible."

The Monkey Player, now covered in blood from digging, turned his head and spoke to Ji Yan.

"Don’t tell me you’ve taken a liking to that girl?"

Ji Yan replied calmly, "Why do I get the feeling you despise the Zodiac Rabbit?"

The Monkey Player paused, then grinned eerily. "The Zodiac Rabbit and I don’t get along. Despise? Wrong. I want her dead."

"Guess why her lung failure is progressing faster than ours?"

"I secretly sent Supernatural Creatures to gnaw at her room. That idiot didn’t notice a thing."

"I bet she just told you all sorts of nasty things about me, didn’t she?"

"Don’t believe a word she says. Rabbits are the craftiest of all!"

The more the Monkey Player spoke, the closer his ears leaned in, his voice growing quieter.

"Let’s just wait for that rabbit to die, then dig out the Pathogen and destroy it."

"The Zodiac Rabbit’s death will benefit us both!"

Ji Yan’s eyes flickered. "What benefit?"

"Instance progression and rewards, obviously. Didn’t you know Rabbits clash with Monkeys and Goats?"

The Monkey Player stared at Ji Yan in exaggerated shock.

Ji Yan fell into thought.

It was clear both the Rabbit Player and the Monkey Player were trying to win him over.

As for their words…

Perhaps, as the Zodiac Goat, Ji Yan was especially sensitive to "lies."

He was absolutely certain—both the Rabbit Player and the Monkey Player were lying!

Each had their own agenda…

They had sandwiched Ji Yan, the Zodiac Goat, between them because, in their minds, Goats were docile.

If that was the case…

Then let's put on a show with them!

Ji Yan leaned close to the Monkey Player's ear and whispered, "The Rabbit Player didn’t badmouth you. She just wanted to—"

Before he could finish, the Monkey Player’s pupils suddenly contracted. He lunged for his scalpel, but Ji Yan was faster. His blade plunged into the Monkey Player’s throat.

With a fierce swing, he severed the man’s head clean off.

The headless corpse crumpled to the ground, while the head rolled away like a ball, coming to rest in a corner…

Wiping the blood from his face, Ji Yan crouched and began searching the Monkey Player’s body.

The Rabbit Player watched from behind, stunned. "Why did you choose to believe me?"

"I didn’t believe anyone."

"It’s just that this monkey here had murderous intent toward me. I decided to strike first."

As he spoke, Ji Yan’s brow furrowed.

"There’s nothing on him. The Pathogen isn’t here."

The Rabbit Player coughed violently, blood gushing from her lips.

Weakly, she said, "Of course it’s not on him."

"I told you from the start—I only suspected him."

As she spoke, black veins suddenly crawled up her neck.

Then, she opened her mouth—no more coughing.

Deep inside her throat, a pair of eyes stared back at Ji Yan!

Ji Yan whipped around, locking onto the Rabbit Player, now covered in black veins.

"So, the Pathogen is inside you!"

The Rabbit Player closed her mouth, wiping the blood from her lips. "You didn’t fully trust me either, did you?"

Ji Yan tightened his grip on the scalpel. "You were practically dying, yet you kept egging me on to kill the monkey. Only a fool would believe that."

"Since the Pathogen is inside you, this makes things simple."

He flicked the blood off his scalpel. "I’ll carve you open, extract it, and kill it."

The Rabbit Player laughed.

Her earlier act of lung failure vanished—color returned to her face.

"Seems you really don’t understand the Instance’s rules."

"In the Undead Hospital Instance, players can’t directly kill each other during daytime working hours. There are only two ways to do it—"

"Either use the Supernatural Patients as tools… or wait until after midnight."

"You just killed that Yellow-Skinned Monkey outright. That’s a violation of Instance Rule 13!"

"As Punishment, your current Mission will be canceled, and you’ll be sent to the Morgue."

"If you survive the Punishment, you can continue the Instance. If you die, you’ll just reincarnate into the next one."

"Think of it as a resurrection match."

"And if you kill me now too? That’d make two players you’ve directly murdered. The Punishment will escalate—you’ll be Physically Eliminated on the spot."

The Rabbit Player rested her chin on her hand, smiling sweetly. "So… are you going to kill me now?"

Her Rabbit Ears drooped lazily. "Oh, and my ears don’t stiffen up just from being near the supernatural."

"When they stand up, it lets me enter a Feign Death state. There was never any lung failure—I was just acting for you all."

Her face was full of smug triumph.

With a triumphant smile, she said, "They all claim that the Zodiac Goat is the best at lying and most sensitive to deception, but it seems that's not really the case."

"When it comes to lying and acting, we women are still the true masters."

Ji Yan's expression remained contemplative, shifting unpredictably—neither pleased nor sorrowful.

The Rabbit Player continued to push harder: "You must be feeling furious right now, toyed with and humiliated."

"So, do you want to kill me?"

"Didn’t you say you’d cut me open and dig out the Pathogen?"

"Come on, I’m sitting right here, waiting for you!"

Her words dripped with provocation—she was determined to keep goading Ji Yan.

If she succeeded in provoking him, she would successfully eliminate him from the game.

In this Instance, aside from compatible Zodiac signs, eliminating any other Zodiac would significantly advance one's personal Instance Progress and yield substantial rewards.

Finally, Ji Yan spoke with resignation:

"Fine. Since you’re so eager for me to cut you open, I’ll reluctantly oblige."

The moment his voice faded, Ji Yan lunged forward abruptly.

"I bet you don’t dare!"

The Rabbit Player sneered.

But in the next second, the scalpel plunged deep into her chest, then slashed violently—splitting her open in a single brutal motion...