Chapter 45: Into Nature (4)
Although the players were reluctant, they had no choice but to temporarily set aside their hatred and team up with people they had been fighting to the death moments earlier in order to complete the main quest.
Su Qiong used the pink diamond to locate every poacher, then instructed the players to conceal their presence, surround them from behind, and subdue them.
The hunting team remained completely unaware that danger was approaching.
After all, they had guns—real ones.
Every nearby animal had already fled at the sound of gunfire, hiding in corners and trembling.
The remaining two or three animals reckless enough not to run could hardly outspeed so many dark gun barrels.
Viewing themselves as the aggressors, the hunting team searched proudly for their next target, completely unable to anticipate what would happen.
Suddenly, an enormous group of animals pounced on them all at once—and the species involved were especially bizarre.
The poachers’ leader had dealt with animals for decades, yet he had never seen a sea turtle appear on the grasslands, leap into the air, and slap him across the face!
The hunting team panicked as they were attacked simultaneously.
They had clearly hidden themselves, yet the animals seemed capable of seeing the future, locating every one of them without a single mistake.
Several poachers recovered and prepared to fire.
However, the animals seemed intelligent. They knocked the guns away and brutally smashed them in half.
The situation instantly reversed. The hunting team became prey at the animals’ mercy.
After subduing them, the animals gathered together and muttered in a language the humans could not understand.
“There are seven people in total. What should we do with them?”
“None of them seem to be animals who stole our identities. Are we supposed to let them go?”
“That would be too easy on them. These people destroyed our habitat. We have to teach them a lesson.”
“Our habitat… You really think you’re an animal now?”
“Why not? We need to protect our shared natural environment!”
In the humans’ eyes, every player appeared entirely animal.
Therefore, even when they plotted loudly, the poachers could not understand them.
After an intense discussion, the players reached an agreement. They would tie up the poachers and abandon them in the most dangerous area inhabited by fierce predators.
Even if the native predators had no interest in them, players who had drawn powerful predator cards today certainly would.
Su Qiong and ERROR stood slightly farther away, deep in thought.
“I think something’s wrong,” Su Qiong said, explaining his analysis. “Xi Huaiji gave me the clue that there were poachers on the grasslands. Since the system deliberately pointed them out, one of these poachers must be an animal who stole a player’s identity.”
“I agree,” ERROR said.
“But we’ve already subdued them. Why hasn’t anything happened? Do we have to kill them?” Su Qiong scrunched up his face, unwilling to do so.
Even if their original forms were animals, Su Qiong still could not bring himself to kill them.
The system had been right.
After becoming an animal, one truly understood the deeper meaning of all lives being equal.
“No.” ERROR spoke with certainty. “The main quest is to reclaim our human identities. If we kill them, wouldn’t the identities disappear? The system wouldn’t arrange something so contradictory.”
“That’s true.” Su Qiong nodded, looking even more troubled. “Then where exactly did we go wrong?”
He struggled to organize his thoughts.
Suddenly, a feline player’s ears twitched, and he shouted, “There’s another human nearby!”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course. My species has some of the best hearing in the animal kingdom.” The player closed his eyes and pointed in a certain direction. “Over there!”
“Shh. Let’s surround him.”
In truth, the poaching team had eight members.
Su Qiong had seen only seven because one “person” had just obtained the identity of a poacher and had not yet adapted to using a gun. They had made an excuse about needing to urinate and hidden farther away to slack off.
The players surrounded him from every direction and pinned the “person” to the ground.
When they saw him resisting with the instincts of an animal, everyone wore expressions that said, We finally found you, you bastard.
“Quick! Hold him down!”
“Tell us! Whose identity did you steal?”
“…Interrogating him is useless. How would he know whose identity he stole?”
“That’s true. Then how do we reclaim it?”
After working so hard to locate their first identity-stealing animal, the players had no idea how to reclaim an identity and stood frozen helplessly.
Su Qiong approached and touched the animal on the ground, triggering three system prompts.
[Method for players to reclaim their human identities: Locate the animal that replaced you. The displaced player may identify it according to the animal’s exhibited habits. The creature replacing a cat must be a cat, and the creature replacing a dog must be a dog. After locating your target, place your own animal characteristics upon it to reclaim your identity.]
[Hint: The player replaced by this animal is already dead.]
[Hint: The food chain continues to exist among animals who have transformed into humans and operates in both directions. If either the replacer or the displaced player dies, the quest will be considered a failure.]
When they saw the first prompt, everyone thought the task did not seem particularly difficult.
They needed only to place their animal characteristics upon the target and did not even have to fight.
Then they saw the second prompt, and everyone fell silent.
The poachers were the first group of humans they had encountered.
Yet a player had already died before they found them, which meant that person must have died in one of the chaotic battle zones—killed by another player.
Killing the player had not completed anyone’s quest. It had been done purely to vent personal resentment.
According to the rules, once that player died, their identity card would stop refreshing.
In other words, they had found the animal who stole that identity, but no one could complete the corresponding quest.
Combined with the third prompt, the food chain existed among both humans and animals and worked in both directions.
That meant animals transformed into humans also preyed upon one another.
If the players continued slaughtering each other, the animals living as humans might be doing the same thing.
When that happened, no one would leave Circle Three alive.
“Damn it! The system deliberately misled us into thinking we had ten days and could leisurely search for clues.”
“We’re already out of time. If we don’t find the animal who stole our identity soon, it might be killed.”
“The question is, what do we do with this animal who became human? Do we have to keep him with us forever?”
“We can use him,” Su Qiong said astonishingly.
Everyone turned toward him at once.
“Use him?”
“Right.” Su Qiong explained, “Since the food chain also exists among animals transformed into humans, perhaps we can use him to locate other ‘animals.’”
“That’s right! You’re amazing. As expected of a system NPC.”
ERROR slowly added, “His intelligence has nothing to do with the system.”
He was merely the players’ external brain.
Su Qiong still had many things to do, including relaying the information to Yu Qimiao and stopping the remaining players from slaughtering one another.
Therefore, the task of tracking the first animal fell to those players. They would follow the trail and locate more animals.
Su Qiong told Yu Qimiao what they had discovered, but he did not seem surprised.
“I already know. In fact…” Yu Qimiao looked toward a spot in the forest.
Moi and Qiyi had transformed into tiny squirrels and were supposed to eat pinecones from the trees.
However, for the two sisters, who were squirrels for the first and last time, climbing trees seemed beyond their abilities. They could only stand beneath one and stare longingly upward.
After waiting for a while, pinecones actually began falling one after another, landing perfectly in front of them.
Su Qiong followed Yu Qimiao’s gaze and saw A standing steadily at the top of the tree, using his sword to cut down the pinecones one by one.
A had no animal characteristics whatsoever. His bracelet and weapon could both be used normally.
It appeared that…
“He reclaimed his identity?”
“Yes. After learning you found a camera yesterday, A went to investigate the area. By coincidence, he discovered a team studying wildlife. Among them, he found two animals who had stolen identities. One had taken his identity, and the other…” Yu Qimiao looked toward Su Qiong, deliberately keeping him in suspense. “Guess what it was.”
“I can’t guess. Was it a dangerous animal?”
“No. It should be described as an adorable animal.” Yu Qimiao revealed the answer. “A fennec fox.”
Su Qiong: “…”
ERROR: “…”
So if they had continued investigating for a little longer yesterday, they might have reclaimed their identities.
What terrible luck.
Compared with before, ERROR found A even more irritating.
What kind of god of luck was he?
After gathering enough pinecones, A jumped down from the tree and landed steadily before Su Qiong.
“Aren’t you entering Circle Four?” Su Qiong asked.
“There’s no hurry.” A raised his bracelet to show him. “Besides, the system hasn’t given me a notification.”
“What does that mean? You still can’t leave the Circle after reclaiming your identity?”
“Possibly.” A did not particularly care.
There might be more Circles after this one. If he continued alone, he had no idea when he would reach the end.
Since Su Qiong remained inside the Circle, A was willing to stay for several more days and help the others reclaim their identities.
“The system probably thinks the task is too easy, or perhaps there’s an ultimate quest,” Su Qiong said seriously. “Besides, we still haven’t met the Circle Lord. If we clear the Circle like this, we definitely won’t receive the Circle Lord’s reward.”
“That’s true.” A moved past the subject and asked, “When does your survival challenge begin?”
“Ah.” Su Qiong had almost forgotten.
Sika deer were active around dawn and dusk, so today’s survival challenge would begin earlier than the previous day’s. It should start soon.
Sure enough, Su Qiong received a system notification ordering him to return to his habitat within five minutes.
“Should I accompany you?” asked the extraordinarily lucky person who had already reclaimed his human identity and no longer needed to participate in survival challenges.
“No!” Su Qiong hurriedly called back, “Keep taking care of Moi and Qiyi. ERROR will protect me!”
“All right.” A glanced calmly at ERROR and said nothing more.
“What was that look supposed to mean?” ERROR felt insulted by A’s gaze.
Was completing the task first so impressive?
He was already questioning ERROR’s ability to protect Su Qiong.
“I used to rank first on the entire server,” ERROR said resentfully.
“In the beginner zone,” Su Qiong reminded him.
Afterward, ERROR had repeatedly lost points to the system for all kinds of reasons.
ERROR: “…”
“A was the first player to complete the task in Circle Three, so he’ll definitely receive a lot of points. Maybe he’ll become the new top-ranked player.” Su Qiong praised him sincerely. “He’s amazing.”
ERROR: “…He can forget about it.”
His damned competitive spirit had awakened.
Their conversation wasted some time. The instant they returned to the habitat, before either could catch their breath, Su Qiong transformed into a sika deer.
Evening had only just arrived on the grasslands.
Because the poachers had been driven away, the vast grassland beneath the sunset was exceptionally peaceful. A distant lake reflected the magnificent evening glow, creating an extraordinarily beautiful scene.
Su Qiong stared in fascination.
IF possessed exceptional realism. Its scenery perfectly reproduced the real world and sometimes looked even more beautiful.
However, they spent every day rushing between quests and life-or-death situations and rarely had the leisure to admire the scenery.
ERROR lowered his head and rubbed his antlers lightly against Su Qiong’s neck, silently asking whether he wanted to walk by the lake.
The young sika deer raised his head and nudged him.
The two deer walked one behind the other toward the lake, where many young animals were playing.
At this time, the daytime predators had already eaten their fill, while the nocturnal predators had not yet awakened. It was a relatively safe period for most grassland animals.
They encountered a herd of elephants led by a matriarch coming to the lake for water.
The curious sika deer ran over to observe them.
The mother elephant became somewhat wary, but when she saw that he was merely a young herbivorous deer, she did not drive him away.
A baby elephant protected by the herd happily flapped its enormous ears and ran over while swinging its trunk. It curled the trunk around the sika deer.
Although it was only a calf, its body was already roughly the same size as Su Qiong’s.
Su Qiong staggered and nearly fell.
Fortunately, ERROR stood behind him and firmly supported his body.
Su Qiong blinked his beautiful deer eyes, using them to express that the baby elephant was adorable.
Although ERROR was also a sika deer, his eyes appeared mysterious and profound, containing only Su Qiong’s reflection.
By comparison, Su Qiong was far more adorable.
Sika deer were not especially social and normally did not behave intimately with one another.
Two sika deer leaning together were usually either a mother with her underage offspring or mates during the breeding season.
The surrounding animals had interacted with sika deer for years and understood their habits. Seeing two male deer pressed together seemed unbelievable.
Although deer were herbivores, they were highly aggressive animals.
When two male deer came together, they usually fought over territory or mates. Broken antlers were common, and in severe cases, one deer might have its abdomen pierced and die.
Yet these two male deer remained together for a very long time without any intention of attacking each other.
Occasionally, the smaller sika deer would jab the imposing larger one with his antlers without controlling his strength.
The larger deer did not become angry and even used his own antlers to ease the discomfort of the smaller deer’s growing ones.
Are they still itchy?
ERROR asked with his eyes.
Su Qiong looked aggrieved.
For some reason, everything about becoming a sika deer was pleasant except that his antlers itched unbearably. They were also extremely heavy and made his head ache.
He finally understood why deer enjoyed fighting with their antlers.
With such a pair of things growing from one’s head, one really did need something to vent on.
Su Qiong called toward ERROR and asked the larger deer to spar with him.
ERROR seemed unable to understand. No matter how proactively Su Qiong challenged him, he merely humored him and refused to fight seriously.
How boring.
Su Qiong abandoned the idea of playing an antler-locking game with ERROR, flicked his tail, and continued chasing other animals.
After running for a very long time, night descended, and the sika deer needed to find somewhere to sleep.
The previous night, fennec fox Su Qiong had slept inside a bush.
But the bushes were too short for sika deer to lie in. Furthermore, there was no mother deer to protect them today.
Su Qiong was not truly an animal and could not remain alert in every direction while sleeping.
After searching for a long time, the two finally found a tree stump buried deep within the grass. Insects had hollowed it out, leaving a large opening.
There was dried grass and fruit inside, suggesting another animal had once lived there temporarily—perhaps a player who had completed a survival challenge the previous day.
ERROR let Su Qiong enter first and find a comfortable place to lie down.
Only then did he crawl inside and block the entrance in case danger appeared.
The hollow was extremely cramped.
Even though Su Qiong was relatively small, he nearly filled it by himself. More than half of ERROR’s body remained outside, and he had planned to simply endure the night.
Animals in nature slept under poor conditions nearly every day, constantly at risk of being attacked by predators.
But before ERROR could settle down, he felt a furry, soft animal moving behind him.
Su Qiong shifted through several positions before lying on his side against the inner wall, freeing more space. He called toward ERROR.
Come inside.
ERROR did not react.
Su Qiong called again.
The grassland winds were strong at night, and poisonous insects could easily hide within the grass. Remaining outside was not particularly safe.
This time, ERROR did not refuse. He squeezed farther inside until his body was pressed tightly against Su Qiong’s.
Su Qiong lifted one hoof and draped it over ERROR. Satisfied by their closeness, he fell asleep.
In his dream, he seemed to have truly become a sika deer, living forever upon the vast grasslands without worries and filled with happiness.
If there were no predators or poachers, being two sika deer did not seem bad.
Wait. Why two?
Su Qiong awoke and immediately looked toward ERROR.
ERROR had already crawled out of the stump and returned to human form. At first glance, nothing seemed different.
Had he reclaimed his human identity?
Su Qiong was bound to ERROR, so if ERROR became human again, Su Qiong would naturally regain human form as well.
Su Qiong was about to become excited when he suddenly noticed a bird feather protruding from ERROR’s hair.
It looked familiar.
When A had become a peacock on the first day, tiny feathers had also appeared in his hair.
“Chirp, chirp.” Su Qiong released an adorable call.
“What?”
“We’ve become chirpy birds.” Su Qiong pointed toward the feather in his hair. “It’s brown. What kind of bird are we?”
[System: Today’s identity has been selected for Player ERROR and NPC Su Qiong: wild mandarin ducks.]
ERROR slowly produced a question mark.
A mandarin duck was one thing, but why did the system have to add the word “wild”?
It sounded rather indecent.
[System: Wild mandarin ducks primarily inhabit areas near rivers, lakes, and ponds. Transportation will now begin.]
The familiar sensation returned.
Su Qiong arrived beside a crystal-clear lake. In the distance, the lake merged with the blue sky, and several swans glided across the surface.
“Wow! The swans are so beautiful!” Su Qiong, now a chirpy bird, was immediately captivated.
Then he looked at himself.
Mandarin ducks truly appeared far too ordinary.
Compared with swans, the difference was like an ugly duckling standing beside a princess.
He felt inferior.
“You like swans?” ERROR noticed his thoughts. “Mandarin ducks and swans are active around dawn and dusk. I’ll accompany you to find them tonight.”
“All right!” Su Qiong happily agreed. “You’re the best.”
ERROR’s emotions became complicated.
People claimed mandarin ducks symbolized love, yet the one beside him was fickle and had his heart set on pursuing swans.
As expected.
Legends were all lies.
“Let’s find Yu Qimiao and the others and share our clues.” After speaking, Su Qiong suddenly realized something. “Wait. We don’t have a clue today.”
“We do.” When the clue appeared, Su Qiong had still been asleep, so only ERROR heard it.
“Our clue says that the animals replacing humans are connected to animals.”
“Huh?”
The clue confused Su Qiong again.
Had the system deliberately given ERROR meaningless nonsense because it was targeting him?
“Is it difficult to understand?” ERROR looked at him with an ambiguous smile. “You’re normally very clever.”
“Being clever doesn’t mean I can understand nonsense. Since they were originally animals, then of course…” Su Qiong stopped halfway and suddenly understood. “The clue means they work in professions related to animals?”
“Right. And most likely, work involving the species they originally belonged to.”
“I understand!” Su Qiong exclaimed, patting ERROR’s shoulder forcefully. “You finally received useful information!”
ERROR: “?”
What did he mean by “useful”?
He made it sound as though ERROR had been useless before.
But after thinking carefully, Su Qiong seemed to be…
Entirely correct.
ERROR truly had not been especially useful before.
After gaining this realization, ERROR arrived at the meeting place in a dispirited mood.
The other companions shared their clues. The situation was far clearer than the previous day, allowing them to roughly identify the animals’ range of activity instead of searching blindly.
“We need to reclaim our identities as quickly as possible, before the animals replacing us are killed.” After summarizing the situation, Yu Qimiao raised his eyes toward ERROR and Su Qiong. His gaze moved between them. “What species are the two of you today?”
“Mandarin ducks!” Su Qiong answered loudly.
“I see. No wonder you look different.”
“Different?” Su Qiong could not see himself, so he stared intently at ERROR.
Even the thick-headed Shi Yuntian could notice it.
“They really are different. Su Qiong’s feathers are brighter than ERROR’s.”
“Mandarin ducks are specifically divided into males and females, and they look different,” Yu Qimiao explained. He paused, then muttered in surprise, “Logically speaking, both of you should be male birds.”
During the previous two days, Su Qiong and ERROR had differed only in size, so no one had paid particular attention.
Today, however, the difference was too obvious. Their companions could not help wondering whether the system had deliberately arranged something.
“I’ll act with you today,” A said.
Moi and Qiyi occupied relatively high positions in the food chain today, and they possessed their paired ability, so there was little need to worry about them.
Compared with Su Qiong and ERROR, the twins’ bond was clearly more stable. Every day, they received completely identical species.
As expected, their intimacy levels made a difference.
Su Qiong and ERROR’s intimacy had risen twice and now stood at only thirty percent. Moi and Qiyi had begun at 99.99%, an enormous difference.
Ultimately, ERROR had forcibly created their bond entirely on his own from the beginning.
“All right.” ERROR did not refuse. Instead, he joked with interest, “I didn’t expect you to worry about me so much.”
A glanced sideways at him, his eyes clearly asking:
Who are you?
“That’s wonderful!” Su Qiong, the person A was actually worried about, became delighted. “You’ve already regained your human identity, so you should be able to guide us to where humans live, right?”
“Yes, but in human eyes, you’re animals. Entering human society directly would cause a disturbance.”
“Then what do we do?” Su Qiong asked.
“There’s a place that may accept you.”
Five minutes later, at a large ecological park—
It was a weekday, so the park did not have many visitors. Many parents had brought preschool-aged children to explore and play.
Some children were not yet able to walk and sat inside strollers, finding everything around them fascinating.
Suddenly, they saw two birds flying toward them from the distance and babbled unintelligibly.
“Strange.” A park employee noticed the approaching birds and quickly raised binoculars to observe them. “Is today some auspicious date? Wild mandarin ducks actually flew here.”
The ecological park contained a large artificial lake with several geese and ducks swimming across it.
Other birds occasionally visited to freeload on the food, but they never stayed long. Only domesticated poultry were willing to remain in the artificial lake and be observed by visitors.
Regular visitors to the ecological park often complained that it had too few animals.
There was no helping it. A park inside a city was destined to be incapable of retaining many animals.
Since a pair of mandarin ducks had unexpectedly arrived, visitors were immediately attracted by the birds and gathered around to observe them.
“Mommy, what kind of birds are those?”
“Let me see. They should be mandarin ducks.”
“I know mandarin ducks! They’re birds who love each other!” The child innocently asked, “Are those two husband and wife?”
“Yes,” the adult answered without thinking. “Mandarin ducks symbolize love. That’s why people say they would rather be mandarin ducks than immortals.”
Su Qiong, standing beside the lake, felt somewhat depressed.
They were clearly two male birds.
Even if someone wanted to describe them, shouldn’t they be husband and husband?
A stood beside the lake and asked quietly, “Su Qiong, can you sense the animal who stole your identity?”
“No. There are far too many people here.” Su Qiong answered helplessly, “Besides, the animal who stole ERROR’s identity must be extremely powerful.”
Considering how thoroughly the system targeted ERROR, Su Qiong would not have been surprised even if it arranged for a Circle Lord to steal his identity.
“But the direction I detected definitely leads here.” A looked around. “You’re attracting too much attention to move freely. I’ll investigate nearby and contact you if I discover anything.”
“All right. Be careful,” Su Qiong warned him. “The NPC who stole ERROR’s identity must be especially powerful.”
“I know.”
After A left, Su Qiong wanted to circle the lake and search for a way out, but humans surrounded the area, leaving no opening.
Furthermore, news that mandarin ducks had appeared in the ecological park had already spread. More visitors continued arriving to witness the birds, blocking the path even more tightly.
“There are so many people. What should we do?” It was Su Qiong’s first time facing so many ordinary humans, and he felt somewhat uncomfortable.
ERROR lazily leaned against the shore, resembling a mandarin duck who had given up on life.
“You dislike being watched?”
“…A little.”
“Then let’s hide.”
“Huh?” Su Qiong looked at the dense crowd. “Where can we hide?”
In the next second, ERROR grabbed his hand and leaped decisively into the water.
“Wow! Is this the legendary sight of mandarin ducks playing in the water?”
“This is my first time watching a mandarin-duck film! I’m so nervous!”
“I’m going to record it and post it online.”
Su Qiong did not understand.
What did “mandarin ducks playing in the water” mean?
And what was a “mandarin-duck film”?
He only felt himself becoming submerged. Just as he began to panic, he discovered that he floated steadily upon the surface.
Although mandarin ducks were not strong, they possessed convenient mobility and could be considered capable of traveling through water, on land, and through the air.
Su Qiong submerged himself and discovered he could hold his breath for a while without discomfort.
Furthermore, because his feathers repelled water, the inside of his body did not become wet.
It felt incredible.
“Why did you…” bring me into the water?
Before Su Qiong could finish, a system prompt interrupted him.
[System: You have triggered the hidden quest of the Into Nature instance: Together in Love.]
[Quest Description: Mandarin ducks symbolize love, but their own bonds are not steadfast, and they separate after the breeding season. Therefore, to test whether the love between you two mandarin ducks is faithful, each of you must retrieve an ice flower from the summit of a mountain and a black pearl from the depths of the ocean, then present them to your partner.]
[Quest Difficulty: A—Dangerous.]
This was the first time since entering the game that Su Qiong had triggered an A-rank quest.
Since the difficulty was so high, there was no need to insist on completing it, right?
Su Qiong was about to discuss it with ERROR when he saw an eerie amount of fighting spirit in the other man’s eyes.
“Wait here and don’t move. I’ll retrieve the ice flower and black pearl for you.”
Su Qiong: “???”
Have you finally grown tired of living?
