Grotesqueries of the Old Domain

Chapter 18: Rabbit

Zhang Wenda didn’t know what the rabbit was thinking, but the more he looked at this environment, the more uneasy he felt.

Just as he was about to stand up, he said, “Um, teacher, I’ll come back tomorrow morning—”

Before he could finish speaking, two furry hands pressed down heavily on his shoulders, forcing him painfully back into his seat.

When that massive rabbit face appeared right in front of him, Zhang Wenda couldn’t help but suck in a breath—this rabbit’s head was huge, almost bigger than his whole body.

As Zhang Wenda shivered under the rabbit’s gaze, the rabbit slowly raised its hand and grasped his severed arm.

“That must have hurt, right?”

“Is that... concern?” Zhang Wenda was stunned. “It’s... it’s alright, I actually have a pretty high pain tolerance.”

“Close your eyes.”

“What?” Before Zhang Wenda could react, a furry palm covered his eyes, and a tingling sensation spread through his severed hand.

A few seconds later, when Zhang Wenda opened his eyes again, he was shocked to find his arm completely restored.

In this strange place, Zhang Wenda wasn’t surprised that the rabbit had such power—what shocked him more was the rabbit’s attitude toward him.

Although he had deduced from the rules that the rabbit should be good to students, experiencing it firsthand was an entirely different matter.

“Th-thank you,” Zhang Wenda replied awkwardly, feeling that maybe he had judged the rabbit too harshly.

Everything here was bizarre, but maybe not all the strangeness was harmful like the rules.

“Here, this is your reward. It’s proof that you bravely saved everyone.” A two-yuan bill appeared before Zhang Wenda.

Zhang Wenda looked at the two-yuan note and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry—was all his effort really worth just two yuan?

Although he was a bit disappointed, Zhang Wenda didn’t say anything. Two yuan was two yuan; at least it was something.

When Zhang Wenda took it, the rabbit immediately scooped him up and placed him on the back seat of the old-fashioned bicycle.

The rabbit’s strength made Zhang Wenda think he was about to be kidnapped—this rabbit really had no sense of moderation.

The rabbit bundled the collected items into a red-and-white mesh bag and hung it from the handlebar, then with a “clang,” kicked away the bike’s stand and started pushing the bike toward the stairs.

The tires bounced over each step, and Zhang Wenda, shaken to the point of forgetting his shock, quickly grabbed the seat.

“Teacher, maybe I should just... walk,” he offered.

But the rabbit ignored him, continuing to push the bicycle upstairs, humming along to the gradually louder music.

When Zhang Wenda once again saw the plastic white clouds on the rainbow, he felt like half of his butt had gone numb from the bumps.

“Thanks, teacher, I can walk home from here.” Zhang Wenda jumped off the bike and took a few quick steps away, only to be scooped back up by a large hand and pressed into the seat again.

“It’s so late—I’d worry if you went home alone. Let me take you.”

With that, Teacher Rabbit pushed the bicycle forward, stepped onto one pedal with a backward foot, then swung the other leg over in a grand arc, gave Zhang Wenda a kick, and mounted the bike to start pedaling.

Zhang Wenda touched his face helplessly—when it came to this rabbit’s methods, good intentions and bad ones didn’t seem all that different in execution.

But before he could recover, another surprise hit him—he realized the rabbit was heading the wrong way. It wasn’t the way home.

No, more precisely, it wasn’t even a road!

“Teacher, there’s a utility pole ahead,” Zhang Wenda reminded him kindly.

“Mhm.”

“Teacher, there’s a utility pole ahead!” Zhang Wenda’s eyes widened as the pole drew closer.

“Mhm.”

“Teacher! We’re about to hit the utility pole!!”

Just as Zhang Wenda instinctively leaned back and shut his eyes, the expected violent collision never came.

When he slowly opened his eyes again, he saw an incredible sight: the night wind brushed past his cheeks, and the thin bicycle tires rolled swiftly along an equally thin power line.

It was now eight o’clock, and under the glow of countless lights and a star-filled sky, a red-eyed rabbit pedaled an old-fashioned bicycle, carrying Zhang Wenda across a high, narrow power line.

Looking around at everything, Zhang Wenda felt overwhelmed and thought it was all incredibly beautiful—like a dream.

Noticing Zhang Wenda’s amazed expression, the rabbit’s three-lobed mouth curved into a smile.

“Pretty, isn’t it? What you got earlier was the association’s reward from the Youth Center—this is your special reward from me.”

Then the rabbit reached back and gave Zhang Wenda a firm slap on the back, knocking him forward onto its back.

To be honest, the rabbit’s strength almost made Zhang Wenda cough up blood, but once his upper body was buried in that furry mass, he felt no annoyance at the rabbit’s roughness.

The rabbit was trying to help him in its own way—even if that help was completely useless.

He lay sideways on the rabbit’s back, looking at the lantern-like lights around him, and in that moment, he finally let go of his last bit of wariness toward the rabbit.

“Thank you.”

“You’re still a kid—think more about happy things, play more, don’t put too much pressure on yourself.”

Hearing the rabbit’s concerned words, Zhang Wenda gave a bitter smile—he didn’t exactly have a choice in that.

By the time they reached the alleyway in front of the tube-shaped apartment building, ten minutes had passed.

Before the rabbit could react, Zhang Wenda jumped off. “Thanks for bringing me home, teacher.”

“Little Mouse, see you next week.” The rabbit nodded and turned to leave.

Watching the rabbit’s figure slowly fade into the distance, Zhang Wenda’s expression grew slightly complicated.

Just as the rabbit was about to get back on the bike, Zhang Wenda suddenly called out, “Hey, can I trust you?”

The rabbit, holding the bicycle, stopped and looked at him from afar.

After a moment of hesitation, Zhang Wenda clutched his arm, his expression pained.

“There’s a rule attacking me—I don’t know what it is, but whenever I don’t follow the rules, they go crazy and attack me.”

“So far I’ve only figured out three: no being late, no asking others too many questions, and no rescuing people. Every time I break one, the rules make me feel worse than death. Do... do you know what to do?”

The rabbit stood still for a moment, then pushed the bicycle over to Zhang Wenda, knelt on one knee, and gently hugged him—so softly, unlike ever before.