The next day, the butler announced the day's tasks in the cafeteria. Due to several deaths, job positions had to be reassigned.
Tian Fang was assigned to work with Wu Hao, responsible for the feeding duties at the rice farming base.
Liu Fu, a new employee recently confirmed as permanent, appeared before them, carrying two buckets of feed.
Liu Fu had begun to gradually adjust to his body, and over time, the instances of tripping over his own feet had become less frequent.
After all, the transformation of Feng Fu and Liu Yang into Liu Fu had some indirect connection with Wu Hao. When Wu Hao saw Liu Fu, his expression clearly showed signs of unease.
"Task: feed all of these clean."
The feed buckets placed on the ground numbered ten or more. Even Tian Fang couldn't help but feel it was a bit tricky.
Although, at present, the workers who had stayed behind to do overtime appeared to be fine. It seemed that the rule 3 was indeed correct.
However, Tian Fang still felt something was off. She hoped she could avoid working overtime unless absolutely necessary.
Wu Hao, on the other hand, appeared unfazed, picking up one of the buckets filled with feed and pouring it at his feet as usual.
Soon, the pond began to make a "gurgling" sound. Several toads, the first to emerge from the murky mud, hopped toward Wu Hao's feet.
But this time, the toads did not gobble up the feed as before.
Instead, they all leapt onto Wu Hao's feet, opened their mouths, and bit into his flesh.
Wu Hao was startled and quickly shook the toads off. But soon, more toads crawled out from the mud, hopping toward him.
Each one repeated the actions of the previous, clinging to Wu Hao's feet and gnawing at his flesh.
Wu Hao struggled to shake off the increasing number of toads, which kept coming one after another. In the process, he even accidentally crushed several of them underfoot.
These crushed toads, now split into smaller ones, continued to pounce on him as if he were a delicious feast.
More and more toads appeared, but they were no longer just toads. They seemed like large masses of decaying, living mud, greedily devouring anything trapped in the muck.
Finally, Wu Hao lost his balance and fell to the ground. The toads swarmed over him, covering him completely.
Amidst the writhing mud, Wu Hao's screams echoed. The toads were tearing into his flesh, gnawing relentlessly.
They like the scent of shower gel. But what would happen if that "liking" went overboard? They devoured him.
Tian Fang carefully approached Wu Hao with a bucket of feed in hand.
Covered in muck, Wu Hao struggled to open one relatively undamaged eye. He desperately reached out towards Tian Fang.
"Save me..."
The next moment, Tian Fang poured all the feed from the bucket onto him.
The toads, unable to distinguish between feed and flesh, ravenously devoured and tore at him.
One toad crawled onto Wu Hao's face, gnawing at his eyelid. After eating the eyelid, it moved on to devour his eye.
Tian Fang continued pouring bucket after bucket of feed onto him.
When the workday ended and the head of the production department came to check, they were very pleased to see that all ten buckets of feed had been consumed without a trace of waste.
Tian Fang looked at the floor, only a small amount of mud left. Flesh, blood, bones, even hair and nails—all had been consumed cleanly.
Tian Fang couldn't help but think back to yesterday, when at the bathroom door, Wan Qian had given Wu Hao a look that seemed to carry a deeper meaning.
Could it be that Wan Qian had foreseen Wu Hao's gruesome death at this time, in this manner, since last night? What a terrifying woman she was, so meticulous and calculating.
Tian Fang picked up a card from the ground. It was the rule card that Wu Hao had previously taken from her.
But when she picked it up, Tian Fang was surprised to see an additional line of text at the bottom.
[Excerpt from the Butler's Diary.]
It seemed to be a clue to obtaining an important item.
What was the "Butler's Diary"? Perhaps more secrets could be uncovered from it.
Tian Fang tucked the paper into her pocket.
With five days left before the internship period ended, the number of survivors was down to 16.
It seemed that most of the time had passed, and half of the people were still alive. However, everyone realized that the rate at which interns were dying had increased.
Wan Qian, worried about Wen Xirou fainting in the office last time, had been issuing her sick leave slips.
During her leave, Wen Xirou was allowed to move freely within the dorm building. She took the opportunity to inspect the entire dormitory but found no clues.
The only places left unchecked were the wardrobes in each room and the corners of the bathroom where the lights couldn't reach.
Recently, the lights in the bathroom had become dimmer, and most people hurried in and out when showering. No one dared even glance at the other areas, let alone check the corners.
The bathroom couldn't be used during the day. Wen Xirou didn't dare to enter during this time. At night, when someone entered the bathroom to shower, she dared to act.
The bathroom had cubicles on both sides, with a corridor leading to the end.
There were lights above the cubicles, but the closer she got to the end, the more broken the lights became. Some were completely extinguished, while others flickered on and off.
The whole bathroom looked especially eerie.
Wen Xirou, fighting her inner fear, slowly walked toward the darkened part of the bathroom. The shadows grew more and more, gradually enveloping her.
The sound of water trickling came from the bathroom behind her. The lights on both sides suddenly flickered.
A soft sigh suddenly reached her ears.
"Sigh..."