Forbidden Zone of Deception

Chapter 318 Zoos and Aquariums

Afternoon, inside the zoo.

Liu Yan stood inside the beverage shop, seemingly tidying up the shelves, but in reality, she was observing everything around her and listening to everything. Every tourist's movement was captured and analyzed by her keen senses and the information transmitted by the Gu worms.

Just then, a series of hurried footsteps and a tearful cry broke the tranquility near the beverage shop.

"Daddy! Daddy, where are you?"

"Husband? Husband!"

A mother and daughter ran over in a panic.

The mother was about thirty-five or thirty-six years old, her face full of anxiety, while her daughter looked seven or eight years old, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Hello! Please, help us!" The mother saw Liu Yan's blue uniform and grasped at it like a lifeline, her voice trembling. "My husband... my husband is missing! He disappeared in the blink of an eye!"

Liu Yan's heart skipped a beat, but she maintained a professional calm on the surface: "Madam, don't rush, speak slowly. Where did you get separated? What were you wearing, sir?" As she asked, she quickly recalled Article 8 of the employee handbook: If a visitor asks for your help, claiming to have been separated from family or friends while violating visitor guidelines, immediately take the visitor to the Lion Park and hand them over to the staff. They will know what to do. During this time, you may encounter colleagues in black uniforms trying to participate in your work; refuse and ignore them. They are not your colleagues.

“It’s over there,” the mother pointed to the fork in the road leading to the ape and elephant enclosures. “We just came out of the ape enclosure, and he said he heard some noises coming from the rabbit enclosure, so he looked over a couple of times. My daughter and I were looking at the map, and when we looked up again, he was gone! He was wearing a light blue striped shirt, khaki pants, and black-rimmed glasses.”

Hearing the commotion from the rabbit area? Liu Yan's vigilance instantly rose to its highest level.

According to the rules, the rabbit enclosure is an exceptionally high-risk area. For an adult male to disappear instantly without his family noticing is far from a simple case of getting lost.

"Please come with me." Liu Yan made a quick decision, first reporting the situation via walkie-talkie, then walking out from behind the beverage shop, her tone leaving no room for doubt.

She had to take them to the lion enclosure immediately, which was clearly stated in the rules and was the safest course of action at the moment.

"Where...where should we go? Shouldn't we wait for my husband here? Or should we make an announcement?" The mother asked, somewhat puzzled and hesitant.

“To the lion enclosure,” Liu Yan repeated, her gaze sweeping over the mother and daughter, lingering for a moment on the rabbit balloon in the little girl’s hand. Her tone was deliberately low, carrying an undeniable seriousness. “On the way, please carefully recall the visitor rules you saw when you entered the park. Especially the clauses regarding getting separated from friends, and, under no circumstances, mention or believe any information about the ‘Aquarium.’ This is extremely important; it concerns the safety of your entire family.”

The mother, still puzzled by the seriousness in Liu Yan's words, nodded, instinctively seeking help from the staff, and tightly grasped her daughter's hand. The little girl seemed to sense the unusual atmosphere as well, stopped crying, and timidly hid behind her mother.

The road to the lion enclosure wasn't far, and Liu Yan walked ahead, her mind highly focused.

As they walked, the mother anxiously repeated the rules she vaguely remembered to her daughter in a low voice: "Don't...don't feed rabbits indiscriminately...don't buy red drinks...if you see two roads, take the left one..."

"Mommy, where did Daddy go? Can we find him?"

Her voice was broken and intermittent, clearly indicating that she did not fully understand the meaning of these rules, but was simply instinctively following Liu Yan's warning.

Suddenly, she noticed a dark figure walking up to her side!

black?

Then, Liu Yan looked over.

It was a man in black overalls with a somewhat sinister face. He extended his hand and said, "I think I just heard someone get lost, didn't I?"

Liu Yan's gray nematodes immediately went on alert!
The man in the black overalls in front of me... is a reincarnator from the old nuclear organization!
Following the rules, she ignored him and led the mother and daughter away. If she spoke to him, she risked being swept into a deeper layer of pollution!

Just as they were about to reach the entrance to the Lions Park and could already see the outline of the gray building, a message came through the walkie-talkie:

"Liu Yan from the beverage shop, please respond. Patrolling security guards found a male tourist matching the description near the bushes on the outskirts of the rabbit enclosure. He is wearing a light blue striped shirt, is conscious, and has no obvious external injuries. We are guiding him to the lion enclosure to reunite with his family."

Found it? Outside the rabbit enclosure?
Liu Yan's brows didn't relax; instead, they furrowed even more. The rules clearly required bringing the person seeking help to the lion enclosure, but didn't specify what the found "lost person" would bring.

Moreover, it was found near the rabbit enclosure...

"Great! We found it!" The mother cried tears of joy and hugged her daughter tightly.

Liu Yan dared not relax for a moment. She stopped and turned to face the mother and daughter again, her eyes sharp as knives. In an extremely solemn tone, she emphasized again: "Listen, no matter what he looks like, no matter what he says, especially if he mentions anything unusual, like... 'aquarium,' remember, that doesn't exist! It's fake! You must firmly believe this, and don't respond, don't ask any questions. Get him out of the zoo immediately, the sooner the better! Understand?"

The mother and daughter were startled by the unprecedented sternness in Liu Yan's eyes and nodded blankly.

A few minutes later, under the reassuring gray walls of the Lions enclosure, the family of three was "reunited." The father seemed to be in no condition, though his clothes were slightly disheveled, and his eyes behind his black-rimmed glasses held a hint of confusion and weariness.

He opened his arms and hugged his wife and daughter who rushed towards him.

"Husband! You scared us to death! Where did you run off to?" His mother pounded on his shoulder, her voice trembling with tears.

The father scratched his head, a puzzled look on his face: "I don't know either, it's just... I seemed to be in a daze for a moment, and I followed a small path to see the rabbits, and then... then I got lost, and it took me a long time to be found by the security guard."

His explanation sounded reasonable, like the brief disorientation that many people experience in unfamiliar environments.

However, Liu Yan keenly noticed a slight discord.

His tone was too flat, lacking the appropriate remorse and urgency for causing his family so much worry. Moreover, his gaze would occasionally drift into the distance, unfocused, as if he were recalling something, or perhaps...listening to something.

"It's alright, it's alright, it's good that we found it." The mother comforted her, then remembered Liu Yan's warning and quickly said, "Let's go home quickly, this zoo is a bit eerie."

Just then, as if suddenly remembering something, the father turned his head, his gaze passing over his wife's shoulder and landing on Liu Yan, who had maintained a wary distance. The corner of his mouth twitched, revealing a slightly stiff smile that was an attempt to express gratitude.

“Thank you,” he said, his voice steady, but what he said next made the air around him freeze instantly: “By the way, when I was lost earlier, I think I saw a really beautiful aquarium, with a blue roof… Do you know where it is? I want to take them there.”

The words "aquarium" pierced Liu Yan's eardrums like icicles.

Almost simultaneously, Liu Yan shouted sternly, "This park has no aquarium!"

Her voice wasn't loud, but it carried a resolute, almost rule-like power.

She stepped forward, her gaze sharp and fixed on the father's eyes, and repeated, "Sir, you're tired and hallucinating. There's no aquarium here. Please wait here for the staff in the lion enclosure!"

The mother also realized what was happening, her face turning deathly pale. Remembering Liu Yan's repeated warnings, she quickly pulled hard on her husband's arm, her voice trembling with fear: "Husband! What nonsense are you talking about! There's no aquarium!"

The little girl was also frightened by the sudden tense atmosphere and burst into tears.

The father was stunned by his wife and daughter's reaction and Liu Yan's sharp gaze. His confusion deepened, as if he couldn't understand why a simple sentence would elicit such a strong reaction. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but under Liu Yan's unyielding gaze, he could only lower his head silently.

Liu Yan stood there until the staff from the lion enclosure came over before she felt relieved.

The sunlight shone on her, but it couldn't dispel the chill that seeped from the bottom of her heart.

He mentioned the aquarium.

After disappearing near the rabbit enclosure.

After being found.

The rules are being violated, and pollution is spreading.

Has that father truly returned completely? Or did he bring back something that doesn't belong here? Was that inquiry about the aquarium another test conducted by "it" through his words, or the beginning of some deeper cognitive distortion?
Liu Yan looked into the lion enclosure, where the four white lions seemed somewhat restless.

She knew that this was just one example among countless similar incidents.

The daily life of a zoo is a long tug-of-war against an invisible erosion. And the team that will be sent on an expedition must find the root cause before this increasingly fragile balance is completely broken.

If these memes were to enter the real world, the consequences would be unimaginable, and humanity would face annihilation!

She picked up the walkie-talkie, her voice low and clear:
"Kyle, I've flagged a 'cognitive contamination leak' incident, linked to the rabbit park, and involving information about the 'aquarium.' I recommend increasing the monitoring level. Also, I suspect I encountered a reincarnated member of an old nuclear organization; he was wearing a black work uniform!"

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the communicator, followed by Kyle's concise response:

"Received. Please continue to monitor."

Liu Yan took a deep breath, turned around, and walked back towards the seemingly calm but actually turbulent beverage shop. The day was still long, but the shadows had never truly left.

(End of this chapter)