Part 84: A Bite that Persists

It's time to get started on another route.

In Round Two, Mouse will accept Ox's offer to explore the library together. The two set off on their own, and once there split up to cover more ground. Mouse notices that something is up with one of the computers, but before she can investigate further, Ox calls out to her.

(I'm just going to note here that going to see what Ox wants is NOT route determinant, I'm just showing what you encounter if you go to see what he wants since we're getting close to the end and I want to cover all my bases )

[BGM: Stampede of Truth]


Hey Mouse, I think I've found something. Could you come look at this with me?

I walked over to Ox.

So, what is it?

This book didn't follow the Dewey Decimal System.

...You noticed that?

I was looking for something like that. Anyways, I opened it, and I found this.

Ox held up a small, black disc.

What's that?

I'm not sure. When I first saw it, I thought it'd be an item.



But there doesn't appear to be an input code on it, which the Jade Emperor mentioned items have.

Well, that's a bummer. So, where exactly was this?

The book actually had the center of its pages cut out, turning it into a makeshift hidey-hole.

That's kind of neat.

Kind of cliché. I've seen something like that in a number of cases at this point. Brian wasn't really original in his hiding spots, was he?

That's really what you're going to nitpick in all of this?

Anyways, there was also a weird message written in red inside the 'compartment'. It read “I have stolen blood from my kin.”

Ew. Weird.

Weird indeed.

Any idea what that could mean?



I was telling you about it hoping you would.

Hmm. Sorry, I can't really think of anything.

Then it appears we're at an impasse.

But this is definitely something, right?

Perhaps. Or, perhaps it could simply be a red herring.

Seems kind of elaborate for a red herring.

No one's accused Brian of not being elaborate. Anyways, the round's running out of time. We should probably get back to the cafeteria, then.

I guess we should.

You input your actions for this round in this room, then come join us.

I will.

With that, Ox walked out of the room.

Mouse runs, as usual, and then returns to the cafeteria. The results are posted – everyone ran, of course – and then everyone splits up once more.

For Round Three, Mouse decides to go explore with Bunny and Dog, and the three end up in a forum-style classroom, where they solve a true/false puzzle and find a Major Trinket. With that, they split up to input their votes and return to the cafeteria, where the results show that once again, the group as a whole have all ran – only for the group to witness the additional rules given after Round Three ends:

VICTORIOUS can only win if they finish first with no more than two other people, and DEFEATED wants to finish last, which will result in only the two of them surviving.

Like before, the Jade Emperor gives everyone 15 extra minutes to process this new information. Tiger tries to get the people with victorious and defeated to speak up, but nobody comes forward. Ox attempts to get the group to resume searching for trinkets, but several members express doubt at how safe that would be. Dragon proposes they explore in groups of three rather than pairs, to make it easier for the group to stay safer as a whole. She also proposes that Tiger, Horse, Bunny, and herself each be in one of the groups, as all four are good enough at fighting that they can prevent any altercation that might be attempted.

No one voicing any complaints, Dragon then follows this up by proposing that the four fighters in turn pick a teammate – her choice being Ox, who she is suspicious of. Horse chooses Sheep, Bunny chooses Dog, and Tiger chooses Snake. Monkey and Rooster each pick a pair to join, which pushes Mouse to decide fast which of the two pairs left she wants to search with...

[BGM: Stampede of Truth]


I'll go with Ox and Dragon.

It's good to be able to work with you.

There are worse picks for a third.

I guess that leaves me with Bunny and Dog? Oh no. I should've picked something sooner.

You're not happy being with us? I'm offended.

To speed things up since time is now more of the essence, I say we should only reconvene at the cafeteria once every two rounds. Sound good?

Sure thing, no one gave a shit about that in the first place.

I don't –

Ox, drop it, its not worth arguing.

...Fine. So is this fine with everybody? This situation works, right?

[BGM: Silence]


For this route, Mouse isn't concerned about the group sticking close together.

Yeah, let's get to searching! We can totally do this.

Now that's the spirit! Let's kick Brian's ass for thinking we can be fucked with!

Yeah, yeah, whatever, just get to searching. We don't have time for this shit.

And just like that, our four groups of three split up.

[BGM: Rooster Style]


So, where do we want to look?

Does it really matter?

Not really, but we have to make some sort of decision.

Well no shit, Sherlock, I'm just saying we don't need to waste time with a big decision about this, let's just start looking around.

Fine. There were some classrooms on the first floor I haven't had a chance to search through. Let's start there.

Aight, so that's where we'll go.

Great teamwork, gang.

Is that what that was?

Didn't we just talk about not wasting time?

Right, let's get started.



And get started we did. We began walking around the first floor, searching classrooms as a group. When the three of us worked together, we were able to cover a lot more space than we otherwise would have been able to. Working with Dragon and Ox made scrounging around classrooms a cinch. However, there was one problem.

We weren't actually finding any Minor Trinkets.

It couldn't be helped – the school was unnaturally large, so we were bound to run across a number of whiffs. Still, I couldn't help but be annoyed that we were seemingly wasting time. I had to tell myself that that wasn't the right way of thinking about it. I wasn't wasting time. I was eliminating possibilities.

...Dragon didn't seem to share my optimistic spirit.



Oh for the love of fuck! We've been searching for a while, and yet we've found jack shit.

Calm down, would you? I don't see what shouting about it is going to do for the problem.

It's going to stop me from hitting things.

...Then shout away.

Actually, better idea, let's take a momentary break from the search.

What? Ox, you can't be giving up already! Where's your spirit?

I'm not giving up on anything. I'm saying we should stop, split up, and enter our actions for the round. Yes, there's still a fair amount of time left, but it wouldn't hurt to get that out of the way sooner rather than later.



At this rate, it is highly unlikely we will be able to use the Minor Trinkets, so I don't see the harm in just pressing run now.

Fine by me. No reason not to just input the actions now, instead of waiting 'til the end.

Yeah, good thinking Ox. I'll stay in this classroom, and you two can use the neighboring classrooms.

Why do I have to move?

Seriously? Does every decision have to be a thing with you?

I'm just –

Oh, forget it. I'll move to the next classroom. Okay?

Hey, don't misunderstand me. I'm fine moving. I just wasn't cool with you bossing me around like that.

Who caaaaaaaaaaaaaares.

[BGM: Silence]


Hey, didn't we talk about not wasting time on pointless conversations earlier? Which rooms we use for the half a minute it will take to operate our tablets seems to fall under the 'pointless conversation' umbrella.

Whatever.

Without another word, Dragon stormed out of the room, and with a sigh, Ox followed her. ...Okay, so there was room for improvement on the whole 'teamwork' front. We could work on that. Anyways, since those two were gone, I could use this opportunity to choose an action on the tablet. It wasn't something I had to think about much. I just pressed the RUN button, and that was that. Then, I waited for the two to return.

It didn't take long at all for Dragon to return. However, Ox took a bit to come back. And when he did, he looked perturbed.

[BGM: Bullfighter]


…

Ox, what's wrong?

I... I might die soon.

What?!

Yeah, I think most of us are kind of in that situation right now. It's tense for all of us.

I obviously don't mean just because of the general death game.



Look, when I went into the other room and turned on my tablet, a message popped up on it.

A message?

It said: 'You've been poisoned! Your veins are now infected with Kavka's Toxin. This deadly venom will kill you at the end of the next round. Your only chance for survival is to drink the antidote. What is the antidote, you may ask? Blood from the dead body of the one that poisoned you.'

A cold shiver went over my body as Ox spoke.

That can't be... are you serious?



Woah. Fucking metal.

Metal?! That's your first reaction?!

I just call it how I see it.

I shudder to think of the machinations of your mind.

Well, fuck you too.

Dragon! Ox has just been poisoned, this isn't the time for this.

...You know? You're right, I'm sorry.

I already promised I wasn't going to have any pointless deaths on my watch, so I guess I gotta help figure out what's going on.

Thank you.



Anyways, what's the deal with that message? It's talking about 'venom', right? Do you think this has something to do with Snake?

Didn't that prick refuse to tell us what his ability was? Maybe this is it!

I doubt it. This is entirely different to all of the other abilities. An effect of this scale seems more to the tune of a Major Trinket, wouldn't you say?

Yeah, that sounds right.

The Jade Emperor said that each animal was represented in a Minor and a Major Trinket. This must be the work of Snake's Major Trinket.

Additionally, it is a fair assumption that the person who used it is either the person with the 'victorious' personality, or the one with the 'defeated' personality. After all, they benefit from deaths.

On the other hand, the fact that you two apparently didn't receive this notification means that the Trinket has limits. The culprit would have likely poisoned everyone if given the chance.

[BGM: A Bite That Persists]


Perhaps the Trinket can only poison one person at a time, or maybe it's a one time use.

But when could someone have even gotten their hands on a Major Trinket? I made us search in groups to stop something like this from happening.

Someone could have found it before the end of the third round. Then they decided to keep it hidden for some unclear reason.

Wow, Ox. Even though you're in a horrifying position, you're still remaining composed.

We were on the verge of death the moment we got here. This merely speeds up the timetable.

Hell of a way to view things.

Don't think most'd see it the way you do.

While from a distance it might not seem it, being a prosecutor is actually one of the most stress-inducing jobs there is.



Every day, I'm involved in one way or another with numerous cases that will define other people's whole lives.

One slip up and I let justice falter. One over-exertion and an innocent man might be put to death. One careless statement, and the people working for me will snatch my position.

I don't take my work lightly. I've spent the last four years in a state of nonstop tension. At this point, I'm numb to it.

Wow, that's... sad? Yeah, I think sad's the word for it.

I would've preferred impressive, but whatever.

Still, I envy you. Not many are in a position where they can hold their own death so lightly.

Do not get me mistaken. In no way do I hold my life in low gravitas.

I do not intend on passing without a fight. I will find who has poisoned me.

And I will not show them mercy.



Oh, how dramatic! I'm loving your energy, Ox.

The speakers in the room had suddenly kicked to life, and the Jade Emperor's voice played with its familiar distortion.

Brian!

Why are you chiming in now? Simply to mock me?

Pretty much. I've got to say, I'm so glad you get to squirm. Don't get me wrong, Mouse, Dragon, and all of you deserve to be here. But you, Ox?

You really need a kick in the teeth.

I was looking forward to seeing how hamster fodder like you would hold up in this place. And now? It looks like your death will be caused by a tool of corruption, the one who carried out a malicious cover-up and killed my dad.



How's that for irony?

Irony?

Anyways, I should leave you to your little mysteries. Figure out who poisoned you. Or don't, and die. ...I'm hoping for the latter.

Ciao.

And like that, he was gone.

God, what a smarmy prick. That kid needs a kick in the groin.

He needs a lot more than that.



But... what was that about a tool of corruption? A coverup?

He was just trying to get in your head.

I don't think so. Why bluff about something like that?

But no, he can't be right. Morris was guilty, no matter what angle you looked at it from. Evidence, testimony, motive, common sense, they all aligned perfectly. There's no way that could be faked, I didn't–

Ox, snap out of it! This is why he'd bluff about something like this, he knew it'd get in your head!

But if there truly was some sort of cover-up involved... and if the person behind that cover-up poisoned me? This could be a clue!

Eh, I'm with Mouse on this one. Don't get overly worked up about this.

I'm not getting overly worked up! ...

Okay, fine.



I'm sorry you two, but for the sake of my life, I'm going to have to ask that I abandon the search for Minor Trinkets. The poison won't kick in until the end of the next round. That leaves me with plenty of time to investigate on my own.

I trust that you'll understand.

Of course, do what you need to. Try and figure out who did it!

Yeah man, go for it. I doubt you're the type to be too dangerous when left to his own devices anyways, so there's no problem with you going on your own.

I take offense to that. I could be in quite a lot of trouble on my own, if I chose to be.

Oh, so you want us to tail you?

No, that won't be necessary.

That's what I figured.

Well then, I shall be off.

With that, Ox excused himself to go begin his quest for self-preservation.