Self-destruction
“Gugu…”
Two bird calls, particularly loud in the silence, came from the branches above them.
The world seemed to have no wind, and the air turned into heavy shackles, imprisoning the motionless trees around it.
Cold sweat ran down their faces.
"Chiu——"
In an instant, a dozen birds flew up from the treetops in all directions, chirping sharply and excitedly at the same time.
"Go to the Carnivorous Plant House!"
At Lu Miao's command, the others turned around and ran away.
“Chirp—”
The shrill cries were approaching, and dark shadows covered their heads.
Wang Keke noticed that He Pingan was one step slower than her, so she pulled his arm and ran without thinking.
The sharp bird claws shone with cold light as they grabbed the slower running uncle.
"ah!"
The uncle dodged in time, but the wind from his wings hit him in the face. He was so scared that he felt like he was having a heart attack, and his chest was pounding wildly.
The dark bird actually flew back.
The uncle's heart sank when he saw the bright red eyes of the bird and the open beak full of terrifying fangs.
A scream of fear was stuck in his throat. He seemed to have become a newborn baby and had forgotten how to express his fear.
At the critical moment, someone pulled him back.
Then, the red bottle swung the bird flying towards it.
"run!"
The lost uncle ran wildly in a daze, never forgetting to look back at his savior.
The person's fluorescent green earrings reflected the colorful sunlight.
The deer sapling at the back sprayed insecticide at the flock of birds. The pungent smell made them stop halfway. The few closest to her fell to the ground, and it was not known whether they were dead or not.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, she rushed into the Carnivorous Plant Hall and closed the glass door of the exhibition hall.
The man with glasses was the calmest and immediately helped her close the other glass door.
Wang Keke and He Pingan ran over to help.
Bang bang bang!
Birds kept hitting the glass door, and some were knocked unconscious and fell to the ground.
The trembling companions all turned pale and shivered as they stood there.
"They... really can't come in..." The lady in flowery clothes' legs were shaking and weak, as if she had lost consciousness.
"Thank you for saving me..." the uncle said to Lu Miao, but he didn't dare to take a step forward, for fear that his legs would slip and he would kneel because they were too weak.
Lu Miao nodded in greeting and asked everyone to check if there were any injuries.
Fortunately, everyone was unharmed.
"I saw those birds had sharp teeth and red eyes," the uncle said in a trembling voice.
The young man was still terrified. "Mutated birds? Is there a biological attack in this ghost story? I'm afraid the insects have also mutated and will eat people."
“Do red eyes affect our perception?”
Lu Miao's sudden reminder frightened the uncle so much that he felt weak all over.
"What should I do? I saw it!"
"I also……"
Even Wang Keke looked solemn.
It seems that everyone has noticed that the birds have red eyes.
"Stop thinking about red eyes and fangs." Lu Miao looked at the dense Venus flytrap nearby with caution. "Even if our cognition is affected, it can be reversed. We must firmly believe that those are ordinary birds."
Wang Keke nodded hurriedly, repeating to herself, "It's an ordinary bird," "It's an ordinary bird," "It's an ordinary bird."
Repeat important things silently three times.
Lu Miao continued to remind: "The plants here are carnivorous, so we should be careful."
"Meat!"
Everyone quickly gathered together and walked away from the white warning line in front of the Venus flytrap.
Ordinary Venus flytraps are only as big as clams, but each of the Venus flytraps here has leaves that can hold an adult's head when closed.
The spines on the edge of the leaves are like sharp teeth, and the sessile glands on the inner side of the leaves are as red as blood. At first glance, the Venus Flytrap's exhibition area is full of densely packed bloody mouths.
It's so horrible.
On the other side of the exhibition area, there are hung fat pitcher plants in pig red color, just like a meat market where pig intestines are hung.
If it weren't for the birds still circling outside, they wouldn't have wanted to visit at all.
"There's an open area ahead. Let's go there instead of exploring any further."
They strongly agreed with Lu Miao's suggestion.
The red-clad staff wandered around their respective areas of responsibility, glancing at them from time to time.
Passing through the Venus Flytrap and Pitcher Plant exhibits, they must pass by the Sundew exhibit.
Unfortunately, the half-human-high sundews bloomed and became extremely dangerous.
If a black flower suddenly appears among the snow-white flowers, it will be extremely eye-catching.
The deer seedling turned his head away from the sundew flowers.
Finally, we got away from the meat-eating plant exhibition area and came to the graphic exhibition area in the center of the exhibition hall. Lu Miao whispered to everyone to form a circle.
Although she was facing the wandering red-clad staff, she quietly took out a paper map under the cover of others.
They were "sightseeing" along the circular main road. Once the road ahead was prohibited from going together, they had to turn into a side road to reach the exit.
However, the main road is far from the central lake, while some of the intersecting roads are close to the central lake and the aquatic plant pavilion marked on the map on the wall.
"From the map, the side roads are very narrow, and ornamental plants are planted all over the side roads. The probability of encountering birds and insects is several times higher than taking the main road." He Ping'an frowned.
Wang Keke said sadly: "And we can't go back."
The lady in flowery clothes was more optimistic. "The fork in the road also leads to the exhibition hall. We should have enough time to run to the exhibition hall and hide."
"But all the souvenir shops are on the main roads." The man with glasses smiled and said, "I always feel that souvenir shops are safer than exhibition halls. Did you notice the staff in red? They looked over every few seconds, as if they wanted to say something but hesitated."
The notice outside the door was handwritten with "Don't believe it easily". These five small words cast a shadow over everyone.
"Are we going back?"
Lu Miao asked everyone: "Do you all believe the contents of the Emergency Notice?"
Hearing this, they were speechless.
The uncle said bluntly: "Isn't it? It warns that you should run into the building when you hear the bird singing. This is the correct rule."
“What if it’s half true and half false?”
"Then... we need evidence to prove that it's a fake rule."
Wang Keke pounded his palm. "Didn't that guy just now go to the Hydrangea Pavilion in the blocked direction? Did he take the main road or the side road?"
"Who knows?"
"Captain, why do you ask that?" He Ping'an asked.
The man with glasses is interesting.
"I think the rules, tone and wording of the Emergency Notice and other signs are different."
"Ah?" The lady in flowery clothes was stunned.
Lu Miao shows the photos he took of the notice board and the wooden sign. "The wording of the 'Notes for Sightseeing' is subtle, mentioning 'birds' and flying insects, but the 'Emergency Notice' tells us to be wary of bird calls and insect chirps, and even the tone is no longer polite."
"It's normal not to pay attention to your tone and words during an emergency," the young man said.
"It's not normal." She insisted. "The notice requires us to cooperate with the evacuation. Who should we cooperate with? The on-duty personnel are fake. The staff in red are only the staff of the exhibition hall. The blue-clad shop assistant? We have only met one so far."
"If it was newly written, it would have left a paint smell."
This is indeed the key point. Lu Miao pondered in silence.
"Why don't we ask the staff here? The floor-to-ceiling glass windows are diagonally opposite the cordon. They must have seen who set up the cordon." He Ping'an suggested.
So, the eight people split into two groups and dispersed.
A group led by Lu Miao approached one of the staff members in red.
This person once peeked at them while they were thinking about the rules outside the door.
"Hello, would you mind chatting for a minute?"
The middle-aged man in the red vest nodded hurriedly and looked at Lu Miao and others.
"Do you know when the cordon outside was put up?"
"Will it be helpful for me to answer?" the middle-aged man spoke very quickly.
Lu Miao smiled. "What do you want?"
"Just give me a map."
Suddenly, He Ping'an and the man with glasses became hostile to the middle-aged man.
Lu Miao said calmly: "You are a staff member here, what do you need a map for?"
The middle-aged man said impatiently: "Don't worry about it, just answer your question."
She glanced at the other red-clad staff members who were there. "You seem different from them."
The middle-aged man's face darkened.
"The other staff members look relaxed, but you seem anxious. Let me guess, did you lose your map?"
The middle-aged man's expression changed.
"Given to a beautiful, seemingly weak staff member in red? A female?"
His face was like a cloudy sky.
"So you were originally a tourist, but after losing the map, you became a red-clothed staff member... No, you swapped places with that red-clothed staff member."
The man with glasses was secretly surprised at her thinking ability.
"Shut up." He growled.
Lu Miao challenged coldly: "Why do you want us to stay in your place? You are not the only one you can ask for help."
The middle-aged man glared at Lu Miao fiercely, then suddenly rushed over with his fists clenched.
"Don't--"
While the other staff members in red were giving warnings, He Ping'an and the man with glasses were preparing to fight back.
Unexpectedly, the middle-aged man's face suddenly turned red and quickly turned purple.
“Get out of the way!”
Bang!
The middle-aged man's head exploded, and blood and flesh flew everywhere.
Fortunately, the three of them hid quickly.
"ah!"
The other group was so frightened that they felt sick to their stomachs.
A red-clad staff member came over and bowed. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience. I'll clean it up right away."
Lu Miao stared coldly at the still standing corpse.
The man with glasses put his arm around He Ping'an's shoulder. "You'll get used to it after seeing it many times."
He Ping'an nodded blankly and looked away with a pale face.
Lu Miao turned around and patted his shoulder.
The staff in red came back with buckets and mops, and other staff in red moved the middle-aged man's body away.
"Excuse me, did you see who set up the cordon just now?" She took the opportunity to ask the red-clad staff who were cleaning up the blood.
"Too late."
Lu Miao's beautiful eyes turned. "Did you see a tall male tourist passing by the Carnivorous Plant Pavilion? He was very anxious and ran very fast."
"have."
"Did he take the main road?"
The red-clad staff remained silent.
"Did he run in the direction of the blockade?"
"Yes."
Unfortunately, it is still unclear whether Emergency Notice is the correct rule.
The west gate and the east gate are opposite each other across the central lake. If you run to the wrong exit, you have to go around half a circle of the botanical garden to reach the other exit, which is extremely risky.
"If an emergency occurs in the park, will you cooperate with the park?"
"certainly."
"Then why didn't you help evacuate the tourists? And remind us to go back?"
The red-clad staff member paused in mopping the floor.
Lu Miao saw it all. "Thank you, you are a good employee."
The red-clad staff bowed deeply to her.
The birds circling outside couldn't stand the long-term sunlight, so they flew back to the shady high places to cool off.
The bird that fell to the ground was just fainted. After waking up, it couldn't stand the sunlight and ran away.
They walked out of the carnivorous plant pavilion.
Lu Miao said something shocking: "I have decided to cross the cordon and move forward. For those who disagree, we will go our separate ways."
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