To ascend, I had no choice but to create games

Having made up his mind, he said to number three, “Alright, I forgive you this time. Take me to meet her.”

“Okay.”

“Number one, don’t come over here. Observe from the shadows and if anything seems off, run immediately and don’t worry about us!”

“Don’t worry, I won’t bother with you.”

“…At least pretend to hesitate a bit. Number three, let’s go.”

The brown and black squirrels began to sprint, using all four limbs to make their way to the roadside.

There wasn’t a soul on the small path and the two thirty-centimeter-tall squirrels waited for a moment before finally seeing a female human approach, wobbling as she walked.

Her steps were unsteady and slow, her face had a gentle expression, and although her features were delicate, there was no sign of vitality.

When she saw the two squirrels, she paused briefly but still slowly approached and placed the nuts she had gathered in front of them.

Realizing that there was indeed only one human present, number two relaxed and asked number three, “How should we communicate with her? By numbers or by drawing?”

“Just talk directly; she understands,” number three said, looking at the nuts the female human had brought.

“Yes, I understand,” the female human nodded and said.

To facilitate communication with Alpha, Fang Cheng had equipped every character created for the players with Immortal Spell.

This spell allowed direct translation of various languages, making it seamless for them to communicate even with extraterrestrials.

Upon learning this, number two was even more speechless.

He looked at number three and sighed, lamenting that he really had observed nothing over the past few days.

He hadn’t even done as well as the foolish number three.

In the face of such an unreasonable existence like the human, was behaving irrationally the correct way to respond?

With this in mind, number two also gave up and began to nibble on the nuts, oblivious to the fact that his actions had already been live-streamed.

The player in front of him was known as Pingping, and she had her own account on Bilibili, named Mom of Pingping.

This account started by narrating little stories from “Spreading Traditional Culture Starting from Me” and had accumulated a following of two hundred and thirty thousand fans.

Pingping was her daughter and the main player of the game.

Recently, a fan had sent her a copy of “Botanic Garden” and suggested that she log in daily for a stroll to compensate for the regret of not being able to leave the house due to her disability.

Along with the game, she also received a set of VR goggles.

With these goggles, she was able to better appreciate the scenery of the Botanic Garden and immediately fell in love with it.

Everything here was lifelike; the magnificent natural scenery made her forget her physical impairments, and walking here every day had become her favorite activity.

Then, she spotted a black squirrel on the roadside.

The squirrel was basking in the sun while soundly sleeping, looking utterly comfortable.

At first, she thought that it was just part of the game, so she ignored the oversized black squirrel and continued to visit other sights.

It wasn’t until she saw one of the odd rules about the Botanic Garden summed up by someone that she realized she might have discovered an easter egg.

The rule was: “There are no animals in the Botanic Garden. If you encounter any, please notify Alpha immediately and evacuate straight away.”

Although a bit annoyed at having missed it, she could let it go since there was still so much of the garden’s scenery she hadn’t enjoyed. She decided to continue enjoying the scenery.

That afternoon, she saw the black squirrel again.

The creature had apparently been sleeping until now!

And it still hadn’t been discovered!

This time, she started a live stream, and the message that an easter egg of “Botanic Garden” had been found quickly spread, bringing significant traffic and attention to her modest-sized channel.

In her live stream, the audience watched the large squirrel and burst into exclamations.

[There really is an easter egg! I thought there wouldn’t be one this time!]

[Fang Cheng, Old Man, we’ve finally found your easter egg!]

[It must be a Demon King squirrel, with such a big size. Its fur is so pretty, must be quite a prestige to raise it!]

[Capture it, then bully it! Put it in a spacious house, provide it with plenty of nuts every day, ensure it gets some exercise, and offer it enough toys to keep it from ever going back to the wild!]

[…The person above, your hobby is twisted.]

However, Pingping didn’t heed the suggestions of her viewers and instead gathered nuts from a nearby tree and placed them next to the Demon King squirrel.

Lured by the scent of the nuts, the bleary-eyed Demon King squirrel began munching on them and only subsequently realized that it had been discovered.

Fear, despair, and annoyance flooded its tiny heart, almost driving it to madness.

But fortunately for the squirrel, this humanoid didn’t mean to harm it but simply sat nearby until it left with the nuts.

Having confirmed that the humanoid didn’t attack it, Number Three spent a whole night drawing a conclusion.

That was a good humanoid!

Since it was a good humanoid, the food it gave was safe to eat!

And if the food was safe to eat, then there was no problem getting close to it again!

Flawless logic, tightly knit reasoning, and a fine judgement made Number Three feel like a very intelligent squirrel indeed!

And just like that, Number Three was bought over by a serving of nuts.

Knowing the whole story, Number Two groundhog sighed and then gave Number Three a fierce kick.

I’ve heard of teammates screwing each other over, but this is just next-level!

You’re just lucky this time, meeting a kind humanoid. Otherwise, you’d have been skinned and boned already!

Nibbling on pine cones, Number Two could only abandon all his previous caution.

Looking at Pingping in front of him, he asked, “I’ve always wanted to ask, what the hell are you doing every day? Why do you keep trying to kill yourselves?”

“Kill ourselves?”

“Yes. This place is brimming with danger, and yet you’re running around like clueless little rabbits dancing in a wolf’s den. It’s a miracle you’re still alive.”

Pingping didn’t understand what Number Two meant, but someone in the livestream room had an epiphany: [Isn’t this groundhog talking about us attempting to break the rules?]

[That must be it! The Easter egg is interactive!]

[I knew those rules had deeper meanings, and it’s all coming together here! Pingping, go show it the rules board.]

Seeing the viewers’ request, Pingping nodded and then said, “Can I take you to see the rules board?”

“It’s a bit far,” said Number Three, looking towards the distant rules board.

“I can take you there.”

Number Two wanted to refuse, but Number Three had already nodded and said, “Yeah, sure, let’s go.”

“Okay.”

Pingping reached out her hands and grabbed two squirrels, one in each hand, and started walking towards the rules board.

This action made the viewers’ hearts flutter with excitement, and they all expressed the desire to trigger Easter eggs themselves and to pet the giant squirrel.

Upon reaching the rules board, Number Two studied the rules for a while, discussed them with Beta, and then said, “These rules are probably meant to prevent you from triggering the hunting mechanism of the plant-animals.”

“Plant-animals? What’s that?”

“A type of life similar to us. All the plants you see are actually plant-animals.”

This revelation sent the livestream room into an uproar once again.

It was thought that squirrels were just a solitary Easter egg, but as it turned out, the whole area was full of them.

They say it’s darkest under the lamppost, but Fang Cheng, you’ve hidden everything too deeply!

The idea that all the plants around could be Easter eggs, each capable of transforming from a plant into an animal like the squirrels, immediately stirred the viewers’ desire to explore.

Following suggestions from the viewers, Pingping said, “Could you help us trigger a plant-animal? We would love to see what it looks like.”

“Us?”

Number Two looked at Pingping skeptically, sensing something odd about her phrasing.

It was strange that she, an individual, was using a plural noun.

Attempting to activate a plant-animal could be either very dangerous or very safe.

Choosing a plant-animal with less threat to activate might satisfy her curiosity and could also lead to better cooperation with him.

After making the decision, Number Two nodded and said, “Okay, let’s find a suitable plant-animal to activate.”

“Alright.”

Pingping, carrying the two big squirrels, set out to search within the Botanic Garden.