Weird Rules: Start by playing God in Bikini Bottom!

Chapter 9: Leaving get off work right on time?

After arguing with the crab boss in his office for a while, Zhenzhen seemed to have failed to get the money and stormed out angrily.

As she passed the cashier, she deliberately paused, her huge whale eyes peering intently through her sunglasses at Jiang Xiu, who was wiping non-existent clarinet keys.

A strange, unfathomable look flashed in his eyes, but he ultimately said nothing and left the Krusty Krab.

The restaurant has returned to that suffocating state of business.

Customers continued to come and go in silence, ordering, eating, and leaving.

From the direction of the kitchen, SpongeBob's off-key yet eerily hollow humming drifted out from time to time, like a rusty music box playing underwater, adding a deeper layer of eeriness to the deathly silence.

Jiang Xiu and the other chosen ones from the surviving countries are all repeating the mechanical work of cashiering and taking orders.

The successive crises kept the survivors on edge, not daring to relax for a moment, but the long period of calm brought a kind of tired numbness.

They could only pray that this normalcy would continue until business closed.

Time passed slowly amidst the oppression.

Finally, all the surviving chosen ones—whose wristbands were made of simple rubber bands—suddenly started ticking!

The sharp, urgent sound broke the silence of the restaurant.

Almost simultaneously, the doors of the Krusty Krab were once again filled with gray fog, and the last customer—an extremely slow-moving old sea turtle—had just stepped one foot into the restaurant.

The alarm clock rang, and the last customer arrived.

Which one should be dealt with first?

For the vast majority of the chosen ones, the meaning of this suddenly ringing alarm clock was unclear.

Is this a notification of a special event?

Is this a warning?

Or is it some kind of trap?

It was never mentioned in the rules.

The second rule, "meet the needs of customers," remains in effect. Since the customer has already arrived, it seems reasonable for the cashier to serve them.

Thus, in their respective instances, the surviving chosen ones made similar choices:

The Chosen One of Kangaroo Country.

He glanced warily at the shrill alarm clock on his wrist, then at the slow-moving old sea turtle by the door.

He decided to prioritize clear-cut customers, quickly turned off the alarm, and then forced a professional smile at the old sea turtle.

"Welcome to the Krusty Krab, please come and order."

The Chosen One of Gaul:

She was startled by the alarm clock, frowned at the cheap clock, and muttered a curse under her breath.

Then, choosing to ignore it for now, she turned to the doorway and said in as calm a tone as possible, "Sir, please come in. What do you need?"

John the Chosen One: He adjusted a non-existent bow tie, deeming his duties paramount.

So he ignored the alarm clock and gave the old sea turtle a slight bow: "Good day, sir. Our shop is still open, please."

Their reaction seemed reasonable, prioritizing their work.

However, just as they either turned off the alarm or ignored it, and were trying to serve the last customer—

The hollow humming that had been coming from the kitchen suddenly stopped.

Immediately afterwards, the kitchen swing door was pushed open with a bang!

SpongeBob is standing in the doorway.

He still had that same yellow, boxy figure, wearing a white apron, but the expression on his face was different from any other time before.

There were no innocent smiles, no exaggerated enthusiasm, only a kind of... eerie calm that seemed to penetrate the soul.

His huge blue eyes, now like two bottomless glass beads, slowly and intently swept over the chosen ones behind the cashier.

Wherever his gaze fell, the air seemed to freeze.

"you……"

SpongeBob spoke, his voice no longer high-pitched, but deep and flat, with an inhuman quality that seemed to strike at the heartstrings with every word: "When the alarm clock rings... you still want to serve customers?"

His lips twitched upwards very slowly, forming a chilling arc that defied any definition of happiness.

"Don't you know what that means? Squidward... my Squidward, he never thinks about work after the alarm clock rings."

His eyes were fixed on his target, and he extended a finger, pointing at all the chosen ones in the countries of Australia, Gaul, and John who had responded with "work first".

"You are not Squidward."

"You are fake."

The voice was soft, yet it sounded like a final judgment.

At the same time, this scene was unfolding simultaneously in live streams in other countries.

"No! I am! I'm working! I'm meeting customer needs!" the Chosen One of Australia cried out in terror.

"This alarm clock is ridiculous! I was just doing my duty!" The Chosen One of Gaul tried to remain calm, but his voice trembled.

"I...I just..." The Chosen One of the Kingdom of John was deathly pale.

But all explanations came too late.

As the word "fake" fell from SpongeBob's lips.

The entire Krusty Krab restaurant, no, the entire "Silent Bikini Bottom" instance scene, underwent a bizarre and utterly devastating transformation!

The paint on the wall peeled off like melted wax, revealing the dark red fleshy walls that were constantly writhing and flowing behind it.

The floor cracked, and countless pale, swollen arms, like seaweed that had been soaking for too long, emerged from the cracks.

Sticky tentacles dripping with black liquid hung from the ceiling.

Those "customers" who were sitting still or had just entered the door suddenly twisted, swelled, and shattered, turning into rolling, resentful, and hungry gray mist-like monsters.

Even the light had turned into a sickly, pulsating dark green.

The door to Boss Crab's office burst open, revealing a swirling, enormous vortex of countless gold coins and tormented faces, emanating a deafening roar of greed.

SpongeBob, standing at the center of this bizarre turn of events, seemed slightly swollen, his expression a mixture of disappointment, anger, and a kind of indifference as if "the toy is broken." He waved his hand lightly.

The bizarre beings that emerged from the floor, walls, and ceiling, along with the gray mist monsters, seemed to receive a command, emitting silent shrieks as they frantically surged toward the chosen ones who were identified as "the fake Octopus Brother"!

Resistance is futile.

The chosen ones from Australia tried to dodge using survival skills, but were entangled by countless arms that stretched out from the crack in the ground, dragging them into endless darkness.

The chosen ones of Gaul were engulfed by the gray fog monsters and instantly dissolved.

John's Chosen One was lifted up by the tentacles on the ceiling and thrown into a vortex of gold coins, leaving only a short scream before disappearing.

Their live stream footage, amidst violent distortions, horrific scenes, and screams, gradually went black, revealing the merciless blood-red words:

[The Australian contestant has died; the challenge has failed!]

[The French competitor is dead; the challenge has failed!]

[The John Country contestant is dead; the challenge has failed!]