Chapter 36: Welcome to the Mad Amusement Park!

"Okay... okay...!" Hearing that Yan Jing needed her protection, Mantou's small face tightened, her expression incredibly serious.

Yan Jing could feel the little hand in his grasp squeezing back tightly, as if she were worried he would get lost.

The two of them arrived at the main entrance of the Amusement Park.

To Yan Jing's surprise, the players in black baseball caps who had gotten off the bus with them had also walked out of the station.

They were currently gathered in a circle in front of the ticket office, talking amongst themselves.

Perhaps assuming Yan Jing and Mantou were both inner world residents, the group didn't bother hiding their conversation. In fact, to make themselves heard over the ambient roar, they were all shouting at the top of their lungs.

This gave Yan Jing the perfect opportunity to eavesdrop.

"Brother Sun, Wu Jie is dead!!!"

A man with a buzz cut yelled to a man in black standing at the center of the group.

"I saw!!"

The man in black had a bold appearance, with thick eyebrows and large eyes, but his response was somewhat unexpected:

"If she's dead, she's dead! Losing only one person on the bus this time is a pretty good result!!! Her mental fortitude just wasn't up to par!!"

"It couldn't be helped! The Mad Amusement Park dungeon is already closed. The only way in is via the Terror Bus!!"

"Don't worry! I won't mistreat any of the brothers who followed me in this time. I'll take care of every single one of you!!"

Hearing this, the crowd nodded.

A clump of black, viscous substance was smeared over their ears to muffle the noise, indicating they had made preparations before entering this dungeon.

Yan Jing's expression remained calm. Seeing that no shocking secrets were being revealed, he stopped eavesdropping and prepared to step up and buy tickets.

He knew of this organization in the black baseball caps. They were quite famous in Ling'an City and several surrounding cities. They were called Evil Ghosts.

According to the files on the Path of Fear provided by Chen Youran, the members of Evil Ghosts basically all relied on items from the Path of Fear for their Day Selection Ritual.

But just as he was about to leave, a sentence from the buzz-cut man caught his ear.

"Brother Sun, as long as we get The Vessel this time, even if that kid from neighboring Ling'an City really got a Yellow Date-Selection Gift, you'll still leave him in the dust!!!"

Yan Jing's footsteps paused. He pulled Mantou to a stop off to the side, pretending to study the price list.

"I'm not actually trying to compete with him!"

The man in black began to laugh.

"I only put that word out to attract headquarters' attention. If I can step on a guy with a yellow-quality Day Selection Ritual, headquarters should be satisfied."

"There are personnel transfers at the end of this year. I've stayed in Yuyi City long enough... it's time to head to the bigger cities."

Seeing the man in black's confident demeanor, the crowd quickly echoed their congratulations, spouting words of flattery.

Through these fragmented words, Yan Jing grasped the general gist of the situation.

The news that he had obtained a Yellow Date-Selection Gift had already spread through the outside world.

Because of this, he had landed on a player forum ranking known as the Hidden Moon Leaderboard.

As an official forum list tracking potential-filled geniuses, the Hidden Moon Leaderboard carried weight. Even if he was only on the Ling'an City branch leaderboard, his appearance on it had stirred up the calculations of those with ulterior motives.

This man in black from neighboring Yuyi City was one of them.

He had put the word out to publicly challenge Yan Jing.

Right now, there were quite a few people like him in the outside world. Many in the surrounding cities harbored similar thoughts.

After all, the opportunity to rise to power by stepping on a genius with a Yellow Date-Selection Gift was rare.

What they were banking on, naturally, was his current difficult situation within his Clan—lacking resources and temporarily without a backer—hoping to seize the chance to leech off his fame.

And the reason this group of Evil Ghosts had come to the Mad Amusement Park was that they had received news: an item called The Vessel would appear here, and it was connected to the promotion for the next Ritual, the Calming Rite.

Aside from them, quite a few other people had come to the Mad Amusement Park this time, all of them players from Evil Ghosts.

However, it seemed they didn't belong to the same faction as the man in black.

Seeing that his prolonged loitering was beginning to attract the attention of some Evil Ghosts members, Yan Jing pulled Mantou over to the ticket window.

"Hello, I'd like to buy tickets!"

Surrounded by iron bars, the dim, cramped window resembled a miniature prison cell, as if a dangerous inmate or a wild beast were locked inside.

And when the face inside leaned closer to the window, Yan Jing realized it was actually both.

It was the head of a plush Lion. The tattered, yellowing mascot mask was covered in various patches. The gaze that should have looked down on everything had become skewed and lopsided from the stitching, revealing a creepy vibe amidst its foolish appearance.

It looked exactly like the gaze of a madman.

A mascot head wasn't supposed to have a gaze.

Yet Yan Jing was absolutely certain that the gaze was real, and that it was sizing up both him and Mantou.

Beneath the neck of the Lion head was a black-and-white striped collar, clearly a prison uniform. It was impossible to tell whether this was an inner world resident wearing a prison-uniformed Lion suit, or a Lion-faced inner world resident wearing a prison uniform.

"Grand Opening Special!!!"

The Lion suddenly spoke. Its tone was oddly high-pitched and bizarre, piercingly harsh even over the deafening ambient roars.

"Dear~ dear~ dear~~~ customers! Welcome!"

"We haven't had many inner world resident customers today; you two are the third and fourth!!!"

"However~~~"

It leaned closer, as if trying to squeeze its plush head out through the window, and dropped its volume slightly. "There's no reward~~~ Orah, orah, orah-lah~~~"

Clap— clap— clap—

Under the Lion's stunned gaze, Yan Jing began to clap.

"A wonderful welcome speech!!! Mr. Lion!!!"

He held out his hand, flashing a V-sign. "Two tickets, for the two of us."

The Lion paused, seeming to just snap out of its daze from the applause. Soon after, Yan Jing saw its lopsided eyes light up as its tone grew excited.

"Thank you for your applause!!! Sir, thank you~~~"

"Two tickets, no problem. May I ask if you have a flyer?"

A flyer?

Seeing that Yan Jing and Mantou didn't quite understand what flyer it meant, the Lion pulled a crumpled red leaflet from its striped prison uniform and showed it to them.

"A flyer like this. With this flyer, you get a sixty percent discount~~~"

Saying that, it placed the back of its hand over its mouth and tilted its head.

"But honestly, it doesn't matter if you don't have one. That's a necessity only humans need. As for us, we can go in and look around without a flyer."

"There's just no discount."

Seeing Yan Jing and Mantou shake their heads, the Lion revealed a look of pity for them both.

But a second later, its expression shifted abruptly. A smile appeared on a mouth barely able to open due to its stitches.

"Don't be sorry, don't be sorry, my friends. You are in luck today!!!"

"Are you two a couple?"

It looked at them expectantly.

Mantou was dazed and confused, not quite understanding the meaning of 'couple,' but Yan Jing directly grabbed her hand and raised it in the air.

"Of course

"Okay... okay...!" Hearing that Yan Jing needed her protection, Mantou's little face tightened, her expression utterly serious.

Yan Jing could feel the little hand in his grasp squeezing tight, as if she were worried he might get lost.

The two of them arrived at the main entrance of the Amusement Park.

To Yan Jing's surprise, the players in black baseball caps who had gotten off the bus with them actually walked out of the station too.

They were currently gathered in a circle in front of the ticket office, talking amongst themselves.

Perhaps assuming Yan Jing and Mantou were both inner world residents, the group didn't bother hiding their conversation from them. On the contrary, to make themselves heard over the roaring noise, they were shouting at the top of their lungs.

This gave Yan Jing the perfect opportunity to eavesdrop.

"Brother Sun, Wu Jie is dead!!!"

A man with a buzz cut yelled at a man in black standing in the center of the group.

"I saw!!"

The man in black had a bold, striking appearance with thick eyebrows and large eyes, but his words were somewhat unexpected:

"If she's dead, she's dead! Only one person died on the bus this time, which isn't bad!!! Her psychological resilience just wasn't up to par!!"

"It couldn't be helped. The Mad Amusement Park dungeon has already closed. The only way in is via the Terror Bus!!"

"Don't worry! I won't mistreat any of the brothers who followed me in this time, not a single one of you!!"

Hearing this, the crowd nodded.

A clump of black, viscous substance was smeared over their ears to muffle the noise, indicating they had made preparations before entering this dungeon.

Yan Jing's expression remained calm. Seeing that no shocking secrets were being revealed, he stopped eavesdropping and prepared to step up and buy tickets.

He knew of this organization wearing black baseball caps. They were quite famous in Ling'an City and several surrounding cities. They were called Evil Ghosts.

According to the files on the Path of Fear provided by Chen Youran, the members of Evil Ghosts mostly obtained items from the Path of Fear for their Day Selection Ritual.

But just as he was about to leave, a sentence from the buzz-cut man caught his ear.

"Brother Sun, as long as we get The Vessel this time, even if that kid from neighboring Ling'an City really has a Yellow Date-Selection Gift, you'll leave him in the dust!!!"

Yan Jing's footsteps paused. He pulled Mantou to a stop off to the side, pretending to look at the price list.

"I'm not actually trying to compete with him!"

The man in black laughed.

"I only put that word out to attract headquarters' attention. If I can step on a guy with a yellow-quality Day Selection Ritual, headquarters should be satisfied."

"There are transfers at the end of the year. I've stayed in Yuyi City long enough... it's time to go see the bigger cities."

Seeing the man in black's confident demeanor, the crowd quickly echoed their congratulations, showering him with flattery.

Through these fragmented words, Yan Jing grasped the gist of the situation.

The news that he had obtained a Yellow Date-Selection Gift had already spread in the outside world.

Because of this, he had proudly landed on a ranking on the player forums known as the Hidden Moon Leaderboard.

As an official forum list tracking geniuses with potential, the Hidden Moon Leaderboard carried weight. Even if he was only on the Ling'an City branch leaderboard, his appearance there had stirred up the calculating thoughts of those with ulterior motives.

This man in black from neighboring Yuyi City was one of them.

He had put the word out to publicly challenge Yan Jing.

Right now, there were quite a few people like him in the outside world. Many in the surrounding cities harbored similar thoughts.

After all, the opportunity to rise to power by stepping on a genius with a Yellow Date-Selection Gift was rare.

What they were banking on, naturally, was his current difficult situation within his Clan—lacking resources and temporarily without a backer—hoping to seize the chance to leech off his fame.

And the reason this group of Evil Ghosts came to the Mad Amusement Park this time was because they had received news: an item called The Vessel would appear here, which was connected to the promotion for the next Ritual, the Calming Rite.

Aside from them, quite a few other people had come to the Mad Amusement Park this time, all of them players from Evil Ghosts.

However, it seemed they didn't belong to the same faction as the man in black.

Seeing that his prolonged lack of movement had begun to attract the attention of some Evil Ghosts members, Yan Jing pulled Mantou over to the ticket window.

"Hello, I'd like to buy tickets!"

Surrounded by iron bars, the dim, cramped window resembled a miniature prison, as if a dangerous inmate or a wild beast were locked inside.

And when the face inside leaned closer to the window, Yan Jing realized it was actually both.

It was the head of a plush Lion. The tattered, yellowing mascot mask was covered in various patches. The gaze that should have looked down on everything had become skewed and lopsided from the stitching, revealing a creepy vibe amidst its foolish appearance.

It looked just like the gaze of a madman.

A mascot head wasn't supposed to have a gaze.

Yet Yan Jing was absolutely certain that the gaze was real, and that it was sizing up both him and Mantou.

Beneath the neck of the Lion head was a black-and-white striped collar, clearly a prison uniform. It was impossible to tell whether this was an inner world resident wearing a prison-uniformed Lion suit, or an inner world resident with the appearance of a Lion wearing a prison uniform.

"Grand Opening Special!!!"

The Lion suddenly spoke. Its tone was oddly high-pitched and bizarre, piercingly harsh even over the deafening ambient roars.

"Dear~ dear~ dear~~~ customers! Welcome!"

"We haven't had many inner world resident customers today; you two are the third and fourth!!!"

"However~~~"

It leaned closer, as if trying to squeeze the plush head out through the window, dropping its volume slightly. "There's no reward~~~ Orah, orah, orah-lah~~~"

Clap— clap— clap—

Under the Lion's stunned gaze, Yan Jing began to clap.

"A wonderful welcome speech!!! Mr. Lion!!!"

He held out his hand, flashing a V-sign. "Two tickets, for the two of us."

The Lion paused, seeming to just wake up from the applause. Soon after, Yan Jing saw its lopsided eyes light up. Its tone grew excited.

"Thank you for your applause!!! Sir, thank you~~~"

"Two tickets, no problem. May I ask if you have a flyer?"

A flyer?

Seeing that Yan Jing and Mantou didn't quite understand what flyer it meant, the Lion pulled a crumpled red leaflet from its striped prison uniform and showed it to them.

"A flyer like this. With this flyer, you get a sixty percent discount~~~"

Saying that, it placed the back of its hand over its mouth and tilted its head.

"But honestly, it doesn't matter if you don't have one. That's a necessity only humans need. As for us, we can go in and look around without a flyer."

"There's just no discount."

Seeing Yan Jing and Mantou shake their heads, the Lion revealed a look of pity for them both.

But a second later, its expression shifted abruptly. A smile appeared on that mouth barely able to open due to the stitches.

"Don't be sorry, don't be sorry, my friends. You are in luck today!!!"

"Are you two a couple?"

It looked at them expectantly.

Mantou was dazed and confused, not quite understanding the meaning of 'couple,' but Yan Jing directly grabbed her hand and raised it in the air.

"Of course, Mr. Lion. Isn't it obvious?"

Beside his ear, the system's broadcast voice sounded exceptionally clear amidst the massive cheering:

[You have realized this Lion is not as insane as it appears, but since it hasn't shown any malice yet, you decide to play along and see where this goes.]

"Wonderful, wonderful!"

Yan Jing saw a translucent drop of liquid fall from the Lion's mouth, quickly vanishing into the dim shadows of the window.

The Lion turned around, gathered a bunch of things, and handed them over to the two.

"Because you are a couple, my friends, you get an incredible ninety percent discount! Take this. This is the map of our upgraded Amusement Park."

"You can also share this Stamp Card. Listed on it are our Amusement Park's new projects. There are five in total, and each person can experience every project once."

"Every time you complete a project, you can find the nearby staff to stamp it."

"With one stamp, you'll receive a little surprise gift."

"If you get two stamps, you'll earn the right to play in the old park section. Compared to our upgraded new park, the old park has been converted into a relaxation zone for the elderly."

"Finally, if you collect all the stamps, congratulations—you will win an unprecedented grand mystery prize!!! Good luck! I'm rooting for you!"

After Yan Jing took the map, tickets, and Stamp Card, the Lion smiled and handed over a pair of glow-stick wristbands.

"Oh right, and this: the Couple Wristband. Once you put this on, you'll be able to freely roam our Amusement Park together."

[You suspect the problem likely lies with these wristbands. Honestly, you're getting sharper, slowly adapting to this world.]

The system broadcasts never really offered outright hints, but sometimes, a few clues could still be gleaned from its monologues.

Yan Jing accepted the wristbands with a natural expression, but didn't put them on immediately.

A flash of disappointment crossed the Lion's eyes, but it quickly chuckled.

"After the discount, the total is 100 Eerie Coins. May I ask which of you will be paying?"

"I... I... I will!"

Before Yan Jing could speak, Mantou, who had kept her right hand in her pocket the whole time, held out the money she had been clutching.

"On... only a few... I... I'll pay... you paid for the bus ride earlier..."

A foolish, endearing smile appeared on Mantou's face. Seeing that Yan Jing didn't refuse, her smile grew even brighter.

The two of them walked into the Amusement Park.

The moment they stepped over the crack in the ground, Yan Jing immediately felt the difference.

If the massive amusement rides outside had merely shown the tip of the iceberg, they were now displaying their true forms.

An enormous roller coaster shot straight into the clouds like a furious dragon, vanishing into the sea of mist in the sky. Two mallets, each half the size of a building, slammed into the earth in a frenzy, kicking up clouds of dust. A Tower engraved with a Coffin, red garments, and ghost faces stood in the center of the grounds, resembling a haunted house hundreds of stories high...

Yan Jing held the map out in front of Mantou.

"Mantou, do you remember roughly where the Heavy Pollution Herb is?"

Mantou brought her small face close to the map and stared at it for a long time before she hesitantly reached out and pointed to a spot.

"H... here..."

Yan Jing looked at the spot Mantou pointed to.

It was in the old park.

According to the Lion, they needed at least two stamps to enter the old park section.

After explaining the situation to Mantou, Yan Jing asked her which of the five stamp-collection projects would be the most suitable:

[Haunted House of Forced Ascent]

[Sky-High Terror Train]

[Whack-a-Mole: The Mole's Adventure]

[Bumper Go-Karts]

[Giant Pendulum: It Takes Two Edition]

Mantou was a little confused after hearing them. These project names were vastly different from what they had been when she was here before.

Finally, after some consideration, she chose the Bumper Go-Karts.

Because this sounded the most similar to the previous "Bumper Cars".

It should be relatively safer.

The two of them set off toward the location marked for the bumper cars on the map.

After walking for about ten minutes, they spotted a massive sign bearing a race car logo in the distance.

Before they could even get close, an earth-shattering explosion suddenly erupted from behind the sign.

At the edge of their vision.

They saw two colossal trucks collide in a sky-high blast of fire. Half of the wreckage of one truck burst out from the mushroom cloud of flames, hurtling end over end straight toward them from afar.