Chapter 50: Success

"Mr. Yi Ji, I hope you are satisfied with our service." Zebra wore a warm smile, his attitude completely different from this morning.

"Satisfied. Very satisfied."

Yan Jing smiled.

The roller coaster had moved at a sluggish pace throughout the entire ride, and with no interference from Fear Spirits along the way, he had smoothly retrieved what he wanted.

"That's good, that's good. Hippo and I will see you out."

Zebra personally led the way. An ice cream cart was already parked near the exit of the new park area.

Yan Jing and Mantou each picked up a tub of ice cream and walked toward the exit, completely satisfied.

Along the way, Yan Jing asked a question he had been wondering about:

"Mr. Zebra, what exactly happened here three years ago? Why has the Amusement Park been closed for so long?"

"..."

After a long silence, Zebra spoke:

"Actually, three years ago, the park suffered the largest concentrated outbreak of the Fear plague."

"I remember when I first started working here, there was no such disease in the park. But later on, it slowly began to appear, and the situation grew increasingly severe."

"Until three years ago, when it finally erupted all at once."

"It was after that that Mr. San left the park, never to return."

He smiled bitterly.

"If you want to know the cause of the plague, Mr. Yi Ji, forgive us, but we can't help you. We never found anything out, either."

Yan Jing nodded and said no more.

The group arrived at the exit.

"Mr. Yi Ji, Hippo and I will do our best to hold off Lion in a moment. You and Miss Mantou can take the opportunity to slip out."

Zebra said.

"All right. Sorry for the trouble."

Yan Jing nodded.

They slowly approached the ticket booth, but to their surprise, no sound came from inside.

It was pitch black.

Lion's figure could faintly be seen huddled in the shadows, looking like a dormant beast waiting to strike.

Zebra and Hippo immediately went on high alert, shielding Yan Jing and Mantou behind them.

"Give it up, Lion. You've already lost!"

Zebra warned sharply, "When Mr. San returns, Hippo and I will report everything that happened. You'd be better off cooperating right now. There might still be a chance to lighten your punishment!"

But there was no movement at all from the ticket booth. Not even the sound of breathing.

Zebra and Hippo exchanged a glance before Zebra pulled a lighter from his pocket.

The flame ignited with a soft click.

By the faint light of the fire, Zebra and Hippo's expressions drastically changed.

Lion was slumped in the corner of the booth. His mouth hung slightly open, and his eyes were cloudy. He had been dead for some time.

Over his heart was a clear stab wound. The blood that had flowed from it was dry, leaving dark trails down his prison uniform.

Seeing the familiar shape of the wound, Yan Jing recalled the scene of that Iceberg Woman catching the Disguiser.

It was an identical strike, only that time it had been to the stomach, and this time it was to the chest.

"It's clear that he's already received his punishment."

Yan Jing's expression was calm. Calling for Mantou, he walked out of the Mad Amusement Park.

He had figured it out while eating his matcha ice cream.

Aside from that woman, there was probably no one else in this park capable of leaving such a clean cut on Rabbit's neck.

He hadn't been entirely sure before, but this confirmed it.

"The next bus should be here soon. It's already eight o'clock."

Crossing the street and standing on the platform, Yan Jing looked both ways.

According to Cameraman's memories, a Fear bus would stop at Rotten Vegetable Village shortly after eight o'clock, heading toward Sleepland.

That meant the bus should stop at the Mad Amusement Park right around eight.

"Did we miss it?" he muttered. Then, he spoke gently to Mantou, who was staring at the orange ice cream in her hands with shining eyes.

"Mantou, you can't eat any more today, or you'll get a stomachache."

"Okay... okay... Yi, Ji... I... I won't eat it..."

Mantou nodded obediently, then subconsciously swallowed.

Yan Jing smiled helplessly.

"I remember Chen Nian has a freezer at his place. We can put it in there to keep it frozen, so you can eat it for a long time."

"R-really...?"

Mantou looked up, her brown eyes sparkling like stars.

Upon getting a confirming nod from Yan Jing, those eyes curved into happy crescent moons.

Yan Jing smiled, and the two chatted idly.

Soon, the bus arrived.

However, it wasn't heading toward Rotten Vegetable Village. It was coming from there.

The bus rattled to a halt at the entrance of the Mad Amusement Park.

"Are people still coming to the Amusement Park at this hour?"

Yan Jing was a little curious.

Two figures stepped off the bus, acting rather stealthily.

"Hurry, hurry! It's so late and they still aren't back. That boy Yi Ji must be trapped inside, and in big trouble too—the kind that girl Mantou can't handle,"

the figure wearing a military overcoat said in a frantic rush.

"We need to think this through. I remember the staff member at the ticket booth being unreasonable."

The other, taller and thinner figure spoke much more calmly.

"You mean the guy dressed as a lion? If he dares to stop us, just watch if this old man doesn't beat him up, and that'll be that!"

"..."

"Sigh..."

After a long sigh, the tall, thin figure voiced his opinion:

"I suppose that works too."

He said no more, simply letting the old man in the military overcoat flail his arms wildly while mapping out his strategic deployment.

Seeing this, Yan Jing and Mantou exchanged smiles. Carrying their ice cream, they walked toward their two friends.

...

...

After they returned to the village.

The group carried the ice cream and Heavy Pollution Herb to Chen Nian's house.

Along the way, Yan Jing recounted everything he had seen and heard.

He specifically focused on the so-called "Mr. San" and the dead Lion.

"Mr. San... I think I've heard of him,"

Chen Nian said softly.

"What kind of person is he?"

Yan Jing asked.

He thought Chen Nian would say something complimentary—how great his achievements were, or how mysterious he was, being able to hold Old Sin City in the palm of his hand.

But Chen Nian's answer was not what he expected:

"A pitiful person."

"How is he pitiful?"

Old Master Liu asked on Yan Jing's behalf.

"He was supposedly an abandoned child of his family, eventually drifting here."

With that said, Chen Nian changed the subject.

"As for why Lion died, your guess was probably right. There is a high chance that Mr. San signed an Order Supervision Contract with the Order Management Bureau."

"In fact, aside from the Domains of Order, quite a few other Domains like to cooperate with the Order Management Bureau."

"Why?"

Old Master Liu made a point to ask whenever he didn't understand.

"Because the Order Management Bureau views contracts as a form of Order. They will never break an agreement."

Chen Nian paused, stopping in front of a door.

The door appeared to be forged entirely from silver-white metal, looking completely out of place compared to the other doors in Rotten Vegetable Village.

"We're here."

He took out a key from his pocket.

"Every time I pass by your place, boy, I find it way too depressing. At least install a window! You're getting no air circulation like this,"

Old Master Liu said.

Yan Jing looked at Chen Nian's house. It was true—the entire exterior wall was completely sealed by iron plates. It looked less like a home and more like some classified laboratory.

"There are ventilation ducts."

Chen Nian opened the door and welcomed them inside.

The moment the lights flipped on, Yan Jing felt momentarily blinded.

The reflected light was dazzlingly bright. At a glance, the entire room was filled with a metallic texture.

From the sofa to the table to the television-like screen hanging on the wall, everything was solid silver-white.

Mantou's mouth fell wide open. This was her first time seeing such a place.

Only Old Liu delivered another explosive opinion:

"Why is your house all white, boy? It's so chilly. It looks less like a house and more like a cof—"

He swallowed the last word, though Yan Jing believed that even if he hadn't, Chen Nian wouldn't have minded much.

Chen Nian and Old Liu were like the difference between the 20th and 23rd centuries in his past world; there was practically a whole Tang Dynasty separating the two.

"I like white."

Chen Nian coughed twice. He pulled open a silver-white cabinet in the corner and placed inside it the ice cream and Heavy Pollution Herb that Yan Jing and Mantou had brought.

"That's everything gathered, right?"

Yan Jing looked at Old Liu. The Rotten Vegetable Festival was in three days, and his Dungeon was in twelve.

He was currently focusing his main efforts on securing a top-three spot in the Rotten Vegetable Festival. If he didn't succeed, he would still have nine days left to adjust his plans.

"Still missing a little bit."

Old Liu said:

"I'll go get the last few items. The day after tomorrow, we'll meet at Chen Nian's place to do a test run of the dish."

"Sounds good."

Yan Jing nodded.

"I have no problem with that."

Chen Nian agreed as well.

Once Mantou agreed too, the group prepared to head home.

Before stepping out the door, Old Liu looked at something draped in a white cloth by the entrance and asked:

"Boy, what's this?"

Curious, Yan Jing stopped as well. He had noticed it earlier—something angular, looking like a cow completely covered in a white cloth.

"Something good."

Chen Nian acted so mysteriously that the two grew even more curious, but seeing that he had no intention of elaborating, they could only drop the matter.

Old Liu's home was on the other side of the market, so he left first. Before Yan Jing and Mantou parted ways, Mantou tugged at the hem of Yan Jing's shirt.

"Yi, Ji... your... thing... here... here..."

She held out the Surprise Little Gift Box she had been hugging all day. Zebra had told them earlier that inside was a custom-made music box from the Amusement Park.

Yan Jing smiled and patted Mantou's head.

"This is for you, Mantou."

"For... for me... mine?"

Mantou froze, waving her hands in a panic.

"N-no... no... no... I can't... this is Yi, Ji's... you... you got it..."

"Yes, and now I'm giving it to you, Mantou."

Yan Jing laughed. "Mantou, you wouldn't refuse a gift from me, would you?"

"Besides, I've already gotten what I wanted. I was very happy spending the day touring the Amusement Park with you today, Mantou."

[Favorability +1 +1 +1]

And so, feeling dizzy with joy, Mantou hugged the music box and headed home.

Yan Jing also returned to his familiar home in Rotten Vegetable Village.

After locking the door, he drew the curtains. He sat on the edge of his bed and pulled from his pocket the item he had taken from the very peak of the Cloud-Piercing Thrill Coaster.

He hadn't lied to Mantou; he really had acquired what he wanted.

It was a small cube that looked like a Dice.

A Dice without any pips on it.