Chapter 189: Chen Bingtang’s Old Stories
Just as Zhao Mingyue had thought, the White-Clothed Man managed to get off the Ferris wheel in one piece. He was already terrified when he went up and now, as he stepped out, his legs were trembling like he had just seen a ghost. He was shaking all over, with panic plastered on his face, looking more like a startled deer than a person.
“What did he even see to be that scared?”
Without a word, the White-Clothed Man suddenly let out a scream and took off running. Zhao Mingyue hadn’t even processed what had happened before he dashed out and got whacked to the ground by a passing security guard with a nightstick.
Now lying on the ground, his mouth agape, he pointed towards the Ferris wheel. Slowly, in Zhao Mingyue’s vision, he began to fade away, transforming into tiny specks of starlight that vanished from the spot.
“Are these security guards that ruthless? Are they just here to take down miserable tourists who’ve lost their joy?”
Rubbing her chin thoughtfully, Zhao Mingyue refrained from rushing onto the Ferris wheel. Instead, she observed the amusement park’s visitors closely. Everyone seemed to be laughing — not a single person looked unhappy.
Were they seriously not getting bored after going on these rides over and over again?
She plopped down on the steps, deep in thought.
Lacking Bai Yu’s judgment and critical thinking skills, she was well aware of her limitations.
Without that kind of brainpower, she figured she’d just sit here and ponder while she knew the security wouldn’t bother her in that uniform she was planning to wear.
“What the heck is going on here?”
“People in white clothes, missing children, security guards…”
After observing for a while, Zhao Mingyue suddenly noticed a detail.
The clothing of these visitors seemed off. Some wore bright, eye-catching outfits, while others donned faded, dull attire, like an old photograph that had lost its colors and was now starting to yellow.
Yet, color alone didn’t mean much — it could simply be a matter of style.
But layering on that observation, those whose clothing lacked vibrancy also appeared significantly less joyful — their smiles had faded, their lips ceased to curl upward, and some even wore frowns; others looked downright gloomy. And curiously enough, these color-drained, gloomy tourists were all within the watchful eyes of the security guards.
“Is it that when emotions fade, the clothing loses its color? So what’s the deal with that person in pristine white compared to an ordinary tourist?”
Zhao Mingyue felt she was missing key intel about this place.
What she knew was limited, and stringing together these bits of information wasn’t yielding much.
“Guess I should take a look myself.”
Rising to her feet, she walked toward the Ferris wheel, taking a deep breath.
Waiting for the Ferris wheel to slow down, she waited until the security guards were distracted, then bolted up the steps, threw the door open, and hopped inside.
There were no staff members around the Ferris wheel, so she could hop on anytime.
Settling into the seat, Zhao Mingyue didn’t feel anything unusual at first; however, once the Ferris wheel started moving, she sensed something was amiss.
An overwhelming sense of panic overwhelmed her, churning up anguish, anxiety, sorrow, and despair all at once, squeezing out any little bit of joy she had left inside.
She shot up, rushing to the window to look down.
Below her, the entire amusement park began to undergo a dramatic transformation in her view.
No longer was it vibrant and shiny; instead, the true state of the amusement park began to emerge.
The light dimmed, and a thin, gray, cotton-like substance drifted through the air. The once-new equipment revealed patches of rust across its surface, changing grim and gloomy. The higher she went, the more bizarrely the amusement park transitioned; rust rapidly spread, and after completely corroding through, bl**d started to ooze out.
If she wasn’t mistaken, once the outer shell of the machinery was eaten away, what lay inside was a mass of dark red, slimy, writhing meat chunks.
She even saw a tourist gripping a rusted pole, her thumb sinking into the mass, a mixture of pus and bl**d dripping from the palm onto the ground.
Zhao Mingyue’s pupils constricted; amidst the piercing unease, she could hardly stabilize her thoughts.
If the park below was covered by a false facade of joy, then the interior of the Ferris wheel was its polar opposite, entirely filled with suffering; that icy despair was reminiscent of her experience in Eternal Life Village.
The good news was, her mind remained sharp, unyielding to the flood of negativity.
Her gaze shifted from the dramatically transformed amusement park to the world outside.
Surrounding the park was nothing but sheer darkness; only within the amusement park’s boundary did a tiny bit of light exist.
In this world, even the sun in the sky seemed fake.
A group of people was trapped in this illusory realm; Zhao Mingyue knew these people weren’t figments of Mengmeng’s imagination; they were real. Now, they were like vegetative state patients waiting for their return to reality — only if this group could be pulled back to the real world, would their bodies awaken.
Shifting her position, she gazed into the fog at the end of the park.
She had tried to charge through the fog more than once, and this was the only spot without walls or railings.
But each time she attempted, she always ended up back at the entrance.
On the other side of the mist, she spotted another amusement park.
This one was completely shrouded in blackness, divided by mist; there was no Ferris wheel, but all other attractions were identical to the one she was in.
In a daze, Zhao Mingyue felt her body slowly stabilize.
The Ferris wheel began to descend, and at the moment of landing, without hesitating, she shot out, slightly stumbling in her haste.
Instinctively, she wanted to grab onto a streetlight in the park, but recalling the grotesque image she’d seen on the Ferris wheel, her movements halted — afraid that if she reached out, she’d touch something slimy and soft: a brain or maybe, rotten flesh.
Once outside the Ferris wheel, everything still seemed extraordinarily pale and beautiful.
So beautiful that it felt almost unreal.
Standing in the empty center area of the amusement park, Zhao Mingyue felt dizzy.
The overwhelming sense of despair came too quickly, vanished too quickly, and the surreal feeling once her feet hit the ground made her feel slightly nauseous.
“The fog…looks like I really can only wait until 9:30 to leave.”
At 9:30 PM, the amusement park would close. Any tourists left at that time would be stuck for an entire night until they found a security guard for help.
This was clearly stated on the ticket; if she guessed correctly, after 9:30, either all tourists would venture into the Black Night Amusement Park, or that park would slowly engulf and assimilate this place.
“Wait, the mission says I need to go to the other side before 9:30; that means I can get across during this time. I can’t just sit around waiting.”
“That amusement park must have people too, likely a bunch in white clothes… Wait! White clothes!”
Zhao Mingyue quickly ripped off the mask off her face and shed the security uniform. Then she clung to the bl**d Thread, using the Burning Heart Goddess’ power to disguise her outfit into white.
Sure enough, last night some guards had noticed her and began to approach her.
Zhao Mingyue took off running; fortunately, the mist wasn’t too far away. Dressed in white, she leaped into the mist just as the guards closed in.
The mist zone was thin, about two meters wide. Zhao Mingyue dashed out of its bounds, her surroundings shifting from day to night in an instant, the air filled with the smell of decay and bl**d, damp and icy.
This sensation was all too familiar to Zhao Mingyue.
The mission locations she ventured to always had this feeling, like her body was immersed in bl**d, making everything seem more real.
A four-and-a-half-star mission location couldn’t possibly be a sunny, gentle place filled with laughter.
Her phone vibrated, and she pulled out her black phone from her pocket; sure enough, the mission details updated.
【Father and Daughter】
【Find the Dream Administrator: Mengmeng, and set her free.】
【Daddy, please don’t go! Open your eyes and see, this is the amusement park you’ve always wanted to create. Can you hear everyone’s laughter? Can you see their happy faces?】
【Mission Reward: Seed of Evil Spirit.】
“Finally, I’ve arrived; what a hassle.”
“Sheesh, wasted so much time. If Bai Yu were here, she would have figured out the secret in no time; it’s so simple!”
“Happy folks outside, desperate ones inside. The outside’s a disguise that screams illusion, while the true reality lies within.”
“Forget it; first, I need to find Mengmeng and then go from there.”
Muttering to herself, Zhao Mingyue felt the pressure mounting once she arrived at the actual mission location.
There was no danger outside, but here, that was a different story.
At least there was Mengmeng, the Evil Spirit’s strength, an unknown strength in Mengmeng’s father, and those white-clothed figures riding the attractions with their distorted faces.
The equipment in the Black Night Amusement Park was nothing like the ones outside; the roller coaster nearest her was speeding along like a d*ath trap. She even saw a white-clothed person getting flung off, crashing into a lamp post and breaking into several pieces.
Once the successful white-clothed riders exited the roller coaster, dark, black energy began to swirl around them, and worse yet, splotches of bl**d started appearing on their bodies.
A rather terrifying thought crossed Zhao Mingyue’s mind.
“Those white-clothed people — could they be dead? Only tourists who d*e outside can enter here.”
“Ultimately, they become red-clothed??”
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“Hey, Young Lady, we’ve arrived.” The Dragon Lady parked the car at the edge of the White Day Amusement Park, getting out to open the back door, gesturing for the passenger to step out.
Bai Yu exited the vehicle, now sporting a pair of black knee-high boots.
Her long hair was tied with ribbons, cascading down in a low ponytail.
“It’s already past twelve. Who knows when Mingyue will come out.” Standing outside the gates of the White Day Amusement Park, Bai Yu murmured.
“What? Worried, are we?”
“This task is still too tough for her,” Bai Yu shot a glance at the Dragon Lady, raising her chin to glance at the moon in the sky. “A four-and-a-half-star mission, at least one Evil Spirit is present, no less than five red clothes, and, the Sky Fox is in there too.”
“And you still let her go?”
“She needs the experience; it will do her good.”
“True, but I feel it’s unnecessary. With you and me around, who could harm her? With whatever task there is, you just have to manipulate her body to face it; I refuse to believe there’s something she can’t handle.”
The Dragon Lady shrugged, walking over to lounge on the back of Moon Fox Bai Shuang’er, resting one hand on her chin, “What’re your plans with the Gatekeeper? I thought you said you’ve already been in contact with him?”
“I know a Gatekeeper with average strength.”
“I see.”
“The Ghost Gate matter seems to be a deliberate setup by that person, who’s clearly trying to use me for something.” Bai Yu turned to look at the Dragon Lady, her tone unruffled, “I haven’t killed him yet; he knows a lot; it’s useful to keep him around.”
“Got it. So you’re telling me to avoid targeting him, right?”
“Exactly.”
“Wow, you really don’t want to let me do anything, do you?”
“……”
“Fine, who’s making you my Young Lady, after all? Seriously, the aesthetics of these Evil Gods are on point; your current body looks just as cute as your original self, even more so, how can I put it… that ‘beauty in d*ath’ vibe.”
The Dragon Lady pulled out her phone, taking a picture of Bai Yu and watching closely.
“Dead body, yes, that’s it; it really looks like a corpse!”
Saying that, she patted the fox’s head, “Remember, when you go back, try to encourage your master to smile a bit more. She already looks like a zombie, and she’s got to maintain that resting-b*tch-face all the time.”
Bai Shuang’er bowed her head, not daring to speak, internally agreeing with the Dragon Lady’s words.
“Hand me the phone.” Suddenly, Bai Yu stepped forward.
“No way! It’s a proper photo I took out in the open, I’m not letting you delete it.” The Dragon Lady held the phone high, teasingly saying, “Unless you call me ‘Sister’ right now.”
“Hand over the phone, and I’ll call the Gatekeeper.”
“Nope, you give me your phone number, I’ll call.”
Bai Yu wasn’t concerned about the pictures; she recited Li Tianan’s phone number, listening as the ringing tone echoed on the other end for a good ten seconds before someone picked up.
“Hello.”
“It’s me, Bai Yu.” The Dragon Lady eagerly handed over the phone, and Bai Yu spoke in her uniquely ethereal voice.
“Bai Yu?”
“I have something to tell you about the recent activities of the Gatekeeper; I want in.”
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At the same time, Li Tianan almost choked on his tea upon hearing the adorable voice from the other end and reflexively gripped the phone tightly. Unfortunately, it was too late; everyone around him paused and turned to look at Li Tianan with curious eyes.
They were all Gatekeepers too, and they came primarily to pick up a gig.
They had caught wind of an Evil Spirit appearing in Li Tianan’s jurisdiction and were keenly interested.
“Let’s talk tomorrow, we’ll discuss it tomorrow.” Li Tianan hurriedly hung up, his smile stiffening.
“Hey, Old Li, you know the rules; this Chen Bingtang incident is no small matter. Don’t just bring anyone along.”
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One more chapter coming up; yay!
