Chapter 54 Innocent Paradise, Children's Paradise
Wang Jianping pushed the wheelchair to the center of the ward. Luo Chuange and Lao Ren helped Qi Zhixia to a seat.
The gray-black fluorescent light flickered back and forth on the two of them, and the other four people involuntarily stepped back.
In just a few seconds, Wang Jianping pushed the wheelchair and adjusted it to face the door of the ward.
"It's successfully linked."
He didn't turn around; his gaze seemed to remain fixed on the closed door. "If nothing unexpected happens, I will be in charge of this wheelchair from now on."
Luo Chuange glanced up at the clock hanging on the wall; the hour hand had already begun to tilt downwards towards the number four.
"We've already missed the dungeon's opening time," he said anxiously.
"Coco, walkie-talkie."
Liang Jun reminded Gu Keke from the side, and she then realized what was happening and casually slung her bag over Wang Jianping's shoulder.
Gu Keke explained, "There's a walkie-talkie in the bag that's already turned on, and the channel has been tuned for you. You can use it right away."
"If you don't know how to use it, you can ask me."
Qi Zhixia continued the conversation in a normal tone.
Wang Jianping was about to say something, but before he could even open his mouth, he clutched his head in pain as if he had been electrocuted.
Not only him, but the other five people in the ward also felt this electric current creeping into their brains. Even Qi Zhixia, who was protected by props, could not escape this ordeal.
Liang Xun clenched her fists and slammed them hard against her temples.
In a state of extreme numbness, she heard the system's voice ring out—
[Player detected not yet in game...]
[WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!]
[If a player does not log in within one minute, they will be permanently removed from the game!]
The sensation of being electrocuted throughout my body had not yet subsided.
Liang Yan was so shocked by the electric shock that her legs trembled, her limbs were almost stiff, and she couldn't even separate her lips.
She struggled to squeeze out syllables from her throat, "Old Ren... open... the door..."
Of all those present, Lao Ren was the oldest, and comparatively, he was more resistant to injury.
At that moment, he was closest to the door. After hearing Liang Xun's words, Lao Ren moved his feet with difficulty, his trembling fingers reaching for the cold handle.
The moment the door opened, a blast of cold air hit us.
The sudden drop in temperature seemed to alleviate the symptoms of the electric shocks.
Wang Jianping was the first to react, pushing Qi Zhixia in her wheelchair directly through the door.
The other four followed suit, and amidst the continuous countdown from the system, they finally left room 602.
The PVC floor beneath their feet instantly transformed into a dusty, yellow earth, and a gust of wind blew so hard that they couldn't open their eyes.
Liang Jun was the first among them to come to her senses.
After being transported to a completely new environment, the system's urgent warning and the electric shock that went straight to her brain completely disappeared. Liang Xun looked around, only to find that the surroundings were desolate beyond recognition.
Dust filled the air, and there was hardly a trace of green vegetation to be seen. Looking up, behind a weathered, mottled arched gate, stood a somewhat towering, barren mountain.
The mountain wasn't particularly high; it just seemed steep because they were currently at its foot.
With her eyes focused, Liang Jun could still see a Ferris wheel on the mountaintop.
"It's another large-scale dungeon."
Wang Jianping checked the number of people again, and after confirming that there were no mistakes, he continued, "I estimate that the goal for passing this test will be to survive for seven days again. You all need to be extra careful to survive for so many days in the wilderness."
Lao Ren and Luo Chuange both nodded in agreement, but Gu Keke remained standing to the side, staring thoughtfully at the arched door sign.
“Look…” she tilted her head, seemingly deep in thought, “What words are written on that?”
Everyone's attention was drawn to the sign, only to find that it was almost completely broken, with all the built-in light tubes exposed and sparse wires hanging in mid-air, exposed to the strong winds carrying yellow dust.
The words on it became crooked and difficult to read.
Old Ren stared at it for a while, then chuckled wryly and rubbed his nose. "Oh dear, this level of shabby condition is no different from my pork signboard..."
Of those present, only Liang Jun and Gu Keke had seen Old Ren's battle-damaged sign.
Liang Xun kept pondering those few large characters with incomplete strokes, and Gu Keke could only laugh twice to avoid saying anything inappropriate.
With a dry laugh, Liang Xun slowly spoke, "This is... Wuxie Amusement Park?"
Welcome to the third level: Innocent Amusement Park!
Seemingly to confirm that Liang Jun's answer was correct, the system played a notification sound in everyone's mind that a new level had been triggered.
But after waiting a few more seconds, they still didn't hear the next level's introduction.
Gu Keke's lips twitched, and she turned her gaze back to the desolation in front of her.
"This is an amusement park?" she asked incredulously. "I've never seen an amusement park like this before..."
Sitting in her wheelchair, Qi Zhixia replied calmly, "There's nothing like this abroad either."
"It looks like it has been abandoned for a long time."
Luo Chuange tentatively took two steps forward, but still did not trigger the background introduction. "It seems we are late. The other players should have entered the arena long ago."
Only after he said that did the others realize this.
They had been struggling with the location of the scene, but they never expected that the place where twenty or thirty players used to log in together would now only have six of them left, standing alone and bewildered in the wind at the entrance of the amusement park.
"Wouldn't it be a bad idea for us to keep wasting time here?"
Gu Keke looked up worriedly at the few wires that were still faintly sparking. "This door is so dilapidated, it might suddenly fall on us..."
Don't worry so much.
Liang Xun strode past Gu Keke. "Only by violating the rules of the game can you be punished by the system. We haven't even triggered the story background yet, so how could the system possibly kill you?"
Gu Keke stuck out her tongue and jogged after Liang Xuan.
The others followed Liang Jun's lead and entered the amusement park area together.
Apart from the winding loess mountain road, everything in sight can be seen at a glance.
It seems this mountain has been abandoned for a long time. An empty amusement park stands on this barren mountain; it looks incredibly eerie.
Liang Yan was like walking in an empty shell without a soul.
She had only walked a few steps when she noticed a shelf piled high with brochures for the park not far from the main entrance.
The faded ink on the single-page flyers whistled in the strong wind.
Liang Jun tilted her head slightly against the strong wind, and tried to reach out to grab a park guide leaflet that was about to fly out—
The windmill spins and spins, children play day and night, fathers and mothers don't look for them, they climb to the top and bring home treasures.
This is children's favorite playground, filled with the most innocent and carefree atmosphere. It's hell for adults, but heaven for children!
Come play now, before you grow up...
[Level information loading...]
[Current progress: Complete experience of all rides (the last one must be the Ferris wheel) 0/7...]
[Successfully surviving by following the rules will allow you to clear the level. Keep up the good work!]
The moment her finger touched the sticky paper, the level background was successfully triggered.
Liang Jun didn't have time to carefully examine the details before hurriedly calling the remaining people over.
"Come here quickly! Everyone can get a park visit leaflet and trigger the completion mission!"
She grabbed a handful of flyers from the shelf and distributed them to everyone.
Wang Jianping took two bills at once and handed one of them to Qi Zhixia.
"How is it? Has the system responded?"
"have."
"I received it too."
The group gave Liang Jun positive feedback, but after learning the specific tasks for clearing the level, Wang Jianping's gloom deepened.
Why is the goal of this level not to survive for seven days, but to complete all seven amusement rides?
"And they specifically emphasized that the last item must be a Ferris wheel."
Old Ren, standing to the side, also raised his own question, "Is there any explanation for this?"
Luo Chuange rolled the park guide into a paper tube. "Another thing that's not right is that the background information keeps mentioning the 'children' aspect, but we're clearly not children..."
His gaze swept over everyone present. "Wouldn't this be somewhat disadvantageous for us?"
Unexpectedly, Qi Zhixia was the first to deny this conjecture.
"Ordinary children wouldn't be able to make it to the third level smoothly. If this really fits the theme of this amusement park, then there can only be one explanation—"
Gu Keke's thought process was incredibly fast, but now she was clearly regretting how quickly it had become.
She felt goosebumps all over her body.
"You mean, the definition of 'children' here is different from our conventional understanding?"
Qi Zhixia nodded, her gray-blue eyes standing out even more against the earthy yellow background.
"It's a bit too early to think about these things now."
Liang Jun, who had been studying the leaflet in her hand, suddenly spoke up, saying, "Let's think about our next course of action first."
She waved the leaflet in her hand, "The back has a map of all the attractions in this amusement park, did you notice?"
Everyone flipped the paper over in unison in the wind and found that it contained a simple map that looked like a line drawing. At the top, a child who couldn't hold a pen had written several large, crooked characters that looked like colorful crawling insects.
"A map of the park," Qi Zhixia said softly.
"The entire amusement park is situated on this barren mountain, and the rides were constructed in order from bottom to top. The Ferris wheel mentioned in the mission is located at the top of this barren mountain and is the landmark of this amusement park."
Liang Jun had already memorized the map. "Since the mission has given us clear requirements, we can just follow the climbing order and complete the six projects from bottom to top. When we reach the top of the mountain, we can directly complete the last Ferris wheel project."
This arrangement seems to be the most convenient and effortless. It eliminates the need for unnecessary backtracking and saves the step of selecting rides.
After giving a general overview of her proposal, Liang Jun tossed the poorly printed flyer aside.
What do you guys think?
Gu Keke and Qi Zhixia were the first to approve her plan, and then Lao Ren and Luo Chuange also decided to implement it.
Wang Jianping remained silent throughout. Only after everyone else had expressed their opinions did he reply in a muffled voice, "I have no objection."
Liang Jun grabbed a handful of papers from the shelf and stuffed them into her spare pocket, just in case.
"Then let's go."
Holding the map in her hand as a guide, she continued forward. Everyone else huddled together, heading deeper into the amusement park.
They didn't have high expectations for this abandoned and eerie amusement park, but they were still greatly shocked when they actually entered the park.
The garbage can, carved with animal heads, was broken open, and garbage covered with a thick, yellowish-green liquid kept gushing out from the cracks, mixing completely with the yellow soil in the stinking environment.
Damaged safety railings are everywhere in the park, and you can even find seatbelt parts that have fallen off somewhere while walking on the road.
Luo Chuange coughed twice, choked by the fumes.
"Would any children really want to play in this environment?"
Not to mention the dilapidated environment, even the strenuous mountain climbing before the actual visit would probably be difficult for most children to endure.
After climbing uphill for ten minutes, they finally saw the first amusement ride.
The ceiling, riddled with large holes, rests on a semi-enclosed open space. Inside, several puddles reflecting the light are faintly visible, likely accumulated rainwater from a previous rain.
Inside the dimly lit area, several damaged bicycles were haphazardly parked. The empty seats were all quietly covered with a layer of yellow dust.
Gu Keke breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness, we've finally found our first attraction... This should be bumper cars, right?"
As she spoke, she prepared to take a detour and walk directly to the main entrance of the project.
Liang Jun reacted quickly and grabbed her sleeve.
"Wait a minute."
She stood rooted to the spot, refusing to take another step forward.
"So far, have we unlocked not a single known rule?"
-----------------------
Author's Note: Coco: I'm the Akina Mountain Speed King!
Sister: You'd better not just step on the gas and head straight down the mountain...
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
