After getting off the bus, the guide hadn’t organized the players, but was leaning casually against the bus, looking like she was waiting for them to enter the amusement park.
Since the other players were busy looking at the rules on the back of the ticket, the guide was still relatively free.
[Heart of Durian] got straight to the point: “Sorry, tour guide, could I take a look at the contract you signed with our company? I’m worried I got on the wrong bus.”
It sounded like a silly reason, but that didn’t matter—what mattered was it was plausible. She just needed an excuse to find out her company’s name.
Directly asking wouldn’t work. In a Copy, players have to do things that match their identity, or trouble is sure to follow. Once you lose your in-Copy identity, you’ll have a hard time moving forward.
So she couldn’t expose the fact that she didn’t know her own company’s name, and could only go about it another way.
Feixian was a bit surprised, thinking to herself that C-rank players were still pretty sharp. But her own boss was even better, having already anticipated this.
She didn’t make things difficult, and handed over a contract: “Here, take a look.”
The contract was a proper cooperation agreement.
This team-building trip was a collaboration between “Thirteen Co., Ltd.” and “Thirteen Lines of Poetry Travel Agency,” with the destination being “Happy District 13 Amusement Park.”
Something was off, right? All these “Thirteen”s made [Heart of Durian]’s eyes hurt. Was there something special about this number? Why did all these companies have it in their name?
“I’ve confirmed it, thank you for your cooperation.” After memorizing her company’s name, she nodded respectfully to the guide and left with her temporary teammate.
Watching them walk away, Feixian smiled and said to Su Shisan on the phone, “Good thing you set up the company background and all, or there really would’ve been a bug.”
The memories of the native NPCs in the Copy were preset.
If Su Shisan hadn’t input “Thirteen Co., Ltd.” into their memories, when players asked, the NPCs would have acted as if they’d never heard of the company.
While that would also make sense, it would let players figure out that the Copy had nothing to do with the company background, letting them avoid some detours.
It was better to set up a company background, so players would get stuck on it.
“Actually, the company background is there.”
Su Shisan, who made the Copy, of course wouldn’t explain too much, but since Feixian brought it up, she explained, “Because the company is famous, players will likely be misled, thinking at least the company is fine.”
Hearing this, Feixian understood. She knew very well that there was a huge problem with the company.
If players didn’t realize there was something wrong with the company and the tour group, they’d suffer in the end.
While they were chatting, [Heart of Durian] and her teammate were carefully reading the rules.
《”Happy District 13 Amusement Park” Visitor Guidelines》
Happy District 13 is the city’s largest amusement park, equipped with all kinds of amusement facilities to give visitors the happiest, most relaxing experience.
To help visitors enjoy themselves to the fullest, please read the following guidelines carefully.
1. Happy District 13 is open from 8:00 to 24:00. Please plan your visit accordingly and leave before closing time.
2. Tickets are required to leave the amusement park. Please keep them with you at all times and do not lose them.
3. The only currency used in Happy District 13 is Happy Coin, which can be obtained by experiencing amusement facilities.
4. Employees will only wear Blue Uniforms or Black Uniforms. Amusement park staff can be trusted.
5. There are no Red-Clothed Employees in this amusement park. If you see someone in a Red Uniform, do not speak to them and immediately seek out a security guard in a Black Uniform.
6. Clowns are a classic element of the amusement park. There are many Clowns in Happy District 13—please feel free to approach them.
7. Do not accept Clown Balloons.
8. This ticket includes one night’s stay at Happy District 13 Hotel. Please check in before 6:00 p.m.
9. For the sake of harmony, please be polite in line and do not cut in.
10. Happy District 13 does not have a Ghost House project. If you see a Ghost House, it may be a hallucination—please purchase food to replenish your energy.
11. Be wary of and avoid anyone who talks to you about the Ghost House. If this person is a park employee, immediately seek out security.
12. The Energy Station offers a variety of products. Visitors are welcome to shop freely. There are no Clown dolls in the Energy Station. If you see one, leave immediately—the Energy Station is temporarily closed.
13. To ensure visitors have a fresh experience, do not repeat any amusement project.
“Thirteen rules—not too many.” [Cheng Yu (Modern)] stroked his chin.
“But the contents are weird. The back of the ticket says there’s no Ghost House, but the front says we have to check in at the Ghost House. Does that make sense?”
[Heart of Durian] had noticed this first as well. She frowned. “There’s definitely something wrong with the Ghost House, but it’s hard to ask about.”
The rules specifically say to stay away from anyone who talks about the Ghost House, which means if they bring it up, they might be ostracized or even caught by staff.
That would make finding the Ghost House very difficult.
But soon she relaxed her brows. “Let’s ask the guide—it’ll be a good way to test her stance.”
With the same idea, [Cheng Yu (Modern)] was even more satisfied with his temporary teammate, and the two of them went to the guide together.
Unlike before, when no one was around, now the guide was surrounded by people. Most players had finished reading the rules and were full of questions, eager to ask the guide.
***
As soon as they approached, they heard someone ask what they wanted to ask: “Guide, what’s up with the Ghost House? Why does the ticket say two different things?”
“Maybe it’s a printing error,” Feixian replied offhandedly. “You can choose not to check in at that project.”
Some people naively breathed a sigh of relief, but others became even more wary.
The short-haired woman who’d asked hesitated, then asked, “Is it really okay if we don’t check in at the Ghost House? Will we still be able to leave the park?”
“I don’t know about that either,” Feixian shrugged, looking helpless.
“This is the first batch of tickets issued jointly by our travel agency and the amusement park. Whether you can leave depends on the park’s approval.”
Everyone:
Wasn’t this guide being a bit too irresponsible? Now they weren’t sure if they had to check in at the Ghost House, or even if they could leave the park after completing all the projects!
[Heart of Durian] said firmly. “If you don’t complete all the check-ins, you definitely can’t leave. I’m sure of it.”
“Same here!” [Cheng Yu (Modern)] reached out for a high-five, in high spirits.
Being able to team up with a like-minded stranger in a Copy was indeed something to be happy about.
[Heart of Durian] hesitated for a moment, but still gave him a high-five, then asked, “What do you think of the guide?”
“Well…” [Cheng Yu (Modern)] habitually stroked his chin. “She’s so blatant about it, she doesn’t seem like a bad person. At least she hasn’t lied, right?”
That was true—the guide answered every question and hadn’t really misled anyone. Her answers clearly signaled there was a problem. Only a fool would believe otherwise.
Maybe they could trust her.
But their next meeting would probably be at 6:00 p.m. Until then, they’d have to face the amusement park’s problems on their own. [Heart of Durian] glanced at the rules as she asked, “Shall we go?”
“Let’s go.”
[Cheng Yu (Modern)] nodded. There were still plenty of unresolved questions in the rules, like the Clown issue and the staff issue, but they wouldn’t get answers by standing around outside.
The guide seemed half in the dark herself. Better to go see for themselves—take things as they come.
With their goals aligned, the two exchanged a glance and headed toward the amusement park entrance.
There was no doubt that Happy District 13 was strict about security. It was easy for them to enter—just scan their tickets and they were in.
Compared to the quiet outside, the inside of the park was bustling. Every visitor’s face was filled with joy, as if this really was just a normal amusement park.
You could clearly see that not far away, on the main path to other areas, Clowns holding balloons were blocking people.
Every time someone passed, they would hand out a Clown Balloon. If a visitor refused, the Clowns would perform funny skits to relax them and get them to accept the balloon.
“If this were the real world, I’d never think these Clowns were dangerous.” [Cheng Yu (Modern)] shook his head, feeling emotional.
[Heart of Durian] didn’t care about the Clowns’ performance. What good could free handouts be? Those balloons definitely had problems.
She looked around and quickly found her target. “Let’s go check out the Energy Station?”
Next, they’d experience the amusement facilities, both to punch in and to earn Game Tokens.
Game Tokens could only be used to buy things in the shop, so naturally, she wanted to see what was for sale and how much everything cost.
“Fine by me.” [Cheng Yu (Modern)] had originally wanted to do a task first and go to the shop after earning some money.
But since his teammate had decided, and it didn’t really conflict with his own plan, going to the shop first was fine.
There weren’t many visitors in the shop—just a few scattered around. The only employee, upon their arrival, lazily said, “Welcome,” and didn’t move.
To be honest, this lack of enthusiasm was actually reassuring. [Heart of Durian] turned to check out the goods on the shelves.
The shop mainly sold food, water, and souvenir dolls. There were many types of dolls, but none of them looked like Clowns, so it was probably safe for now.
Looking at the prices, she noticed something odd: animal dolls were 100 Game Tokens each, human dolls were 200, snacks were 10 Game Tokens each, and bottled water was 5 Game Tokens.
Although she didn’t know how many points you could earn from each project, just from these prices, she could tell the basic cost of living.
100 points definitely wasn’t easy to earn, let alone 200. But the shop’s prices must be set for a reason—otherwise, who would buy them?
So, did those human dolls have some special use?
Before [Heart of Durian] could ask, [Cheng Yu (Modern)] spotted something new. “What’s this?”
He was pointing at a stack of identical scenic photos on the counter, labeled 50 points each.
Unexpectedly, the Blue Uniform shop assistant replied, “That’s the Game Map.”
As she spoke, she took one out, and on the back of the photo, it was indeed the Game Map.
The two of them: “!”
Their eyes lit up instantly. They exchanged a glance, both seeing the determination in each other’s eyes.
C-level Copy maps were pretty big, especially with all the amusement facilities everywhere. Having a map would save them a lot of time. Never mind 50 points—even if the price doubled, they’d still have to buy it.
If one person bought it, 50 points was a bit much, but if several people split it, it wasn’t too bad.
“What do you think? Should we just buy it together, or recruit another teammate?” [Cheng Yu (Modern)] asked.
He could accept adding one more person—a triangle was still stable. Four people was too risky.
Since they were all strangers, betraying each other was almost risk-free, and the more people there were, the more likely trouble would arise.
Since he’d set the limit, he left the final choice to his teammate. If she chose to recruit a third person and that person wasn’t smart enough, they could always find a way to get rid of them after buying the map.
It might be a bit unethical, but [Cheng Yu (Modern)] never said he was a good guy!
“It’s a bit late to find a third person now,” [Heart of Durian] shook her head. “Just the two of us is fine.”
She’d rather work a little harder to earn points than go to the trouble of finding a new teammate.
The man in front of her—she couldn’t be sure about his character yet, but at least his intelligence seemed about equal to hers.
Back on the bus, [Cheng Yu (Modern)] had proposed cooperating right away, so he clearly wasn’t the lone wolf type. For now, the two of them definitely needed each other, and wouldn’t betray each other easily.
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