She had thought it through clearly. If they truly encountered a dangerous situation involving both of them, they might not be able to count on each other.
But for minor difficulties, they could always cooperate to solve them—and that was enough.
After reaching another agreement, [Cheng Yu (Modern)] smiled and said, “So, shall we discuss which task to tackle first?”
“Wait.” [Heart of Durian] had another question. She walked up to the shop clerk and pointed at the humanoid figures on the shelf.
“What’s the selling point of these Humanoid Figures? Why are they so expensive?”
If this were a normal shop, the clerk would enthusiastically praise their own products at this point. But clearly, this was no ordinary shop.
The clerk casually made something up: “Humans are advanced animals, so isn’t it reasonable for Humanoid Figures to be more expensive than animal figures?”
The two of them:
Actually, it wasn’t the clerk’s fault for being so half-hearted. After all, Su Shisan was designed this way.
The amusement park employees all received a fixed salary; whether goods sold well or not had no impact on their earnings.
Plus, because of the rules, she had no desire to interact too much with customers. The visitors might not know, but as an employee, how could she not be aware?
This broken amusement park definitely had problems! If the pay weren’t high enough, she wouldn’t have come at all.
“Forget it, let’s go.” They didn’t know if the clerk was just playing dumb, but it was obvious she wouldn’t answer this question. [Heart of Durian] decisively turned and left.
On the way, the two didn’t even have to discuss it—they had already decided which amusement ride to try next.
Since they didn’t have a map and didn’t want to waste time wandering too far, they could only choose from the nearby attractions.
There were two games near the entrance: the Roller Coaster and the Carousel.
Was there even a choice? Who would dare start with the Roller Coaster?
The Carousel sounded good—just the name alone felt safe. In fact, among all the attractions listed on the ticket, this one sounded the safest.
“Doesn’t this feel a bit like a setup?” [Heart of Durian] said uncertainly. “Isn’t the contrast a little too obvious?”
Between the Roller Coaster and the Carousel, anyone would pick the Carousel, right? That’s precisely why putting these two together seemed suspicious.
Although they’d have to go through all the attractions eventually, the more they progressed, the more they’d adapt to the instance.
So, logically, the harder stages should be placed at the beginning, to try and wipe out the players before they could get used to things.
Although he understood what she meant, [Cheng Yu (Modern)] only tilted his head and countered, “Then do you want to pick the Roller Coaster?”
[Heart of Durian]: “…………” @Unlimited Good Stories, all at Jinjiang Literature City
Absolutely not.
There was no way. Even without thinking, you could tell the Roller Coaster would be extremely dangerous. As for the Carousel, although it was suspicious, the danger was unknown.
One was 100% dangerous, and the other was 90% dangerous. Even if the Carousel turned out to be worse than expected, it was still their only choice.
A long line had already formed in front of the Carousel, mostly players, with a few Original Inhabitants.
***
The Roller Coaster across the way was the opposite: only one player could be seen, the rest were Original Inhabitants, but there was also a long queue.
Both the Roller Coaster and the Carousel were outdoors, so you could see the scene inside while waiting in line.
Surprisingly, neither attraction looked problematic; visitors were laughing and shrieking with joy, just like in a normal amusement park.
Before [Cheng Yu (Modern)] could voice his doubts, the first group who had ridden the Carousel came out.
“Eh? Aren’t those three players?” He’d been watching the Carousel closely; his gaze sharpened as he pointed to three people at the back, supporting each other as they walked.
Unlike the others, who looked excited and eager to go again, these three were deathly pale, and one of them was even missing an arm.
There was no doubt these three were players. That player’s arm had been lost while riding the Carousel.
Yet, strangely, the surrounding visitors didn’t seem to notice anything wrong.
No one questioned why someone was missing an arm, nor did they remember that everyone had been whole before getting on the Carousel.
Another odd thing was that, despite their pale faces, the three’s expressions were actually okay. It didn’t look like they’d been through any extreme danger—in fact, there was a sense of relief.
“I got it on camera!” At that moment, [Heart of Durian] suddenly handed him her camera.
There was nothing special about this camera, but as long as it could be brought into the instance, it counted as a Prop.
Non-Prop items couldn’t be brought into the instance, not even if stored in a space.
The camera held a photo of the Carousel’s rules, and the picture was clear and high-resolution.
Before lining up, they hadn’t realized each attraction had its own set of rules. It was only when they got closer that they noticed.
But since they couldn’t see clearly from a distance and didn’t want to exit the line and start over, this was the only way to check in advance. Otherwise, if they waited until they were up front, it would be too late.
[Cheng Yu (Modern)] took the camera and first pointed out the three players, indicating they could ask them about their experience. After getting his teammate’s nod, he lowered his head to look at the rules.
“Carousel Precautions”
1. The Carousel features high-altitude spinning; those with high blood pressure, heart disease, or acrophobia must not ride.
2. Only one person per horse; overloading is strictly prohibited.
3. For your safety, please do not leave the horse before the game officially ends.
4. The game should be joyful—the carousel horses love to hear visitors’ laughter.
5. At high altitudes, auditory hallucinations are common. Remember, the carousel horses are inanimate objects—they cannot speak and have no emotions.
There were only five rules, but they contradicted each other. The fourth said the horses loved to hear laughter, but the fifth insisted they were inanimate.
Such self-contradictory rules left him at a loss, unsure which to follow. If the fourth rule was correct, he should try his best to laugh while on the horse.
But if the fifth rule was correct, laughing wouldn’t help—in fact, it might have negative consequences. After all, if it didn’t, why specifically use the fourth rule to mislead them?
Aside from those two, the first three rules seemed normal. Especially the first and second—they could easily be found in real-world amusement parks.
Perhaps only the last two were problematic?
While he was thinking, [Heart of Durian] had already called over the three players who’d just finished the Carousel. Not just her, but the other six players waiting nearby were also calling out.
As the attraction closest to the entrance and the one that sounded the safest, the Carousel was hugely popular among players. Nearly half the players were in line here.
As the first group to clear a stage, everyone was very curious about their experience.
The trio had no intention of hiding anything; after all, in this instance, there was no competition between players. Making connections now would make it easier to get information from others later.
The man with a horse-like face was the first to speak, though he looked a bit puzzled. “Honestly, I don’t think there’s much to ask. What do you want to know? Isn’t it all clear from outside?”
“We only saw you all looking really happy from out here,” [Heart of Durian], who was closest to him, answered truthfully. The others nodded, indicating she spoke the truth.
“So there is some kind of illusion.” The horse-faced man suddenly understood.
“I felt the Carousel wasn’t that difficult. Once the game started, the horses would spin and fly around in the air, and you had to do your best not to get thrown off.”
“If you got tossed in the air, things would get bad. If you really fell off, just react quickly and find a new horse—but watch out for the NPCs, they’ll try to save themselves too.”
It sounded like this stage mainly tested physical ability.
Acting in midair wasn’t easy, and the carousel horses were very smooth—once you were thrown off, it was almost impossible to grab on again immediately.
And the Original Inhabitants weren’t fools. Just as players would look for scapegoats if thrown off, so would the NPCs.