The number -99, red as congealed blood, sat conspicuously on the chest of the stuffed bunny, Bunny. This Dungeon did not even bother to hide the guide’s attitude toward them.
Bunny twisted its stuffed head around with a series of creaks, its thin arms waving toward the dark stone-paved road behind it. The sound of its worn fabric joints rubbing together went scrape... scrape..., stabbing straight into everyone’s eardrums amid the thick air saturated with the smell of burnt caramel and rusty blood.
"Stay close to me, dear visitors... Don’t get curious and step outside the chalk line, or the service department will have a very hard time collecting enough ingredients for dinner~"
The group of players silently followed behind. After the warning at the Carousel, the distance between the groups automatically widened considerably.
The members of the Themisia Guild surrounded Julian, whose expression was still gloomy, while his neck had already begun to turn slightly purple. They had completely reined in their initial arrogance, their glances toward the Erebus Guild filled with wariness and apprehension. As a result, the independent players were temporarily lucky enough not to be targeted.
On the left, the golden-armored members of the Vaelthor Guild still maintained their disdainful attitude, but their pace had slowed, and both hands remained ready on the hilts of their weapons. Natalia—the petite president of the Abyssus Guild—continued to cover the lower half of her face with both hands beneath the hem of her long robe. Her blue eyes narrowed with each small step, occasionally darting toward Adrian with undisguised interest.
"Adrian," Nick moved closer to him, his brown eyes sweeping over the rows of flickering blue and red neon lights lining both sides of the road. "The number on your chest... it went down again."
Adrian lowered his head slightly to look at his chest. The Silver Ticket pinned there had now changed to the number 95.
After barely making it through one introductory game and walking a few hundred meters, the Satisfaction Points gained from the previous game had only just crawled back up to 100 before another 5 points slipped away. It wasn’t just the Erebus group—the independent players around them had also begun to notice the decrease. Nervous, panicked murmurs quickly spread through the ranks.
"Fuck, at this rate, the points will be down to 0 before nightfall!" one independent player grumbled, nervously scratching at their neck with trembling fingers, where the flesh seemed to be starting to dry out.
"Look! There’s a new notice board up ahead!"
Bunny suddenly stopped in front of a circular plaza in the center of the amusement park. In the middle of the plaza stood a large fountain, but the liquid flowing from its jets was not clear. Instead, it was a murky gray, viscous substance as thick as soup, giving off such an overpowering buttery smell that it made people feel nauseous.
A gigantic copper-clad wooden board stood right beside the fountain. Bunny twisted its stuffed head a full 180 degrees backward, pointing at the board with both hands as a raspy metallic voice came from inside its belly:
"My adorable visitors... Please read the following tour guidelines carefully~ Don’t get lost in our park..."
Everyone crowded around the board. Deeply engraved into its copper surface were lines of text glowing a blood-red light:
[CENTRAL PARK VISITOR RULES]
The amusement park is divided into 4 major Game Zones: Candy Maze, Storm Express, Warping Paper Mirror House, and Night Circus.To open the Main Gate leading into the Central Food Court and complete the Dungeon, each team must collect all 4 Satisfaction Commemorative Coins—items that only drop after overcoming the climax challenge of each Game Zone. (Note: each group may have a maximum of 5 members.)Each Game Zone can accept a maximum of 2 teams at a time. Any team arriving afterward must wait for the next round or choose a different Game Zone.Reminder of the Supreme Rule: When Satisfaction Points reach 0, the player will immediately enter the state of "Endless Hunger" and become stored food for the Amusement Park.Pollution Warning: Smelling, eating, or touching any decorative prop in the Game Zones without spending Joy Coins will accelerate the rate at which Satisfaction Points decrease by threefold.
As soon as the red text on the wooden board faded, the voice of the Happy TV Network system simultaneously reverberated through the air:
DING!
[System]: Main quest officially activated: Collect all 4 Satisfaction Commemorative Coins!
[System]: Teams have 3 minutes to freely choose their first Game Zone.
The livestream chat immediately went into overdrive:
[Holy shit, we have to collect all 4 Commemorative Coins before we can reach the Food Court! So no matter which one we choose first, we’ll have to complete all four in the end!]
[Each game only allows a maximum of 2 teams in at the same time! But it never said that two coins would drop after completing it, hahaha!]
[The deduction above is quite interesting. I have a feeling that’s exactly where the loophole in the rules lies.]
[In the end, it’s still encouraging the players to fight and kill each other over the coins!]
Everyone’s expressions changed. Clearly, dividing into groups was not the biggest problem. The real issue was that each group could have a maximum of only five people. That meant they would have to split up into even more teams.
"Four Zones..." Julian mused, tightening his grip on the hilt of his short sword as his eyes swept over the map engraved in the corner of the wooden board. He immediately ordered his fellow Themisia Guild members, "We’re heading to the Candy Maze."
Then he looked toward someone else. "Lily, take the other three and choose another game to complete."
Lily, a girl with her hair tied up in a high ponytail and a pair of cold eyes that betrayed little emotion, immediately nodded.
The Vaelthor Guild did not need much deliberation, since they had only four members to begin with.
Varkal, their leader, waved his hand. "To the Storm Express!"
[hahaha, that choice suits them perfectly]
[Always acting like they’re the strongest]
Natalia of the Abyssus Guild let out a soft giggle from behind the cloth covering her face. She turned around, her tiny finger pointing in the opposite direction. "Then the Abyssus group will head over to the Warping Paper Mirror House~ Mirror games are always interesting..."
In less than a minute, the three major Guilds had quickly divided themselves along four separate routes, avoiding an early confrontation with one another.
At present, no matter which one they chose, there was still a chance they would run into the others.
Counting the remaining players here after splitting them into groups, along with Adrian’s group, there were already five teams.
It seemed that an encounter was inevitable. They could only hope that this Dungeon would not really drop just a single coin when the time came.
"Where should we go?" Nick looked at Adrian, a hint of anxiety appearing in his brown eyes when he saw the number on his ticket had just dropped to 94.
Adrian could not help but glance at him, smiling. "You seem particularly worried about your life, huh?"
Nick scratched the back of his head and gave an awkward smile. "I can only have a chance to see Silvanus again if I survive."
Adrian froze for a moment before bursting into laughter. Under Nick’s puzzled gaze, he simply gave him a thumbs-up and encouraged him with utmost sincerity: "Hang in there. I believe in you!"
Nick: "... Are there really that many people like me?"
Adrian said nothing more.
Seeing Nick’s dejected expression, Ember could not help saying, "Once you know you’re just one of the fish in the fish tank, don’t get your hopes up too high."
He held onto Adrian, who was laughing so hard he was nearly doubled over, and urged him, "Pick somewhere to go. If we take any longer, we’ll all be dead." Besides, was the subject of Silvanus really that funny to Adrian? Ember truly had no idea what kind of relationship these Priests had with one another.
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