Chapter 134

The staff member accepted the handful of coins with a look of humiliation. Chi Yi felt like she was about to grind her teeth into powder.

Li Jianxi silently let out a sigh of relief. He turned to look at Li Zhi, about to say something, when the park's red lights suddenly came on.

In the blink of an eye, Li Jianxi and the staff member beside him vanished into thin air before the players' eyes.

The air became eerily silent.

Chi Yi and You Jingmeng secretly glanced at Li Zhi. Seeing her staring blankly at the spot where Li Jianxi had disappeared, they were just about to change the subject when Li Zhi turned around and said calmly,

"Let's go."

Ou Wendong hesitated, wanting to ask something.

Chi Yi shook her head at him.

Ou Wendong immediately kept his mouth shut.

The group left the maze area. As soon as they came out, they saw Han Wenlin waiting outside.

When he saw them emerge, he happily came over to greet them.

"How'd it go? Did you get the clue?"

Li Zhi nodded.

"We did. The answer is Bear Granny."

She looked around.

"Where's Xiao Qi?"

Han Wenlin said, "He said he wanted to wander around the park a bit, so we don't need to look for him. We'll just meet up at the verification center this round."

The red lights were already on.

Everyone headed together toward the verification center.

On the way, Han Wenlin said cheerfully, "Now we're only missing the last attraction before we've got all the answers. By the way, you still haven't ridden the carousel, have you?"

The others in Li Zhi's group didn't dare respond, afraid they'd let something slip.

Only Li Zhi answered naturally.

"No. We're planning to leave it for the final round."

Han Wenlin said, "Pei Hongyu's group should've already ridden it. Actually, you could just ask him whether the answer is Black and White Impermanence instead of experiencing it yourselves."

"That won't do."

Li Zhi smiled at him.

"I want to clear every attraction and get the hidden clue."

Han Wenlin shrugged.

"Alright then."

He said nothing more.

The others quietly let out a sigh of relief.

When they returned to the verification center, Qi Yongyi was indeed already waiting there. He waved enthusiastically from afar.

Pei Hongyu's group had also returned.

No one was missing.

Everyone had survived this round.

Although Chen Tianran and the others concealed it well, Li Zhi still noticed that the way they looked at Han Wenlin carried a hint of something unusual.

It seemed that Pei Hongyu had experienced the carousel in the previous round.

Naturally, Chen Tianran and the others who had followed him also knew that the carousel's answer was the Soul-Seizing Ghost, not Black and White Impermanence.

They all knew now that Han Wenlin had voted incorrectly in the very first round.

But strangely enough, Wei Xiao, who had been with them the whole time, looked completely normal.

There wasn't the slightest trace of panic after supposedly discovering he'd voted wrong.

Li Zhi remembered that when Han Wenlin had asked what he'd voted for, Wei Xiao had answered with certainty that he'd chosen Black and White Impermanence.

Among the three of them, only Cheng Jiayue had listened to Li Zhi and voted for the Gloom Ghost, only to be mocked by Han Wenlin afterward.

But judging from Wei Xiao's current reaction, Li Zhi was certain he had lied back then.

He had also voted for the Gloom Ghost.

He had simply lied to Han Wenlin.

Like Li Zhi, everyone else who had figured this out tacitly chose to keep it secret.

Chen Tianran and the others hadn't even come over to greet Han Wenlin like they had the previous round.

They were probably afraid of exposing themselves.

They must be suffering inwardly as well.

Li Zhi tilted her head toward Han Wenlin.

He was chatting with Qi Yongyi as though he hadn't noticed anything strange about his former teammates.

The doors to the verification center opened.

Ou Wendong said he wanted to experience what it felt like to be first and eagerly walked in ahead of everyone else.

This round, everyone voted for the Falling Head Ghost.

This was the sixth round.

Li Zhi still held the answers for Painted Skin and Bear Granny.

She only had one attraction left.

Once she completed it, all nine amusement park attractions would have been cleared.

While her teammates were voting, she stood in place, looking around the amusement plaza.

After the NPCs disappeared, the place felt especially deserted.

The colorful lights on both sides of the mushroom kiosks had gone out.

The park's uniform red lighting shone upon the mushroom-shaped roofs.

They had lost all of their former childlike charm and instead looked rather eerie.

Earlier, Li Jianxi had bought grilled sausages for her at one of those mushroom kiosks.

There were ten such mushroom kiosks standing along both sides of the road leading into the attraction area.

Li Zhi watched them thoughtfully for a while.

Once all her teammates had finished voting, Ou Wendong impatiently asked,

"Are we going to the last attraction now?"

Li Zhi withdrew her gaze and looked toward Pei Hongyu's group.

Smiling, she said,

"We're not doing any attractions this round."

"Huh?"

Li Zhi said,

"We're going to watch them."

She had chatted with Tang Nanshan before and learned that they had completed one fewer attraction than her own team.

Since she already held two answers in her hands, it didn't matter if she skipped this round.

When everyone heard they didn't have to take any risks this round and could instead watch Pei Hongyu's group, they all became excited.

"Sounds great!"

Was this what it felt like when the top student was still furiously writing the exam while you had already handed in a perfect paper ahead of time?!

This felt amazing!

So after the verification center doors closed, Pei Hongyu headed toward the attraction area, only to discover another entire team trailing behind him.

His expression immediately became priceless.

He wore a cold, annoyed look.

Tang Nanshan, however, smiled at Li Zhi.

"You aren't playing this round?"

Li Zhi smiled back.

"We've only got one attraction left. We're taking it easy this round and coming to cheer you on as the audience."

Tang Nanshan raised an eyebrow, apparently quite pleased.

"Sure. Ah Yu and I are doing the Ferris wheel this round."

Aside from them, nearly everyone present had already ridden the Ferris wheel.

Even those who hadn't knew its answer already.

After all, the Perfect Couple team had gone to the Ferris wheel in the very first round.

However, as the most popular top player, Pei Hongyu didn't want to receive hints from others.

He also wanted to obtain the hidden clue himself.

So Chen Tianran and the others tactfully kept quiet.

Since entering the instance, this was the first time all the players had gathered in one place.

The group arrived beneath the Ferris wheel.

Tang Nanshan and Pei Hongyu scanned their tickets and entered.

The remaining nine people stood in the open space outside.

Everyone looked at one another.

For a moment, no one spoke.

What was there to talk about...?

No one really knew each other.

And neither team quite dared to face Han Wenlin.

Silence seemed the safest option.

Li Zhi suddenly smiled and spoke.

"A lot of the players in this instance are new faces."

"Mengmeng, what do you do outside the instance?"

As soon as she said that, everyone else realized the same thing.

There were eighteen players in this instance.

Aside from the three celebrity player teams—Li Zhi and Chi Yi, Pei Hongyu and Tang Nanshan and He Yuan, and Perfect Couple—the other eleven people were all unfamiliar faces.

None of them knew one another.

Although Qi Yongyi had entered the instance with Li Zhi's team, he was actually a new player as well, so he was also a new face.

You Jingmeng paused for a moment.

Although she didn't know why Boss Zhi suddenly asked, she quickly answered,

"I'm a beauty content creator!"

Chi Yi looked shocked.

"You're a beauty content creator?!"

You Jingmeng looked a little embarrassed.

"Y-Yeah... I even did a makeup recreation of your look from the Starlight Gala before. I rode your popularity and got famous because of it."

Chi Yi said,

"...Awesome."

She immediately became interested in her other teammates.

Turning to Ou Wendong, she asked,

"What about you?"

Any player who could enter an instance possessed enough public attention.

No one could be completely unknown.

Especially after instances began appearing, many ordinary people had started all kinds of livestreams to gain popularity.

Even those people who had streaked through the streets before had now become regular instance players.

Everyone looked at Owen Dong curiously. His expression was a little awkward. Instead of answering immediately, he asked Qi Yongyi, "Brother Qi, what do you do?"

Qi Yongyi flashed a bright white smile. "I'm a martial arts coach. I teach people boxing online." He looked up at the hidden cameras that were everywhere and said, "Everyone can search my name on Douya and give me a follow! I often teach self-defense and combat techniques. They're very practical!"

His teammates and the audience outside the screen suddenly understood. No wonder Brother Qi had such incredible stamina and fighting ability. Official players all had cover identities to conceal who they really were. The persona Qi Yongyi presented to the public was that of a martial arts coach.

Li Zhi looked at Owen Dong. "What about you?"

Seeing there was no escaping it, Owen Dong finally spoke awkwardly, "I... I'm also a streamer on Douya."

Chi Yi asked curiously, "What kind of streamer?"

Owen Dong: "...Do I really have to say it?"

Chi Yi became even more curious. "What's there to hide? Even if you don't tell us now, we'll just search you up after we get out."

After thinking about it, Owen Dong realized she had a point. He shut his eyes, gritted his teeth, and blurted out, "I do belly dancing!"

Everyone: "???!!!"

Chi Yi: "...Pfft—HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA—"

Owen Dong's face turned bright red. Embarrassed and angry, he shouted, "I knew this would happen!" He pointed at Han Wenlin, who was laughing the hardest. "What are you laughing at?! Then tell us what you do!"

Han Wenlin laughed as he answered, "I'm an internet singer. Next time the two of us can do a joint livestream. I'll sing, you dance. How about it?"

Owen Dong gnashed his teeth. "No thanks! I refuse!"

The previously awkward silence instantly became lively because everyone had "revealed their secret identities." They all turned to the slender, fair-skinned Cheng Jiayue.

Cheng Jiayue smiled. "Take a guess."

Everyone guessed several occupations, but she said they were all wrong. Finally, she smiled and said, "I used to be an extra actress. Later, when livestreaming became popular, I got pulled into the dungeons and became a player. Now, whenever I'm not entering dungeons, I also stream occasionally, sing a few songs, chat with everyone, and build up my popularity."

Chi Yi was surprised. "An extra actress? Then that's just like what Zhizhi used to be, right, Zhizhi?"

Li Zhi smiled and nodded. "That's right." She looked at Cheng Jiayue. "Which productions did you work on before? Maybe we've met."

Cheng Jiayue looked a little shy. "I was in Love Threads Calamity, where Yiyi was the lead. My role was one of the little fairy maidens in the Heavenly Palace."

Chi Yi was shocked. "Huh? I don't remember you at all!" But she was the lead actress while Cheng Jiayue had only been an extra, so it was normal that she didn't remember. Chi Yi happily patted Cheng Jiayue on the shoulder. "Then we're pretty fated!"

After talking with Cheng Jiayue, it was finally Wei Xiao's turn.

Smiling, he said, "Like Wenlin, I'm also an internet singer."

Li Zhi asked curiously, "Do you two know each other?"

Wei Xiao shook his head. "No."

Han Wenlin continued, "But we got matched against each other once during a livestream PK battle." He looked at Wei Xiao with a half-smile. "He lost to me."

Wei Xiao looked a little uncomfortable. "I only lost that one time."

Han Wenlin snorted, looking rather punchable. "Because we only got matched that one time."

Seeing that Wei Xiao's expression was about to crack, Chi Yi hurriedly stepped in to smooth things over.

"Everyone's jobs are so different! After we get out this time, how about we all do a livestream together and have Owen Dong perform belly dancing for us?"

Owen Dong shouted angrily, "I refuse!!!"

Everyone burst into laughter.

After chatting for a while, Pei Hongyu and Tang Nanshan also came out of the Ferris wheel.

A challenge of the Ferris wheel's difficulty wasn't much for either of them. When they came out and saw everyone laughing, Tang Nanshan asked curiously, "What are you all talking about that's making you so happy?"

Chi Yi waggled her eyebrows. "Do you know what Owen Dong does outside?"

Owen Dong jumped up angrily. "The way you said that makes it sound like I'm a male escort!!!"

Tang Nanshan laughed too.

Behind her, Pei Hongyu still wore his usual cold expression. But when he heard everyone talking about their identities and professions outside the dungeon, his brows twitched slightly as he gave Li Zhi a meaningful look.

Li Zhi smiled back at him.

With this round's challenge over, everyone now had only one final unknown attraction left to experience.

After several rounds, they had all realized that the amusement park attractions did not stay in fixed locations. Instead, they appeared along the path according to each team's progress through the challenges.

And now, as everyone was walking back to the verification center, the final attraction finally made its belated appearance.

A staff member stood at the entrance with an armful of colorful plastic rings hanging from one arm. Smiling, she greeted everyone.

"Welcome to the Balloon Ring Toss game. This attraction consists of a single round and requires exactly ten participants. Players who wish to participate may scan their tickets and enter here."

"Ten people!" Owen Dong cried out in alarm. "It actually needs ten people! What if, by the time we reached this round, there weren't ten players left?"

Chi Yi gritted her teeth. "What else could happen? We'd lose the qualification to challenge this attraction! Then we'd have to vote completely blind, and we'd all be wiped out! We'd all die in this amusement park!"

At that moment, both the players and the audience once again experienced the system's malice.

It had deliberately placed this attraction—which required ten participants—at the very end. It was obviously trying to trap them. If more than half the players had died, they would have no choice but to stare helplessly at this attraction.

"Ten people..." Tang Nanshan's expression became serious. "This attraction requires even more people than the Haunted House. It's probably even more dangerous."

There were only eleven of them left now.

This round, only one person would not have to participate.

Pei Hongyu spoke coldly, "Let's go back and vote first. We'll come here next round."