We’re temporarily safe now.
Li Cheng stopped in his tracks, vigilantly looking back up at the sky.
Just a moment ago, arrows fell like mortar shells, tracing an arc across the sky as they chased after the players who fled in all directions, only just now coming to a stop.
"I should currently be in the northeast area of the Dream Garden within the park."
While running, Li Cheng had kept track of his location based on the map in his palace of memory. After thinking for a moment, he flipped his hand and took out an Electronic Pet Egg.
In the Pet Egg’s screen, Gray Rain lay on her side on a little bed, left hand propping up her chin, right hand eating potato chips, occasionally flipping through a comic book, with her right foot lazily resting on her left, completely at ease.
However, possibly because her brain capacity was limited to 256GB (with only 128GB left after system files), Gray Rain initially intended to use her right thumb and forefinger to pick up potato chips and use her pinky to flip through the comic book, so as not to get it dirty.
But as she read, she would forget and use the thumb and forefinger covered in potato chip dust to turn the pages and then furiously lick her pinky clean.
Li Cheng sighed, pressed the button on the Pet Egg, and summoned Gray Rain.
"Eh, eh, eh, I hadn’t finished yet."
Gray Rain, who materialized out of nowhere, lay on the ground in the same side-lying position. She cast one last reluctant glance at the Pet Egg and then with a fish-like wriggle, she leapt up, "Where is this?"
"Amusement park." Li Cheng briefly explained the current situation, including those twelve rules for visitors. Since Gray Rain was not human and did not carry a visitor’s pass, perhaps she wouldn’t be as restricted. Chapters first released on novel•fire.net
"Got it." Gray Rain nodded sagely, "So do we go back to the starting point now to regroup with the others?"
"No." Li Cheng walked towards the carousel in the Dream Garden area, casually explaining: "Sunset is only one and a half hours away, we wouldn’t make it in time. Moreover, the floral float from before was suspicious in every aspect."
"The sixth rule of the visitor’s guidelines states that if there are more than ten dolls on a floral float, you must immediately flee the area, but if you see a princess caricature on the float, you stay put."
As he walked through the metallic gates where visitors queued, Li Cheng said, "That floral float had eleven dolls, and also a Disney princess. According to the rules, we both have to flee and remain immobile.
That’s a contradiction in itself, making whatever you do wrong.
Moreover, according to the twelfth rule of the visitor’s guidelines, if any one of the rules is violated, the visitor must enter the staff break room, change into any doll outfit, and head to the security room before the next day.
But the system also demands that players escape this place before sunset, creating too many contradictions.
Finally, and most crucially, out of the eleven dolls on the floral float, nine had eyes without holes and two dolls had eyes with holes.
If I’m not mistaken, those are actually living people who violated the rules and couldn’t escape the park."
Having passed through the metal gates, they arrived under the rotunda of the carousel.
The park’s machinery was all electrically powered; at the empty control stand, there was a sign that stated a ride lasts one and a half minutes.
Li Cheng positioned Gray Rain in front of the control stand, ready to halt the gates at any moment, while he mounted a white carousel horse himself.
No sooner had he sat down than the entire contraption autonomously activated, emitting a cheery tune.
The plastic white horse beneath him suddenly became alive, breaking free from the steel rod that bound it below, issuing a series of long neighs. The rest of the horses under the rotunda did the same.
"Little Horse Pearl!" Gray Rain, standing in front of the control stand, was shocked and blurted out, "Little Horse Pearl came from the Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Litang County of Sichuan, owned by a man named Ding Zhen who adores it exceedingly. According to the family, Pearl disappeared on September 15, 2021, and has not returned since. Pearl - white in color, sometimes gray, characteristics: front legs are slightly bowed..."
Li Cheng nearly choked while riding on the bumpy horseback. Great, spending all day scrolling through TikTok and Weibo, using your brain capacity to store all these abstract things instead of learning, huh? Double the homework when you get home.
Under the dome, changes continued.
All the horses tacitly galloped clockwise, including the white horse Li Cheng was on, all sprinting towards the green holographic lines that suddenly appeared and swirled around the dome.
’This carousel challenge isn’t about just staying on the horse for a minute and thirty seconds, but about crossing the green line on this horse within that time limit?’
Li Cheng’s thoughts raced as the already cramped dome, squeezed with thirty-eight horses, seemed more crowded than the Spring Festival train stations, Zhou Jielun’s concerts, the Guangzhou Metro Line 3, and the TFBOYS tenth-anniversary concert.
And the white horse he was riding was not the fastest one, slowly falling behind.
That made sense, after all, Li Cheng’s muscle density far exceeded that of an ordinary person, making his actual weight much heavier than he appeared.
A minute and a half flew by, and continuing this way, he would certainly fail the challenge. If he failed this round, the horses that had already run one lap might be even more exhausted and less likely to achieve the goal next time.
Li Cheng instantly pulled out the Bat Gun, aimed at the dome, and fired a Hook Claw. He swung forward violently and perfectly landed on the back of the leading horse, shortening the distance to the green line by a great deal.
The equipment didn’t stop, which meant changing horses midway was not cheating.
The new horse he switched to galloped furiously, but still couldn’t close the distance to the green line.
"Only twenty seconds left!" Gray Rain shouted a reminder, "It’s going to be too late!"
"It’s enough time." Li Cheng slapped the horse’s back, leaped down, and in mid-air, grew a black carapace, switching to Insect Form.
He extended his arms, wrapped them around the horse’s belly, and lifted the whole horse off the ground. With a forceful push from his feet, he sprinted forward carrying the horse.
Gray Rain watched in amazement from outside the arena, and the charging horses inside were startled by the thudding footsteps, lifting their heads to watch the silhouette of Li Cheng carrying the horse in a charge.
Countdown six, five, four, three...
With just three seconds left to a minute and a half, Li Cheng, holding the horse, crossed the green line. The music abruptly stopped, all the just-resurrected horses once again solidified, stiffened, and turned into plastic horses.
He reverted from Insect Form and took out the visitor card from his shirt pocket. On the front, a bingo pattern automatically revealed a stamped insignia.
"Uh... challenge completed?" Gray Rain hesitantly said: "Carrying the horse isn’t considered cheating?"
"It seems we have found out some things. This challenge, and the entire amusement park, are operating unattended, following certain rules. As long as you don’t break the rules, you’re okay."
Li Cheng thought for a moment, took out pen and paper from the Holographic Bone Corridor, and after a bit of writing and drawing, taped it to the control panel.
The note detailed the carousel challenge rules, how to pass it and the words "Ant Left Behind," and also taped an unidentified vial of substance.
"What’s that?" asked Gray Rain, not understanding.
"An animal stimulant. Probably a mix of fluoramine acid, dexamethasone, caffeine, or something along those lines," Li Cheng casually said. "If any players or ordinary people after me try to pass this challenge and really can’t do it, they could give the horse a shot, or give themselves one."
"You carry these things with you? Wait, can medicine for animals be used on humans?"
"Humans, as mammals, aren’t really that advanced." Li Cheng curled his lips, and to deal with a variety of complex situations, he carried not only stimulants but also muscle relaxants such as amber choline and tube curarine. Anesthetics like benzothiazine and acetylpromazine. Poisons like cyanide and ricin.
Forget ordinary humans, even tigers and elephants could be knocked out in minutes.
However, because the space in the Holographic Bone Corridor was limited (after all, it wasn’t a special space storage item), sometimes these medications had to be stored together with food and other products, so Li Cheng had to be extra careful when handling them to avoid accidentally mixing up white cyanide powder with soy milk powder and making himself that sort of drink one day.