Chapter 106

After leaving the doll shop, Qi Yu and Ling Wu entered a small supermarket in the amusement park; opening the refrigerator door, Qi Yu took out a can of cola: "Ling Wu, what would you like to drink? I'll get it for you."

The two of them, dressed in identical navy blue school uniforms, stood before the refrigerator with their sleeves slightly rolled up, revealing a glimpse of their wrists and exuding a youthful aura.

Ling Wu pointed in a direction: "I saw canned orange juice in the fridge over there; you go wait for me at the checkout, I'll be there soon."

Qi Yu looked in the direction he pointed and nodded slightly: "Okay, I'll wait for you."

He closed the refrigerator door and walked straight toward the checkout counter, his tall and upright figure casting a shadow; Qi Yu pointed to a box of mints on the shelf and said to the cashier: "Could you please get me a pack of mints?"

The cashier stared at Qi Yu's face for two seconds, then snapped out of it, reached for the mints, placed them on the counter, and then covered her mouth with her hand, lowering her voice to ask: "Handsome, may I ask you a question?"

Qi Yu: "What is it?"

The cashier glanced toward the inside of the supermarket: "The boy who came with you is so good-looking; is he your boyfriend?"

Both of them looked over; Ling Wu was pulling open the refrigerator door and reaching up to grab the orange juice from the top row. The young man tilted his head slightly, his side profile elegant and beautiful, clearly showing his protruding Adam's apple and slender, fair neck. The wrist bone revealed as his sleeve slid down was exceptionally sexy, and his legs under his school trousers looked straight and long.

He really... is very good-looking.

Qi Yu felt his gaze burn; he pursed his dry lips, and regarding the cashier's question, he selfishly neither nodded in affirmation nor shook his head in denial.

He remained completely silent.

The cashier wanted to ask something else, but Ling Wu walked over. He placed the can of orange juice on the counter, his expression gentle and his voice pleasant: "Could you please ring us up?"

"Oh... okay."

The cashier nodded in a daze, scanned the items, and said: "That will be 15 yuan in total."

Ling Wu intended to pay with his phone, but Qi Yu grabbed his wrist, then took a hundred-yuan bill from his pocket and handed it to the cashier, his voice clear: "I'll pay."

The cashier gave them two plastic straws.

The two of them then left the supermarket.

Qi Yu tore open the box of mints, poured them into his palm, threw the box into the trash can, and then put the mints into Ling Wu's school jacket pocket, saying: "It's a bit hot; I saw you sweating earlier, eating mints will make you feel much cooler."

Ling Wu pulled the tab on the can, inserted the plastic straw, and biting the straw, asked: "Aren't you going to have any?"

"I kept a few for myself," Qi Yu said.

Ling Wu was someone who was quite sensitive to heat; as he drank his orange juice, he fanned his face with his hand and glanced at the amusement park's directory: "It's really hot, and there's still so much we haven't played yet; we could find an indoor attraction."

"Aren't you hot?"

Qi Yu was wearing his school jacket just like Ling Wu, but there was no sweat on his fair face; he shook his head lightly: "I'm not afraid of the heat; I'm more afraid of the cold."

Winters are always exceptionally hard for the poor.

This was something Qi Yu had experienced firsthand for over a decade.

He took the can of orange juice from Ling Wu's hand and said: "Take off your jacket, I'll carry it for you; you'll be much cooler."

Ling Wu did not refuse: "Okay."

He took off his jacket, revealing a white shirt underneath that was slightly soaked with sweat, clinging to his skin and vaguely outlining his frame.

Qi Yu naturally took his jacket and draped it over his elbow, then returned the orange juice to Ling Wu, staring at the amusement park map as he said: "I know a 'cooler' attraction; the haunted house should work."

"Ling Wu, are you afraid of ghosts?"

Ling Wu lowered his head and rolled up his sleeves with one hand until his elbows were exposed, then stopped his movements, looked back at Qi Yu, shook his head slightly, and took two steps forward, pressing his fingertips against his heart to feel its beat: "The real ghosts in this world are right here."

Qi Yu reached out and gripped his wrist: "Yeah, that's true."

"If you believe, they exist; if you don't, they don't."

The haunted house.

This haunted house used virtual VR technology with a Norse mythology theme, set in a gloomy underworld filled with terrifying mythical figures; visitors had to navigate the haunted house to avoid being caught by monsters.

Qi Yu and Ling Wu put on their VR glasses and walked into the haunted house; the lighting inside was dim, accompanied by flickering lights and eerie totems on the walls, creating a mysterious and sinister atmosphere as if countless evil eyes were spying from the darkness.

Screams erupted one after another all around them.

"Ahhhhh! It's chasing me..."

"Mom... sobbing Mom, I want to go home, I'm never coming to a haunted house again."

"Don't come over! Stay away!"

"Holy crap! It bit my hand; no one told me this Norse mythology theme would be this scary."

Qi Yu looked at the bizarre scene before him, stepped around the props at his feet, and pulled Ling Wu to his side: "Stay close, let's not get separated."

Suddenly, a hoarse and eerie roar echoed in their ears.

At the end of the path ahead appeared a giant wolf; wherever it passed, the ground shook and stones flew, its black fur standing up like steel needles, its beastly eyes flashing with an eerie, ghostly light, its blood-red mouth wide open with protruding jaws and jagged, razor-sharp fangs...

Ling Wu took one look at the giant wolf: "Fenrir."

"What?"

Qi Yu knew nothing about Norse mythology.

Ling Wu glanced at the props around the haunted house and explained: "The giant wolf Fenrir is a terrifying monster in Norse mythology; he is the child of Loki and the giantess Angrboða."

"Loki is cunning by nature and loves to create chaos, and the children he had with Angrboða are all filled with an evil aura; Fenrir is one of them."

"The gods foresaw that Fenrir would bring great disaster, so to prevent him from destroying Asgard and all living things, they asked the dwarves to forge a magical rope called 'Gleipnir'; this rope contains immense power and is the key to suppressing Fenrir..."

Then, Qi Yu deftly took the golden rope prop from a cross and asked him: "Is it this one?"

Ling Wu nodded: "It should be."

He threw the Gleipnir rope toward Fenrir, and the moving giant wolf instantly stopped its pursuit.

"Look!"

"That wolf stopped!"

The surrounding tourists saw their method and followed suit.

The AR virtual effects also changed; a giant clock appeared in the sky, with the hour hand pointing between 5 and 6, and the minute hand pointing at 6.

Qi Yu said: "It's 5:30."

"Run!" Ling Wu reacted immediately, grabbing Qi Yu and running forward: "This myth has a second half; after Fenrir was trapped by the Gleipnir rope, the gods inserted a sword into his upper and lower jaws to ensure he could no longer wreak havoc on the world."

"But when 'Ragnarök' arrived, Fenrir broke free from its bonds."

The virtual world disintegrated, meteors fell, the earth cracked, and the funeral bell of the century was about to toll; Ling Wu and Qi Yu, like a carefree wind, ran toward the path ahead of the twilight.

Ling Wu's hair whipped in the wind: "The giant bell in the sky should be a figurative sign that 'Ragnarök' has arrived, which means that at the hour of twilight, Fenrir will continue to chase us after breaking its bonds."