Chapter 124

Could it be that shooting too much at the toy store triggered the amusement park mission?

【Mission Objective: Arrive at the abandoned amusement park of Yin City's western suburb, Lexin Resort, by 12:00 AM tonight, and await further mission instructions】

【Mission Reward: Revealed upon receiving the next mission prompt】

【Mission Failure Penalty: None】

Li Cheng glanced at the log and found it was a standard, no-penalty mission set in the real world—something optional. Considering he had only a pitiful 58 points in cash.

Cough, cough—money troubles humble even heroes. Might as well accept it; even a fly's leg is meat.

Daosheng Yu and Evans, who had collapsed just before victory, regretted bitterly and immediately began blaming each other: "Evans, wasn't your shot the problem? Didn't they teach you CQB in Hawaii, not BBQ?!!

"Bullshit! My instructor was a retired NATO officer of Ukrainian descent! His grandfather was a genuine WWII elite veteran who heroically resisted Russian invasion in Ukraine, and was personally received by the Speaker of the Canadian Parliament and the Canadian Prime Minister!"

"??? WWII, Ukraine, resisting Russia—Evans, do you even hear what you're saying?"

The two bickered as usual, shouting as they left the range.

Li Cheng was used to this. Hearing a sharp hiss of breath behind him, he saw Shao Wangshu put down her gun and rub her right thigh back and forth.

"Leg numb?" Li Cheng removed his tactical helmet, picked up Shao Wangshu, and set her on a chair. After rubbing her calf slightly, he helped her out of the room.

"Thank you," Shao Wangshu murmured softly. After hesitating, she lowered her voice and whispered into Li Cheng's ear, "Wang Wang, wang?"

Li Cheng stared at Shao Wangshu, baffled. Seeing no reaction, she barked a few more "wang wang" sounds, looking at him with hopeful eyes, as if expecting him to remember something.

"Uh…"

Li Cheng racked his brain but couldn't make sense of it. After helping Shao Wangshu leave the shooting range, he quickly invented an excuse about the gas not being turned off at home and bolted.

Riding his bike home, as soon as he inserted the key into the front door lock, he heard hurried footsteps inside.

"I'm back."

Li Cheng opened the door. Huiyu still sat in the open study, pretending to study diligently, oblivious to the outside world, muttering to herself, "This textbook is so textbook."

She's acting convincingly.

Li Cheng reached out and touched the cooling fins of the living room's LCD TV—still hot. The girl clearly hadn't studied; she'd been slacking off watching TV. Even the coffee table still had leftover cookie crumbs.

He chose not to expose her. He returned to his bedroom, turned on his computer, connected his VPN, and searched for information on Lexin Resort.

The results were unremarkable.

The resort was built around ten years ago, covering 2.3 square kilometers—about the size of two Disney parks. At the time, the real estate developer had grand ambitions, claiming it would become a world-class, five-star luxury resort. It included a hotel, shopping mall, art gallery, amusement park, and more. The amusement park alone took up half the area.

But fate opposed them. After a classic series of misfortunes—funding collapse, endless lawsuits, debt disputes, and the boss fleeing—the project stalled. The resort, already with water and electricity installed and basic renovations completed, became a ruined construction site.

To date, it remains abandoned. Only dedicated adventure influencers and bored netizens come for thrills, taking photos and checking in.

"It's just a straightforward ruined project. No urban legends about 'mysterious deaths of construction workers,' 'tornadoes blocking excavators,' or 'digging up piles of venomous snakes.' No influencers died here either."

Li Cheng closed the webpage and called into the study, "Pause your studying for now—there's something tonight." "Okay!"

Huiyu threw down her pen, rolled up her sleeves eagerly, twisted her neck backward to look at Li Cheng, and turned one hand into a spiked club and the other into a battle-axe. "Who are we killing?"

"Uh, calm down—it doesn't have to be murder," Li Cheng quickly waved his hands. As a newborn mechanical lifeform with a blank slate, Huiyu absorbed external information readily, needed no sleep, and spent her free time watching endless movies, TV shows, anime, and novels (still unable to read well, she was in the audiobook stage).

She had gained a basic understanding of the outside world, but everywhere in the city had surveillance cameras, and the Special Affairs Bureau had the SkyNet citywide monitoring system.

Huiyu, weighing over eight hundred kilograms, had no body heat, no heartbeat, and no ID card—she'd be detected the moment she stepped outside, leaving her cooped up and miserable.

"Heaven gives all things to nourish man; man gives nothing back to heaven. Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill—long overdue."

Excited at the rare chance to go out, Huiyu's eyes gleamed. She rubbed her weapons together, muttering to herself.

You seem a bit too extreme.

Li Cheng's lip twitched as he began preparing for the mission.

He went to the bathroom to wash up, shaved off loose body hair (to prevent DNA collection), sprayed himself with odor-eliminator, and charged the reconnaissance drone.

After preparing, he stored Huiyu inside an electronic pet egg and rode his motorcycle toward Chengxi's suburbs.

————

Night fell. The evening breeze was cool.

After crossing country lanes and arriving at the abandoned resort, Li Cheng didn't rush in. He launched his drone, sending it circling the resort.

As shown in online photos, the resort was dilapidated: buildings crumbling, lake water murky, roads cracked, weeds rampant.

Benches along the road were covered in bird droppings. The roofs of the mall and art gallery were warped and twisted. Warning signs were rusted and faded.

The amusement park, occupying half the resort, fared no better. The haunted house was entirely swallowed by wild grass. The carousel's paint peeled off in chunks. The roller coaster and Ferris wheel's steel frames stood like the bones of a dead giant, silent and still.

During the day, nearby residents occasionally came to fish, dig for wild vegetables, or take photos as influencers.

At night, all lights were off, mosquitoes swarmed, and not a single person could be seen.

Wait.

At the center of the abandoned amusement park, the drone caught a figure. He held two oil drums, and beside him stood a diesel generator and a large coil of cables—as if reconnecting power to the park's facilities.

As if sensing observation, the man looked up, locked eyes with the drone from a distance, and waved cheerfully at the camera.

Li Cheng raised his eyebrows in surprise.

Hey, isn't that Duizhan Qibing?