Chapter 138: Security Guard

Outside the door, the faint but dense patter of furry paws on the floor echoed down the corridor—the army of plush toys had still found this place and was closing in on the rest room.

Andre silently drew his straight sword, his lips murmuring at high frequency as he recited passages from the Holy Scripture; Bai Lang's face was taut, and beneath his black robe, venomous snakes coiled.

"Below the security guard rules, there are a few more lines of nearly dried, scrawled, illegible blood-writing. They should have been left behind by someone who once stayed in the security room.

The blood-writing reads: 【Violating the rules will draw her attention】【She discovered she had been deceived】、【Someone must stop her】、【I've started growing fur】、【I can't hide anymore】."

Su Jie slowed his speech slightly, struggling to make out the handwriting—the Arena System's translation function was quite intelligent; if the original text was blurry, the translated result would also become blurry.

"..." Li Cheng's thoughts raced as he gathered all the clues at hand, quickly considering every possibility.

"They're coming!"

Bai Lang was not nearly as leisurely as he was; the dense footsteps grew louder and closer, and with a loud "boom," the main door was slammed open as a swarm of plush toys filed in.

Battle erupted in an instant—under the lights, sword shadows and blade flashes flickered, scripture chanting and snake hisses rang out together, severed limbs flew, and blood splattered the walls.

"Before we entered the mission,"

Li Cheng pressed his Bluetooth earpiece, blocking out the outside noise, and asked in a low voice, "Did you hear an air-raid siren?"

"Yes, it went off for about seven minutes."

"Did a castle appear at that time?"

"Mm, it was in the Future World area. I didn't dare go over."

"Good, bring as small a piece of the blood-writing as you can, and as many security guard uniforms as possible. Meet at Future World within five minutes."

Li Cheng turned around; the tunnel, which had never been particularly wide to begin with, was now completely filled with the plush toy army—looking ahead, nothing but furry heads as far as the eye could see.

"Make way." His tone was flat; in his palm he gripped the 【Nuclear Lighter】, spun the wheel, and turned it up to the maximum setting.

Andre, still in the midst of slaughter, sent two plush toys flying with a whip kick; Bai Lang also activated his snake-summoning skill, recalling the swarm of snakes to his side.

Click.

The flip lighter opened softly with a crisp sound. The wick lit a tiny, rice-grain-sized flame; the next instant, the fire expanded a thousand- or ten-thousand-fold, transforming into a violent dragon that roared into the tunnel.

The tunnel's special terrain doubled the flame's power; raging fire destroyed everything, the ears filled with the humming roar of heat waves, and one could faintly hear sharp shrieks—whether it was the sound of the plush toys' surface fur being scorched, or the toys' own screams, was unclear.

Li Cheng snapped the scorching nuclear lighter shut with a "snap"; in just twenty seconds, a large chunk of the lighter's fuel had been consumed, and the effect was equally remarkable.

The tunnel ahead was swept clean; every plush toy had turned to charcoal, lying scattered on the ground, none of them still standing.

"Let's go." Li Cheng strode through the tunnel, paying no heed to Bai Lang, whose expression kept shifting.

It was no wonder Bai Lang's face was so strained—the tunnel air reeked of scorched fur and the savory aroma of roasting meat; the walls were streaked with carbonized silhouettes, and when players' shoes pressed the floor, they stuck slightly—that was the half-melted, asphalt-like biological grease.

A very small number of plush toys with extraordinarily tenacious vitality had actually survived the high-temperature roasting, still wriggling on the ground, waving their carbonized arms in a futile attempt to attack the players.

As a member of the Demon Scientist Alliance, Bai Lang considered his endurance far beyond that of ordinary people; he was, after all, a seasoned veteran who had more than once dismembered hellish demons with guild seniors.

But faced with this hellish scene before him, he still couldn't suppress his biological instincts—his stomach churned.

Father Andre's steps were firm, treating his surroundings as nothing; Li Cheng, in his floaty Daoist robe, stared coldly straight ahead.

'Compared to these two monsters, I feel more like the normal one.'

Bai Lang cursed silently in his heart; to avoid lowering his own cool factor, he could only keep his face taut and remain as composed as possible.

He had no idea that Li Cheng had long since activated his Multi-Thread Brain Domain Technique, his mind wandering elsewhere, idly thinking, "Let's eat grilled meat when I get home tonight."

Suddenly, a chill of being watched crept into his heart; Li Cheng's footsteps paused almost imperceptibly.

He didn't stop, his body maintaining its forward stride, while his peripheral vision swept left and right.

Andre and Bai Lang beside him felt the same sense of being watched; the three exchanged glances, confirmed the information, and continued forward in silence.

The feeling of being spied on grew stronger and stronger, and quite abruptly, something blew a cold breath on the back of Andre's neck.

"Whoosh—"

Andre whirled around and slashed; the ornate straight sword engraved with Church patterns sank deep into the reinforced concrete wall—a miss.

"Hee hee hee."

A silvery, bell-like laugh rose from behind the dense pipes above the three of them. A petite, human-shaped Princess plush toy flashed through the shadows and vanished.

Bai Lang's eyelid twitched violently; he had just covertly activated his snake-summoning spell, watching the surroundings with extreme vigilance, yet he hadn't caught even a glimpse of where the human-shaped plush toy had come from.

"..." Andre silently wiped the back of his neck; a deep gash had been silently cut into his cervical spine, blood flowing steadily—if he hadn't reacted in time, his head would likely have been severed.

Andre drank holy water to suppress the wound; the three sped out of the tunnel, returned to the surface, and breathed fresh air again. A few nearby large plush toys noticed the commotion and came staggering over.

"There's less than half an hour until sunset."

Bai Lang glanced at the setting sun in the west and said quickly, "The visitor card should still work. While there aren't many plush toys now, let's finish the remaining amusement rides and get out of here... Why are you two looking at me like that?"

As he spoke, Bai Lang sensed something odd about the way Li Cheng and the other were looking at him; he quickly felt his face and pulled out a clump of brown hair from between his fingers.

A chill ran through his whole body; Bai Lang hastily summoned his snakes and observed himself through their eyes, only to discover that tufts of finger-length hair had sprouted on his cheeks, neck, calves, and other areas. It looked like moldy fruit, and also... like those plush toys.

It wasn't just him—Andre and Li Cheng had also begun growing hair, and a casual tug could rip off a large patch. The only good news was that the hair didn't seem to be spreading or regrowing.

"Why is this happening? Did we break a rule?" Bai Lang took a deep breath; he didn't want to stay here for another second.

"Visitor Rule Eleven: When the air-raid siren sounds, you must go to a phone booth to hide."

Li Cheng gathered the hair that had fallen off him—he had no desire to become a 'body sprouting red hair, ill-fated in old age' Origin Heaven Master. "This rule can be interpreted in two ways. One: the phone booth is like a protective barrier that isolates everything and guarantees safety.

Two: only the phone booth is safe; anyone not staying inside a phone booth is considered to have violated the rules.

If it's the first interpretation, that's fine, but if it's the second, then we already broke the rules long ago."

"Impossible!" Bai Lang said in a low voice. "The Arena won't issue a guaranteed-death mission, nor will it set traps like some video games' 'opening-door kill' that give players no chance.

This air-raid siren has been blaring nonstop, not giving players any room to move."

"Normally that would be true, but don't forget—the mission objective the Arena gave was 【Read the park guide and escape the amusement park before sunset】,

not 【Obey the park guide】. There's a big difference between the two."

Li Cheng said calmly, "There are three guides inside the park, corresponding to visitors, employees, and security guards. Each of these three identities has its own pros and cons, as well as its own way of leaving the park."

(End of this chapter)