Chapter 139: Gastroscope

"After tourists enter the park, there are mainly three situations. One, they don't violate a single rule, play normally, and leave after collecting four completion stamps. Two, they violate the rules and can't leave before sunset, so they can only enter the staff break room, put on a mascot costume with eye holes, and obtain a temporary staff identity."

Li Cheng said quickly: "The staff code of conduct mentions that after putting on a mascot costume with eye holes, one can effectively prevent attacks from mascots without eye holes, and can also ignore the air raid siren. That's very attractive for players like us."

The mascot army is numerous, tough-skinned and thick-fleshed, each one absurdly strong — if you really got surrounded, even an extraordinary being would die a bitter death.

Andre's mind raced. The security code of conduct mentioned that after the park closed at sunset, security needed to assist mascots with eye holes in completing four amusement rides, then help them take off the mascot costumes and leave through the park exit.

This revealed two pieces of information. One, sunset closing did not mean the park was shut down. Two, after tourists put on mascot costumes, they could still take part in the rides and use that to leave the park.

From the player's perspective, it's easy to arrive at the optimal solution — find a way to put on a mascot costume with eye holes and move safely through the park as a temporary staff member.

No, something's wrong. The phone booth symbolizing absolute safety holds at most eight people, but the mascot costumes stored in the staff break room are far more than eight sets.

If the park wanted to protect ordinary tourists, why not add a rule to the tourist code: "When the air raid siren sounds, tourists must rush to the staff break room and put on mascot costumes"? Wouldn't that be simpler than having all tourists fight over the eight spots in the phone booth?

Andre looked up and said calmly in a declarative tone: "After the air raid siren sounds, there's no way to put on a mascot costume anymore?"

"Correct."

Li Cheng nodded: "At any other time, tourists can obtain a temporary staff identity by putting on a mascot costume. But during the air raid siren, putting on a mascot costume will be treated as a rule violation, leading to severe consequences.

For example, growing hair, transforming toward a mascot — like what's happening to us right now."

Gurgle gurgle gurgle—

All three of their abdomens made sounds at the same time. It wasn't the noise of a stomach upset, but the sound of organs inside the body.

Bai Long's expression shifted slightly. He took out a mirror slightly larger than a palm from his inventory and pressed it against his stomach.

【Item Name: Bocini Peeping Mirror】

【Type: Tool】

【Quality: Rare】

【Effect: X-Ray Vision. Pressing the mirror tightly against a living being's surface allows it to penetrate clothing and skin, directly revealing internal structures including bones, nerves, and blood vessels. Additionally, by touching the mirror surface with three fingers, one can control the image's rotation, zoom, and forward/backward movement.】

【Cost: 1 Spirit Power per second】

【Cooldown: None】

【Usage Requirement: Has performed a successful major surgery】

【Notes: Besides medical checkups, it can also be used for mechanical repair, mineral vein exploration, emergency rescue, and jade gambling stone inspection】

【Notes: "Using the convenience of his position to store so many x-ray photos on the computer — what a pervert." Officer Wang, righteous and stern, arrested the hospital radiology doctor and brought him to justice.】

The mirror's surface penetrated Bai Long's clothing and skin, clearly displaying the inside of his body cavity like an X-ray. His intestines, stomach, spleen, and kidneys were all slightly writhing, trembling, and deforming, transforming toward something inhuman.

"The curse has already arrived."

Li Cheng said: "Players face two choices. Either continue completing the rides as tourists, gambling that after finishing four rides they can leave the park smoothly, and that the curse effects won't persist after leaving.

Or go there and end all of this."

He turned his head to look northwest. In what had originally been the Future World zone, a medieval castle had somehow appeared. White walls, blue roof, a triangular flag on top — identical to the Disney logo.

————

"Why aren't they here yet."

On the roadside lawn, Su Jie held a transparent glass jar containing a floating head in one hand and a bundle of security uniforms in the other, his face full of anxiety.

Just across a road behind him stood the medieval castle. The castle gates were wide open, the interior shrouded in darkness, continuously emitting the shrill sound of an air raid siren.

There were only a few scattered mascots around the castle, and they seemed to possess some instinct, deliberately keeping a certain distance from it.

Tap tap tap.

The sound of running approached from afar. Seeing Li Cheng and the other two appear around the corner, Su Jie finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Master Pi Fu, the security uniforms you wanted."

"Although heroes have always come from youth, isn't it a bit improper for someone as young as you to be the big brother leading the group?"

Li Cheng glanced at Ding Shaoxia's head inside the glass jar. Ordinary living things can't be directly stored in a player's inventory, so Ding Shaoxia should still be "alive" — Su Jie was probably trying to save her.

The predecessor of the Special Affairs Bureau was a special task force assembled four years ago by the state from elite personnel drawn from the military, police, and national security departments. Its stated purpose clearly stated that protecting the lives and safety of the broadest masses of the people was its responsibility.

Official organizations in other countries, like the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation's Special Incidents Division, don't have this rule. All their agents prioritize protecting their own safety above all else.

When necessary, they can ignore ordinary civilians encountered in routine missions, even actively use civilians as human shields, and no one will hold them accountable. Because a player's qualification is worth far more than an ordinary citizen's life.

And this has spawned a hellish joke — the more the new players in official organizations of different countries treat ordinary people's lives as worthless, the more brutal, cold, amoral, and shameless they are, the higher their survival rate actually is.

Low human rights advantage, that.

The sun set slowly and steadily. The group quickly put on the security uniforms and walked into the fantasy castle.

The castle's interior was just like the park entrance — pitch black and dim. Even with a strong flashlight, only a small area directly ahead could be illuminated.

To prevent getting separated in the darkness, Li Cheng deliberately kept one security uniform aside. Each person grabbed a corner of it, and they walked toward the source of the air raid siren.

Breathing the heavy, cold air, stepping on the smooth, pristine floor, the atmosphere grew increasingly silent and oppressive.

"Master Pi Fu,"

Su Jie, still holding the glass jar with the head, poked Li Cheng with his finger, signaling him to put on the Bluetooth earpiece. Taking advantage of the air raid siren's cover, he said through the earpiece: "There was something I didn't mention earlier. Black hair similar to a mascot's grew on my arm."

Uh.

Even Li Cheng was a bit speechless. He couldn't tell if this kid was too honest and naive, or just rigid and stupid — to reveal something that could potentially threaten others' safety (although Su Jie didn't know that Li Cheng and the others had also encountered mutations).

Although Li Cheng had a decent relationship with the Special Affairs Bureau, he wasn't an internal employee after all, hey.

"It's fine. Hair growing in that area is a natural part of bodily development. The school should hold physiological health education lectures, and you'll understand when the time comes."

Li Cheng casually spouted nonsense. Andre, who was walking at the front, suddenly stopped in his tracks.

The strong flashlight in his hand illuminated an air raid siren emitting a tremendous noise. It was composed of three large brass horns, with a rotatable valve and a tripod stand below.

And on the ground not far from the air raid siren lay a human corpse. A white male, in his thirties, wearing a security uniform, his neck twisted one hundred and eighty degrees, the skin on the parts of his body not covered by clothing covered in black hair.

His left palm still had some glutinous rice grains and what appeared to be yellow fabric fragments from a plush toy.

Judging by the coagulation of the blood pool on the ground, the time of death was no more than two hours ago.

"Bring out the samples of those blood words from the security room."

Li Cheng took the blood sample from Su Jie, activated the Worm Gene, and learned that the source of the blood sample was precisely this dead security guard.

With this, all the clues linked together — this security guard had originally been a park employee, hiding inside the security booth the whole time, until the air-raid siren sounded and he discovered hair growing all over his body.

Driven by his sense of duty and his will to survive, he went to the Fantasy Castle and manually shut off the air-raid alarm. That was the first air-raid siren Su Jie had heard, the one that lasted seven minutes.

(End of chapter)