Shen Hao looked around. This amusement park had been built in a desolate place, surrounded by barren land and abandoned buildings.
The area had once been prosperous, but it had been abandoned for some reason.
Perhaps its desolation had something to do with the amusement park.
Things were somewhat better inside the park. The concrete pavement was perfectly level, and greenery lined both sides of the paths. The grass and plants grew thickly, but they hadn't spread onto the paths.
The various rides were rusty, though. Clearly, no one had come here to have fun in a long time.
After all, anyone in their right mind would be unwilling to visit a place like this.
"Welcome to Water Sky Paradise. You will now become the director of this amusement park. You are its owner, and you have the right to execute visitors who violate its rules."
"The mission is now in the preparation stage. Please make your preparations."
After the system voice fell silent, Shen Hao's body turned into that of a ghost again. He had now fully inherited everything that belonged to the instance boss.
He began checking his character panel.
Basic attributes: Constitution: 0 Spirit: 26+11
His original Mental Attribute had been 26 points, and he had inherited the director's 11 points.
Shen Hao found it hard to imagine that an instance boss had a base attribute of only 11 points.
That was far too weak.
An ordinary person's Mental Attribute was around 10, so the director was only on par with an ordinary person. And as a ghost, his constitution was still 0.
Could someone so weak really become an instance boss?
Shen Hao continued looking and discovered that, although the director was very weak, he had a very powerful ability.
[Amusement Paradise Director] "You are the owner of the amusement park. You cannot leave this place. It is one with you, and you can see every corner of the amusement park at any time. You may kill anyone who violates the amusement park's rules, and they cannot resist. You may establish reasonable rules or modify existing ones, but visitors must see new rules before they take effect."
Shen Hao looked toward the amusement park entrance. There were a great many conspicuous signs.
"This is the entrance. Leaving through here is prohibited."
"Visitors must experience every attraction they encounter along the way."
"No littering."
"Keep off the grass."
"No spitting."
"No relieving yourself in public."
"Do not kill animals."
"Do not damage the park's facilities."
"No loud noise."
The amusement park had a great many rules. Apparently, the director was a highly civilized person. This was hardly an amusement park; it was practically a contest to see who had the best manners.
Numerous as they were, these rules were basic standards of conduct. He didn't think Thriller Paradise players would be so ill-mannered as to break them and be wiped out by the director.
He couldn't rely on these rules to kill those players.
Shen Hao thought for a moment and decided it was necessary to add a new rule.
"Do not damage the director's personal property."
Damaging someone else's personal property was certainly wrong, so this rule was very reasonable.
At a thought from Shen Hao, a new sign appeared beside the path.
Looking at the new sign, Shen Hao was satisfied. Then he looked elsewhere.
The amusement park covered a large area and had a great many facilities, but half the grounds were shrouded in shadow. Even as the director, he couldn't see clearly what lay within.
He tried to approach the shadow, but some force pushed him back. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't enter it.
He was the boss of this instance, so by rights he should have been able to go anywhere in it, yet his power couldn't reach the area shrouded in shadow.
"Looks like another force has taken that place over. Half his home has been occupied by someone else. This director really is too weak."
Clearly, with only 11 points of spirit, the director could do nothing about the situation. Perhaps it wouldn't be long before he was completely wiped out.
This was the most miserable boss he had ever seen, completely suppressed by an outside force.
He checked his mission.
"Visitors who enter the amusement park are your prey, but now another entity wishes to snatch your prey away from you. Naturally, you cannot let it succeed. You must begin the hunt. Even if you let this prey leave alive, you must not let the other entity benefit from them. Because if his power grows too great, he will occupy more of the park, and your power will diminish in turn. Once this delicate balance is broken, your amusement park will no longer belong to you. How can an Amusement Paradise Director who has lost his amusement park survive in a world like this?"
Shen Hao understood. In other words, letting those players leave alive would count as a draw.
But if the other boss killed them, it would count as a defeat, and he might die too.
Killing all the players would count as a victory.
The mission was rather difficult. Besides facing those players, he also had to face another boss.
He could control only half the facilities in this amusement park. Now he had to establish new rules for the place.
Six people, four men and two women, appeared at the amusement park entrance. They were carefully reading the signs on both sides of the path.
The signs listed all kinds of prohibitions. Everyone read them carefully, but inwardly they cursed nonstop. There were simply too many things to watch out for here.
"What the hell is all this?" said a young man in his twenties with dyed blond hair, sounding somewhat annoyed.
A long-haired woman pointed at a sign and gestured with her eyes for the man to look.
The sign read, "No swearing."
The man hurriedly covered his mouth. Fortunately, what he had just said hadn't been counted as swearing. Otherwise, he would have been done for the moment he entered the instance.
He had gone through a lot to become an Ability User, and this was his first A-rank instance. Being wiped out for a reason like that would have been far too unfair.
As the group carefully read the signs, a bald man in his thirties stepped out from the crowd, looked at everyone and said,
"Everyone, follow me." The bald man held up three fingers. "Just thirty minutes."
"I only need thirty minutes to take you through this instance."
"You have a guide for clearing it?"
"Of course. This may be an A-rank instance, but it's very easy with a guide. Thirty minutes is enough."
Everyone stared at him in disbelief. "Really?"
"Believe it or not."
With that, the bald man started down the path. Ahead of them was the first attraction they encountered: a roller coaster.
The others didn't follow immediately. Only after making sure there was no danger did they follow the man.
Their game mission was to leave the amusement park. This was the entrance, and they couldn't leave through it, so they could only go forward to the exit.
But because stepping on the grass was prohibited, they could only follow the paths. They were bound to encounter some attractions along the way, and they had to experience every one they encountered.
When they reached the roller coaster entrance, they looked at the bald man, who had arrived ahead of them, and asked,
"What should we do now?"
The bald man pointed to a nearby sign. "Read it yourselves. Just do what it says."
They looked over. The sign read,
"Visitor notice: please maintain order, line up to board, and take your seats in order. Please do not close your eyes while riding the roller coaster, or you will miss the beautiful scenery.
Please do not talk to others. You must devote your full attention to experiencing the amusement park's attractions. Anything less is disrespectful to the director.
You must remain in a cheerful mood throughout the ride. A smile on your face will prove that you are happy."
After reading the visitor notice, someone said,
"So we just have to keep our eyes open on the roller coaster, not talk to anyone, and keep a smile on our faces the whole time. Easy."
"Not every stage is this easy," the bald man warned.
"What the hell? They even want me to—"
Before the blond man could finish, he hurriedly covered his mouth, then slapped himself hard.
"No swearing, no swearing! I'd better keep my mouth shut."
The gesture made many of them laugh. It would be amusing if someone were killed for swearing.
The bald man said, "Everyone's read the rules. Can we start now?"
"All right, let's begin," everyone said.
The bald man walked at the front. Full of confidence, he addressed them again.
"This instance is easy. Just follow my lead from here on, and I guarantee I'll get you through it in half an hour."
"Is there a condition?" They were all Ability Users above level 10. They had been through many instances and hovered on the edge of life and death countless times, so they weren't as eager to help as newcomers.
Besides, the bald man didn't look like a helpful person. His face was fleshy, and there was a faintly ruthless look in his eyes.
As the saying went, a person's appearance reflected their heart. It was hard to associate someone like him with being helpful.
"Yes, there is," the bald man said.
"I intend to complete the hidden mission here. I can't do it alone, so you'll have to help me."