The remaining five continued down the road. Along the way, they spoke briefly and learned one another's names.
The pretty, fashionably dressed woman with long hair was Wang Ruoxi.
The refined middle-aged man was Zhao Guodong, a university teacher.
The young man with yellow hair who couldn't stop swearing was Liu Shuai, an unemployed youth.
The cold-faced, somewhat handsome man was Sun Jingyu.
The last woman, who had short hair, was Chen Yan, an ordinary office worker.
All five were members of the Player Alliance Guild.
That was what they claimed, of course. The Player Alliance Guild had the most members, making it easy to impersonate one, and no one could know whether they really belonged to the Alliance Guild.
Even their names might have been fake.
A fork appeared ahead: a crossroads.
The five stopped at the crossroads.
"Experts, which way should we go?" Liu Shuai asked.
"I don't know either," Wang Ruoxi said. "Look, there are signs on both sides."
Everyone looked over. There were signs on both the left and right roads. The sign on the left road read,
"The road on the right is dangerous."
They looked to the right. The sign there said something similar:
"The road on the left is dangerous."
Looking at the signs on either side, they felt as though the two roads were like two people arguing, each accusing the other of being evil.
Liu Shuai's mind was full of curses, and he nearly swore out loud. "Damn, which road is more dangerous?"
"Maybe one of the signs is lying," Chen Yan said.
"If only we had a walkthrough, we'd know which way to go," Liu Shuai complained.
"I think both signs are telling the truth," Zhao Guodong reasoned.
"Since we entered the amusement park, since we entered the amusement park, every written hint we've encountered at the various locations has been true.
And the walkthrough for the old version of the game mentioned that the signs here never contained false information. Maybe that rule still applies now."
"That makes sense," Wang Ruoxi said. "I agree."
"So the roads on the left and right are dangerous, and our only choice is the road straight ahead?"
After saying that, Liu Shuai walked to the middle of the road and was about to step onto the path ahead.
"The road ahead is just as dangerous," Sun Jingyu said coldly.
Liu Shuai stopped and turned to look at him. "What do you mean?"
Sun Jingyu said, "Obviously, the entire amusement park is dangerous. How could those two roads be the only dangerous ones?
So while what the signs say is true, it's not the whole truth."
"Isn't that obvious?" Liu Shuai was utterly speechless.
Sun Jingyu said, "Why are those two roads the only ones with signs warning of danger?"
"Why?" Liu Shuai asked. "Is it because those two roads are more dangerous?"
"No," Sun Jingyu said. "Definitely not. If they were really dangerous, they wouldn't warn you."
Liu Shuai was a little confused, and the others were just as bewildered.
"I think there are two forces in this Paradise. I can't tell what each of them wants yet, but they're definitely hostile to each other.
Take the two signs in front of us. One tells us the left is dangerous, obviously wanting us to take the road on the right. The other tells us the right is dangerous, obviously wanting us to take the road on the left.
But neither force told us we couldn't take the middle road. That doesn't mean the middle road isn't dangerous.
It only means that both sides can accept us taking the middle road."
"Two forces?" Zhao Guodong thought for a moment and nodded.
"You're right, that makes sense. Does that mean one of them is helping us?"
"Not necessarily. One of them might be helping us, or both might want us dead, but neither can accept the other killing us."
"So which way do we go?" Liu Shuai asked.
"The middle," Sun Jingyu said. "We can't be sure what the two forces want, so let's take the middle."
"Then wasn't everything you said pointless?"
Liu Shuai sounded somewhat dissatisfied as he spoke, then led the way onto the path ahead.
They followed the winding path, with thick bushes on both sides and a deathly silence all around.
Continuing onward, they saw a large artificial lake, with many small boats floating on its surface.
"Are we supposed to row to the other side?" Liu Shuai said. "I can't swim. I'm done for if I fall in."
Sun Jingyu said, "Even if you could swim, you'd still be done for if you fell in."
"What do you mean?" After speaking, Liu Shuai saw that Sun Jingyu was looking at a sign by the lake and followed his gaze.
Visitor notice: 1. Deep water. Danger. No swimming. 2. Two people per boat. Do not overload. 3. Do not collide with other boats. 4. This is the starting point. You must row the boat to the finish. 5. This attraction lasts 15 minutes. Do not end the experience early. 6. Please stay in a good mood and remember to leave a five-star review.
After reading the visitor notice, Liu Shuai couldn't help saying, "Stay in a good mood? I..."
"If you don't want to live, keep swearing," Sun Jingyu said.
Liu Shuai hurriedly covered his mouth. "This temper of mine. Thanks for the reminder."
Although the others didn't speak, they couldn't help cursing inwardly too.
The other rules weren't so bad; at least they weren't enough to make people want to curse.
But being told to stay in a good mood and leave a five-star review made them want not only to curse but to hit someone.
But they were under someone else's roof and had no choice but to bow their heads.
Even if some of the rules were outrageous, they still had to follow them.
After a brief discussion, they began boarding the boats. There were five of them, and exactly three boats by the shore.
In the end, they decided that Liu Shuai would take a boat by himself, Wang Ruoxi and Chen Yan would share one, and Sun Jingyu and Zhao Guodong would share the other.
Once everyone was aboard, they began rowing, and the boats slowly pulled away.
The lake was five or six hundred meters across. At their speed, reaching the opposite shore would take about twenty minutes at least.
The boats gradually made their way to the middle of the lake, when Liu Shuai suddenly said, "Look, what's that underwater?"
The others now noticed shadows swimming beneath the surface of the lake from time to time.
But it was nighttime, and they couldn't see clearly. All they knew was that the shadows moved quickly and were large, so they probably weren't fish.
Gradually, more and more shadows gathered in the water, surrounding their boats.
"What do we do?" Liu Shuai was getting anxious. He could feel his oar hitting things underwater, and there were a great many of them.
"Row faster," Zhao Guodong said. "Those things should be gone once we reach the shore!"
Everyone began rowing furiously, and the boats picked up speed. But the things underwater were even faster, and no matter what they did, they couldn't shake them off.
After a while, Chen Yan suddenly said, "Hey, do you feel the boat slowing down?"
Wang Ruoxi said, "It feels like something's dragging our boat. What about yours?"
"Same here." Zhao Guodong sounded anxious, but he kept a smile on his face.
"What do we do? Can we kill the things down there?" Liu Shuai asked.
Sun Jingyu said, "We should be able to! There's no rule against it."
Just then, a hand grabbed Liu Shuai's boat. He whipped out a knife and slashed at the arm.
Just before the knife struck the hand, it suddenly vanished.
"Damn, it's a ghost!"
"Is anyone here a Soul-type Ability User?" Sun Jingyu asked.
"No," everyone answered.
If the things below were ghosts, they really would be difficult to deal with without a Soul-type Ability User.
"Then who's a Control-type Ability User, or a Shaman-type Ability User who can deal with ghosts?"
Control-type Ability Users had extremely powerful spiritual power. They could not only control objects but also affect ghosts.
However, killing so many water ghosts was clearly unlikely. At most, they could drive them away.
"I'm Illusion System," Liu Shuai said.
Wang Ruoxi said, "I'm Witch System, but my ability is more suited to support. There's nothing I can do either."
"I'm a Monster System Ability User," Chen Yan said.
"Then I'll do it. I'm a Control-type Ability User," Zhao Guodong said.
Sun Jingyu said, "All right, we'll act together in a moment. I'm a Control-type Ability User too."
Then Sun Jingyu added, "We'll use our abilities to drive those water ghosts away in a moment. We probably can't kill them, but we should be able to buy some time!"
There were more and more water ghosts underwater. They tugged hard on the boats, which even began to move backward!
At that moment, Sun Jingyu and Zhao Guodong began using their abilities.
Their spiritual power spread through the water, disturbing the water ghosts below. Like startled schools of fish, the ghosts scattered in an instant.
"They're gone!"
It had gone more smoothly than they had imagined, and everyone immediately began rowing.
But before they had gone far, they saw a group of unmanned boats drifting toward them.
They sensed trouble. One of the rules said they couldn't collide with other boats.
But there were too many unmanned boats, and avoiding them would not be easy.