Sun Jingyu inserted the key into the keyhole, excitement flooding through him. The key appeared to be real.
He looked back at the Puppet Girl. She was charging angrily toward him, swinging her spiked club.
But it was too late. She was at least twenty meters away from Sun Jingyu.
By the time she reached him, Sun Jingyu would have unlocked the gate and left the amusement park.
Once he left, the amusement park's rules would no longer apply to him, and he would never have to fear the doll girl again.
Sun Jingyu turned the key hard. He felt the lock cylinder move, and the lock was about to open.
There was a snap.
The lock didn't open.
Sun Jingyu felt as though his heart had shattered in an instant.
He stared blankly at the broken key in his hand, the light instantly fading from his eyes.
What was going on? The key had actually broken, and so cleanly!
Sun Jingyu slammed a fist against the iron gate. The key had broken off inside the lock. Didn't that mean he could never get out?
How could this happen?!
Now he understood that he had been tricked. In the end, the Puppet Girl had outwitted him.
The Puppet Girl had never intended to let him go. The so-called key itself was a scam.
Every action he took had been calculated. He was the one whose intelligence had fallen short.
Just then, an icy voice sounded in his ear.
"The player has violated the amusement park's rules and will be erased!"
He had damaged the key, and the key was also an item belonging to the amusement park, so he would be erased!
"Aah—"
Sun Jingyu roared in unwilling rage!
He had come this far, completed the hidden quest, and obtained the Demon Eye. He had been on the verge of clearing the instance.
But now, mishaps had come one after another, and he couldn't even save his own life.
He was utterly unwilling to accept it.
He couldn't accept this outcome.
But he had no chance to come back to life. Everything was over, and his fate was sealed.
His eyes were bloodshot and full of madness. He couldn't accept the fact that he was about to die.
An immense force suddenly surged up around him, squeezing his body.
This wasn't the first time he had experienced this. It was a force he couldn't resist.
He hadn't expected that the only thing he would gain from coming back to life would be dying again.
As death approached, despair and fear welled up from the depths of his heart, instantly consuming his entire body.
This was the second time he had experienced death, and it was even more despairing than the first.
Because this time, he wouldn't come back to life.
"Boom!"
His body was crushed apart, becoming a pile of ketchup once again.
"Your prey died in fear and despair. You have obtained 600 Fear Points."
Only after hearing the game system's notification did Shen Hao reveal himself.
He had obtained 600 Fear Points, leaving him 300 short of reaching level 10.
Shen Hao felt quite helpless. He had wanted to reach level 10 sooner, but now it seemed impossible.
He might receive a reward when the instance ended, but he wouldn't receive experience points.
His only way to level up was to obtain Fear Points from other players.
Shen Hao felt a little regretful. He would have to get the remaining 300 Fear Points in the next instance.
He walked over to the dead man. A scarlet eyeball had dropped to the ground. It was the One-Eyed Chef's eye.
He didn't know why the man had taken an eye like this, but he assumed it had a use.
It might be some kind of treasure. Shen Hao put the eyeball in his inventory and examined its information.
"Demon Eye: this is a demon's left eye. It seems to possess extremely powerful strength. Its use is unknown. Perhaps you can transplant it into your body, replacing your left eye."
Shen Hao was speechless. He really couldn't see what use the thing had. Was he supposed to gouge out his own eye and put this demon's eye in its place?
Heh, there was nothing wrong with his eyes. Why would he replace one with an eye that didn't belong to him?
A normal person certainly wouldn't do that. Anyone who did was probably a lunatic.
The scenery before him gradually began to blur. The instance had ended, and he was about to be transported back to the real world.
A moment later, Shen Hao returned to his room. As soon as he got back, he noticed there was someone else in his home.
Xia Bing was sitting on the living room sofa, eating snacks and drinking a beverage as she watched him.
Shen Hao wasn't too surprised to see Xia Bing.
Xia Bing was worried that he would die in the instance and be gravely injured after the Substitute Doll revived him, leaving him unable to go to the hospital. That was why she had come to his home to check on him.
He had thought Xia Bing would send someone here, but he hadn't expected her to come in person.
"Looks like you cleared the instance," Xia Bing said, taking a sip of her drink through a straw.
"I knew you'd make it back alive. Judging by your expression, completing this quest must have been easy."
"Yeah, this instance was pretty simple. I didn't use the Substitute Doll you gave me. Do you want it back?"
"No, keep it," Xia Bing said. "It might come in handy someday."
"All right, I'll hold on to it for now." Shen Hao was quite happy to do so. The Substitute Doll really was precious.
Although he didn't think he would necessarily need it, no one would complain about having too many of these things.
Xia Bing continued, "Consider it a reward for agreeing to help us deal with Blood Banquet. After all, this really is very risky."
It was indeed dangerous, but he had no choice. He was saving himself too.
"By the way, now that you've cleared the instance, you can write a guide to clearing it.
"From now on, whenever someone from the guild uses your guide to successfully clear the instance, you'll receive a substantial payment."
"A guide?" Shen Hao thought about it. He had appeared in the instance as its boss and knew more about it than anyone else.
So he could easily write a guide, and it would be more complete than anyone else's.
This was a good way to make money.
"About how much could I make?" Shen Hao asked.
"This is an A-rank instance. If your guide passes review, the guild will pay you 100,000 yuan whenever someone uses it, until the total reaches 5 million yuan."
"I can make up to 5 million?" Shen Hao was a little excited. That alone would be enough to keep him fed and clothed without worry.
"Yes, but you need to finish the guide quickly. If someone else finishes one before you, you won't be able to get this reward."
"That shouldn't be a problem," Shen Hao said.
Everyone who had entered Water Sky Paradise today except him had died in the instance, so he was the only one who could write a guide for it.
There was no one to compete with him.
"All right, I'll be going, then." Xia Bing stood up from the sofa and added,
"Try not to match into any more instances for now. After all, the people from the Blood Banquet guild could come looking for you at any time."
"Okay, I'll try," Shen Hao said.
Though he said that, there was no way he could actually do it. He was about to reach level 10. How could he resist matching into another instance?
As for the people from Blood Banquet, could they really kill him inside an instance?
He would never stop matching into instances just to do his job as bait.
So as soon as Xia Bing left, he immediately chose to match into a new instance.
Afterward, he opened his character panel to check what he had gained this time.
His experience was now 2700/3000, leaving him 300 points short of leveling up.
But his base attributes had changed a great deal.
Constitution: 28 Spirit: 128
His Mental Attribute was a full 100 points higher than his Constitution. Those 100 Mental Attribute points were his reward from this instance.
Even Ability Users in their teens who specialized in mental strength couldn't compare with his Mental Attribute.
But there were no other rewards this time. He hadn't gained a new ability, perhaps because the Amusement Paradise Director had been too ordinary.
That really was a shame. If he had a new ability, he would feel more confident when he encountered the people from Blood Banquet.
The instance rewards weren't all that exciting. Shen Hao closed the system panel.
It was already very late, but he didn't go to sleep. He still had to write the instance guide.
After all, it was a guide that could earn him up to 5 million yuan. He had to grind it out tonight!