Abandoned Amusement Park

The headquarters of the Tianfu City Anomaly Investigation Bureau was located in North City, while their target was in the south. As the largest city in the southwestern region of the Xiazhou Federation, Tianfu City took Sun Hang and the others more than two hours to traverse from end to end.

The black SUV left the city and sped along the highway in the southern suburbs. Barren open land stretched along both sides, dotted with sparse abandoned buildings.

They occasionally passed small villages that still showed signs of habitation, but all of them looked depopulated—only plainly dressed elderly people sat in bamboo chairs at the village entrances, basking in the sun. Now and then, a few preschool children stumbled past, followed by grandparents carrying bowls and feeding them... As for young and middle-aged adults, there was no sign of them at all.

"Young people all dream of going to the big cities. To them, even getting battered bloody in a concrete jungle is better than wasting their youth in villages like these." The chatty driver spoke as he drove. "What was that popular term online again... Ah, right, 'rotting.' They say staying in a place like this will only make you rot away slowly, so you might as well head to the city and try your luck."

After passing another village, they saw that most of its houses had already collapsed. Only two homes near the highway were still occupied—clothes that had not yet dried hung from a rack outside, while a mangy local dog lay sprawled on its back atop a haystack nearby, luxuriating in the warm afternoon sunlight.

"Once these old folks are gone, this place will really become a no-man's-land," the driver said with a sigh.

"If this place is so desolate, why would anyone build an amusement park here?" Sun Hang asked.

"The past was the past, and now is now." The driver sighed. "More than twenty years ago, this was the famous South City Economic Development Zone. Land prices were speculated higher than those in the city center."

"Then why did it end up like this?" Sun Hang asked again.

"What else could it have been? An anomaly." The driver said. "That thing was dealt with, but nobody was willing to invest here afterward. Little by little, the southern suburbs turned into wilderness."

"You're not from around here, are you? Everyone local to Tianfu City knows about this." 0401 muttered in confusion. "I wasn't born yet when it happened, but whenever I made a fuss at night and refused to sleep as a kid, my mom would use this story to scare me... Hmm, 0398, you must have heard about it too, right?"

"So what if I have?" 0398 sounded impatient. "Instead of worrying about this, you should think about how to keep yourselves alive once we reach the mission site."

"Heh, I'm not the one who needs to worry." 0401 suddenly flashed a rather punchable grin. "You've all read the mission intel. The missing people are all young women. I'm a grown man, so I'm perfectly safe. You, on the other hand..."

"You can shut up. Nobody thinks you're mute," 0398 snapped.

As they got farther and farther from the urban area, vast ruins of high-rise buildings began appearing on both sides of the road... The remaining walls and broken structures still faintly hinted at the prosperity of the South City Development Zone, but now, only deathly silence remained.

The sight they encountered most often along the way was the enormous character for "Demolish," painted in bright red on abandoned buildings.

"Other than homeless vagrants and scavengers, no one is willing to come here." The driver stepped on the brakes. "Even though that anomaly has already been dealt with, in the eyes of Tianfu City residents, this place has become cursed land."

Before long, the Abandoned Amusement Park, their mission target, finally came into Sun Hang's view.

The first thing that caught their eyes was its iconic giant Ferris wheel. The steel behemoth, more than a hundred meters in diameter, loomed over the entire amusement park.

Plastic sheeting tangled around the Ferris wheel fluttered in the high-altitude currents like tattered flags.

Building that thing must have cost a fortune, Sun Hang thought. What a shame... It would have been great if they could have shared some of that money with me.

Seven or eight Public Security Bureau vehicles were parked at the entrance to the Abandoned Amusement Park. Yellow-and-white police tape stretched in a long circle along the park's outer wall. A stocky, dark-skinned Peacekeeper squatted on a stone, smoking with a deeply troubled expression.

More than a dozen smoked cigarette butts were scattered at his feet.

"This is Captain Huang from the Field Operations Team of the Public Security Bureau's South City Branch." A young Peacekeeper introduced him to Sun Hang and the other two. "Captain Huang led the first three investigation missions..."

At this point, he suddenly lowered his voice. "That trainee Peacekeeper... disappeared right under Captain Huang's nose."

"Investigation Bureau people?" Captain Huang tossed away his cigarette, walked over, and sized up the three of them. Finally, his gaze settled on 0398.

"I know what kind of people Temporary Investigators are, so I never expected you to be of much help." Captain Huang spoke in a rough voice as he pointed at Sun Hang and 0401. "You two need to keep your eyes on her at all times. No matter what happens, make sure she never leaves your sight. Understood?"

"Understood." 0401 nodded.

"I have an idea," Sun Hang suddenly said.

"What idea? Spit it out." Captain Huang glanced at Sun Hang. "Don't waste time."

"If you're worried about 0398 disappearing for no reason, why not handcuff her to someone?" Sun Hang said.

"Not a bad idea. Then we'll cuff you to her." Captain Huang frowned, but still took out a pair of handcuffs from his bag.

"I owe the Xiazhou Federation quite a lot of money. If something happens to me on my first mission, it would be a greater loss for the Federation." Sun Hang spoke calmly. "That 0401 only has less than a third of my debt. He's more suitable."

"That makes sense." Captain Huang nodded and walked straight toward 0401.

"Fuck! You bastard... Are you trying to get me killed?" 0401's expression immediately changed.

"What are you shouting for? As long as you follow us obediently and don't run around, what could possibly happen?" Captain Huang was very strong. He grabbed 0401, who was trying to back away, and snapped one cuff around his wrist.

The other cuff was locked around 0398's wrist.

0398 did not struggle much, looking as though she had resigned herself to it.

"Let's go." Captain Huang picked up the riot helmet he had tossed onto the hood, pulled it over his head, and spoke.