The Best Souvenir
Lu Ban pushed open the door and walked into the store. The blank-faced heads and broken limbs were displayed in the store. Only the Teddy Bear were spotless and cute on their own, giving people a sense of inverted distortion.
Because the Time Worm replaced the Teddy Bear, the eerie creature didn't take the Teddy Bear away; it only placed the corpses next to it.
Most of these corpses were already decayed, shrunken, and dried up, while a small number still retained foul-smelling, rotten flesh and blood.
The stench permeated the souvenir shop, making people cover their noses.
However, there was no similar smell outside the souvenir shop, which suggests that there is some kind of Cognitive Interference that prevents ordinary people from smelling the odor and seeing the corpses.
Lu Ban glanced at the Amusement Park employee in red.
That person looked ordinary, like anyone you could see anywhere on the street.
Would you like to buy a souvenir to take home?
The employee wore a business smile, which looked eerie and terrifying amidst the mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
"I want to buy this."
Lu Ban thought for a moment, then picked up the Teddy Bear.
The staff did not make things difficult for Lu Ban. After scanning the code to pay, Lu Ban walked out of the souvenir shop.
He should have completed all the projects by now.
Upon arriving at the Amusement Park entrance, he once again encountered staff members dressed in red.
"Hello, are you leaving the Amusement Park now?"
The staff member said with a smile.
"Yes, I'm leaving now."
"It seems you had a great time at our Amusement Park. We hope you will visit us again."
The staff waved their hands, making no attempt to stop Lu Ban.
He continued walking forward, and soon, all that remained was a pure white mist.
Lu Ban didn't stop. He walked for another minute. A cold wind blew by, and the cool moonlight shone down. He looked up and saw the Ling River flowing quietly.
Looking back, the dilapidated Amusement Park still stood there, looking old and rusty, completely unusable.
"It is indeed time to leave."
Lu Ban wasn't sure what day it was. He took out his phone and checked the time. It was late at night on the 6th. He had spent the entire day at the Amusement Park, but it felt like only a few hours had passed.
Lu Ban's phone suddenly vibrated. He received several messages and missed calls. It was as if he had been in a place with no signal and suddenly received a signal.
He briefly replied to a few important messages, including Li Zijian's inquiry, then put his phone away and wrote down the last rule on a sticky note.
[Rule 9: Please be sure to visit the souvenir shop before leaving the Amusement Park to purchase a souvenir. Teddy Bear are your best choice. If you can't tell which one is Teddy Bear, please ask the staff member wearing a yellow uniform for help.]
After finishing writing, Lu Ban turned around and walked back into the Amusement Park.
Jenny, Third High School of Shangcheng, found it unbelievable.
She and her classmates were just going on a spring outing to the Amusement Park when suddenly three people barged into the park with a dog. They wouldn't let them leave the Amusement Park and even knocked them unconscious.
It wasn't until evening that one of the men left the Amusement Park and then returned, ordering all the tourists present to go to the souvenir shop to buy things and to ride all the attractions before leaving.
Good heavens, they want to ride every ride, even the Merry-go-round, which is something only little girls ride?
Well, to be honest, Jenny has always wanted to ride the Merry-go-round. Back in elementary school, that was a privilege only the most popular girl in the class got, while she usually only got to ride on the bear's back.
After riding the Merry-go-round and reluctantly trying all the other rides, Jenny and her friend went into the souvenir shop.
The store is filled with a wide variety of goods, including dolls, transformation devices, magic wands, and other items that appeal to everyone from boys to men, from little girls to older girls.
Jenny looked around and settled on a pink fox plush toy.
Although she doesn't usually like buying these kinds of souvenirs, considering them a waste of money, she had no choice but to buy them since the violent woman outside was demanding they do.
"You can't buy this. According to the rules, you should buy this."
At that moment, the handsome guy who was preventing them from leaving the Amusement Park picked up a plush toy and handed it to Jenny, while taking the pink fox from her hand and placing it on the shelf.
"What's this?"
Jenny glanced at the doll in her hand. It had round, brown, fluffy ears and a face like a cat's, but with a more endearing appearance.
"This is Teddy Bear."
The handsome man said to let Jenny pay the bill.
"Teddy Bear? How could that be?"
Jenny found it somewhat amusing. She had clearly seen Teddy Bear before, and this didn't look like Teddy Bear at all, so why insist on calling it Teddy Bear?
But it's quite cute. Jenny bought the doll and noticed that every tourist outside had one.
Could this person be a distributor of these toys, and is here running around trying to boost sales?
Jenny didn't quite understand. It was already late, and she and her companions walked towards the Amusement Park exit. There were many other people like them, all with confused expressions on their faces.
It felt like the weather outside had changed completely after spending a day at the Amusement Park.
And it's so cold.
Jenny felt very cold. She remembered that it should be early summer and the weather should be hot. Why was it so cold at night? It even made her feel like it was winter!
Upon arriving at the entrance, Jenny saw a staff member in a red uniform.
"Hello, are you leaving the Amusement Park?"
The staff member asked in a friendly manner with a business smile.
Yes, that's right.
Jenny replied that she showed the staff the Teddy Bear bear she was holding, just as the handsome man had suggested.
"We hope you enjoyed all our attractions and look forward to your next visit."
The staff member took half a step back to clear the way.
Jenny continued walking with her friend, seemingly understanding but not quite. Thick fog surrounded them, and she felt a bone-chilling cold and damp night wind. She heard the sound of flowing water, as if they were beside a river.
Suddenly, a bright light pierced through the thick fog, illuminating the space around Jenny.
The girl quickly covered her eyes, and through the gaps between her fingers, she saw that they were people wearing windbreakers, who looked like search and rescue team members.
At the same time, Jenny's phone suddenly started vibrating violently.
She hurriedly took out her phone to check and found messages and missed calls from her parents, school, and some people she knew or didn't know.
There are over a thousand of them!
What happened?
Jenny was incredulous when she heard the voices of the search and rescue team members speaking English.
"Please don't panic, stay where you are, you are safe now."
"Safe?"
Jenny and her friend exchanged a glance, then looked back at the Amusement Park they had just left.
The place was in ruins, a scene of desolation.
Just then, Jenny's phone rang again. She saw a notification; it was a news article from earlier this year.
"January. January!??"
I clearly entered the Amusement Park in May, and now it's already next year???
Where did they go during those middle months?
Jenny felt her mind was in complete chaos. Reality was crashing into her brain, making it impossible for her to think. She started crying, broke down, felt incomprehensible, and collapsed to the ground.
At that moment, Jenny saw the Teddy Bear in her arms.
The adorable Teddy Bear gives people a sense of security.
Jenny hugged the Teddy Bear to calm herself down.
She suddenly realized that it was indeed Teddy Bear. Why had she thought it wasn't Teddy Bear just now?
If this is Teddy Bear, then the Teddy Bear I saw before...
Jenny's brain stopped thinking.
*
December's first bonus chapter for monthly pass holders: 1/3