S-Rank Dungeon: Death Amusement Park!

[Current dungeon: Death Amusement Park]

[Danger rank: S]

[Participating players: 18]

[Historical clearance rate: 1.6%]

Shen Niannian stared at the computer screen.

She was silent for a full three seconds.

"..."

(°ー°〃)

A-rank.

A-rank.

A-rank again.

After clearing three A-rank dungeons in a row, she had thought the matchmaking system was already ridiculous enough.

But as it turned out,

the system could be even more ridiculous.

"Wait."

"I just cleared an A-rank dungeon. Fine, you didn't reward me with an E-rank dungeon to relax, but why did you bump me straight up a rank?!"

There was no response.

The countdown had already appeared.

[Teleportation countdown: 3.]

Shen Niannian's little face fell.

"Is it too late to withdraw now?"

[2.]

"Death Amusement Park doesn't sound like a respectable place at all!"

[1.]

"At least let me put my new bow on properly-!"

Whoosh!

Blood-red light engulfed the room.

At the same time,

on the global supernatural livestreaming platform,

a special livestream was suddenly pinned to the top.

[S-rank dungeon-Death Amusement Park livestream starting!]

[Participating players: 18]

[Historical clearance rate: 1.6%]

The livestream's viewer count

passed ten million almost instantly.

Then it continued to skyrocket!

"Death Amusement Park?!"

"Holy shit, this dungeon opened again?!"

"Didn't nineteen people go in last time, and only one come out?"

"Wait! Shen Niannian's in there too!"

"Her fourth dungeon is S-rank?!"

"Three S ratings in A-rank dungeons in a row, and then the system just throws her into an S-rank dungeon?"

"Everyone at the Jiangcheng Administration Bureau is probably going to lose sleep tonight."

Tick.

Tick.

When Shen Niannian opened her eyes,

the first thing she noticed was a very strange smell.

Popcorn.

Syrup.

Rust.

And the thick, metallic stench of blood.

She raised her head.

A gigantic amusement park stood before her.

A rusty, multicolored arch rose high overhead.

Five crooked characters hung on it.

[Death Amusement Park]

Behind the arch,

a giant Ferris wheel was turning slowly.

Several dried-out human limbs

hung beneath each gondola.

A roller coaster rumbled thunderously in the distance.

A row of headless passengers sat in its cars.

As the cars flipped at high speed along the tracks,

their heads hung neatly on the railing at the entrance.

Their eyes followed the roller coaster,

as if they were still watching their bodies enjoy the ride.

Shen Niannian:

"..."

(｡ŏ_ŏ)

Great.

It really lived up to its name.

Not a bit of false advertising.

Around her,

the other seventeen players had also woken up one after another.

Of those selected for an S-rank dungeon,

clearly very few were true newcomers.

At least twelve or thirteen of them had immediately surveyed their surroundings upon waking, rather than screaming and shouting.

The most conspicuous among them was a tall, middle-aged man with an old scar over his left eye.

As soon as he got to his feet,

someone in the livestream recognized him.

"Han Feng!"

"Han Feng, the A-rank player!"

"Twelve dungeons on record, with four A-rank clears!"

"There's finally a real expert leading the team this time!"

Han Feng was clearly in no mood to care about what the outside world thought.

He quickly scanned the group.

His gaze rested on Shen Niannian for half a second.

But he didn't underestimate her because of her petite appearance.

After three S ratings in A-rank dungeons in a row,

there was hardly anyone in the human player community

who still considered Shen Niannian an ordinary young girl.

"Everyone, stay where you are for now."

"Let's look at the rules first."

As soon as he finished speaking,

all eighteen of them felt a chill on their left wrists.

Click.

A colorful plastic visitor wristband appeared out of thin air and fastened around each wrist.

Immediately afterward,

a booming announcement rang out through the park.

Bzzzt-

"Dear visitors!"

"Welcome to the most fun, happiest, safest place in the whole world-Death Amusement Park!"

"Please laugh to your hearts' content!"

"Because unhappy visitors..."

The voice over the loudspeaker suddenly turned shrill.

"Will make Mr. Joker very sad!"

A burst of crazed laughter erupted from the speakers.

"Hahahahahahaha-!"

The moment the sound rang out,

a sharp pain stabbed through Shen Niannian's head.

It felt as though someone had driven an iron nail into her temple.

Several of the weaker players around her turned deathly pale.

One woman dropped straight to her knees.

She clamped both hands over her ears.

Mental corruption!

On the right side of Shen Niannian's silver hair,

the [Crimson Curtain Substitute Knot] grew slightly warm.

Although it didn't activate the substitute,

it allowed her to recover from the dizziness faster than the others.

At the same time,

the rules appeared.

[Death Amusement Park visitor rules]

[1. After entering the park, visitors must wear their visitor wristbands at all times. Removing, damaging, or exchanging them with others is prohibited.]

[2. Once an attraction has begun, visitors may not voluntarily leave it by any means.]

[3. All legitimate Death Amusement Park staff wear red smiley-face badges on their chests. Do not trust "staff" without badges.]

[4. When the park speakers play "Happy Birthday," all visitors must immediately close their eyes and remain where they are until the music ends completely.]

[5. If Mr. Joker asks, "Are you having fun?" please answer, "Yes."]

[6. Before the park closes at midnight, each visitor must complete four designated attractions and obtain four smiley-face stamps.]

[7. Visitors with four smiley-face stamps and a valid exit ticket may leave Death Amusement Park through the exit.]

[Current time: 20:15]

[Time until closing: 3 hours and 45 minutes]

The task was clear.

Four attractions.

Four stamps.

An exit ticket.

Shen Niannian quickly committed them to memory.

She liked rules like these.

At least they weren't layered one within another like the ones at the end of Dead Men's Theater.

However,

a muttered curse suddenly came from beside her.

"This thing's tightening!"

A man with a buzz cut stared fixedly at his left wrist.

The colorful wristband seemed to be cutting into his skin little by little.

Blood was already seeping out from beneath the edge of the plastic.

The man's face darkened.

"It's cutting my hand!"

Han Feng immediately said, "Don't take it off. Rule one explicitly forbids damaging the wristband."

"But if this goes on, my hand will be ruined!"

The buzz-cut man gritted his teeth.

He didn't take it off directly.

Instead, he took a thin black blade from his backpack.

It was clearly an eerie item.

"I won't take it off. I'll just loosen it a little."

It seemed like a perfectly reasonable choice.

It didn't even violate the literal meaning of "remove."

But Han Feng's expression changed.

"The rules also forbid damaging it!"

But it was already too late.

Crack.

The black blade slipped under the visitor wristband.

The man had only just applied force.

A tiny crack appeared on the surface of the plastic wristband.

The next second.

Throughout the amusement park.

All the music stopped at once.

The man's body went rigid.

"..."

He slowly looked up.

Inside the ticket booth at the entrance.

The ticket seller, who had been facing away from everyone.

Turned his head.

That was no human face.

It was a round face formed from countless colorful plastic wristbands wound together.

His mouth split open.

"Detected-"

"A visitor who evaded the fare."

The man's expression changed drastically.

"No! I didn't take it off! I only-"

Whoosh!

Countless colorful wristbands shot out of the ticket booth.

They wrapped around his limbs in an instant!

"Help me!"

Han Feng drew his blade.

Just as he was about to act.

The man's entire right arm was suddenly constricted into more than a dozen sections by the wristbands.

Squelch! Squelch! Squelch!

Blood and flesh flew everywhere!

A scream echoed throughout the entrance.

A few seconds later.

A living, breathing person.

Had been forcibly sliced into hundreds of pieces by countless plastic bands!

At last.

The blood and flesh vanished.

Only a pile of brand-new colorful wristbands remained on the ground.

The ticket seller bent down.

He picked them up one by one.

And hung them back in the window.

[Player Chen Hai has died.]

[Players currently alive: 17]

The entire entrance area.

Fell utterly silent.

After a brief, deathly silence, the livestream chat erupted.

"This is S-rank!"

"He wasn't just messing around. He was trying to use an eerie item to loosen the wristband!"

"But you die as soon as you damage it!"

"A single sentence in the rules really leaves no room for mercy!"

"The nastiest part is that his body was even turned into new visitor wristbands in the end!"

Shen Niannian lowered her head.

She glanced at her wrist.

Her wristband was perfectly normal.

It wasn't tight at all.

(｡ŏ_ŏ)

But now clearly wasn't the time to examine wristbands.

Jingle.

Jingle.

From within the fog.

A clear bell suddenly rang out.

Han Feng tightened his grip on his weapon at once.

All the players turned their heads simultaneously.

A tall, thin figure.

Taking exaggerated steps.

Slowly emerged from the depths of the amusement park.

A comical clown suit.

Deathly pale face paint.

Scarlet lines extended from the corners of his mouth all the way to his ears.

Pointed leather shoes on his feet.

He was juggling three bloodstained bowling balls with both hands.

As he walked.

He let out a deranged laugh.

"Oh my, oh my!"

"This year's new visitors look like a good batch!"

A terrifying aura burst outward.

Before Shen Niannian's eyes.

The Identity Archive opened automatically.

[Target: Joker]

[Race: Eerie being]

[Danger level: S-rank]

[Identity: Lord of Death Amusement Park]

[Current status: Cheerful]

[Traits: Mad, mental contamination, extremely dangerous]

S-rank!

Han Feng's breathing grew noticeably heavier.

The livestream chat went wild with warnings.

"Joker's here!"

"Don't say anything careless to him!"

"This lunatic once stuffed a player into a gift box. When it was opened, there were only a little over twenty pieces left!"

"Shen Niannian, whatever you do, don't go provoking him this time!"

Meanwhile, Joker had already walked up to the players.

He swept his gaze over them one by one.

The smile on his face grew more and more exaggerated.

"Welcome, everyone, to my amusement park. I hope you all have a wonderful time tonight-"

His voice suddenly stopped.

Because his gaze.

Had fallen on the edge of the crowd.

Long, silvery-white hair.

Red eyes.

Less than one and a half meters tall.

Shen Niannian, with a dark red bow clipped in her hair.

Plop.

A bloodstained bowling ball fell to the ground.

Then came the second.

Plop.

The third.

Thud.

It rolled all the way to Shen Niannian's feet.

All the players: "?"

Livestream chat: "?"

Shen Niannian also looked down at the bowling ball.

Then she looked up again.

The exaggerated smile on Joker's face had frozen completely.

The Identity Archive kept updating before her eyes.

[Current status: Cheerful]

[Current status: Stunned]

[Current status: Incredulous]

At last.

It changed to-

[Current status: Wants to close the park.]

Shen Niannian: "..."

(・_・;)

This feeling.

Why is it so familiar?

A few seconds later.

The mighty S-rank lord of Death Amusement Park.

For the first time, his voice had lost the madness it had carried moments ago.

"...Miss Shen?"

Shen Niannian blinked.

"Do we know each other?"

Joker: "..."

He stared at her for a full three seconds.

Finally, he squeezed out a sentence.

"I wish we didn't."