Chapter 257: The Pink Hat's Amusement Park

The two men on the ground, hearing they still had to fight, had tears and snot smeared all over their faces as they begged incessantly: "Miss, we were wrong, we won't dare do it again..."Yan Jiayu lifted her head, her eyes lighting up as she stared into the distance, "Hey, you're here! How did you know I was here?"

Xu Huo stepped out from behind the tree, looking at this girl who still wore her patched robe and had a choppy, uneven haircut. He smiled and said, "Coincidence."

"You came at just the right time, I was worrying about not having a partner." Yan Jiayu grabbed the two thugs by their sleeves and dragged them up, then added, "Wait for me, I'll be right back."

Xu Huo gestured for her to go ahead.

Yan Jiayu quickly returned, carrying drinks and snacks in her hands, "The police officer rewarded me with five hundred yuan, my treat for these."

Xu Huo sat down and shared the food with her, asking, "You haven't entered that dungeon you mentioned yet?"

Yan Jiayu shook her head, pointing at the old puppet not far away, "This random dungeon only has one puppet as its entrance. You can only enter the dungeon by touching the puppet when it's glowing. I've been camping here for several days and still missed it twice in between."

"That's quite interesting." Xu Huo said.

Yan Jiayu chuckled, "When this puppet glows, the carousel also starts spinning on its own. It's quite fun, I wonder what it's like inside the dungeon."

Seeing she was genuinely enjoying the thrill of the dungeon, Xu Huo couldn't help but ask, "Hasn't the dungeon swallowed anyone else?"

"I saw one person." Yan Jiayu said while chewing on dried meat, "But they went in and didn't come out. People around here say children have gone missing here, and when the carousel spins, you can hear children's laughter. They all say this place is haunted, so no one dares come anymore."

"So you've been waiting here?" Xu Huo was slightly surprised, "So much time has passed, the chances of those children being alive are very low. Even if you go in, you might not find anyone."

"Whether we can find them is one thing, but searching for them follows my true heart. Whether there are results or not doesn't hinder that." Yan Jiayu waved her hand, appearing very open-minded.

"That's true." Xu Huo agreed.

"By the way, why did you come here?" Yan Jiayu asked, "I didn't tell you the specific location."

"It really was a coincidence." Xu Huo explained, "I didn't expect to run into you here."

"This is fate." Yan Jiayu said with a beaming smile, "Maybe this dungeon isn't opening because there aren't enough people. Now that there are two of us, perhaps if we wait a bit longer it will work."

Xu Huo glanced at the dirt in her hair, "Do you sleep here at night?"

Yan Jiayu's face reddened, "I wash my face and bathe every day, the mud was thrown by kids from nearby... but there's no bed here, you can sleep on the carousel."

Xu Huo didn't ask further, and the two of them kept watch by the puppet.

Until deep into the night, the carousel started up on its own. Accompanied by distorted, eerie music, the puppet's two eyes began to glow, and its eyeballs started moving.

Xu Huo tapped Yan Jiayu, who energetically rushed to the puppet and hugged it tightly, telling him to hurry up.

With nowhere else to place his hands, Xu Huo had to poke two fingers into the puppet's eyes.

In a flash of light, the two entered the dungeon.

Before their eyes stretched a sky blending pink and blue colors. Beneath this softly colored sky stood a massive amusement park filled with childlike charm, its main gate facing them.

Xu Huo and Yan Jiayu exchanged glances and were about to knock when the gate, painted with various fairy tale characters, slowly opened. Two five-meter-tall inflatable clowns bowed to them, gesturing inside with an inviting hand motion. Then the metal gear wall behind them rotated and moved apart to both sides, countless balloons rushing out and swirling around them as they spun in place.

The music continued playing:

"Searching, searching, searching for a friend, found one good friend, poke the eyes, cut the tongue, no screaming makes a good friend..."

"Searching, searching, searching for a friend, found one good friend, stuff the ears, block the nose, no mischief makes a good friend..."

"Searching, searching, searching for a friend, found one good friend, snip snip hands, snip snip feet, no escaping makes a good friend..."

"Pop pop pop!" Before the music finished, Yan Jiayu was already swinging her stone staff to burst the balloons, while Xu Huo used his shield and sword.

After clearing some of the balloons, the remaining ones flew away from them. By then, the gear wall behind had disappeared and the main gate had closed. The two clowns kept inflating and growing larger, seeming ready to burst at any moment!

Xu Huo and Yan Jiayu simultaneously ran forward. Immediately after, the two clowns exploded, showering the sky with colored streamers and glitter. Several smaller clowns floated in mid-air, working in pairs to hold up patterned signs. There were three signs in total, reading: "Bunny Bear Fun Land," "Pirate Adventure Land," and "Unicorn Circus Land."

At the same time, a large party popper appeared out of thin air directly ahead, blocking their path. When it burst open, a half-person-tall plush pirate appeared before them, waving a long sword and shouting: "Buy tickets! Buy tickets! Buy tickets!"

The shrill voice made Yan Jiayu pout, "Not cute at all."

The plush pirate stabbed its sword into the ground, raising its voice: "Buy tickets! Buy tickets! Buy tickets! No money? Use your eyes! No money? Use your ears! No money? Use your..."

Before it could finish, Yan Jiayu's stone staff was thrust into its mouth, "How much?"

"One ticket costs one hundred White Bills, double ticket costs three hundred White Bills!" The plush pirate retreated, spitting out the object from its mouth, then swung its sword at the stone staff with a fierce expression. After its sword broke into several pieces upon impact, it stood still for two seconds then reached out its hand: "Buy tickets!"

"Let's buy the double ticket, it's safer to go together." Xu Huo gave three hundred White Bills.

The plush pirate quickly stuffed the White Bills into its mouth, then pulled out a circular admission ticket from its belly that read "Good Friends Bring One" and threw it back.

As they received the double ticket, the game prompt sounded: