WTNL Chapter 79

Fantasy Amusement Park
Chapter 79: Thank you for purchasing the clown doll produced in our shop

As that ghastly pale ghost face was retracted by the mechanism, the ear-piercing strange laughter finally stopped.

Yun Bilan stood at the door, raising her flashlight to shine into the dollhouse.

The room was pitch black. Fabric arms and legs were hung from the ceiling with fine threads, and various doll body parts were suspended in mid-air, slowly spinning in circles.

On the bed, on the cabinets, on the dressing table, everywhere was filled with all kinds of dolls. Some were the size of a palm, some were half a person’s height, and some were the same size as an ordinary human. The dusty lace dresses filled the entire space, choking people so much that they had to cover their mouths and noses.

In the pitch-black space where one couldn’t see their own fingers, those faces, large or small, with sweet smiles appeared exceptionally pale and stiff. Pairs of dull eyes looked towards the door, making one’s hair stand on end.

Sitting on the dressing table was a palm-sized doll.

It sat on the table smiling, its two white porcelain-like small hands holding an open exquisite box. Pasted next to it were a few words: “Please check in here”.

It seemed this was the check-in point.

Yun Bilan looked at Brother Pang: “You wait at the door; if there’s any problem, use an item immediately.”

Brother Pang: “Understood.”

The blue-haired girl looked at Wen Jianyan: “What about you? Are you coming in with me?”

Although they were temporarily moving together now, Wen Jianyan was not an official member of their team after all, so Yun Bilan couldn’t easily issue orders to him.

“Of course.”

The young man smiled and bowed slightly: “How could a gentleman let a girl enter a dangerous situation all alone?”

In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:

[Hahahahahahahaha! Don’t try to act cool, weren’t you the one who just jumped in fright!]

[Wake up, you dog scammer, you have the smallest guts among everyone!]

[I understand the logic, but my heart still fluttered disappointingly. Damn it! [Tipped 50 points]]

[Wuwuwuwuwu me too, damn it, seduced by his beauty every time, I’m really a superficial simp for good looks! [Tipped 100 points]]

Wen Jianyan and Yun Bilan walked into the room one after another. They carefully avoided the various fabric human bodies hanging above their heads and arrived in front of the dressing table.

“In the real world, in this kind of haunted house where you need to do tasks, usually some minor jump scares appear right after you check in.”

Yun Bilan looked at Wen Jianyan and said, “It’s just that we are in an instance now, so we don’t know if this jump scare is real or fake. Either way, we must be prepared.”

Wen Jianyan nodded.

Yun Bilan took a deep breath, reached out, and picked up the card with the words “Please take me” written on it from inside the jewelry box.

“Snap!”

With a crisp sound, the jewelry box in the doll’s hands slammed shut abruptly.

It slowly raised that ghastly pale face, its mouth opening and closing, emitting a sharp and piercing eerie laughter: “Hee hee hee hee hee!!”

The next second, the room door opened and closed, making an ear-piercing friction sound.

Standing at the door, Brother Pang cautiously took a step back, seeming to have prepared himself to yank the two of them out of the room at any moment.

All the dolls filling the room also began to move. They stiffly rotated their necks, making creaking sounds, and the giggles of children came from their abdomens:

“Play with me, play with me!”

As time passed, the strange sounds disappeared, the mechanisms stopped operating, and the room became quiet again.

Apart from these things, haunted houses used to scare people, nothing else happened.

“Looks like a fake scare.”

Yun Bilan shrugged and concluded.

Holding the card, she turned to walk out, but before she even had time to take a step, her arm was suddenly grabbed by the young man beside her: “Wait.”

His command was calm and brief, ringing out in the dead silent room.

Yun Bilan froze.

The next second, she saw something drip down in front of her eyes and hit the ground.

Yun Bilan raised her head and looked up.

She saw that on the surface of the fabric prosthetic limbs hanging in the air, black-red bloodstains slowly seeped out, gradually soaking the bottom, as if what was stuffed inside were real human severed limbs.

“Blood?” Yun Bilan was stunned.

Wen Jianyan narrowed his eyes: “Remember the sixth rule outside the Thrill Zone?”

He repeated it accurately, word for word: “There are no real-life actor NPCs inside the haunted house; they are all audio, lighting, and dolls, and there are no water-related mechanism scenes. If you hear the sound of water, please stay away from that area immediately, and contact a green-haired clown employee as soon as possible.”

Yun Bilan’s pupils shrank, immediately understanding Wen Jianyan’s meaning:

“…Water-related.”

Blood is also a liquid; it is a water-related mechanism scene.

At the same time, all the prosthetics began to slowly drip fresh blood downwards. The blood on the ground spread bit by bit, making it completely impossible to leave the room.

Brother Pang’s voice came from outside the door:

“What happened inside?”

Yun Bilan and Wen Jianyan stood in the corner of the room near the dressing table, which was exactly where the fresh blood from the prosthetics couldn’t drip. She raised her voice and briefly informed Brother Pang of the conclusion they had just reached.

“I understand!”

Across the rain of blood, Brother Pang’s voice sounded somewhat erratic: “So according to the rules, we need to contact that clown employee now, right?”

Yun Bilan: “No need, use an item first—”

However, before she could finish her sentence, she was interrupted by Brother Pang’s voice:

“Wait a moment, you guys; I see an emergency button!”

His voice came through the wall, sounding exceptionally distant, even carrying a hint of trance.

Wen Jianyan shouted sternly:

“Don’t go yet!”

He hadn’t forgotten that on the haunted house rules which only he could see, the second rule was “The emergency buttons installed in the haunted house are no longer functional; please do not touch them randomly.”

However, outside in the corridor, Brother Pang’s voice had completely disappeared.

Yun Bilan frowned and turned to look at Wen Jianyan:

“What’s wrong? Didn’t that clown say earlier that if we encounter any strange incidents in the haunted house, we should contact the staff through the emergency buttons?”

Although Brother Pang didn’t follow her request, his way of handling it was not illogical. Wen Jianyan’s stern interruption made her feel that something was unusual.

Yun Bilan looked at him inquiringly:

“Do you know something?”

Wen Jianyan’s expression didn’t change: “But you didn’t see this rule with your own eyes on the back of the ticket; you only learned it from him, right?”

“…”

Yun Bilan frowned, her expression turning solemn.

She took out her phone from her pocket, quickly redeemed points, and started calling Brother Pang.

“Beep… beep… beep…”

Soon, the call was connected.

Brother Pang’s loud voice came from the other end of the line: “Bilan, what’s wrong? I’m just outside the door; why waste those points?”

“Have you already pressed the emergency button?”

Yun Bilan’s voice was cold and composed.

“Of course.” Brother Pang’s voice sounded no different from before: “Wait a moment, you’ll be able to come out right away.”

The call was hung up.

Yun Bilan frowned, her gaze falling on the phone in her palm.

In the dark room, Wen Jianyan slightly narrowed his eyes, quickly processing all the information he had learned so far in his mind.

Regarding the haunted house, he currently had three sets of rules on hand.

One set came from the sign posted at the entrance of the Thrill Zone, which wrote “Trust the clown employees” and “If you hear the sound of water, contact a green-haired clown employee as soon as possible.”

One set came from the clown at the entrance of the haunted house, who gave the streamers three pieces of advice.

One set came from the rules he saw on the back of his ticket, which gave three pieces of advice completely opposite to what the clown at the haunted house entrance had said.

Among these three sets of rules, which one was fake?

Also, who was the sixth person that infiltrated their team? Was it related to the authenticity of these rules?

At this moment, the sound of approaching footsteps came from outside the door.

“Drip, drop…”

The speed of the dripping blood slowed down, and eventually, it gradually stopped.

Soon, a familiar voice came from outside the room: “Alright, you guys can come out!”

Trapped in the corner of the room, Wen Jianyan and Yun Bilan exchanged a surprised glance.

The two carefully bypassed the residual bloodstains on the ground and slowly walked out step by step. Soon, they left the dollhouse and returned to the corridor.

They saw Brother Pang still standing there perfectly fine, with the green-haired clown standing beside him.

The clown waved its hand and said, “Follow me, you need to stay away from this area as soon as possible.”

Yun Bilan walked quickly to Brother Pang’s side and asked in a low voice, “Why didn’t you listen to my instructions just now?”

“It’s to save points.”

Brother Pang scratched his cheek: “Besides, doing this is exactly to test whether these rules work or not, right? I think they work pretty well. See, as soon as it came, you were able to come out.”

That was indeed true.

The entire chain of logic had nothing suspicious about it. Hearing the sound of water → calling the staff using the emergency button → the green-haired clown coming to the rescue, precisely verified the credibility of this set of rules.

Wen Jianyan was taken aback, suddenly thinking of something.

He unzipped his backpack and quickly opened the bag of things he had just bought from the gift shop.

The cat doll was still lying obediently at the bottom, but the clown doll, starting from who knows when, had already changed its appearance. It had a miserable face, its upper and lower body were separated, its head was crooked, and its body was torn into pieces.

Beside it, on the long roll of receipt paper, a lot of words had appeared at some point.

Wen Jianyan pulled out the receipt and unrolled it, rapidly reading the text that had appeared on it by the dim light.

[Haunted House Employee’s Work Diary]

This is my first day working at the Fantasy Amusement Park. The salary and benefits here are very high. I don’t understand why the senior who resigned told me not to work here for more than a month.

This is my first week working at the Fantasy Amusement Park. For some reason, I seem to always hear the gurgling sound of water. Did I forget to turn off the faucet?

This is my first month working at the Fantasy Amusement Park. I lost money gambling. I think I might need to stay here for a bit longer.

The handwriting below suddenly became sloppy and messy:

Weird weird weird (scribbled out)

My skin is sticky, my fingers have a weird smell (the word “sticky” was circled by a black pen, heavily scratched over several times)

Further down, the handwriting became even more frantic and illegible:

Weird weird weird weird weird (scribbled out)

I saw myself, I saw myself taken apart, I saw myself stuffed into fabric, I saw myself hung up.

I saw myself start moving again (large swaths of ink marks and water stains had already made these writings blurry and unclear)

My post is unstaffed now. The unmanned ticket booth has appeared.

My post has someone selling tickets now.

I am selling tickets.

The last stroke of the word “tickets” was unfinished, drawn in a long line out past the boundary of the receipt.

Further down, there was a line of small text printed by a machine:

[Thank you for purchasing the clown doll produced by our shop]

[If the area you are heading to has employees replaced by “it”, the clown doll will follow closely behind you and use text to tell you everything that employee knew]

[The doll will become invalid after one use]

[Thank you for your patronage]

Wen Jianyan’s arms instantly broke out in goosebumps. He abruptly raised his head and looked towards the green-haired clown doll waiting at the top of the stairs not far away.

Under the swaying light, whether it was Wen Jianyan’s illusion or not, the other party’s skin looked exceptionally pale, and seemed sticky too.

It raised its voice and urged:

“Hurry up and follow me; you guys need to stay away from this area as soon as possible.”

Yun Bilan and Brother Pang had basically dismissed their suspicions by now. They walked towards the clown employee, but were forcefully yanked back by Wen Jianyan, who had quickly stepped forward:

“Don’t go over there.”

Wen Jianyan’s deliberately lowered voice rang in the two people’s ears.

Yun Bilan froze and turned to look at Wen Jianyan.

The amber-eyed young man stared fixedly at the green-haired clown employee in the distance, his voice becoming even softer: “It’s a frog.”

What—?!

Yun Bilan’s pupils shrank suddenly.

“A frog? What do you mean?” Brother Pang scratched his cheek even harder, looking confused: “It saved you guys—”

The young man’s hushed voice rang in their ears:

“Listen to my command.”

His voice was so calm and cold, without any doubt or hesitation. The tone had an irrefutable, irresistible certainty that made people compelled to obey.

Yun Bilan shook her head at Brother Pang.

Brother Pang stopped talking.

“Run.” Wen Jianyan gave the order resolutely.

In an instant, the three turned around without hesitation, breaking into a run, sprinting wildly in the opposite direction!

That green-haired clown employee didn’t chase after them. It stood quietly in place, its sticky, pale skin being swallowed by the darkness bit by bit, finally disappearing completely.

The three sprinted almost to the end of the corridor before coming to a stop.

“N-no one caught up.”

Brother Pang said, panting heavily.

Yun Bilan also came to a stop. She turned to Wen Jianyan: “What did you mean when you said it was a frog? What’s going on? And how did you know?”

“Yeah, what’s going on!” Brother Pang scratched his cheek and said very anxiously.

“Sizzle, sizzle…”

A bizarre squelching water sound echoed in the corridor.

Yun Bilan froze and turned to look in Brother Pang’s direction.

“What’s wrong? Why are you looking at me?” Brother Pang’s scratching became even more vigorous. His skin was pale and swollen, emitting that bizarre squelching water sound.

“Stop scratching,” Yun Bilan said sternly.

“What?”

“Stop scratching!”

“I’m itchy, I’m itchy, I’m itchy!” The flesh all over Brother Pang’s body was quivering. His facial features looked very strange, giving off an inexplicable sense of mania: “So itchy, so itchy, so itchy, so itchy—”

“Riiiip—”

An entire piece of pale, mushy skin was torn off his face by his hard fingernails.

However, what oozed out from the wound was not fresh blood, but some kind of translucent gelatinous substance.

Yun Bilan audibly gasped and subconsciously took a few steps back.

Wen Jianyan stared at Brother Pang standing not far from him, a layer of goosebumps suddenly springing up on his back as a chill slowly crept up his spine.

“What’s wrong?”

Brother Pang’s facial features contorted. He seemed to see the strange and terrified expressions in the eyes of the two people in front of him, and he became even more agitated and anxious, looking uneasily close to madness.

Clutching the skin on his face in his hand, spit flying from his mouth, he shouted in a shrill voice:

“What did you see? What’s wrong?!”

By the light in their hands, they could see clearly that in the patch of gelatinous mucus on Brother Pang’s face, there was an entire dense cluster of eggs. The round eggs were packed tightly together, deeply embedded in the human flesh. In the white, oppressive mucus, one could see the pinprick-like black dots in the center of those eggs, which seemed to still be wriggling restlessly.

Like frog eggs.