WTNL Chapter 89

by Aria

Fantasy Amusement Park
Chapter 89: Can’t I develop late?!

In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:

[Ahhhhhhhhhh the scene I’ve been looking forward to since entering this instance has appeared; it has appeared!!]

[Little scammer ahhhhhh so cute so cute so cute, a new kink is unlocked!]

[You perverts above, stay away from my baby! Come come come, let mommy hug you wuwuwuwu—]

[Fuck, am I the only one looking confused? Why did he suddenly shrink? Why do you guys all seem to have guessed it! Help, give me a hint!]

Wen Jianyan blinked in a daze, looking down to examine his small body: “…”

…No way?

No way!!!

Yun Bilan walked over holding an ice cream, looking Wen Jianyan up and down rather worriedly: “How do you feel? Is there anywhere uncomfortable?”

“That, I don’t.”

As soon as Wen Jianyan spoke, he himself froze for a moment.

He didn’t know if it was because his body had shrunk, but his voice had also changed. His vocal cords carried a hint of hoarseness characteristic of a voice change, sounding soft and youthful.

He touched his throat, somewhat unaccustomed to it.

The line of his Adam’s apple seemed to have softened as well, a tiny laryngeal prominence quivering slightly beneath warm, soft skin.

…So weird.

Yun Bilan stared at the Wen Jianyan in front of her, uncontrollably reaching out to poke the soft flesh on his cheek.

“!?”

The teenager was startled, his eyes widening slightly: “What are you doing?”

“…Ahem, nothing.”

Yun Bilan’s eyes drifted for a second, and she said calmly, “Just wanted to confirm.”

In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:

[Help, it’s baby fat, baby fat!!!]

[The dog scammer is excessively cute when he’s little, help, I need CPR!]

[Just looking at it, it feels so good to touch!! What should I do? I want to touch it too; I’m crying from jealousy!]

Wen Jianyan turned his head, thoughtfully scrutinizing the two people in front of him: “Speaking of which… it’s not just me. Haven’t you noticed that your ages have actually changed a bit too?”

Although their changes weren’t as drastic as Wen Jianyan’s, they were still noticeable upon closer inspection.

The two of them froze and looked at each other.

“Seems so…”

Elise lowered her eyes and touched her chest: “Shrunk.”

Yun Bilan leaned close to the glass door, carefully observing her slightly childish face, and her eyes also widened slightly: “I look so much younger!”

She touched her cheek, her eyes lighting up: “My skin is so good!”

Wen Jianyan: “…”

He coughed lightly: “Be serious.”

It was a pity that, with his current slender frame, saying such things while looking so tender and young in sleeves and pants that were a chunk too long, it sounded completely devoid of any deterrence.

“Although we all changed.”

Yun Bilan turned to look at Wen Jianyan: “But you’ve changed a bit too much.”

She gestured at Wen Jianyan’s height, which was slightly shorter than her own: “Including your height…”

Wen Jianyan: “…”

You really know how to hit where it hurts!

But it was true.

If the two people in front of him had just become younger, then he himself had directly shrunk by a whole age bracket.

Wen Jianyan lowered his eyes, falling into deep thought.

“Ah!”

Wen Jianyan jolted, seemingly suddenly remembering something.

“?” Yun Bilan and Elise looked at Wen Jianyan in confusion at the same time: “What’s wrong? Did you think of something?”

Wen Jianyan thoughtfully rubbed his chin: “Since the Thrill Zone, we’ve been moving together all along. Logically speaking, we shouldn’t have made any choices with significant differences. The only difference is that before entering the Thrill Zone, I went to the gift shop and spent something.”

Elise frowned: “You mean, the gift you bought made you shrink?”

“No, no.”

Unexpectedly, Wen Jianyan shook his head: “I mean, I spent more prize tickets than you guys.”

The other two were both taken aback.

Wen Jianyan continued along his line of thought: “Actually, from the beginning, I noticed that there are many rules in this amusement park aimed at ‘children’, like the height restriction in the Thrill Zone attractions, or the age restriction on buying the croaking doll in the gift shop…”

“According to my understanding, all streamers in the Nightmare live broadcast rooms are adults, and everyone who enters the amusement park is an adult. Then, wouldn’t these rules be completely invalid?”

Wen Jianyan stared at the slowly melting strawberry ice cream in his cup and continued:

“At first I thought the amusement park was a place for family fun, and these rules just appeared to fit the background logic. But looking at it now, these rules are far more meticulous than we imagined.”

He raised his eyes:

“The reason these rules appeared is that the rule-makers knew from the start that as time passed, streamers would use more and more prize tickets, and their physical age would shrink accordingly.”

The other two fell into a solemn silence.

Indeed, all those rules regarding height and age limits had initially seemed like invalid clauses to them. But judging from the current situation, there was clearly an inherent logic to it.

This also aligned with their understanding of instance mechanics—

The longer the time, the higher the difficulty, and the more variables.

“If this guess is correct, then going to the Thrill Zone first was the right choice.”

Wen Jianyan added:

“As time goes by, the number of playable attractions will only decrease, and as streamers’ prize tickets decrease, their age will get younger and younger…”

Yun Bilan froze, picking up the thread: “That is to say, if we saved the Thrill Zone for last, even if the attractions inside were still open, streamers would be unable to enter due to height restrictions!”

Wen Jianyan nodded.

He continued: “Since all prize tickets are anonymous and can be snatched at will, it means that our current state is only temporary. As long as we snatch enough prize tickets from others, we can restore our previous state.”

Instances in Nightmare always encouraged streamers to crush each other.

“…”

In the moment they figured this out, a layer of cold sweat broke out on everyone’s backs.

If truly all streamers avoided the Thrill Zone, then by the late stage of the instance, when there were genuinely fewer attractions than streamers, it would inevitably trigger an all-out civil war and massacre. Because only those with enough prize tickets in their hands could meet the age requirements of the Thrill Zone.

This instance is truly…

Dark.

Too dark.

“But it’s not all bad news. Inferring from the logic of instance mechanics, the Thrill Zone we went to first should be the most difficult in the entire instance.”

It was precisely because of this that it was left for last by the rules.

It’s just that the rules obviously didn’t expect that there would be so many reckless people this time, who actually played the most thrilling one right off the bat, and actually survived in the end!

“However, although theoretically this is the case, we still can’t let our guard down next. Who knows what other crazy tricks this instance will pull.”

As Wen Jianyan spoke, he rolled up his sleeves and pant legs to make moving easier:

“After all, we still don’t know why the amusement park makes tourists shrink, nor do we know what those blacked-out rules actually are…”

He narrowed his eyes:

“Whatever it is, the content must be crucial, and might even be related to the true core of this instance.”

In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:

[…I’m getting tired of saying the streamer is awesome!]

[Streamer is awesome! (Voice cracking)]

[Even though his body shrank, his brain is still working perfectly! [Tipped 50 points]]

[? What? Are you guys actually seriously listening to the explanation of the instance mechanics? Am I the only one staring at baby’s slender white wrists and ankles!]

In the shadows of the North Square.

Four male streamers gathered together, talking in low voices, occasionally raising their eyes with eagle-like gazes sweeping over the people in the square.

“Are you sure? The target entered the food area?”

“That’s right.”

A tall blond-haired man¹ nodded, pointing to his own equally yellowish eyes: “I saw it with my own eyes.”

“Good, then we’ll wait for him to come out.”

The North Square did not allow bloodshed. No matter what, they had to wait at least until the target entered a play area before making a move.

One man glanced at the overcrowded gift shop not far away, gritted his teeth, and a trace of anxiety flashed in his eyes:

“Fuck, why is Old Three queuing for so long?”

“Fuck.”

The leading man spat, saying viciously: “After we get out this time, we definitely have to charge that guy surnamed Kong at least ten times the commission.”

It was originally just a mercenary revenge squad targeting a D-rank streamer, but unexpectedly, they actually followed this streamer into an A-rank instance!

Even their survival probability wasn’t high, and they still had to focus on completing the task…

It truly wasn’t worth the loss!

Not far away, two people walked towards the ice cream stall.

It was Wen Ya and Lilith.

Lilith looked pale and lethargic, but the wounds on her face were no longer bleeding, and she seemed to have escaped the danger of being parasitized by frog eggs.

The trio stopped talking and hurriedly gathered around.

“!”

Wen Jianyan’s eyes lit up. He hurriedly took a few steps forward, looking at Lilith with concern, and asked: “How is it? Do you feel better now? What did you encounter in the green-haired clown’s stall?”

Wen Ya opened her mouth to speak, but upon seeing the questioner, she couldn’t help but freeze, stuttering slightly:

“…What’s this about?”

“…”

Wen Jianyan’s brow twitched, his speech uncontrollably speeding up: “Yes, I shrank, but that’s not important. The most important thing now is—”

Lilith seemed to have also forgotten her predicament, her eyes widening slightly:

“So cute.”

Wen Jianyan: “…”

He took a deep breath and said through gritted teeth: “It is very impolite to call a male ‘cute’, and according to my memory, this should be me when I was at least sixteen or seventeen—”

“Sixteen or seventeen?”

Elise was also stunned: “Really?”

Wen Jianyan: “…”

He ground his teeth viciously:

“Is it a crime to be a late bloomer!”

“…Well, that’s true.” Wen Ya’s gaze lingered subtly on the top of the teenager’s head for a moment: “It seems you shot up quite a bit when you were eighteen.”

Wen Jianyan: “…”

He was having a slight breakdown.

Can’t you people stay away from my height and focus on the instance!!!!

Author’s Note:

Q: Excuse me, Mr. Wu Zhu, is the one you dropped the big scammer, or the little scammer, or this tiny—

Wu Zhu: “…”

Q: Hey! Wait, wait a minute! You can’t take all three away! Security, where’s the security! Go after him!