WTNL Chapter 97

Fantasy Amusement Park
Chapter 97: Mirror Image

Wen Jianyan suddenly realized something:

“Serum!”

Almost simultaneously, the others also reacted, realizing the same point.

That’s right, serum!

The rules of this attraction mentioned the existence of a serum, which meant that as long as the serum was injected, an “infected” person could be saved.

After figuring this out, everyone immediately began to take action.

It wasn’t because they wanted to rescue the infected people so badly, but because they clearly knew—

As long as they entered a tunnel, the “zombies” would attack. When they counterattacked, more and more corpses would definitely pile up in the train.

If every corpse contained such a terrifying “virus,” their space to move around would only get smaller and smaller.

No one dared to guarantee that they definitely wouldn’t be “infected”.

Since that was the case, if they wanted to survive in this attraction, they had to find the serum.

“Split up,” Wen Jianyan swept a glance at the mucus on the floor, a cautious expression on his face: “This time is different from before. Be extremely careful not to be touched.”

The frog eggs from before “parasitized” humans based on the rules. But now, the frog eggs had hatched and could actively attack any human who came near, feeding on their flesh and minds.

“Understood.”

The others nodded solemnly and then dispersed.

During this search, because of the exploded corpses, the area where streamers could move around had shrunk by nearly half. Everyone had to search for ammunition and serum in the areas that hadn’t been polluted.

Replenishing ammunition was relatively easy to solve.

Within the puddle of translucent gelatinous mucus left behind after the corpse exploded, a red box of ammunition could faintly be seen.

With the previous experience of finding ammunition on corpses, the streamers quickly realized that, just like in all shooting games, all these “zombie” corpses would drop ammunition.

They used their abilities to the fullest, utilizing items and talents to extract and clean the ammunition while trying their best not to touch any mucus or eggs.

However, when it came to finding the serum, the situation was completely different.

No matter how hard everyone tried, they couldn’t find any items related to the serum inside the carriages.

The few infected streamers were placed on the long train seats by their teammates. They were all on their last breaths. Something dense continuously drilled back and forth beneath their skin. Their eyes were wide open, and their bloodshot eyeballs carried a kind of hysterical madness. Their lips constantly mumbled something, occasionally letting out weak, bizarre laughs. Their bodies weakened at a terrifying speed, yet they still hadn’t died.

Wen Jianyan stood in place, watching the chaotic scene in the carriage before him, deep in thought.

At this moment, he seemed to suddenly think of something.

Wen Jianyan looked at his teammates: “Do you guys still remember Rule 4? If you encounter an unexpected situation, please go to the conductor’s room to ask the staff for help…”

“You mean this also counts as an unexpected situation?” Wen Ya frowned and asked, “But isn’t this all part of the normal process of the attraction now?”

Everything that had happened so far hadn’t exceeded the stipulations of the rules; it didn’t look like an unexpected situation that the instance would recognize.

“Indeed,” Wen Jianyan shook his head: “But that’s not the point.”

“?” Wen Ya was taken aback: “What do you mean?”

“The point is,” Wen Jianyan narrowed his eyes slightly: “This train has a conductor’s room, doesn’t it?”

Everyone was stunned.

Indeed.

They had been constantly confined within the internal framework of this [Crazy Little Train] shooting game, subconsciously obeying the rules and playing the “game,” almost forgetting that they were inside an instance. Besides completing tasks, they needed to explore the map and obtain information.

Wen Jianyan made a prompt decision.

He looked at Yun Bilan and Elise: “You two continue looking for serum and collecting ammo here.”

After saying that, Wen Jianyan looked at the other two:

“You two come with me; let’s keep moving forward and check out the conductor’s room.”

“Okay.”

The group nodded and began to act according to the division of labor.

“The target has moved,” Huang Mao, who had been constantly observing Wen Jianyan’s movements from not far away, lowered his voice and said to Hui Cheng and the others.

Hui Cheng stuffed the newly picked-up ammo into his pocket.

He raised his head, looked in the direction the target was, and asked in a low, confused voice: “Where is he going?”

One of the teammates guessed:

“Could he be trying to pull away and escape?”

“…”

Although he said that, it didn’t really look like it—the other party’s goal seemed very clear, not like someone trying to flee after discovering danger. Moreover, he only brought two people with him…

Hui Cheng frowned and ordered: “We follow.”

The group followed behind Wen Jianyan’s trio at a moderate distance, maintaining a range where they were hard to spot, moving forward with them.

Soon, Wen Jianyan reached the foremost carriage.

The further they went, the stronger the damp, fishy smell in the air became. From the floor to the tables to the seats, most of the space was covered by that semi-gelatinous transparent liquid.

Not far ahead, the tightly closed door of the conductor’s room came into view.

The entire wall was sticky and wet. On the metal handle, unhatched frog eggs were slowly dripping down.

This probably explained why no one wanted to approach this carriage.

However, just splattering from corpse explosions didn’t seem enough to cause such a large area of mucus coverage.

Wen Jianyan had a pretty good idea in his mind.

He turned his head to look at the two behind him: “Are your items ready?”

The two nodded.

Wen Jianyan took a deep breath, put on two layers of gloves, and pressed the door handle down—

Translucent liquid gushed out as the door opened, and clusters of semi-mature egg sacs poured out, mixed in the liquid.

The group immediately activated their barriers.

Separated by a thin, translucent film, these frog eggs and the semi-mature larvae inside bypassed their feet, flowing wantonly outwards.

“Remember to keep track of your item’s duration. Pop a new one as soon as it’s about to end,” Wen Jianyan instructed in a low voice.

There were too many infectious materials in the conductor’s room. It was no longer at a level where they could be avoided just by being careful. To enter intact, they had to ensure their items were active at all times.

Saying this, he took a step and carefully walked into the narrow conductor’s room.

This place had almost become the hardest-hit area for frog eggs. The ceiling, the floor, and the dashboard were all thickly covered with a layer of mucus. The translucent egg substance dripped stickily from overhead, and countless larvae, smelling human scent, struggled even more intensely within their egg sacs.

The staff member wearing the cat costume lay motionless on the instrument table. The fluff on the costume was completely soaked through. More viscous liquid gurgled out from the gap between the head and body, falling to the floor drop by drop endlessly.

It seemed that even if they encountered an “unexpected situation,” this conductor wouldn’t be getting up to solve problems for them anymore.

Wen Jianyan withdrew his gaze.

Right at this moment, his eyes paused. His gaze fell on the wall not far away, where a narrow slip of paper was taped up with clear tape. Although it was also covered in a layer of wet mucus, a line of text could still be faintly seen on it.

[Fantasy Amusement Park Employee Rules]

Wen Jianyan’s spirits lifted.

He stepped forward, just about to clean off the mucus covering it to read carefully, when he suddenly felt a shadow slowly pressing in from outside the window.

Wen Jianyan’s movements paused, and he quickly turned his head to look out the window.

Through the wall, a streamer’s voice came from the distance:

“A tunnel is coming!”

The second tunnel!

Accompanied by the clattering sound of the train’s progress, that pitch-black semi-circular tunnel approached rapidly, like a giant open mouth waiting to swallow the entire train into its belly.

The dark shadow bore down menacingly.

No time to read carefully.

After all, they still had several pursuers right on their tails.

Wen Jianyan swiftly yanked down the employee rules stuck to the wall. After a simple cleaning and disinfection, he stuffed it into his pocket, then turned around and quickly walked out of the conductor’s room.

“How was it? did you find anything useful?”

Wen Ya asked.

“Of course.”

Wen Jianyan nodded. As he answered, he turned his head and cast a glance at the carriage connection not far away.

Perhaps because the density of streamers at the front of the train was too low, that mercenary squad didn’t follow so closely; they stayed in the middle of the second carriage.

Wen Jianyan’s gaze swept over Huang Mao. His gaze was light, touching and leaving like a feather, carrying almost no weight at all.

However, the other party’s face instantly turned a shade paler, and his entire person cowered like a frightened bird.

A smile touched Wen Jianyan’s lips.

__

As the train rumbled closer to the tunnel, the shadow gradually pressed down from above.

He turned to his teammates beside him, his voice low, like a soft whisper: “Ready?”

“The gunfight is about to begin.”

The next second, darkness fell.

The moment the train drove into the tunnel for the second time, ear-piercing scratching sounds immediately rang out from all directions!

“Now’s the time!” Hui Cheng’s voice sounded urgently in Huang Mao’s ear: “Tell me his location!”

“Three o’clock direction, about 15 meters away from us!”

Huang Mao replied in a low voice.

“Understood.”

The sound of nails scratching, zombies wailing, guns firing, and water droplets dripping, accompanied by brief light sources created by items—countless sounds echoed in the dark, narrow train.

The time going through the second tunnel seemed much longer than the first. The darkness felt exceptionally long, as if there were no end.

The roar of the train filled their ears, vibrating from all directions.

“D-did we hit him?”

Huang Mao asked anxiously.

“Hit him.” Hui Cheng’s voice rang out: “Very smoothly.”

Huang Mao let out a long sigh of relief, feeling as if all his strength had been drained, going limp.

Not far away.

In the darkness, Wen Jianyan unhurriedly reloaded the gun in his hand. The moment Wen Ya released the next flare, he accurately shot a zombie crawling towards this direction.

“!!!”

Huang Mao, who had been constantly paying attention to this direction, looked over the moment the light flared up. The next second, his pupils shrank violently.

The target stood unharmed in the darkness.

And… there were two of him.

Two teenagers, identical in both figure and appearance, stood not far away, their movements showing an astonishing synchronization rate. Seeming to notice Huang Mao’s gaze, both turned their heads and looked in this direction at the same time.

After entering the tunnel, the train would fall into an extremely peculiar darkness.

Ordinary lighting equipment was unusable, and human vision couldn’t penetrate it. Only lighting items bought in the shop could barely dispel the darkness. Even a talented person like Huang Mao could only barely make out existences not far away in the brief moment a lighting item took effect. This was why Hui Cheng’s squad needed Huang Mao to confirm the other party’s location before entering the tunnel.

Even he couldn’t easily see things in the darkness, let alone ordinary humans whose five senses had never been enhanced.

But the teenager seemed to truly see him.

Those amber eyes narrowed slightly, seemingly chuckling softly. The next second, darkness fell once again.

…Two?

H-how is that possible?

Huang Mao gripped his hair in despair, his eyeballs trembling slightly.

Suddenly, he realized something.

In the moment the flare lit up, he could faintly see that one of the targets seemed to have spider-web-like cracks on his forehead.

…It’s a mirror image!

Huang Mao jumped up violently.

He understood…

He finally understood!

Why these two attacks clearly hit their mark, yet the other party remained unharmed!

That guy had figured out how they launched their attacks, so before the darkness fell, he used an item and blind spots to create a mirror image, causing their attack direction to be wrong!

Wen Jianyan loaded another bullet into the chamber, a faint half-smile on his lips.

He wanted them to understand exactly.

Only when they understood could his next move continue.

The mirror item behind him had entered its countdown. In just a few short seconds, it would automatically disappear; there was completely no need to manually deactivate it like before—

“…Ah!”

Wen Jianyan’s pupils shrank, and his entire person jerked forward violently.

“What’s wrong?” Wen Ya threw down another flare and asked loudly during a pause in their defense.

“N-nothing.”

The teenager’s slightly hoarse voice came from behind. It sounded steady, but the end notes trembled slightly: “You guys continue.”

In the darkness, where no one could see.

Formless shadows gathered into physical entities, reaching out from the depths of the mirror. Slowly, thread by thread, they wrapped around his slender, pale neck.

__

Author’s Note:

Wen Jianyan: As long as I don’t enter the Mirror Maze, I can definitely avoid all encounter flags!

Half an hour later

Wen Jianyan: “…”

Fuck.

After this, a certain unknown streamer surnamed Wen never again bought any mirror-related items from the System Shop.