Chapter 368: A Series To Ruin Your Childhood
Translator: Pluto Editor: Vermillion
It had already been a few hours since Pumpkin Route had been completely devastated by Puppeteer's and Santa Claus' battle. Granite outcrops and mounds of upturned soil littered the landscape. There were several fissures on the ground. The shops and buildings surrounding them had all slid into these holes following the movements of the ground.
There were still a few damaged shops that were not sucked into these holes. However, none of the pocket dimension beings were around. The products in the shops had also all disappeared much to Lin Sanjiu's disappointment. Her clothes were in a bad shape after the battle so she thought she could sieve through the rubble to get a new outfit. However, this was apparently impossible so she gave up on it.
"Hey, if you were wearing a hoodie, things wouldn't be this hard for me," Lin Sanjiu heard a quiet complaint from atop her piping hot head.
As the cat doctor's feet were too short, it was too difficult for him to navigate through the ruined landscape. Consequently, he had settled on Lin Sanjiu's head. While she leaped across the open fissures in the ground and scaled the various granite outcrop, he shifted precariously while he perched on her head. Sometimes, he even had to grab on to her hair with his claws to maintain his balance.
Meanwhile, AYU, who was visibly larger now, followed behind Lin Sanjiu laboriously. AYU was comparatively untalkative compared to Soulsqn. Other than AYU's occasional vindictive glances, Lin Sanjiu found AYU a companion she didn't have to worry much about.
As the road had been destroyed beyond recognition, Lin Sanjiu and her companions took about 30 minutes to cover a distance that would usually spend only 10 to 20 minutes. They finally saw the vague outline of the roof of the next arena in a distance.
"I wonder what sort of amusement attraction awaits us?"
Lin Sanjiu sighed. She withdrew her eyes from the distance as she stood on the top of a granite outcrop. She jumped to another outcrop some distance away and held on to the rock with her hands. Following the crevices, she quickly climbed down the granite outcrop and landed on the ground with a soft thud.
As they were already some distance away from the epicenter of the battleground, the path ahead seemed more leveled. There were only several granite pieces strewn messily on the ground which had been blasted away from the epicenter. Lin Sanjiu quickened her pace and headed straight for the arena but just as they were about to reach the next station, they suddenly stopped.
It was late at night. The sky was a deep dark blue. The moon had hidden behind the thick layers of clouds. The only light they could see came from the stars above and the glowing signboard of the arena in a distance.
Under the bright "Cartoon World Experience" font on the signboard of the arena, there was a blurry figure of a human lying motionless on the ground, right in the middle of the entrance.
The cat doctor's night vision was better than any posthumans'. Meowie Hu stood up straight on Lin Sanjiu's head and stretched his neck out to look farther ahead. After that, he hammered his paw on her forehead with urgency, "I think that person on the floor looks familiar. I think he is that guy who has been urging you to return his items just now."
"Puppeteer?"
Lin Sanjiu was stunned. She quickly explained things to AYU before rushing toward the man.
After Lin Sanjiu returned the four items to Puppeteer, she requested for the cat doctor to look at his wounds. However, once Puppeteer was no longer affected by Meowie Hu's charm, he didn't want a cat to treat his wounds. After scoffing at Lin Sanjiu's suggestion, he left without saying a word.
Before Puppeteer confronted Lin Sanjiu previously, he had already exited "Cartoon World Experience" once, so it should be easy for him. With that in mind, Lin Sanjiu thought she did not need to worry for him. However, she would never imagine that she would find Puppeteer lying unconscious outside the arena's entrance.
If she didn't notice his chest rising ever so slightly, Lin Sanjiu would have assumed that the pale white Puppeteer was dead.
"Oh… I think his injuries must be very serious." Lin Sanjiu crouched down beside Puppeteer, feeling slightly cautious but also a little curious. The cat and the Soul with her also came up to look at him. "He's lucky that we found him. If it was anyone else, that person would immediately kill him."
"Is he really that bad with other people?" the cat doctor asked with sparkling eyes. Among them, he was certainly the happiest when they found Puppeteer. Without the others noticing, the cat had already taken off his little backpack. He laid numerous small equipment on the ground. According to the size of the equipment, they were apparently specifically created to the cat's size. Lin Sanjiu could tell what some of them were but she had no idea what was the uses of most of the other equipment.
Being prudent, Lin Sanjiu quickly stopped the eager cat doctor from immediately testing his tools on Puppeteer. Worried that Puppeteer might be equipped with some sort of defensive item, Lin Sanjiu found a branch nearby and cautiously prodded his body twice. Puppeteer's white and bloodless skin got prodded by the sharp branch but nothing happened. That action did not activate any sort of defensive mechanism. Instead, Puppeteer's breathing got weaker.
"That's great," Lin Sanjiu narrowed her eyes as she observed his face. She realized that the glitter around his eyes had already faded. If she didn't pay specific attention to them, they would look like part of his skin. After thinking for a moment, she patted the cat doctor's head and muttered, "Go ahead."
The cat coughed once and his claws flashed. He stuck a single claw toward Puppeteer. After seeing the cat sterilizing his claws with some alcohol swabs, Lin Sanjiu still felt a little uneasy so she added, "I don't have any grudge with him now, so you better not kill him with malpractice."
Feeling insulted, Meowie Hu glared at Lin Sanjiu very unhappily.
"I want you to guard Dr. Hu," Lin Sanjiu stood up and ordered AYU. "If you see any weird strangers, don't hold back. You can find a new human skin for your queen. When I come back, you two better stay this way. I don't want to witness anything that shouldn't happen when I come back."
AYU rolled her eyes, showing too much of the whites of her eyes, " Where are you going?"
Lin Sanjiu stretched her limbs before turning to look at Cartoon World Experience. "At best, you and Dr. Hu can only survive the first round. If you guys can earn some stamina points from that, I would consider that lucky." Lin Sanjiu had already decided her strategy on their way here. It would probably be impossible for her to protect two other people while she had to complete the rounds. "I have no choice here. In case things go awry, I need to earn a little more stamina points."
If it came to their last resort and they needed to escape from the attraction to save their lives, she knew that both Meowie Hu and AYU needed sufficient stamina point. Each player required 60 stamina point to quit a round. For two players, it would take 120 stamina points.
"But even if we exit the game, we can only return to the entrance. We can't move forward," AYU couldn't help pointing out.
"In any case, that's better than dying," Lin Sanjiu replied without turning her head. "Besides, if that happens, that would only mean that both of you should get out of the amusement park as soon as possible.
When she noticed that AYU had immediately fallen silent, Lin Sanjiu turned to look at Meowie Hu once before she headed toward Cartoon World Experience.
The two rooms that seemed like public washrooms seemed exactly the same. Lin Sanjiu did not know which side she should enter the attraction from. After she looked around, she didn't see any sort of ticket seller-like staff. This was only the same reason why Lin Sanjiu was tricked by Puppeteer when he left that puppet with a red hat in front of the attraction.
"Is there anyone there?" Lin Sanjiu shouted into the left room.
The door was ajar so there was a gap. Lin Sanjiu could see that it was dark inside. She waited for a few seconds but no one answered her from inside the room. Lin Sanjiu was cautious. She didn't step into the room immediately. She walked to the other room instead. On closer inspection, Lin Sanjiu realized that the door to the room on the right was tightly shut. She tried to push the door but it didn't budge.
Judging this situation, she could only enter through the left door. When Lin Sanjiu pushed the door lightly, it swung open soundlessly. The door disappeared into the darkness. The room was like a dark abyss that absorbed any light that reached its interior. Lin Sanjiu did not know whether this was because it was dark outside or because the arena was naturally designed that way. After she squinted and tried to look into it a few times, she couldn't make out the outline of the room's interior.
Lin Sanjiu entered her hypersensory state and activated her [Defence Forcefield]. She braced herself and forced herself to walk into the abyss of indiscernible darkness. Once she stepped inside, the door instantly closed behind her. When Lin Sanjiu heard the lock being turned, she was sure that she did not hear a click but a "bwahaha".
"What sort of goddamn door is this?" Lin Sanjiu couldn't help grumbling. If she had not gone through the "baptism" rite through Kisaragi Station and the three rounds of Haunted House Dare, she would definitely find this place a little creepy. "Isn't this Cartoon World?"
Lin Sanjiu felt as if she was completely blind. She could not see anything in front of her. There was only pure darkness. Even though she was in her hypersensory state, she could not feel anything out of place. The was just dust floating in the still air. She could not sense anyone and anything.
She took one step in the darkness when she suddenly sensed a person. Perhaps, a being was a more appropriate description. It was standing right by the tip of her nose. If she had taken a wider stride, she would have collided with that thing's face.
Incomprehensibly, two dark shadows slowly split from the absolute darkness in front of her. Alarmed, Lin Sanjiu raised her skeletal wings and thrust the sharp bones toward the thing in front of her. A cold sweat rolled down her forehead.
She had reacted on instinct. She actually knew deep inside that the thing in front of her was another character from the pocket dimension. It probably didn't mean her any harm—otherwise, considering the way it could just appear, it could definitely hurt her badly.
As that thing was directly in front of her face, Lin Sanjiu couldn't really make out what it was. After taking two steps back and looking slightly upward, Lin Sanjiu finally saw what was in front of her as the darkness faded slightly.
The two black shadows had now shown their round shapes. As the room slowly brightened, Lin Sanjiu saw the creature's pairs of black shiny eyes. As his cheeks rose, a deep huge grin spread across his faces.
Lin Sanjiu had definitely seen that smile many times before. Yet, when that face grew clearer amidst the darkness, Lin Sanjiu couldn't help shuddering.
Mickey Mouse was staring gleefully at her.
"Welcome!" As it greeted her, Lin Sanjiu saw his flashing white teeth. They were squarish and looked like human's teeth. "Welcome, new player. I hope you like our Cartoon World."
Lin Sanjiu was convinced that she would not like this place at all.
"The entry fee is 5 stamina points." Since the mouse was staring straight at Lin Sanjiu, he was at least 1.8m tall. His round ears hung over her head and receded into the darkness, "If you see something you like in Cartoon World, or a souvenir you want, you can purchase them with your stamina points."
Before Lin Sanjiu could question what he meant, she already muttered a "shit" inwardly.
Regardless of what Mickey meant, if he had brought up this matter, it was proof that she needed stamina points for this amusement attraction. Lin Sanjiu didn't have much stamina points left after helping Puppeteer. Furthermore, she wanted to save more stamina points for Meowie Hu.
After she steadied her breathing, Lin Sanjiu calmed herself and asked, "What do other players usually purchase?"
"Oh, a lot," Mickey raised one of the large hands in a white glove. He crooked his head and touched Lin Sanjiu wrist once as if he was touching a treasured object. Lin Sanjiu felt goosebumps all over. The mouse looked up with a frozen smile and continued affectionately, "Some of them buy their three meals here, some of them even get clothes and bedding... After all, the items here are all very cute so they are all super desirable."
"If that is the case, you are definitely not cute," Lin Sanjiu added inwardly. After she looked at Mickey, she naturally couldn't bring herself to make that comment out loud. The large mouse had an expression as if it was pretending to look witty and playful. He blinked at her—unfortunately, when he blinked his eyes, his eyelids did not move downward. They moved sideways toward the center.
Lin Sanjiu was scared by his expression. Since she couldn't get any answers from him, she didn't want to stay there longer so she started walking deeper into the room.
Mickey immediately followed behind her like a lurking shadow. She swung her head around and watched him with bewilderment. Mickey blinked again, in that strange manner, and explained cheerfully, "You are a new player so you don't know this. Your first experience is the house I share with Minnie. Let me lead you there."