The task force cautiously moved among the eerily atmospheric old amusement park equipment, collecting data from the surrounding environment while installing new sensor devices at certain key locations. Their coordination appeared skillful and orderly.Meanwhile, three mass-produced puppets wearing black gothic long dresses and adorned with a pile of tactical trinkets stood nearby, their expressions dull and vacant as they watched the officers busily at work.
The dense mist flowed among the large amusement facilities, and the unoccupied carousel suddenly began to operate, emitting squeaking noises and off-key music.
A small puppet seemed to become curious about the carousel, pattering over to grab the rust-covered railing beside the facility, stretching her head to peek inside.
"Don't ever get on it!" A Special Service Bureau officer hastily warned upon seeing this, "Once you're on, you'll be bound, and after one rotation, you'll disappear from this world!"
"I know," the mass-produced puppet waved, her voice somewhat slow and stiff, "It looks creepy, only an idiot would go up."
Despite saying this, the puppet continued to stretch her head over the railing, seemingly observing something with curiosity.
The carousel spun around again, and a colorful plastic-covered horse stared straight at her while twisting its neck bit by bit. Then, with a crack, the old plastic shell snapped, revealing a spine and veins made of the same plastic materials.
The plastic horse jumped off the rotating device, swinging its broken neck as it lunged toward the railing.
Gunshots rang out instantly. Several bursts of light pierced through the mist, tearing the plastic horse into pieces, which then fell to the ground and began to burn fiercely.
The mass-produced puppet turned her head: "Did I bring it to life by looking at it?"
"No, all the facilities here might randomly come to life; you just happened to catch one," a Special Service Bureau officer lowered his firearm and casually explained, "But generally, these things are not much of a threat; a few activated amusement facilities can be taken down by concentrated firepower. The only dangerous scenario is when an entity known as 'Balloon' appears—once it bursts, all the facilities in the amusement park come to life. That's tough to handle."
"And that thing is quite easy to pop," another officer shook his head, "Sometimes, without even hitting it, it explodes on its own. So the best way when encountering a 'Balloon' is to immediately retreat to the underground tunnel and escape via the emergency exit."
The mass-produced puppet listened curiously to this information, then suddenly pointed into the distance: "What's with that tower over there? Is it also a facility in the amusement park?"
A Special Service Bureau officer reflexively turned his head: "Tower? There's no..."
A castle tower built from gray-white boulders stood solemnly in the thick mist, its style starkly incongruous with the surrounding amusement facilities, yet seemingly existent from the start.
"...Environmental anomaly, all personnel on alert!"
All Special Service Bureau officers instantly entered alert mode, gripping their weapons while beginning to verify changes within the Exotic Realm.
"Depth is increasing… decreasing... no, the depth is oscillating in a small range!"
"Unable to confirm change scope, multiple interference sources detected."
"Large-scale spatial structure forming—something is emerging in the roller coaster direction!"
The mist flowed while the wind direction in the amusement park shifted, the lopsided roller coaster seemingly being lifted by something; a few gigantic support beams visibly wobbled, producing creaking cacophony.
Following this, everyone saw a high wall—an imposing castle wall of gray-white stones rising from the roller coaster's original location, with remnants of blue flags hanging, broken weapons embedded between stone crevices, and a substance of molten yet solidified texture covering a portion of the wall, as if the wall had been melted by Dragon Breath and then cooled.
Accompanied by more roaring, ground shaking, and the emergence of massive shadows from the mist.
Ancient and unfamiliar architecture, an abandoned mysterious city, stone pillars, city walls, towers, and collapsed ruins.
It seemed as if another Exotic Realm had abruptly "invaded" this amusement park.
The three mass-produced puppets stared blankly at the sudden transformation, then spoke in unison a few seconds later: "…Wow."
The next instant, a howl shattered the situation—a giant beast appeared on the distant high wall, roaring as it pounced downward.
The beast bore a lion-like mane and physique yet manifested a rock-like texture akin to a marble sculpture; its size almost matched that of Hu Li after transformation, causing the ground to tremor as it leapt down.
"Everyone, switch to decomposition warheads."
The squad commander quickly ordered, but before he spoke, the three mass-produced puppets had already raised their arms, launching a series of scorching rays at the charging giant beast.
Dazzling beams struck the beast, disintegrating hefty fragments of stone slabs, while beneath the shattered rocky exterior, viscous black fluid like blood gushed forth.
Concurrently, the Special Service Bureau officers fired their weapons—amidst dense gunfire, warheads equipped with mini decomposition force fields tore horrifying wounds into the beast's body.
Yet, shortly after, the ground underneath the beast began to writhe, transforming into gray-white slurry that rapidly climbed along the beast's limbs, instantly repairing all wounds and even enlarging its figure slightly.
"High-speed regenerative ability, strongly correlated with ground contact," a Special Service Bureau officer loudly reminded, "deploy interference drones!"
"Drone activated."
A silver-white small drone buzzed into the sky, quickly rushing to the beast's side, the beast immediately retaliated but missed at first—shortly after, the drone burrowed beneath it and exploded.
A large amount of gray-white living matter erupted from the explosion point, spreading across the ground beneath the beast's feet, rapidly exhibiting a metallic sheen.
The nanomachine swarm severed the beast's connection to the ground—this method seemed somewhat effective.
The beast's movement speed visibly decreased, and its actions appeared somewhat flustered.
However, at that moment, a mass-produced android seemed to sense something and instinctively looked to the side.
Amidst the flowing mist, a bright red balloon floated leisurely over.
"Uh-oh..."
The balloon made a pop sound and burst.
"Damn, it bursts so easily!" the mass-produced android swore instantly, "I didn't even touch it..."
A sharp cry echoed through the amusement park.
It was like the most piercing, penetrating, heart-stirring scream a child who lost a balloon could make in an instant.
The moment this cry sounded, the entire amusement park fell into a bizarre stillness for a second or two, even the giant beast trying to break free from the nanomachine swarm momentarily quieted down.
The next second, the silence was broken.
A cacophony of chaotic tunes exploded, a massive noise composed of off-key nursery rhymes, jumbled electronic sounds, and disordered amusement park announcements.
The merry-go-round collapsed, and the startled plastic horses broke through the fence. The pirate ship rolled and fell to the ground, the bearded pirate and skeleton sailor decorations at the ship's bow swinging their swords wildly. At the entrance of the underground passage, the decorative blue plastic elephant let out an angry bellow, charging towards the Special Service Bureau officers with heavy steps.
A sharp, off-key broadcast voice echoed over the amusement park: "Visitors with children, put your children in your backpacks, adults, evacuate in an orderly manner accompanied by minors. The Queen orders a citywide evacuation, pirates are breaching the courtyard..."
"What a mess!" one of the mass-produced androids screamed, raising her hand to shatter a fiberglass rabbit lunging at her with a scorching beam, but then she saw a lot of wobbly shadows appearing from the direction of the roller coaster.
Those were soldiers in tattered armor, brandishing spears and battle standards, their armor scarred and clearly not "locals" of the amusement park, but seemed to have "invaded" along with the giant beast.
"Detecting full Exotic Realm activation, danger level surpassing three — plan change, everyone retreat!"
The squad commander shouted loudly, then quickly turned to the three mass-produced androids still aiming into the distance.
"Miss Erin, take us out of here."
"No problem, get a little closer!"
A skeleton sailor brandishing a pirate cutlass swung over from the mist on a rope, but was sliced in half mid-air by a blindingly hot beam. A mass-produced android retracted her hands, turned, and swiftly ran towards the Special Service Bureau officers who were regrouping.
The lion-like giant beast roared angrily, struggling step by step out from under the covering nanomachine swarm, the strange soldiers in their tattered armor gathering near it, and surrounding them were more and more animated amusement park equipment.
Everything was unprecedentedly chaotic. Those strange soldiers and the "amusement park" itself clearly were not on the same side. The plastic horses that had run off the merry-go-round quickly clashed with the soldiers, and soon after, the giant beast got into a fight with the animal sculptures roaming in the mist.
Such chaos provided a perfect opportunity, and the Special Service Bureau officers took advantage of the distraction of the giant beast to quickly gather together, while the three mass-produced androids swiftly ran around the action group, forming a triangle to encircle them.
Then the three androids simultaneously raised their hands: "You might feel a bit dizzy later, remember to take off your mask after landing — don't say I didn't warn you."
As soon as the words fell, the mass-produced androids transformed on the spot into rapidly expanding and unfolding space rifts. The rifts expanded instantly and connected in an instant, enveloping all the Special Service Bureau officers inside.
The rifts contracted and dissipated, and the entire team disappeared from the amusement park that was continuously undergoing mutation and distortion.
It seemed no "one" cared about this group's retreat — the strange giant beast and soldiers were already locked in battle with the amusement park itself, with massive noise and the sounds of weapon clashes everywhere, mixed with the chaotic music and broadcast noises echoing through the amusement park.
But suddenly, the sound of iron boots hitting the ground appeared abruptly in the mist. Though not loud, it seemed to penetrate the entire space, making everything quiet.
A tall knight in iron-gray armor stepped out of the thick mist.
He walked slowly forward, heading towards the battling strange giant beast and the amusement park animal sculptures, with only a shadow under the heavy helmet.
His footsteps came to a halt.
A bright red balloon emerged from the mist, slowly drifting in front of the knight.
The knight extended his hand, grabbing the string below the balloon, seemingly examining it curiously.
"Pop."
The balloon burst.
The brief silence ended instantly.
The plastic horse herd, animal sculptures, pirate models, and swings that had grown long legs.
Lion-shaped beasts carved of granite, strange soldiers in tattered armor, and gargoyles that somehow flew down from distant city walls.
Everything pounced in a chaotic roar and noise towards the knight still standing in place.
The knight took off running!