In the living room of No. 66 Wutong Road, several heads gathered together, studying the mysterious paper brought back by Erin's mass-produced puppet, including Luna who was originally cleaning on the second floor and Freyia who was sunbathing on the rooftop.Of course, Yu Sheng doubted whether Freyia could understand the contents of the paper—she probably couldn't recognize the words.
Luna's literacy level wasn't high either, but she'd been trying to read and write over this period. After stumbling through the remnants of the writing on the paper, she puzzled over it: "Is it talking about the image, the content?"
"So the graystone behemoth we encountered in the Exotic Realm is the giant beast Glon mentioned on this paper?" Erin scratched her head, "And those towers that suddenly emerged from the fog, are they the high walls of Lodaxim?"
"But why is it a sketch like a child's drawing?" Hu Li was also puzzled, "And it looks like it was drawn by a child."
Erin: "Maybe it's just this artistic style..."
"It's not about artistic style right now, focus on this sentence first," Yu Sheng interrupted Erin's wild guesses, pointing to a line of text on the back of the paper, "Foolish knight."
Erin was stunned for a moment, glanced up at Hu Li.
"Knight!" The puppet jumped up, "Holy cow, could it be the knight we're looking for? Such a coincidence?!"
Yu Sheng turned his head: "Didn't you see that knight when you fought in the amusement park?"
"Didn't see him, and we bailed out pretty soon when things looked grim. Who knows if he showed up later," Erin said regretfully, slapping her palm, "Ah, I should've left a puppet there! Anyway, someone up there would have reimbursed me..."
Yu Sheng ignored the puppet's regretful mumbling and quietly took a photo of the paper, then sent it to Baili Qing along with an explanation of the situation.
After sending, he asked: "Is there any record in the Special Service Bureau's database regarding the giant beast Glon and the high walls of Lodaxim?"
Almost immediately, Baili Qing replied: "No. Such unique terms, if I had seen them, I would certainly remember."
A moment later, Yu Sheng's phone received a long follow-up message from Baili Qing: "I've received the task force report here, and generally understand the situation.
"According to the descriptions in the report, Erin and the others likely encountered a new Exotic Realm that's not documented. This realm overlapped with the amusement park, leading to internal entities fighting each other. This is extremely rare, but considering the wandering knight... this 'wandering' might be the key feature of this invading realm...
"I suspect the wandering knight is highly associated with the foolish knight mentioned on the paper. I guess you think so too..."
Yu Sheng stared at the message on his phone, thought for a moment, then suddenly spoke: "I have to take a look inside that amusement park."
Erin looked up: "How to get there? I've pulled all three of my mass-produced puppets out from there, and there's no beacon left..."
"Sometimes we also go through proper channels," Yu Sheng glanced at Erin, and started sending messages on his phone, "I'll call someone familiar with the route, this time it's an investigation task, need to invoke a smart general."
Saying this, he had already sent the edited message to Little Red Riding Hood: "We need to go to the amusement park, are you coming?"
Erin watched Yu Sheng fiddling with his phone and quietly leaned over to Hu Li, tugging his sleeve: "Hey, do you think I'm considered a smart general?"
The fox girl almost couldn't eat her chicken leg out of the dilemma.
Yu Sheng quickly received a reply on his phone from Little Red Riding Hood: "No way, bro, inviting me to the amusement park so suddenly? But I'm not a little kid anymore, Big Golden Hair might be more interested."
Yu Sheng: "…Exotic Realm 'Amusement Park', investigation task."
Little Red Riding Hood fell silent for about two minutes.
"I'm in."
Soon after, Yu Sheng heard movements from the staircase and turned to see a figure in a red jacket coming up from the basement stairs.
Little Red Riding Hood had a stern face, looking cool.
"I've been to the amusement park many times, familiar with the environment and rules over there... let's go, the entrance is in West City Songhe District. If you've marked coordinates nearby, we can directly open the door; no coordinates, we take a shortcut."
Yu Sheng thought for a moment: "...Then let's take the shortcut, I haven't really been to West City much, perfect time to tell you about the current situation—this Exotic Realm has changed, and the rules you know might not apply."
Over 30 minutes later, in West City Songhe District, by a construction site that seemed to have halted for years, a huge cement pipe suddenly flashed, with several Shadow Wolves emerging out.
"Seriously, don't be so fixated on getting a driving license. If it doesn't work, we can get a vehicle license for the wolves," Yu Sheng grumbled while jumping off a wolf's back, "After all, you're a Spirit Realm detective, commuting shortcuts more often than driving on roads, and you can make the wolves invisible on roads—aren't they faster than cars?"
Little Red Riding Hood kept a stern look, still cool: "No way, I've already paid the driving fees."
Erin was dumbfounded: "Why? Are you going to keep retaking exams until the driving school refunds your fees?"
The nearby Shadow Wolves bared their teeth at the little puppet.
Erin wasn't afraid at all, putting her hands on her hips and huffing back at those much larger Shadow Wolves—until Yu Sheng casually picked her up and placed her on his shoulder.
"This is the entrance to the 'Amusement Park,'" Little Red Riding Hood led Yu Sheng and his group to an unfinished building that was abandoned after reaching the third floor, raising a hand to point at the entrance in front, "Starting from the first step, only step on odd-numbered steps, and when you reach the second floor, you'll enter the underground tunnel of the Amusement Park. On the way back, take the underground tunnel as well, stepping on odd-numbered steps... but big brother, you definitely won't consider returning the same way."
Listening to Little Red Riding Hood, Yu Sheng's thoughts drifted elsewhere. He turned his head, thoughtfully looking at the little puppet on his shoulder and suddenly blurted out, "Then this Exotic Realm Erin can't get in herself, huh."
Erin thought for a while, then got furious, "Yu Sheng! You jerk!"
Amidst laughter and chatter, the group entered the abandoned building.
Upon entering the hallway, Yu Sheng immediately noticed the obelisk device set up by the Special Service Bureau in the corner, with prominent warning signs hanging on the wall beside it.
Near the stairwell, colorful graffiti covered the entire wall—a simple outline of roller coasters and carousels, with an upward slanting arrow pointing along the stairs, alongside a line of crooked large characters particularly striking in the graffiti: "Happy times, take three steps for every two."
Further down, the group saw another line of crooked small characters: "Xu Jiayi was here."
Yu Sheng: "…?"
"When she was younger, Big Golden Hair would sometimes sneak here, dragging along her best playmates…" Little Red Riding Hood gazed at the crooked handwriting on the wall, a complex yet nostalgic expression on her face, "Back then, she was even more reckless, utterly unruly."
"…Played in the Exotic Realm?!" Yu Sheng was stunned, "How old was she then? Wasn't she afraid of dying?!"
"…Tickets to the city Amusement Park were expensive, but the pirate ship and roller coaster here were free. As long as you followed the rules and didn't touch anything like the carousel that had deadly traps, the 'Amusement Park' was considered a rather mild Exotic Realm," Little Red Riding Hood shook her head, "Besides, she'd bring the King over to act as a bodyguard. Of course, even so, she'd still get a beating when she got back, though it didn't stop her from going again the next time."
Yu Sheng listened, feeling a wave of emotions, "…Xu Jiayi was truly a character back in the day."
The group followed the stairs, ascending as instructed by Little Red Riding Hood.
Freyia imitated Yu Sheng, following him, though she was essentially floating in midair; she would still earnestly land on every odd-numbered step with a tap.
Who knew if this would work or not.
At the moment Yu Sheng stepped onto the last step on the second floor, the scene before his eyes transformed.
The dusty hallway of the unfinished building suddenly retreated, the cement layer crackled, and small ceramic tiles flipped from the walls like scales. The floor beneath was covered with stone bricks, slanting up, leading to the end where the underground tunnel's entrance shone with surface light.
Yu Sheng walked forward a few more steps, noticing a warm glow flickering at the edge of his vision.
Freyia floated over from behind, curiously observing her surroundings.
This was her first encounter with something like the "Exotic Realm," at least since she had gained free will.
Little Red Riding Hood tirelessly reminded them, "In short, watch out for the balloons, don't damage any amusement facilities. If that invading giant beast is still around, have Erin find a way to tie it up, and it's best to control it if you can, don't kill it outright unless absolutely necessary…"
As they spoke, the group reached the exit of the underground tunnel, Luna's mechanical eye flickering with a faint blue light, swiftly scanning the surroundings with radar.
"No sign of the, 'giant beast', nor any, particularly active, energy reactions."
A few Shadow Wolves dashed out from the underground tunnel exit, followed by Yu Sheng and his companions.
The sky was dim and overcast, with mist wafting through the Amusement Park. The old amusement facilities stood in the mist, occasionally coming to life with a creaky sound, accompanied by flickering, unstable lights.
Erin sat on Yu Sheng's shoulder, blinking her eyes.
"Hey, wasn't this place just reset so quickly? Where are the stone lion and the Undead Calamity? Such a tall wall, vanished just like that?"
Little Red Riding Hood also looked a bit surprised, but she quickly frowned and shook her head.
"The reset time for the Amusement Park is 12 to 24 hours, it couldn't possibly have completely returned to its original state this quickly. Look over there, the carousel horses are still incomplete, with a pile of debris scattered across the open space."
Yu Sheng noticed the "carousel" debris mentioned by Little Red Riding Hood, and a bit further on, he saw shattered fiberglass sculptures and torn fencing.
These were the remnants of the previous battle.
Little Red Riding Hood's wolf ears perked up: "Be careful, the Amusement Park might still be in 'alert' mode, don't get too close to those operating facilities."