CH 96

Translated by: Dust bunny

Edited by: Crooked 

There was a female ghost weeping in his ear. The sound was quite pitiful, but that green and purple face was not.

As the female ghost cried, blood flowed down its cheeks leaving behind two streaks of blood causing it to look even more terrifying than before.

“Care to join in?” Gu Xizhou invited Si Yu to beat up the ghost with him.

Disbelief was written all over the female ghost’s face—You’ve gone too far, ah! You’re insane! Even though you’ve already beaten me, you still call someone to join in? 

Si Yu looked at that female ghost indifferently and said mildly, “No thanks.”

Female Ghost: “Wu wu wu wu.”

Gu Xizhou continued to beat up the ghost and Si Yu’s gaze swept indecipherably across Gu Xizhou’s face and the corner of his mouth turned up.

The female ghost, who was cornered by Gu Xizhou, covered her face with her hands and accused, “You have no face, you beat up a woman!”

Gu Xizhou: “You are not a woman.”

The female ghost felt wronged and puffed up its chest, “How is it my fault that you’re blind, ah!”

Si Yu retracted his gaze from Gu Xizhou and shot it a look, saying coldly, “You really aren’t a woman, you’re a female ghost.”

Female ghost, “……” 

While Gu Xizhou beat up the ghost, Si Yu tried to piece the clues together. The two essays showed that the child’s mother was responsible, while the father was not competent. However it would be too black and white to conclude that the child liked his mother and not his father.

The 《My Dad》 essay really had been corrected many times, but for what reason?

He furrowed his brows and thought it over for a long time. From inside the haunted house came another mournful shriek.

Kuang dang— 

It was the sound of someone falling down.

Ka ka ka.

Ka ka ka.

It sounded like bone being chewed, as if someone was having a meal and chewing food. In the dark such a sound would cause someone to get goosebumps, and feel a chill down their back. 

Listening carefully to this sound, Gu Xizhou wanted to go look for the source, but Si Yu shook his head.

Si Yu: “We cannot go through if we are not in the same passageway.”

Xe Wlhtbe fc-fv, jcv lcmilcfv tlr tfjv… Xe Wlhtbe vlvc’a xcbk ktfc atf ofwjif utbra tf tjv mbgcfgfv tjv gec boo. Xe Wlhtbe’r ilqr megnfv eqkjgvr, atf vfqatr bo tlr vjgx fsfr ecojatbwjyif.

Vfflcu Xe Wlhtbe’r gfugfaoei fzqgfrrlbc, Vl Te ktb klacfrrfv atf ofwjif utbra rcfjxlcu jkjs, abbx Xe Wlhtbe’r tjcv jcv qeiifv tlw jkjs, rjslcu, “Yeg alwf’r jiwbra eq, kf rtbeiv ifjnf, yj.” 

Gu Xizhou turned to glance into the depth of the haunted house and gave him a slight nod, “Okay.”

A long time after they left there was a sound in the dead quiet of the passageway.

“Are they gone, ba?”

“It seems like they are…” 

“That scared me to death. How can people like that exist? When we were alive and worked in the amusement park, we were beaten by visitors, and we can still meet them when we die… it’s truly too much!”

Going from a dark area to a light one, their eyes needed some time to adjust. Gu Xizhou came out of the haunted house and immediately raised a hand to shield himself from the sun, it took him a moment to adjust to his surroundings. Gu Xizhou looked around and saw that he and Si Yu were the first of their group to make it out.

Some time later, Gu Xizhou saw Ma Qi and Ye Shu come out holding each other by the hand.

On coming out of the house, the two people subconsciously released their clasped hands. Seeing their behavior, Gu Xizhou and Si Yu simultaneously turned to look at eachother. Two pairs of eyes met and the atmosphere turned a bit awkward. 

The two people holding hands… their hands were already somewhat sweaty and they let go simultaneously.

Si Yu released Gu Xizhou’s hand, clenching his fist tightly. It was like he could feel the temperature of another person on his palm, and he moved his gaze to look elsewhere. Si Yu’s action was somewhat deliberate.

Unexpectedly, Gu Xizhou didn’t care. Instead he waved Ma Qi over. “You made it?”

Ma Qi nodded without speaking, shaking as he looked for a place to sit down. His appearance was haggard, and his hair damp with cold sweat. Who knew what he had seen inside. 

“What happened?” Gu Xizhou asked.

Ma Qi’s Adam’s apple bobbed slightly, and after a moment he was calm again, as he explained, “…Those ghosts always come out of nowhere. One moment they’re tugging on the cuff of my trousers, and the next they’re putting a hand on my shoulder. They appear and disappear unpredictably. One time there was even blood that appeared on the ceiling!”

Ma Qi pressed his hand to his head, and it came away red with blood, “Look at this, one drop and my whole head was covered in blood! Fortunately my heart is strong enough… Otherwise I would have been frightened to death!”

Gu Xizhou turned to Si Yu, communicating through their eyes— 

Gu Xizhou: Why was there only one female ghost in my passageway?

Si Yu: Probably because the other ghosts saw you beat it up and didn’t dare to come out, ba.

Gu Xizhou: ……

Ma Qi saw Gu Xizhou and Si Yu giving each other weird looks, and felt a little exasperated. “You… nevermind, you two have a lot of courage, I know.” 

Ma Qi felt that he had found the wrong people to vent to. He rubbed his eyebrows and thought that he had no common language with Si Yu and Gu Xizhou. These two dared to sleep in the same room as ghosts.

Of the first five groups of ten people, who knew the rules, only six people came out. Two of the second group of ten people failed to come out. The third group was fine. The girl who was alone came out handcuffed to Ma Qi was more scared than hurt.

They found a third essay, and Gu Xizhou looked over the contents carefully.

《What are you going to do this weekend?》 

This weekend I am going to go to an amusement park. I want to play on the merry-go-round, bumper cars, haunted house, big pendulum, drop tower, flume ride, roller coaster, and ferris wheel. I want to go on all of the rides!

I want to have so much fun, but I don’t want to go to the amusement park just to play.  I also want my mom and dad to spend more time with me.

Surely the amusement park can help me with my goal!

A-Ke only glanced at the contents before her face turned slightly pale, and her footsteps became uncertain. With great difficulty, she had just managed to exit the haunted house only to see all of the rides written out by the child. Her thoughts went blank. 

Still playing, isn’t this just tempting fate?

There were several other people like her. They looked at the very tall rides. These weren’t rides, they were essentially large scale meat grinders.

“Fuck, why are there so many… We only have three spots left. Seventeen of the thirty-six people remain, if we go on all of these rides… I’m afraid none of us will leave this damn place alive!”

“Exactly, ah! It doesn’t give us a way to live!” 

Gu Xizhou turned to look at Si Yu who was lost in thought, gently nudging Si Yu’s shoulder with his. “President Si, what do you think?” he said quietly.

“What? What did you say?” Si Yu looked a little lost, his face blank and helpless.

Gu Xizhou replied naturally, “The contents of the third essay of course. Did your mind wander?”

“En,” Si Yu didn’t deny it. He pressed his lips into a thin line and looked at Gu Xizhou absentmindedly. He stretched out a bony hand to the teammate holding the essay and said, “Let me see.” 

Si Yu closed his eyes slightly, looking at the contents of the essay carefully. He handed the essay back and said, “There really are a lot, but the mission world won’t make us take all of these.”

Lu An listened to the certainty in his voice and asked strangely, “How can you be so sure?”

Si Yu put his hands in the air, “Although I only saw the child briefly, he is definitely no more than one point two meters tall. A child less than one point two meters tall will not be able to go on most of the rides. For example the roller coaster etc.”

Gu Xizhou glanced at him, then they all waited for a moment, but the next ride didn’t appear on the ticket. After discussing it, they decided to act separately to look for traces of the child. 

After ten minutes, still no new ride appeared on the ticket. Gu Xizhou and the four of them looked at each other in dismay.

Gu Xizhou furrowed his brows. “What does this mean? Are the clues we have already enough?”

Gu Xizhou raised an eyebrow, “He wrote three elementary school essays, told us he doesn’t like his dad, likes his mom, and that his parents don’t spend a lot of time with him… But, it has nothing to do with his death. I think his death should have something to do with the amusement park and it’s employees.”

Si Yu glanced at him and waited for him to continue. 

Having received President Si’s approval, Gu Xizhou felt a little happy and immediately brought forward his own theory: “For these ghosts, death is liberation. Ghost visitors can line up to die, but the employees can’t die; they have to stick to their posts. This is a kind of punishment in disguise.”

Si Yu furrowed his brows slightly. He didn’t recall having this impression, so he couldn’t help but ask, “Do the ghosts working in the amusement park also want to die?”

Gu Xizhou nodded without hesitation, “Yes, I asked them when I went to jump the queue.”

Si Yu furrowed his brows, revealing a pensive look, “It should be that he had an accident the day he went to the park which led to his death.” 

Gu Xizhou looked around. They still hadn’t found any traces of that child.

He furrowed his brows, staring at the ticket for a long time.

Kuang dang—

A ghost from the big pendulum was thrown off. He died at Si Yu and Gu Xizhou’s feet, head squished on the ground and legs still slightly twitching. He couldn’t be anymore dead. It appeared that he was already dead and could not die anymore. 

Gu Xizhou and Si Yu looked at each other at the same time and Gu Xizhou said, “The child died on the fourth ride of the amusement park!”

“Correct.” Si Yu nodded.

As soon as the two said this, blood red lines began to form characters on everyone’s tickets.

—Gege/jiejie, can you guess whether I like my mom or my dad? (Note: if you can answer Tong Tong’s question correctly in five seconds you will get a hint from Tong Tong, if you are wrong, you will die. 0/17) 

The second essay they got was《My Dad》, from how many times it was revised, it wasn’t hard to guess the child’s attitude towards his father. Gu Xizhou wanted to answer, but he felt that something was wrong and couldn’t answer.

Si Yu was faster than him and raised his hand to cover Gu Xizhou’s mouth, apparently afraid that he would try give a random answer.

To like dad, but still like mom? To amend the essay… to amend the essay.

Si Yu replied to the question on the ticket in a low voice, “You like both of them.” 

The second person to reply was Ye Shu, her soft female voice only a little slower than Si Yu’s, but her and Si Yu’s answers were exactly the same.

—Congratulations on your answer.

Hint: Ferris Wheel

Gu Xizhou and Ma Qi immediately copied their answers on the back of their tickets. 

After answering the question, the same hint appeared on the back of Gu Xizhou’s ticket. However, with no idea why the answer was right, Gu Xizhou asked in a low voice, “Why is the answer both? The second essay was clearly written over and over again!”

Si Yu, “Have you ever wondered why he rewrote it?”

Gu Xizhou: “……”

Si Yu, “The child didn’t want others to know his father’s bad side. He hid it out of love.” 

Gu Xizhou’s head hurt, so it was rewritten out of love… Those word left behind are harmful!

Gu Xizhou began to think about how many people this question would kill… Soon Gu Xizhou’s misgivings were confirmed, because only eight people came to the ferris wheel.