Chapter 171
Chapter 171
Nangong Guo opened several boxes in succession, but each one contained some object made from an unidentifiable material.
Wisely, he refrained from picking any of them up.
Second by second, time slipped away. Then Nangong Guo’s hand stopped as he reached for the next box.
This time, he had uncovered something truly extraordinary.
Another corpse!
Unlike the last one, however, this corpse didn’t have a trace of blood on it.
It had clearly been deep-fried from head to toe and was now completely dehydrated.
As everyone knew, most of the human body was made up of water.
Once every last drop of moisture was gone, the body became terrifyingly small.
Staring at the shriveled corpse curled up inside the box, Nangong Guo felt a chill crawl from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.
Meanwhile, subtle changes were taking place on the ship’s third level.
A faint noise reached his ears, and the box containing the Bone Flute began to tremble.
There wasn’t much time left!
The thought flashed through Nangong Guo’s mind, and he threw himself at the next box.
Luck never came. Even after Nangong Guo opened every remaining box as fast as he possibly could, he still failed to find the key to the iron door.
By then, the entire cabin was crammed with densely packed ghosts and monsters.
When Nangong Guo finally looked up, the sheer visual overload made his brain blue-screen on the spot.
As the first ghost drew near, he could no longer withstand the shock and squeezed his eyes shut.
His helmet drained the water and maintained his oxygen supply.
On the other side of the iron door, a staff member pushed it down with all his strength.
That was right. The thing wasn’t meant to be pushed outward or pulled open.
The correct way to open it was to push it down!
There had never been any need to play the mystery-box game in the first place. The door wasn’t even locked!
Looking at the unconscious Nangong Guo, the staff member secured a rope around him, then tidied up the nearby boxes.
Tsk. The kid had opened every last one.
He must have been devastated when he couldn’t find the key!
After closing the iron door again, the staff member dragged Nangong Guo through a passage and back to the surface.
Professor Wei came over with a small cart and examined him for a moment. Once he was sure the young man was all right, he wheeled him all the way to the beach and lined him up with the other tourists.
They were all sitting in a row… no, lying in a row.
Professor Wei gazed at the water park before him and let out a long sigh.
He hadn’t seen a grand cult ritual in hours.
When was Old Yao going to come relieve him?
This place was so boring!
The tourists weren’t even dropping to their knees anymore!
Meanwhile, Zhang Bei felt a headache coming on as he looked at the trio before him-one adult and the two little ones.
Chi Fu scratched his head awkwardly. “Anyway, thanks for agreeing to help, Boss Zhang!”
Zhang Bei waved him off. “All right. Just remember to pick them up tonight.”
Chi Fu nodded. “Don’t worry, I won’t be gone long. The mission’s urgent, so I have to go!”
The circumstances behind all this weren’t particularly complicated. The two little ones were the orphaned children of a fallen serviceman.
The fallen man had also been one of Chi Fu’s comrades-in-arms. By the time the news reached Chi Fu, three days had already passed.
As the man’s comrade, Chi Fu naturally knew that he had two children.
The moment he received the news, Chi Fu rushed to Dingyang City and found them.
Then an unexpected problem arose.
Before Chi Fu could even finish filling out the application form, an emergency mission forced him to leave the two little ones in someone else’s care for a day.
Chi Fu didn’t know many people in Dingyang City.
Zhang Bei was the only person with both the ability and the time to look after the two little ones.
To put it bluntly, he was the only one with nothing better to do.
Zhang Bei sighed and turned his gaze toward the two young girls.
The two little ones were clearly twins and looked no more than five or six years old.
The older sister wore her hair in a ponytail, while the younger sister had pigtails.
To make them easier to tell apart, Zhang Bei made the very wise decision to call the older sister Dama and the younger one Xiaoshuang.
Both girls were filthy from head to toe, though their faces were surprisingly clean.
It wasn’t hard to imagine how miserable the girls’ lives must have been before Chi Fu took them in.
Dama kept her head down without saying a word.
Meanwhile, Xiaoshuang’s curious eyes roamed all over the Amusement Park.
Dama tugged on her younger sister’s hand. “Don’t be rude, okay?”
Her soft, sweet voice brought a smile to Zhang Bei’s face.
Calling it childcare was a bit of an exaggeration. All he really had to do was keep the two little ones from running off.
Once Chi Fu returned, he would take them away.
It wasn’t much trouble. Zhang Bei simply had no idea how to care for children.
After thinking for a moment, Zhang Bei pressed the button on his radio.
“You Bai, are you there?”
“I’m here!”
“Hand off your work and come over to my place.”
“Yes, Boss!”
It wasn’t long before You Bai appeared in front of Zhang Bei.
“What’s the new assignment?”
Zhang Bei nodded. “Childcare!”
Only then did You Bai notice the two little ones standing timidly off to the side.
So cute!
They were way too adorable!
“Boss, you already have kids?”
Zhang Bei’s expression instantly darkened.
“They’re not mine. That psychologist from last time brought them here. They’ll be leaving tonight.”
You Bai gave her boss a suspicious look.
But a moment later, she no longer cared about any of that. These two little girls were just too adorable!
“How about I take you two to have a bath?”
Dama nodded gently. “Thank you, Big Sister!”
Her soft, sweet voice instantly melted You Bai’s heart. She took the two little ones by the hand and led them deeper into the Amusement Park.
It no longer mattered whose children they were.
As of right now, they had to be hers!
Seeing how much You Bai was enjoying herself, Zhang Bei finally breathed a sigh of relief.
When it came to messing with children, he was something of an expert.
But when it came to caring for them, even ten Zhang Beis wouldn’t be enough.
Thinking about children immediately reminded Zhang Bei of the Human Cannon.
And thinking about the Human Cannon reminded him of the prizes he’d bought last time for anyone who cleared the challenge.
The thought of showering the children with love filled Zhang Bei with enthusiasm. He promptly fetched the prizes and headed over to the Human Cannon.
At a glance, Little Cao’s business was as booming as ever.
After all, a few dozen yuan was all it took to get a taste of skydiving.
As long as a visitor didn’t have a serious fear of heights, it was hard to resist.
A group of children excitedly counted the bills in their hands.
Zhang Bei carried a large box into the open space.
“Any kid who completes the Human Cannon challenge today can come to me for a prize!”
Little Cao’s hands froze in the middle of counting money.
A prize?
Extra income?
A new tutor?
Another round of capital consolidation?
His thoughts raced at lightning speed, and in practically the blink of an eye, he was standing in front of Zhang Bei.
“Boss, what’s the prize?”
Smiling, Zhang Bei opened the box.
Sitting right on top were several copies of Three Years of Gaokao, Five Years of Mock Exams.
That’s right!
The box contained every kind of workbook imaginable, from first grade all the way through high school!
Little Cao stared at the prizes in the box and fell silent.
“Boss, have you really given up your conscience just to make money?”
Zhang Bei stared intently at Little Cao. He absolutely had to correct this child’s misguided worldview.
“If you lose your money, you can always earn it back. But once you lose your conscience, you can earn even more!”
Little Cao’s eyes instantly lit up.
That made perfect sense!
Then there was no need to bother with asset distribution among the other kids.
He could make them compete for their positions instead!
Whoever logged the most ride sessions could receive a larger share of the profits.
Whoever logged the fewest would get nothing beyond their base pay!
Add a comprehensive penalty system on top of that, and wouldn’t the coffers be overflowing?