Chapter 183
Chapter 183
Zhang Bei smiled as he watched the driver behind the wheel.
He pulled the toy pistol out of the bag, then began working on the bag itself.
Seeing what his boss was doing, Li Yang thought for a moment and immediately understood his plan. He picked up his own black plastic bag and started working on it as well.
The driver was in an excellent mood. He was even whistling.
This wasn’t a real taxi service. They were a gang that specialized in scamming out-of-towners.
Even the car had been illegally modified.
Naturally, the meter was fake too. The numbers jumped however the driver wanted them to.
Two minutes later, the driver glanced at the two men in the rearview mirror.
What he saw nearly made his heart stop.
Zhang Bei and Li Yang had plastic bags over their heads, with holes exposing only their eyes and mouths.
The moment the driver looked at them, a pistol was pressed against his head.
“Sorry to trouble you. Pull over in front of the jewelry store up ahead.”
Feeling the cold barrel against his head, the driver slammed on the brakes and brought the car to a sudden stop.
“Boss! Boss, let’s talk this out!”
Sitting beside Zhang Bei, Li Yang desperately held back his laughter as he watched his boss perform.
“Can’t you hear me?”
“B-Boss, you can have the car! Just let me go!”
The driver was on the verge of tears. He was just an unlicensed cabbie.
When had he ever experienced anything this terrifying?
Zhang Bei was really getting into character, and his voice took on a sinister edge.
“I told you to stop at the jewelry store. Are you deaf?”
“Wait, Boss! We can talk this out!”
With the gun pressed against his head, the driver started the car faster than he ever had in his life.
He sped the entire way, covering what should have been a five-minute drive in just two minutes before screeching to a halt outside the jewelry store.
“B-Boss, can I go now?”
Zhang Bei sneered. “I’m in a good mood today. Get lost!”
“Of course, Boss! You take care of your business!”
The driver couldn’t care about anything else. He shoved open the door and sprinted away.
Watching him stumble off in a panic, Li Yang finally burst out laughing.
Zhang Bei put the toy pistol away again and opened the door. “Call us a ride. Stop standing there laughing.”
Li Yang took out his phone and began booking one. Thoughtful as ever, he also gave the cab company a call.
After running a considerable distance, the driver collapsed beside a flower bed, gasping for breath.
He watched the streetlights flicker, hurriedly pulled out his phone, and made a call.
“Boss, I ran into some serious trouble!”
“They refused to pay?”
“No! Two lunatics are planning to rob a jewelry store, and they’ve got a damn gun! I left my car outside the store.”
The other end of the call fell silent.
A long moment passed before a voice finally came through.
“Rob a jewelry store?”
“He had a gun pressed against my head! I was scared out of my mind!”
“Come back first. I’ll find out what’s going on.”
After hanging up, the driver glanced toward the jewelry store and shuddered.
Early the next morning, a bus brought the employees back to the Amusement Park.
A light rain had fallen over Dingyang City, leaving the air fresh and clean.
As usual, Zhang Bei lay back in his chair and basked in the morning sunlight.
Chef Li changed into his work clothes and entered the kitchen.
“Boss, when are the people from Future Amusement Park coming to visit us?”
“They should arrive around nine.”
That was right. Since Zhang Bei had already visited Future Amusement Park, it was only natural for him to invite them over in return.
Luo Yi knew this Amusement Park was different from the rest, but he didn’t know exactly how different it was. Otherwise, there was no way he would have accepted the invitation.
After breakfast, the Amusement Park opened for business as usual.
Luo Yi arrived with several employees on a bus that pulled up outside the entrance.
“Manager, is this the Amusement Park that showed us up yesterday?”
“What do you mean, ‘showed us up’? It was an exchange!”
He called it an exchange, but his grim expression made it clear that he was in a terrible mood.
He had already half-lost the challenge he had issued.
If his own employees couldn’t find any problems with their amusement park, this would be more than a matter of losing face.
He would have to seriously consider whether building an amusement park in Dingyang City could ever recoup its costs.
Boss Zhang had the System on his side and hadn’t needed to pay for the land, so his costs were extremely low.
Future Amusement Park was different. Even a single attraction cost a fortune to build.
Once land and labor costs were factored in, they were bound to lose money unless visitor numbers remained above a certain level.
At Future Amusement Park, every amusement park manager received five percent of the year-end profits.
How well the amusement park performed directly determined his income.
The Dingyang City Amusement Park Project had been Luo Yi’s proposal, so it would inevitably be placed in his hands.
Seeing that quite a few visitors had already entered the Amusement Park, Luo Yi’s expression turned solemn.
“Come on. Let’s go in and take a look!”
He led his employees toward the amusement park.
The two men trailing at the back lowered their voices.
“Brother Cai, can just the two of us really pull this off?”
“Why not? Don’t forget how badly we embarrassed ourselves yesterday!”
That was right. These two were none other than the NPCs who had been scared witless the day before.
The one addressed as Brother Cai was Cai Quan, while the other was Xu Zha.
They had two goals for this trip. The first was to have fun on the company’s dime, and the second was to carry the hopes of their entire village as they came to get revenge.
The humiliating video from yesterday had already been uploaded to short-video platforms.
Their masks had hidden their faces, but the sense of humiliation continued to haunt them.
Zhang Bei was leaning back in his chair. The moment he spotted Luo Yi, a smile appeared on his face.
“Welcome, welcome!”
“Sorry to bother you, Boss Zhang!”
“It’s no trouble. What would you like to try?”
Luo Yi didn’t make the decision himself. Instead, he left the choice to his employees.
After all, they were the ones doing most of the testing today. Whether they could find any faults would depend on them.
Cai Quan stepped forward without the slightest hesitation.
“Can we try the Underground Maze?”
Zhang Bei raised an eyebrow. This guy had guts.
“You don’t want to start with the Drop Tower?”
“We just want to check out the Maze!”
“I’ll have one of my employees take you there.”
Luo Yi had brought more than ten employees with him. Now that an attraction had been chosen, they all followed along and entered the Underground Maze.
As a dark horse that had risen out of nowhere, the Dingyang City Suburban Amusement Park had gained a modest reputation in the Amusement Park industry.
These veteran employees had spent years in the industry, so naturally, they had heard of it.
Cai Quan put on his glasses and lowered his voice.
“I checked the forums last night. They said the lower the passage number, the easier it is.”
“Then I’ll choose the lowest one: No. 1!”
“Don’t. We’d better choose passages close to each other.”
“What’s there to be afraid of? I’m going on ahead!”
Cai Quan watched the others walk away and sighed.
“I’ll choose Passage 100. They all tried the highest difficulty tier yesterday. I can’t embarrass myself again!”
“Fine. Then I’ll choose No. 99!”
After finding their respective passages, the two walked inside.
Zhang Bei brought Luo Yi to the Monitoring Room. As he watched the footage on the screens, he fell silent.
Passage 100!
Since the Underground Maze had been built, fewer than ten people had challenged it.
Most of them had only completed one-fifth of the route before collapsing unconscious.
Zhang Bei rubbed his chin. This guy seemed awfully confident. Maybe he could make it a little farther?