FPE Chapter 32

The night in the park was dead silent, and the howls of the low-level magic beasts were all trapped within their respective experience zones, unable to carry outward.

It was under these circumstances that the dryads were transported over. They landed near the Purple Lake, with no one around them.

“Naweia, what is going on?” one dryad asked with deep concern.

The dryads’ naming conventions differed from those of humans. Among the three characters in their names, the first and third were their surnames, while the middle one was their given name.

Dryads were a race that lived in close-knit groups. Surrounding the given name with surnames represented the idea that the clan would watch over and protect every one of its members. 

Naweia was not the oldest or the strongest among this group of dryads, but she was the most intelligent and the most cautious. For that reason, Nameia had ordered her to serve as the leader of this group of dryads. Feeling the weight of this responsibility upon her shoulders, Naweia began surveying her surroundings the moment she landed.

They had emerged from a teleportation array. When the last dryad stepped out of it, the array’s light instantly extinguished, and the runes that had channeled its power turned a flat, waveless grey. This meant it was a one-way teleportation array, and that both its activation and deactivation were controlled remotely — traveling back and forth through it freely was out of the question.

Naweia had already anticipated this, and so she merely glanced at it before turning her gaze away. What did surprise her was that there was no one standing guard here, and no one waiting to receive them. All that met her eyes were the dark, empty stretches of open land around them. Could it be that the boss Chi Xiaozhen had spoken of truly trusted them this much? Or was this simply a test?

Although they had signed a contract — one that stipulated Fantasy Amusement Park must provide the dryads with nutrient-rich soil, must not bind the dryads with iron chains, and that no one within Fantasy Amusement Park was permitted to harm the dryads or treat them as slaves — the dryads were ultimately the weaker party. If the humans truly intended to deceive them, they had plenty of ways to exploit loopholes in the contract, and the dryads had been deceived by humans more than once.

The reason Chief Nameia had agreed in the first place was twofold: on one hand, the power that Sal and Chi Xiaozhen had displayed far surpassed their own, and they simply could not afford to offend them; on the other hand, the dryads had been left with no way out, and the woman called Chi Xiaozhen gave them a sense of gentle resilience. She carried the scent of the forest on her, and moreover, as Chi Xiaozhen had said, no matter how dire the circumstances, they could not be worse than staying in a slave camp. And so they decided to take a gamble.

At the same time, Chief Nameia had laid one final test — the condition she had raised about returning to the forest.

As the chief of the dryads, Nameia’s standing among her people was unmatched. As long as she lived, the seed of hope in every dryad’s heart would never wither. In the past, no matter which faction had gotten its hands on the dryads, they always kept a strict and vigilant watch over Nameia. Even when confined within a slave camp, the stone locks and iron chains that bound the chief were always the heaviest and most unyielding of all.

If Fantasy Amusement Park had refused, it would have meant that all the goodwill they had shown before was false — and in that case, even at the cost of their lives, she would never have allowed the dryads to follow them.

If Fantasy Amusement Park agreed, it would have meant that at least half of the goodwill they had shown was genuine — and in that case, the dryads would have been willing to cooperate with them and seek a path toward saving their people.

As it turned out, Fantasy Amusement Park agreed, and the dryads traveled through the teleportation array to Fantasy Amusement Park’s territory.

Their hearts eased slightly, though they did not relax entirely. If anything, the weight of their mission felt heavier than before. Going forward, they would need to observe Fantasy Amusement Park over a long period of time to determine its true intentions. If things proved as straightforward as they had been told, then the dryads would at least have found a safe and welcoming place to take shelter — those of their kin who had been tormented and enslaved by humans, and those who had been hiding scattered in all directions, could all be brought here to rest and recover. But if Fantasy Amusement Park’s so-called work turned out to be a facade concealing darker purposes, then only this small group of theirs would be sacrificed, and the rest of their kin would be spared.

The kin who had come this time were all the dryads from the slave camp in Hava City — thirty-two in total.

Naweia divided them into several small teams to scout the surrounding environment. She herself stayed behind with a few dryads to keep watch over the area.

Before long, most of the information about this place had been passed along through their interconnected root systems.

“I’ve tried it out — the soil here isn’t particularly fertile, but compared to the slave camp, it lacks nothing in nutrients, and the moisture is ample. Enough for us to live healthily.”

“The air here is very fresh. There are many insects and animals I’ve never seen before, all ordinary breeds with no intelligence.”

“Strange — the vegetation here is lush, with flowers and plants growing everywhere, but these species are all unfamiliar to me, and they can’t be communicated with.”

“There are several hills up ahead. To the east there are tall buildings and bright lights, and there’s a strong smell of humans coming from that direction.”

“The extraordinary factors in the air here are very dense, and yet strangely, I haven’t sensed any extraordinary beings in the area.”

“There’s a lake to the south. The scent drifting through the air is sweet and fragrant, but there’s an invisible barrier blocking the way — the roots can’t extend past it.”

When Naweia heard the last piece of news, she let out a quiet breath of relief and said, “It seems this place truly is the habitat Fantasy Amusement Park prepared for us.” The presence of a barrier meant Fantasy Amusement Park had already made preparations in advance — it was not a case of something going wrong on their end and them being abandoned. The latter would not have meant freedom; it would have meant danger. “Quickly scout the full extent of our activity range.”

Before long, the information reached Naweia. “It is 400 tree-li. Anything beyond that is blocked by an invisible barrier — we can see past it, but cannot cross through.”

(Tree-li is the dryads’ unit of area measurement. 400 tree-li is approximately equal to three mu of land.)

Upon hearing this, Nameia nodded. With only 32 dryads, four hundred tree-li was more than enough to give each of them a very spacious living area — several dozen more companions could move in comfortably as well.

“It is nighttime now, and there is no one nearby. The work Fantasy Amusement Park spoke of should be a daytime matter. Let’s rest in place for now.”

With a single word from Naweia, all the dryads let out small cheers, then settled down — some alone, others nestled close together. They drove their roots deep into the earth and drank in the nutrients and moisture they had long been deprived of. Gradually, their bodies fell still, their outlines and features slowly shifting, until they looked more and more like trees with sparse branches and leaves.

And while the dryads drifted into slumber, five furtive figures were clambering over the perimeter wall and quietly sneaking into Fantasy Amusement Park.

They had black stockings pulled over their faces with two holes cut out for their eyes, and each of them carried a heavy woven sack in their hands.

“This park’s doing such good business, and they don’t even have a security guard doing night rounds.”

The five of them had started out cautious enough, but after discovering that no one was patrolling inside the park, they grew bolder. Their backs straightened, and they carried themselves less like intruders and more like they owned the place. The tightly knotted woven sacks in their hands twisted and shifted from time to time — whatever was inside was clearly alive.

It was already two in the morning. The clamor of the small city had long since faded, and not a sound came from the nearby night market street any longer.

They swaggered through the park, and when they spotted a surveillance camera, one of them even gave a little shimmy of his waist — utterly brazen.

“So this place is just the Abandoned Park? I heard it was so great — it’s just a run-down patch of land, isn’t it?” After one of them said this, he kicked the ticketing machine at the entrance. That single kick made his face contort, and he immediately let out a yelp of pain.

The others all turned to look at him. He quickly clasped his foot and explained, “Come over here, quick — something’s seriously off with this ticketing machine. It just bit me.”

The other four laughed at that. “Old Wu, if you’re going to kick it, just kick it. You hurt your foot and now you have to claim it bit you? What do you think this is, a Chinese class? You’re using personification now?”

The group burst out laughing, and the most heavily built man walking at the front immediately snapped at them, “You lot, keep it down — you’ll draw the security guard over.” They hadn’t spotted anyone, but from a distance they had caught sight of the light on in the security booth.

“Boss, you’re way too careful. The security guard’s just some worker earning two thousand yuan a month — you think he’d dare come near the five of us? He’s probably cowering in his booth praying to God, hahaha…”

They chatted as they walked further in. Old Wu lingered behind for a moment, convinced that something really had bitten him just now. But when he looked closely, there was no wound on his foot — so he wondered if the pain had been so bad it had made him imagine things. Still, he had clearly kicked the ticketing machine with the sole of his foot, so why did the top of his foot hurt as though something had bitten clean through it?

The pain in his foot gradually faded. Old Wu felt vaguely unsettled, yet at the same time thought he was reading too much into it, and muttered to himself: Could it be some kind of high-tech gadget?

With that thought, he made sure not to touch anything else from that point on and followed the others deeper into the park.

They passed through the Magic Beast Viewing Corridor and arrived at the Purple Lake. The Purple Lake at the dead of night held none of the charm it had during operating hours — it looked like nothing more than an ordinary lake.

The moon was full that night, so even without a single light on in the park, it posed no obstacle to their movements.

The five split into two groups. Three headed to Jasmine Town, and two went to the Purple Lake.

They wore thick gloves — clearly quite experienced at this. They loosened the mouths of the woven sacks and tipped them outward, and one snake after another slithered out. The snakes instinctively lunged toward the humans, but their tongues flicked out, and upon detecting the powder that had been sprinkled on the men, they turned and slipped away, scattering into every corner of the Purple Lake.

Over at Jasmine Town, where props were plentiful, the three moved efficiently, tipping the contents of the woven sacks into various houses, barrels, wellheads, and corners. When everything had been emptied, they sniggered, “A few hundred snakes — let’s see how this sorry excuse for a park does business tomorrow.”

They gathered up their sacks and quickly scaled the wall, disappearing into the night.

****

“Some humans are coming.”

When those people drew close to the Purple Lake, Naweia sent out this message from within the dryads’ habitat.

Though the dryads had already fallen asleep, years of living in an unstable environment meant that even in slumber they maintained a degree of vigilance. And so when Naweia spoke, the other dryads who had been sleeping opened their eyes one by one. They were in their tree-mimicry state, pairs of dark-green eyes rotating within their trunks — not the least bit beautiful, but deeply, unsettlingly eerie.

“Could they be sent by Fantasy Amusement Park?”

“They have the scent of ordinary humans, but to have entered Fantasy Amusement Park’s grounds, they must have been sent by Fantasy Amusement Park’s owner.”

“What are they carrying in their hands? It smells a little fragrant.”

“Seems like snakes.”

“They really are snakes — they’ve let the snakes loose!”

The dryads’ voices stirred with excitement.

The dryads’ survival needs were largely the same as those of plants, but not every plant survived solely on nutrients from soil and water — just as some plants consumed insects or small animals, dryads too would consume meat when severely malnourished. Insects and birds provided too little nourishment, and large animals were outside their range of prey, so snakes — which frequently moved by clinging to trees — were the finest delicacy on their menu.

Even before being taken into the slave camp in Hava City, the dryads had already been passed through several hands, long deprived of nutrients. The conditions in the slave camp had been even more wretched, and as a result, every single dryad was now malnourished. The soil’s nutrients were being absorbed too slowly to replenish what they lacked in any short span of time — but live snakes were another matter entirely. This fresh flesh and blood was a nourishing bounty for them.

Without even having to think, every dryad instinctively released the scent that drew snakes to them.

Those snakes that had slipped into the Purple Lake, those hidden in barrels and tucked into every room in Jasmine Town — upon sensing this irresistible fragrance, they awakened from their dormant state and sped toward the dryads’ habitat like moths rushing headlong into a flame.

A few hundred snakes were inside the dryads’ stomachs before long.

Shortly after, every single dryad let out a sigh of deep contentment.

A well-fed Naweia felt a warmth spreading through her entire body. The cold sensation of malnourishment was slowly retreating from within her.

“I just counted — three hundred snakes in total. We each ate four just now, and there are 172 remaining. Set the rest aside as our food supply for the coming period of time.”

172 remaining meant each dryad would receive at least five more, but after Naweia finished speaking, several dryads stepped forward to say they wished to give half of their share to those who had been forced to bear fruit.

Though the dryads who had been forcibly pollinated and made to bear fruit harbored intense hatred toward those humans, they still loved their own children. In order to channel nutrients to their young, they were the most frail and malnourished among the whole clan. Seeing more and more of their kin standing up to offer their shares, they accepted with deep gratitude and said, “Once the children are born, I will work hard to catch snakes to repay you.”

Among the three hundred snakes just now, five had been venomous — but for dryads, the venom of poisonous snakes was something they could break down entirely.

Naweia said, “Fantasy Amusement Park’s people previously said they would treat us with respect. I had originally thought that simply not treating us as slaves would already be quite good — but I never expected them to have thoughtfully sent us snake meat. Looking at it this way, although Fantasy Amusement Park’s owner has yet to show themselves, their goodwill toward us is genuinely real.”

The other dryads all nodded in agreement upon hearing this.

In the past, when captured by humans from the Kingdom of Theodore, those people would give them something to eat in order to keep them alive — but it was always mud and water, and sometimes even filthy, foul-smelling wastewater. The soil was not infrequently laced with heavy metal toxins, and more than a few dryads had perished under such poisonous “food.” The park’s owner, by contrast, had not only provided them with a suitable habitat but had also thoughtfully prepared a generous supply of snake meat. This left the dryads, finally full for the first time in a long while, with hearts full of gratitude.

“I think the boss must also know about our situation. If the boss shows up tomorrow, we should make our intentions clear. If the boss doesn’t appear in the next couple of days, then we should focus on resting and recovering, and put our best selves forward when we start work.” The shift from “park owner” to “boss” in her choice of words signaled that Naweia had now accepted Fantasy Amusement Park.

The other dryads nodded in agreement. Dryads were a peace-loving race — when others showed them kindness, they would repay it in equal or even greater measure.

The night grew late. The dryads fell into sleep once more — only this time, none of the wariness from before remained.

****

Inside the Fantasy Amusement Park security booth.

Chi Yizhen had been grinding away for over two hours and had finally finished mapping out the children’s amusement area. He stretched, and his shoulder blades let out a faint series of pops.

“This is really not something a boss should be doing. I absolutely need to find a reliable landscape designer,” Chi Yizhen complained to the game. “Have you ever seen a boss who hunches over a desk working until three or four in the morning every day? Aren’t bosses supposed to sit in their boss chairs and hold court, then spend their free time playing golf, living in big villas, driving luxury cars, and enjoying life? Ugh, I was just born with a workaholic’s fate!”

In response, the game presented a surveillance video in front of him.

Fantasy Amusement Park’s surveillance went well beyond the visible cameras on the surface. In truth, Fantasy Amusement Park — which was already evolving toward a divine kingdom — had eyes watching everywhere within it. Chi Yizhen had just finished his work and was thinking about putting on a drama to relax when he looked up and saw five people dressed like robbers releasing snakes inside his park.

His expression immediately changed.

Anyone with half a brain could see the malicious intent behind this.

He was about to use the park’s power to round up those snakes and grill them, when he saw the dryads admirably draw all three hundred snakes toward them. Watching them fearlessly catch snakes with their bare hands, Chi Yizhen was moved. “Game, the dryads aren’t even on the clock yet and they’re already voluntarily contributing to the park. They really are hardworking and beau—”

His words cut off abruptly, because he watched as the dryads opened their mouths and swallowed the live snakes whole, one after another — eating them raw. And when they were done, they patted their full bellies and remarked what a great boss they had for sending them such a nourishing midnight snack.

Chi Yizhen: ……

He slapped the table. “Absolutely not. That’s too crude and savage — there’s no way guests can see that. What if it scares the children and affects business? I’ll do this right now — no, actually, tomorrow. I am definitely writing ‘proper dining etiquette, and eating away from guests’ sight’ into the employee code of conduct tomorrow!”

Seeing that the dryads had all gone to sleep — a few of whom were even pregnant — Chi Yizhen decisively pushed it to the next day.

He scrolled back through the footage to watch the culprits again and sighed. “Game, tell me — why are there so many bad people in this world? I risk my life running a park just to scrape together a little money, and it’s so hard for me — so why are there so many people who envy that? Even if they drive me out of business, it’s not like they’ll be eating well themselves. Why do people have to make things so hard for each other?”

He stared at the footage. These people had not had a very clear initial target — they had wandered through the Magic Beast Viewing Corridor and the Abandoned Park, but ultimately didn’t make their move in either place. The Abandoned Park was probably ruled out because it was closest to the entrance and the chance of being spotted was highest, while the Magic Beast Viewing Corridor had no real spots to hide anything — and so they had settled on Jasmine Town and the Purple Lake further back.

Jasmine Town had many houses and props, and guests — besides fighting magic beasts — loved exploring the details inside the houses. The Purple Lake had the best scenery, with flowers and plants in full bloom, and guests loved sitting or lying there to rest. Lately, quite a few guests had even been having picnics by the Purple Lake.

Just imagining guests peacefully relaxing and then suddenly having snakes dart out — their souls would be half scared out of their bodies.

Chi Yizhen noticed there were a few venomous snakes mixed in as well. Some guests might assume they were new monsters Fantasy Amusement Park had introduced, and boldly try to touch them, only to end up bitten and hospitalized.

Since the other side had paid people to release snakes, they certainly weren’t stopping at just that. Once a guest was bitten by a snake the next day, multiple media outlets would surely immediately join forces to report on it and expose Fantasy Amusement Park’s “scandal” — traffic would plummet, negative coverage would flood every corner of the internet, and Fantasy Amusement Park would ultimately be forced to pay enormous compensation to injured guests, before eventually shutting down bankrupt with no visitors left. The masterminds behind it would then make a show of swooping in to acquire it, while their paid-off media outlets sang their praises — claiming small outfits just couldn’t cut it and that things were always better under a big corporation’s management.

The end result would be that he and Fantasy Amusement Park’s reputation would be utterly destroyed, while the masterminds walked away with both fame and fortune.

It was no surprise that Chi Yizhen’s mind went there — after all, Fantasy Amusement Park’s most enviable asset right now was its so-called “holographic technology.” Ever since Fantasy Amusement Park blew up, there had been no shortage of people seeking partnerships, and even more hoping to acquire the technology. The incident with the stolen glasses had been small fry by comparison. This time around, he had no idea which company it was, but they had clearly come gunning to drive him into bankruptcy.

What a shame for them — no matter how they calculated it, it was all destined to come to nothing, because Fantasy Amusement Park’s “holography” was fake to begin with!

[What does the player intend to do?]

Chi Yizhen: “First check what species those venomous snakes are, and whether the nearby hospitals have antivenom.”

Game: [They do.] Immediately after, the information on the venomous snakes and the hospitals’ antivenom supplies appeared on the panel.

Chi Yizhen gave a small nod. “At least they still have some conscience left — I thought the other side actually wanted to kill a few people!” 

The game did not agree. [Perhaps the other party simply felt there was no need to escalate things to that level, rather than any genuine concern for human lives. The player is projecting their own values again.]

Chi Yizhen had never once involved human lives in even the most vicious plans he had ever conceived. He paused at that, then nodded. “Fair point. We should assume the absolute worst of people whose hearts are as foul as a sewage ditch.”

[What does the player intend to do?]

Chi Yizhen: “Hold on.” Drawing on the information from the footage, he activated his Foresight ability.

Foresight — as the name suggested — could not only see into the future, but also use objects and other information to foresee details about those connected to them. Through this ability, Chi Yizhen quickly traced the five individuals back to whoever had given them their orders. The mastermind behind this was extremely careful, having cycled through four layers of intermediaries — even if those five were arrested, they would not be able to give up whoever was truly pulling the strings. 

“They even prepared fall guys in advance. Even though I’ve foreseen all of this, I can hardly use that as evidence!”

So what should he do?

Chi Yizhen thought it over for a moment, and soon had a plan.

The next day, Fantasy Amusement Park opened as usual — only guests noticed that a section in front of the Purple Lake had been cordoned off and fenced in, with a sign that read: Children’s Amusement Area Under Construction. Please Do Not Enter.

Fantasy Amusement Park was finally getting a children’s area! The official account hadn’t even made an announcement yet, and netizens were already spreading the good news among themselves.

At the same time, certain unfavorable rumors about Fantasy Amusement Park also began quietly circulating online.