FPE Chapter 40

Utterly Unreliable

“We hope you will consider carefully. We will return at this same time tomorrow.”

After the strikingly beautiful woman finished speaking, she and the male human transformed into a streak of light and vanished before Hohochi and the other dwarven elves.

The clanspeople around Hohochi let out cries of astonishment, some higher-pitched and some lower.

Humans were different from them. Although human extraordinary abilities came in great variety, humans needed to cultivate and study them after birth, and some humans might go their entire lives without mastering even a single extraordinary power. Yet the extraordinary abilities of this human man and woman before them numbered at least two each.

The magic beasts that had poured out from the abyss rift caught the scent of fresh flesh and blood and began approaching again, so Hohochi and her clanspeople had no choice but to retreat back into the underground caves.

She quickly summoned the clanspeople who managed the various districts of the tribe.

The dwarven elves currently numbered one hundred and fifty thousand in total. These one hundred and fifty thousand clanspeople were divided into fifteen towns, each managed by the most intelligent and powerful clansperson as its mayor.

At that moment, the fifteen fluffy dwarven elves gathered in Chief Hohochi’s cave hall. They sat in a circle, some whispering discussions with those beside them, others putting forth viewpoints in heated debate. On the matter of whether to accept Fantasy Amusement Park’s proposal, no unified opinion had been reached in a short time.

A dwarf elf with white fur twitched its whiskers and said, “I have never heard of a place called Fantasy Amusement Park anywhere on the continent. Can they actually deliver on their terms?”

Hohochi said, “They say a contract can be signed.”

Another dwarf elf with grey fur said, “Teleportation arrays are very expensive. Our clan, over all these years, has only one teleportation array leading to the continental transit hub. Even when unused, just maintaining it costs a considerable amount of extraordinary power every year. Yet they casually talk about building two teleportation arrays — they seem to be very wealthy.”

Hohochi said, “According to Miss Chi, their Park Director commands twenty thousand warriors who possess extraordinary power.”

The moment those words were spoken, every fluffy creature present drew a sharp breath, making sounds that conveyed they could not afford to offend such people.

Although members of extraordinary races were born with extraordinary power, it was widely known that human extraordinary beings were generally more powerful than extraordinary races and far more difficult to cultivate. Twenty thousand of them — what did that even mean? It meant that the owner of Fantasy Amusement Park commanded at minimum several hundred thousand human soldiers at their disposal.

A black fluffy one murmured, “One strong human soldier can already take on a single dwarf elf in a one-on-one fight. Several hundred thousand… Chief, we cannot afford to offend them! Human powerful beings are generally arrogant — if we refuse them, would they send soldiers to attack us?”

Hohochi said, “They cannot do that. Five hundred years ago we entered into an alliance pact with all the races. We stand at the frontlines guarding the abyss rift, and the other races cannot encroach upon us.”

That was what was said, but among humans there were far too many crafty and deceitful elements. A direct attack may not be allowed on the surface, but if they secretly assassinated several important figures among the dwarven elves, there would be nowhere to go to seek justice.

Thinking along these lines, the group of fluffy creatures huddled together trembling, and Chief Hohochi herself felt a pang of unease as she licked her own claws.

In the end, Hohochi said, “Let us first agree to Fantasy Amusement Park’s terms! As long as they complete the teleportation arrays, we will agree to send thirty clanspeople over. Hoho’an, you go and contact the extraordinary races we are on good terms with and ask them to send representatives to serve as witnesses.”

A rustling and stirring echoed through the cave as the fluffy ones moved into swift action…

****

Back at Fantasy Amusement Park, Chi Yizhen withdrew the two character cards. To any outside observer, it appeared as though he had simply dozed off for a while in the security room.

He raised his wrist to check his watch and found that it was already six o’clock in the afternoon. The children’s area had closed, and most of the staff were due for their shift change.

Fantasy Amusement Park’s operating hours were from eight in the morning to nine at night. After six in the afternoon, some employees would stay on until evening while others clocked off and went home.

“Meng Le, why are you still here? Your shift ends at five in the afternoon.”

Different jobs at the park had different working hours. Design work like Meng Le’s was the standard nine-to-five, while Meng Xiaodai worked from eight in the morning to six in the evening — and of course their pay differed accordingly.

Only when she said this did Meng Le come back to her senses. She said apologetically, “I got inspired for a moment and lost track of time.” The main thing was that her previous job had ended at six, and since it was her first day at this one, she had subconsciously assumed the same.

Meng Xiaodai did not think much of it. She continued typing away and said, “Then remember to let the accountant know when you leave, otherwise you won’t get your overtime pay.”

Meng Le nodded, accepting the kind reminder. She stretched lazily and, seeing that Meng Xiaodai was still busy, asked whether she was not clocking off.

Meng Xiaodai said, “I am working overtime today, leaving when the park closes tonight. The boss just sent a message saying he wants to do a Qixi Festival event, and that the restaurant is to open on Qixi day itself — couples get twenty percent off, or something like that…”

Meng Le was shocked. She looked at the design on her computer, then looked at Meng Xiaodai, and stammered, “But — Qixi is in three days!”

Meng Xiaodai responded with a casual hum. Seeing that she seemed unconcerned, Meng Le could not help but remind her, “Our park’s restaurant hasn’t even broken ground yet!” Let alone breaking ground — she had not even finished the design drawings.

Meng Xiaodai said, “Can you finish the design drawings tomorrow?”

Meng Le nodded. “The draft is already done, but…” She was not sure whether it would pass the Park Director’s approval.

Meng Xiaodai said, “Then it’s fine.” She continued to herself, “Finish the design drawings tomorrow, build the restaurant the day after, open for business the day after that — perfect.”

Meng Le: …

Do you even hear yourself? Does that sound reasonable to you?

At that moment her phone chimed — the official Fantasy Amusement Park account she followed had posted a new update.

v Fantasy Amusement Park: Love Gathers at Qixi, Joy Fills the Park. Dear family, our park is running a Qixi Festival event! 

Event 1: Visitors may use their entrance tickets to participate in a lucky draw. Third prize: one 50%-off ticket voucher; second prize: one limited-edition flower crown; first prize: one fairy companion experience. 

Event 2: On Qixi Festival day, our park restaurant is grandly opening! Couples dining together get 20% off; married couples dining together get 30% off…

Fantasy Amusement Park now had a very large following, and cloud visitors from all over the country were plentiful. Not two minutes after the update was posted, the comment section was already buzzing.

“Yuanyuanzi, when will you ever understand my heart? Third prize is just a 50%-off voucher — is that what I’m lacking? It’s half a ticket — what I need are monster-hunting tools!”

(TL: 园 ‘yuan’ = park)

“To the commenter above: the tragic luck player who has played over a dozen rounds and still hasn’t gotten a single tool is crying on the bathroom floor.”

“Wow, second prize is a flower crown and first prize is a fairy! I’m going to mobilize my whole family to buy tickets for the draw. Only heaven knows how long I’ve been envying the children’s area flower crowns and fairies! Please hold more draw events like this in the future!”

“Is anyone paying attention to the restaurant Fantasy Amusement Park is about to open? Wonder what food they’ll have.”

“Finally a restaurant. Before this, when the whole family went to play, we’d go in early in the morning and then have to run outside just to eat lunch at noon — so inconvenient.”

Meng Le: …

Meng Le covered her face with a pained expression. “Why — why did you post it so fast?”

Meng Xiaodai said matter-of-factly, “The boss told me to post it now!”

Her utterly composed expression made Meng Le feel as though the two of them were on entirely different planes of existence. The point isn’t whether the boss said to post it — the point is that the restaurant needs to open in three days! And the park doesn’t even have a finished floor plan for it yet!

Even if — even if the boss has some special technology that lets the construction crew finish a restaurant in two days — what about the chefs? The cutlery? The tables and chairs? The menu? How can you open with nothing in place?

Just thinking about the update Meng Xiaodai had just posted, Meng Le felt like a student who had a university entrance exam in two days but had not opened a single book. She sank into anxiety and panic.

She quickly sent her design draft to the boss and tried to casually bring up the matter of the restaurant.

Before long, the boss replied, “This design won’t do. We need something grander — the restaurant should be three stories, and double the floor area.”

Meng Le said, “…Boss, the restaurant needs to open in three days. How about we just build a simple single-story building?”

The boss said, “Ah, don’t worry about it. Building a restaurant is quick — a matter of moments. You just focus on the design drawings.”

Meng Le: …

She was starting to wonder if she was dreaming.

Gulp, gulp. Meng Le downed a full glass of water and picked up her mouse again. She decided to work overtime that night to finish the design drawings.

Three days! Only three days left! Even though her colleagues and boss were completely unreliable, as a designer, this was all she could do.

She could only hope that three days from now, visitors would look past the park’s incomparable technology and forgive its unreliable boss.

Amen.