Breathing the fresh air outside, the five felt an unprecedented sense of relief. The sweat on their backs cooled, and their clothes, clinging uncomfortably to their skin, felt strangely welcome.
Outside the room, a row of chairs for resting tourists had been placed. Without hesitation, the five of them sat down.
A moment later, having recovered their composure, Hong Lian looked back at the room with lingering fear.
“Perhaps we should just leave. If that girl comes out again, she might just give us another room to solve.”
“It’s fine. If she comes out, she comes out. And if she wants to find us, as long as we’re still in the amusement park, she’ll definitely find us. This is her home turf.”
Wan Lei leaned back in his chair, gazing at the grand and bustling amusement park before him.
To call it bustling wasn’t entirely accurate, as everything that moved and made noise were the amusement park facilities themselves. There was not a single human voice to be heard.
It was clear that the dozens of cultivators they had seen earlier, including the people who had accompanied them, had all perished.
“You guys really have some luck bonuses. The entire amusement park is dead, and only the few of us survived.” – Da Feng Xin Wen Wang
“Hall Master, you flatter us.”
“Boss, you’re too kind.”
“We are ashamed.”
“Pah, that’s clearly the protagonist’s halo at work.”
Gou Zi scoffed at the good fortune of his three companions.
“Alright, enough chatter. Let’s think about how we can leave this amusement park.”
Fang Xiaoyu stood up, stretched, and then looked at Wang Fei in surprise.
“Wang Fei, what are you doing?”
Everyone turned to look. Wang Fei, who had been sitting in the last seat, was now crouched beside the chair, looking up with his mouth agape.
“Hey, Wang Fei, what’s gotten into you?”
Feng Bing, standing beside him, shook Wang Fei.
“Not Wang Fei. I am a trash can.”
Wang Fei pushed Feng Bing away and continued to look up with his mouth open.
The others exchanged confused glances.
“Has he been memeticized?”
Wan Lei grabbed Wang Fei and slapped him twice across the face.
“Stop! Stop hitting! I’m fine now.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m Wang Fei.”
Released by Wan Lei, Wang Fei looked back at the spot where he had been crouching with trepidation, swallowing hard.
“Is this a meme? It can infect people so silently?”
Gou Zi explained,
“Yes. Memes aren’t just large, monstrous entities. They can also be silent, ordinary-looking things.
These things are highly infectious and can turn everything around them into memes. Anything without logical rules is a meme.
Look, there are only tables here and no chairs. Go stand at the tables for a while, and perhaps you’ll turn into a chair.”
“How can there be such things as memes? They only harm people. If only they could be eradicated.”
Wan Lei said indignantly.
“Not entirely. Occasionally, there are beneficial memes. I’ve seen one before, the Chronal Train. It can traverse the universe, flying faster than immortals. Immortals used it to fly back to the Immortal Realm from the chaotic planes.”
“If only I had a beneficial meme.”
Hall Master Wan, who had just been complaining about memes, immediately changed his tune.
“Who says you don’t? You have one.”
“Me? I have a meme too?”
“Yes. The protagonist’s halo is a meme, and it’s an Alpha-grade fantasy meme at that, incredibly powerful, though with a bit of a side effect.
Back when the immortals hadn’t yet ascended, they went through a mission in a world teeming with memes.
The final task there was to compete for the protagonist’s halo meme.
Their team defeated the opposing Dream Team and successfully seized the protagonist’s halo meme.”
“The protagonist’s halo is also a meme?”
“What else do you think it is? Something that brings you luck without any logic?
It possesses almost all the characteristics of a meme: illogical, ruleless, unreasonable.”
“No wonder everyone went crazy fighting over it the moment it appeared, losing all reason. So that’s the infectious nature of memes.”
“That’s not right. Kid, why is your memory getting worse? Back in the Wood Immortal Secret Realm, when you obtained the protagonist’s halo, I told you it was a fantasy meme. Why have you forgotten all of it?”
“Did you tell me? I don’t remember?”
“If you don’t believe me, flip back to Chapter 335.”
“Damn it…”
“Alright, we don’t need to understand what memes are in too much detail, and we’ll never deal with them again. Let’s focus on how to leave this amusement park.”
Fang Xiaoyu glared at these people who lost themselves once they started talking.
“Okay, same old rule. Let’s analyze first, and find the pattern within these things that lack rules.
That room earlier was a small escape room, and this amusement park is a large one.
As long as we find the clues and solve the puzzles, we can leave here.”
Wan Lei analyzed, snapping his fingers.
Hong Lian nodded repeatedly.
“The three of us have played escape rooms before. The biggest characteristic of these things is to follow their rules. If you break the rules, you’ll ruin the clues.”
“Why didn’t you say so earlier when we were inside?”
Wan Lei tapped Hong Lian’s head and continued his analysis.
“Meng Meng in there said that the hints exchanged for human lives in the amusement park are all correct. Therefore, the first little boy’s words are fake, because they weren’t exchanged for human lives. The ones after are all true.
So, the clue obtained from the people who died in the pool is that the exit is on the left, meaning by the main gate. We need to leave through the main gate.
Then, clearly, we can’t get out through the main gate. Someone died there.
His death wasn’t entirely in vain, at least it exchanged a hint for us.”
“The hint is not to follow the doll sister to the fairy tale park. But we didn’t listen and went anyway. This hint is void.”
“No, no, no, it’s not that hint, but the hidden one. The main gate said, ‘No ticket detected, no purchase record, illegal entry.’
So, if we had tickets, wouldn’t that mean we entered legally and could leave freely?”
“But we don’t have tickets.”
“But we have money, don’t we? We can just buy them!”
“Buy them? Do you want to use spirit stones or gold and silver? What if they don’t accept these things? Wouldn’t we be risking our lives?”
“Then use this world’s money.”
“You want to be like that Meng Meng, pinching your voice and saying ‘xxx treasure, how much has been deposited’? There are security guards there, they have eyes. There are no eyes here.”
“That definitely won’t work, but… I know where there is money.”
“Where is it?”
Wan Lei chuckled and said,
“Far away, but close at hand.”
With that, he strode over to the table and grabbed the handful of colorful banknotes from the drawer.