Chapter 598: Carnival of Desire [END]

TING!

The system notification echoed through every corner of the Carnival of Desire, passing through walls of bone, winding down darkened corridors, and reaching even the places where light had never touched.

[System]: Notification! The player has successfully cleared the Super Dungeon: Carnival of Desire!

[System]: Recovery process will begin in 30 seconds!

In a dark corner of the factory, a free player crouched in on himself, his hands clamped tightly around his throat. His skin had almost completely turned to candy, layers of rigid translucence encasing every strand of flesh beneath. He could hear nothing but the pounding of his own heart—but when the notification rang out, his ears twitched and his glassy eyes flew wide.

He was still alive.

Beside him, another player was struggling through the contamination as it slowly began to reverse. Patches of candy coating his skin started to crack and fall to the floor like shattered glass, revealing the flesh underneath. He had no idea what was happening. He only knew that the pain was gradually fading, and the light was returning.

Elsewhere in the amusement park, where the neon lights had long since gone dark, Lulu sat huddled beneath a fake tree. The corrupted mascots were no longer bothering it. Ever since the Pig Manager had left, they seemed to have lost their command, becoming dazed and harmless, simply returning their attention to their own duties.

Lulu had no idea how long it had been sitting there. It only knew that Adrian had disappeared, and it couldn't find him.

Then, as if it had sensed something.

Lulu's stuffed body jerked.

It lifted its head, button eyes widening as it stared toward the artificial sky above the amusement park—a murky gray expanse that was slowly becoming clearer.

"Adrian..." Lulu whispered, remembering Adrian's words. Could it be...? Had Adrian really done it?

And then, the darkness around it began to change.

It was nothing like the terrifying darkness that had churned and surged before. This darkness was gentler, like petals slowly unfolding. It rose from the ground, seeped through cracks in the walls, and emerged from the long shadows cast by the trees, blooming into invisible flowers in midair.

Lulu stared at them, those flowers of darkness so beautiful that it forgot to breathe.

Then they fell.

The dark petals drifted slowly downward, touching the ground before dissolving into nothingness. And with them, everything began to change.

The bone walls of the distant castle—the very heart of the nightmare—began to crumble into fragments, disintegrating into ash that scattered on the wind. The rusted pipes carrying Happy Water burst apart, but no crimson liquid spilled from them anymore. They were empty and clean, as though nothing had ever flowed through them.

The corrupted mascots stood dazed amid the ruins. They looked down at their hands—hands that had once been filthy and ragged, now clean and soft. Their fur was no longer matted and tattered, and the wounds across their bodies had healed.

Some of the mascots even found themselves restored to their original forms—cute, bright, and untouched by any trace of corruption or decay.

All the amusement park's residents stared around in bewilderment. They didn't understand what was happening. They couldn't remember what they had been through.

Then the fragments of the castle and factory began to collapse. Not dangerously—not with the violent destruction of a crumbling building, but like a house of cards being carefully dismantled, piece by piece, each fragment drifting gently to the ground before dissolving away.

The amusement park's residents were swept into the vortex of falling debris. They were buried beneath it, but there was no pain. It was as though they were being wrapped in a warm blanket—a gentle ending to their nightmare.

And when the last fragments finally vanished, the light returned.

The amusement park burst into brilliance.

The neon lights no longer flickered wildly. Instead, they cast a warm, gentle glow, bright enough to chase away every shadow. The cobblestone paths were clean once more, while the flowerbeds lining them bloomed with fresh flowers again. Cheerful music drifted from hidden speakers nestled among the bushes, no longer warped into that horrifying, off-key cacophony.

Children appeared from somewhere.

They were no longer shadowy figures without shadows of their own. They were real children, with messy hair and rosy cheeks. They ran toward the mascots with their arms outstretched, their voices bubbling with laughter.

"Bear! Bear! Give me a hug!"

"Bunny! Bunny! Give me a balloon!"

The mascots stared in bewilderment at the children surrounding them. Then, one by one, they bent down and wrapped their arms around the little ones. And for the first time in a very long while, they smiled.

Real smiles—warm, genuine, and filled with joy.

"Hey... wake up."

Lulu jolted when a hand touched its shoulder. It looked up and found a panda mascot standing before it, its round, fluffy face irresistibly adorable, dark eyes gazing down at it.

"Was I... asleep?" Lulu asked, its voice still thick with sleepiness. But it couldn't remember falling asleep.

The panda mascot smiled, its round, fluffy face scrunching up adorably. "You just said someone's name. I couldn't quite hear it."

Lulu frowned—if a stuffed toy could frown. It felt as though it had just remembered something important, yet no matter how hard it tried, it couldn't grasp it. A name... a face... a smile...

"Adrian..." Lulu whispered.

The panda mascot tilted its head. "Adrian? Who's Adrian?"

Lulu fell silent.

It looked at the panda mascot, then glanced around.

Children were playing. The mascots were smiling. The amusement park was ablaze with lights and filled with laughter.

This was the dream it had wished for, for so long.

But it couldn't remember.

It couldn't remember who Adrian was. It couldn't remember what it had been through. All it had was a vague feeling—a strange warmth in its chest, as though it had once met someone important, someone who had done something wonderful for it.

But it couldn't remember.

Lulu raised its two stuffed hands and stared at them. They were clenched tightly. It didn't know how long they had been holding on like that.

It opened its hands.

There was nothing inside.

Nothing at all.

And yet Lulu felt as though it had just dropped something.

It lifted its head and gazed toward the clear blue sky. Brilliant sunlight bathed the world as white clouds drifted lazily overhead.

A strange feeling stirred within it—as though someone was out there, someone who had said goodbye to it, yet whose face it could no longer remember.

"Panda..." Lulu said softly, almost as if speaking to itself. "I think... I was looking for you."

The panda mascot smiled, its dark eyes curving into crescents.

"Then," it said, taking Lulu's hand, "let's go play together."

Lulu looked down at the plush paw wrapped around its own. That warmth returned, and it smiled.

"Okay."

Together, they walked into the amusement park, where children laughed and played, where neon lights flickered overhead, and where laughter echoed in every direction.

Behind Lulu, a gentle breeze swept past, carrying with it a faint scent—the scent of darkness, of distant stars, mingling with the sunlight and laughter as though joining in the celebration.