Chapter 194: Tourists Killing Each Other?

"When is this ever going to end?!"

Lin Yun felt herself on the verge of collapsing all over again, right there on the spot.

Especially after she thought she’d worked through most of the locks, only to turn and realize she’d actually only tried about a fifth of them.

That particular sensation, of the sky caving in over and over, kept repeating itself.

Nobody else could possibly understand what that particular feeling was truly like.

"There are just so many locks here, I’d have to work the whole day through, without eating or drinking at all, just to try them all!"

What Lin Yun feared most was the possibility she’d be unlucky enough to only find the matching lock after trying the very last one in the room.

[...It’s all right, host, I believe in you.]

[Keep going, you’ve absolutely got this!]

Lin Yun said nothing in response.

She pulled out a bottle of water, gulped down a few mouthfuls, rested briefly, then got herself back up once more to keep trying.

Some of the locks hung quite high up, so Lin Yun had to ask Sang Biao and Tuan Tuan to help her reach them on tiptoe.

Huh?

Lin Yun suddenly snapped back to her senses, stunned. Didn’t she still have other helpers available to her?!

"Little Vine, can you use your own vines to form a shape similar to this key?"

[I don’t know, but I’ll certainly give it a try.]

Ghost Vine took the key and tried once, but still couldn’t quite figure out how to replicate the shape.

"All right, so wrap the key up tightly within yourself, then encourage your vines to grow in tight around its exact shape, understand?"

"Then hold still. I’ll put the key back into my backpack. Right where the key sits, I want you to grow a vine that fills that exact empty space, got it?"

In short, she meant to use Ghost Vine as a kind of mold.

Since they lacked proper tools or conditions right now, this seemed like the only real option worth trying.

Ghost Vine seemed to grasp the idea at once, and used its vines to wrap tightly around the key.

[Okay! You can pull the key back out now!]

Lin Yun rested her hand on the vine, discussed it with the system, and with the system’s guidance, slipped the key back into her backpack.

Ghost Vine’s vines were stimulated into growth right where the key had been.

[It’s happened again! Looks like it actually worked this time!]

The vines rustled excitedly, practically urging Lin Yun to hurry and check them right away.

Lin Yun carefully pried the vine open, and sure enough, a vine-shaped key emerged. It was somewhat rough, but bore a striking resemblance to the real thing.

She turned her head, spotted a lock with a similar keyhole nearby, inserted the vine key, and tried it — it held together sturdily enough.

"Little Vine, you and Tuan Tuan team up together, all right? Let’s start searching from the right side of the door."

Having watched Lin Yun work for a while, the two of them already understood exactly what needed doing.

Since Ghost Vine had just successfully crafted one vine key, it simply went ahead and made several more using the very same method.

With plenty of vines at its disposal and nothing better to do, it had each vine grow its own key and try it out in turn.

However, since this process required real skill and precision, Ghost Vine couldn’t spread its attention across too many vines at once — it could only manage five searching simultaneously.

Sang Biao and Tuan Tuan, being four-legged creatures, didn’t have claws nearly as nimble as human hands or Ghost Vine’s tendrils, so they helped wherever they reasonably could.

Still, with Ghost Vine now joining the effort, their overall efficiency improved dramatically.

...

The tourists continued their search upward, moving floor by floor through the castle.

Besides Rose and her two companions hidden somewhere in the castle, the survivors from the dungeon, and Lin Yun, Song Xizheng, and Tong Yin who’d arrived afterward, no other humans remained in the castle at all.

Once they reached the fourth floor, the tourists who’d forced their way into the castle paused in their tracks.

"We’ve been searching for so long now, so why is there still no one on the upper floors?"

"Could it be that everyone’s actually still over at the amusement park?"

"That doesn’t seem right, though. Weren’t those little vests supposed to be resting here at the castle? There has to be someone around here somewhere, right?"

"But it turns out that besides the ones we already ran into, there aren’t any other humans left here at all."

"No way? Did we really come all this way for absolutely nothing?"

"Whether or not there’s anyone left upstairs, let’s go check it out ourselves first. What if there actually is someone? Humans can be awfully cunning creatures, after all."

"Funny you’d say that, considering you’re not exactly human anymore yourself."

"What’s that supposed to mean? You want to start something?"

As the tourists bickered amongst themselves, the atmosphere grew suddenly tense, as though a fight might break out between them at any moment.

"What’s the matter? Want to fight about it? Come on, then, let’s go."

"You deserve to die for that!"

The mocked tourist immediately lunged forward and began brawling with the one who’d been needling him.

Although they belonged to the same kind, fierce competition still raged among them constantly.

The stronger among them could eat more and grow stronger still, in an endless cycle.

Meanwhile, the weaker ones naturally remained weak, trapped at the bottom.

So they’d fight at the slightest provocation, holding absolutely nothing back, perfectly willing to beat one another to death without hesitation.

Whenever one of their own kind died, the rest got both a quick meal and one fewer competitor to worry about.

Previously, they hadn’t been permitted to attack their own kind within the amusement park’s bounds, but now everything had changed.

With the old rules no longer able to restrain them, they naturally turned on each other under all sorts of circumstances now.

The tourists’ little farce finally came to an end once they’d devoured two of their own kind between them.

Having replenished their energy, they no longer cared one way or another whether anyone remained in the castle, and simply continued their search further upward.

As far as they were concerned, this park would soon become a place any kind of creature could freely enter, rather than remaining exclusive to their own kind.

Rather than let outsiders of a different kind claim this place for themselves, they’d much rather seize it for themselves first.

By the time they’d made their way up to the sixth floor, Song Xizheng, who’d just stepped out of his room, noticed something was clearly wrong.

Why was there such a loud commotion coming from downstairs?

Could it possibly be... that the tourists had discovered the door that had been left open earlier?

That would be terrible! Sister Lin was still up on the top floor!

If the tourists barged in and disrupted Lin Yun’s mission somehow, how would the two of them ever escape unscathed afterward?

The thought alone was enough to send Song Xizheng spiraling into anxiety at once.

He hurried toward the top floor, setting up a variety of improvised traps along the stairs as he went.

He scattered some small round beads across certain steps, and poured a makeshift mixture of foamy liquid across others.

He’d considered using transparent tape to create an obstruction, but tearing tape would be far too loud, and Song Xizheng worried the tourists might hear it and rush straight up, so he abandoned the idea.

Still, he hadn’t traveled through all those previous worlds for absolutely nothing — he had plenty of other tricks up his sleeve!

Song Xizheng continued setting up traps along the stairs from the seventh floor all the way up to the tenth.

He froze the moment he stepped out of the stairwell.

Why were there so many black monsters gathered here?! Weren’t they supposed to stay invisible during the daytime?!

The black monster glanced his way and, sensing the aura radiating from him matched that of the girl who’d passed through earlier, abandoned any thought of attacking him.

Song Xizheng didn’t dare move rashly, terrified the black monster might attack at any moment; he’d already witnessed firsthand just how terrifying these creatures could be.

However, several long minutes passed, and the black monster still showed absolutely no intention of attacking him whatsoever.

During those tense few minutes, Song Xizheng suddenly thought of something.

"You’re not going to attack me, are you?"

The black monster standing at the front heard his voice, glanced over at him, and paused thoughtfully as though considering what he’d just asked.

It then shook its head firmly, once and for all.

No, apparently, it had no intention of hurting him at all.

Bonus Chapter. I hope you enjoy reading it. ⁦(⁠/⁠^⁠-⁠^⁠(⁠^⁠ ⁠^⁠*⁠)⁠/⁩