The Only Player in 'Child of Stardust'

"No."

Zhou Yuan thought of something and slowly put the kitchen knife back.

"We can't kill them."

The amusement park valued positive emotions like "joy," "happiness," and "bliss," while killing was an extremely negative act, obviously not a way to pass the mind test.

"So what should I do? Forgive them generously, and then the whole family happily makes dumplings?

But according to the characters of those two bastards, the rolling pin would probably be used on me instead of the dough."

Zhou Yuan was troubled, and the banging on the door outside got louder, shaking the whole house like an earthquake.

"Open the damn door! Zhou Yuan, did you hear me? Open the fucking door!"

"What's going on?" A female voice sounded.

"The little bastard just won't open the door, damn it!" The man said, kicking the door heavily.

"Zhou Yuan! Open the door!"

The woman screamed sharply, and seeing it had no effect, she began pounding on the door, her tone becoming impatient: "Open the door! Do you hear me!"

"Alright, alright, you won't open the door? Just wait until I get in there!" The man continued to kick the door in a rage.

The neighbors finally couldn't stand the noise and opened their doors, telling them to quiet down, but the enraged couple ignored them and shouted back, escalating into a fierce argument echoing through the hallway.

When he was young, Zhou Yuan would've been terrified by this commotion because he knew it meant he would be beaten that night, but now he could only mock this hellish concert of taboos.

Dragging it out like this wasn't a solution, he needed to think of something quickly...

Zhou Yuan wanted to call the police, but he didn't have a phone at this time, and he couldn't open the Player System in the illusion, so he couldn't use any other tools.

He ran to the window and looked outside; it was the scene of his home neighborhood, exactly the same as in reality. This illusion was quite realistic.

There were quite a few pedestrians below the building and on the nearby street. Zhou Yuan's eyes lit up as he got an idea. He opened the window, took a deep breath, and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Help! Help! Someone help me! I was kidnapped by traffickers! They're taking some strange powder! They're forcing Little Red and other men to sleep with them!"

Hearing this rather criminal accusation, the pedestrians' faces immediately turned serious. They took out their phones to call the police, and many even started running towards the building.

Five or six minutes later, the annoying banging and arguing outside stopped completely, replaced by the stern shouts of the police.

In the next moment, the scene before Zhou Yuan's eyes suddenly twisted and changed.

When he opened his eyes again, Zhou Yuan saw the fluorescent lights of the hospital and immediately felt a heart-piercing pain all over his body.

He had been admitted to the ICU.

It's not over yet...

Zhou Yuan sighed inwardly and shakily raised his hand, tugging at the doctor's coat beside him, as if he could pass away at any moment: "They're... taking some strange powder..."

The doctor's eyes widened, and after saying a few words to a colleague, he quickly left.

Not long after, Zhou Yuan heard a commotion outside.

"What are you doing?"

"Don't move! Hands on your head and squat down!"

"..."

Zhou Yuan couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

Shit, if I had been this clever before, I probably wouldn't have suffered for so many years.

Crack.

A clear cracking sound rang out, the illusion abruptly ended, and the entire world silently lost its colors, fading away like some unexpected bug in a program.

After a brief moment of disorientation, Zhou Yuan returned to the Ferris wheel cabin, facing a high school student with a puzzled look.

[He will appear in the illusion to help you when you need it most, but since you cheated, he didn't get the chance. He is now wondering if he misjudged you, as you don't seem like the kind of person who can easily pass a mind test.]

His gaze turned back to the cabin:

[Your unusual actions diverted the plot from its original path, and because you didn't produce any negative emotions, the Ferris wheel began to doubt itself, so the test ended hastily.]

This...

Zhou Yuan couldn't help but scratch his head. Could that really work?

A moment later, the cabin rotated to the ground, and he opened the door and jumped out.

Looking back, the high school student didn't follow, just smiled and nodded at him before his figure became translucent and vanished into the air.

"Damn, it worked!" Chen Guangxi cheered.

Zhou Yuan searched his body for a moment, pulled out the last key fragment from his pocket, and handed it to Chen Guangxi.

Chen Guangxi was responsible for keeping all the key fragments. She immediately took them all out and began carefully piecing them together.

As the last piece fell into place, a flash of light appeared, and a complete key lay before everyone.

"Send the signal; we're going to the director's office!" Chen Guangxi's golden eyes seemed to be burning with flames.

Finally, they could leave this damn place!

Whoosh!

A bright red flare shot into the sky, bursting into dazzling light in the night sky.

It was the signal to gather!

·

A group of people gathered in front of the director's office door.

"Did you succeed?" The investigators responsible for attracting enemies couldn't believe it. Did it really work?

Chen Guangxi grinned and showed them the complete key.

"We did it, guys!"

"Good, good, I knew I could trust you, Snow Leopard!" Bai Xiao excitedly patted Zhou Yuan's shoulder.

"My name is Wang Zhen, thank you." Zhou Yuan corrected.

"Alright, Ding Zhen, alright, Snow Leopard."

"Come on, can you guys stop celebrating halfway?" Jiang Wuming said with some annoyance, it wasn't a good habit.

"Let's open the door first." Gu Honggao remained calm and composed, but it was clear he was much more relaxed.

Chen Guangxi stepped forward, inserted the key into the lock, and turned it.

Click.

The door unlocked.

She turned the handle and pushed the door open.

It was a somewhat old-fashioned office, and in front of the desk, a person dressed in a mouse costume stood.

The mouse had a classic look, black and white with big ears, but its smile was especially creepy and sinister, making people feel very uncomfortable.

"—I sincerely congratulate you all on completing all the projects of Happy Castle Amusement Park. Congratulations." The Ratman bowed deeply to everyone.

Chen Guangxi was stunned for a while and subconsciously asked, "Aren't you afraid Disney will sue you for copyright infringement dressed like that?"

"Haha, this mascot's original design has long passed the copyright protection period, so I'm not afraid of their legal department." The Ratman laughed.