Dimensional Codex System: I'm really not a cultist!

Chapter 1434: Chapter 1433: Haunted Horror Park (The Uninvited Guests Finally Left)

”So, are you really sure they’ve set up the MOF here?”

Standing at the entrance to the otherworld, Matsubon looked inside at the still rundown facilities that seemed unchanged, and couldn’t help but frown. In its view, this place was still the same as before, a large garbage collection area with no changes at all.

However, Fang Zheng appeared very calm.

”It’s all set. Are you planning to be tourists? Or are you coming backstage with me?”

”Of course, it’s.....”

Matsubon initially wanted to say ”I want to go in and take a look,” but on second thought, the saying ”better him than me” came to mind. Fang Zheng seemed so calm; who knows what kind of tricks they pulled inside? Being the head of the actors, a leader of sorts, losing face in front of the staff, especially those jerks Macaron and Tiramisu, would mean they’d laugh at it forever!

It wasn’t about to fall for that!

”Go backstage to the MOF!”

”Doesn’t matter, let’s just stick to the original plan.”

Fang Zheng genuinely didn’t mind; he just shrugged and looked at the four elemental elf maidens beside him.

”Alright then, get ready and go change over there.”

”Do we have to change clothes?”

Hearing Fang Zheng’s words, Muse felt a bit uneasy, and Fang Zheng nodded in response.

”That’s right, because the upcoming attraction is different from others... changing clothes will help you get into the spirit.”

As he spoke, Fang Zheng glanced at Muse in front of him. The water sprite maiden was wearing what looked like a blue bikini, which accentuated her graceful figure and drew attention—honestly, Fang Zheng thought these four sprites shouldn’t put on children’s plays in the Elemental Hall but instead form an idol group to debut, which would surely bring more popularity to the amusement park.

But speaking of which, if it were an idol group, Muse definitely had the aura of an idol anime protagonist. Although she’s a newcomer, she was diligent, serious, and very obedient. Isn’t this the typical setup for most idol anime protagonists?

”And Salamand.”

At this point, Fang Zheng looked toward Salamand, the fire spirit in the group of four elemental sprites. She was a girl in a red dress with fiery red shoulder-length hair.

Although most people associate fire with enthusiasm and liveliness, Fang Zheng found no such shadow in this fire spirit. She reminded Fang Zheng of a larger version of Gabriel, always looking half-dead, only showing some excitement when browsing the web on her phone.

But come to think of it, many online dwellers are like that—energetic online as if on stimulants but barely saying a word in person... this might be an information society problem.

”Later, install a live-streaming APP on your phone. I’ve left the address in the changing room... you know about live streaming, right?”

”I upload videos.”

”Uploading videos doesn’t really count. Anyway, you can open this live-streaming APP later and broadcast your adventure for everyone to see... Alright, go change clothes now.”

The four sprites obediently went into the changing room and came out dressed, now wearing very simple and plain sailor uniforms rather than their usual indoor theater costumes.

”Excuse me, this is......”

Muse looked confusedly at her own sailor suit, while Fang Zheng stepped in front of them, coughed, and spoke with a smile.

”Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Amagi Brilliant Park. Next, you will enter the Celestial Paradise District......”

Saying this, Fang Zheng handed over four student IDs to Muse and the others.

”You are students from Higashi Private High School, here to investigate some supernatural events occurring in the park.”

”???”

Hearing Fang Zheng’s words, the four looked at each other in confusion, while Latifa curiously asked.

”Lord Fang Zheng, what does this mean?”

”Role-playing.”

As he spoke, Fang Zheng handed over the student IDs and map to them.

”As you can see, this is a ghost house attraction, but it’s different from the previous one. It wouldn’t be interesting for you to just go in, get scared, and then come out. Also, with such a large park, it would be a waste to have just one route. So I came up with this method—before entering the park, we give visitors some clues and goals. They can then use their intelligence to explore and uncover its secrets... like being the protagonist in a horror movie.”

”It sounds fun.”

At this moment, Latifa’s eyes were also shining, and even Matsubon couldn’t help but gasp, exchanging a glance with Isuzu. They were veteran staff at the park, naturally aware of how to attract guests, and Fang Zheng’s idea... even without experiencing it themselves, just listening made it sound interesting!

Compared to the standard ghost house setup, where you just go in and wait to be scared, this exploratory game style indeed seems more engaging!

This idea actually came from the web novels Fang Zheng read because he hadn’t been to an amusement park since growing up, only seen some videos online about how ghost houses in current amusement parks might be different from before... hmm, Fang Zheng remembers that the ghost house from his childhood didn’t even have ghosts. Once inside, aside from some weird-looking things, there were merely some glowing and sounding, ghost-like machines.

As for the ghost house business as portrayed in novels, Fang Zheng wasn’t sure if they were true, but using it wasn’t a problem.

”Salamand, you can start the live stream, and all park staff can watch your adventure.”

Fang Zheng said, clapped his hands, and continued.

”Alright, you can go in now!”

”.........”

Hearing this, the four elemental sprites exchanged glances, with the wind spirit Hilfi gleefully waving her hand.

”Let’s go!”

With that, Hilfi merrily skipped towards the door, while the other three eagerly followed. After all, this type of entertainment was new to them, and they wanted to experience it personally to see the effects.

”Alright.”

Watching them leave, a smile crossed Fang Zheng’s lips. Then, he turned to Chito Isuzu and Latifa beside him.

”Let’s head to the control room.”

The control room at Amagi Brilliant Park is different from elsewhere. There weren’t any cameras, but the screens could easily display each park area’s situation, even switching angles as desired.

As for why, don’t ask—it’s Magic!

Right now, Fang Zheng, Sora, Latifa, Isuzu, and Matsubon have arrived at the surveillance room, quickly pulling up chairs to sit down and excitedly watch the surveillance footage.

At this moment, on the screen, four elemental sprites have arrived in front of the rusty gate.

”Creak........”

The rusty gate wasn’t locked, and Muse just gently pushed it open, causing a screeching sound. This made Muse shiver instantly, and the earth sprite Kobri looked around, glancing at the scene that seemed like an abandoned district, and asked in confusion.

”What should we do next?”

”Let me have a look......”

Muse quickly opened the map in her hand and began to scrutinize it. As an amusement park employee, she certainly knew the layout here, but the map in her hand seemed somewhat old, with several places marked with strange notes. Among them were some inexplicable phrases, like ”A event location”......”B event location”......and the like.

”What is this?”

Looking at the inscriptions and markings on the map of the amusement park, Muse and the others appeared puzzled, yet their interest was piqued, feeling as though it was like a treasure hunt, seemingly quite intriguing.

”Why don’t we head to the A event location first.”

After contemplating for a bit, Muse pointed at one of the target points on the map.

”There’s A, B, C......perhaps they’re arranged in sequence; maybe if we follow the order, we’ll discover the secret among them?”

Muse made her decision, and the others didn’t object, so the four of them followed the map’s directions and ventured deeper into the park.

Gradually, the sky began to grow dim, and more importantly, fog started spreading.

”Whoa......Why do I feel uneasy?”

Looking at the surrounding fog, Muse nervously swallowed some saliva. Being an employee, she had visited the park before, but at that time, it only felt desolate, with nothing unusual. Yet now, with just some fog, Muse felt a hint of eeriness......

”Tap...Tap...Tap...”

The lonely sound of footsteps echoed in their ears; the fog around them gave an ethereal feeling. Strangely enough, the things Muse was used to seeing every day now appeared oddly eerie under the shroud of fog......

Even Silfy, who usually laughed heartily without a care, was silent now, and the other three instinctively drew closer to one another; Salamand held her phone tightly, anxiously observing the surroundings.

However, to the others watching, this seemed rather dull.

”There’s nothing there, kid.”

Staring at the surveillance footage, Matsubon felt bored. It could only see the four elemental sprites walking through the fog, neither scary nor frightening. Matsubon originally thought some staff dressed as ghosts would appear and startle them, but nothing happened; the journey remained chilly and quiet.

”This doesn’t seem scary, MOF.”

”If you think it’s not scary, you can try it yourself, I definitely won’t stop you.”

Christened by Matsubon’s complaints, Fang Zheng gave him a glance and smiled slightly. Jokingly, such methods that suddenly jump out and startle someone were child’s play according to Fang Zheng. They were akin to America’s low-grade gore films—disgusting in excess but not truly terrifying.

True fear is deep within your heart; sometimes there’s nothing, yet you can frighten yourself......

Even at Tenjin Elementary, according to American horror film standards, it wasn’t scary. Although there were corpses inside, they were either freshly dead or already turned to bones. Rarely did anything suddenly frighten people, yet few lasted long without mentally breaking down inside Tenjin Elementary.

Of course, since this is an amusement attraction, Fang Zheng hadn’t intended to truly drive the guests to mental breakdown—most of them were kids from the Heavenly Dao Palace; any troubles would only harm himself.

But using this method to train those kids’ psychological resilience is a worthwhile option.

As for the four elemental sprites ahead......let’s consider them experimental subjects for now.

”.........”

Watching Fang Zheng’s confident demeanor, Matsubon hesitated briefly, ultimately deciding not to retort.

It wasn’t mere stupidity, was it?

Better to wait and see Muse and the others’ conclusion before reacting.

Completely unaware of having been metaphorically sold out by their boss, the four unlucky girls walked through the mist, stopping occasionally until they finally arrived at location A on the map.

”Phew......Why do I feel so exhausted......”

Looking at the map ahead, Muse wiped her cold sweat with her hand. This was odd; although the area wasn’t particularly large, the journey felt like she’d been walking through fog for hours—physically worn out and mentally fatigued.

”This seems to be the A location.”

Holding the map, comparing it to the food truck in front, Muse confirmed she hadn’t gone astray. Then, she approached the truck, carefully examining it.

The truck was merely a common amusement park cart selling ice cream and cold drinks, adorned with cartoonish illustrations. However, this cart was evidently abandoned long ago, with nothing left inside, and naturally no snacks.

”And then what? What should we do?”

”Presumably there’s something inside the truck......”

While the other three were still investigating, the most mischievous among the elemental sprites, Silfy, already ran inside, reaching into the cabinet and pulling out a newspaper.

”Hey, check it out, there’s a newspaper here!”

”Newspaper?”

Muse took the newspaper, glancing at it, and the next moment, her eyes widened.

On the newspaper’s front page, several large characters were printed......

”Mysterious Disappearance Incident Occurs in the Amusement Park!”

The following text spoke of an amusement park food truck employee mysteriously disappearing during work; no one knew where they went, nor saw them leave their post—they simply vanished......

The article consisted only of a few lines, ending with ”Police are investigating,” appearing as an ordinary report.

Yet upon seeing this, Muse’s heart suddenly raced.

Could it be......that the disappearing employee’s food truck is this very one?