621: Chapter 621: The Disappearing Joker 621: Chapter 621: The Disappearing Joker Just after 5 a.m., as the sky began to brighten, Han Fei arrived at the amusent park in Xinhu North Suburb.
In today’s era of rapid technological advancent, with a variety of entertainnt options, few tourists choose to visit such offline physical amusent parks, not to ntion that this particular park was not open to the public and refused entry to ordinary visitors.
“It sure is nice to have money, to be able to build an amusent park just to preserve ‘mories’ for oneself.”
Han Fei looked at the large amusent park within the fences, his expression full of surprise.
He had originally thought that the park would be quite dilapidated, but only upon his actual arrival did he discover that this private amusent park was fully equipped with various entertainnt facilities and contained many strange buildings, with a total area far exceeding that of ordinary amusent parks.
Taking out his phone, Han Fei zood in on the map and made a new discovery.
The amusent park purchased by Eternal Life Pharmaceutical and the Plastic Surgery Hospital built by them were situated on either side of the North Suburb, just like in Shrine World, the two massive structures supported Fu Sheng’s mories, one on the left and one on the right.
“Fu Sheng and Fu Tian are both gone from this world, so who is managing the park now?”
Xinhu Paradise had closed down many years before Eternal Life Pharmaceutical took over, and there wasn’t much information about it online, only that it had gone under due to poor managent, eventually being weeded out by the tis.
“No murders, no injuries, and rare accidents – why would such an amusent park beco Fu Sheng’s eternal heartache?”
“Could it be that so things have vanished along with Fu Sheng?”
The gates to the amusent park were tightly shut, with no one around, but inside, it was brilliantly lit with all sorts of entertainnt equipnt operating normally, as if it were open twenty-four hours a day.
“How much electricity is being wasted every day?”
Han Fei habitually checked for the positions of the surveillance caras, and after walking hundreds of ters around the park fence, he finally found a blind spot in their coverage.
“When the two caras rotate to thirty degrees, there’s a one-second gap, and I need to use this ti to climb over the fence.”
Bowing his head, Han Fei moved forward along the road outside the amusent park like a person on a regular morning jog, keeping an eye on the surveillance with his peripheral vision.
As one cara began to rotate, Han Fei suddenly sped up, located the right spot, and grabbed the fence.
But just as he was about to vault over, a clown suddenly appeared on the other side of the iron fence.
Han Fei didn’t even see when the clown had appeared; he was dressed in garish clothes, with thick foundation sared across his face and dollops of bright colors, looking abnormal and absurd.
With his hand on the fence, Han Fei stopped abruptly.
After all, he was sothing of a public figure and could not continue to force his way into the amusent park while being observed.
Through the holes in the fence, Han Fei and the clown on the other side made eye contact, and he felt he should say sothing.
“Good morning, I was just looking around.”
Han Fei felt that the clown was very strange, exuding an eerie aura, as if hiding beneath the clown makeup was not a person but a ghost.
The clown tilted his head to look at Han Fei and displayed a grotesquely exaggerated smile.
He didn’t scold Han Fei for anything; instead, he took out a blood-red balloon from behind him and handed it to Han Fei.
“For ?” Han Fei held the balloon, noting a face printed on it.
From afar, it seed not so much a balloon as a floating head, “Your park’s aesthetic is a bit twisted, isn’t it?”
The clown clapped his hands happily upon seeing Han Fei take the balloon, then staggered away.
“What a weirdo.” For soone to strike Han Fei as odd, they were truly beyond the realms of usual peculiarity.
Holding the balloon, now that he had been caught on cara, Han Fei gave up on sneaking in and walked directly to the park’s main entrance.
“What ti does your park open?”
Han Fei approached the ticket booth, which was adorned with cartoon illustrations and resembled a cottage out of a fairytale, and saw a uniford staff mber sitting at the ticket window.
“Asleep?”
He called out for a while, but there was no response, so Han Fei knocked on the window and reached through to pat the person’s shoulder.
However, before his hand could get close, the staff mber’s head just fell off their shoulders and landed in his palm.
“A smart butler?”
The head of the staff mber falling off was a terrifying event in itself, but what was more frightening was that Han Fei wasn’t scared in the slightest, even going so far as to extract the head through the window.
“Is it malfunctioning?
I didn’t do this, you know!”
Holding the smart ticket seller’s head, Han Fei walked out of the ticket hall, waved at the surveillance cara for a long ti to no avail, and then decided to look for a security guard himself.
After walking for a few more minutes, Han Fei finally ca across the security booth.
Out of patience, he banged vigorously on the window.
The sleeping security guard woke with a start, and upon opening his eyes, he saw the superstar Han Fei holding a head outside his window.
“Thump!”
The guard tumbled from his chair, convinced he was still dreaming.
“Don’t get the wrong idea, I ca looking for soone and just happened to notice the head of your ticketing robot fell off!” Han Fei explained for a while, and the guard eventually ca out of the booth.
“Han Fei?
The one who live-stread at the hospital last night?” The guard stamred, still not fully able to believe he was seeing a screen actor at the doorstep of his security booth, which felt incredibly surreal to him.
“You get scared this easily, and you’re a security guard?” Han Fei placed the ticket seller’s head on the table, “What ti does your park usually start operations?
What procedures are needed to get into your park?”
“This is a private park, not open to the public,” the guard said sowhat sheepishly, “If you have an urgent matter, I could contact our leaders for you; I don’t have the authority to let outsiders in all by myself.”
After making a few phone calls, a uniford staff mber ca out from the amusent park and took Han Fei inside.
The staff mber seed to have just woken up, with ssy hair and a listless appearance, and was carelessly wearing a staff badge on his chest.
“Teacher Han, what brings you to our park this early in the morning?” The employee, surnad Tao and called Tao Tao, was a fan of Han Fei’s work and had heard of his heroic deeds.
Thus, upon learning of Han Fei’s arrival, he had imdiately gotten out of bed and rushed over.
“You don’t need to be tense, I’m just looking around.”
“Then I’ll accompany you.” Tao Tao wiped the sweat from his forehead, eyeing Han Fei carefully.
He knew all too well that so people may look like actors on the surface, but in reality are more like the favored children of the God of Death, leaving corpses in their wake.
“Why are all the attractions in your park running when there are no visitors?
Isn’t that a waste of money?” Han Fei voiced his confusion.
“This was a direct order from our forr chairman, Fu Tian.
He insisted that the park operates normally, day and night, as if he was waiting for soone…”
“Waiting for soone?”
“Yes, he couldn’t rember who he was waiting for, but he knew that person would one day return to the park to find their lost self.” Tao Tao spread his hands: “I don’t really understand the specifics.
Fu Tian was a genius who changed the era; it’s normal for soone like , a common person, to not understand his words.”
In Eternal Life Pharmaceutical, the late chairman Fu Tian had attained a nearly divine status.
“Just because of so vague words, you need to keep this huge park running day and night?” Han Fei found it a bit preposterous.
Tao Tao let out a wry laugh: “Actually, many people in the company share your thoughts.
Ever since Fu Tian passed away, the park has stopped maintenance and is only kept running at the lowest level.”
“I heard before that Fu Tian’s will was altered, and that the real will ntioned this park?
Could this ‘Black Box’ also be related to the park?” Han Fei ntioned casually.
“That must be a rumor.
I’ve been guarding this park for over a decade; I’ve been everywhere, and there’s no such thing as a Black Box,” Tao Tao waved dismissively.
“Had Fu Tian visited the park before?
Did he say anything or do anything noteworthy?” Han Fei didn’t hold back, asking Tao Tao directly.
“Forr chairman Fu Tian did co to the park to have a look from ti to ti.
Each visit, he would sit alone on the bench at the center of the park and ditate with his eyes closed, as if waiting for soone.”
“Waiting for soone?”
“Yes, but in the end he never t them.
As death extinguishes life, eternal life is truly elusive.” Tao Tao walked around the park with Han Fei, but a few minutes later, he received a phone call.
It seed he had to take part in so parade and had to leave.
Tao Tao repeatedly instructed Han Fei not to play with the attractions on a whim before he went off by himself towards the west side of the park.
In the vast expanse of the park, it seed Han Fei was the only person left.
He walked past the noisy attractions and through various lights to the center of the park.
Next to the huge fountain, Han Fei saw the park bench Tao Tao had ntioned.
What he didn’t expect was that, just as the water from the fountain fell, he noticed another person sitting on the bench across from the fountain.
It was an elderly lady with a kind face.
She was well-maintained, emanating a distinguished air as if she ca from a noble lineage.
When the old lady saw Han Fei, she looked surprised.
She seed to recall sothing, smiling and gesturing for Han Fei to co over.
Han Fei also felt the old lady looked sowhat familiar.
Walking around the fountain, he sat down next to her on the sa bench.
“Have I seen you sowhere before?” The old lady’s voice was warm.
“Perhaps you’ve seen in movies?
I’m an actor.” Han Fei scrutinized the old lady, noting sothing peculiar about her hair.
At first glance, it appeared almost entirely white, but a closer look revealed her roots were black.
She was seemingly undergoing reverse aging, defying so biological laws.
“I haven’t watched a movie in many years,” the elderly woman shook her head, then looked down at her own hands.
Her fingerprints were different from normal, as if sothing had worn them away.
“Actually, after I saw you, I felt you looked familiar too,” Han Fei said, massaging his temples.
“How should I address you?”
“My na is Du Jing.
That na originally belonged to my mom, but I have to carry on living in her place,” the elderly woman didn’t look up, as if she was still pondering sothing.
“Du Jing?” When Han Fei heard this na, he could no longer remain calm.
He had seen this elderly woman in the Shrine mory World!
She was the biological daughter of Du Jing, the “dicine” that Du Shu used as a test subject.
In reality, Du Jing had helped Fu Sheng and died deep within the Plastic Surgery Hospital.
Later, Fu Sheng saved Du Jing’s daughter and tried everything to make her immortal.
As for what ultimately happened to Du Shu, Han Fei was also unclear, as there was no information related to Du Shu online; it seed like Fu Sheng had directly erased that woman.
“I’m trying hard to go on living, but the people around keep leaving one after another.
If Eternal Life ans saying goodbye to everyone, what’s the point of it?”
“Living forever alone is boring, but it would be different if everyone could achieve immortality.
I can’t even begin to imagine such a world,” Han Fei looked at the old lady, paused for a mont, and still asked the question lingering in his mind, “Do you still rember Fu Sheng?”
“Fu Sheng…
Who is he?” The wrinkles at the corners of the old woman’s eyes deepened.
“Because of him, this Paradise exists.”
“It was Fu Tian who built the Paradise,” the old woman seed to rember sothing.
“But I did hear him say that he was waiting for soone in this Paradise.
He seed to have promised that person when they were very young that if either of them got lost, they would wait for the other on the benches of this Paradise.”
“Did Fu Tian wait for that person?”
“No,” the old woman shook her head gently.
As she spoke those words, the sun just rose from the horizon, and all the lights in the Paradise went out, “Ghost Night has ended; the parade will start soon.
Would you like to co watch it with ?”
“Ghost Night?
Parade?”
“There are many gas left behind by Fu Tian in this Paradise.
Ghost Night is a ghost-catching ga that starts at Midnight and ends at dawn, followed by the parade.
Everyone parades the caught ghosts through the streets and then releases them into the sunlight,” the old woman stood up.
“Fu Tian liked all sorts of gas, and many of the gas he designed were said to be unbeatable by anyone but himself.”
Before the old lady could finish speaking, the ground began to tremble, and a giant black float appeared on the track as the gates at the deepest part of the Paradise opened.
The sunlight shone into the Paradise from the east, and one bizarre float after another drove out from the western buildings.
So floats were adorned with black and red flowers, so looked like a giant Crow, and others were covered in balloons painted with human faces.
Abnormality, oppression, madness, and the stuff of nightmares seed to be the the of the parade.
Occasionally, perforrs in elaborate costus could be seen on the floats, operating the amusent equipnt in the Paradise and putting on various performances.
In the whole Paradise, there might have been only two spectators, Han Fei and the old woman, but the perforrs still gave it their all.
“Isn’t it impressive?” the old lady looked towards the procession of floats.
“Every ti I try a new drug, I stay in the Paradise overnight, watching everything Fu Tian designed, and it feels as though he’s still alive.”
“It is indeed remarkable,” Han Fei’s sense of beauty was cultivated in the Deep World.
He firmly morized every float’s decorations and the appearance of the people on them.
After a careful comparison, Han Fei did not find the Joker he had encountered that morning.
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