Earth’s Redemption: Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Question and Answer Amusement Park (2)

Proofread by Cloud Chip Cake

“Listen up—you’re not allowed to move. If you do, no dinner when we get back,” Ning Buwen squeezed Xiao Xin’s dog ear, making sure it wouldn’t act out, before letting it down.

Xiao Xin, looking deeply wronged, rubbed up against Ning Buwen’s leg, whining. It had just been swatted out of the air by a fish, so it didn’t dare move at all.

Ning Buwen looked up and found out that everyone around him, even the clown, was staring at him.

Ahem.

If the enemy doesn’t move, neither will I.

If Ning Buwen didn’t feel awkward about it, the others would eventually stop watching.

Sure enough, seeing Ning Buwen’s calm, unmoving stance, everyone else gradually averted their gazes.

“Surname Ning, what exactly can your dog do?” Mo Xiaoyou asked, unable to contain his curiosity. “While everyone else was talking, you were busy chatting with your dog.”

The dog looked kind of dopey and didn’t seem to have any special abilities.

“Special ability? Probably just good luck,” Ning Buwen sighed. “It doesn’t have much else. Now, if you asked me about its flaws, I could list a ton.”

“Then why bring it into the game with you?”

“It was part of the newbie gift pack. Who knows? Maybe it’ll come in handy one day.”

That made sense.

Mo Xiaoyou had heard that Ning Buwen’s newbie’s pack didn’t seem very impressive, and now he was seeing it, he had to agree.

“There are about seven employees in this amusement park,” the clown spoke, quickly catching everyone’s attention, not listening to them chatter for long.

He held up a finger and scanned the room. “As long as any one of you answers my question correctly, you can get a key from me to proceed to the next level. Aside from the answer itself, I’ll answer whatever I can truthfully. But whether it’s true or not, you’ll have to judge for yourselves. Although, most of what I say is true.”

So simple?

If just one person answered correctly, everyone could proceed to the next level?

Half of the group eyed the clown suspiciously, while the other half was eager to try.

“But each person only has one chance to answer, and if you’re wrong, you’ll be punished.” The clown’s painted smile looked especially silly, but no one was relaxed enough to laugh.

“Alright, it looks like you’re all ready.” Seeing no one step forward, the clown continued, “My question is… where did my other balloon go?”

Everyone instinctively held their breaths, briefly stunned by the clown’s question.

The clown, indifferent to the players’ reactions, looked up at his remaining balloons. “I clearly had twenty balloons, but now, no matter how I count, there are only nineteen. Where did the other one go?”

What kind of ridiculous question was this?

Did they have to find his balloon for him?

As soon as he heard the question, Ning Buwen counted the balloons in the clown’s hand.

There really were nineteen.

No more, no less.

Plenty of others had the same idea as Ning Buwen, but they all looked stumped.

This question was hard to approach at all.

They were totally unfamiliar with this amusement park and hadn’t seen the clown before; how were they supposed to find his missing item? Besides, the balloon could float away—if it flew up into the sky, were they supposed to go up to Heaven and down to Hades ¹ to search everywhere for it?

“I can only wait for you for an hour,” the clown said, sitting down on a chair and counting his balloons one by one. “If you can’t find it within an hour, I’ll have to punish you my way.”

A punishment from an NPC wouldn’t be something trivial.

These players were in a B-Level instance, so none of them were complete novices.

“What’s with this B-Level instance? It’s so vague and random,” Mo Xiaoyou grumbled, scratching his head. “At least give us some clues! How are we supposed to find it in just an hour?”

“Well, it’s not entirely hopeless. Didn’t he say earlier that he’d answer what he could?” Ning Buwen replied casually, then moved forward, planning to ask.

However, someone beat him to it.

“Excuse me, Mr. Clown, could you tell us where you went in the amusement park? When did you realize you were missing a balloon, and where might it have gone?” a young man with glasses stepped forward and asked.

“I visited the haunted house, the roller coaster, the mining dwarves, and the Extreme Flyer,” the clown replied. “I noticed the missing balloon after returning from those places.”

Good. At least they had narrowed down the search to four locations.

“Do you have a map of the amusement park?” the man with glasses continued.

“There’s one right over there,” the clown pointed at a map sign at the park entrance. “It’s the only one.”

“You two, come over here for a second,” the wealthy young woman called from the sign. “This isn’t the time for solo action; let’s discuss our approach first.”

Indeed, an hour was very tight.

Ning Buwen and Mo Xiaoyou joined her.

“The amusement park is so big. Let’s divide into four groups and go to each of these locations. They’re each in different corners of the park, so tackling them one by one would be a hassle; splitting into four groups would be more efficient,” the young woman explained as she pointed to the map. “If we don’t answer the first question, there’s a chance we might all get wiped out.”

“An hour is still a bit too rushed; there must be a better way,” the man with glasses frowned.

Simply searching didn’t quite match the characteristics of a game instance.

“There’s no better option right now,” the young woman sighed. “At any rate, let’s try. It’s better than sitting here waiting. Find whoever you know best to group up with—having familiar faces around is better than teaming up with complete strangers.”

“I’ll stay here. Someone has to watch the clown, right?” said a small, thin woman, raising her hand. Though she looked malnourished, her eyes were sharp.

“Good idea,” Ning Buwen glanced at her. “Then I’ll stay here with you.”

“I’ll stay too,” Mo Xiaoyou added. He didn’t have a clear plan yet, but his instinct told him that Ning Buwen might be up to something, so it was better to stick around and observe.

Know your enemy, know yourself.

While Mo Xiaoyou wanted to surpass Ning Buwen, he wasn’t foolish enough to waste his energy alone. It was smarter to gauge Ning Buwen’s abilities first.

“Suit yourselves,” the wealthy young woman glanced at them, then quickly left with her group.

The man with glasses also headed off with some familiar faces.

Soon, only Ning Buwen, Mo Xiaoyou, the thin woman, and Xiao Xin remained in the area with the clown.

“Aren’t you going?” The thin woman took a step back, crossing her arms as if she was a bit intimidated by the two men.

“Hey, hey, what do you mean by that?” Mo Xiaoyou’s face darkened. “Auntie, have you looked at yourself? I just turned legal age.”

“You’re actually of age?” Now it was Ning Buwen’s turn to be surprised. “I thought you were only fifteen or sixteen at most.”

“Can’t I just look young?” Mo Xiaoyou said, a bit annoyed. “Why are you staying back to watch this woman?”

“Ah, so you noticed.” Ning Buwen rubbed his chin. “Actually, I suspected this young lady here wanted to get everyone else out of the way so she could answer the question herself, right? That way, even if the others returned, she’d be the first to reach the second round and come out on top.”

The slender woman’s expression turned a bit grim. “How did you figure that out?”

Ning Buwen chuckled. “Because of my profession, I have a fair bit of training in reading micro-expressions. When the clown asked the question, I watched everyone’s reactions. Yours was the most telling—you seemed pleased, but you were holding it back. Then you volunteered to stay, so I decided to stick around too.”

The slender woman fell silent.

“Pretty sharp of you to notice,” Mo Xiaoyou couldn’t help but comment.

Ning Buwen only smiled, saying nothing.

Quite a few others had noticed as well—just wait and see.

“Fine.” The slender woman thought it over, then stepped toward the clown. “You two probably won’t leave now, so I’ll let you have a bit of an advantage.”

“You already have a clue?” Mo Xiaoyou looked stunned.

“It’s probably her special ability,” Ning Buwen speculated. He didn’t believe her deductive reasoning alone was that good, and given how few clues they had, even Detective Conan couldn’t deduce where the missing balloon was.

“My eyes…they’re something like x-ray vision. Though not quite that strong, I can scan the whole amusement park easily enough. Just a few glances, and I spotted where a balloon was.” The slender woman touched the corner of her eye with some pride.

That convenient? 

Mo Xiaoyou was startled. This question seemed perfectly suited for her! Her ability must be especially useful for finding things; even if it wasn’t powerful in combat, it would make her invaluable for tracking down clues in a team setting.

No wonder she’d been selected for Legion training.

Outside, the representative from the thirtieth Legion looked rather pleased. “We scouted her in an instance. Her ability may not cover large areas, but it’s incredibly useful in certain situations.”

“Not so fast—B-Level instances aren’t that easy to clear.”

“Ha, just wait and see,” the thirtieth Legion’s rep said smugly.

“You’re ready to answer?” The clown looked up at the woman as she approached.

“Of course,” the slender woman nodded. “I already found where your balloon is.”

“Where is it?” The clown leapt up, visibly excited. “I’ll fetch it right now.”

“It’s in the haunted house,” she said, touching the corner of her eye. “I saw something balloon-shaped there.”

“Great, I’ll head over immediately.” The clown nodded, adding, “Wait here.”

With that, the clown was almost a blur, leaving behind only a faint afterimage.

Both he and the balloons were gone without a trace.

“Wow, so fast,” Mo Xiaoyou murmured, swallowing hard.

With that kind of speed, if he came after them, they’d stand no chance of escaping—unless they had some special escape tools or abilities.

“So… we cleared it?” Mo Xiaoyou, grateful for his last-minute choice to stay, remarked with relief. “Looks like we’re the first ones through!”

“What are you thinking about?” Ning Buwen sneered. “Look over there.”

Hm?

Mo Xiaoyou looked in the direction of Ning Buwen’s gaze and was surprised to find that the wealthy woman, the man with glasses, and the other two groups that had gone out to scout the paths had all returned?

Everyone was here without exception.

“Ah, guess we got caught,” the wealthy woman said, shaking her bracelet. “This gentleman with glasses doubled back and even notified the other two teams. But unlike him, my group never left at all; we just used invisibility items to make you think we did.”

“For the first round, it’s best to preserve everyone’s strength. There might be hidden dangers in other parts of the amusement park, so charging ahead recklessly isn’t worth it. The clown even said we could pass by just answering his question,” the man with glasses added casually. “There are six rounds left, no rush.”

Wha…?

Mo Xiaoyou was dumbstruck.

“Those who made it to the selection aren’t fools,” Ning Buwen remarked with a touch of regret but mostly amusement. “This makes things interesting. If such a simple trick had fooled us, I’d be worried about the Legions’ futures.”

The thin woman’s face turned green.

Outside, the Legion representatives all burst into laughter.

“If that coward had just run off, I wouldn’t want him no matter how well he did later.”

“At least he didn’t embarrass our Legion.”

“This year’s recruits are pretty impressive.”

“Ahem, well, my recruit may be a bit dim, but he knows who to listen to. Obedience is a good trait too, you know.”

Seeing everyone had returned, the thin woman could only accept her defeat. “Fine, I owe you all one. I lost this time.”

“Your technique was too clumsy.” The wealthy woman touched her bracelet. “You were too hasty; following us and then finding an excuse to return would’ve been better than staying behind right away.”

An hour wasn’t much time—who wouldn’t feel anxious?

The thin woman hadn’t wanted to waste time for nothing, thinking a delay might lead to a full wipeout. Who could stay calm in such a moment?

But now arguing was pointless; she had indeed underestimated everyone here.

These weren’t the rookies she’d run instances with before; these were top-notch recruits chosen from tens of thousands for the Legions’ selections!

Soon, the clown returned.

“It takes at least ten minutes to reach the haunted house even if you run, plus the search time would mean at least half an hour. Yet he’s back in just three minutes?” someone checked his watch, marveling. “That’s fast.”

“Wait, why are there still nineteen balloons?” someone else exclaimed.

The thin woman’s body trembled as she counted the balloons one by one.

Still nineteen.

And the clown had nothing extra on him.

“That’s not a balloon,” the clown said menacingly, fixing his gaze on the thin woman. “That was just a balloon model.”

The thin woman had been tricked by her own eyes.

The lighting in the haunted house was already dim, and a balloon model wouldn’t reveal anything wrong unless someone touched it directly.

This was Pandora’s trick.

It gave hope, then crushed it.

Special abilities and item cards could help clear instances, but they were also a huge trap. When you rely on them too much, danger arises unexpectedly, and there’s only one possible outcome.

“You answered incorrectly. Time for your punishment,” the clown said, stepping closer to the thin woman, his once-smiling face now painted in a mask of furious tears.

The thin woman tried to run, and the others quickly took out item cards.

They couldn’t just watch as the NPC killed someone in front of them.

“I’m missing a balloon. You go and become one!” the clown roared.

As she ran, the thin woman suddenly lifted off the ground, her body swelling like a balloon, rising higher and higher.

Within seconds, the small, thin woman had inflated into a human balloon.

Her face and limbs were grotesquely stretched, and even her voice sounded painfully distorted.

Several healing item cards struck her, but they were as ineffective as stones sinking into the sea.

No item could help.

She floated up right in front of everyone.

Higher and higher, until her cries for help faded into silence.

Only a small black dot remained.

“If she’s just turning into a balloon and floating up, we should be able to rescue her once we clear the level, right?” Mo Xiaoyou asked, a bit uneasy.

“Did you know?” Ning Buwen’s face was heavy with concern. “No matter what kind of balloon, once it reaches a certain height, it can’t withstand the atmospheric pressure.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’ll explode,” the man with glasses interjected.

The black dot in the sky suddenly disappeared.

“Woof.” Xiao Xin bit down on Ning Buwen’s pant leg, and he took a step back.

A few fingers and droplets of blood came crashing down.

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Translator Notes

1. Idiom: To search heaven and earth[↩]