I changed the world.

Page 186

The weapon system of the "Storm 2" unmanned intelligent auxiliary firepower platform was switched to air defense mode. Special ammunition was released at a rate of thousands of rounds per second. With the assistance of computer prediction, several monsters that did not look very big were blown up in mid-air and turned into ashes when they broke through to close range.

Chapter 316 The Mysterious Night at the Amusement Park

In fact, at extreme speeds, this type of firepower system can fire tens of thousands of rounds per second. However, at such extreme rates of fire, the consumption of ammunition is also staggering, so it is generally not used unless absolutely necessary.

These monsters fly at extremely high speeds, and their appearance is too obscured to be seen with the naked eye. The only indication is that they are roughly the size of an eagle.

This seemed to be some kind of probing. After losing six flying monsters, no other monsters around tried to charge in directly. However, the problem was that these monsters didn't seem to fly far either, but just kept the group at a distance.

Left with no other choice, the assault team further slowed down their advance. The area they were currently traversing was a region scattered with numerous abandoned buildings, which looked eerie and distorted, as if they had been molded by a child.

..............................

"Help! Help!!!" Loud footsteps and cries for help came from the thick fog ahead.

The assault team members immediately stopped and assumed a defensive posture.

Soon, the footsteps and cries for help ahead became clearer. The team members could see that, under the illumination of the searchlights, someone had emerged from the thick fog ahead and was rapidly approaching.

"Move to the side, move to the side!!!" Zheng Xuzhou shouted loudly, his voice carried far by the loudspeaker.

"Move to the flank! No charging the position!"

"Move to the flank! No charging the position!"

All around Zheng Xuzhou, both long and short weapons were poised to strike.

By now, the people in front could be clearly seen; they were two security guards. Judging from their appearance, they were among the missing persons whose photos the assault team had identified before setting off.

However, at this moment, everything is too strange, so it's impossible to let these suddenly appearing people just barge in.

Especially for Zheng Xuzhou, the team leader, he was very clear about his responsibilities. Rescuing people was secondary when entering this area; the most important task was reconnaissance itself. In fact, there was a bottom line that his superiors couldn't explicitly state: to preserve themselves as much as possible.

After all, no one has a clear answer on how to deal with such an unfamiliar opponent, or even one who knows very little about them.

The two security guards were terrified, but the assault team soon discovered that there weren't actually many monsters chasing them.

This is a monster wielding a steel fork, looking unusually excited, screaming as it followed the security guard with remarkable agility. The monster has bluish-gray skin, a slender build, short horns on its head, lips split to its ears, a mouthful of fangs, and is even draped in tattered clothing. At first glance, it evokes images of demons from mythology and hell.

The monster was much faster than the security guard. With a few leaps, it caught up with the guard who was slightly behind. It thrust its steel fork forward, and the guard seemed to dodge, but he couldn't avoid it. The fork was pierced directly into his shoulder from behind, and he screamed and fell forward...

"Ah!..." He screamed in despair, struggling desperately on the ground.

However, the monster behind him seemed quite excited by his screams, twirling the steel fork in its hand in a toy-like manner, stimulating him to let out more and more painful cries.

Just then, gunshots rang out.

"boom!"

The moment the gun fired, the monster's head exploded. Its headless body stood frozen for a moment before bursting into a pile of ashes.

"Rat-a-tat-tat..." Gunshots rang out again, this time targeting the rooftop. A monster was running nimbly on the roof, trying to dodge bullets, but was hit by concentrated fire from several guns and finally fell headfirst off the roof.

At this moment, the security guard who was running ahead turned back, helped up the injured security guard on the ground, and stumbled towards the side of the assault team.

Behind them, from the thick fog, two more monsters sprang out from the alleyways of houses across the street. Prepared, these monsters were remarkably agile, constantly changing direction and even using obstacles to dodge attacks.

However, faced with a barrage of firepower like a metal storm, the two monsters were eventually destroyed along with their cover.

By this point, all the monsters chasing the two security guards had been eliminated. The two security guards simultaneously showed expressions of relief at surviving the holiday, and one of them helped the other as they limped towards the assault team.

"Stop, squat down, turn your back, and raise your hands!"

"Let me see your hands, please cooperate!"

However, they had only taken two steps when a soldier stopped them.

At the same time, several weapons were aimed directly at them, and if the two made any unusual movements, they would be immediately targeted and fired upon.

Faced with this situation, the two security guards did not refuse to cooperate. They squatted down one after the other and raised their hands high. Even the security guard with the shoulder injury, who could not raise one hand high due to the severity of his injury, still raised it as flat as possible and opened his palm to show that he had no weapon in his hand.

At the same time, both security guards said nervously, "Don't shoot, don't shoot, we'll cooperate, we'll cooperate..."

A soldier stepped forward and carefully conducted a preliminary search of their bodies, confirming that they had normal human body temperature and pulses. After cautiously asking them a few simple questions such as their names and families, the soldier's expression relaxed slightly, indicating that they could stand up...

The two security guards are named Sun Xing and Li Zizhao, aged 32 and 41 respectively. Sun Xing is the one with the shoulder injury. The two are from the same hometown and came to Wuzhong to work together.

After receiving basic first aid from the medic, the two were led aside to be questioned by Captain Zheng Xuzhou.

Zheng Xuzhou naturally had information on all the people who had previously disappeared at Zhongtai Amusement Park. The information did indeed match the basic information of the two people in front of him, including their names, family backgrounds, and photos.

In other circumstances, this might have been enough to conclude that the two missing persons had been successfully rescued. However, in this eerie place, Zheng Xuzhou dared not let his guard down, especially since there were still too many mysteries surrounding these two people, forcing him to be extremely careful.

As a result, the two men were not only handcuffed, but also watched warily by armed soldiers. If they made any unusual moves, they would likely be riddled with bullets.

Sun Xing was somewhat out of sorts due to his injury, so he was taken aside to rest, while Li Zizhao was taken to be questioned by Zheng Xuzhou.

Chapter 317 The Mysterious Night at the Amusement Park (Part 8)

Of course, since the two were not criminals, Zheng Xuzhou's attitude was quite amicable.

“Mr. Li, this area is far too eerie. Our search team suffered considerable losses in the process of rescuing you. Therefore, for safety reasons, we had no choice but to do this. I believe you can understand.”

"We understand, we understand, sir." Li Zizhao appeared quite cooperative, showing signs of lingering fear after surviving a close call.

Seeing Li Zizhao's cooperation, Zheng Xuzhou stopped talking and began asking his questions directly...

According to Li Zizhao, he and Sun Xing were the staff responsible for the maintenance of the haunted house. On the night of the 17th, he and Sun Xing carried out the usual procedures to inspect the various facilities of the haunted house in order to ensure that the haunted house could operate normally the next day.

However, they encountered many strange things, and as time went by, they gradually discovered a terrifying fact: many of the monsters in the haunted house seemed to have "come alive" and become real monsters, wandering around.

This terrified them, so they tried to call the police, but the call was no longer working. Moreover, the haunted house they were once familiar with seemed to have undergone a huge change, becoming completely unrecognizable to them. So they could only run away, dodging monsters, trying to find a way out of this eerie place.

However, after evading several zombie-like monsters, they entered a large mansion, where they were then targeted by a terrifying monster—a character from the movie *Saw*, a horrifying chainsaw maniac. Originally a monster character in a haunted house, he had somehow become a real monster. This monster chased them through the mansion, and in their frantic run, they found a window and jumped out, escaping the mansion and seemingly temporarily escaping the chainsaw maniac.

After that, they dared not linger and continued forward. However, they soon discovered that they had not actually left the haunted house, but had simply moved from one of the haunted house's themed areas to another new themed area.

To their horror, they discovered that the entire haunted house seemed to have merged with the Zhongtai Amusement Park and had become even larger.

Soon, they encountered monsters again, this time a group of paper figures.

The two people in charge of maintaining the haunted house were naturally familiar with the exhibits inside. They recognized that the paper figures seemed to be elements from the horror movie "The Ghost Bride," and so the battle royale continued.

Perhaps they were really lucky, because they were rescued by a "wizard" who took them to his wizard's hut and provided them with food and water.

The wizard told them that if they wanted to get out, they needed to find the "Moonlight Pagoda," whose sacred site was hidden in the heart of the area, suppressing this mist-shrouded region. Only it could open a passage for them to leave.

"You mean... a 'wizard'? Could you elaborate?"

Upon hearing this, Zheng Xuzhou interrupted Li Zizhao's narration. He seemed quite interested in the details of this "wizard" and hoped that Li Zizhao could explain further.

"It was a wizard dressed in black robes, with a hoarse voice that made it hard to tell if he was male or female. He was leaning on a crooked wooden staff, and his face was hidden under his hood, so I couldn't see him clearly..." Li Zizhao thought for a moment and added, "Actually, I have some guesses, but I don't know if I'm right..."

“Speak freely…” Zheng Xuzhou said hurriedly.

“I’ve worked here for almost five years, mainly responsible for the maintenance of the haunted house’s electrical system. I’m familiar with the haunted house’s projects and operations.” After thinking for a moment, Li Zizhao carefully chose his words and said, “This ‘wizard’ may look a little different, but I guess he should also be a character from the original haunted house.”

He glanced at Zheng Xuzhou, who was listening intently, and continued, "You should know that the haunted house in the park has been expanded."

"The expanded haunted house is divided into different modules, with complex internal facilities, and its area is five times larger than before. Although the thrill and playability have been greatly improved, its sheer size has also increased the difficulty for visitors."

"Therefore, in order to increase interaction with tourists and reduce the difficulty for them to some extent, the role of 'guide' was created in haunted houses. However, these guides do not appear directly as staff members. To enhance the sense of immersion, they usually play some special roles."

"For example, this 'wizard', if I'm not mistaken, should be in the role of a 'guide'."

"You mean, the 'wizard' you encountered is a guide?" Zheng Xuzhou asked hurriedly.

Li Zizhao shook his head: "If it were normal business hours, that would be the case. However, under normal circumstances, this role is played by a staff member in makeup. But the one we encountered before was a real 'wizard.' I can confirm that it wasn't just someone in disguise..."

"You mean you suspect that the role originally played by a person has become real..." Zheng Xuzhou said thoughtfully.

"Yes, not only this 'wizard,' but it seems that the monsters from before were the same..."

Zheng Xuzhou recalled the monsters they had encountered since entering the misty area, and he began to believe Li Zizhao's judgment to some extent.

However, this also makes the whole incident increasingly bizarre and perplexing. If this conjecture is true, then what exactly happened here that made these originally "imagined" terrifying scenes become reality...?

"Oh, right, the wizard gave us a string of prayer beads before he left, saying that it could guide us to the location of the pagoda..." As he spoke, Li Zizhao took off a string of prayer beads from his neck. The beads were entirely red and of jade-like quality. Even though none of the people present knew anything about antiques or collectibles, they could tell that this was a valuable item.

"How should it be used?" Zheng Xuzhou looked at the prayer beads in Li Zizhao's hand, but did not immediately take them with his hand. Instead, he asked.

“That wizard taught me a spell.” Li Zizhao held the prayer beads in his hands and then said, “Precious Jewel, please show me the way.”

Upon hearing this so-called "incantation," Zheng Xuzhou and the soldiers around him exchanged strange glances. After all, the incantation sounded far too childish, like something out of a fairy tale.

Chapter 318 The Mysterious Night at the Amusement Park (Part 9)

However, they quickly held their breath.

Then, as the incantation fell, in the blink of an eye, the prayer beads slowly floated up, as if supported by some supernatural force. Then, the Buddha head of the prayer beads trembled slightly like a living snake's head and bent to the right.

Then, the entire rosary remained in this position for about five seconds before slowly falling down, which Li Zizhao quickly caught.

“It’s incredible…” Zheng Xuzhou reached out and took it, then recited the incantation like Li Zizhao, and the prayer beads indeed repeated the process just now.

The rosary was finally carefully placed into a locked metal box...

Li Zizhao's description continued, and according to him, after telling them how to leave, the wizard also allowed them to rest briefly in the hut.

They were exhausted and soon fell asleep. When they woke up, the wizard was gone, leaving them only with the empty hut.

They hid in the hut for a while longer before continuing their journey, following the path indicated by the prayer beads...