Infinite: Dawn Game

Chapter 979 (Alternate Version) – "Shh, Please Be Quiet"

The amusement facilities in front of us, which seemed to be painted with heavy colors, were now shrouded in an eerie silence.

The sky above the square was dark red; there was no sun or moon, only a thick, seemingly solidified blood-red canopy.

The colors of the amusement park rides were so vibrant they were almost blinding to all the riders.

The carousel's colored lights flickered on and off, the roller coaster's tracks were rusty, and the Ferris wheel seemed to be empty, hovering motionless in mid-air, the cabin doors opening and closing with a sharp, screeching sound.

Yu Shijiu narrowed his eyes slightly and twitched his nose gently.

He smelled... a strange, sweet scent.

The air in this square is filled with a sweet, cloying smell, similar to that of popcorn. But if you sniff carefully, you can detect a faint stench of decay and rust hidden in the sweet air.

Yu Shijiu didn't like the smell. He raised his hand to cover his nose and frowned as he looked at the amusement park rides.

Scattered around the dense amusement facilities were some people who looked like humans, sitting, standing, and lying down.

They were dressed in all sorts of clothes. Some sat on the carousel, swaying gently to the music, while others lay in front of the shooting game stalls, aiming their toy guns at the targets. Still others lined up at the entrance of the haunted house, heads bowed and motionless.

All the "people" were eerily quiet.

The amusement park, which should have been filled with laughter and joy, was eerily silent. There were no screams, no excited chatter from visitors.

There was only an incomprehensible silence.

In this eerie silence, the mechanical sounds, music, and the crackling of electrical current from the surrounding amusement park rides seemed particularly jarring.

"This is……"

Behind him, Xu Han's voice trembled, "An amusement park?"

"It's an amusement park."

He Lingling closed her eyes, her huge black pupils trembling slightly beneath her eyelids.

“I saw… a lot of ‘things’…”

"They are not living people, nor are they purely monsters... more like afterimages that have been deliberately 'fixed' here by some force."

As she spoke, she opened her eyes, and fine blood vessels were already seeping from the corners of her eyes.

“Lingling,” Chen Yi said disapprovingly, pressing down on He Lingling’s shoulder, “you shouldn’t have activated ‘Ghost Eye’ so early.”

He Lingling felt a little embarrassed upon hearing this and quickly said, "No, Brother Chen, I didn't activate it. This was a premonition and guess before 'Ghost Eye' was activated."

She was telling the truth.

Chen Yi: "Then what's wrong with your eyes?"

In his eyes, He Lingling's eyes looked like they were about to burst open—

"There must be too many monsters here."

He Lingling explained, "Plus, I probably hadn't rested well before."

The time allotted to them for this competition was indeed too short.

Hearing this, Chen Yi became even more worried. "Then try not to watch anything. I still have some mental health medication here; would you like some more?"

"Be careful, the concentration of mental pollution here is very high. Those amusement park rides give me... a strange feeling."

Anjie suddenly spoke up, gripping her short blade tightly in her right hand, and looked around warily.

Upon hearing this, Chen Yi and the other two immediately fell silent.

Yu Shijiu glanced at the amusement park rides and walked closer to Xu Han.

The amusement park was very large, and besides the five of them, another group of players could be seen not far away.

The five members of the "Fukagawa" guild, along with Mutangtang and Grandma Mu, were standing next to a toy truck selling ice cream.

The curly-haired woman next to Jiang Chuan squatted down, pressing her fingers on the ground, seemingly using her innate skill to explore the surrounding environment.

Mutangtang held Grandma Mu's hand, looking around curiously, but when her gaze swept over the amusement facilities, she would deliberately linger for a few seconds.

Everyone observed their surroundings cautiously, and no one acted rashly.

【Ding--】

The system notification sounded in the ears of all players in the square.

Welcome to the third round of the guild competition dungeon – "Shh, Please Be Quiet".

[Friendly Reminder: This is an open-world, competitive dungeon where all guild players must survive in the amusement park and complete the main quest.]

[Main Quest: Collect at least three "Joy Badges" for each player within 72 hours.]

[The "Fun Badges" are scattered throughout the amusement park; you'll need to explore to find them. After the 72-hour dungeon ends, the guild with the most badges and the most surviving members will win.]

[Friendly reminder: The "staff" and "visitors" in the amusement park may not be very friendly, so please be careful and have fun! Also, please keep quiet in certain situations, whether you are a player or an NPC.]

After the game system's long notification sound disappeared, the deathly silence in the square seemed to be broken.

Suddenly, all the "tourists" sitting on the amusement park rides turned their heads towards the two groups of players in the center of the square.

Creak—crack—!

Hundreds—no, perhaps thousands—of faces, men and women, young and old, with all sorts of expressions—some laughing loudly, some red-faced with fear from the thrilling rides, and some licking ice cream candies with blank expressions…

Regardless of their expressions, all the tourists' eyes were fixed on the players in the center of the square.

All the players felt a chill run down their spines from the tourists' stares, as if they were being watched.

Just as Anjie frowned, about to say something, the tourists who had been staring at them suddenly began to move.

Instead of attacking them, they started walking around, talking, queuing, and laughing like real tourists.

In an instant, the eerie amusement park came to life.

The cold, mechanical music turned cheerful; the colorful lights hanging on the carousel flashed more frequently; the popcorn machine roared, the machine spun, and the various amusement rides hummed and whirred...

The various sounds intertwined, creating a noisy, joyful cacophony.

But the voices of those "tourists" had a strange, distorted quality, like the lag in an old cassette tape.

"Mom...I...I want to ride the carousel..."

Not far from Yu Shijiu, a little girl in a dress held the hand of the woman next to her and looked up at her.

Her voice was sweet, but her tone was flat, with almost every word having the same pause time.

"Okay, okay, Mom will take you..."

The woman smiled with her head down, but the curve of her smile was stiff and unnatural.

"I'm going to play, go roller coaster, go on the car!"

"You too!"

"Together!"

"..."

Not far away, several teenagers rushed towards the roller coaster queue area, laughing loudly. Their laughter was sharp and shrill, sounding somewhat like a deliberately stretched-out recording.

Welcome to our amusement park!

A staff member dressed as a clown with heavy face paint hopped and skipped in front of Yu Shijiu and the others, holding a large bunch of brightly colored red, yellow and blue balloons.

His smile stretched to his ears, revealing two rows of gleaming white teeth.

Xu Han's face turned deathly pale. He quickly moved closer to Yu Shijiu and subconsciously grabbed Yu Shijiu's arm.

"Shi, Shi Jiu..."

This clown looks... kind of like...

Yu Shijiu looked curiously at the clown who jumped in front of him. Just as he was about to speak, the clown suddenly started talking again.

"New guests, what would you like to do? Carousel? Roller coaster? Giant swing? Sky bike? Or... haunted house adventure?"

The clown's voice was deliberately high-pitched, but his eyes, covered in paint, held no smile befitting his character, only an empty darkness.

His gaze swept over the five people in front of him, finally settling on Yu Shijiu.

"This adorable little one has such unique hands! Would you like to try our shooting game? The prizes are fantastic!"

The clown's dark eyes transformed into eerie square coin shapes, and he grinned as he pointed a finger painted with bright red nail polish at a shooting game stall not far from them.

The shooting game booth was filled with all kinds of plush toys, and the biggest prize was a dark brown teddy bear that was almost as tall as a person and had a wide grin.

The teddy bear's glass eyes reflected an eerie light under the colorful lights of the amusement park, and the curve of the stitched lines at the corners of its mouth was exactly the same as a clown's smile.

Yu Shijiu looked at the clown, then at the teddy bear, and suddenly laughed.

"Okay."

He nodded obediently, "I like shooting games."

Anjie and Chen Yi's expressions changed, and they instinctively wanted to stop it—but He Lingling stopped them.

"It's okay," He Lingling whispered, "Playing games won't trigger any danger."

Anjie and Chen Yi then let go of Yu Shijiu's hands and stood silently beside him without moving or saying a word.

The clown opposite seemed surprised that Yu Shijiu would agree so readily. He paused for a second, then laughed even more exaggeratedly.

"Great! This way, please! Hurry up! Let's play a shooting game together over here!"

The clown hopped and skipped ahead, leading the way, the brightly colored balloons in his hands bobbing up and down with his movements.

"Shi Jiu!"

Although Xu Han heard He Lingling's words, he still grabbed Yu Shijiu's arm.

"There's definitely something wrong with him!"

"I know."

Yu Shijiu turned her head, winked at Xu Han and An Jie, and said with a smile:

"Didn't the game just say that the main quest requires collecting badges? Someone has to try to figure out how to get them first, right?"

His eyes were calm as he spoke, even with a hint of eagerness.

Anjie looked at Yu Shijiu, remained silent for a few seconds, and then nodded.

"You still need to be careful, we'll be following you."

"Mmm~"

After Yu Shijiu finished speaking, he followed the clown toward a shooting game stall not far away.

Players from the "Shenchuan" guild were also observing the surroundings. When they saw Yu Shijiu and the suddenly appearing amusement park NPC walking forward, although no one followed rashly, their eyes were all focused on them.

Mu Tangtang held Grandma Mu's hand, tilted her head to look at Yu Shijiu's back, and whispered to Jiang Chuan:

"Brother Jiang, shall we go take a look too?"

Jiang Chuan frowned. "This is too risky."

"But I want to go and see!"

Mu Tangtang pouted, shook Grandma Mu's hand, and said in a spoiled tone:

"Grandma, what do you think? I just want to go and take a look. I promise I won't do anything."

Grandma Mu bent down and patted her head affectionately, her voice gentle:

"Tangtang wants to go over there to see what's going on, so Grandma will go with you."

Jiang Chuan looked at the "grandfather and grandson" pair, something flashed in his eyes, and finally he nodded.

"Let's do it together then."

After Jiang Chuan finished speaking, he said to the two men and two women behind him, "Keep up close, don't fall behind."

The game's storyline isn't fully clear yet, so they can't afford to separate from their teammates.

The two men and two women behind them nodded simultaneously, "Understood."

The curly-haired woman who had initially surveyed the surroundings glanced at the Xylitol and her granddaughter and pursed her lips.

Jiang Chuan noticed her gaze and whispered a reminder, "Lin Pian."

The curly-haired woman named Lin Pian immediately lowered her head.

Jiang Chuan was relieved to see this.

"Good~"

Hearing that everyone was willing to follow and reply, Mu Tangtang smiled happily and quickly pulled Grandma Mu along, skipping and hopping after them.

Seeing this, Jiang Chuan and the others cautiously began to approach the area where the shooting game stall was located.

Several tourists were already lined up in front of the shooting game booth.

With excited and happy expressions, they raised their toy guns and fired at the moving targets in the distance.

Bang bang—bang—bang bang bang!

The crisp gunshots rang out one after another, but the target did not fall after being hit. Instead, it emitted a piercing, eerie scream like a baby crying.

With each scream, the "tourist" shooting would reveal a twisted, almost manic smile.

He Lingling, An Jie, and Chen Yi all frowned as they listened.

Why does a target that's been hit make that sound...?

The five people, including Jiang Chuan, who had just arrived, looked much uglier: "..."

Mu Tangtang's expression didn't change much. She held her thermos cup with great interest and looked at it. Grandma Mu behind her still had that kind and gentle look.

Xu Han swallowed hard, especially when his gaze accidentally fell on the clown.

He swallowed hard, and when the clown sensed his gaze shifting towards him, he quickly looked away and hid behind Yu Shijiu.

The more Xu Han looked at it, the more he felt that the clown's appearance resembled that of a horror movie he had watched before... What was it called, something like "The Clown" or "It"?

The clown in front of me just has a lot of hair.

Xu Han recalled the horror movies she had watched, and felt a chill run down her spine, with goosebumps rising all over her body.

Pah! Pah! Pah! I can't think about it anymore! I'm such a jinx, no, I'm such a jinx! Stop thinking about it!

Just as Xu Han was about to slap himself in frustration, the line of tourists in front of the shooting game booth had already reached Yu Shijiu.

The clown next to him eagerly handed Yu Shijiu a toy gun.

The gun is made of plastic and is very light, but it has a strange warmth when held in the hand, somewhat like... the body temperature of a living thing.