Meanwhile.
Yang Zhanbai was stumbling deeper into the tunnel, the unease in his heart nearly reaching its peak.
The parade float seemed to have vanished abruptly. At the last moment, Yang Zhanbai thought he saw it turn into some place.
However, there were no branching tracks or caves here.
As the tunnel grew deeper, the sound of the rain inside grew louder.
A thick, sour stench permeated the air.
Yang Zhanbai covered his nose and mouth, his footsteps becoming lighter and slower.
He soon groped his way to the very end of the track. The scene before him made him shudder in terror, and he hurriedly took large steps backward.
"Holy shit!"
Yang Zhanbai took out his phone to take a picture. In just a few seconds, solemnity and grief filled his heart.
It was a massive acid pool. The track took a sharp dive from the edge of the acid pool, went straight down to the bottom, and then curved back up from the other side.
From the roof of the tunnel, viscous acid rain continuously fell, smashing into the huge slime pool with muffled thuds.
A trap, another unexpected trap from the Alpha Wolf!
How could Zhu Zeyu possibly escape from this?
Realizing this, Yang Zhanbai felt his mind go completely blank.
A desperate, bitter smile appeared on his face. He sent the photo to the player group chat, his thoughts a complete mess.
No, it wasn't just Zhu Zeyu.
It was everyone. Any player who came here would find it nearly impossible to escape.
But how were they supposed to kill the Alpha Wolf?
If even the final step was a trap, what were the remaining people supposed to do?
Yang Zhanbai's breathing became shallow and rapid. He forced himself to calm down and barely managed to send a brief explanation of the situation to the group.
Inside the restaurant.
Qi Yinming looked at the message popping up on his phone and bit his lip in deep insecurity.
What did it mean that Zhu Zeyu probably couldn't survive and was already dead?
What did it mean that there was an acid pool on the way to see the Alpha Wolf, and it was completely impassable?
If that was the case, how on earth were they supposed to clear this instance?
"B-Brother Qi..."
A player called out to him in a low voice, brows tightly furrowed, tone very uncertain.
"If that's really the case, how are we supposed to clear the instance?"
"Exactly," another female player asked despairingly. "Is this a guaranteed death scenario?"
"It seems a lot of new players haven't been able to clear the instance... Even someone like Zhu Zeyu would die..."
She didn't say the second half of her sentence, but a heavy atmosphere had already filled the entire restaurant.
After a full dozen seconds of dead silence, Qi Yinming finally stood up from his chair.
"There's always a way," he said firmly. "Acid can't corrode everything."
In truth, Qi Yinming had no confidence at all.
In the instances of Carnival Paradise, many things could not be explained by science.
But if it really was a guaranteed death scenario...
Qi Yinming's heart was filled with despair.
He thought for a moment and decided to send Yang Zhanbai a private message.
"I'll go ask the police station for help. Why don't you try and see if there are any materials that this acid can't corrode?"
Yang Zhanbai looked down at the new message popping up on his phone, then looked up at the acid pool.
What Qi Yinming had thought of, he had thought of too.
Some debris was floating at the edge of the acid pool, including his hoodie jacket, a plastic phone case, an empty glass bottle of Universal Potion, and a dining knife he had swiped from David's Kitchen.
Without exception, all these items were melting, and even the speed of their melting was consistent.
This seemed like an unbreakable dead end—
Thinking of Zhu Yan, Yang Zhanbai felt even more hollow inside, and despair welled up spontaneously.
A situation where even Zhu Zeyu's life or death was unknown... Could they really do it?
...
Zhu Yan looked down at his hand.
This ointment worked pretty well. In just a short dozen seconds, it had actually dried completely.
Enduring the severe pain in his chest, he peeled off the dried ointment crust bit by bit, and found that the pattern engraved on his palm was indeed taken off along with it, completely clean!
Holy shit, awesome!
Zhu Yan crumpled the ointment crust into a ball and threw it out through the broken wall of the parade float; then he turned his head to look at the road outside.
He remembered this turn—
There should be one more bend, and he would be able to return to the tunnel leading to the Alpha Wolf's stomach!
Zhu Yan let out a bitter smile.
He hoped Yang Zhanbai was there.
He really couldn't be bothered to waste energy opening that tightly sealed delivery box.
If he wasn't there, it would be a real hassle.
A crisp clunk of impact came from beneath him, and the small cart finally turned the last bend, slowly driving toward the suddenly appearing small opening!
At the same time.
The crisp sound of metal colliding attracted Yang Zhanbai's attention.
He quickly pulled himself out of his emotions, gripped his knife, and turned to look in the direction of the sound!
"Holy shit?"
The moment he realized what he was seeing, Yang Zhanbai's pupils contracted slightly, and his heartbeat suddenly accelerated.
It was actually that parade float—!
In just about ten minutes, the body of the parade float was actually riddled with holes and covered in scorch marks.
It should have been scrapped, yet it was still able to move at this moment.
More importantly, more importantly...
Surprise flashed across Yang Zhanbai's face. Without time to think, he bolted toward the slowly moving parade float.
That figure looking very weak and leaning against the parade float, wasn't that Zhu Zeyu?!
Holy shit.
He actually managed to survive such a perilous situation?!
"Holy shit! Zhu Zeyu! Are you fucking dead?!"
The speed of the abandoned parade float was far slower than before.
Yang Zhanbai quickly grabbed the crumbling railing, used the momentum, and nimbly jumped aboard.
He rushed over, meeting Zhu Yan's speechless expression.
Help.
If it weren't for the pain, Zhu Yan really would have jumped up and hit him.
"What kind of jinxing nonsense are you spouting?" he complained weakly, raising a finger to point at the cardboard box by his feet.
"Healing items. Drag them over to me."
Yang Zhanbai's eyes reddened.
The moment Zhu Zeyu spoke, the previous fear, pressure, and despair vanished instantly, replaced by a sudden surge of relief and joy of surviving a disaster, welling up in his eyes.
He was still alive!
In such a critical situation, Zhu Zeyu was alive.
Not only alive, but he had even managed to get items!
Yang Zhanbai didn't dare to delay.
He lunged over, quickly tore open the cardboard box, deftly pulled out a bottle of potion, and poured it onto Zhu Yan's wound.
"It's good that you're alive," Yang Zhanbai said hoarsely, almost choking up.
Zhu Zeyu being alive meant that they at least still had hope of clearing the game!
"How did you get past that acid pool earlier? I thought you were dead!"
He raised his arm and wiped his eyes. "How did you get hurt so badly? Are there more traps ahead? Did you see the Alpha Wolf?"
The cool potion seeped into Zhu Yan's wound, and the pain stopped almost immediately, replaced by an unbearable itch.
Zhu Yan couldn't help but start shivering.
He hurriedly lowered his head to inspect his rapidly regenerating flesh, only to feel his shoulder being patted heavily twice, as Yang Zhanbai's encouraging voice came from beside him.
"It's okay. I know the Alpha Wolf has a lot of traps."
"Even if you were sent back, as long as we're alive, there's still hope."
"Tell me, what exactly did you see? Take me with you this time, I'm going with you!"
What the hell?
Zhu Yan cursed in his heart.
Just what kind of crazy scenarios had Yang Zhanbai been making up in his head?
He fought back the urge to make a sarcastic remark and opened his mouth to explain.
However, a female voice suddenly rang out over the broadcast, its echoes rippling through the tunnel.
"Now broadcasting a dungeon announcement."
"Player [Zhu Zeyu] has successfully killed the Alpha Wolf."
"All players will receive 48 hours of continuous daylight."
"The dungeon duration will be shortened to 3 days."
"Congratulations. Day has broken!"
to panic—he has a system. As long as an investment target dies, he can claim a reward. And since he is immortal, the one thing he has plenty of is time. ... Countless years later. “Immortal Emperor of Longevity? I invested in him.” “Supreme Celestial Venerable? I invested in him.” “Undying Empress? I invested in her.” “...” “Heh. Once they’ve all died, even the Heavenly Dao will have to kneel and call me Dad.”
uld barely embark on the path to immortality. Just as he was on the verge of death, his golden finger awakened. No matter whether it was poison, drained blood and vital energy, diminished lifespan, or any other physical debuff caused by paying a price—once midnight passed, everything would be refreshed. From then on, whenever someone asked what kind of person Chu Ran was, the answer was simple: Forbidden arts that other cultivators dared not learn? Chu Ran would learn them. Prices that even demonic cultivators dared not pay? Chu Ran would pay them. Lifespan that even righteous cultivators dared not burn? Chu Ran would burn it. All the blood essence in his body? Take it. Want both his hands and feet? He would cut them off and send them to you. You say he’s finished? He wasn’t built to sit idle. You think he’s gone mad? No—he was simply waiting for midnight. From that day onward, Chu Ran would respect neither Heaven nor Earth, bow to neither gods nor ghosts. He had only one wish: For midnight to arrive a little sooner.
his freshman year, Su Bai accidentally bound the "Indulgence Tycoon System." 【Sleeping in? Reward: +$1,000】 【Spent $288 at a street barbecue stall? Cashback: +$2,880】 【Dropped $14,396 on in-game skins? Special reward unlocked: A brand-new Porsche Panamera!】 Luxury cars, penthouses, corporate shares, financial empires… College life was all about living freely and doing whatever he pleased! … When the adorably naive academic genius faced family medical bills and financial struggles, Su Bai waved his hand dismissively: "Your future is on me." "Wuwu~ Big Brother is so good to me! I’ll become a scientist to repay you!" When the genius girl got bullied by a shady professor? Su Bai casually dropped a billion-dollar investment, forcing the university to grovel and beg for her return. A company’s funding chain collapsing? Su Bai smirked—cash was the one thing he’d never run out of. Years later, when people traced the rise of the AI prodigy beauty, who was the man behind her success? Not just that—Su Bai also became the tsundere campus belle’s unattainable dream, the contrast senior’s daily necessity, and the beautiful counselor’s emotional anchor…
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
