The next second, a violent hurricane flew out from Lu Shi's palm, and at the critical moment when their mine cart was about to crash into it, the hurricane shattered the stone door on the spot.
So the minecart made its way through the rain of gravel without incident, heading deeper into the bunker.
"With God Lu around, it's really reassuring," Zeng Fugui laughed heartily. "It seems we're determined to get these five chips."
Ye Bugui, sitting in the row in front of them, shook his head: "It's not that simple. I think you all should have figured out what race the owner of this castle is, right?"
"Vampires," Han Ran said softly, "are the kind of creatures I hate the most. Hopefully, no bats will go out later."
“That’s for sure,” Lu Shi said, his eyes still fixed on the road ahead, though unfortunately, he couldn’t see the path shrouded in mist. Otherwise, he would have been able to prepare for the attack in advance. “If they attack from the side, your reaction must be quick!”
After Lu Shi finished speaking, everyone on the mine cart nodded, their expressions becoming serious.
Just as Lu Shi had predicted, the monster that ambushed them this time did indeed come from the side.
Those were two rather sinister-looking vampires, but what they didn't expect was that the group of players were already prepared. When the vampires arrived, Ye Bugui picked up a baseball bat and with one blow, he actually knocked the vampire's head off.
Han Ran's fighting prowess was no joke. After a cold laugh, she made her move directly, and in the next second, she used both hands to tear the vampire apart like beef.
"Goodness," Zeng Fugui shuddered, "Everyone in our group of five, except for me, has incredibly high combat power."
Wei Jin, who was standing to the side, said softly, "I don't have much fighting power either."
The vampires' failure to stop them actually meant that their roller coaster ride was a success.
As they neared the finish line, they felt a resistance pushing them backward.
The source of the resistance was a vampire with a bat's head, whose ugly appearance made Han Ran immediately cover his eyes with his hands.
"Sorry, you're already overloaded. But if you can drop off three people, you can reach the finish line."
This statement didn't even cause a ripple among the group of five, because Lu Shi quickly added after it finished speaking:
"So complicated? Why don't I just deal with the person who set these rules directly?"
A talisman appeared in Lu Shi's hand without him noticing.
As soon as he threw out the talisman, a bolt of lightning struck the vampire directly.
In less than a second, everyone smelled the aroma of burnt protein.
The resistance that had been pushing them backward vanished instantly.
After Lu Shi landed, he glanced at his boss, who was standing in front of him trembling, yet had no choice but to hand over his chips, and gently reminded him:
"This dungeon doesn't restrict our abilities. It really is a holiday dungeon, specially designed to give out freebies."
The boss was furious but dared not speak out, thinking to himself that everyone else only had one skill, unlike you, who had eighteen kinds of skills, making you impossible to defend against!
After they left the castle, Zeng Fugui had already opened the game.
He excitedly raised the game console, pointed at the gleaming screen, and shouted:
"Lu Shen, Ye Ge, your chips have now reached the first and second place!"
However, Zeng Fugui's happiness didn't last even a minute before his face suddenly fell.
"What's wrong?" Wei Jin leaned closer to look at him.
“Modi has surpassed them,” Zeng Fugui said reluctantly. “He must have completed the game where heroes have to go to the eighteenth level of hell!”
Lu Shi and Ye Bugui exchanged a glance. Both of them were very career-oriented, so they spoke at the same time:
"Without further ado, let's move on to the next game."
The other three had no objections either. They hadn't put in much effort during the game, and everyone had saved up a lot of energy.
But to their surprise, they had only gone halfway when the system's voice rang out:
"Dear players, the game is fun, but please don't play it too much! The amusement park is closed today, please check into your hotel as soon as possible."
"A hotel?" Ye Bugui frowned. "What will happen if we don't check in?"
As if he had heard him, the system continued, "If you haven't found a hotel to check into before midnight, you will lose your eligibility to play!"
"Hotels in the amusement park are limited, please check in as soon as possible!"
As soon as they finished speaking, they heard the sound of the crowd surging around them.
"Let's go find a hotel!" Ye Bugui said in an urging tone, he didn't want to be eliminated for this reason.
However, Lu Shi remained calm: "We don't even know where the hotel is. If we run out now, wouldn't we just be running around like headless flies?"
Then Lu Shi turned to look at Zeng Fugui: "It's time for you to make a contribution. Use your skills to ask anyone."
Zeng Fugui patted his chest and assured him, "Received! Don't worry, Lord Lu!"
Zeng Fugui returned directly to the castle. After reluctantly contributing three items, the castle's owner opened the manor gates.
"Welcome to the Never-Ending Hotel."
Chapter 99
Crazy Amusement Park 5
"So the so-called hotel was actually the home of these game company owners?"
When they stepped back into this magnificent, cinematic castle…
"So, the so-called hotel was just the home of these game company owners?"
When they stepped back into the magnificent, cinematic castle, everyone's state of mind had changed noticeably.
At least no one was afraid anymore; instead, they were all carefully observing their surroundings, their hearts at peace.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please allow me to introduce myself." The owner thoughtfully opened the refrigerator and placed five frozen, wine-red drinks in front of them.
“You can call me Draco. This is my castle,” he said in a low voice. “Actually, we can accommodate hundreds more people here, but I really don’t want to take in some dirty and unruly people.”
“We are all very clean,” Wei Jin said seriously.
Lu Shi, however, glanced at Draco and then asked him with a puzzled look:
"You call us players, so you know this is all just a game?"
This is where Draco is completely different from the bosses they've encountered in previous instances.
The bosses all took it for granted that the world they lived in was real, but Draco's behavior was strange.
He seemed to know perfectly well who they were and why they were there.
“Of course, it’s just a game,” Draco replied calmly, without a trace of anxiety on his face.
It was as if he had foreseen all of this.
"Then what are you?" Ye Bugui asked curiously, hoping that Draco might be the key to their success.
Draco chuckled softly, seemingly finding Ye Bugui's question quite amusing:
"What am I... Hmm, that's a good question. I don't know either. Ever since I became conscious, I've known what I'm supposed to do."
"What if you don't do it this way?" Lu Shi leaned forward abruptly, his eyes becoming focused, as if it were all quite important to him.
“I will die.” Draco raised an eyebrow, as if losing his life wouldn't be a particularly painful thing for him. “Are your questions over?”
“That’s all.” Lu Shi then picked up the glass of beverage that looked like fresh blood and was still steaming cold, gently swirled it, and then drank it down without hesitation.
When Han Ran saw this, he almost reflexively reached out to stop Lu Shi, but Lu Shi was faster than expected.
"Aren't you afraid of having problems after drinking it?" Han Ran asked in a low voice. She didn't think Lu Shi was such an impulsive person. There must be something wrong here.
“I’m not afraid.” Lu Shi answered decisively: “If it really couldn’t be drunk, it wouldn’t be here with me now. Besides, I’ve already checked it with my spiritual energy, and it’s just ordinary red wine.”
Draco laughed: "This player, your performance is truly unexpected. I even suspect that your existence is a... bug."
Unexpectedly, Lu Shi wasn't angry at all. Instead, he burst out laughing after hearing Draco's words.
Bug? Hmm, the system seems to have described it that way before, which is quite accurate.
“But that has nothing to do with me,” Draco quickly added. “I was just doing my job.”
After speaking, Draco turned around without hesitation and left, leaving the group some space to talk.
So the group of people looked at each other for a while before Ye Bugui finally spoke:
"Their existence is more like that of NPCs in a game who issue quests."
“But NPCs don’t actually know their true identities,” Wei Jin retorted softly. “President Ye, I think they’re more like working people in a game. Although they know their identities, they can’t or won’t resist for some reason, so they just silently complete their work.”
"Your description captures the essence," Han Ran laughed. She picked up her glass of red wine, took a sip, and exclaimed, "Actually, it's quite delicious!"
"But I wonder how many people will be eliminated this time because of their hotel stay." Lu Shi looked out the window at the deepening night, and the amusement facilities, still brightly lit but deserted, looked somewhat eerie.
They all slept soundly that night. Ye Bugui even suspected that the system had tampered with it, otherwise he wouldn't have fallen asleep as soon as his body touched the bed.
“I fell asleep right away.” Lu Shi frowned. His body was so strong that he could go a year without sleeping without any problems. “It must be because of the bed.”
“Let’s go,” Lu Shi said, pulling back the curtains and nearly being blinded by the glaring sunlight outside. “Anyway, the weather is quite nice today.”
“Indeed,” Ye Bugui nodded, “I see long queues forming in many places outside again. It seems we need to get started too.”
After a quick breakfast, the five of them headed to the most popular attraction in the entire amusement park, the one with the longest queue: Heroes Descend to the Eighteen Levels of Hell.
There were many people in line, but when they saw these five familiar faces, something unexpected happened.
These people voluntarily gave up their spots, which saved them the trouble of queuing and allowed them to play directly.
The boss, with a cigar dangling from his mouth, seemed oblivious to the scene before him.
In his view, he has neither the ability nor the right to interfere with the players' own decisions.
"Why are you doing this?" Wei Jin asked cautiously. He knew very well that all benefits had a reason, and no one would be kind to others for no reason.
A bald man stepped forward from the crowd. He reached out, touched his bald head, and then forced a very obsequious smile:
“We all know how powerful the Demon Lord is. So we thought we'd wait for the Demon Lord to scout ahead first. If he finds an easy way to pass the level, we can copy him.”
These days, their clever ways of passing the game are all over the place. For ordinary people, why waste their brain cells when they can just copy the answers?
Wei Jin thought this reason was quite plausible, but he still added:
"Many of Brother Lu's methods are things that only he can do. If you want to copy them, you'd better learn to adapt them."
His words were not meant to boast, but rather to sincerely remind them.