Chapter 296

Just as Jiang Tianming had said, the amusement park was massive, divided into four areas, each as large as a small, ordinary amusement park.

With such a large area, the array eye had to be enormous as well. Su Bei quickly recalled some relevant knowledge and had a good idea of what to look for. If Jilam didn’t want the array eye to be found easily, he would definitely use something even bigger than the array eye itself to conceal it.

Within his line of sight, things larger than an array eye included the haunted houses, the circus, the aquarium, and the large pool for the log flume ride. There were two haunted houses, one on the far left and one on the far right of the entire park. Su Bei and his team’s starting point had been the one on the left.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…” After finishing his second ride on the Ferris wheel and confirming he’d seen everything, Su Bei’s expression turned peculiar.

He now suspected that the array eye was located in the very haunted house where they had started. As the saying goes, any clue related to the protagonist could be a piece of the author’s foreshadowing. Searching everywhere only to find the exit at the starting point—wasn’t that perfectly logical?

Why hadn’t he thought of that earlier? If he had, he wouldn’t have had to run all this way. Su Bei fell silent for a moment before starting to head back. As he walked, he recalled the method for breaking an array eye.

In theory, the method was simple: find a key item or a key person within the illusion and place them in the center of the array eye.

The center of the array eye should also be easy to find. If the array eye was indeed the haunted house, then its center would likely be near the center of the haunted house. A few attempts should be enough to locate it.

The problem, however, was that who the hell knew what the key item or key person of the amusement park was?

This would make everything that followed troublesome, but for the sake of his own life, Su Bei had to try. The hidden files from the ‘Destiny’ organization stated that the key to breaking an array eye must be something that permeates the entire illusion. This thing could be a person or object that was the most representative of the core concept, or it could be a person or object that could be seen everywhere.

Anything that met either of these criteria could be the key.

The overarching concept of an amusement park was undoubtedly ‘joy,’ and the items related to this were the various rides and attractions. However, most of the facilities in the park were massive, and he couldn’t possibly move them.

As for a person…

“The clown,” Su Bei muttered to himself, turning back towards the Ferris wheel.

He approached the clown guarding the Ferris wheel. Since there were no more tasks here, the area around it was deserted, a stark contrast to just a short while ago.

Seeing Su Bei return, the clown’s face split into a wide grin. “My dear little friend, is there something else you need from me?”

“Can you only stay here? Or can you go to other places?” Su Bei asked, getting straight to the point.

The clown nodded; they were always honest. “Once all the tasks I’m in charge of are completed, I can move around freely.”

The only reason he hadn’t left earlier was because Su Bei was on the Ferris wheel, and it was inconvenient for him to leave.

So he really can leave, Su Bei thought, his suspicion deepening. He asked politely, “In that case, may I invite you to come with me to the haunted house on the west side?”

“An invitation!” The clown made an exaggerated expression of surprise, his body language just as flamboyant as his face. “Oh! A dear little friend wants to invite me! Of course I’d be delighted! My dear, shall we go now?”

“That would be too conspicuous.” After getting an affirmative answer, Su Bei breathed a sigh of relief and then shook his head. “I hope we can travel separately and meet at the haunted house.”

It was a known fact that the clowns represented tasks to the contestants. If he walked with a clown, there was no telling how many people would flock to them along the way. The clown wouldn’t be in any trouble, but he would become the clown of the situation.

“No problem! Let’s meet in three hours then!” the clown said cheerfully, not even asking why he couldn’t walk with Su Bei. The three-hour timeframe was very reasonable. With an Ability user’s physique, the journey would take just over an hour, leaving nearly an hour and a half for detours. As long as one wasn’t deliberately late or ran into an accident, any normal person could make it.

Su Bei nodded in agreement. “Sounds good. I’ll head out first.”

Just as he was about to leave, the clown suddenly added from behind him, “Please don’t break your promise. It would make the clown very sad.”

Su Bei paused for a second before continuing on his way. “I won’t.”

On the way back to the haunted house, he began to wonder if there was a deeper meaning to the clown’s words. It wasn’t that Su Bei was being paranoid; there was a precedent for this. Before they even entered the illusion, Jilam had said, “Please don’t harm our lovely staff. There will be a penalty for harming them.”

At first, he thought it was just a joke, a way to tell everyone not to destroy the “public props.” After all, creating a mobile person within an illusion was no easy task and required a considerable amount of Mental Energy.

But when the clown said he would be sad, Jilam’s words suddenly came to Su Bei’s mind. Did making a clown sad count as harming him? And if he did harm him, what would the consequences be?

Practice is the sole criterion for truth. He would only find out the answer to that question when someone else stepped on that landmine. Su Bei was certain he wouldn’t be the one to do it, so he wasn’t worried. He had just thought of something else.

Previously, he had wanted to profit from the truth of the illusion world but couldn’t think of a way. After all, there was no broadcasting station here; Su Bei couldn’t let everyone know he had information at once.

And he himself lacked the ability to disseminate information widely. He couldn’t just run up to everyone he met and ask, “I have a crucial piece of information. Do you want to buy it for 500 points?”

Who would pay him any mind?

Besides, if he really did ask people one by one, Su Bei was sure he’d be met with force before he even got to the tenth person. Without sufficient ability to protect himself, holding onto vital information meant he could only choose to either keep it quiet or release it for free.

To profit from it, he either needed immense combat strength or a way to conceal himself. Only by finding a reliable method could he execute his plan.

But the clown, who could move around freely, gave Su Bei a glimmer of hope. He could travel anywhere, didn’t need points, and wouldn’t be harmed by others. Most importantly, he was friendly to the contestants and was a staff member here, so there was a chance he might accept his request.

He had just made an arrangement with the clown to go to the haunted house. Once the issue with the array eye was settled, he could discuss this matter with him.

As for announcing the information, Su Bei wasn’t worried the author would intervene. By the time he was ready to announce it, the main protagonist’s group would likely already know. As long as it didn’t affect the main plot, it wouldn’t matter.

Most importantly, at 500 points a pop, not everyone would have the determination to buy the information. In the short term, it was impossible for everyone in the illusion to know, so it would be of little consequence.

After casually dispatching a Low-tier Nightmare Beast, Su Bei felt a bit hungry. They had entered the illusion at eight in the morning. Calculating the time, it was now one in the afternoon. It was indeed time for lunch.

Su Bei found a spot and started a barbecue, which soon attracted a small group of people. It was one of those things about eating—some people don’t feel hungry until they see or smell food, at which point their stomachs immediately start to rumble.

The people who had gathered now were exactly that type.

“Hey… what the hell is this stuff you’re making?” the first guy to approach asked with disgust, looking at the charred meat.

Su Bei had long known he was a certified kitchen assassin, so he felt no shame at the comment. Instead, he yielded his spot. “You do it then. I can provide the tools and the meat.”

He had fashioned the barbecue tools from a chair by the side of the road and some nearby branches. As for the meat, the Nightmare Beast he had just killed was as big as an ox, so sharing half of it was no problem at all.

“Fine, no problem.” The guy was straightforward. He first pinched Su Bei’s piece of meat between two fingers in disgust and handed it back, then took out some fresh Nightmare Beast meat to cook.

His teammates, knowing his skill at grilling, immediately chimed in happily, “We want some too, we want some too!”

The guy rolled his eyes. “Eat, eat, eat, that’s all you know. Is it my meat you’re asking for?”

Hearing this, his teammates turned to Su Bei. They all recognized him; everyone had at least some impression of the five contestants from Endless Ability Academy. “Hey, classmate, can we borrow your grill too? We’ll get our own meat.”

Su Bei didn’t agree immediately. Instead, he said meaningfully, “Accepting a favor puts you in their debt…”

“If you don’t actively get in our way, we won’t target you until it’s down to the last few people,” a girl from the team interjected with a flash of insight before he could finish.

If it had been anyone else, she definitely wouldn’t have made such a promise. But this was Su Bei, a first-year junior who had been thrust into a role he wasn’t ready for. Even if his ability was powerful, in their minds, he stood no chance of defeating them.

After all, wasn’t everyone here a genius?

Having received a satisfactory answer, Su Bei made a “please” gesture with his hand and stepped back without another word. Their competition was being broadcast live to the outside world. Under the scrutiny of an audience, he believed they wouldn’t dare to lie.

Another team that had approached followed suit, making the same promise to gain the right to use the grill.

Su Bei had no intention of sticking around to watch. He took his piece of grilled meat, ate his fill, and left immediately. He still had an appointment with the clown and needed to get to the haunted house as quickly as possible within the three-hour window. If it weren’t for the fact that he was taking a direct route, which he estimated would take just over an hour, Su Bei would never have dared to waste time eating here.

From a long way off, Su Bei saw the clown standing at the entrance to the haunted house. A crowd of people had gathered around him, all asking if he had any tasks for them. Seeing that there was still plenty of time, Su Bei waited nearby. Only when the crowd began to disperse did he walk over.

Seeing him arrive as promised, the clown’s large red mouth split into an excited smile. “You’re here! Shall we go play in the haunted house together now?”

“Okay…” Su Bei was about to nod in agreement when he suddenly remembered his plan.

His original idea, of course, was to trick the clown into following him. Once they reached the center of the haunted house, he would lead him around in a few circles until he eventually stepped on the array eye.

But if the clown really was the key person to break the array eye, he would definitely feel something when he stepped on it. It would be strange for an illusionary being to destroy the illusion without sensing anything.

Therefore, the moment he stepped on the spot, he would immediately realize Su Bei had deceived him. At that point, Su Bei would only have one choice: to immediately leave the illusion through the broken array eye.

Although he didn’t know what would happen if he angered the clown, Su Bei had a strong intuition that it would be extremely dangerous. The clown had been very honest so far. People often subconsciously assume others will treat them the same way they treat others. Since the clown was so honest, he surely hoped and believed others would be honest with him in return. If Su Bei were to lie and trick him, the clown might become even more enraged than if he were physically harmed.

Su Bei knew his own escape abilities were weak. Although he could instantly kill the clown by altering destiny, his opponent was an illusionary being. He wasn’t certain he could finish him off completely.

Since he still wanted to stay, Su Bei didn’t plan on having a falling out with him.

After a second of hesitation, he chose to be honest. “I invited you to the haunted house mainly to see if you could break the array eye.”

If this were a story-driven illusion, the characters inside probably wouldn’t understand what he was saying. But in a plotless illusion like this amusement park, created purely for the competition, the characters were generally aware that they were illusionary beings.

The reason Su Bei dared to ask this so openly was that leaving via the array eye wouldn’t destroy the illusion. In a sense, breaking the array eye was like flushing a toilet. He, being at the center of the vortex, would be flushed out, but the toilet itself would remain undamaged.

Given the clown’s extremely friendly attitude earlier, Su Bei judged that he wouldn’t get angry even if he told the truth; at worst, he would just refuse to help. In that case, although he wouldn’t be able to use the clown to break the array eye, he could find someone else, and it would indirectly confirm that the clown was indeed the key.

Unexpectedly, yet logically, the clown didn’t get angry right away. He stood there silently for a few seconds, his voice tinged with a rare sadness. “The fun has just begun, and the little friend already wants to leave. Is it because our amusement park isn’t good enough?”

Having played so many games, Su Bei knew this kind of question required a careful answer. He shook his head decisively. “Of course not. The amusement park is a lot of fun, and I haven’t had enough of it yet! I’m not planning to leave right away. I just want to find a different path from everyone else.”

His words were half-truth, half-lie. It was true he hadn’t had enough fun and wasn’t planning to leave immediately, but the last sentence was false. However, it was enough for the clown. A smile blossomed on his face again. “That’s wonderful! Let’s go. We’ll go accomplish that thing you want to do right now.”

Su Bei glanced at his luck. The Minor Destiny Pointer was currently tilted in a favorable direction, which gave him more confidence in his objective.

Sure enough, after leading the clown in a few circles around the middle of the haunted house, a crack was heard, and a purple vortex appeared beneath the clown’s feet. Su Bei understood instantly. As long as he stepped into the vortex, he could leave the illusion directly. However, this vortex was only for him. If others wanted to use it, they would have to bring another clown to this exact spot.

Su Bei kept his promise and didn’t step into the vortex to leave right away. In any case, once the exit appeared, it wouldn’t disappear until he entered it. He could leave whenever he wanted.

The two of them went through the haunted house together. The clown fully displayed his comedic talents, laughing heartily at every scare and putting on a show for Su Bei.

Su Bei also did his best to relax, trying not to subconsciously feel like he was humoring the clown, but rather that the clown was accompanying him.

After they had finished their tour and both were in a good mood, he finally revealed his second purpose. “I have a deal I want to make with the other visitors, but if I go myself, I’ll likely be threatened. Could I ask you to help me make the trades? As thanks, if there’s anything you need me to do, I can help with that too.”

“What kind of deal do you want to make?” the clown asked curiously.

Seeing that he wasn’t opposed to the idea, Su Bei relaxed a little. “I have a piece of information that costs 500 points to exchange for. Tell them that, collect the points for me, and then have the people who paid come to the center of the haunted house.”

Initially, he had planned to tell the clown that “killing in the illusion is the same as killing in reality” and have him relay the message directly. It would have been convenient and saved him the trouble of setting things up in the haunted house.

But on second thought, Su Bei realized that the problem with the illusion must mean Jilam was being controlled by a Nightmare Beast. If that was the case, could the clown, an illusionary being himself, really be unaffected?

His current friendliness was likely because Su Bei hadn’t touched upon the issue of the Nightmare Beasts. Once he brought it up, the clown might instantly turn on him under the beast’s control.

The clown, of course, had no idea what Su Bei was thinking. He cheerfully nodded his comical clown head. “I can help you! In exchange, you have to be happy every day! A clown’s greatest wish is for children to be happy every day!”

“I also hope I can be happy every day. I’ll do my best to achieve that,” Su Bei replied sincerely.

Realizing that the clown might place a high value on integrity, he didn’t rashly agree to this request, which was part polite formality and part genuine wish. Instead, he was very cautious, only saying he would try his best. After all, being happy every single day was, by any measure, an impossible feat.

The clown blinked, paused for a moment, and then said, “I’ll be on my way then. When I meet other little friends, I’ll tell them about your deal.”

Seeing him turn to leave just like that, Su Bei asked, puzzled, “Don’t you need to know my ID?”

The answer, of course, was no. The clown grinned, shook his head, and held up a finger. “You should know, staff members always have a few little privileges.”

After the clown left, Su Bei began to set up the haunted house. 500 points was a lot, but the competition had already reached its middle stage. Most teams should be able to scrape together enough if they pooled their resources.

Important news coming from a contestant wouldn’t be taken seriously by many, but coming from a staff member, it would feel much more reliable. Su Bei was certain that some people would be willing to pay for this information.

The most crucial point was that a staff member collecting points wouldn’t attract greedy eyes. The contestants would subconsciously assume the clown was just collecting points according to the rules and that the points were useless to him.

Who would ever imagine that this deal offered by the clown was actually orchestrated by another contestant?

Setting up the haunted house was necessary. Otherwise, when they arrived, Su Bei couldn’t just stand at the entrance and tell the information to whoever showed up. If he did that, he’d definitely be robbed right after he finished talking.

He needed the contestants who came to be able to see the message but not be able to find him. So, it was essential to place the message in a good spot beforehand. Furthermore, the message should ideally be impossible to remove or destroy. While it was unlikely anyone would do that, who knew if there was a blockhead among the contestants.

Using a gear, he carved the message onto the first step of the stairs below the center of the haunted house. This spot was hard to notice without a thorough search, which would effectively prevent people who hadn’t paid from getting the information for free. On the other hand, those who had paid the 500 points would surely search meticulously for what they’d spent their points on, so they would most likely find it.

After carving the message, Su Bei quickly left the haunted house. He couldn’t stay there. It would be difficult to leave once the others arrived. The message clearly wasn’t an inherent part of the illusion. After all, for such a major issue to occur, the illusion itself had to be compromised. And if the illusion was compromised, why would it provide a warning?

Coupled with the fact that the information cost points to buy, anyone who wasn’t a complete idiot could guess that it was leaked by a contestant. After all, if the teachers outside had revealed the information to save them, why would they charge points?

At that point, whether to confirm the information’s accuracy or to get greedy over the points, someone would definitely come looking for him. Only by leaving in advance could he ensure his safety.

He wanted to release the information, he wanted to pocket the points, and he also wanted to guarantee his absolute safety.

In the middle stage of the competition, everyone was no longer limiting themselves to eliminating Nightmare Beasts. At this point, it was both logical and reasonable to start eliminating some opponents in preparation for wiping out the rest later on.

Su Bei was alone and had no escape abilities. Previously, he could use his words to persuade others to let him go for the time being, but that definitely wouldn’t work now. Therefore, he had to be extremely careful not to get caught.

Thinking things through to this point, he sighed. If this were before, getting caught meant getting caught. At worst, he could transfer his points to Jiang Tianming’s group beforehand and then surrender to leave the illusion. But now, being eliminated meant actual death, which made his situation far more perilous.

Finding a thicket to hide in for the time being, Su Bei glanced at his watch. Because Jiang Tianming and the other three were always together, there wasn’t much on the chat interface. Only Jiang Tianming periodically reported their current location to him to avoid them running into each other.

The points he had, which were the team’s total points, amounted to 670. Although it seemed a bit low, this was with Jiang Tianming and the others deliberately holding back. Moreover, over four hundred of those were Fixed Points. Their progress wasn’t slow compared to the other academies.

Suddenly, the number on his watch jumped, changing from 670 to 1170 in an instant. It seemed Mr. Clown had worked his magic; someone had purchased his information.

A smile crept into Su Bei’s eyes. He sincerely felt that he had made the right move. Earning in one minute what it took Jiang Tianming’s group of four several hours to make—anyone would have to admit that being an information broker was truly profitable.

It was just a pity that here, he could only trade for points and nothing else. And besides making their score look better, the points were utterly useless. After all, the final result of this competition would either be a victory for the protagonist’s group or the competition wouldn’t even reach a smooth conclusion.