An Unlikely Alliance and a Path to Escape

‘Calling me directly by name… at least add ‘Sister’ as a suffix, won’t you? I’m quite a bit older than you! Where are your basic manners?!’

‘Honestly… she’s so adorable, with her head tilts and charming antics, she could captivate countless people, yet she insists on feigning maturity with such a stoic expression. It’s utterly bizarre!’

Upon hearing Bai Muxue’s dismissive reply, Amber puffed out her cheeks, deciding not to engage further with the sly little girl.

She dramatically tossed her lustrous golden hair, planted her hands on her hips, and let out a delicate huff:

“And I just tried, my bullets couldn’t even graze that jellyfish. It was as if… some invisible barrier was shielding it.”

‘A barrier, then… I wonder if a full-power strike from me would be enough to shatter it directly?’

Bai Muxue gazed at the colossal jellyfish suspended in the air, a fleeting shadow of contemplation crossing her eyes.

‘However, I only have thirteen days of life remaining to expend. Even if I were to forcefully transform by minimizing the life cost, I can’t be certain how much of my true power I could unleash…’

‘Or perhaps I should just accumulate more negative emotions from her right now? Earn myself dozens of days in one go!’ Bai Muxue’s eyes narrowed slightly, her deer-like gaze lingering provocatively on Amber’s slender form.

Sensing the ambiguous glint in Bai Muxue’s eyes, Amber involuntarily shivered—a potent surge of malice had registered within that gaze!

‘Is she plotting something sinister again?’

Gulp.

Swallowing a nervous gulp, a faint blush subtly crept onto Amber’s pretty face. Yet, she stubbornly maintained her composure, turning her head slightly. “This lady is indeed quite captivating, but Xiaoxue, there’s no need to stare so intently, is there?”

“Besides… Xiaoxue, you’re quite adorable yourself. At your age, you should be smiling more often, not constantly trying to act so grown-up…”

Clearly, Amber was genuinely bothered by this; in her eyes, Bai Muxue’s apparent disregard for her own charming appearance was nothing short of a travesty!

‘My mental age is absolutely far beyond yours, alright!’ Bai Muxue wrinkled her delicate nose in mild annoyance, though she didn’t linger on the subject. “Speaking of which, Amber, when you were investigating the amusement park earlier, did you notice anything unusual?”

Retreat was simply not an option. According to Amber, she had been investigating the child disappearance case in Wangdu from the outset, tracing every clue until she arrived at this abandoned amusement park.

As expected, at the main gate, she spotted the children who had been lured to this place… and, quite conspicuously, Bai Muxue, who had brazenly slipped in among them.

Instantly realizing that a disaster beast or a monstrous entity was behind the disappearances, Amber made a swift decision, devising a plan to stealthily infiltrate from the opposite side of the amusement park.

The bizarre, illogical sights within the amusement park genuinely startled her. She had attempted to rescue the children, only to trigger a relentless pursuit by the Nutcrackers.

Having successively dispatched dozens of Nutcrackers, Amber didn’t hesitate. Intent on withdrawing from the amusement park, she fought as she retreated, vaulting over the ticket turnstile in a single, decisive motion and bursting through…

Yet, outside the gate was not the derelict road she had arrived on, but rather an impenetrable, endless fog punctuated by a single, distant bright red light.

The Nutcrackers did not give chase. Amber followed the direction of the red glow… only to discover that the supposed “red light” was, in fact, the bright red nose of the colossal inflatable clown adorning the main gate.

Her retreat fruitless, Amber was forced to re-enter the amusement park. However, her previous actions had already put the soldiers on high alert, compelling her to find a hiding spot and bide her time.

To her astonishment, Bai Muxue, whom she had spotted earlier at the entrance, also stumbled haphazardly inside… thus leading to their unexpected reunion.

“Special… to be honest, it feels like absolutely nothing in this cursed place is normal…”

Upon hearing this, Amber pursed her lips, her brow furrowing as a pensive expression settled upon her pretty face. “Let me think…”

Suddenly, the girl gasped, her eyes brightening with a hint of delight. “I’ve seen the park map! We can exit the amusement park through the emergency passage… that emergency passage… we can reach it by traversing the Pirate Ship and the Underwater Tunnel.”

“An emergency passage?”

Bai Muxue paused, a moment of confusion giving way to sudden clarity as she grasped Amber’s meaning.

While this disaster beast possessed potent mind-control abilities, capable of extracting whimsical ideas directly from children’s minds, it was unable to alter the fundamental layout of the amusement park!

Though the park appeared distorted and eerie, the Ferris wheel remained the Ferris wheel, and the carousel, still the carousel… their fundamental positions had not been altered by the disaster beast!

If they followed this line of reasoning… if the entrance was sealed, then what about the exit?

That emergency passage might not necessarily lead to the outside world, but it would certainly break their current stalemate!

Yet… not much time had elapsed between her infiltration of the amusement park and her encounter with Amber, but the girl had already memorized the entire park map…

‘Unexpectedly decisive in action, Miss Amber.’

Bai Muxue lifted her head, her gaze meeting Amber’s, and in each other’s eyes, they both recognized the same unspoken thought.

“Stay behind me, and remember to call out if there’s any danger.”

“Understood.”

After their brief exchange, two graceful figures darted from the aisle. The nearby patrolling clowns barely registered their presence before Amber sent one flying with a swift kick, its airborne body crashing violently into the head of another Nutcracker.

A star-shaped bullet streaked from the barrel, directly shattering the skull of a guard who had been coiled in the shadows, poised to ambush Bai Muxue. Yet, one of the guards seized the moment to pull an alarm, and the entire amusement park instantly pulsed with alternating red and blue lights as more guards surged in like an unstoppable tide from every direction.

By then, however, the two had already successfully navigated past the Pirate Ship, now sprinting rapidly towards the Underwater Tunnel… until a formidable, oversized Nutcracker guard abruptly materialized, blocking their path.

The towering Nutcracker’s lips were stretched into an unnaturally wide, unsettling grin, revealing an exceptionally eerie smile directed at the two of them.

“Is that all you’ve got?”

Amber scoffed, a cold sneer on her lips, then hurled several blue and white snowflake orbs from her belt. These glistening projectiles detonated the instant they struck the guard’s feet, dissolving into countless transparent ice crystals that firmly anchored its legs to the ground, leaving it utterly immobile.

Confronting the guard, now helplessly bound and flailing its arms in impotent fury, a triumphant smile bloomed on Amber’s pretty face. With a swift flick of her riding crop, she vaulted high into the air, landing deftly on the Nutcracker’s shoulder.

The girl pressed the muzzle of her gun directly against the struggling guard’s head. With a resounding “bang,” the colossal Nutcracker disintegrated, scattering into countless tiny components that clattered to the ground.

“Let’s go!”

Stomping on the dismembered hand that still twitched, attempting to grasp them, the two wasted no time, swiftly disappearing into the Underwater Tunnel.