Chapter 96: I Thought of It, and Then I Did It

Since A Yuan said so, Xi Yan did not intend to press the matter any further. He and A Yuan came to the entrance of the first roller coaster.

The two of them stood on the platform at the entrance. Xi Yan pointed at the small cave that the track would pass by and said to A Yuan, “A Yuan, that cave right there. Let’s go back and take another look at what is odd inside.”

A Yuan nodded, then sat down on the roller coaster. This time, Xi Yan did not fasten his seat belt. He planned to leap straight into the cave when they passed by.

If he could not figure out what was going on here, then he would have no choice but to knock Qing Yan and Lin Shuang unconscious first, and only then take the two of them away.

...

Clatter, clatter...

The roller coaster started moving. Because he had not buckled his seat belt, Xi Yan could only clutch the handhold in front of him with all his strength, or he would be flung out.

If his body had not been strengthened, Xi Yan would already have been thrown out and killed.

Even so, the wind still beat at his eyes until he could hardly open them. Yet with the corner of his vision, he still managed to see A Yuan’s condition.

A Yuan was gripping the handhold with only one hand, looking all around with the air of someone finding the roller coaster utterly novel.

Seeing A Yuan like that, Xi Yan had thought that A Yuan too had been affected by the place and had become like Qing Yan and the others.

Just as Xi Yan was thinking about what to do next, A Yuan immediately said, “Brother! We’re almost at that cave!”

Xi Yan looked up at once and made his decision. He called out to A Yuan, “Jump!”

A Yuan did not hesitate in the slightest. He leaped straight out of the roller coaster and caught hold of a vine inside the cave. Xi Yan did the same.

But once the roller coaster had rushed away, Xi Yan and A Yuan realized that what they had been gripping was not some vine at all. It was a transparent tube.

All around them were many similar tubes. The contents inside differed from one to another. Some held red liquid, some green, and others black.

“Brother... the things inside are crying...”

A Yuan said something Xi Yan could not begin to understand. The things inside the tubes were crying? What did that mean?

“A Yuan, what do you mean by that?” Xi Yan saw a rock in the lower left that could hold two people, so he jumped there first.

After making sure it was safe, he held out his hand to A Yuan. “A Yuan, come here.”

A Yuan swayed lightly and landed beside Xi Yan with perfect steadiness. He grabbed Xi Yan’s leg and began to explain what he had just meant.

“The liquid here is blood fused with souls, and those souls are already beyond reversal, so... they’re crying...”

“Souls fused with blood? What use is something like that?” Xi Yan asked.

A Yuan paused, then lowered his head and answered, “It does not serve much purpose. It’s just... like you guessed before, Brother, it’s used as energy...”

After hearing A Yuan’s words, Xi Yan turned to look outside the cave at the roller coasters that were still operating.

A Yuan went on, “I imagine the energy for the entire roller coaster area is supplied this way. That’s how the rides can keep moving...”

“But that makes no sense. Using people as energy to power the roller coasters in the whole area—why?” Xi Yan could not understand it at all.

A Yuan bit his lower lip and spoke words Xi Yan could not fully grasp at first, though he understood their meaning.

“Brother... sometimes, some people just do things because they want to. Maybe... it’s merely the preference of the one behind this, or perhaps... it’s only to earn that tiny bit of points...”

Xi Yan fell silent. He leaned toward the first possibility A Yuan had mentioned, because the second did not fit reality. If it was only to earn points, then the reward would be far too little; it would not be worth the immense effort at all.

So it could only be the first reason: the personal taste of the person behind it.

Just because of a preference, they were harming others like this—turning blood and souls into one.

This method left the dead still able to feel pain, even though they were undeniably already dead.

Xi Yan felt terrible inside, but he knew he had no ability to change any of it.

Power. He needed power still. If only he were stronger, he could do so much more.

These people’s deaths had nothing to do with him, and he did not need to be the one to deal with them. Xi Yan was shocked for only a moment, and in the end the first thought in his heart was that he must become stronger, stronger still, or he would never be able to protect the people around him.

“Brother...”

Seeing that Xi Yan had not spoken for a long time, A Yuan reached out and tugged at the corner of his clothes.

Xi Yan looked down at A Yuan, smiled, then reached out and took him into his arms.

“Let’s go. I still have one more thing I need to verify.”

A Yuan nodded obediently and nestled in Xi Yan’s embrace.

After that, the two of them went to the pool. Xi Yan had personally seen someone die there before, only for the corpse to vanish all of a sudden.

“Brother, this water is strange. It doesn’t seem like water...” A Yuan pressed a finger to his lower lip, analyzing it with complete seriousness.

“Not water... Maybe you’re right.” Xi Yan set A Yuan down, then crouched beside the pool, about to think of a way to inspect it.

But at that moment, with a splash, a person suddenly fell from the air into the pool before Xi Yan.

Xi Yan looked up and saw that a roller coaster had just passed by. He drew his gaze back and looked at the person.

The person’s head had gone limp and drooped to one side. His neck should have been broken.

This person was dead, Xi Yan judged.

“Brother, look!” A Yuan pointed at the man in the pool.

Xi Yan also saw the change.

The man fell into the pool and sank downward, but before long, his corpse vanished into thin air just like that. Even the red blood on the surface of the water disappeared.

“Just like before. There really is something seriously wrong with this pool.” Xi Yan sighed, then stood up.

“Let’s go.” Xi Yan picked up A Yuan and left the roller coaster area.

Along the way, A Yuan asked in great confusion, “Brother, are we just leaving like this? Aren’t we going to keep investigating?”

“No.”

“Then how are Qing Yan and Lin Shuang supposed to leave this place? Won’t they just keep riding the roller coasters like mad?” A Yuan pressed on.

Hearing that, Xi Yan’s steps faltered for a moment, but he did not stop. He still continued toward the small pavilion and said to A Yuan, “A Yuan, I don’t have the ability to destroy this place, so I can’t change the effect it has on Qing Yan and the others either...”

Xi Yan looked somewhat desolate. He very much wanted to keep Qing Yan and Lin Shuang from being affected by this place, but he did not have the power to destroy the energy supply here. To be precise, he did not dare.

He did not know what would happen if he destroyed this entire roller coaster area, or who he would run into. Would the person behind all this appear?

Xi Yan did not want to die yet, and he could not die, so he chose the safest and most cowardly path.

That was to take the unconscious Qing Yan and Lin Shuang away from this area.