Chapter 27: The Demon Tree

"So, you are the park director?"

Chen Guangxi scrutinized Ratman, the guy dressed in a doll's outfit gave her an inscrutable feeling.

Not human, but not a ghost either.

He was an even stranger, more extraordinary abnormal creature.

Upon seeing the director for the first time, Zhou Yuan saw a prompt appear in front of him:

"He wanted to make everyone happy, but did not realize he had done something foolish until the tragedy occurred, at which point he finally came to his senses. Now, he regrets it."

A foolish act? It must be related to the transformation of the Joy Castle... Zhou Yuan thought to himself.

Could this incident have been caused by human error?

As Zhou Yuan was pondering, Ratman, the park director, had already demonstrated a traditional Yingzhou art by bowing deeply at a ninety-degree angle to the crowd:

"Indeed, I am the director of Joy Castle."

The group exchanged looks, finding him oddly polite.

"Honestly, I'm surprised you were able to complete all the attractions. It seems someone must have helped you..." Ratman's gaze swept over the crowd, eventually resting on Zhou Yuan at the back of the group, his look becoming profoundly meaningful.

As the amusement park director, he controlled everything in the park; only people who had his permission could enter Joy Castle—of course, the Mobile Task Force had broken in using some method, but since they came from the federal authorities, their entry was not surprising.

What really concerned him was Zhou Yuan, an untamed extraordinary person... No, not even an actual extraordinary person, just a potential one.

A potential extraordinary person had escaped his perception and appeared in the park without any warning, which was unthinkable.

Besides, Zhou Yuan had shown various incredible abilities, such as always taking the correct path in the maze, even finding shortcuts; noticing the essence of the carousel and roller coaster at just a glance; using an unknown method to eradicate his negative emotions in the Ferris wheel...

The secrets of this young man were probably not small...

"We simply helped each other," said Gu Honggao stepping forward, directly asking, "Was it you who appeared before me that day as a staff member?"

"It was me."

"So, can you tell us the truth now?"

"Of course." Ratman slowly walked to his desk, sat down in a chair, lit a cigarette, and began to recount the past.

"If we were to trace the origins of the matter, we'd actually have to start from before the Third War.

But I suppose you don't like lengthy talks, so I'll cut it short."

Ratman took a drag on his cigarette, and smoke wafted out of his nostrils—his doll costume seemed to have become his body, rather than merely being worn on him.

"Joy Castle is my family's business; it started with my great-grandfather's generation. Our family has always been dedicated to bringing joy to the world.

In some people's eyes, this might seem a naive pursuit, but for me, it's quite romantic—I'm creating beauty.

Seeing the children play in the castle and the smiles on adults' faces always fills my heart with satisfaction and pride; to me, that's the meaning of life."

"Thanks to my family's continual management, Joy Castle has developed an excellent reputation worldwide, with an uninterrupted flow of visitors, and the situation has been very favorable."

"But—"

Ratman paused and sighed.

"—in recent years, societal pressures have gradually increased.

Economic recession, aging population, declining birth rates, xb opposition... Add to that housing and car loans...

Facing pressures from all directions, ever-present, people's negative emotions were increasingly rising, everyone was like a powder keg, ready to explode with the slightest spark.

During that time, the park witnessed sixteen brawling incidents over trivial matters in one month, an unprecedented number.

Although the flow of visitors didn't decrease, I could feel that the atmosphere in the park was gradually becoming more oppressive and negative, there were too many people exploding with negative emotions."

"Later one day, while I was patrolling the park, I discovered a tree I had never seen before.

At that time, I was worrying about some things and hadn't been sleeping well for nights, but when I approached that tree, I suddenly felt a lightness in my heart and no longer felt anxious."

"I was puzzled, so I began to observe secretly and found that no matter who it was, as long as they came close to that tree, their negative emotions would be drawn away, making them feel relaxed and happy.

This tree seemed to possess a magic power, capable of purifying the darkness in people's hearts, which was simply an invaluable treasure for Joy Castle.

At the moment, I was ecstatic, thinking that with this tree, everyone could start to be happy again."

The voice of the park's ratman manager immediately turned bitter:

"But I was wrong; I made a colossal mistake, I shouldn't have tampered with something I couldn't control.

The tree grew bigger and bigger, and its influence became more extensive. Eventually, any visitor who stepped into Joy Castle would have their negative emotions sucked away by it.

This caused Joy Castle's reputation to climb steadily, visitors were leaving positive reviews, attracting even higher footfall.

The growth of that tree thus became even more frenzied.

What's more bizarre is that only I could see the tree. Even though it had grown to an impossible-to-ignore size, no one else seemed to notice its existence."

"I became scared and decided to report it to the police, but the tree moved first.

It extended a vine and pierced through me. I thought I would die, but I didn't die; instead, I became this ghostly figure."

"So that tree is the source of everything?" said Gu Honggao.

"No, no, no."

The park's ratman manager shook his head, "Actually, there are two abnormal sources, one is that damn tree, and the other is me."

He crushed his cigarette butt in the ashtray and sadly exhaled a puff of smoke: "When I woke up, the entire Joy Castle had transformed into a living hell, with corpses everywhere.

I felt sad and guilty, feeling sorry for those visitors, and then somehow, I inadvertently used some sort of strength, reviving all the visitors.

Since then, the park has become what you see now.

Later, I figured out the truth, the reason I didn't die, was because 'Joy Castle' saved me. Hah, sounds unbelievable, right?"

Unfortunately, the park's ratman manager didn't see any signs of surprise on the faces of the crowd; they were all seasoned investigators.

He cleared his throat and continued, "I'll just tell you straight, now the amusement park has two controllers, one is me, and the other is that magic tree.

It controls Joy Castle to seal itself off, making the visitors slaughter each other, to absorb negative emotions and strengthen itself, and once the ordeal is over, it will lift the park's seal and leave here to repeat its actions elsewhere.

But ultimately, Joy Castle is owned by my family. So after becoming anomalous, it chose to assimilate me, turning me into another controller to counter that magic tree.

Now the magic tree has been suppressed by me, so what you need to do is quite simple."

The park manager gestured a throat-slitting motion:

"Kill it, then you can leave."