A new grave stood on barren land, the biting north wind chilling the air, and in front of it, a young man squatted, burning paper offerings.

He had light, clear eyes and a slight, natural upturn to his lips, giving him an inherently amiable, handsome look. He seemed no older than twenty.

On his left earlobe was a mole the size of a soybean, mostly covered in an ominous black, with only a tiny sliver of bright red peeking out at the edge.

Gu Wang rubbed his earlobe, muttering as he burned the paper. “Are you down there yet? Are you missing anything, food or supplies? Or should I burn you some beautiful women? Good-looking guys work too…”

The quietly burning paper offerings trembled violently, and the flames shot up high.

He jumped and awkwardly chuckled, “Oh, you’re listening, huh? I thought you were catching up with old friends. Alright, alright, no burning, no burning.”

After a long moment, the paper money burned to ash. He stood up, smiling. “Okay, I’ll visit you again next time.”

Then, thinking better of it, he added, “Or maybe next time, I’ll just come down and see you myself!”

A cold gust of wind swept through, swirling the ashes and embers on the ground before they suddenly exploded.

Gu Wang quickly raised his hands. “Alright, alright, I won’t talk nonsense. Don’t be mad. I’ll definitely get through this death tribulation and live to a ripe old age. Then I’ll bring my daughters and sons to visit your grave.”

The ashes slowly settled.

Gu Wang breathed a sigh of relief, no longer daring to joke around. He used his entrenching tool to bury the ashes, packed up his things, and began his descent down the mountain.

Visiting graves in the afternoon was customary here, so by the time he was halfway down, the sun had already set.

As he hurried along, head down, he heard a high-pitched voice say, “Such a fragrant smell, let me have a bite.”

Gu Wang froze, instinctively grabbing his entrenching tool and swinging it. “By the power of Heavenly Constellations, evil spirits, begone!”

The high-pitched voice let out a miserable shriek.

He swiped at his eyelids, opening his spiritual eye, and saw at least twenty lone souls surrounding him. All had pale, greenish faces, turned towards him like sunflowers, their eyes gleaming with covetous hunger.

A shiver ran down his spine. So he’d been walking with this bunch of freeloaders, like a kindergarten teacher, the whole time?

The old ghost he’d just smacked floated back, clutching its missing cheek. “You’ve got so much Yin energy on you, what’s wrong with me taking a bite?!”

Gu Wang looked down and saw he was enveloped in a thick, dark aura, more than all these ghosts combined. He subtly clenched his fist and retorted indignantly, “No matter how much Yin energy there is, it’s mine! You’ve got plenty of your own, why don’t you give me some?”

The old ghost choked. “You’re a living person, what do you need so much Yin energy for?!”

Gu Wang shrugged. “None of your business. It keeps me cool.”

The old ghost was so angry that its phantom toes dug into the ground. “You’re a living person with such heavy Yin energy, you definitely won’t live much longer! I’ll come back when you’re dead!”

Gu Wang was genuinely surprised. “Are you out of your mind? I’m already like this now. When I die and become a ghost, won’t I have even more Yin energy? Will you be able to beat me then?”

The old ghost: “…” Its face cycled from green to red with rage, yet it couldn’t think of a response.

Suddenly, Gu Wang’s expression changed. “Oh no, hurry up and take this bunch of sunflowers and go, I…”

The old ghost brightened. “What? Are you dying?”

Gu Wang: “…” He couldn’t bear to look and closed his eyes.

With a boom, the Yin energy on his body exploded.

If the previous Yin energy was like an enormous fireball, now it was like a volcanic eruption, instantly engulfing the entire hilltop, as dense and dark as night, as if a giant black hole had appeared out of nowhere.

The old ghost and the other lone souls didn’t react before they were blasted away, like small boats struggling and drifting in a stormy sea, scattered in all directions.

It took the old ghost a good ten miles to stabilize itself. It looked itself over and saw that its left leg and right arm were gone! It was so furious that it nearly burst into tears!

A not-so-bright ghost floated up, excited. “Boss! So much Yin energy, enough for us to eat for over a decade!”

The old ghost was still sobbing and trying to reattach its arm when it slapped the ghost on the head. “Are you stupid? All you know is eating! Can’t you see how powerful that Yin energy is! Boo-hoo, I hate people who play dumb and then show their true strength…”

Gu Wang wasn’t doing so well either. He meditated for over an hour on the spot before he could barely suppress the Yin energy.

Shivering from the cold, he stood up and accidentally kicked a ghost bead, probably dropped by that old ghost.

He didn’t have time to worry about it. He shoved the ghost bead into his pocket, hurried back to the Taoist temple, dove into his quilt, and roasted himself all night with an electric blanket.

The next morning, he dug out every thick piece of clothing he owned, piled them on, then slowly cooked himself a bowl of porridge. He wouldn’t have gotten out of bed if he hadn’t been so starving.

Just as he finished his porridge, he heard someone calling at the gate.

This little rundown Taoist temple was up in the mountains, not a scenic spot, so visitors were always familiar faces.

Gu Wang immediately recognized the voice as Old Ma, who had a good relationship with his master and used to deliver daily necessities to the temple every so often.

Old Ma knocked on the gate a few times, then saw a “fortress” emerge.

He squinted for a moment, then hesitated. “Little Gu?”

He looked up at the sky. It wasn’t cold today, the sun was shining, and it wasn’t snowing. Was it really necessary to wear a military overcoat over a down jacket, and then wrap himself in a quilt?

Gu Wang, bundled in his quilt, greeted him. “Morning, Uncle Ma. Is something wrong?”

Old Ma collected himself. “Right, it’s like this. The old Taoist priest told me to handle something, and I’ve finished it. Brought it over for you to take a look.”

“Master told you to?” Gu Wang was confused. “What thing?”

Old Ma handed over a stack of papers. “Before the old Taoist priest left, he told me to sell the Taoist temple, and then use the money from the sale to buy an amusement park under your name…”

Gu Wang: ??

He asked, bewildered, “Are you saying my master sold our ancestral Taoist temple? And then bought me an amusement park?”

Old Ma nodded affirmatively.

If the quilt hadn’t been so heavy, Gu Wang would have jumped up. “Why?! I’ve studied Taoism for over ten years, and now I’m supposed to run an amusement park? I don’t even know how!”

Old Ma was even more puzzled. “Didn’t the old Taoist priest tell you? He said that for you to get through your death tribulation, you had to buy this amusement park. And you couldn’t keep the Taoist temple; you had to stay far away from it.”

Gu Wang was stunned for a moment, then looked conflicted. “He didn’t tell me beforehand…”

Old Ma: “The old Taoist priest said that after he was gone, you’d definitely take advantage of him not being able to beat you and burn him all sorts of weird stuff. Maybe he just wanted to scare you?”

Gu Wang: That old man, such a vindictive streak even at his age!

Old Ma watched Gu Wang sign several contracts, then breathed a sigh of relief. “Alright, everything the old Taoist priest told me to do is finished…”

Gu Wang politely said, “Thank you, you’ve gone to a lot of trouble.”

Then he heard Old Ma add, “Little Gu, you should also take care of yourself. Don’t be shy about some things. There’s a beef noodle shop down the mountain; their beef tendon soup is great and very effective.”

Gu Wang: “…” He looked haggard. “You don’t need to tell me secret remedies like that…”

Old Ma’s face turned red, and he hastily turned to leave. “Well, I’m going then! You should pack up quickly. The people who bought the Taoist temple said they’d be coming in a few days!”

---

It took Gu Wang another full day to recover.

He had a special constitution; as he aged, the Yin energy within him would grow stronger, eventually devouring his life force. The moment he could no longer suppress it would be his death.

However, his master recently said there was a turning point for this death tribulation. He just never expected that turning point to be running an amusement park.

Fortunately, the amusement park’s address on the contract was in Yaoguang City, Fuyu Province. Although quite far from here, it was a relatively prosperous city with a large population and developed transportation.

Gu Wang even looked it up online.

The amusement park had been open for over twenty years. While not large, it was considered an old brand. As long as he didn’t squander everything, he should be able to manage it decently, right?

A few days later, Gu Wang cleaned up the Taoist temple, gathered his personal belongings, including that ghost bead, and his master’s relics, and left. Bundled up tightly, he boarded the train to Yaoguang City.

Yaoguang City was in the south, and the train traveled from north to south, a journey of over ten hours.

On the way, Gu Wang, with nothing better to do, studied the ghost bead he’d picked up.

Ghost beads weren’t worth much, but they could automatically absorb and store surrounding Yin energy. That old ghost used them to absorb Yin energy to “eat,” essentially like a lunchbox.

Since the old ghost coveted Gu Wang’s Yin energy, it wasn’t unreasonable for Gu Wang to take its “lunchbox.”

It was a bit of a shame, though, that this ghost bead couldn’t absorb Gu Wang’s own Yin energy. But then again, if his problem were that easy to solve, his master wouldn’t have worried about it for so many years.

The train arrived at the station. Gu Wang put away the ghost bead, got off with the crowd, and then hailed a taxi straight to the amusement park.

After all, he was going to be a park manager; he couldn’t skimp on this kind of money.

On the way, Gu Wang even searched on his phone to see what amusement parks looked like. He’d never actually been to one before.

The page immediately showed pictures uploaded by netizens from all over the country: carousels, Ferris wheels, bumper cars, pirate ships—a riot of colorful fun.

The inexperienced Gu Wang felt his heart swell with excitement. No wonder people loved going to amusement parks; they really did look fun! Once he took office, wouldn’t he be able to play on whatever he wanted?

As the taxi drove away from the train station, the city center, and Yaoguang City, Gu Wang suddenly realized something wasn’t right.

An hour later, the taxi stopped in front of a stretch of ruins in the northern suburbs of Yaoguang City.

The driver, sporting a professional smile, said, “Young man, Harmony Haven Amusement Park, we’re here.”

Gu Wang looked up blankly, his smile slowly disappearing. The carousels and Ferris wheels in his mind spun away. He shakily raised a hand, pointing at the desolate, overgrown ruins outside. “This… this is Harmony Haven Amusement Park?”

The driver said, “That’s right. The navigation says so, doesn’t it? I even came here when I was a kid.”

Gu Wang was overcome with grief and indignation. “Didn’t they say it was an old brand amusement park that had been open for over twenty years?!”

The driver replied, “That’s also correct. I remember it opened twenty-five years ago and closed twenty-three years ago.”

Gu Wang: “…”

So it only operated for two years, huh?!

The driver was still smiling. “Are you here for an adventure, young man? A few years ago, there were rumors of ghosts here, and a lot of young people came to explore!”

Gu Wang offered a miserable smile. “Yeah, here for an adventure…”

Who says life isn’t an adventure?

He paid and got out of the car, trudging into the heap of ruins. He looked down and saw the half-rotted main gate, the collapsed walls, and weeds taller than his thighs.

The carousel was gone… the Ferris wheel was gone… even the damn amusement park itself was gone.

This was just a wasteland!

The driver, who was turning around to leave, vaguely heard a sob and, remembering the ghost rumors, quickly stepped on the gas and fled.

Gu Wang slowly leaned against a tree, feeling like his spine was about to be bent under the weight of his difficult life and his three military overcoats, one down jacket, and two sets of thermal underwear.

After resting for a while, he still wasn’t ready to give up and slowly started moving through the abandoned amusement park.

This wasteland… no, amusement park wasn’t very large, covering only about fifty mu. After twenty years of nature reclaiming it, the weeds reached half a person tall, making it impossible to see any paths.

The park’s facilities had all been moved away, with only a few scattered pieces of equipment remaining, strewn about and rotting.

Some buildings, whose original purpose was unclear, had fallen into piles of bricks.

The only thing still standing was a small, concrete, single-story house. Its door was half rotted, leaning crookedly against the frame, just waiting for the next person to push it and be blamed for its collapse.

Gu Wang didn’t dare to touch it. He looked out the window and thought a mouse would need to give up two pounds of rice just to get in.

He carefully surveyed the whole area. Besides the old tea tree in the northeast corner of the park, there was nothing worth more than two dollars.

He just wanted to wail to the heavens, “Why?! Why sell ancestral property to buy this wasteland?!”

He wanted to cry, but couldn’t. “Master, you didn’t buy this wasteland to build my grave, did you? Weren’t you happy having me buried next to you? Why send me so far away?”

He talked about finding a turning point for his death tribulation here.

What turning point?!

There wasn’t even a transfer point, only a taxi!

It cost him 130 yuan to get here, and it would cost another 130 to get back.

While he was feeling depressed, he suddenly heard someone talking. He looked up and saw a young man walking towards him, talking on the phone.

This young man’s brightly dyed orange hair made him look fair and chubby. He stepped over the fallen iron gate and entered the amusement park area.

At that moment, Gu Wang suddenly felt a long-lost warmth, lingering for a moment in his chest.

On his left earlobe, the faint red, which had been barely clinging to life, struggled and glowed.

Gu Wang rubbed his chest, his eyes slowly lighting up. “Well, hello there! A turning point!”