Chapter 17: Peaceful Yaoguang, Thanks to You~

In extreme fear, Tong Qianqian heard a clear child’s voice: “Pretty flower.”

She struggled out of her terror and saw the Bone Child squatting beside her hand, carefully picking up the medicinal patch with her finger bone… as if her eyes were playing tricks on her, the patch turned into a small pink flower.

Bloodstains clung to one of its petals, giving it a fragile beauty.

Tong Qianqian was a bit confused: “Wait… flower? No, medicinal patch…”

The Bone Child giggled, “It’s a flower from the little flower bed outside!”

She seemed to really like flowers, carefully putting one away, and comfortingly said, “Sister, don’t be afraid. No one can do bad things in the park with the director here.”

Tong Qianqian paused, then realized that although she didn’t know how Director Gu had so stealthily swapped the medicinal patch for a flower petal, it was clear that he had saved her.

Thinking of this, Tong Qianqian couldn’t help but feel grateful. She also blamed herself for her lack of social experience and complete lack of caution.

However, her gaze at Liu Peng was somewhat cold. She might be inexperienced, but Liu Peng clearly had no brains either. Why didn’t he bother to ask about her family’s background?

Outside, after Tong Qianqian and Liu Peng entered, Zhou Tong silently distanced herself from Gu Wang.

A master deserved respect, but a master who kept a den of ghosts… no matter how you looked at it, it was terrifying!

However, Gu Wang didn’t notice her subtle movements. He was just holding a talisman and making a few hand seals. Zhou Tong looked at the maze and then couldn’t help but step back toward him. “Um, Master Gu, are you…?” He’s not contacting ghosts, is he?!

Gu Wang hummed in affirmation, putting the talisman down. “I’m just exercising my hands.”

Zhou Tong: “…” She wanted to say, ‘Please put some effort into lying to me!’

Gu Wang: “Just, finger exercises. Have you ever done them?”

Zhou Tong: “…” She silently moved further away again.

After an unknown amount of time, the maze door opened again, and Tong Qianqian walked out, smiling broadly, holding someone’s hand.

Zhou Tong looked closely and almost fainted. The hand Tong Qianqian was holding belonged to a skeleton!

What’s going on?! Has my senior been enchanted? I told her not to go into that maze!

In her anxiety, just as she was about to speak, she heard her senior quickly say, “Tongtong, come quick! The NPC in the maze is a skeleton robot! It’s super intelligent! Someone might be controlling it from the backend!”

Zhou Tong’s heart relaxed. “Ah, it’s a robot? Right, even a master might not be able to catch so many ghosts…”

Then she saw the Bone Child, still being led by the hand, walk several steps out of the maze before a shadow finally emerged to follow and stick to her feet.

Zhou Tong: QAQ; No! This absolutely isn’t a robot!

Tong Qianqian didn’t notice this anomaly and excitedly told Zhou Tong how fun the maze was. “There are cute dolls! And some candies, too bad I didn’t get any. Most importantly!”

She shook her arm. “The maze’s BOSS is super, super cute!”

Zhou Tong then saw two pink blushes appear on the Bone Child’s cheekbones, who had just been praised so directly.

Zhou Tong: Why would a non-human creature blush?!

It wasn’t until this moment that Liu Peng scrambled out of the maze. Breathing in the fresh air, Liu Peng’s face gradually turned pale. He had taken a call inside the maze and discussed kidnapping details with the person on the other end!

He knew that places like this usually had surveillance. What if the staff saw him on the monitors? What if they called the police…?

Thinking this, his hands and feet went weak with fright.

No! I can’t go to jail! I don’t want to go to prison!

He pulled out his phone again, wanting to beg the other party to protect him. But when he saw his phone, he froze.

It was still off?

But, but he clearly remembered… Was it out of battery?

His hand trembled as he pressed the power button…

The phone turned on, but he was even more bewildered.

Why were there no call records? And none of the text messages he had seen before?

Was he dreaming earlier? Did he fall asleep in the maze?

As he was thinking, a chilling voice spoke: “Liu Peng, let’s go separately on the way back. Tongtong and I will go together.”

Liu Peng snapped back to reality, instinctively forcing a fawning smile. “Why? Weren’t we together?” And how was he supposed to do his job if they separated…?

Tong Qianqian looked at him with disgust. “It’s just taking another taxi. I’ll pay the fare. Why are you talking so much nonsense!”

Liu Peng lowered his head, his expression indignant. This brat, daring to boss him around! She deserves never to get married!

Tong Qianqian then walked up to Gu Wang. “Director Gu, thank you so much this time. Although I don’t know how you did it… In a few days, someone might contact you to express my gratitude. Please be sure to accept it.”

Gu Wang looked at the girl. Her family background was more than just “decent.”

Tong Qianqian also smiled and said, “For this filming, I will definitely try my best to incorporate the amusement park into the promotional video!”

Gu Wang also smiled and nodded. “Then thank you in advance.”

Zhou Tong, though unsure what had happened, still guessed that Gu Wang had probably helped her senior again, given her previous experience.

Thinking about how much more she owed Master Gu, and then considering the amusement park’s weirdness…

Zhou Tong instantly burst into tears. Can’t a person have both what they want?!

The two bid farewell and left. Zhou Tong had arrived as a highly respected “Big Shot Tong” on the forum, hailed by all players. She left completely bewildered and disoriented.

Fortunately, Tong Qianqian had something on her mind and didn’t notice her abnormality, dropping her off at school before leaving.

Back in her dorm, Zhou Tong, hiding a big secret, felt uneasy. She tried to remember everything she saw and heard at the amusement park, believing those oddities were so obvious, yet she had missed them, always thinking they were just efforts by the park to improve the visitor experience.

Now, thinking about it, there was no such thing as peaceful times; it was all Master Gu messing with people!

Thinking this, she simply opened the forum. She refused to believe she was the only one who had noticed the anomalies.

The Yaoguang University forum had virtually become a special section of Fengdu.

The homepage showed over a dozen posts about the amusement park, and the newly opened maze was already being discussed, though since it hadn’t opened for business before, everyone was just speculating.

Zhou Tong scrolled for a long time. She didn’t find anyone who had noticed the amusement park’s weirdness, but she saw another post.

This post didn’t have many replies, but it mentioned her name, grabbing her attention.

“I’m so depressed, fam! I’ve cleared the Embroidered Building more than ten times, why haven’t I received the Candle Maiden’s blessing yet? Is it exclusive to Big Shot Zhou Tong?!”

First floor: “I want it so badly, wuwuwu! That red candle looks so good! It even seems to have carvings on it!”

1L: “Want it too, but I’ve been taken out by Miss Li three times already! Three times!”

2L: “Probably exclusive to the first clear? When a new scenario appears, we’ll try to be the first clear…”

…

Zhou Tong closed the post and pondered. Oh, right, I think I got a candle. The Candle Maiden’s blessing… If Miss Li were played by a female ghost, then the Candle Maiden…

She remembered that when she cleared the scene, the NPC playing the embroiderer disappeared before them.

At the time, they all thought it was a holographic projection, but now that she thought about it, the embroiderer’s hair clearly moved when the wind blew.

Zhou Tong’s mouth twitched, and she started rummaging through her belongings. Her roommate, who was listening to music diagonally across from her, couldn’t take it anymore and took off her headphones to ask, “Tongtong, what are you looking for?”

Zhou Tong: “That red candle I brought back earlier. Didn’t you all say it looked good? Why can’t I find it?”

Her roommate said, “Oh, that was taken by Wan Sui.”

The box in Zhou Tong’s hand clattered to the ground: “What? When did she take it?”

Her roommate was also startled. “It’s been several days. Didn’t you put it in the idle items section? Wan Sui came to our dorm to play that day, saw that candle, said it looked good, very much like a prop her grandma used for opera when she was young, so we gave it to her.”

Zhou Tong murmured, “Ah, I remember, I did put it in the idle items section…”

Zhou Tong’s roommates were all good people.

Before, when she was troubled by the enchantment bead and dared not interact with others, her roommates never isolated her. They always included her when fetching hot water, helping with attendance, etc.

Not long ago, their dorm set up an idle items section, which was basically a small table against the wall by the door. Everyone could put anything they weren’t using there, and anyone who wanted to use it could take it.

Wan Sui was a girl from the dorm opposite theirs. She had a good relationship with their dorm and often came to visit. She was an unofficial member of the idle items section, putting things in and taking things out.

Zhou Tong remembered that when she brought the candle back, she was happy because the enchantment bead issue was resolved. Seeing that her roommates liked the candle, she put it in the idle items section out of gratitude.

Later, the candle never had a chance to be used, and unexpectedly, Wan Sui had taken it.

This… She somewhat conflictedly took out her phone, wanting to contact Wan Sui and ask her not to use it, but she wasn’t very familiar with Wan Sui, and it wouldn’t be good if the other party thought she was unhappy.

Besides, it had been several days; maybe she had already used it up…

Zhou Tong scratched her head, beginning to bury her head in the sand.

Forget it, forget it. If there’s really a problem, I’ll go to Master Gu…

And the Master Gu she was thinking about sneezed, took out his phone, and saw a new text message:

“Hello, I am Yu Lu from the Municipal Public Security Bureau. There is a result for the case you reported earlier: The criminal suspect is involved in multiple charges, including abduction, abuse, and drug use, and has been detained for trial. The woman rescued from his room was a trafficked woman, and after investigation by the public security organs, her family has been found.”

“We have thereby uncovered a criminal chain of trafficking women and children, and my colleagues have formed a special task force and are investigating. The victim, He Xiaohua, has been returned to the welfare institution after treatment and psychological counseling. The public security organs have organized a donation for the welfare institution to ensure the children can live well. You can check the case report on the Public Security Bureau’s social media account for more detailed case information.”

“Additionally, if you have any information on illegal or criminal activities in the future, you can contact me at this number. Thank you for your efforts towards a Peaceful Yaoguang.”

Gu Wang’s eyes curved into a smile, and he replied, “Thank you for your efforts too.”

Evil getting its just deserts was always satisfying.

Gu Wang more readily opened his social media and found the Yaoguang Public Security Bureau’s account.

After reading it, however, his brows furrowed slightly.

The report stated that the suspect, He Xiaohua, was hired by someone who paid him to do so, and the other party even provided fake documents and information. But after he returned with the child, the other person looked at her and then said they made a mistake—they didn’t want the child anymore, and he should take care of her himself.

However, during the investigation, the police found no evidence of him contacting others, and there were no transfer records. Regarding the fake documents, there was proof that the man obtained them himself.

In the end, it could only be concluded that the criminal suspect was lying to avoid punishment.

Gu Wang’s slender fingers gently tapped on his phone.

This situation could naturally be the criminal lying, but it could also be that a sinister sorcerer existed, erasing all traces.

Furthermore, what he cared about more was, what did this “made a mistake” mean?