Chapter 9: The Demon

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Speaking of food, Huan Xiao suddenly felt a bit hungry. A strange thought even flashed through her mind. Could humans eat food made from ghosts? And could she put ketchup on it instead of plasma?

Unfortunately, no one—no ghost—violated the rules as Huan Xiao spun the prize wheel.

Being too obedient wasn’t necessarily a good thing. How could they be threatened by a theme park employee? These ghosts had no sense of dignity at all!

Feeling a pang of regret at the inaction of the surrounding guests, Huan Xiao casually went up on stage to draw a prize.

She spun the wheel with the mindset that participation was what mattered most. The odds were so slim it couldn’t possibly be her, and she had no obsession with another human either—she wouldn’t accept food that included people.

However, she heard the announcer with the red-ring mask say:

“Congratulations to this guest for becoming the second winner this round.”

Huan Xiao realized she actually won. Wasn’t the probability a bit off? How did she end up winning?

But why did the red-ring masked announcer sound so gritted-teeth angry when congratulating her?

“Are you unhappy?” Huan Xiao asked bluntly.

The red-ring mask seemed caught off guard by the question. Though its expression was hidden, it paused briefly before replying:

“No, I just have an itch in my teeth. I want to gnaw on some bones to sharpen them.”

“Oh, I see. Then it’s nothing.”

Huan Xiao casually pulled a ball marked number seven from the black box.

It was an ordinary person, with no ghostly aura.

Just a plain young man, the kind easily lost in a crowd.

“No, no, don’t come near me! I don’t want to die!”

He saw Huan Xiao staring at him and, imagining all sorts of things, actually collapsed to the ground.

“The one you’ve drawn is this one. You can eat him here or take him to go,” the red-ring mask said with excellent service etiquette.

Huan Xiao approached, wanting to say something to the man, but unexpectedly smelled a foul stench...

The man had actually urinated himself.

Disgusted by this, Huan Xiao glanced around at the other park guests. She saw a woman in a wedding dress standing nearby, eyeing the “beasts” with fierce intent.

Curious about the bouquet in the bride’s hand, Huan Xiao remembered the human-faced flower gifted by the clown earlier. Were all the flowers in this world so bizarre?

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To satisfy her curiosity, Huan Xiao made a decision.

“Can I give him away?” she asked the red-ring mask, pointing to the seemingly crazed man on the ground.

The mask tilted its head, then nodded.

“Sure. He belongs to you now, so you can do whatever you want.”

With the confirmation, Huan Xiao jumped off the stage and went directly to the woman in the wedding dress.

“I drew a beast, but I don’t like him. Can I trade him for your flowers?”

Perhaps because Huan Xiao’s action was strange, many eyes turned toward her, watching her every move.

The bride looked puzzled but quickly made up her mind.

“Alright... here you go. If you have time, you can come to my... wedding?”

The woman appeared perfectly normal—gentle and beautiful, with fair skin and black hair. Her slightly reddened wedding dress gave her an air of unique charm.

Taking the bouquet from her, Huan Xiao looked down closely.

It was a bouquet of red roses, eleven in total, wrapped simply in white paper and tied with a white satin bow.

Wasn't this just an ordinary bouquet?

[Do you want to store the ghost bride’s bouquet?]

[Yes]

She hadn’t expected that to be storable too.

When Huan Xiao looked up again, the ghost bride had vanished, and the person she had drawn on stage had disappeared as well.

With nothing left to see, she left the area...

The theme park bustled with people coming and going, yet the atmosphere was eerie. The screams typical of thrilling rides, the warm chatter, the playful shouts among friends—all were absent here.

Quiet and suffocating—that was Huan Xiao’s conclusion after spending several hours in the park. There was no sign of life.

Street food stalls along the way had no vendors shouting or customers eating; they resembled statues, only animated ones.

The theme park featured a wishing well, topped with a bronze statue of a fierce demon.

The demon’s face was grotesque, with a gaping mouth full of sharp teeth and a thick tongue. Its tiny eyes seemed to sink into its face, and its nose was a huge bulbous shape covered in moss-like growths.

Beneath its massive head was a small body, with two huge wings spread out behind it, each wing adorned with several bony spikes.

Many people tossed coins bearing the demon’s face into its mouth. This seemed to be the common currency in their world.

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Or perhaps it was a special wish coin? But ghosts needing to make wishes sounded strange.

The final show of the day was held here.

It was said a mysterious guest would be invited, though the program did not reveal their identity.

Behind a nearby stone pillar, Huan Xiao unsurprisingly spotted the three people who had been following her all along.

They had found her during the previous show but kept their distance, trailing her fifty meters behind. Their behavior left Huan Xiao unsure of their intentions...

Weren’t they trying to snatch her flowers before? What was going on now?

Before Huan Xiao could ponder further, a man wearing a checkered mask appeared.

With so many people present, Huan Xiao guessed all the park guests had gathered; no one else was riding attractions elsewhere.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is the final show for today.”

“Dear guests, the mysterious guest has been waiting patiently. Please welcome... Mr. Demon!”

As the checkered mask finished speaking, the demon in the wishing well came to life...

Its true appearance was even uglier than Huan Xiao had imagined, so bizarre she found it hard to describe.

As a human, Huan Xiao thought such aesthetics were far too avant-garde.

The demon, full of razor-sharp teeth, roared at all the guests in a grating voice:

“Today, I will teach you how to capture humans within the rules of the game! You ignorant ants, watch closely!”

Hearing this, Huan Xiao was surprised. They knew humans were transported here by the game? What else did they know?

Did the players of the “Phantom” game know these things too?

Huan Xiao really hadn’t expected to learn so much from playing just one game—thanks entirely to the glowing orb fused into her right eye.

Now hidden among these ghostly creatures, not a single one had discovered Huan Xiao’s true identity.

Seeing that all the “humans” watched silently, Mr. Demon nodded with satisfaction, full of arrogant disdain.

He looked down on all ghosts, even his own kind.

If the theme park hadn’t hired him at a high salary to give this speech, he wouldn’t have wanted to speak to such trash. Just standing near them made him feel the air was polluted.