I Forged the Myth of the Ancient Overlords
Chapter 465 - 465 464. The Best Souvenir (Extra for Monthly Votes)_1

Chapter 465: 464. The Best Souvenir (Extra for Monthly Votes!)_1 Chapter 465: 464. The Best Souvenir (Extra for Monthly Votes!)_1 Lu Ban pushed the door and walked into the shop. The expressionless heads and broken limbs were displayed inside, but only the teddy bear was spotless, seeming adorably misplaced, conveying a sense of perversion and distortion.

Because the Time Worm had replaced the existence of the teddy bear, the eeriness did not extend to taking the bear away, only placing those corpses beside it.

Most of these corpses had already decayed, shriveled, and dried out, while a few still had the foul stench of rotting flesh and blood.

The stench pervaded the souvenir shop, making people want to cover their noses.

Yet no such smell could be sensed outside the souvenir shop, suggesting some cognitive hindrance must be in place, preventing ordinary people from smelling the odor or seeing the corpses.

Lu Ban glanced at the park employee dressed in red.

The person looked very ordinary, just like anyone you might see on the street.

“Would you like to buy a souvenir to take home?”

The employee flashed a professional smile. Amidst a sea of corpses, it appeared eerie and horrifying.

“I’ll take this.”

After some thought, Lu Ban picked up the teddy bear.

The staff member did not hassle Lu Ban. After scanning and paying, Lu Ban left the souvenir shop.

He should have now completed all the activities.

When he arrived at the entrance of the amusement park, he saw the employee in red once again.

“Hello, are you leaving the amusement park now?”

The staff member asked with a smile.

“Yes, I’m leaving now.”

“It seems you had a great time at our park. We hope you will visit again.”

The employee waved his hand without any intention of stopping Lu Ban.

He continued walking forward, and soon, all that surrounded him was a pure white fog.

Without halting, Lu Ban walked for another minute. A cold breeze blew past, and the chilly moonlight fell upon him. He looked up to see the waters of the Lingjiang River flowing quietly.

Turning around, he saw the dilapidated amusement park still standing as before, looking worn and rusted, nowhere near operational.

“I can indeed leave.”

Lu Ban wasn’t sure what date it was for him now. Pulling out his phone, he checked the time; it was deep into the night of the sixth. He had spent a whole day in the amusement park, but it had felt like only a few hours had passed.

His phone suddenly started vibrating. Lu Ban received several messages and missed calls, as if he’d suddenly gotten a signal after being in a place with none.

He quickly responded to a few important messages, including inquiries from Li Zijian, then put his phone away and wrote down the last rule on a sticky note.

[Rule ⑨: Before leaving the amusement park, please visit the souvenir shop and buy a souvenir. The teddy bear doll is your best choice. If you cannot determine which is the teddy bear, please seek help from an employee dressed in yellow.]

After writing, Lu Ban turned and walked back into the amusement park.

…

Jennie from Shangcheng No.3 High School found it hard to believe.

She and her classmates had just gone to the amusement park for a spring outing, when suddenly three people and a dog barged in. They wouldn’t let anyone leave the park and knocked people unconscious.

It wasn’t until the evening that one of the men left the park and returned, ordering all the visitors to buy something from the souvenir shop and to have completed all the activities before leaving.

My God, all the activities—including the carousel meant for little girls?

Well, Jennie had always wanted to ride the carousel’s unicorn. In elementary school, this pleasure was reserved for the most popular girl in class, and she usually had to settle for riding on the back of a bear.

After riding the carousel and begrudgingly completing all the attractions, Jennie and her friends entered the souvenir shop.

The merchandise inside was diverse, including dolls, transformation devices, magic wands, and more, appealing to boys and men as well as girls and women alike.

After looking around, Jennie took a liking to a pink fox doll.

Although she usually didn’t care for buying such souvenirs, seeing them as a kind of tax on intelligence, she had no choice but to buy one since the violent woman outside had demanded it.

“You can’t buy that. According to the rules, you have to buy this.”

At that moment, the handsome guy who had kept them from leaving the park handed Jennie a different doll, and took the pink fox from her hand, placing it back on the shelf.

“What is this?”

Jennie looked at the doll in her hand. The toy had round ears and was brown and fluffy, with a face resembling a cat’s but more naive.

“This is a toy bear.”

The handsome guy said, instructing Jennie to go pay for it.

“A toy bear? How could that be?”

Jennie found it somewhat amusing. She had clearly seen toy bears before, and this did not resemble one in the slightest. Why insist on calling it a toy bear?

It was quite cute, nonetheless, and Jennie bought the doll, noticing that every tourist outside had one in hand.

Could it be that this person was a distributor of these dolls, hustling for sales performance?

Jennie couldn’t quite understand. It was getting late, and she and her companions walked towards the amusement park exit, among many others who seemed just as perplexed, all wearing looks of confusion.

It felt as though they had spent the day at the amusement park, and outside, the weather had changed entirely.

Moreover, it was so cold.

Jennie felt extremely cold; she remembered that it should be early summer, the weather hot and dry. Why was it so cold this evening, cold enough to make her feel like it was winter!

Upon reaching the entrance, Jennie saw a worker in a red uniform.

“Hello, are you looking to leave the amusement park?”

The employee asked with a commercial smile, friendly and approachable.

“Yes, yes.”

Jennie replied, showing the employee the toy bear in her hand as the handsome guy had instructed.

“You have experienced all our attractions. We hope you are satisfied and welcome you to visit again.”

The employee stepped back, making way for them to pass.

Jennie, not fully grasping the situation, continued to walk forward with her friend, immersed in thick fog, feeling the bone-chilling cold and the damp night air, and hearing the sound of flowing water as if they were beside a river.

Suddenly, a bright light pierced through the fog, illuminating the space around Jennie.

The girl quickly shielded her eyes and, through the gaps in her fingers, saw that these were people clad in outdoor gear, resembling a search and rescue team.

At the same time, Jennie’s phone suddenly started to violently vibrate.

She hurriedly took it out to look, discovering messages from her parents, her school, and both people she knew and didn’t know, as well as missed calls.

Easily a thousand!

“What’s going on?”

Jennie felt utterly incredulous when suddenly, she heard the voices of the search and rescue team speaking in English.

“Please do not panic, stand still, you are safe now.”

“Safe now?”

Jennie exchanged a bewildered glance with her friend, turning back to look at the amusement park they had just exited.

It was desolate, nothing but abandonment met their eyes.

At that instant, Jennie’s phone rang again, and she saw a news alert, headlines from the beginning of the year.

“January… January!?”

She had clearly entered the amusement park in May, and now, in the blink of an eye, it was the next year???

Where had those months in the middle gone???

Jennie felt utterly confused. Reality was crashing over her, making it impossible to think. She began to cry, to fall apart, overwhelmed with incomprehension as she collapsed to the ground.

At that moment, Jennie saw the toy bear in her arms.

The toy bear’s endearing appearance offered a sense of comfort.

Jennie hugged the toy bear to help ease her emotions.

She suddenly wondered why she had thought it wasn’t a toy bear earlier. Indeed, this was a toy bear.

If this was a toy bear, then the one she had seen before…

Jennie’s thoughts came to an abrupt halt.

*

Extra update for the first vote in December 1/3