SSSG Chapter 16: Amusement Park (2)

The Mermaid’s Cruise

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“Shou-, should we follow them?” A plain-looking young man asks his companion, looking at the people venturing into the fog.

“I don’t think so. That’s probably not the right way,” the fashionable man replies, “let’s follow the rules. At least, it’ll be better than dying without even knowing why.”

Hearing that, the couple that was about to follow the people out into the fog stops.

“What a waste of time,” Ying Sheng ‘tch’s and steps into the entrance. Then he turns and says “oi, we’re going” when Du Yixin is still mulling over the scenario outside.

“Eh? Oh, right.”

He seems to be following through with that organisation’s instruction of seeing him home, surprisingly.

After everyone has entered the grounds, the door shuts close. Someone tries to push the wooden door, but it doesn’t even budge an inch.

The path is dimly lit as there are only antique-looking streetlights lighting the way every few dozens of metres or so, whose halo extends only about as far as a metre on the ground, covering at most the long benches placed besides their post.

When Du Yixin is about to observe the map under the light to determine which attraction to go to first, Ying Sheng drags him along and says, “this way. We’ll go to the closest one.”

Du Yixin can only put his booklet away. He vaguely recalls that the closest attraction to the entrance is the ‘Mermaid’s Cruise.’ Since there’s no other clues, they might as well go into any one of them.

Hm… how should he put this…

While Du Yixin is dragged along, he crosses his arms to think. Although Ying Sheng is quite terrifying a person in general, but, he seems oddly reliable as a companion. As long as he isn’t trying to murder him and take his ‘key,’ of course.

The others all follow along seeing them head off. Without knowing anything, it’s obviously better to follow like sheeple; it’s a human thing.

Noticing this, Ying Sheng slows down to see everyone else slowing down. He stops, and everyone else stops. He gets moving again, and they all move with him.

“…” Irritated, Ying Sheng yells out, “don’t fucking follow us!”

“What are you talking about?” The middle-aged woman nonchalantly replies, “we also feel like walking this way.”

Ying Sheng says coldly, “I see, then go,” while he has stopped in place.

The middle-aged woman, shameless as she is, isn’t scared of making a fool of herself or whatever. They’re in a stand-off now.

In the end, the fashionably dressed young man walks up to negotiate, first conceding to Ying Sheng, “apologies, but we just felt that it would be safer to move together. You seem to have some understanding of the situation. If you don’t mind, can we go together? We would also try to help.”

Ying Sheng is unmoved, “I do mind.”

Failing at this front, the young man gives Du Yixin a ‘please help’ expression.

Du Yixin doesn’t mind them following; at least, the last time, or rather, the only time he worked together with someone, it’d crumble faster than the cookie when danger does strike. Besides, while Ying Sheng is currently not in his murderous psycho mode, who is to say he won’t turn the amusement park upside down once the ‘important thing’ is done?

He tells him, “I don’t mind, but, if this guy gets mad enough, he’d start killing people. You can… keep that in mind.”

The young man seems to be slightly uncomfortable hearing that, muttering, “you’re exaggerating, right?” Though he does believe it somewhat when he observes how Ying Sheng is looking at them. He’s pretty certain he does know something, so he thought it might be easier to get out following him. Yet it seems that risks always accompany opportunities; perhaps he meant ‘killing’ as in the scary-looking teen would push them right into danger to save himself.

With nothing else to say, the two of them turn to leave again. Though after a brief hesitation the others still follow them. Most of them think that while the bald young man looks scary, he can’t just kill outright, right? At least, not in this modern, law-governed society.

Ying Sheng’s brows furrow again hearing the footsteps behind, but he doesn’t say anything else.

Soon enough, they come across a long wooden bridge with a clear river flowing underneath. It seems the ‘Mermaid’s Cruise’ is right across.

The attraction’s entrance contains a placard of the typical beautiful image a fantastical mermaid has, depicted here playing with the fishies. The building itself is a refreshing blue in paint. There seems to be nothing scary in sight.

Many of the people present sigh in relief as they were expecting to encounter violent or bloody things. Now it seems it’s just a typical aquarium.

The middle-aged woman raises her brow rather proudly as she pushes the door open first and walks inside, saying, “I’m heading inside first. Don’t follow me though.”

It’s clearly a dig at Ying Sheng, whose veins pop on his forehead. It’s probably his first time seeing such a shameless person too.

Du Yixin is worried he might just abandon his stance right then and there, and quickly says, “ignore her. Think about your important thing to do!”

Ying Sheng ‘tch’s and walks inside while Du Yixin wipes some metaphorical sweat off his forehead. He can’t help but wonder what the important thing really is that it’s this effective at restraining Ying Sheng.

Stepping inside the attraction thought is like stepping through a portal to Narnia – the eerie background music is gone. Instead, all they can hear is the lashing waves and the roaring winds. The air is humid, carrying the unique scent of the oceans. The shoreline seems to extend endlessly to the horizons on either side. The sky is a deep azure blue, with the moon and the stars hanging high above the clouds.

Are they really even inside a building?

There is a port on the shore, where a matte black cruise ship is anchored. It is gargantuan in size, with many guests lining up to board. They’ve automatically joined the end of the queue as soon as they stepped inside. Du Yixin was thinking there were more players when he realised he can’t see the faces of the guests well as if they’re obscured by some mysterious mist, and comes to the conclusion that they’re probably NPCs or something. Among these people, only one NPC has his face clearly seen in the open.

He is a handsome man dressed in a navy uniform. He is guiding the guests onto the ship with a business smile and a megaphone.

“Please do not crowd and move one-by-one. Ready your boarding passes before heading onboard. Thank you for your cooperation.”

Boarding pass?

Besides the clothes transported alongside him, the only thing he has is the booklet he got from the entrance. The guests move along quickly, and soon enough it’s the strange-looking players’ turns.

The crewman’s smile is unchanging as he asks, looking right at the middle-aged woman, the first in line among them, with his dark blue pupils, “m’lady, may I see your boarding pass please?”

She seems confused, replying, “huh? Boarding pass? I don’t have one…”

The crewman notices the booklet she is holding, and asks politely, “I do apologise, but I would need to check.”

The woman hands her booklet over, and the crewman flips right to the last page, before telling her, “ah, you’re a VIP customer as well.”

“Uh, VIP?”

“Yes, as you hold the booklet,” he extends his hand sideways to invite her onboard, “thank you for your patronage. Please board this way.”

She’s clearly been enchanted by his handsome appearance, deep, smooth voice and gentle countenance as she boards in a daze. Her husband follows right after her, but the middle-aged man is completely immune to the handsomeness. He feels quite utterly embarrassed his wife has become so awestruck like that, and disses with a muffled voice, “damned womanisers.”

The crewman doesn’t seem to understand, as he continues smiling unchangingly.

The man has thrown his booklet onto the ground before entering, so he doesn’t possess it. He just blatantly says, “I’m with the woman before. One booklet for both of us would do?”

“… I see,” the crewman seems to have thought of something, his smile deepens, as he says, “that’s right. Please board this way.”

The man gives everyone behind a shit-eating glance before walking onboard pompously.

It seems the booklet wasn’t mandatory for entering the attractions. Though, what is certainly a good question is whether it is still possible to leave the amusement park grounds without it.

The couples’ daughter follow behind them. After hastily showing her booklet she just runs inside looking all scared. After her is someone dressed in a large overcoat with a hat and their head lowered. It’s impossible to tell their gender.

Though the crewman’s words then dispel the mystery, “m’lady, may I see your boarding pass please?”

She seems to be of few words as she shows him the booklet nonchalantly before putting it back into her pocket to board.

Then it’s the plain-looking and fashionable duo. Finally, it’s Ying Sheng and Du Yixin.

This time Du Yixin finally manages to discern everyone. Besides the people that ran off before entering the grounds, and anyone that might have entered from elsewhere, or headed off by themselves without following the main group, there’s eight people here. Three in the family, the mysterious woman, the fashionably-contrastive duo and the two of them.

After the crewman has checked his booklet, he says something extra, perhaps implying something, “gentleman, it seems you’re the last guest of the day. I wish you a pleasant journey.”

The cruise ship does live up to its name instead of being just a regular seafaring vessel, as they are greeted by well-mannered, formally dressed female staff on the deck in a rather luxurious lobby rather than by brute seamen, so to speak. Perhaps because they are all ‘VIP customers,’ the others have been told to wait a moment for the last person, namely Du Yixin, to make his way here before one staff tells them, “everyone, thank you for waiting. The hall is this way. Please follow me.”

Du Yixin takes a look at the scenery in the far distance as he follows loosely along at the end of the line. Here, the line between the sky and the ocean truly is blurred into one blue vagueness. Every so often, fish with shiny, or perhaps, reflective scales would leap through the surface of the ocean and draw elegant arcs in the blue canvas.

If he wasn’t in an instance, he’d probably have enjoyed this cruise ship vacation a lot.

They reach the hall, and the most striking thing they see as they enter is the large, extravagant chandelier hanging off the top of the tall ceiling, flushing the hall with bright, golden, luxurious lighting. Round tables with white, spotless tablecloth spread over them are placed in regular intervals on the immaculate floor, with vases of freshly picked flowers as decorations at the centre of each table.

It’s a buffet-style dinner, it seems, as they can also see the trays and tables from which the fragrance of well-done foods are drifting their way, even making some stomachs growl at such perhaps inappropriate timing.

There’s many guests partaking their meals gracefully by each of the round tables, all looking impeccably well-dressed——Well, save for their vague, indistinguishable faces, which makes the whole room seem more surreal than opulent.

They are led to a singled-out round table as the staff then moves to the side. It is visibly classier than other tables, with elaborate nondescript embroidery woven onto their tablecloth, and perhaps the smoothest handkerchiefs they’d ever touch in their entire lives on the side of their silverware – made of real silver, perhaps, judging by the weight, and porcelain dishes.

Before any of them proceeds to start gorging themselves on the gourmet food, though, the lights dim, as a man walks onto the stage at the back of the hall. When beauty crosses a certain boundary, gender no longer plays into it, as Du Yixin finds himself completely dazzled by the man’s appearance which he can only describe as divine. The blonde man, with chiselled features perhaps only matched by the Roman gods, and a well-toned but not excessively-so physique, is also dressed in a navy uniform, clearly much higher in rank than the crewman receiving them before. He is also followed by several lavishly dressed, upper-class looking ladies by his side.

He says to the microphone, with that terribly magnetic, titillating voice of his, “greetings, ladies and gentleman. I am William, proud captain of the Little Mermaid. I welcome you all to this journey of ours out in the wild seas.”

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TL’s notes: Don’t ask. The author probably fell hopelessly in love with some CN novel featuring the Roman pantheon (yes they are a real thing) while writing this. Oof, the flowery descriptions sure have drained much of my rarely-used vocabularies out of the dustbins of my mind.