Famine 211: Visitor Satisfaction
by Cristae……
……
Two minutes later, Si Zhiyan sat on the grandest seat in the castle’s hall, surrounded by brilliant lights and garlands of fresh flowers and ribbons.
This was the most extravagant location in the entire amusement park—the hall on the castle’s second floor, opening out to a distant terrace from which the whole park could be seen at a glance.
A gold-edged red carpet ran from the little town all the way here, and thanks to some uncanny mechanism, a gust of wind seemed to carry Si Zhiyan along, keeping him from taking even a single step himself.
—Amid the rhythm of drums and music, all manner of instruments around them began to play a festive tune of their own accord.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Black and white ribbons exploded nearby, showering Si Zhiyan and Bian Xu from head to toe.
Si Zhiyan: “…”
Bian Xu: “…”
“This is way too much!” Bian Xu exclaimed, half laughing, half crying.
Si Zhiyan silently plucked the ribbon from his hair and remarked objectively, “It’s a bit over the top.”
The castle lay at the center of the park. Si Zhiyan had once imagined it would house some kind of boss monster or the spirit of the park itself, but once inside, he realized it was nothing of the sort.
This entire castle was nothing more than a luxury hotel, its interior comprised of guest rooms.
They had king rooms, standard rooms, family suites, as well as a lobby and restaurant.
Morning had already broken. Si Zhiyan quickly tidied up the best suite on the second floor.
Bian Xu strolled around, touring the place with a hint of amusement. “For something so strange, this place is much too commercialized.”
Si Zhiyan understood his meaning. “It doesn’t feel like a place born of resentment.”
Locations burdened by grudge and rumor are less like real places and more like symbolic stages. Inevitably, they possess a distorted quality: high-rise apartments more crowded than any real shared dwelling, extending endlessly in all directions.
But this amusement park…
There was a proper ticketing queue at the entrance, a town nearby with dining facilities, and at the center, a lakeside castle that was, in fact, just a hotel.
As the backdrop for a supernatural tale, it really did resemble an amusement park more than anything else.
[Zzzzz…]
While pondering this, the receiver in Si Zhiyan’s hand crackled to life again.
[Visitor… satisfaction… zzzzz… G#￥% has risen a lot…]
[Recog#￥@ recognition… pleased…]
[Tomorrow… up@￥ shop opening permits remain in effect.]
It seemed the spirit of the amusement park was quite pleased with these developments.
After the effect of the confessional halo wore off, [Amusement Park] didn’t speak as much anymore—like a real amusement park, silent unless absolutely necessary.
Si Zhiyan picked up the receiver and said, “Thank you, we’re quite pleased with the business environment you provide.”
“Is there a particular wish or goal you hope to achieve?”
[…wish to… raise@#% visitor satisfaction… to 300000.]
[Current… visitor satisfaction… 1089/300000]
Si Zhiyan: “…………”
How many zeros was that?
Come to think of it, hadn’t this question come up quite a bit lately?
“Three hundred thousand?!” Bian Xu smacked the castle wall in shock. “This amusement park is just insatiable, isn’t it?”
[Zzzzzz… beep… beep… beep…]
The line fell silent, followed by a busy tone.
The midnight hotline was over. The other end had hung up.
Si Zhiyan set down the receiver, shrugged. “It looks like, if we want to resonate with this amusement park, there’s only one road ahead.”
Bian Xu bared his teeth. “But… that’s just too much!”
He took a seat at the table and began to do some serious calculations.
“Going by last night’s report, for every hot dog we sell, visitor satisfaction goes up by 1.”
“[Amusement Park]’s real opening hours are short: it begins with the bell at midnight, and ends at eight in the morning.”
“All night yesterday, we sold 1,089 hot dogs…” Bian Xu counted on his fingers. “That’s actually an impressive revenue—at a large theme park, a hot dog stand’s daily sales are about the same.”
“At this rate, we’d need nearly 300 nights to reach the target.”
“Hmm…”
Si Zhiyan and Bian Xu fell silent, sitting across from one another.
It was far too slow.
The farm kept developing, days ticking by. Unnoticed, their survival game had been running for eight years now. Only two years remained until the final battle with the Main Brain.
Si Zhiyan suggested, “What if we sold foods that are quicker to prepare? Like pre-made ice cream or sausages.”
Bian Xu shook his head. “No use. Those monsters are picky eaters. While you were resting last night, I tried offering just sausages, but satisfaction didn’t increase at all.”
It made sense.
After all, this place aimed to rival the likes of Universal Studios and Disney—luxury vacation resorts. The hot dogs here, worth 150 points, weren’t cheap. In the farm’s canteen for players, the price of one hot dog would feed you for two days, easily.
Save when you can, splurge when you must—we came to enjoy ourselves at the park, so of course we want beautiful, tasty, eye-catching snacks!
Enough talk—take my money, and give me something lavish, adorable, or fun, whether or not it tastes good, as long as it’s a feast for the eyes!
Hmm… Si Zhiyan sunk into thought.
Clearly.
After a pause, Si Zhiyan took out the receiver again.
Bian Xu leaned in, lowered his head, and pressed a gentle kiss to Si Zhiyan’s cold fingertips, removing the receiver for him in Si Zhiyan’s characteristic style.
“Sir, allow me.”
Si Zhiyan looked up at Bian Xu for a moment, lips curving slightly, then nodded.
Bian Xu put the phone on speaker and, following the number that the amusement park had called from, dialed back for the very first time.
[Beep… beep… zzzzz…]
Amid the busy tone, the familiar static-filled racket returned from the other end.
Clang!
“Uhm!” From Bian Xu’s chair, an invisible force suddenly pressed him down where he sat.
A mechanical voice spoke from the receiver: [Disturbance… kill@#￥kill…]
Si Zhiyan’s hand hovered over Bian Xu’s, his voice cool and steady. “Let’s not waste time. We’ll get straight to the point.”
“We can help you reach three hundred thousand visitor satisfaction.”
“But—we have one condition.”
The pressure weighing on Bian Xu lifted instantly.
He relaxed all over, taking small, steady breaths. Sitting up straight, he stretched his wrists and his eyes shone as he looked at Si Zhiyan.
[Zzzzzz… please@#% state…]
Si Zhiyan stroked Bian Xu’s head and, enunciating each word, said to the other end:
“I need the rights to operate the entirety of Candy Town.”
“Open all the buildings of Candy Town to me.”
“I will build for you a rich, vibrant, and functional Candy Town—one that’s a feast for both the senses and the taste buds!”
……
……
That’s right.
[Amusement Park] would maintain order among the monsters, keeping them in line, so there’d be no fighting or looting. So long as one didn’t provoke [Amusement Park] directly, nobody would get hurt.
This was a world ruled by order.
Which meant, when it came to opening stores here… Si Zhiyan and Bian Xu didn’t necessarily need to do everything themselves.
This time, the stage was not some deadly, high-tier S-class ghost-hunting adventure, but part of the ghostly city itself.
With no enclosing walls, the farm could be returned to at any moment—which meant Si Zhiyan and Bian Xu had the entire player base behind them!
If Si Zhiyan’s own shop could only earn a thousand satisfaction points a night,
Then with thirty shops in the park, wouldn’t that mean thirty thousand satisfaction points a night?
Hello, bring this whole little town over to me!
Si Zhiyan found it only reasonable to rely on his own best supply base.
After all, the monsters only ate what was sold by the shop staff, not the staff themselves.
…Well, hopefully anyway.
Next up, the problem was: how to persuade everyone to open up shop.
No matter what, it was best to put up a notice and see.
So, Si Zhiyan posted an announcement on the bulletin board: [Urgent Shop Recruitment: Building Candy Town in the Amusement Park].
……
……
The next day, at the start of the work shift, the bulletin board was surrounded by a surging crowd.
Someone exclaimed in excitement, “Mr. Si posted a new notice!”
“Look at this heading—this is one of Mr. Si’s special announcements!”
“You know, last time Mr. Si posted a special notice, it gave out the quest for World Shard strategies and completely changed countless farmhands’ lives!”
“What is it this time? Any news? Shop recruitment? Do I get to start a business too?”
The crowd buzzed with anticipation, everyone craning their necks to read.
First line in sight:
[Shop Recruitment: Seeking merchants for Candy Town in the center of the S-class ghost story—Abandoned Theme Park.]
People: “…”
Wait, where?
The crowd was stunned, until someone knowledgeable stepped forward, smiling pleasantly:
“No need to panic, I’ve been to that park. Sure, it’s incredibly dangerous at night, but in the daytime it’s safe. Relax, Mr. Si will definitely warn us about how long we can stay.”
Everyone agreed and nodded reassuringly, patting their chests as they read further:
[Operating hours: AM 0:00 – AM 8:00]
People: “…”
The knowledgeable one: “…………”
Realizing everyone was staring at them, the self-styled expert coughed awkwardly:
“Ahem, well… don’t worry, Mr. Si definitely has a plan. The main threat at night comes from the monsters roaming around. Maybe Mr. Si has already found a way to drive them off, even cleared out the park. All we need to do is go in.”
People exchanged glances and, somewhat reassured, nodded again, reading further:
[Visitor traffic: Range of strangeness from B-grade to S-grade. Total numbers in the tens of thousands, on the scale of a corpse tide.]
People: “……………..”
The knowledgeable one finally broke down: “Wait, what the hell is this?!”
“Is this even in Chinese? Did the Main Brain’s translation software break?!”
The scene erupted in chaos.
Someone scoffed and walked away. “Isn’t this just sending us all to our deaths? Who would go?”
And someone else started wailing amidst the confusion. “Mr. Si’s finally decided we eat too much and wants to cut down on the farm’s numbers?!”
…
Amid the racket, only a handful of truly patient people made their way through the multi-page announcement, reading it thoroughly, word by word.
Rong Bei squeezed into the crowd, eyes glued to the notice above.
…Say that again, how many points can you make in one night??
If each food item started at a price of 150 points, with no upper limit, and each shop’s nightly turnover was about a thousand…
That meant that each night’s total sales would be… one, ten, a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand…
One hundred and fifty thousand points!
…How many zeros is that???