Famine 208: The Parade of the Strange

A rush of chaotic footsteps sounded behind them.

Yan Xu quickly pulled Si Zhiyan aside, bringing a finger to his lips in a silent “shhh.” He wrapped his arms around Si Zhiyan and ducked his head as countless vines surged upward, writhing and curling to shield them from view.

At the far end of the leaf-strewn avenue, a cloud of dust began to rise.

So close—close enough that he could hear the other’s heartbeat.
Swaddled in Yan Xu’s burning warmth, Si Zhiyan felt his own breath nearly stop.

But when he finally looked up, there was no room left for any tender mood.

—Too many!

At the end of the road, a dense, endless tide of strange beings—like a horde of zombies in a game—came surging en masse their way!

Their forms were grotesquely warped. Some had blood-smeared faces and crawled on all fours; others were nothing but shattered, broken bones clinging limply to the backs of other entities. Some had seemingly normal human features except for necks twisted askew… all of them stumbled and staggered, swept up in the surge, cramming every gap in the leaf-covered avenue.

Yan Xu braced himself, ready for battle.
With one arm tightening around Si Zhiyan’s waist, Yan Xu turned to face the oncoming horde and swept his free hand backward.

The vines unfurled, ready for a fight!

The corpse tide surged, charging at them.

In an instant, both were swallowed up…

Then, by the nearby wishing pool—

Every one of the strange entities reached in and hauled out at least one coin.

…Then, all of them barreled on past.

Rumbling, thundering…

The horde jostled and fought to get ahead, rushing past the two of them.

They left only a trail of dust, not even sparing a glance in their direction.

A cold wind blew through.
Autumn leaves drifted down. In the night of the amusement park, all fell silent and dark once more.

Yan Xu: “…”
Si Zhiyan: “…”

No one cared they were even alive.

Si Zhiyan glanced aside—the wishing pool beside them was now empty.

“What—,” Yan Xu said, half-laughing in disbelief, “Where are they off to?”

“Are they ghosting on their killing duties—pure professionalism?”

“Does this haunted place have express entry access? Do they sell fast passes for five hundred cash?”

Seeing Si Zhiyan’s expression, Yan Xu offered an explanation.

In the world of the hunger game, most strange entities had two states.

The first was a dormant or sluggish state. In some cases, they’d forgotten that they were dead and moved as if still alive—such as when they’d first encountered Gu Ying in the dense apartment building; others would simply sit in familiar forms, quiet and motionless—like the Frosthorn Rabbit when no one was nearby.

The second was the hunting state. When a creature remembered its own death, or was otherwise provoked, it would go into full attack mode.
Countless tragic obsessions tangled in its mind, burning out all reason, leaving only a single fixation and instinct.

Many entities, in fact, lacked any dormant state at all—one look meant instant aggression. Take the mining hounds in the dark, or the cleaver-wielding butcher from the slaughterhouse.

They had different motives and obsessions, yet all ultimately shared a single aim: [annihilate all living things], attacking every player in sight without exception.

There were even some who, in their deluded logic, believed they were doing good—like Gu Ying, who had once thought that crushing Si Zhiyan flat was actually helping him survive.

However twisted the obsession and violence became, the top priority was always [the player].

Until their obsession was resolved.

There was no question: those entities just now had been fully in hunting mode.

—But in hunting mode, and they didn’t attack players?

Si Zhiyan looked after the direction in which they’d gone, thoughtful. “Clearly, they aren’t in full control of themselves.”

“They… are being forcibly drawn by something else.”
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“This attraction doesn’t seem natural—like moths to a flame, with a sort of compulsory pull… It must be the effect of a higher-level entity.”

Yan Xu frowned. “But it’s rare for oddities to kill each other.”

“No one said they were killing each other; and they didn’t look like they were being delivered to their deaths.” Si Zhiyan smiled. “Come on—let’s follow and see.”

…………
……

Here and there, a few wandering entities still lingered on the street.

Following their lead deeper into the silent, night-shrouded park, Si Zhiyan and Yan Xu went on.

Surprisingly, the crowd wasn’t being drawn toward the park’s center, but took winding routes… veering instead toward someplace near the edges.

At last, Si Zhiyan and Yan Xu halted on the summit of an artificial hill.

Spread beneath their feet was the park’s border—a small fairy-tale street just beyond the castle.
From here, the entire scene was visible at a glance.

The street still bore that ruined storybook style—paint peeling from once-famous facades, traces of an old market with every shop front tightly shuttered.

It wasn’t a wide thoroughfare, but stretched on and on, filled wall-to-wall by a massed gathering of anomalous beings.
@ Infinite Good Stories, exclusively on Jinjiang Literature City
They struggled and writhed, pressing urgently toward the far end of the road.

There—a single point of light.

Along the entire street,

In the pitch dark of the ruined amusement park, only that place—lit by an eerie glow.

The entities, as if compelled, swarmed ceaselessly toward it.

Each had their own twisted appearance, every one strange in form.
Yet when they arrived within that lit area, they suddenly became the very soul of orderly decorum. Stumbling, swaying—they packed themselves into a neat single file!
Not one tried to cut the line; it was more harmonious than a real amusement park during armageddon.

Si Zhiyan, finding it odd, peered more closely.

In fact, as they neared the shop, every anomalous being was pinned immobile to the ground by an unseen force. One false-human’s neck was nearly wrenched off, howling in pain to the sky.

As if…
An invisible giant hand was pressing them down.

That hand forced them into a queue—no cutting, no skipping, no running.

One by one, each walked forward in perfect turn, threw in a coin, received an item from inside the shop, and shuffled off.

Then resumed their wandering in the park.

Yan Xu couldn’t help but mutter: “Universal Studios should pay big money for technology like that.”

The shop’s sign was painted with bright, cartoonish letters—

[Energy Refill Station! Fairy Tale Icy Drink & Hot Dog Stand]

At that moment, a faux-human reached the front. He still held onto some trace of reason—apart from a neck twice the normal length, he looked entirely human, though that single feature landed him deep in the uncanny valley.

After running about and queuing half the night, at last it was his turn.

He looked at the menu a long time, hands rubbing together in anticipation, hesitating back and forth before finally ordering: “I’ll have… one… chili hot dog!”

Eyes shining, he dug around and offered a coin.

The very one he’d plucked from the pool earlier.

Oh?
Food for the strange ones?

Si Zhiyan perked up, but on looking down, was instantly speechless.

—Inside the shop, a spatula was flipping and clattering, but the chef was nothing but thin air.

First, a fossilized, moldy bun full of crumbs and wormholes was fished from a crumbling bag and tossed into a box.

Then a scoop of spoiled, rotting meat was scraped off the griddle and slapped on top.

Finally, a bottle of clotted, damp tomato ketchup was shaken and squeezed, splattering a foul mass all over the bun.

Ding ding! Order up!

The box sailed into the hands of the faux-human.

He’d waited so long, hope brimming, rocking on his toes for a look.

Then, his face slowly changed from anticipation to bafflement.

At last, looking at his “hot dog,” he froze like a statue.

【……】

【…Ah.】

How to describe that look…

It was like an out-of-town tourist, having traveled a hundred kilometers and queued all morning, finally reaching the “internet-famous” restaurant promoted by countless bloggers… Only to find the food was nearly inedible, the service poor, and they’d landed in the middle of a disaster.

As a business operator, Si Zhiyan couldn’t bear to watch.

【#￥%……&!】 【￥Hurry up&））】

With thousands still waiting in line, those behind him were beginning to complain.

The faux-human, clutching the hot dog box tight, light dying in his eyes with every step.

He left holding the rotten, useless meal, head bowed.

Si Zhiyan and Yan Xu: “…………”

For the first time, they felt a twinge of pity—for a total stranger of the strange.

Pensive, Si Zhiyan said: “I think I know what the anomalies in this park actually are.”

“Oh! Then they’re…” Yan Xu perked up, about to ask further.

Abruptly, there was the trill of a bell at Si Zhiyan’s belt:

Jingle jingle— jingle jingle jingling—

On glancing down, he found it was the reward he’d earned when the farm’s progress last increased: [B-class Facility – Sorry, Wrong Number].

Before he could answer, the line connected on its own.

A scratchy, tape-rewind voice echoed down the line.

Next, faint, muffled sounds of weeping drifted through.

[…zzzz…zzzzzz…ah ah…someone…after so much trouble it’s not easy drawing in tourists…zzzz…a lot of tourists come every day…]

[…zzzz…why…why…are visitor satisfaction rates…always so low?]