Famine 221: Revival

After that day, the amusement park entered a period of stable operation.

Although to call it “stable” wasn’t entirely accurate.

The popularity of the amusement park had far exceeded all expectations; it was full to bursting every day. Waiting times of several dozen minutes for each attraction were considered short, yet none of this diminished the general enthusiasm in the slightest.

People came from all corners of the famine game, struggling to squeeze into the park with bright anticipation and wonder written across their faces, as if in a dream.

After all, this was an amusement park!

The only theme park in the world!

Nearly everyone arriving at the farm for the first time found themselves in a daze.

Am I dreaming? Is this really still the famine game?

Hadn’t the world already ended? Hadn’t I been scraping by in apocalyptic survival for so long?

What exactly was going on here?

How could people not only want for nothing, but even have a theme park?!

Still, the sheer popularity of the amusement park wasn’t only because it was the world’s sole theme park—there was another, more crucial reason…

In the Candy Town queue, Gao Zhai clutched a wrap in his hand, his excitement barely contained for the umpteenth time:

“Do you know that Sphinx in the [Puppet Alley Maze]? After I answered its riddle, it granted me a 30% defense buff!”

“Thirty percent! And it lasts for seven days! Seven days! Damn, the last time I had such a great buff, it was the dodge bonus from the Twilight Inn’s swimming pool! It literally saved my life!”

Next to Gao Zhai, many others instantly found common ground with him, nodding enthusiastically. “Of course we know! Who doesn’t?”

—It was well-known by the day after opening: the [Amusement Park] offered untold numbers of high-efficiency buffs!

After being integrated into the farm and newly regenerated, the S-class and above haunted domain of the park had revealed practical and satisfying effects to everyone.

Its presentation, however, differed from other worlds.

The amusement park’s buffs weren’t concentrated in food, nor were they uniform—there was an inherent randomness to where and how they appeared and what effects they offered.

The Flying Dragon Rollercoaster allowed great freedom: by simply holding on to the track, you could soar along with the ride, tilting your body left or right to collect gold coins as you went.
After each ride, players received all kinds of reward boosts based on the coins collected.

In Pinocchio’s Alley Maze, gatekeepers would appear at random, each with their own challenge. Passing their tests granted various buffs.
The Sphinx provided defensive buffs; Smoky Roc granted buffs for perception or speed… All extremely practical—the kind that could save your life in high-difficulty missions.

Every corner of the amusement park hid countless surprises.

These surprises had one thing in common—

The buffs’ duration was exceptionally long; many lasted over seven days.
One could almost call them permanent buffs!

Bubbling with delight, Gao Zhai talked about his plans to tackle a high-difficulty world, hands trembling with excitement.

With these buffs, there seemed nothing to worry about!

S-class worlds, high coin rewards—here we come!

And with more coins, one could go back to the Lord God’s shop to exchange for even greater bodily enhancements…

Layer upon layer, it became a perfect positive cycle!

“Ahh…” Gao Zhai rubbed his hands together, utterly exhilarated. “That neural evolution in the shop that costs over a hundred thousand coins—I’ve coveted it for years. If this works out, I could actually afford it…”

His voice caught in his throat toward the end. “So many years… I’ve dangled it before me like a carrot on a stick, never once thinking I’d really be able to buy it someday.”

“After seven years, I’ve never been this close to my dream!”

Liang Qingshuang, dressed in a beautiful satin ballgown, laughed and gave him a playful slap. “You’ve been going on about this the entire way! Isn’t it enough? We’re almost up—how about thinking about what you’ll eat?”

“This is the happiest place in the world. Only a donkey would think of working here. Princesses live as joyfully as children!”

Gao Zhai grinned. “Princess, you still need a ticket to come home?”

So saying, he too began to eagerly look ahead on his tiptoes, eagerly counting the people in front.

Ah… Up ahead… one, two, three, four, five… Good, they’d be up next!
Alice had said again and again that the chocolate banana boats and strawberry banana boats here were delicious—he’d been craving them for ages.

…………
……

As an operator, Si Zhiyan was level-headed.

Doing business with Alice was one thing, but after all the effort poured into the amusement park, it was profits that mattered. These throngs of burning-hot customers, in the end, needed to turn into cold, hard coins.

Si Zhiyan set the day ticket price for the park at 550 coins per person, with a daily limit of twenty thousand, tickets released seven days in advance, first come first served.

It wasn’t a cheap price, considering that even the Forest Hot Springs only cost 300 coins a night.

When the pricing was first announced, many muttered, “At this price, won’t it hurt sales?”

Well, let’s wait and see how it actually performs.

—And so, on the very first day, all twenty thousand tickets…

…sold out instantly!

The players were stunned.

Many who failed to get tickets despaired again, asking yet one more time—

“Where on earth do so many rich people come from in this famine game?!”

If people with tens of thousands of coins to spend on ingots for necessities was one thing, what about the masses willing to spend hundreds of coins for a single day of fun?

Si Zhiyan sipped coffee, smiling.

—Obviously, they were cultivated on the farm.

Si Zhiyan provided quality, affordable food, so there was no need to save for expensive emergency rations, freeing up players’ finances significantly. On top of that, he introduced new, high-reward missions, and offered various buffs on the farm, making the players stronger and helping them tackle tougher challenges more easily.

The farm had been running for so long that “farm players” were no longer the same as the ordinary famine game players they once had been.

Before coming to the farm, 550 coins could have been a player’s life savings;
Now, it was just a day’s pocket money for fun!

If your stay on the farm hadn’t been long enough, and you truly felt the pinch of shelling out 550 coins but still wanted to visit the park…

The night ticket was just 250 coins.

Enter after ten at night, play till dawn—the price was less than half.

Of course, you might have to deal with some unsavory companions…
But don’t worry; at least here, they’re harmless.

As for Si Zhiyan…

With day and night tickets combined, Si Zhiyan was raking in nearly twenty million coins daily, tears of joy streaming down his face.

And that wasn’t even counting the commission tax from Candy Town shops.

Hands behind his back, Si Zhiyan stood on the terrace overlooking the park, sighing with emotion. “The life of a monopoly capitalist is truly dull and insipid.”

…………
……

Thanks to the park’s unique randomness, just a dozen days after opening, some had already started making guides.

Which areas were likeliest to encounter certain gatekeepers, and whether there were tricks to their trials… People compared notes enthusiastically, shared experiences, even set up a dedicated message board on the noticeboard.

Of course, there were also those who preferred to explore fresh:

“The best part of gaming is the first-time experience!” The red-haired warrior Qiu Hong spoke with heroic zeal. “What’s the point if you just read guides? If only I could wipe my memory and solve the Water Park Grand Puzzle all over again!”

Behind her, Qiu Youqing nodded vigorously.

Back in the lava cave, Qiu Hong had once led the trapped players to form a Water Park strategy group.

On the final day before the glass jar containment effect wore off, they solved the Water Park’s puzzles. Despite a few hiccups… after pooling their efforts and studying at length, they ultimately found the answer. That moment of pure exhilaration, from head to toe, even tingling in their skulls, was unmatched by any other accomplishment!

Therefore, when the [Amusement Park] opened, Qiu Hong immediately called her old friends together.

With the same spirit they’d had solving the Water Park, they fanned out across the entire park, inch by inch, searching every corner.

And indeed, they found some subtle clues.

In a corner of the maze, there was a sewer called “Black Street,” a pervasive network controlled by the Mafia according to the world setting.

Within that Black Street was a large prison sector filled with skeletons.

There, a scholarly, bespectacled middle-aged man, Shen Dongyuan, crouched by the bottom of a cage, examining a tattered letter. “Interesting… It seems to have gone through multiple layers of encryption. The first layer should be a fence cipher… Give me pen and paper, I’ll give it a try.”

Buzz-cut Qiu Youqing immediately handed him pen and paper.

Mr. Shen accepted them, raising his head. “But, are you sure this is even a real puzzle?”

Qiu Hong’s voice was fervent and confident. “Don’t worry, Mr. Shen, absolutely!”

“A park designed by Mr. Si couldn’t possibly be as simple as it looks!”

Qiu Youqing leaned on Qiu Hong’s shoulder, grinning, “Besides, heh heh, solving the puzzle means we get to know the park that much better.”

“Once we learn the patterns, we can write a guide or even be tour guides. Plenty of people would pay for that, and we could make good money! Plus… Mr. Lin’s birthday is coming, and didn’t you want to buy her a gift—that’s the whole reason you agreed to join us, isn’t it?”

With a laugh, Shen Dongyuan rolled up the paper and tapped Qiu’s head lightly. “That’s enough out of you.”

“All right, to crack the cipher we’ll need a key. Would you all mind searching the other skeletons for more clues?”

“Yes, sir!” they chorused, setting off with eager determination.

…

On the castle balcony, Si Zhiyan smiled and took a sip of coffee.

Alice, in her cute dress, leaned on her hand, watching the crowds thronging the amusement park. “Mr. Si, your treasure hunt puzzles are engaging, but aren’t the clues a little too cryptic?”

She counted on her fingers. “There’s a dead skeleton pirate in one of the alley cages, clutching a handwritten note. It says they died seeking underwater treasure… There’s a cipher on the back; solving it gives coordinates, which lead to a shell in Starwish Bay. It says those who’ve visited the forbidden sea floor glow inside; grind pearls into powder, wait for the moon to rise, and you’ll see their footprints…”

“Then, with the clue, you only proceed at night in the shifting alleyways, tracking the footprints into a brand-new area…”

“Will anyone, in the middle of playing here, really notice such details? And even if they do, would they put the rides aside and wander all over the park to solve these puzzles?”

Si Zhiyan’s smile was warm and reassuring. “Don’t worry, Miss Alice. Some people certainly will.”

This was the tacit understanding between puzzle designers and players.

Of course, for those uninterested in riddles, there were foods spawned throughout the park just like in every other world.

Most of them, however, were for fun.

For instance, the mushrooms and stars in the [Alice’s Wonderland] area; the pearl candies from [Bubble Starwish Bay]; the randomly appearing edible gingerbread houses in [Candy Town]… all these were intended as delightful surprises.

Free of charge, everywhere you turned.

As for their additional effects—they were all over the place, more curious than practical. Still, they brought great joy.

More than one person had suggested to Si Zhiyan, “If the amusement park is so valuable, why not open it in batches like the spring of life, mass-distribute the buffs, and make everything more efficient?”

At such times, Si Zhiyan merely chuckled, patted the arm of his chair, and ushered the efficiency-focused visitor out of the office—

Preferably into the alley maze, to experience it for themselves.

Si Zhiyan and Alice—plus the [Amusement Park] itself, at the end of the phone line.
The designers banded together, employing every means imaginable. They kept adding layers to the amusement park, hoping to attract more guests, guiding them to explore, and encouraging everyone to use their own footsteps to measure every inch of the world…

To rediscover the happiness long buried beneath the burden of survival.