On the other side of the amusement park.
A group of people entered the long-abandoned Sabana Amusement Park through a dilapidated fence.
Some of them wore school uniforms, while others wore casual clothes.
"I say, is it really okay to just come in like this?"
One of the girls in a school uniform asked in a low voice.
"No problem, this place has been abandoned for decades, no one watches it anymore."
A boy in a senior school uniform patted his chest and assured them.
"Even if we held a concert here, no one would bother us."
At this point, the boy looked at one of the girls with long golden hair.
Kitagawa Kaimeng.
A beautiful girl from a lower grade.
Because she loved to cosplay and was fond of ACG culture, she usually paid attention to her appearance.
It was said that she used to have black hair, but later dyed it golden, waist-length, with coral-colored highlights at the ends.
She wore various styles of chokers around her neck, and even had a tongue piercing.
Both of her ears also had removable ear studs and earrings, and her hands were manicured.
Coupled with her enthusiastic and uninhibited personality, she quickly became a popular figure among her peers.
The boy knew her through a junior he knew who had seen her at a comic convention.
Accompanying them were another boy and two other girls, a total of five people who had teamed up for their first outing this weekend.
As for why they didn't go shopping normally but came here, it was because Kitagawa Kaimeng proactively suggested "ruin exploration."
Since it was a request from a beautiful girl, the two boys, harboring ulterior motives, agreed.
However, because one of the female classmates was quite scared, the exploration time was changed from afternoon to morning.
Having a test of courage in the morning sounded a bit strange.
But after entering the interior of the amusement park, the sky darkened for an unknown reason.
The sky was chaotic with dark clouds, and a faint white mist drifted in from somewhere unknown.
The atmosphere was certainly there!
This immediately excited the two boys.
This abandoned amusement park was even more atmospheric than those haunted house theme parks!
However, the occasional gusts of cold wind blowing from a distance made the few of them feel uneasy.
Could there really be something ghostly in this broken place?
Perhaps to add to the atmosphere, the swing set not far away creaked as it was blown by the wind.
The sudden sound startled the girls, making them shrink back.
The two boys were also startled, but they quickly reacted, smiling and saying, "It's just the wind, and this place hasn't been maintained for too long. It's normal for the swing to creak like that from rust."
Kitagawa Kaimeng was also startled, but this only piqued her curiosity.
As an ACG enthusiast, she had seen quite a few horror-themed animations.
Amusement parks were a key setting in many of them.
"Let's keep going."
Kitagawa Kaimeng was both scared and curious.
Although she knew it was impossible for such things to exist, human imagination is boundless.
You know there's nothing in the trash can or the closet, but you can't help but wonder if a monster will suddenly jump out.
And at this moment.
On the wall behind them, a line of blood-red characters appeared.
"Let's play hide-and-seek."
"When the game starts, I'll find a friend to be the seeker."
"So, hurry up and hide."
No one saw it.
Because the words disappeared very quickly after they appeared.
The white mist became more widespread, and when the warm sun outside shone here, only pale, dim light entered, making the entire environment eerie and terrifying.
The swing continued to creak and sway.
Creak~~~
Creak~~~
Creak~~~
However, no one noticed that a figure with pale skin was sitting on the swing, swaying with the wind.
Its black eyes constantly rotated, focusing on the group of five, as if searching for something.
And at a certain moment, as if confirming something, the pale figure got off the swing and quickly crawled towards the tall boy.
Then, he, who had been intently focused on Kitagawa Kaimeng, suddenly froze.
"What's wrong?"
The boy with him was a little displeased.
He had almost bumped into the back of the other's head just now.
Normally it wouldn't matter, but he couldn't lose face in front of the girls.
He reached out and pushed him, but found that the other person didn't budge at all.
He felt a bit embarrassed, so he increased his force, but there was still no reaction.
"Hey!"
He got angry.
However, the other person still didn't react.
He walked around to the front, intending to speak, but saw the other person with his eyes closed, his mouth opening and closing as if saying something.
"What's going on?"
Kitagawa Kaimeng took some photos with her phone.
This place was quite suitable for those strangely styled cosplays.
"I don't know what this guy is doing?"
That boy was very displeased.
Are you putting on an act now?
"No, he seems to be talking..."
Kitagawa Kaimeng blinked, and the others also quieted down to listen.
"Thirty-one, thirty-two, thirty-three, thirty-four..."
It was just a mechanical repetition of numbers.
"What are you doing? Is this... some new way of counting?"
A girl asked curiously.
The boy pushed him again, but found that the other person's body temperature was terrifyingly cold.
"Th-there won't be anything wrong, will there?"
Another girl was already starting to get scared.
"L-let's go back."
The amusement park's light grew dimmer, as if shrouded in a layer of shadow.
Kitagawa Kaimeng was a little helpless.
Next time, it would be better to come alone.
She wasn't a fool; she knew what these boys thought of her, but she had no interest in them whatsoever.
Even if this tall boy was the school's baseball team captain.
Tall, strong, handsome.
At least, that's how many girls saw him.
However, as an ACG culture enthusiast and a classmate of Rosen, her threshold had long been raised to a level unattainable by ordinary people.
The tall boy continued to count mechanically, having already reached sixty.
This made Kitagawa Kaimeng very curious; doing this wouldn't make him seem cool, but would rather lower his appeal in girls' eyes, right?
But the other person was still counting, and had already reached eighty.
A bad premonition arose in Kitagawa Kaimeng's heart.
She remembered that the game of hide-and-seek only started after counting to one hundred.
So, what would happen after the tall boy counted to one hundred?
Kitagawa Kaimeng also spoke, "Let's go back too."
At the same time, she grabbed the arms of the two girls and slowly retreated a few steps.
The two girls had already wanted to leave, and seeing her speak, they immediately turned around.
"What are you still pretending for? Everyone's left!"
The other boy looked at the tall boy irritably.
"Ninety-nine, one hundred."
The counting ended.
The tall boy opened his eyes.
Then, when the other boy saw those pitch-black pupils, he subconsciously stumbled back a few steps, his face showing horror.
The tall boy's facial muscles twitched, and the corners of his mouth stretched to both sides, revealing a human-like smile, though he was clearly human.
"Wh-what is that!"
He was almost scared senseless by this scene, and turned to run back the way they came.
But before he had run a few steps, the tall boy suddenly opened his mouth wide and bit off his neck in one go.
The head rolled to the ground, rolling all the way to the feet of Kitagawa Kaimeng and the two other girls, who had instinctively stopped after hearing the sound.
The three girls were completely stunned.
After several seconds, the two girls besides Kitagawa Kaimeng let out a scream, their eyes rolled back, and they fainted directly.
And the tall boy who had bitten off his companion's neck looked at Kitagawa Kaimeng and the two fainted girls, his pitch-black pupils revealing a fierce glow, and then, like a deformed creature, he swayed unsteadily and rushed towards the girl.
Two red lines appeared on his face, his flesh split open, revealing a gaping maw, and he opened his mouth to bite down on Kitagawa Kaimeng's head.
"Buzz—!"
At the critical moment.
A long spear descended from the sky, piercing through its heart and pinning it firmly to the ground.