Chapter 44: Punishment
Guo Yinjü cast her gaze toward Yang Lei’s phone.
Displayed there was Liang Xiaoyu’s streaming channel.
The female streamer was speaking with indignation written all over her face.
“Even someone like me, who doesn’t need an admission ticket, knows the visitor rules inside and out. Surely no one else could possibly misunderstand them, right?”
“Mr. Qiao is such a good, generous man…”
“Many people secretly keep all sorts of things they pick up—bug shells, scales, whatever—and Mr. Qiao has never stopped anyone.”
“I know there are companies willing to pay astronomical sums for things that have slipped out of the park…”
“Someone even offered me a hundred million to sneak out a dinosaur egg, or even just a claw.”
“I believe that anyone smart enough to get in here must have made quite a profit. The ticket fee is nothing—they’ll earn it back tenfold…”
At this, Guo Yinjü unconsciously tightened his grip on his pocket.
Inside was a small bottle that had once held rainbow candies, now containing a ten-centimeter-long silver insect.
He’d found the bug after it had fallen down his collar in Dinosaur Park, biting his neck so hard it ached for ages.
He’d held onto it tightly, and when he had a chance, he’d secretly hidden it in his bottle.
He knew the others were much the same.
Some even scooped up a full bottle of Rampaging Dragon urine.
As for King Kong’s droppings, a few had divided it up among themselves by the handful.
…
Liang Xiaoyu continued, her words growing sharper.
“Some people have gone too far!”
“Do they think Fantasy Park is the ditch by their front door, that they can just hide in a trash can and get away with it?”
“Just because you’re trash doesn’t mean Fantasy Park’s bins are here to shelter you!”
Liang Xiaoyu swung her fist emphatically.
She’d already considered herself part of Fantasy Park.
There was no salary, but being allowed to stay indefinitely, with her own private place, was a one-of-a-kind privilege in all the world.
She knew countless people envied her.
Some even made snide remarks about her sleeping her way to the top.
But she would have jumped at such a chance anyway!
The others listening to her were momentarily stunned.
Hidden in a trash can?
Who could possibly come up with that?
Hadn’t they heard the introduction before?
Every super particle forming the protective dome in Fantasy Park was equipped with a high-resolution camera. Just entering here meant you were under surveillance every second.
A plastic-faced young woman suddenly paled as a thought struck her. She turned to look at a hook-nosed man on the far side.
He was from Eagle Country.
He had previously hinted that they should test the limits of Fantasy Park.
When the orders came from the top, who dared refuse?
But now, when she looked over, the burly man from Eagle Country was raising both hands in the air, his face furious as he barked in awkward Mandarin, “So brazen—should feed them to the dinosaurs!”
Liang Xiaoyu had already paused.
She swiveled her camera to face forward.
In the center of the frame was a silver trash can.
Beside it stood two hulking figures.
One was the black-furred King Kong.
The other was Bumblebee, aiming his laser cannon at the trash can.
With everyone watching, Bumblebee waved at King Kong.
King Kong, without a word, extended a claw and rapped on the trash can.
If this were an ordinary can from Earth, it would have been crushed flat.
But as a super trash can in Fantasy Park, it only gave off a tremendous clang, not even a dent.
Everyone stared at the trash can in suspense.
For a long moment, nothing happened.
[Did they pass out in there?]
[Were they too hungry? One knock and they faint?]
[Could it be a mistake?]
[First time watching Xiaoyu’s stream, huh?]
[Maybe they killed themselves out of guilt.]
Liang Xiaoyu pursed her lips and nodded at King Kong, who was watching her.
King Kong reached inside with a finger and poked around.
A bloodcurdling scream erupted, punctuated by shrill, unintelligible cries.
Liang Xiaoyu frowned. “What language is that?”
Qiao Mian had only told her someone was hiding in a trash can, and asked Bumblebee to bring her over for the live broadcast.
He hadn’t said who it was. She hadn’t asked.
But judging by the voice, it didn’t sound like someone from Rabbit Country.
[It’s a Southern Stick!]
[They’ve caught a live Stick.]
[If he’s not stealing, he must be playing hide and seek now.]
[Stick: The park belongs to our South Stick Country, why can’t we hide in the trash can?]
[Oppa’s hiding in the trash can looking for poop to eat.]
[Did King Kong poke that Stick to death?]
Seeing the barrage of comments, Liang Xiaoyu’s face twisted with effort to suppress her laughter. She gestured at Bumblebee with a tilt of her chin.
Bumblebee cackled, then rushed over and began pounding and kicking the trash can.
Bang, bang, bang—
The raucous noise was hard for viewers to bear.
“If you don’t come out, we’ll feed you to the dinosaurs,” Bumblebee called out.
Liang Xiaoyu’s audience had already surpassed a hundred million.
Under the camera, everyone saw a man slowly wriggle out of the trash can.
His hair was a tangled mess, his clothes tattered.
The moment he emerged, he raised both hands toward King Kong and Bumblebee.
He babbled for mercy in a foreign tongue.
King Kong only glared at him with blood-red eyes, silent.
Bumblebee fiddled with his energy cannon, aiming first at the man’s head, then his chest, then his groin.
The man’s legs shook, a fresh puddle pooling beneath him.
He wasn’t so afraid of Bumblebee’s theatrics, but King Kong’s menacing look was terrifying.
That baring of teeth and steaming breath—he was clearly about to make a snack of him.
“He’s all yours, big ape,” Bumblebee said, bored now that the man had wet himself.
King Kong let out a roar and thumped his chest.
The man collapsed to his knees, soaking them as well.
It happened quickly.
Before he could react, King Kong seized him and tossed him skyward like trash.
Liang Xiaoyu let out a gasp.
She hated and resented this rule-breaking Stick, true, but she didn’t want him killed.
To kill someone in front of so many witnesses would leave too terrible an impression.
As if guessing her thoughts, Bumblebee pressed some button, and a three-dimensional light screen popped up.
On the screen appeared the man King Kong had hurled aloft, his cries coming through in real time.
Liang Xiaoyu watched anxiously.
The man soared higher and higher, shrinking to the size of an ant, then plummeted back down, only to be stopped by an invisible barrier.
He slid down the shield in midair, screaming all the while.
Liang Xiaoyu looked up in amazement. “Is that the park’s protective dome?”
Bumblebee nodded. “People who break the rules like that can never be allowed back in once they’re thrown out.”
After a long moment, the figure on the screen finally slid down the shield to the ground, landing face-first in the dirt like a dog eating mud.
A trickle of blood ran from beneath his face.
“Could he be dead?” Liang Xiaoyu wondered, heart pounding.