Chapter 1095 Gold Rush
Crossing the entrance, Lith and Arya found themselves in the middle of four dark and giant tunnels. Each tunnel"s entrance had an arched gate on which the letters read:
North Gate — Whimsical Wonderpark
East Gate — Whimsical Snowpark
South Gate — Whimsical Waterpark
West Gate — Whimsical Skypark
There were four different areas they could go in and each brought a different kind of experience. "Where to?" Lith asked Arya. Arya thought about it and said, "Water will be the last. As for the others, you decide."
In Arya"s mind, she was thinking that the waterpark would be more laid back and she could have slow, poolside s.e.x with her husband to end their date. Oblivious to her thoughts, Lith nodded and said, "Let"s go to the wonderpark then. We would need a change of clothes in the other two and this one has a lot of forest area to fulfill your fantasies."
Lith winked at his wife, making her chuckle. "Then what are we waiting for? Let"s go!"
Arya pulled Lith"s hand and took him inside the wonderpark.
While the two left, right behind, a red-haired beauty wearing a brown sun hat stared at them with a dumbfounded gaze. "That was… him. Wasn"t it?"
Due to the delay in deciding which park to go to, Keith caught up to them. Looking at her staring at a cute couple, Hei tilted her head and asked, "Is something wrong, President? You"ve been staring at that couple for quite some time."
"Nothing." Keith replied instantly. "Let"s go to that place."
Hei felt something was up when Keith decided to go in the same direction as the couple, but she didn"t voice it out. She truly hoped that the President took a break and relaxed. The two redheads walked into the wonderpark entrance and what met their sight was a bright view of an amazing amus.e.m.e.nt park.
There were waterfalls, a large pond, roller coaster rides, people screaming in awe, and lots and lots of people wearing all sorts of fun things and having fun with the park mascots. "What sort of place is this…" Keith commented. She had never seen such a jolly atmosphere before. Hei gestured to a man who sold lollipops, headbands, and funny goggles to come near her. While doing so, she replied, "Some werewolf from the Werewolf Continent came up with this genius idea about fifty thousand years ago. They called it an amus.e.m.e.nt park because one would be really amused in this place."
The man Hei had called came near her. She paid him coins and bought two big, flat lollipops and cat ears headbands. Making him go away, she continued, "People at that time were skeptical about this, but later genuinely began having fun as the werewolf man had expected them to. It became big news and people flocked to this place from around the world."
Hei handed the lollipop to Keith, who unconsciously took it. She placed a red-colored cat ears headband on her hat and continued speaking, "It was said that it took a lot of time for the werewolf man to create this. It was thousands of years of manual labor and research."
Keith saw a group of people seated on chairs sling shot their way up in the air, then fall with great acceleration, then sling shot back to the top. The people on it were screaming, some in terror, some in amazement. Keith unconsciously licked the lollipop as she got absorbed in watching the people and listening to Hei speak. Hei could see that the President was interested in this. She smiled and continued, "There"s a lot to know about this and our whole day will be wasted by talking. It"s best if President experiences things for herself."
"Okay." Keith agreed and gently nibbled on the top of her lollipop. Hei smiled and pointed in the direction of the "Dare2Drop" ride. "Let"s go there and experience it. They said that for the best experience, we are to suppress ourselves till Saint Rank."
"Okay." Keith said again and walked towards the ride where people were being shown the thrill of accelerated gravity. Meanwhile, on the ride next to Dare2Drop…
Eight rows consisting of two open seats in each were present in a roller coaster car. Seated in the front row, on the two seats was a pair of lovebirds — them being none other than Lith and Arya. Lith was momentarily so amazed by the view around him that he got busy gawking everywhere, fascinating Arya as she had not seen him this interested in anything before. There was a platform beneath him a few seconds ago and he was in the starting area. They looked like they were brought straight from Earth to this place. It didn"t fascinate him initially as he had seen it, but the view next totally amazed him. Lith was in a gold rush ride and he expected himself to travel around him tunnels that looked like mines and whatnot. That"s about it. The common stuff. However, within a few seconds, the surroundings totally changed as the platform beneath him folded and collapsed. The temperature rose sharply, the ride"s seats changed into actual minecarts and the ambience had a golden tinge to it as it was lit by old worn out oil lamps. The mine they were in was a claustrophobic nightmare, but the scent, ambience, and everything else around them made it totally worth it. No amount of technology on Earth could change things to such a degree as some things were only possible with magic. Lith and Arya were free to move in their minecarts, but Lith could feel a tight hold on him, and knew that the seatbelts placed on him earlier were still there, albeit invisible to give a sense of freedom.
Like a curious child, Lith looked around. His expressions of awe brought great joy to Arya as she watched him. She thought that their date would be all lovey-dovey, but this was good in its own way too. With how the cultivation journey was, such moments of joy would get lesser and lesser as one ascended higher. This was one of those rare moments that absolutely must be cherished and enjoyed fully. "Miners, are you ready?!"
The operator"s voice rang in everyone"s ears. "Yeeaaahhh!!!" People shouted. CLICK. CLACK. CLICK. CLACK. The rusty minecarts began moving. It was slow as if the tracks did not have ample lubrications and were hindering the cart, but soon, the cart picked up pace and…
FWWSIISSSSHHHHH
"Woooooooooooo!"
Lith, Arya, and everyone else in the ride screamed on top of their lungs as their minecarts dived deep into an unknown abyss. The slope got steeper with each second and was almost a whole ninety degrees at one point, providing a level of thrill that could only be felt in a fantasy world. As his physique was suppressed, all Lith saw was a bright streak of golden lights, probably from the lamps. It vanished as quickly as it appeared and the fast forwarding minecart immediately decelerated when they entered a giant cave full of quartz veins and gold ores. A few figures with rough appearances could be seen hacking their pickaxes and trying to mine gold. "A few more weeks. A few more weeks and this will all be over!"
"Hehehahahehehaha! A few more weeks!"
Maniacal laughter could be heard from the figures as they dug around the cave. While everyone"s attention was on them, most failed to notice the cave getting narrower. It was a subtle shift as the miners drew their attention away. "Gold… gold… we"ll get all the gold and forever be done with it…"
Whispers could be heard from the miners. "Yes… I can reunite with my family… won"t have to live in this place anymore…"
"Gold… gold… mine for a few more days…"
"Gold… gold… g..o..ld… g..o..l..d…"
The cave turned silent as the surroundings slowly turned dark. Nervous heartbeats of the people in the minecarts could be heard as everything had suddenly turned creepy. "…"
A pin drop silence ensued for a good few seconds. "…ld…"
"…ld… old…"
Murmurs could soon be heard and the surroundings were starting to become visible again. Everyone saw a few shovels around them and half dug areas of the mines. The gold ores became less and the quartz veins were disappearing. The golden mine seemed barren. It became damp, dark, and deserted. Soon, in this creepy, eerie silent, the fear of unknown made the riders" heart palpitate. Not only Lith, even Arya was focused now. One second… two second…
Click. Clack.
Creeeeeeaaakkkk.
The minecarts came to an abrupt halt. The people on the ride suddenly felt a cold sweat on their backs as they looked at the endless dark tunnel in front. The last oil lamp was flickering a few feet behind them and the sudden stop had caused them to be really nervous. Were they stuck in this place? Was the ride broken? Did something go wrong? They did not know and began overthinking. In the midst of deep despair, it was then…
"Gold…"
A deep and rough whisper was heard. It came from the dark tunnel in front. Tap. Tap. Tap.
A tall silhouette of a man holding a shovel came into view. Everything about him was dark. "So you want to see the true gold rush?
The figure spoke. His words were bone-chilling for some reason. It was then. A golden smile formed on the dark figure"s face. "Very well then…"