December 28th, Friday, 8:00 AM.
Pei Qian had deliberately woken up early today and called Ma Yang to meet him at the Thrilling Lodge.
He wanted to secretly experience just how fun the “Skylark Operation” roller coaster really was.
The last time he came, Pei Qian had originally planned to arrange for Mr. Li and the investors to suffer on the roller coaster, but unexpectedly, they weren’t scared at all. Instead, they were all extremely excited and clamored to ride it again.
Later, he heard from Min Jingchao that these people played the entire afternoon and only left reluctantly in the evening.
Pei Qian was also curious—just how fun was this roller coaster?
But previously, for fear of breaking character, Pei Qian hadn’t experienced it with those investors.
So today, Pei Qian specifically brought along Old Ma, wanting to try it in the morning.
Pei Qian was mainly concerned that if he rode with others and got scared enough to scream once or twice, it would be inconsistent with Mr. Pei’s image.
But with Old Ma, there would absolutely be no such problem. At that time, the entire venue would probably be filled with Old Ma’s high-pitched screams, inevitably making him the center of attention and effectively covering up anyone else’s sounds.
Moreover, there was no need to maintain any image in front of Ma Yang.
According to the schedule, Thrilling Lodge would open for normal business today, and the roller coaster project would officially begin trial operations at 9:00 AM.
Pei Qian figured that arriving an hour early, experiencing it for an hour, would be about right.
It didn’t seem quite right that he had invested over 100 million in a roller coaster without even trying it himself.
Of course, the premise was that this roller coaster’s attribute was “fun” rather than “thrilling.” If it was the latter, Pei Qian definitely wouldn’t try it and would only find ways to send his enemies on it.
Cars couldn’t be driven into Thrilling Lodge, so they could only park in the parking lot at the entrance.
However, there were public transportation options like balance cars and sightseeing vehicles available at the parking lot for use within the Thrilling Lodge park.
Chen Kangtuo had been notified in advance, so staff members were already waiting at the parking lot.
Pei Qian and Ma Yang got into a sightseeing vehicle, entered Thrilling Lodge, and then headed toward the roller coaster area.
However, as soon as they entered Thrilling Lodge, Pei Qian was shocked.
“So many people?!”
Compared to normal days, the flow of people at Thrilling Lodge had skyrocketed!
And this was just Friday morning!
There were people queuing in front of all three attractions. The lines didn’t look long because these were just the people about to enter.
Thrilling Lodge used an electronic numbering system—visitors could get a number on arrival, and after getting one, they didn’t need to wait on the spot but could wander around. They only needed to return to the site when they saw on the app that their turn was approaching; otherwise, if they missed their number, it wouldn’t be held.
There weren’t many people queuing in front of the three attractions, but these were just those about to experience them. Who knew how many more had taken numbers and were waiting elsewhere!
Fortunately, these three attractions weren’t the only things to do at Thrilling Lodge. Visitors could also go for coffee or wander through the Golden Maze.
“How strange. Why aren’t these people queuing for the roller coaster but playing these three old attractions instead?”
“Logically, they should be tired of these three old attractions, right?”
Pei Qian had never tried these three attractions and had no desire to do so.
Fortunately, although the flow of people was higher than usual, it was still Friday morning, so the sightseeing vehicle traveled smoothly through Thrilling Lodge’s original park area toward the roller coaster.
Upon arrival, Pei Qian somewhat understood why people were still playing the old attractions.
Because there were even more people here!
The roller coaster was far from Thrilling Lodge’s original three attractions, and both sides of the path had been filled with various shops, all set up by Mr. Li and the investors.
Now, these shops were all full of people, just like popular commercial streets!
Moving forward, the situation was even more pitiful.
The entrance to the roller coaster project was already crowded with people.
Although this roller coaster project also used on-site ticketing and app queuing, these people were clearly too enthusiastic. The earliest arrivals were all crowded at the project entrance, waiting for the 9:00 AM opening to experience it.
There were already so many people waiting an hour early. Pei Qian couldn’t imagine what time these people had arrived.
Fortunately, there was a staff passage, commonly known as the back door.
Pei Qian was also afraid of running into acquaintances, so as usual, he wore a mask.
As they approached the back entrance of the attraction, Pei Qian reminded Old Ma: “I told you earlier to bring a mask, did you?”
If they were going to keep a low profile, both should do so; otherwise, it would look too strange.
“I did!” Ma Yang was very reliable in such matters. He took a mask from his pocket and put it on carefully.
Pei Qian: “…”
There was nothing wrong with the mask or how he wore it.
But the key issue was that Ma Yang’s face was too long—the mask could cover the upper part but not the lower part.
Worn like a normal person would, the mask covered his nose, but a section of his chin was still exposed, looking somewhat strange, reminiscent of a pervert with underwear on his head.
No wonder Old Ma rarely wore masks; the objective conditions didn’t really support it.
But it wasn’t a big deal; the gesture was enough.
Arriving at the staff entrance, it was indeed very quiet, with almost no one around.
Obviously, after getting their numbers, people either queued at the attraction entrance or wandered through the surrounding shops. Who would idle around the staff entrance?
After all, visitors couldn’t enter through there, so there was no point in waiting there.
But it was only “almost no one”—there were still occasionally one or two passersby who were very curious, perhaps having gotten lost.
Pei Qian didn’t pay attention and led Old Ma through the staff entrance.
Chen Kangtuo had arrived early and led the two of them inside to experience the “Skylark Operation” roller coaster.
Soon, one round was over.
Ma Yang clearly hadn’t recovered from the excitement and was still aiming his magnetic rail gun in all directions, making “doo-doo-doo” sound effects with his mouth.
“Wow! Qian bro, this roller coaster is really fun! Let’s go again!”
Pei Qian’s face darkened: “I’ll pass for now. Maybe another time.”
The roller coaster was indeed quite fun, with a strong sense of immersion. Especially when the roller coaster moved and rotated quickly, with swarms of insects charging from all directions, combined with some physical models, it made people tense and excited, unable to distinguish between what was virtual and what was real.
It was also highly interactive—frantically pulling the trigger to shoot at the insect swarms, struggling to break through, causing adrenaline to surge, giving a feeling of playing an immersive VR game.
And this was even more exciting than a VR game because it included physical sensations.
The guns could vibrate and make realistic sounds, surrounded by surround sound effects and ultra-clear immersive visuals, plus the weightlessness from the roller coaster’s movement—the experience was maxed out.
But the problem lay precisely in this “high interactivity.”
Pei Qian already knew that this roller coaster had different routes, and visitors needed to shoot carefully to enter different routes.
The worst ending was doing nothing and being barely escorted out of the insect nest by Captain Qin Yi; the best ending was when all four people performed well and chose the correct route, allowing them to penetrate deep into the insect nest and behead the insect queen.
Besides these, there were other endings, which could be simply viewed as different tiers.
Even if they all failed to complete the beheading mission, some endings involved leaving the deep cave with their tails between their legs, while others involved breaking through from the insect nest to the surface, soaring thousands of meters into the sky, seeing dense human fleets in the sky and insect swarms below—quite a visual feast.
Pei Qian figured that although they were just two people and might not have enough firepower to reach the insect queen, with a bit of effort, seeing the high-altitude scene shouldn’t be difficult, right?
But when they actually started playing, he realized it was as if Old Ma didn’t exist at all!
He could hear Old Ma next to him, constantly shouting, screaming, and shooting, but after shooting for so long—where were all his bullets going?
Pei Qian was holding the magnetic rail gun and shooting with great effort, but he couldn’t feel any fire support from Old Ma at all.
This inevitably reminded Pei Qian of when he played “Revelation” and GOG with Old Ma—it was as if he wasn’t even there…
Old Ma was still Old Ma. Although he had changed from his previous long face to the current Mr. Ma, his core hadn’t changed—he was still purely a freeloader in whatever game he played.
In the end, they achieved the worst ending. What was the point of experiencing it again?
It’s worth noting that this ending could be achieved even if all visitors did nothing, didn’t fire a single shot, and just sat in their seats looking at the scenery!
Play again with Old Ma?
That would be pure torture.
Seeing that Old Ma was still eager for more, Pei Qian advised: “Look at how many people are queuing at the entrance today. Let’s let the visitors experience it first.”
“We can experience it anytime we want. When there’s an opportunity, we can close the park for a team-building activity at Thrilling Lodge. You can bring the employees from Rabbit Tail Streaming to accompany you and play this roller coaster until you successfully behead the insect queen.”
Pei Qian was self-aware enough to know that he definitely couldn’t carry Old Ma. Such a task should be left to Old Ma’s dedicated companionship team.
Ma Yang was very happy: “Alright, it’s a deal! I’ll be waiting for your arrangement, Qian bro!”
Pei Qian called Chen Kangtuo over: “If the equipment is fine, open early. I see everyone waiting outside, very enthusiastic. Opening an hour early would allow more visitors to experience it.”
“Those who can come this early are true fans. Let them play a few more rounds.”
In any case, the popularity of the roller coaster was already a foregone conclusion. There was no point in hiding it anymore—just let nature take its course!
Chen Kangtuo was stunned for a moment, then nodded: “Alright, Mr. Pei. I’ll arrange it right away.”
Pei Qian and Old Ma left through the staff passage again.
However, this time, the people who had been wandering near the staff passage earlier spotted the two of them.
“Didn’t they just go in a moment ago? Shouldn’t the staff be busy inside all day? Why are they leaving?”
“Hmm… This person’s face is so long that the mask can’t even cover it? Isn’t this Mr. Ma?”
Ma Yang was now somewhat of an internet celebrity. After all, he had done “livestream shopping” before and had given away money on Weibo. Quite a few people had seen Mr. Ma online.
Logically, with a mask on, he shouldn’t be recognizable, but his face was too long with high recognizability. Even with a mask, it couldn’t hide his distinctive features.
“If that’s really Mr. Ma, then the other person must be…”
“No wonder that back view looked so familiar!”
The onlookers instantly became excited, unable to contain their excitement, and took out their phones to take a photo of the two leaving through the staff passage.