Chapter 16

Chapter 16

The sudden change of ownership of Tourism Park was truly unexpected for both humans and monsters alike.

Some colorful monsters emerged from the rich soil feeling as if the sky had fallen.

Waking up to find the Director's fate unknown and a new boss in charge—what were monsters like them, who depended on Tourism Park for their existence, supposed to do?

The monster world has no boundaries; it is weird and wonderful. In this world, humans can be monsters, animals can be monsters, and plants can be monsters as well.

Weaker monsters, heeding the call of more powerful counterparts and offering their loyalty, have the opportunity to become stronger monsters.

Previously, Blue 242 referred to the colorful mushrooms as a specialty of Tourism Park, which was quite fitting in many ways.

In this park, monsters with higher-ranking hat colors are more deeply bound to Tourism Park.

They become assimilated by this eerie land until, ultimately, they turn into earth-bound monsters who can never truly leave.

While this may sound like a loss of freedom, for many monsters lacking in power, it is actually a dream scenario.

Though they lose their freedom, they gain a sense of belonging.

Moreover, being unable to leave Tourism Park permanently doesn’t mean they can’t be sent out on short-term assignments.

Some monster employees who had worked hard to reach the middle or upper ranks of the park and were assigned territories now gathered in open spaces, wearing their colorful hats, listening to the broadcast still echoing overhead. They exchanged glances, their expressions more sorrowful and confused than if they had lost their entire family.

"What is Su Financial Group?" asked a reclusive monster who had grown up in Tourism Park and worked his way up from gray to green.

A knowledgeable yellow-hatted monster beside him spoke up, educating all his colleagues: "Su Financial Group is the largest financial group in Tanzhong City."

As for its business reach in other cities, he didn’t know.

"From the moment a monster is born until it is devoured and dies, as long as it remains in this city, it’s impossible to have no connection to Su Financial Group in terms of food, clothing, shelter, or transportation."

After speaking, the yellow-hatted monster pursed his lips and gestured toward the group opposite him: "The human skins you’re wearing—at least eight out of ten are produced in factories owned by Su Financial Group."

As for the remaining two, any factory able to sell products in Tanzhong City likely has shares held by Su Financial Group.

Hearing this, several other reclusive monsters in the open space looked down at their own arms and legs, gasped in shock.

Another yellow-hatted monster added: "Where? It couldn’t be the villas on Fortune Avenue, could it?"

That was the best villa district in their city.

The knowledgeable yellow-hatted monster nodded proudly.

Another round of gasps echoed.

"Last time I went to the city center for business, I dropped by to visit my third uncle’s second aunt’s seventh grandfather. Their young monster said that Mr. Su of Su Financial Group recently moved into a new home—his whole family lives there."

"The monsters in the villa district bullied the new residents, thinking they were just running tourism operations to make a living, but then…"

"Ugh, he’s such a powerful being that he removed the skin from half the monsters in the villa district in just two hours."

Gasp.

All the monsters present gasped, instinctively putting themselves in that situation and feeling pain all over.

"Then, when he comes later, won’t he skin all of us and replant us back in the soil?" asked a relatively calm monster.

An even calmer monster answered: "Maybe. The zoo next door used to be a circus. After the new boss took over, he didn’t bother assimilating the old employees—he just killed all the monsters."

Hearing this, the less stable monsters began pulling at their hair, their eyes turning crimson, mumbling like madmen: "I don’t want to be a mushroom anymore! I don’t want to stay in the soil year after year! I don’t want to be bitten by ants! I don’t want to be crushed and have to grow back!"

"I… I…" A green-hatted monster with crimson eyes stammered for a while before suddenly perking up as he remembered something.

He recalled a terrifying rumor circulating in Tourism Park these past two days—about that insider who hung monsters on his balcony as a public display.

If you just sneakily ate a few colleagues in the park, nobody would care too much. But this insider never should have made such a bold move.

Because of his provocation, monsters should have already gone to cause trouble for him these past couple of days.

But now, with this major event, who has the time for that?

Most importantly…

"Is his surname Su? Yes, yes, I heard from Yellow 03—his name is Su Ximu!"

"Su Financial Group, Su Ximu—yes, it all matches!"

How could it be such a coincidence? An insider surnamed Su just arrived in Tourism Park, and within days, the entire park was acquired by Su Financial Group.

Moreover, this insider surnamed Su acted so boldly right from the start—he must have connections!

Maybe he’s related to Su Financial Group.

"He likes planting mushrooms…" The green-hatted monster paced around, thinking aloud as if no one else was there: "Yes, it’s fine. I can offer half of myself—even half can be planted, it’ll take root…"

Under everyone’s watchful eyes, this emotionally unstable green-hatted monster began mumbling to himself while tearing at his left shoulder with his right hand.

Amid screams that would cause mental distress to any player who heard them, the human skin tore from his shoulder, revealing bright red flesh beneath.

Changing human skin is difficult because it merges with the original body.

Soon, the green-hatted monster had torn off half of himself, leaving only his head intact.

Dragging his body—now with only one arm and one leg—he crawled forward, using his teeth to tear at the seams of the other half of his body and "clothing."

This was precision work. Under normal circumstances, he likely wouldn’t have finished before other monsters, seeing his extreme weakness, overpowered him.

But at this crucial time, with their jobs on the line, no monster dared make a move.

Time flew by, and it was soon noon, with the sun high in the sky.

After working hard all morning, the green-hatted monster finally re-dressed himself in his "clothing," no longer appearing horribly disfigured.

He jumped in place a couple of times and sincerely remarked: "As expected of products from the boss’s factory—even after being torn apart, they’re still so comfortable to wear and fit so well when put back on."

After saying this, he grabbed the half-green mushroom from the ground and ran off, vanishing from sight.

Behind him, a monster spoke up: "Do you think he’ll succeed?"

Is that insider really related to their new boss?

"I hope so," said the highest-ranking yellow-hatted monster present, looking into the distance with heartfelt hopes.

If it really works, sacrificing half his body might be worth it.

This is equivalent to asexual reproduction—sending one child out to secure their bright future is simply a great deal.

After all, as long as the power remains, children can always be created whenever needed.

***

The broadcast in the Tourism Park had been playing since dawn. Su Ximu was usually a light sleeper, but that night, because he was dreaming, he wasn’t awakened by the broadcast.

This was the first dream he had since he transmigrated into the book.

At seven in the morning, Su Ximu sat up in bed, recalling the dream he had just experienced.

Ever since that high fever in his childhood, he seemed to have started having vivid dreams, often repeating the same one.

Back then, his grandmother was so frightened that she thought he was haunted by something unclean. She even took him to see a local fortune-teller and made him drink charmed water. But none of it worked.

By the time he grew up and entered university, he could already recite his dreams from memory.

But this time...

Su Ximu pulled the blanket around himself, sitting on the bed and carefully recollecting.

This dream was different—it had introduced a slight variation that had never happened before.

In the hazy depths of the dream, for the first time, he had an extremely clear view and saw a face.

Even if it was just a face.

He lowered his head, opened his palm, and slowly traced the features on his palm.

Long hair tied into a small bun, large eyes, a straight nose, and thin lips with a natural upward curve—a natural smile.

It was a very pretty, long-haired boy who looked like a little girl.

Su Ximu thought back to the usual content of his dreams and tried to match the boy’s appearance to one of the children in his dream.

That child was incredibly kind to the dream version of him, with a sweet temperament.

When he was very young, he once couldn't tell the difference between dreams and reality. The thing he wanted to do most every day was sleep, then dream, and return to that dream world.

The only reason he woke up each day was his grandmother—because she didn’t exist in the dreams.

Later, it was also his grandmother who noticed he was sleeping more and more each day, even secretly taking her sleeping pills when he couldn’t fall asleep. She gave him a harsh spanking—the first time she had ever done so.

Only then did he gradually kick the bad habit and slowly learn to distinguish between dreams and reality.

Because of this new discovery in his dream, Su Ximu spent over forty minutes spaced out on his dormitory bed before finally snapping out of it and getting up to wash up.

After washing up, he hurriedly opened the dormitory door and found Group Leader Lan242 waiting for him just outside.

Before he could tell Group Leader Lan242 that they might be late today, Group Leader Lan242 spoke first.

Blue 242 said, “The broadcast announced today that the Tourism Park has a new owner. The park is closed for three days, and all employees are temporarily suspended from work.”

No work?

Su Ximu stopped mid-motion, his hand still on the door.

Since work was suspended, there was no need to rush anymore.

For the rest of the morning, he and Group Leader Lan242 took their time with breakfast in the rest area cafeteria.

A few hours later, they returned to the cafeteria and leisurely had lunch.

During this time, he also learned that the one who bought out the entire Tourism Park was none other than Big Brother.

This finally made him understand why all the employees in the park had been giving him weird looks all morning.

At noon, on his way back to the dormitory with Group Leader Lan242, Su Ximu saw a park staff member wearing a green hat running toward him from a distance.

Then, about ten meters away, the staff member dropped to his knees with a loud thump, slid into a kneeling position before him, and reverently kissed the ground at his feet while raising both hands high.

“Respected Mr. Su, please accept my most precious gift. Green 132 greets you.”

“I am willing to become the most loyal slave of the Su Financial Group. Please do not kill me—use me however you want!”

“I am willing to dedicate my entire life to the Financial Group!”

Slave.

Kill.

Use.

Su Ximu, who had never received such an extreme gesture before, was temporarily speechless. When he regained his senses, his first reaction wasn’t to avoid the bowing Green 132 but to suddenly recall something.

Was the Su Financial Group actually an above-board company?

Had the Original Owner been involved in the company’s operations? In his memories, the Original Owner had visited the company with Big Brother and seemed to have signed some documents.

But the content of those documents—he couldn’t remember clearly.

Had he transmigrated into this book only to end up taking the fall on behalf of the Original Owner?

Author’s Note:

Little Mu: Feel-good story about a group favorite (×)

Story that's half about criminal activity (suspected)