Once they stepped into the amusement park, Ning Chu had already lost the enthusiasm he’d started with.

His expression was gloomy. He trailed right behind Wen Yang and Wang Jie, head bowed, his eyes fixed on the two up ahead every second.

“Tickets are only a few dozen yuan. That’s not too expensive.” Wang Jie looked around at the prices of the different rides. “The carousel’s the cheapest—just ten yuan.”

“What do you guys want to do? I’m not really interested in anything.”

Wen Yang didn’t answer Wang Jie. Every so often, he looked back at Ning Chu with concern. He couldn’t understand how, in just a dozen minutes, his roommate had gone from being lively as an angel on the bus to shutting himself away like this.

“I’m going to use the bathroom…”

Before he’d even finished speaking, Ning Chu suddenly looked up. “I’m coming too!”

He stuck close to Wen Yang’s heels, his gaze sweeping over their surroundings with constant wariness and unease.

He’d never imagined what it would be like to leave his familiar friends and roommates behind and end up alone in a strange world… It felt like getting lost in a crowded mall as a little kid, overwhelmed and terrified by everything around him.

But back then, his mother would’ve searched for him in a panic. Now, his mother had long since passed away. He didn’t even know what his mother in this world looked like.

“I’m gonna grab a grilled sausage.” Wang Jie had already been drawn to the stand nearby.

Ning Chu followed Wen Yang to the public restrooms nearby.

He didn’t really need to pee. He’d planned to wait outside, but the moment Wen Yang disappeared from view, a powerful panic welled up inside him, forcing him to hurry after him into the restroom.

But as soon as he went in and turned around, he walked straight into Wen Yang.

Ning Chu clutched his forehead and stumbled back two steps. Only then did he look up, letting out a quiet sigh of relief.

“What’s gotten into you now?” Wen Yang eyed Ning Chu’s cautious posture, frowning. “Why’d you suddenly turn into this?”

“I’m a little… scared of strangers?”

Ning Chu knew he was overreacting a little. But when he thought about it, being cautious made perfect sense in this strange little-Imperial-Uncle world.

Remembering the malicious stare he’d felt on his back when he was alone, he could clearly feel just how hostile this world was.

Maybe the people here were normal enough, but who knew whether some tentacle monster might suddenly pop out of a corner and do something unspeakable to him?

The novel he’d written was a total hodgepodge. Of course it had a classic scene with a Magical Girl and a tentacle monster.

“Scared of strangers?” Wen Yang paused. He looked straight into Ning Chu’s eyes, trembling like a little kitten’s, and sighed helplessly. “I never noticed before.”

“Yeah…”

Ning Chu hadn’t expected himself to be such a fragile person, either.

He couldn’t help feeling a little dejected. Head lowered, he followed Wen Yang slowly into the men’s room.

The cramped space unexpectedly gave him a little sense of security. He stood by the restroom entrance, idly fiddling with his phone while all sorts of nonsense ran through his head.

Even if he really did make it through the crisis that the plot had in store for him, could he ever live peacefully in such a chaotic world?

Never mind the perverts the novel had mentioned. What if his kid turned out dark-skinned with natural curls?

His train of thought suddenly took a strange turn. Huh? I wonder what kind of endowment Wen Yang, the male lead of an erotic novel, has…

Ning Chu looked up, unable to keep his curiosity in check.

He edged over to Wen Yang, pretending he needed to pee too, but craned his neck and peered down at him.

“Hiss…”

Holy crap! It’s huge! That’s terrifying!

He’d never seen such a monstrous thing in either of his lives!

Could a normal girl really handle that?!

“What are you doing?” Wen Yang jumped. Faced with Ning Chu’s innocent, curious, downright admiring gaze, his face flushed red before he could stop it.

Ning Chu casually turned his head away. “Nothing. Just looking.”

The female characters in the novel must’ve all been exceptionally gifted. How else could they possibly handle that?!

So I—I’m a female character too… Does that mean I’m exceptionally gifted as well?

Then he thought of his own tiny little thing, and all he could feel toward Wen Yang was envy.

“That’s impressive…”

Wen Yang’s expression nearly cracked. He left the restroom looking utterly bewildered, and kept glancing back at Ning Chu.

This guy was seriously weird!

If another man had seen him and looked at him with surprised, curious admiration, he might not have felt so awkward. But when it was Ning Chu, with his boyish face, he inexplicably felt guilty—as if he’d corrupted a kid.

“What took you so long in there?”

When they got back to where they’d been, Wang Jie held out a grilled sausage to them. “I’ve already finished one. I’ve been waiting forever.”

“Thanks.” Ning Chu took the sausage and bit into it. “Wanna look around first?”

“I checked the park map. There’s a pool here, and admission isn’t expensive. How about we go play in the water?” Wang Jie suggested.

Wen Yang didn’t mind either way, but Ning Chu frowned and shook his head.

He still thought of himself as a man, but he couldn’t ignore the development on his chest. He couldn’t just strip down like the other men, leave himself in his underwear, and jump in the water.

“We didn’t come prepared. Let’s skip it.” He quickly found an excuse. “We wouldn’t have anything to change into afterward.”

“Fair point.”

“Let’s just look around.”

The three of them wandered around the amusement park. They didn’t go on many rides, but they kept picking up more and more snacks.

Ning Chu had an egg burger in his left hand and a potato-chip tower in his right. Once he’d had his fill of high-calorie food, dopamine started flooding his system, and the tension brought on by the unfamiliar surroundings slowly began to fade.

“Goldfish scooping!”

He spotted a goldfish-scooping game in a corner, and his eyes lit up. “I’ve never tried that before!”

“It’s not expensive, either. We can scoop up a few and keep them in the dorm.” Ning Chu turned to Wen Yang. “What do you think?”

Aside from goldfish scooping, the corner was packed with little games like balloon popping, fishing, and ring toss. He’d found himself some cheap entertainment.

Compared to the big rides that cost dozens of yuan a go, these little games were a real bargain.

“I’m good with that.” Wen Yang looked over at the ring-toss booth and laughed. “I could bankrupt the owner with my ring-toss skills.”

“Seriously?”

Ning Chu immediately forgot about the goldfish game.

“What do you want? I’ll win it for you.”

He got excited, rising onto his tiptoes to look over the little prizes at the booth. “What about that stuffed animal?”

“You like that?”

“My desk looks empty. I just want something to put on it.”

After buying a few rings from the booth owner, Wen Yang stepped up to the marked white line. He held a ring in his right hand, carefully judged the distance, adjusted his force and angle, and tossed it lightly. It landed in an empty patch of ground.

Ning Chu immediately booed from beside him. “You’re not very good at this, are you~”

“I haven’t played in ages. I’m out of practice.”

“Come on, put some effort into it!”

Wen Yang glanced at Ning Chu. The guy was leaning forward with eager anticipation in his eyes, but the words coming out of his mouth were nothing but jeers.

Stoked by both Ning Chu’s eager gaze and his infuriating heckling, Wen Yang felt a sudden rush of confidence. “I’m definitely getting one this time!”