Old Domain Bizarre

Chapter 8 Happiness
Zhang Wenda continued searching for white stones in the Go room filled with tables and chairs. Although he gave half to the chubby boy, Zhang Wenda's first plastic bag was already full in no time.

He has figured out the pattern: basically, most of the white pieces are stuck in the upper left corner of the drawer, while the black pieces are stuck on the inside of the stool legs.

Moreover, the probability of finding a white chess piece again in the desk drawer to the left is very low.

Zhang Wenda wrote down all these experiences, intending to use them next time he came.

By the time the second bag was half full, almost all the tables, chairs, and benches had been found.

He judged that there was little to gain from continuing the search in this area. Just as he was about to re-examine some of the drawers in the corners, he suddenly stopped and fixed his gaze on the bench next to him. He saw a black chess piece there.

"Black chess pieces? Should we collect them? Didn't Old Man Ding say we should collect white chess pieces?"

Just as Zhang Wenda was still pondering, he suddenly saw the black Go stones in the distance had disappeared without him noticing, as if what he had just seen was just an illusion.

"What the heck?" Zhang Wenda, his brows furrowed, reopened the book "Old Ding Takes You Around the Children's Palace" and quickly found some records about black chess pieces at the end of the chess and card section.

"Children, please note that the teachers at the Children's Palace only buy white chess pieces, not black ones. If you see a black chess piece, please pretend it doesn't exist."

"1: If you see the black stones more than three times, please inform the other students and leave the Go room."

"2: If five or more black pieces are in a row on the table, and strange noises start to come from the card room, please return to the door as quickly as possible and notify Teacher Rabbit. Then you can go home early to watch cartoons today!"

Seeing this, Zhang Wenda finally felt relieved. He was now 100% certain that the youth palace Xiaoming went to back then was definitely not like this.

Although Old Ding's tone was humorous, he didn't find the guide particularly funny. Something was clearly wrong with this place; there was definitely danger.

"So... what exactly are we here for?" He looked around at his classmates who were focused on finding chess pieces and wondered to himself.

The chubby guy, being carefree, might not have noticed, but he clearly knew that these rules were obviously wrong.

The so-called "going home early" actually means that the appearance of 5 black stones signifies that something very bad will happen, so they are sent away early.

Although I don't know what it will be, it certainly won't be anything good.

Judging from the fact that I was punished so severely for simply skipping class, I might lose my life if I didn't follow the rules of the Children's Palace.

"That's really ruthless. Sending a bunch of kids to such a dangerous place? Aren't they afraid something might happen? Aren't their parents worried? Or is this kind of thing commonplace for people in this world?" Zhang Wenda thought to himself.

He had already packed his things and wasn't going to look for anything else. He squeezed straight to the entrance of the Go room, ready to leave at any moment should things turn out badly.

This place is indeed dangerous, but fortunately, the danger here is also logical.

As Zhang Wenda waited anxiously, time passed slowly. When he saw the black chess piece for the second time, his heart clenched instantly, and he had already moved one foot out of the corridor.

Fortunately, Zhang Wenda had clearly taken most of the white stones in this area, and the other students, realizing they hadn't gained anything, left the Go room in twos and threes.

After seeing the last student come out and close the door again, Zhang Wenda finally breathed a heavy sigh of relief. "Thank goodness, at least we've gotten through this hurdle for now."

He grabbed Pan Dongzi's right hand, glanced at his plastic watch, and realized it was only 2 PM. The Children's Palace closed at 6 PM, meaning he had to stay there for another 4 hours. At this moment, Zhang Wenda finally understood what it meant for time to drag on endlessly.

Next, the other students split up in twos and threes, going to different rooms, mostly with the ones they got along with, which made it difficult for Zhang Wenda to choose.

Just then, Fatty stood at the corner of the model airplane room and waved to Zhang Wenda. "Rat, come on! Come on over! It's even more fun here!"

Zhang Wenda thought for a moment, then quickly walked over. Since the other party had been here before and had a good relationship with him, following him wouldn't harm him.

When they entered the model airplane room, they saw various small airplanes hanging in the sky with ropes.

"Mouse! Look at that!"

Then Zhang Wenda saw Pan Dongzi pointing at one of the Boeing B737 single-aisle narrow-body aircraft, gesturing excitedly and saying, "I've seen this little plane before! Once, when I was reciting my lessons on the balcony, it flew over from the fourth floor across the street to my house."

"I was so happy! I wanted to catch it with a cage, but my sister chased it away with a broom."

"Really? Your place is quite big." Zhang Wenda was no longer paying attention to the other person's nonsense. He buried his head in the guidebook for the children's palace and began to look up the rules for the model airplane room.

More than what exactly that little plane that could fly into the living room was, he was now concerned about what he was collecting in this place and what dangers lay ahead.

“No need to look at that, I know how to do this! I’ve been to this place several times!” Little Fatty said, pulling Zhang Wenda inside.

However, he didn't touch the model airplanes or the large globe in the middle of the room. Instead, he went to the yellowed wall and pressed himself against it to look up.

Then, as if he had seen something, he quickly waved to Zhang Wenda, "Bottle! Quickly, bring the bottle."

After receiving a transparent glass bottle from his companion, Pan Dongzi stood on tiptoe and held the bottle up high against the wall.

Just as Zhang Wenda was wondering what the other person was doing, he saw some pale yellow liquid seeping from the wall and sliding into the bottle.

Pan Dongzi swayed the bottle left and right, and the liquid quickly filled the bottom of the bottle.

Exhausted and sweating, he handed the bottle to Zhang Wenda and said, "Here! Have some, this is good stuff!"

“I won’t drink it.” Looking at the liquid that seemed to contain turbid impurities, Zhang Wenda quickly shook his head. He wasn’t Indian, so he couldn’t just put anything in his mouth.

"It's delicious, really. You've had it before." Pan Dongzi said, bringing the bottle to his lips and taking a small sip, a happy smile immediately spreading across his face.

"What's this?" Zhang Wenda had barely finished speaking when a scar instantly appeared on his back, causing him to involuntarily tense up in pain. "Damn it!"

The chubby boy, all smiles, handed the bottle to Zhang Wenda once again.

"This is happiness, liquid happiness. It was in the orange lollipop you just ate too."

(End of this chapter)