Long-term salvation

The Thing can also drive in the movie, although Rod has no idea how it does that.

"Oh, don't be nervous," Gomez came over and introduced his friends and family to everyone with a smile. "Thing may look very 'scary', oh I like this adjective - it may not be popular with many people, but it is definitely not evil. Otherwise, Fester and I would have died while we were still in diapers."

It made sense. The various strange beings in this world's Adams family were clearly connected to the Otherworld, but a benevolent creature from the Otherworld? The probability of that being a benevolent creature was like the United States announcing tomorrow that it would hang all capitalists and embrace communism. The possibility clearly existed, but it was infinitely close to zero.

The Addams family was indeed lucky, and the fate of the world was very kind to them.

"Get in the car and let's go!" Gomez shouted loudly while smoking a cigar. "A good life is waiting for us!"

Chapter 38 Welcome to Willy's Amusement Park! (2/2)

The RV named "Deathrock" has a really good driving feel, whether it is the excellent and unobstructed steering wheel, or the almost mosquito-like engine sound after layers of sound insulation, all of which show Atlas's superb industrial craftsmanship.

However, what surprised Rhode was that there was no monitoring equipment in the car, not even a positioning device. This was a good thing, at least it proved that Ains and other directors had changed their minds.

Change is a good thing.jpg

Rhode felt much better thinking this. After tapping his fingers on the steering wheel a few times, he turned his head and asked loudly to the girls in the RV:

“Is the environment inside the RV okay?”

"It's nice, but they only have an induction cooktop." / "The exhaust fan is too loud!" / "The bed is a little narrow." / "I think it's nice too. The small desk is very comfortable." / "Sensei, where are you going to sleep?"

Rhodes: "...It doesn't look like there's any big problem."

"Test, test, can you hear me?"

Gomez's voice came from the intercom in the cab. Rod picked up the little thing and his eyes fell on the extremely powerful and obviously modified classic car in front of him. The latter was speeding on the wide road that stretched to the skyline under the gloomy sky.

The weather was far worse than when we first set out. The sunlight that used to shine through the gaps in the thick clouds had now disappeared. Ominous gray clouds were rapidly gathering, swallowing up those clouds that still looked relatively white.

"Very clearly, Director Gomez," Rod replied. "What is it?"

"I have some very unfortunate news for you—a new round of snowfall and strong winds will begin in three hours. We need to speed up a bit to reach the town I marked before the snow blocks the road... Look at the map on the passenger seat, Mr. Rhodes. I should have asked Thing to put it there."

Rhodes didn't reach out to grab the map. The purple-haired girl who came from the RV had already spread it on her thighs. Her slender jade fingers followed the road on the map until they stopped at the town with a skull drawn on it.

"What's the conclusion, Yuuka?" Rhodes held the steering wheel, his eyes fixed on the road ahead.

"If nothing unexpected happens, at our current speed, we'll reach this small town called Rio in 1 hour and 22 minutes, and then it will take about the same amount of time to reach the town we're scheduled to visit tonight. We'll be able to catch up."

If there are no accidents...

Yuka shook her hair and turned her head to look at the dark clouds rolling in the distance. The sound of the rising wind came faintly through the car window and body, casting an equally dark shadow over her heart.

Seeing this, the girl sighed slightly:

"It always feels like we encounter otherworldly events during bad weather."

"Maybe it's because when the weather's nice, the cultists wash and dry their clothes at home," Rhodes joked. "Look at their robes. It's probably not very convenient to wash them, and neither are they easy to dry. It would be even worse if they didn't have a washing machine at home. Even the Joker had to go to Wayne Supermarket to buy groceries after fighting Batman."

"washing machine……"

Hearing Rod's words, Marian suddenly stood up and opened the car washing machine hidden by the cabinet door. After careful calculation, she said to Noah who came over:

"It seems this washing machine can't wash all of our clothes at once."

“I can only wash it again and again.”

"If we wash too much, there won't be enough water in the tank," Little Red Riding Hood reminded Abigail. Abigail was reading in her arms, her little head resting on the smooth, white cushions. As the RV trembled slightly as it moved, she looked like she was about to fall asleep. "I wonder if there's a water purifier here that could help us purify rainwater or snowwater or something like that."

Rod listened to the girls' conversation, a smile spreading across his lips. Although he couldn't remember how he learned to drive a truck, it didn't stop him from steering steadily, following Gomez's classic car at a suitable distance.

After driving for nearly an hour, Rhodes could vaguely see the town at the end of the road. The RV was now entering the range of human activities. In addition to the unchanging woods and snow on both sides, some scattered buildings finally appeared.

Barns covered in snow to the point of being unrecognizable, broken wooden fences, houses that no one knew where to live, or something else, all helped to soothe Rhodes's mood. Although this place was not deserted, the journey between towns was still a bit boring, especially in this kind of weather.

"Hmm... we're going faster than expected," Yuuka said, looking at the town just ahead. She then frowned, "Why is there such a thick layer of snow in and out of town? There wasn't much snow on the way here."

"Maybe no one cleaned up—"

The RV tilted suddenly. Rod quickly steadied the steering wheel and slowed down. It seemed that there was a problem with the tires, which were now making a rattling sound on both sides.

"Oh shit, there's something under that snow. I guess Gomez didn't get hurt because his car was too light."

Rhodes saw a long, wide, flat-roofed building ahead, so he slowly drove the RV towards it. At the same time, he picked up the intercom and said to Gomez in the car ahead:

"Director Gomez, there's a problem with the RV's tire. It looks like we need to wait here for a while while it's repaired."

"Ah, yes, I've seen it," Gomez, who was in the car ahead, leaned his head out of the window, waving his intercom and then putting it to his lips as he spoke to Rod. "One of your front tires has gone soft, and the rear... the rear tire seems to have a problem too. It looks like it was punctured by a nail or something."

"I'll find a place to stop first."

Rod didn't say much. He parked the RV next to the flat-roofed building he had just seen. On the building was a slightly old-looking billboard with a weasel cartoon character. A little below the sign was the words "Willy's Wonderland."

A man in a thick leather jacket was locking the gate of the place, but when he saw the black classic car and the RV, he stopped, touched the white cowboy hat on his head, and smiled with relief.

"Hey!" the man called out. "How can I help you?"

"I have a flat tire and need to change one or more," Rod said, opening the car door and getting out. "I'm sure the spare tires I have aren't enough. Is there a repair shop or towing service here?"

"No, who would come out in this weather?" said Dex Mercado, the owner of this family entertainment center... or at least the one in charge on the surface. After briefly considering his words, Dex frowned and said pretentiously:

"The snow's coming, but the earliest the town will have snowplows to clear the snow is tomorrow at noon. By then, there'll probably be towing service. Unless one of you is in danger of death—but for God's sake, there are a lot of cars stuck in the snow these days. But this is definitely an opportunity."

Hearing this, Rhodes raised his eyebrows slightly.

Boss Dex didn't notice the expression on Rhodes' face, but continued to speak:

"If you give me $200, you can stay here during the snow. It has water, electricity, and a heater. There should be repair tools in the warehouse. Even if you don't have a trailer, you can still get to town. How about it?"

"No..." Looking at Gomez who was walking towards him, Rhodes was about to refuse, but the system popped up a message prompt:

[Side Quest: Twelve Trials: Willy's Amusement Park]

[Mission Description: There is an abandoned family entertainment center on the road to New Jersey. Spend a night there, solve the otherworldly events and find clue fragments.]

"Okay, very good, that's it," Rhode immediately changed his tone and agreed. After recalling some fragmented memories, he smiled more sincerely, which made the boss opposite, Dex, a little confused, but he was still happy to complete the task. Then, this man with ulterior motives opened his arms and introduced Rhode:

"Welcome to Willy's Playground!"

Chapter 39: At Dusk (1/2)

"So, we can only stay here until the next day, and the entire travel plan has to be postponed."

Gomez rolled up his sleeves and squatted beside Rod, who was removing the tire, while his brother Fester pressed hard on the long handle of the jack.

"Mierda!" Gomez cursed, causing Fester, who was standing next to him, to snort loudly, causing the light snow that had already begun to fall to turn and drift away. "We really should get better tires on this RV."

"Actually, it's still possible to keep moving forward. After all, we have more than four tires. We can always reach the town by running slowly."

With the sound of clattering and the car body rising continuously, Rod placed the loose nut in Gomez's hand, removed the damaged tire, and then slowly said:

"Look at the puncture marks on the tires. They're professional roadblock spikes. Not only was the snow outside the town not cleared, but someone even piled up a lot more of it."

As the cold wind began to blow, Gomez stood up and looked at the rather old-looking family entertainment center next to him. The Weasel Willy's sign standing on it was covered with a thin layer of gray snow, which looked particularly eerie under the dark clouds.

"What are we going to get into, Rod?"

"The otherworldly incident, probably another cult sacrifice or something like that," Rod replied in a relaxed tone. He rolled the spare tire out from the back of the RV. "It's not something to worry about. If we encounter it, we'll just deal with it. Speaking of which, Gomez—what do you two want to eat tonight? I remember there's some meat and vegetables in the refrigerator in the RV, and I think there's even corn."

Gomez: "...Isn't this a bit fast?"

"Is that fast? At least we had breakfast. Director Carter didn't."

"I suddenly understand Carter's feelings," Gomez sighed, but then he became excited and ran to the classic car excitedly, "I'll go get the gun from the car."

Rod smiled. After finishing his last job with Fester, he gathered a ball of snow from the ground to wash his hands. He watched Gomez flick the snow off his brother and then shove a black golf bag into his hands.

The clouds in the distance were even lower than they were half an hour ago, and the approach of dusk made the sky and the earth unusually dim. The cold wind blew fine snowflakes onto the faces of the three people who were walking into the building, and then penetrated through the gaps in their clothes, wantonly taking away the warmth inside.

There is a row of horizontal windows on the upper part of the exterior wall of the family entertainment center. Bright lights shine out from them. Combined with the street lights on both sides of the road that sometimes light up and sometimes don't, it actually gives people a false sense of security.

"Has the Foundation rarely encountered otherworldly incidents?" Rhode opened the door, and a scorching heat rushed in, but was quickly dispelled by the incoming coolness. "I think given the Foundation's research progress and the power of Atlas Corporation, these incidents should be quite frequent."

"We can only investigate after the event, or try to trace it back based on newspaper reports. Of course, we can also dig up valuable information from various ancient books. This is what the Foundation's Director Panoptos XVI is doing. He is Greek and runs a magnificent library in Athens."

After a pause, and thanking Noah for bringing hot wet towels to the three of them, Gomez added:

"After our last meeting, we quickly reviewed all the otherworldly incidents we've discovered over the past five years, including homicides that were deemed possibly influenced by the otherworld... As Irons said, 'the tide is rising.' The number of incidents and casualties is increasing year by year, and the otherworldly artifacts we've discovered are becoming more dangerous."

"There's more than just what we found, right?" Rhode said, pulling out a chair for himself and sitting down. "Could it be that the recovered otherworldly creations never ran into any more trouble? No need to explain, I've seen your expression."

After stretching, Rhodes waited idly for dinner, or - an attack, just like the eight dolls in the hall suddenly moving - they overturned the tables and chairs blocking the way, rushed to Rhodes in the flashing lights and exploding ribbons, to tear off his arms, crush his bones, and devour his soul!

Rhodes is very much looking forward to it.

In the original movie of the same name, the family entertainment center called "Willy's Fun Park" was originally owned by Willy, a perverted serial killer. In addition to killing people, he trained his employees to become murderers like himself... However, before the police arrested them, they had already entered the dolls through a sacrificial ceremony in order to continue killing, and even went to the small town to carry out the massacre.

Eventually, the town's sheriff, the auto repair shop owner, and the owner of the family entertainment center who had already bought the place negotiated with Willy to attract outsiders to come here so that they could satisfy their killing urges, which continues to this day.

Although they are brutally punished by a "Ghost Rider" in the movie, in terms of their performance, these dolls are more like feeding on fear. The more afraid you are, the stronger their power will be.

It was already 18 p.m. and it was completely dark outside, with only the whistling sound of the wind.

"Commander!" Little Red Riding Hood poked her head out from the kitchen. "Marianne made something simple on the stove. Where are you planning to eat?"

"Right here, in the hall."

Rod and Gomez, who were still in the hall, moved the unused tables and chairs out of the way, placed seats that would suit the number of people, and found a rag to wipe the tabletop. Soon, the girls, who had been busy in the kitchen for a while, brought out dinner.

Dinner was as simple as Little Red Riding Hood said, with only some potatoes boiled with salt, sausages fried in butter, eggs and bacon, but the food on the plate was drizzled with the tomato sauce that Marianne had prepared earlier and sprinkled with a little black pepper, and it tasted just as good.

"I have to say," Fester said, sniffing the meal in front of him intently. His dark circles curved like the corners of his mouth, a genuine smile on his face. "This is fantastic! I thought we'd just have to eat some cookies or something on the way."

"Yes, nothing can warm you up better in the cold winter than a hot meal," Gomez said with emotion. "It's a pity we didn't bring a bottle of Godello in the car."

"Sister Marian, I'd like to have a snack after dinner."

"Give me some more fried eggs."

"Give me some, too, please."

"Hmmmmmm..."

Brunette Nikki smiled at the compliments and requests, whispering responses to each one.

"Marian is always very serious," Rod praised. He cut half of the sausage with his knife, picked it up with his fork and shook it towards the eight dolls on the stage at the front of the hall, then ate it and chewed it carefully, making sure that his movements could be seen clearly by each doll.

Then, Rhodes looked at everyone and asked with a smile:

"Eight dolls, one for each of you. Which one do you want? Just so you know, I want Willy the Weasel."

Everyone looked at the puppets on the stage. They just stood there, as if they hadn't heard anything. The only light in the entire restaurant was on at the table where Rhode and the others were sitting. The puppets' area was completely dark, with only eight different figures faintly visible.

"So," Gomez stroked his beard and laughed, "these are the dolls?"

“These are the dolls.”

Rhodes nodded and smiled:

"We would start hunting them in the dead of night, like we were hunting rabbits, and they would cry and scream like little girls."

Chapter 40 Late at Night (2/2)

"Whoever kills the hunter in the chase will survive."

So, then, but now, Ozzy the Ostrich is running away in terror.

In a panic, it knocked over the wooden chairs that had been placed there. The sound of the chairs rolling and rubbing on the ground made the slow footsteps behind it pause, and then it quickly walked towards this place.

"twitter!!!"

The ostrich's eyes suddenly widened.

The lights were on in the family entertainment center late at night. Rod and Gomez were playing chess. He picked up the queen and placed it in the position that suited his taste.

Fester, who was still very energetic, was telling Abigail his past stories, but the latter seemed to have fallen asleep. She was now leaning on Yuka's plump thighs, her eyes opening and closing, and her breathing soon became long and regular.

Yuka leaned on Noah's shoulder, her beautiful eyes slightly opened, and Rhodes who was picking up the chess piece was reflected in her pupils, while Noah twirled Yuka's hair with his fingers without saying a word, wondering what he was thinking.

Little Red Riding Hood was lying on the table bored, with her side face pressed against the surface, blowing the small pieces of paper in front of her, trying to arrange them into a heart-shaped pattern.

A few minutes later, Marian slowly came over, dragging the body of Oz the ostrich toy. The black oil seeping from the broken limbs slid a dirty trail on the ground, which made Nikki frown. Looking around, Marian found a large black garbage bag and stuffed the thing into it, then picked up the mop and mopped the floor clean.