Mr. Green has been muttering something in the corner lately. When Gu Mian passes by him, he occasionally hears phrases like "Thank the Evil God" and "Praise the Evil God," as if he's about to become a devout believer of the Evil God.

He looks like he's ready to directly worship the Evil God.

When he's not praising the Evil God, he always wears that green hat and hovers around Gu Mian, frequently asking "Is the variety show starting soon?" "When can we go in?" "You haven't forgotten me, have you?"

According to Gu Mian's count, Mr. Green has asked him these "offhand" questions twenty-eight times in one day.

After some time of dealing with this, Gu Mian started to take a detour whenever he saw that green hat. Unable to stop Gu Mian, Mr. Green then went to "accidentally" bump into Chu Changge and 007.

Fortunately, those days of being harassed by Mr. Green didn't last long. One day, Old Xu from Carnival Wharf brought them some good news—the stage is already set up, and the variety show will start in about a week.

"It's time to enter Paradise World," Gu Mian said as he pulled Xiao Hong, who was clinging tightly to his neck, off his back.

Xiao Hong had received a strawberry necklace from Gu Mian, and she was extremely happy, showing her joy by tightly clinging to Gu Mian's neck these days.

After pulling for a while without success, Gu Mian decided to leave her be and turned to Chu Changge: "The transmission location to Paradise is uncertain. Considering luck, I might be sent far from the variety show's location and need some time to catch up."

He didn't want to reenact some classic plot—the show ends, Lu Yi is being executed, while Gu Mian is still on horseback rushing over.

"We'll enter Paradise tomorrow. Find an empty space when we go," so as not to involve unrelated people, although this city hardly has any living people left.

"You're going to Paradise!" Just as Gu Mian finished speaking, a green figure burst out from the wardrobe in the bedroom.

It was Mr. Green.

Gu Mian: "…"

Mr. Green realized Gu Mian was deliberately avoiding him, so he was afraid Gu Mian would sneak into Paradise World without him. Therefore, he had been secretly lurking within a five hundred meter range of Gu Mian.

A few nights ago, Gu Mian was sleeping soundly when he was suddenly awakened by a cry for help.

Upon opening his eyes, he saw a green hat drifting back and forth under the window sill. Just as Gu Mian wondered if this was a sign of the future, a few more cries for help sounded from outside the window.

He approached the window and found Mr. Green, grasping the window sill with both hands and struggling with his short legs, shouting for help.

No idea what he was doing there in the middle of the night.

Finally, it was Gu Mian who rescued him.

After being saved, Mr. Green, under Gu Mian's questioning, confessed the truth—he was afraid Gu Mian would enter Paradise World without him, so he wanted to climb outside the window to monitor him.

Unable to resist, he slipped and had to embarrassingly cry for help to be rescued.

Under Gu Mian's threat of force, Mr. Green promised not to do such sordid things in the future.

But apparently, Mr. Green's promise was just hot air, as today he rushed out from Gu Mian's wardrobe again, having no idea how long he'd been lurking in there.

Looking at the wide-open wardrobe door, Fatty suddenly realized: "Yesterday I helped the doctor put away clothes and saw something green at the bottom, and the doctor doesn't have clothes in that color. I thought nothing of it, just put the clothes away and left. Didn't expect Mr. Green was at the bottom."

Having had enough, Gu Mian kicked Mr. Green out the door, slamming it shut with a "bang."

Mr. Green's voice echoed in the hallway: "Don't forget to take me tomorrow!"

Early the next morning, when Gu Mian opened the door, he saw something green lying at the doorstep. Upon closer inspection, it was Mr. Green.

Mr. Green then jumped up with his high-top hat in hand, excitedly asking: "Are we setting off?"

Indeed, it was time to depart.

Poor Mr. Green, after wandering Earth for nearly a year, was finally able to return to the embrace of the game world.

However, he was headed to Paradise World, and with Mr. Green's looks, it was clear he'd be a lower-class person there.

Mr. Green didn't seem to care about this, so Gu Mian didn't ask further.

They arrived outside the gate of Lianhua Amusement Park at a marked spot.

This was a mark they had prepared earlier, with an open area within five hundred meters visible at a glance if anyone was around.

Except for some obstruction near the amusement park gate, Gu Mian made sure to circle the gate twice to confirm no one was around before returning to the marked spot.

Chu Changge, 007, and Mr. Green were already prepared, and the ritual mustache was stuck to Gu Mian's forehead.

"I'm going to start now."

Seeing Chu Changge and 007 nod in agreement, Gu Mian took out the Evil God's 108th key, paused for a moment, and then began reciting his lines: "Excellent, you've successfully incited my anger... The next era belongs to me!"

Embarrassment made Gu Mian speak quickly, making it almost impossible for others to hear his mumbling.

As soon as the humiliating lines ended, the surroundings began to distort.

Gu Mian watched the ground beneath him twist into a massive spiral, with several small spirals attached to it—those were the streetlights and benches along the road.

Chu Changge and 007's faces also twisted, turning into a blur as they spun and danced further away in the scene until they became two tiny dots.

Looking up at the sky, it too began to warp and morph, with the sun and clouds churning and swirling into abstract vortices, resembling Van Gogh's Starry Night.

Quickly, this abstract scene darkened, and the whole picture turned black. Then like a spring pressed to its limit, it suddenly rebounded, splashing out the compressed image.

A narrow, cramped alley filled with a stench appeared before Gu Mian.

This was Paradise World.

Tall structures piled up on both sides, leaving a narrow pathway in the middle.

Standing on the ground and looking up, only a sliver of blue sky was visible, with sunlight struggling to pass through the congested cracks overhead, shining onto Gu Mian.

Gu Mian didn't immediately inspect the surroundings as his attention was drawn to a massive city hanging upside down in the distant sky.

It was a sprawling, inverted Sky City.

The city was layered with dilapidated, cramped buildings, like a heap of soil chaotically excavated by ants at a cave entrance. The heap blocked and melded everywhere, almost covering the entire city, resembling a blot in the clear sky.

Yet the people inside were oblivious.

They moved through the crowded buildings with down-to-earth steps, all with genuine smiles on their faces. Some sat on missing parts of their home's doorstep, peeling beans while nodding their heads as if humming a tune, as though no one was happier than they were at that moment.