Chương 235: Many Long Shifts Coming

"Just how powerful is she…?" This question burned at Gilepre's lips as he explored the building he found himself in–Glown's Wonderland… It was a large, grandiose place for certain, a cross between a family restaurant, daycare, and playground. He hadn't been informed explicitly, but he supposed that the threats he would have to face in the following 'shifts' were the various entertainment automatons he ran into throughout the building. Right now, since the night was peaceful, they were inactive. …

He still couldn't help but feel a sense of dread emanating from them–It was important to note that he had no access to magic whatsoever, and even his painstakingly acquired natural physique had been dialled down somehow. Which wasn't too surprising, actually. This land of nightmares could give him back limbs that he had lost, so it was to be expected that it could take from him if it so desired. The captured agent climbed onto the main stage, taking a closer look at the incredibly life-like machines.

He had found a booklet near the entrance introducing each of the automaton characters in just a few words, talking about their role, what they did, and their personality. Apparently, amidst the main three, Gelbimi was supposed to be a short, energetic, and sweet airhead… She was easily two heads taller than Gilepre, and ever since he had managed to straighten his spine, he had not been a short man at all. This was certainly concerning.

These things look like they had skin, but they were complex machines with a heavy steel skeleton, without his magic, and only the strength of a regular man, he would stand no chance if one were to get to him. A single punch would probably be enough to kill him. Naturally, he tried to exit the building and was surprisingly allowed to do so, but this place was just a floating isle in an endless void.

He could spot other islands far away, but they didn't seem like oases in the least, and there was no way he could reach any of them. Who knows, perhaps having the ability to go outside would come in handy to hide. Regardless, following his tour of the establishment and meeting all thirteen of the clown gals, he returned to the office. This was apparently where he would be spending the majority of his shifts.

Now that he had lit up the place by simply using the switches, he could pull open the blinds of the window to get a full view of the dining hall and main stage.

"I have no idea what this window is good for, but I guess it is kind of useful?" The door to the right, when sat upon the chair, simply led to a hallway that connected many employee-only areas and other rooms. This was basically the main place of transit for employees to move around the establishment swiftly, without obstructing guests. Gilepre could go through all of these doors thanks to the badge on his uniform.

It had taken him way too long to notice, but his attire had been changed to that of a night watcher for this place. The clothes were rather colourful, probably to fit in with the clown aesthetic, but still retained a professional look. In fact, it looked like a military uniform, even coming with a cap.

The badge stuck to the left side of his chest acted as authentication, which allowed him to open employee-only doors and other restricted places by simply grabbing the handle and waiting a few seconds for the door to unlock. It was hard to believe that this was achieved via mechanistry and nothing else, but being ignorant of how mechanistry actually worked, Gilepre just shrugged it off. In any case, the door to his left inside the office actually led directly outside.

There was a staircase made entirely out of steel that could be taken to reach ground level from there. Some sort of emergency exit. At last, he took a seat and focused on the mechanical device in front of his eyes–The computer. He had only ever heard of such things once or twice and had never cared about them. As such, his first interaction with the item was more than just a little awkward. He randomly poked the screen for a few seconds before trying to keyboard.

"Oh…" Eventually, he found a button in the bottom right of the computer, and pressing it made the screen light up.

"Hello, new night watcher!" He was immediately met with a green clown who was moving around like the image on the screen was actually a three-dimensional space. She bounced around and spun before crossing her arms with an expression so smug that Gilepre already wanted to punch the computer.

"You don't seem like a very knowledgeable guy, new hire. Let me show you around!"

"Can you see all these icons on the left side of the screen? Many of them are important for your work. First and foremost… The C. S! Or in other words, the Camera System! It will be your main tool as a night watcher here at Glown's Wonderland. Certain keys on your keyboard can allow you to do more stuff while you are viewing the C. S, or you can use the box at the bottom right to type specific commands" The green clown girl mentioned all of this, but didn't actually mention any specifics at all.

She just moved on to the next thing, demonstrating that she had control over the computer, being capable of closing windows and opening new ones all on her own.

"Next is the VS–The Vent System, or Ventilation System, it's interchangeable. Same thing as with the CS, but here the basic function is to use the box to shut specific portions of the vents by typing their name and the command 'close', make sure to play around with it to find out all of the other nifty tricks you can pull with it!" You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. She went ahead and opened something else.

"The R. M, or Remote Maintenance! In the backrooms, there are several machines responsible for managing various aspects of the building, like electricity, the ventilation, and all that business! From your office, you can reboot, shut down, or activate emergency power sources–Most of them are given their own dedicated rooms, and you can see them on the cameras""Additionally, they all have doors that are powered by a generator separate from the one used for all other doors in the building.

Normally, they stay shut unless a mechanist needs to take a look at them. We wouldn't want an employee to stumble into an important room by accident and mess something up, would we?"

"Anyway, that's all I have to tell you. You can click on this icon right here if you want to ask me questions… Also, you click by using the mouse, that's the thing next to the keyboard" Gilepre felt like winning this nightmare was going to be a hassle. He needed to learn how to use this damned computer, and considering that this one apparently featured all shifts and ultimate terror, he felt like he would have to know this damned machine like the back of his hand if he wanted to stand a chance.

"It can't be this complicated…" He glanced at the icon for the clown girl, it was called 'Desktop Gal, Zlown'. He clicked on it and cleared his throat.

"Say… Zlown…" It felt very awkward to speak to something that only existed inside a machine.

"... What am I supposed to do, if say… One of the entertainment automatons comes stumbling into the office and, huh… Mistakes me for an intruder?" He had read in the booklet that they were advanced enough to handle security, so he framed the question in the most innocent way possible. He didn't know how much he could trust Zlown to give him proper answers. His enemies were apparently a bunch of clowns, and she was one as well. He doubted she would purely be an ally.

"What you are supposed to do depends on which automaton you are dealing with. You will learn more in your upcoming shifts" The window closed itself. It seemed like Gilepre was expecting to learn how to defend himself on the fly… The rest of this peaceful shift was spent experimenting by trying random things. He figured out a couple of things, but it was pretty obvious that there was much more to be discovered. Even with the extra time he was given, he couldn't figure much out.

Surprisingly, he wasn't immediately thrown in the next shift, and when he blinked, he instead found himself inside what looked like a small, cosy home that lacked windows for some reason. Mimicking many aspects of the real world, you experience tiredness and hunger here. Once a shift concludes, you will have the opportunity to rest and eat for the number of hours separating you from the next shift–Acting like a real cycle between home and work"That's… Nice, I suppose?"

He hadn't expected the trial to be so accommodating, and the fact that it was when the previous ones had been doing their best to make him as miserable as possible was worrying–Just how difficult was this going to get that it felt appropriate to give him genuine breaks? Gilepre was unaware of it, but this rest portion had been added for the sole purpose of exploiting the commonly understood concept of 'rules and conditions'.

By giving this privilege to those taking this particular pre-final trial, the nightmare creator was able to further worsen the difficulty elsewhere. The imprisoned agent was right to find it concerning. It was definitely bizarre how he could sleep inside a nightmare and actually wake feeling refreshed, or how eating imaginary food in an imaginary world could actually feel satiating.

"Is my real body being affected by this?" He could only know by escaping this nightmare. The first real shift began–At one point, he blinked and found himself standing just outside the emergency exit door of the office. Once you step inside, the shift will officially begin Gilepre would have asked what would happen if he didn't step inside, but he knew that it would just result in him wasting his own time. He pushed the door open and quickly sat at the desk, booting up the computer and checking the cameras.

A new system panel appeared in the corner of his vision, but this was grey. First shift. One threat. Gelbimi"Well, nice of you to tell me about this…" Not that he believed the system panels to be trustworthy, but it at least told him that the cheerleader crossed with a jester and a clown was going to be active tonight. Zlown peeked her head out of the side of the screen, waving at Gilepre to get his attention.

"Since this is your first shift, I'll be nice and tell you the two ways in which Gelbimi can currently attack""Currently?"

"She will either come to your right door or left door. That's it. You've found out that you could lock the right door with the press of a button previously, but it is useless against her. She is driven here by her curiosity. She'll just bang on the door to get in, and the door will open as it detects that an automaton is seemingly bumping into it""Leave the door open and pay attention to the camera.

When you deem that she is going to show up, stand up and go hide at the side of the door where she won't be able to see you. She'll only take a peek if not given a reason to believe that you are here""The same goes for the other door, but you can't forcefully lock this as easily as with the right, not that it would help. The same thing applies anyway–One difference, though, you'll have to move a bit if she comes through the emergency exit.

She will go back inside the building by traversing your office, so to make sure she doesn't notice you, you'll have to step forward and hide behind the side of the lockers, else she'll see you when she looks over her shoulder""That's all for now!" Zlown went away.

"Currently… For now… Might as well just go ahead and say that she'll start attacking in more ways further down the line, damn it…"

"Well, since she's supposedly the first to activate, she must be… Dear gods" Gilepre watched the camera that showed all of the dining area and the main stage. He watched as Gelbimi suddenly woke up, jumped off the stage with agility unbecoming of an automaton, and just ran off with long strides. …Gelbimi was fast.