A Young Woman's Heart

"Actually, I am a ghost!" Ye Wen said, suddenly tearing off the face mask as if she were peeling off her skin.

"Eeya ah!!!"

"Okay, okay, I was just kidding. Go to the bathroom now, I'll take you home."

Wang Jiale nodded, her face pale: "You, are you really... Awen?"

"Of course!" Ye Wen was amused by her exasperation.

……

Chapter 253 The Dragon Palace! (Part 1)

(One)

Mornings in group accommodations are destined to be busy.

Although there is only one grade, the seven classes add up to more than 200 people, and three public restrooms are simply not enough.

Especially during peak hours when students get up, which is about half an hour before departure, it is even more crowded.

The congestion at the entrance of the girls' restroom was the most severe, with not even enough sinks available. Many girls had to wash their faces three times, and the line behind them stretched almost downstairs.

Luckily, Mo Xueyao has a habit of waking up early, otherwise she would definitely be anxiously waiting in the line right now.

Right now, she's downstairs, leisurely eating her breakfast of fried dumplings in the small parking square.

She just held the bag to her mouth and ate one fried dumpling at a time, so her hands and lips were covered in oil. Li Wanyan looked much cleaner than her—she ate with disposable chopsticks.

Everyone had disposable chopsticks available, but Mo Xueyao simply didn't want the hassle.

"Phew, I'm down, I'm down..." Hua Yinyin patted her chest and breathed a sigh of relief. "There were too many people, it was so troublesome. I just rinsed my face with water, I was too lazy to wash it."

"That'll teach you to get up earlier." Mo Xueyao glanced at her sideways. "Awen is handing out breakfast. Go get it yourself."

"Are they pan-fried dumplings today?" Hua Yinyin leaned over for a look. "They smell so good!"

"There's also a bag of soy milk—where are Lele and the others?"

Where are Lele and the others?

"Lele is still washing her face with face wash, it'll probably take another half day." Hua Yinyin opened her mouth with an "ah," and Mo Xueyao, as usual, stuffed a fried dumpling into her mouth. The latter puffed out her cheeks, chewing while showing an expression of enjoyment.

"If you want to eat it, just go get it from Wen..."

She nodded vigorously, ignoring the fried dumplings still in her mouth, and ran towards Ye Wen, who was distributing breakfast.

……

(two)

This time, the bus didn't head towards the city; instead, it headed towards another suburban area.

Along the way, there were only lush green mountains and winding rivers, and hardly any buildings. Even if there were, they were just things like power towers or signal towers.

This time, the journey wasn't too long; it took about half an hour for everyone to reach their destination.

As if transported from a wild wasteland to a bustling metropolis, the bus had just stopped in front of the spacious parking lot when the doors opened, and the noisy, bustling sounds immediately filled the room.

Perhaps because of the May Day holiday, there are an unusually large number of tourists here.

The tour bus only occupied a corner of this huge parking lot. Besides that, you could also see tour buses from other companies, as well as all kinds of private cars.

As soon as Mo Xueyao got out of the car, she saw a dark blue sports car parked across the street. Judging from its appearance, it was probably quite expensive.

Moreover, there are countless Mercedes-Benz and BMW models of all kinds.

It turns out that there are so many wealthy people in this newly opened land of China.

She couldn't find a single van; the most common one seemed to be a Santana.

"Class 2 of Senior 3! Gather here and don't wander off. We're going to the Dragon Palace with Class 1 first!" Ye Wen, carried on Qiu Yi's back, kept shouting through a megaphone, trying to bring back the students who had wandered off to other places out of curiosity.

In situations like this, the uniform school uniform comes in handy. Even if someone doesn't hear it, if they see someone wearing the Yukong High School uniform walking away, the teachers will quickly go over and call them back.

"What's the underground dragon palace like?" Wang Jiale was already looking forward to it. "Are we going to play underwater?"

"It's just a space like a basement, I guess." Mo Xueyao wasn't that excited; she actually thought the ground-level park area was particularly beautiful and wanted to go in and explore.

There seem to be a few exceptionally tall trees there, each about ten meters high, though I don't know if that's true or not.

……

(three)

The students from Class 1 and Class 2 lined up behind the tourists and walked in in an orderly fashion.

The tickets were all group tickets provided by Yukong High School, but the price was still not cheap.

"One, two, three, four..." The ticket inspector took the group tickets handed out by Ye Wen, turned around and counted the number of students in each class one by one. After confirming that there were no more than the limit, she nodded and allowed them to enter.

Several staff members at the entrance hurriedly began distributing makeshift disposable raincoats.

The size wasn't large; it might be just right for Mo Xueyao, but for someone as tall as Li Hongran, it would probably only cover half her body.

Fortunately, at least these raincoats still have hoods.

The students, dressed in raincoats, were seated on a track car painted with colorful patterns, somewhat like the little train in the Children's Palace, but with many more carriages.

A train can seat about a hundred people at once, and some tourists as well as students from Class 1 and Class 2 all squeezed in.

"While the dragon boat is in motion, please do not unfasten your seatbelts, do not lean out of the carriage, and do not grab onto any protruding objects. Please pay attention to safety..."

After the staff repeated it three times over the loudspeaker, the countdown began.

Mo Xueyao sat in the middle, with Wang Jiale on her left and Mo Zhuyou on her right. Behind her were Li Wanyan, Hua Yinyin, and Mo Xiaoxiao. As for Cha Li, she went to sit next to Mr. Xue.

"Hasn't it started yet?" Wang Jiale looked up, glancing around.

"Gurgle-gurgle—" Just then, the long track car started moving, and the locomotive led the train toward the bottomless cave.

"Ah!" Mo Zhuyou gripped the seatbelt tightly in a panic and leaned half of her body against Mo Xueyao.

"Don't be scared... At most, they'll just put out some lights and then a few huge monsters will come out to scare people." Mo Xueyao curled her lips, not taking it seriously.

As the train started moving, melodious music filled the air, somewhat reminiscent of music from Journey to the West. Although we hadn't seen anything yet, we already felt as if we were dancing gracefully in a heavenly palace.

Upon entering the cave, it was pitch black at first, winding and twisting, and even the light at the entrance could not be seen.

Then, the surroundings finally began to brighten slowly.

Fog filled the space beneath the train, obscuring the tracks, as if leading into a celestial abode.

The walls of the passageway are covered with colorful paintings, which are somewhat similar in style to those seen on television from the Tang Dynasty and Dunhuang murals.

There are not only paintings, but also various moving models and sculptures.

A woman dressed in fine silk and satin was gently stroking a ruan (a type of Chinese lute) standing nearby, while another woman was plucking the strings of a pipa (another type of Chinese lute).

Of course, these are not real people, so it's just the arms moving up and down mechanically.

Mo Xueyao watched intently, pondering whether the mechanical principles here were similar to those of a carousel...

The melodious and beautiful music made the underground dragon palace, even with its dim lighting, not seem gloomy at all.

"It doesn't seem to be the horror type at all." Wang Jiale swayed gently, lost in the beautiful music.

The railcar descended and arrived at a large, hall-like place.

The dragon king, with a beard, sat on the high throne, and the music played in perfect harmony, accompanied by extremely boisterous laughter.

"Hahaha--"

The puppets here are obviously more sophisticated, capable of performing two or three different actions, and can even dance gracefully in the hall using the turntable below.

"Welcome to the Dragon Palace! Please sit down! Serve, bring fine wine and delicacies!" The Dragon King even raised his hand and waved it forcefully. The Turtle Prime Minister next to him opened his mouth and spat out a jet of water, which fell with a 'splash' just before it touched the track car.

The humidity here is even higher, and there are all sorts of ingenious hidden mechanisms spraying water everywhere. The beautiful women are actually serving up dishes and wine.

The music began with the melodious voices of the maids: "Fine wine and delicacies are here!"

Although everyone knew it was fake, each dish was made so lifelike that it looked exceptionally realistic in the dimly lit environment.

It felt like being invited by the Dragon King to the underwater palace to enjoy a grand feast specially prepared for tourists.

"It's so beautiful! Just like the Dragon Palace on TV—even more beautiful!" Mo Zhuyou gripped the edge of the train, her body already leaning out a little.

"Indeed."

As they were talking, the passenger in front suddenly exclaimed, but there was no fear in his voice, but rather a hint of surprise.

Mo Xueyao couldn't help but look up and saw a five-clawed white dragon flying down from the ceiling. It was more exquisitely made than any of the facilities here, and there was no trace of human intervention. It looked just like the real thing.

Every movement was extremely fluid, and she flew up and down without repeating any of her movements. Her eyes even had a lively gleam, and she would playfully blink.

"Little White Dragon! Show our distinguished guests what you can do!" the Dragon King's voice rang out.

You can see the little white dragon flying overhead, sometimes going up and sometimes down, spitting out clear water, which even has a very realistic salty smell of seawater.

The most outrageous thing was that the little white dragon even passed over the heads of the tourists, and some of the braver ones even raised their hands to try to touch it.

"Oh, I touched its fur! It's so soft!"

"I can feel the scales! They're so smooth and realistic!"

Unlike the other girls around her, Mo Xueyao was not romantic. She stared intently at the dragon's mouth, searching for the water gun inside.

Unfortunately, it opens and closes too quickly, so it has never been found.

And the little white dragon finally flew back to the cave entrance it had come from.

This left her somewhat disappointed.

But I can't help but marvel at the power of technology, and how much effort those staff members put in to make it so perfect.

Just then, the girls around him suddenly screamed.

Mo Xueyao came to her senses and found that the dazzling lights around her had suddenly dimmed considerably.

"Welcome...to the Dragon Palace!" The Dragon King's voice was no longer as warm and hospitable as before, but had become gloomy and terrifying. The voice was drawn out, which frightened Wang Jiale and Mo Zhuyou so much that they both hugged Mo Xueyao, who was sitting in the middle and had no reaction.

……