Chapter 38.3
Xiao Tangqiu pushed Tang Mianmian through the door and headed for the window where the puppet was located. He could see that the owner of the antique shop liked the puppet very much because he had arranged the display window beautifully.
He carefully picked up the puppet. Tears rolled down the puppetâs face and fell onto his hands.
Its tears were cold and didnât have the warmth of human tears.
âAre you a puppet?â
Xiao Tangqiu tried to ask.
However, the puppet didnât speak like he imagined and its eyeb.a.l.l.s stopped moving. It seemed that it had lost all life and its l.u.s.ter had faded.
If it werenât for the tears, he wouldâve thought that everything he had just seen was just an illusion. But no matter how he much he spoke to the puppet, it made no more movement, as if it were just an ordinary puppet.
Just then, Shen Yuan suddenly said, âThe sun is setting.â
Before they entered this antique shop, the sun was still visible on the horizon, but after they came in, the setting sun had faded away. As the last ray of sunlight disappeared, it turned completely dark.
The temperature difference between day and night in this small town was also very large. When the sun went down, the temperature seemed to drop by more than ten degrees in an instant. Tang Mianmian s.h.i.+vered in the wind.
âThe sun has already set. Letâs hurry back in case we canât go back by midnightâ¦â
Xiao Tangqiu instantly understood what Shen Yuan meant and frowned slightly. âThe sun has setâ¦Could it be that this puppet canât move after the sun sets? Is that why it didnât respond to us?â
Tang Mianmian reacted to his conjecture at once, âBut when we first arrived, it was still broad daylight. At that time, we also pa.s.sed by this antique shop but the puppet didnât move either.â
The two men looked at each other one at the same time and suddenly cried out, âDusk!â
The puppet couldnât move during the day and at night, so there was only one possibility left â the puppet could only move in the period between day and night, which was at dusk!
Duan Hongzhen tilted his head and said, âThat does seem to make some sense. We can only wait until tomorrow evening to look at it again.â
Xiao Tangqiu carefully put the puppet back to its original position, but the puppet that was sitting properly inexplicably tilted and fell to one side.
Xiao Tangqiu froze for a second, then quickly bent down to pick it up, only to find that when the puppet had landed, it had somehow twisted its arm joints and was pointing at one of the tables right now.
He was acutely aware of what had happened in that instant and turned to walk towards that table. There were many antiquities and old items on the table; there was even a set of exquisite porcelain tableware. In the most inconspicuous corner, there was a small wooden jewelry box.
Xiao Tangqiu thought of Mariaâs jewelry box in an instant and quickly picked up the small wooden box and opened it. There were several letters inside just as he had expected!
He picked up one of the letters and suddenly found it was addressed to Veronika on the envelope, and the address of the letter was the town of Daemon!
Seeing that Xiao Tangqiu had discovered something important, the others immediately gather around him. Lu Siâer who was their translator looked at the letters while Tang Mianmian accompanied Xiao Tangqiu in turning out the other contents of the small wooden box.
In addition to the letters, there were several old photos inside, one of which was a photo of a little girl with her family in this antique shop.
âThis little girl is Lippin.o.bertâs third wife Veronika?â Tang Mianmian rubbed his chin thoughtfully. âIt looks like, not only is she from Daemon Town, sheâs also the owner of this antique shop!â
In the next few photos, the little girl had gradually grown up and finally became a graceful and elegant young woman who resembled Lily Marlene.
At the same time, Lu Siâer had also finished going through the letters. âThe contents are similar to the previous letters from Lippin.o.bert to Maria. Veronika saw his marriage proposal in the newspaper and wrote him a letter. She grew up in Daemon Town and had always been curious about the owner of the castleâ¦â
âLippin.o.bert sent her a letter and asked her to attach photos of herself. She sent all the photos from her childhood to adulthood to Lippin.o.bert and received his marriage proposal.â
The naive young lady married into the castle with curiosity and longing for its owner, but didnât know what was waiting for herâ¦
âWhatâs the relations.h.i.+p between this puppet and Veronika?â Xiao Tangqiu frowned slightly. He looked at the puppet he had just picked up and tried to discern the truth. However, no one could give him an answer and the puppet was remained motionless and unresponsive.
The gears in Tang Mianmianâs brain started to turn. âIs it Veronika?â
Xiao Tangqiu frowned slightly. âWhy would Lippin.o.bert make Veronica into a puppet and display it in the window of her own antique shop?â
In the midst of their discussion, the little boy suddenly screamed. Throughout this whole day, he had been extremely quiet and obedient. It wasnât clear if the child had finally understood his current situation or if there was any other reasons, but now he seemed to have resumed his naughty behavior of shouting, which gave Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian a fright.
âMonster! Monster!!!â
Soon, Xiao Tangqiu understood the reason why the little boy had screamed. It turns out that while they were preoccupied, the door of the antique shop had been blocked by the âresidentsâ of the small town. The people, who were still alive and kicking during the day, were looking into the antique shop at them with a stiff and dull expression. There were many âpeopleâ leaning against the window of the antique shop, staring at them through the gla.s.s windows with the same dreadful, lifeless eyes.
This was like a scene out of a zombie movie, but these âresidentsâ were obviously not zombies. Their appearance wasnât any different from that of the day. Aside from their stiff and sluggish expressions, the only difference was the additional joints between their wrists and hands, feet and ankles, etc â moving joints that were limited to puppets.
Xiao Tangqiu reacted at once. âThe residents of this small town become puppets after the sun goes down!â
Did the residents of the small town become puppets after the sun went down, or was it more accurate to say that these living puppets became residents of the small town during the day?
It was obviously not the right time or place to contemplate this matter now because right after the little boy screamed, some puppets immediately squeezed into the small antique shop and rushed at them angrily.
Soon, more and more puppets rushed in. They broke through the windows and knocked the goods in the store to the floor. They werenât at all like puppets that were played by children, but more like murderous zombies.
Xiao Tangqiu instinctively wanted to look around for weapons that he could use to protect himself. Duan Hongzhen had already taken out his flying scalpel from the get-go. However, before he could make any moves, Shen Yuan stopped him.
Shen Yuanâs voice sounded icy, âWait a minute, these puppets may also be included within the scope of puppets that cannot be damaged that Lippin.o.bert had said.â
Duan Hongzhen moodily fiddled with his flying scalpel. He raised an eyebrow and looked incredulous, âNever mind that those d.a.m.n puppets in the castle canât be destroyed, but even the puppets in this small town?â
The aloof woman added, âThese puppets are probably also made by Lippin.o.bert. As long as he made them, they should be within the scope of puppets that are not to be damaged.â
Duan Hongzhen wasnât a good-natured person, but after hearing what Shen Yuan and the aloof woman said, he obediently put down the flying scalpel, which surprised Xiao Tangqiu.
Was this one of the ârulesâ that players must follow? Did they have to continue to obey the ârulesâ even if they might end up dead?
Despite his doubts, it was obviously not a good time to ask these questions.
âSince we canât destroy it, then we can only run,â Duan Hongzhen shrugged. âBeing a gentleman, Iâll open up a path in the front. You better run as fast as you can. If you fall behind, I wonât stop to wait for you.â
This sentence was aimed at Xiao Tangqiu and the rookies. Before they could reply, Duan Hongzhen took the lead in rus.h.i.+ng towards the small door behind the antique shop. Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian looked at each other and took some objects that they could us to protect themselves. Although Shen Yuan said they couldnât damage the puppets, it was obviously not a big problem for them. Shen Yuan and his team had to be careful not to damage the puppets, but they had to be careful not to be injured by the puppet!
Fortunately, although the puppet army looked menacing, its attack ability wasnât as bad as it looked. At most, the puppets were only a little stronger than them. Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian used their bodies to block the puppetsâ attacks. They managed to forcefully rush their way out and soon returned to the street.
On returning to the street however, Xiao Tangqiuâs heart sank. The street was full of puppets, and there were some strange looking puppets in the distance. Their skin was rotten and they lacked eyeb.a.l.l.s and organs. Some only had bones left. The only thing similar they shared with the other puppets was that they had jointsâ¦
âf.u.c.king h.e.l.l! That psycho made puppets from the dead!â
Tang Mianmian muttered, trembling all over. Although this puppet army didnât have advanced fighting capabilities, such a large group of puppets gathered together⦠was simply unthinkable!
At the frontmost, Duan Hongzhen also waved his arms in defeat. âThere are too many of them. Itâll be a little difficult to escape without damaging them.â
Suddenly, from not far off, the deafening toll of the church bell sounded.
-It was the start of the hour.
Xiao Tangqiu suddenly had an idea. âLetâs go to the church! It seems like they didnât dare approach the church during the day!â
An army of puppets that resembled the undead suddenly surged towards them, making Xiao Tangqiu even more anxious. However, his temporary teammates obviously didnât agree with his suggestion. Duan Hongzhen raised his eyebrows. âThe church is in the center of the town. If we want to go, we have to turn back.â
âWeâre close to the exit of the small town. Thereâs no need for us to head to somewhere further,â said the aloof woman.
At that point, Shen Yuan said, âGo to the church.â
Xiao Tangqiu had blurted his suggestion out subconsciously. After he calmed down, he had also felt that it was a little unwise. To go to church, they had to retrace their steps, which was farther and farther away from the entrance of the small town⦠He hadnât expected Shen Yuan to agree.
Shen Yuan was obviously a well-respected captain. Under his command, everyone decisively obeyed and turned around to leave. No one expressed any dissatisfaction or raised any objections. Lu Siâer and the little boy naturally didnât dare to say anything either. They soon set foot on the road back to the church.
Although it was impossible to use physical force, Shen Yuan and his team were still able to cope with the puppet army. Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian, on the other hand, had some difficulty. They had taken the long wood pieces from the antique shop and waved them back and forth to drive away the army of puppets that were chasing them. They stumbled and struggled along the way, and almost fell behind several times.
By the time they had caught a glimpse of their âpromise landâ, their clothes were torn in several places, bodies a mess. Finally, when they stepped into the area of the church, something almost magical happened â the puppets didnât catch up to them. Just like creatures afraid of the light, they wandered outside the church for a while, then scattered off.
Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian immediately fell down to the floor, panting and out of breath. Duan Hongzhen looked at them and arched an eyebrow, âWhy are you two such weaklings?â
Xiao Tangqiu gave a bitter smile and was about to say something when Tang Mianmian suddenly cried out, âThe church⦠the church seems to have changed.â
They all looked up and sure enough, the church was completely different from what it had looked like earlier. Although the previous atmosphere of the church was solemn and strange, it was still the picture of a normal church. But right now, the church had completely transformed. There were charred traces of a fire everywhere, broken gla.s.s windows and damaged murals, as if it had been abandoned for many years, which gave off an eerie, terrifying vibe.