Gu zhan stared into the eyes of the female puppet and calmly said, “Alright.”
【He actually said "Alright"! What if this female puppet really wants to sleep in the same bed with him?】
【I can solve this problem! There's a male puppet on the left and a female puppet on the right!】
【...Thanks for the invitation, I’m suffocating.】
【One...one husband and one wife??】
【What nonsense are you talking about? That's his parents!】
After Gu Zhan agreed, the smile on the female puppet's face noticeably increased.
She said, “In that case, let’s get some rest. Come on, let’s go back to the room with Mom.”
Gu Zhan replied, “Can I wash up first?”
“Of course,” the female puppet said. “I’ll wait for you outside.”
Gu Zhan entered the bathroom alone, turned around to close the door, and after closing it, he saw the female puppet standing outside.
She seemed unwilling to leave and was intent on guarding the door.
【The puppets are already on high alert; in this situation, is there any way to escape?】
【Doesn’t he have a special ability? Maybe he could pass through the walls to leave the house?】
【I suggest you change your perspective; there’s no way to get away.】
When the players are split, individual live-streaming rooms appear, allowing viewers to choose different angles to watch.
Some angles reveal things that the players themselves cannot see.
For example, right now, they can switch the perspective to outside, where they see the male puppet, who hasn’t shown his face, now transformed into a nighttime figure. His neck slithers like a snake, encircling the entire house, extending through one window and entering through another.
With this 360-degree all-around surveillance, no matter where Gu Zhan tries to leave from, he will be immediately spotted by the male puppet.
No one knows why the male puppet is doing this; perhaps being discovered leads to death.
Fortunately, Gu Zhan doesn’t seem to have any intention of using his talent to escape. He is leisurely washing his hands in the bathroom.
After some time, the flow of water from the faucet suddenly stopped.
Suddenly, the lights in the room dimmed. In the darkness, Gu Zhan felt something brush against him.
He jerked his hand back.
“Hee hee…”
A woman's faint voice echoed in the room, making it impossible to discern its source. All around him, he could only hear the sound echoing, growing louder and multiplying from different angles, surrounding him.
“Hee hee…”
“Baby... are you ready yet?”
“Mama loves you, and Mama wants to be with you…”
“Hee hee…”
The woman's voice became increasingly unrestrained, and Gu Zhan suddenly felt a chill at the nape of his neck, as if something was pressing against him, blowing cold air on his neck.
He reached out to touch it but only found his hand damp.
At the same time, the turned-off faucet suddenly opened, and what flowed out was not water but a weak, boneless hand.
It draped over Gu Zhan's shoulder like a noodle, cold and whispering in his ear, “Baby, are you done washing up?”
Gu Zhan: “…”
He swiped at it, and the cold sensation brushed against his watch, dissipating into thin air.
The lights in the room remained off, and the faucet continued to run.
Gu Zhan hesitated for a moment, then reached out to turn off the faucet.
He expected to encounter something strange trying to pull at his hand, but it turned off smoothly.
He turned to the door to switch on the light but found the light was broken and wouldn't turn on.
Gu Zhan simply pushed the door open and stepped outside; the female puppet was still standing there. But compared to earlier, her expression... seemed a bit strange?
Upon closer inspection, there appeared to be a hint of fear in her eyes.
【What’s going on?】
【This NPC suddenly gave up on her own.】
【He must have used some item; I think I saw something just now.】
【But that doesn’t make sense; this NPC’s attitude is completely different from before!】
Gu Zhan took a step forward, and surprisingly, the female puppet stepped back. She crossed her arms over her chest, seemingly afraid of him approaching.
Gu Zhan asked, “Mom what’s wrong?”
“Nothing… nothing at all.” The female puppet cautiously observed him and noticed his hands were still wet, so she said, “Aren’t you… going to wash up?”
Gu Zhan replied, “The light in the bathroom is broken.”
“…” The female puppet paused and said, “Let me call your dad to fix it. I’ll go find him.”
After she finished speaking, she turned to leave, and after a moment, the male puppet came over.
He went to check the situation in the bathroom, and the atmosphere in the house seemed to return to calm... When Gu Zhan entered the bathroom earlier, he felt as if he were enveloped by something strange and uncomfortable.
But after his watch brushed against that cold wind, the feeling disappeared.
He touched the watch face; the mint green dial felt cool. It seemed that this watch had many functions beyond the system's descriptions, still waiting to be explored.
Soon, the male puppet fixed the light.
Gu Zhan took the initiative to ask, “Mom, do I still need to rest with you?”
“Rest… huh…” The female puppet appeared quite flustered.
At that moment, the male puppet asked, “What’s going on?”
Gu Zhan replied, “Mom said she wanted me to sleep in the room tonight.”
The male puppet scolded, “How can you do that? You’re already a big kid; you can’t sleep with your parents... Go back to your room and sleep early.”
His words helped Gu Zhan and the female puppet out of a tight spot.
The female puppet nodded repeatedly, “Yes, yes, rest early. Quickly go back to your room.”
This crisis was resolved effortlessly, and Gu Zhan finally returned to his room.
As the door closed behind him, he let out a sigh of relief and touched his watch again, unsure what this item truly was…
With things having come to this, he wasn’t planning to leave tomorrow.
Tonight, he would leave this place.
Since hanging up the phone with Yu Yezhou, the two puppets in the house had been very tense... On Yu Yezhou's side, it was probably the same situation.
They were both experienced in the scenario and must have sensed the danger even earlier, likely making the same decision as he did.
Tonight, they would probably meet up.
Gu Zhan lay on the bed for a while, and the outside quieted down.
As if by some unspoken agreement, he got up, but the puppet parents didn’t come to “check in.” Gu Zhan smoothly approached the window and opened it.
Outside, fog had somehow formed, obscuring the moonlight. The street was dark and silent, with no sounds at all.
Gu Zhan opened the window and climbed out. His room was on the first floor, so he landed on the ground smoothly.
Underfoot was soft grass, still damp with the late-night dew; everything felt so real… yet so surreal.
The moment Gu Zhan touched the ground, he sensed something sweep past him from behind. He quickly dodged, only to see a head emerging from the darkness.
The head’s eyes were tightly shut, its features familiar—it was his puppet father.
The neck that originally connected to the body had grown long… stretching out from the window.
Looking up, Gu Zhan discovered that the entire house was entwined with this “neck.”
It turned out he had been monitored like this during every unexpected event.
Gu Zhan didn’t have time to think; he turned and ran, and the neck seemed to be stirred, quickly chasing after him.
The further he ran, the more he realized that the houses in the entire town were like this, each surrounded by what appeared to be giant snakes… At the ends of those long necks were carved wooden heads.
Once Gu Zhan got close, those heads would be startled and rush toward him!
From all directions, countless heads surged toward him.
Before long, Gu Zhan found himself surrounded. He felt like a bird trapped in a cage, unable to escape.
【Getting caught at this moment would be disastrous.】
【He shouldn’t have come out at night; this town is most dangerous at midnight.】
【I also bet on him. If he dies, won’t my points be wasted?!】
【...To be honest, I also bet on him. If he dies, I’ll curse him in the game lobby for three days and three nights.】
【No one forced you; you chose to bet, so if you lose, don’t complain.】
【Exactly! Plus, he might not die!】
【Is that so? He’s in a desperate situation, and he might not die, but he sure is being stubborn about it.】
【If I were him, I’d run outside the residential area now. There might still be a chance. These monsters, though powerful, can’t leave their ‘home.’ As long as he gets out of the residential area, he’ll be fine.】
【Right! The school is outside the residential area. Didn’t they agree to meet at the school? As long as he gets there before being caught, he’ll be okay!】
Though they said that, the audience knew very well that in such a tightly woven trap, escaping to the school was not an easy task.
Every time a head lunged at Gu Zhan, he managed to dodge just in time. However, the heads could make countless mistakes, but Gu Zhan could not afford to make even one.
One misstep, and he would be caught.
The distance to the school was still far, and taking that route wouldn’t work.
No way.
Gu Zhan’s mind shifted, and he ran toward the densely populated residential area.
【What is he doing? Is he crazy?】
【The most dangerous place is the safest place?】
【??? What’s going on? These monsters aren’t blind. On the contrary, their senses are very sharp. They can feel his presence even if they can’t see him… What’s he going back for? Isn’t that just walking into a trap?!】
【Wait, what’s he doing?】
They saw Gu Zhan enter the residential area and start using the walls to move rapidly between houses.
Each time he moved, it was not a long distance, just from one house to another.
All the heads and necks entwined around the houses were startled. At least two deformed puppets emerged from one of the houses. They were furious that someone dared to dart around under their noses, and their pursuit of Gu Zhan became more intense.
However, Gu Zhan’s movements were erratic; he might enter through a window or exit through a door.
As the heads and necks chased him, they suddenly realized that their bodies were entangled with each other, and without realizing it, they twisted together like a tangled mess.
The female puppet from this house and the male puppet from another house got their necks tangled and couldn’t untangle themselves; they blocked the path of another puppet on the street…
Thus, the entire residential area was disturbed. The heads frantically searched for Gu Zhan, scattering the thick fog around them.
But there were too many of them, and their bodies were stuck in their own houses… As they tangled and struggled, they ended up entangled together.
Finally, Gu Zhan teleported to a place far from the residential area.
Looking back, he saw all the twisted monsters entangled together because of his actions.
…Good, at least this area is temporarily safe.
However, these monsters quickly reacted. They had two forms to begin with.
Many monsters retracted their long necks, and the twisted heads on the street became fewer and fewer… fewer and fewer… Instead, unusual sounds began to come from inside the houses.
He had to hurry.
Gu Zhan wasted no time and quickly ran toward the school.
The further he moved away from the residential area, the thinner the fog became, and the surroundings grew quieter.
By the time he reached the school entrance, it was eerily silent—so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.
How could it be so quiet outdoors? Even in the dead of night, people would still be moving about; this was a small town!
Unless this town… had no one in it at all!
He had lived in this place for so many days, and it turned out to be a completely deserted town!
Gu Zhan arrived at the back door of the school and, as expected, saw Xu Yu already there.
Leaning against the wall, Xu Yu straightened up when he spotted Gu Zhan. “You’re here.”
Gu Zhan was least familiar with this taciturn person. He nodded and asked, “Where’s Yu Yezhou?”
Xu Yu shook his head. Clearly, Yu Yezhou had not arrived yet.
With Yu Yezhou’s prophetic talent, Gu Zhan didn’t believe he hadn’t noticed anything wrong.
The fact that he hadn’t shown up yet meant he must have encountered some trouble.
Gu Zhan quickly made a decision: “Let’s go back and find him.”
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