Chapter 2696: Lights On in the Castle

"Stop thinking about it." Xu Huo listened to the commotion nearby; it seemed that due to the firecracker sounds, several doors opened and closed, and countless living props appeared.

The Suitcase Man is bloodthirsty; just looking at the puppets and skeletons in Circus City shows that there are a lot of props here. Moreover, he goes to the Game Government Base to loot. It was unexpected to gather so many living props, and the number here seems even greater than the Fish Banquet!

"Run!" A rush of footsteps approached them quickly, and Xu Huo grabbed Qi Cong, immediately opening the Mental Portal to escape. However, this time the speed of the living prop was too fast; almost as they passed through the portal, that living prop caught up, a pale arm piercing through the portal, grabbing Qi Cong’s neck!

"Hold on!" Yan Jiayu quickly turned sideways and punched the arm. At the same time, Xu Huo pulled Qi Cong into Mirror Space, using psychic power to let his body easily pass through.

With a set of combined attacks, Qi Cong managed to escape. But since the teleport distance of the Mental Portal wasn’t very far, in the next second after the portal closed, the living prop suddenly appeared in front of them!

It was a headless puppet—actually, a corpse with a modified body. Despite having no head, the elongated limbs with muscle contours indicated it once was a living person.

"It’s an alien!" Yan Jiayu shouted, "It’s too fast; we can’t outrun it. Hit it!"

Xu Huo threw an interrupter, but the puppet simply dodged quickly, its movements unaffected.

It seems the interrupter is ineffective!

"Bang!" Xu Huo’s vision suddenly blurred as the headless puppet charged forward. Its hands and feet simultaneously planted on Black Blade’s edges, its sharp nails gouging before him, causing the Black Blade to spin out of his grip.

Forced to step back, Xu Huo’s left eye was already bleeding when he looked up. Meanwhile, the puppet threw the Black Blade at Yan Jiayu!

"Snap!" The Black Blade embedded in the wall, quickly sinking into it.

Xu Huo glanced at the spot, manipulating Time Force to infinitely delay the wall’s movement, then swiftly stepped forward to catch the recoiling Yan Jiayu. He then extracted the Black Blade, spinning and slashing at the headless puppet!

The puppet plunged down from above, and the blow hit its chest and abdomen, but with the sound of metal clashing, it merely recoiled, leaving only a superficial wound showing the metal inside!

"Bang, bang, bang!" Yan Jiayu crossed past him to engage the puppet closely. After exchanging several blows, she immediately withdrew, "No use; it’s too hard. Even through the props, I’m shook to the bone!"

More living props began moving around them more frequently, so Xu Huo did not hesitate, quickly activating the time ray in the corridor. As the time rays resonated, the headless puppet suddenly froze in place!

Yan Jiayu turned back, grabbed Qi Cong, and ran.

However, as soon as the three turned the corridor, they encountered the Stilt Man, still invisible except for a stick thrust toward them!

Without hesitation, Xu Huo reversed direction and fixed it with Time Force.

Without using Time Force, the living props in the castle would quickly exhaust their energy, yet using Time Force would bring uncertain consequences.

So, while fleeing, he activated the communicator, playing the music recorded earlier in Section 001.

The cheerful music dispersed the sinister, ghostly atmosphere in the villa; though the living props continued to move, the pressure was pierced, emboldening those exposed to it.

"Ding ding dong, ding ding dong!" A rhythmic tapping sounded from not far away.

"It’s the Jiji Bird!" Yan Jiayu said, "That’s our agreed signal!"

The crocodile is dead, Xu Huo was captured by the Stilt Man, and the Jiji Bird, Peacock, and Dai He were left in place; they seem to be fine.

Just as they were about to meet them, the hallway lights suddenly came on.

Not just around them, all the lights in the castle lit up successively, objects reflecting dazzling light filling their vision, and as they adjusted, the sounds originally made by props vanished completely!

With the sound of closing doors echoing, the floor below began a repetitive lifeless marching...It was those puppets!

The initially still puppets all came to life!

The puppets began performing their programmed tasks, some cleaning, some patrolling, and others cooking food in the kitchen. Outside, automatic lawn mowers appeared on the lawns, tall puppets dedicated to trimming emerged around flower beds and trees.

Several cleaning puppets swept the staircase up to the second-floor hallway, leaving footprints from Xu Huo and others behind, not to mention the scattered water stains and broken props in the corridor.

"They’re coming up." Yan Jiayu whispered.

Although after the lights turned on, the suppression on Spiritual World wasn’t as strong as before, it merely relaxed a bit. Xu Huo could control only a small area, he slightly hesitated and said, "Let’s go upstairs first."

Descending would surely trip over a puppet, triggering alarms, with unimaginable consequences.

The three turned and went upstairs, originally planning to find a room to hide, but unexpectedly found Si Qi’s corpse as soon as they reached the fourth floor. Zhu Bo and Hongxi, who were supposed to be with him, were missing.

Si Qi’s death was unsightly, his body shriveled like it drained, if not for his unchanged clothing and accessories, it’d be hard to recognize him.

Xu Huo exchanged a glance with Yan Jiayu, deciding to cautiously move forward, considering that if the fourth floor was more dangerous than the third, the fifth could be no better.

Avoiding the corpse, they carefully circumvented it, just assuming nothing would happen when the dry corpse suddenly sat up. This shocked Qi Cong, who reflexively jumped backward and somehow slipped, crashing straight into the wall!

Behind him was a painting, and as he made contact, it immediately absorbed him; Xu Huo couldn’t catch him in time, only managing to see ripples forming on its surface, examining closer, he found Qi Cong standing in the painting’s lower right corner, alongside two others—the missing Zhu Bo and Hongxi.

"A group photo?" Yan Jiayu stared for two seconds, "The people are distorted; time passing will likely cause their deaths inside."

After speaking, she promptly removed the painting from the wall.

Xu Huo was initially stunned, and only when confirming she was unhurt did he calm down, saying, "Let’s find Li Chun and Da Mao first."