Chapter 2685: Carnival Event

Those weren’t ordinary materials, but props with extremely strong flexibility. A large amount of hair hung down, and without timely interception by the defensive barrier, it would easily entrap people. Although Xu Huo used the defensive device immediately, he and Qi Cong were still caught amidst the hair, with the defensive barrier ironically becoming a box that closed them in.

These strands of hair didn’t merely trap them; they dragged them towards the depths of the game tent.

"Let’s fight our way out!" Qi Cong said, "There can’t be anything good inside the tent!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the two were tossed high into the air, caught again mid-flight, and spun around like a gyro, with cheers erupting from all around.

When the hair gradually withdrew, they had already been relocated from the tent entrance to a fairly large performance arena—though from the outside, this game tent didn’t seem that large, this performance venue was several times bigger than the tent, obviously placing them inside a location prop.

And now, what trapped them wasn’t the spatial barrier generated by the defensive device, but the transparent hand of a giant split-mouthed puppet that was idly playing with them!

"Space barri..." Qi Cong couldn’t even speak properly. Even as a Rank-C player, although he didn’t possess a super-strong space perception ability, he wouldn’t be completely insensitive to his surroundings. Though he and Xu Huo were held in the puppet’s hand, the split-mouthed puppet wasn’t actually that big; its hand was individually enlarged. But the eyeball that came close was obviously already larger than the puppet itself. If just one eyeball was as big as an adult, how massive could its body be?!

*

(Wait for modification) As they spoke, a row of spinning carousels suddenly appeared on the street ahead. Instead of rotating around a central axis like normal amusement rides, they galloped along the street like real horses, occasionally sucking up puppet people. Once seated, no matter how much the puppet people struggled, they couldn’t get down and had to be carried away by the horses to the next amusement ground.

Xu Huo and his companion sidestepped to avoid them, but unexpectedly a pile of mutant snakes emerged beneath their feet. Controlled by the music, these mutant snakes wrapped around their legs, lifted them, and rhythmically transported them twenty meters away to an acrobatic performance arena.

Before they could get closer, the curtain at the circus venue was pulled aside in advance. Two smiling dolls stood at the doorway, gleefully urging them forward, while inside, several puppet people were being tossed around by half-meter-long iron hooks. If someone slipped off, below awaited a pack of ravenous mutated beasts with bloodshot eyes.

The puppet people screamed desperately, even as the iron hooks pierced their bodies, trying whatever they could to cling on. But within moments, they either became food or turned into a pile of rubble.

The host shouted that new performers were about to take the stage, and the audience’s heads collectively turned toward the entrance—Xu Huo, along with those snakes, was pulled into the mental portal. After several transfers, he managed to get everything off his body and looked back at Qi Cong, who was pale, with lips turning purple and eyeballs darting frantically.

Xu Huo drew out an antitoxin and administered it to him, bewilderedly asking, "Why did you get bitten again?"

"I’d like to know that too," Qi Cong said tearfully, "Those things seize every opportunity; you barely get a breath. Even the defensive device can’t be perpetually on, how could I run if it was?"

That was true. Although those dungeon props weren’t directly pursuing him, their density was so high that there seemed to be a performance at every place he switched to. It was difficult to distinguish which of them were dungeon mini bosses, and both the puppet and the puppet people were overall stronger than during the day. With continuous dense attacks, even Xu Huo, who had a physique superior to most players, struggled despite the use of devices and psychic power, not to mention a Rank-C player.

"Are we supposed to keep running until dawn?" Qi Cong said despairingly, "How many mini-bosses are there in this place?"

Dai He and the Girl in the painting had already completely split up from them. Now they were beyond Xu Huo’s perception range, and in a situation where you could step into a trap within a couple of steps, searching for them one by one wasn’t easy.

Scanning around, Xu Huo snatched a bunch of balloons from a puppet person’s hand, painted sunflowers with the number 2.0 on them, and hung them on Qi Cong, stretching his limbs before saying, "Let’s run!"

What else could Qi Cong do but follow and run.

As the two ran across the rooftops, glider-like daredevil flying cars appeared. After leaping from the flying car, they commandeered a tour bus, kicked off all the puppet people with some effort, but then the steering wheel jammed, leading them straight into the Magic Mirror Space.

Inside the Magic Mirror Space, there were distorting mirrors everywhere—from all sides, above, and below, they saw their twisted reflections. It was dizzying, and the "people" inside the mirrors actually came alive to pull them in!

They blasted a path with a few bombs to escape. Before they could reattach the balloons, an invisible person suddenly pounced halfway through, clinging directly onto Xu Huo!

The excessive weight forced Xu Huo to bend over, slowing their pace. Swapping slices with the black blade and psyche force materialization, the invisible person behind him showed no reaction, as if sharp tools couldn’t hurt him at all!

Qi Cong also realized something was wrong. He circled to the back and grabbed the person’s shoulder, trying to yank him off, but the invisible person was like he was glued to Xu Huo, completely immovable.

"Set it on fire!" Xu Huo shouted, charging toward a torch not far away, with the invisible man on his back.

Qi Cong hurriedly tore off decorative drapes and tossed them toward the torch, and as the fire blazed, Xu Huo used materialized items and the defensive barrier to shield himself before leaping in. During the roll, he felt the arms around his neck loosen a bit, and he promptly controlled the black blade to insert it into the back of his head and cut upward!

The weight on his body finally lifted. He didn’t dare delay, taking Qi Cong to continuously escape in a direction away from the castle, but after several transfers he suddenly realized that Circus City’s night mode also restricted space. Going castle-bound earlier had been smooth, but trying to run afar now only resulted in circling the same area!

The number of puppet people around them increased. Worried about being targeted by dungeon props, Xu Huo couldn’t stop and had to keep maneuvering through the city.

Suddenly, a bell chimed from within the city, emitting bursts of fireworks around the castle. Under the dazzling lights, the puppet people eagerly looked toward a certain direction in the city. Accompanied by music and noise, a carnival parade slowly approached from afar.

With extravagant costumes, opulent carriages, and all sorts of puppet people extravagantly dressed as they played their roles, they moved with the procession, interacting with tourists on either side of the street. At times, they would even pull tourists into the parade to dance together.