Chapter 2687: Jia Yu

(To be modified later) The moment Xu Huo landed, he quickly dealt with a few working Battle Dolls in the middle-station. He then looked at the kangaroo that had knocked him out, his expression serious: "Who are you?"

The kangaroo quickly made a swimming gesture, then picked up the damaged prop costume on the ground and threw it to him, signaling for him to put it on. It then walked to the wall, sat against it, pretending to be a doll in need of repair.

Without delay, Xu Huo put on the prop costume and hid inside too.

The Singer arrived quickly. The sound of high heels moved steadily from the door into the middle-station, passing by the destroyed Battle Dolls, then by the repair machines and boxes, finally reaching a pile of damaged dolls and puppet bodies.

"Tap, tap, tap!"

The high heels stopped, and a tangible pressure swept over every doll and puppet body. After a while, the footsteps resumed and gradually faded away.

Hidden among the piles of dolls, neither Xu Huo nor the kangaroo moved. They waited a few more minutes, only relaxing when the triangular barrier nearby disappeared.

After confirming the Singer was truly gone, Xu Huo took off the doll headgear and pulled the kangaroo out.

"Yan Jiayu?" He reached out to remove the kangaroo’s headgear, but the other party waved their hand. Then the kangaroo costume moved a bit, accompanied by a faint bloody smell, and Yan Jiayu’s voice sounded, "It’s me."

Reassured, Xu Huo said, "Is your prop costume stuck on you?"

Yan Jiayu shook their head: "I entered when the instance was opened once. As long as you’re wearing a prop costume when the instance opens, you can never take it off again. Over time, it naturally merges with the prop."

"However, I found that constantly tearing it off myself before fully merging with the prop not only delays the merging but also allows some degree of freedom."

"You must have noticed, the puppets in Circus City can only move according to fixed patterns. Except for some high-freedom important dungeon props, other puppets and dolls can’t say extra lines."

"How did you find this place?" she asked after pausing, "Before being put into the dungeon venue, I managed to leave a message for Qi Cong."

"He brought me here," Xu Huo said, "It just so happens I’m also here in Zone 039 doing a dungeon."

Yan Jiayu didn’t know where the dungeon was, so she quickly shared the information she had gathered during the time she was there.

First, the prop costume can only be used for emergencies, and should absolutely not be worn for long periods, as the Suitcase Man occasionally opens the instance. Once it opens with you in the costume, you’re stuck inside forever.

Secondly, the method for delaying merging with props doesn’t suit most players. Yan Jiayu had met some trapped players after coming in. She wanted to organize some manpower, but few could withstand tearing their skin off daily - their recovery abilities weren’t that strong. In the end, these people either unknowingly became props or died in weakness.

"But I did find a few companions; they are lurking in Circus City."

Xu Huo furrowed his brows, "If you can’t get rid of the prop costume, how will you get out?"

Since she hadn’t once removed the prop costume, it indicated it was very difficult.

"I know my body," Yan Jiayu said. "I’ve undergone Secondary Evolution. My constitution is stronger than average players. As long as we escape and prepare some Potion, it should work."

Hearing her confident tone, Xu Huo felt slightly relieved and turned to discuss the escape plan.

"The Suitcase Man shouldn’t be in the instance now. I haven’t figured out the patterns of the dungeon venue switches, so I plan to try my luck at the castle."

Yan Jiayu tore herself again before continuing, "It will be challenging; there’s a formidable miniboss at the castle. It seems like the Suitcase Man left it to guard the castle. My friends and I took turns trying, but we couldn’t even get through the door."

"The only one who succeeded was Da Mao, but once it entered, it never came out."

Da Mao is her prop, a Stone Lion with thinking ability, similar to the Girl in the painting.

"Da Mao is so obedient, I wonder if it’s being beaten inside."

Though inappropriate, Xu Huo thought it didn’t matter much if the Stone Lion got beaten, as long as it wasn’t completely shattered.

"Have you observed the Battle Dolls’ activity patterns?" he asked again, "Since the instance fell in 039, the Battle Dolls have been abducting players from the subdivision, and before I met Qi Cong, they’d already targeted me."

"That should be the Suitcase Man wanting to make new puppets," Yan Jiayu said. "Most puppet people in Circus City originally were people wearing prop costumes. They entered as complete humans."

"They aren’t essential. It’s quick to replace them, and quite a few players who entered were digested by the puppet people when the Suitcase Man wasn’t around."

"But near the castle, there is a mechanical workshop, and that’s probably where the Suitcase Man makes puppets. It contains many semi-finished products. Metal, wood, plastic, humans - all kinds of materials. Those Battle Dolls disguised as humans use real human skin."

"Players captured in Zone 039 might have already become puppet people."

"The puppet people in the dungeon venue can be upgraded."

Yan Jiayu briefly explained the upgrade model for puppet people.

Each puppet person has their activity area. After a new puppet person is born, puppet people in the same area have a chance to enter other areas. This is mostly related to the time they’ve been puppets and their abilities. The closer they get to the Suitcase Man’s castle, the stronger the overall strength of puppets and puppet people also increases.

After upgrading

*

A mark, the Girl in the painting confidently went in.

The field’s situation can’t be spied on from outside... but in less than two minutes, a deformed polar bear dashed out, holding its lopsided head, and behind it followed a string of performing mutated animals!

Don’t come over here!

The carnival troupe’s puppets have considerable attack power. When the Girl in the painting was chased out, those performing puppets also gained the ability to move autonomously, and they locked onto Xu Huo and the others!

The carnival troupe had several hundred performers. With them rushing out in a swarm, even the puppets in the street switched modes. A city-wide pursuit gradually unfolded!

As the crowd surged, no one cared for anyone else. Xu Huo, having just opened the Spiritual World, sharply felt a headache. From several hundred meters away, he noticed the Singer in the carnival troupe looking his way.

Watching her wave increased, the secant lines of Spatial Power in the air grew more, large sections of the streets were cut, and untold numbers of puppet people were torn apart.

He was deciding repeatedly whether to use Time Force when this targeted him. The Circus City instance wasn’t open. In this direction, heading towards the triangle seal’s edge at speed, gazing at the faint blue barrier in the sky, he tightly gripped the Black Blade with both hands and thrust upwards!

"Bang!"

When the Black Blade was barely half a meter from the barrier, a black shadow suddenly struck from the side, colliding heavily with him and dragging him into the middle-station tens of meters away!