Chapter 188: I’m Punishing You by Making You Come Pick Me Up

The tricolor vests believed that with puppets guarding the hall, even if survivors were hiding inside, they could take them down instantly regardless.

So the moment they spotted the puppets standing guard in the lobby, they simply chose not to go in.

The scene outside remained chaotic, with a handful of survivors running frantically, surrounded and cut off at every turn.

"Honestly, who knows when this chaos is even going to end? How are we supposed to slip past them and make it back?"

While watching the chaos outside, Song Xizheng posed the question to his two companions.

Lin Yun scratched her head again. No, she genuinely couldn’t answer that. Even with Ghost Vine’s three weapons at her disposal, she couldn’t guarantee they’d make it back to the shelter safely.

To the tourists out there, Sang Biao and Tuan Tuan were simply walking meals. How could they slip out unnoticed?

That was absolutely, completely impossible.

The moment they stepped outside, wouldn’t those tourists come chasing after them? Not to mention the tricolor vests originally sent out to catch them.

Had the sky itself come crashing down already?

Song Zhenzhen let out a sigh; she couldn’t come up with a solution either.

After thinking it over for a moment, Song Zhenzhen decided to check in with Xiong Qi and George to see how things were going on their end.

She should have known better than to threaten them with her steamed buns earlier — otherwise she might have brought those two old grudge-holding buddies along to watch the puppet show too.

Song Zhenzhen: "Moshi moshi? Are you two doing all right over there?"

Xiong Qi: "This is bad. I’m being chased right now. Since you’re able to send messages, that must mean you’re perfectly safe at the moment. Come save me, or I’ll wring your throat the second we get back to the transit station."

Song Zhenzhen: "? Rebelling against the group leader now, are we? Well, seeing as you can still reply to messages, you seem plenty safe yourself. I hereby order you to open up the puppet theater and come pick me up!"

Xiong Qi: "I’m only this safe because I’m currently performing as a monkey somewhere along the roller coaster track."

Upon reading this, Song Zhenzhen fell into an eerie silence.

For some reason, an image popped into her head of a burly bear leaping up and down along the track, dodging attacks like some sort of monkey.

George: "? You’re that safe, huh? Well, as punishment, you’re coming to pick me up from the haunted house."

Song Zhenzhen: "???"

Song Zhenzhen: "Brother, has something happened to you? Ending up at the haunted house on the very last day — are you complaining that your porridge just isn’t thick enough these days?"

George: "Is it possible I got pushed in by the crowd? Forced straight into the haunted house against my will?"

Song Zhenzhen: "You really are unlucky. Best of luck, amen."

Xiong Qi: "You really are unlucky too. Best of luck, amen."

George: "..."

Song Zhenzhen sighed heavily. Those two were completely unreliable, as always. When it truly mattered, everyone would simply have to fend for themselves.

She reluctantly closed her panel and went back to monitoring the situation outside alongside Lin Yun and the others.

After watching for a good while longer, all three of them sighed in unison.

"Oh no, whatever are we supposed to do now?"

The baby-faced attendant scratched her head, glancing between the chaos outside and the three people beside her.

She turned and looked back at her puppets.

"How about... we try this instead?"

Lin Yun and the other two turned to look at her at once, startling the baby-faced attendant.

"...What I mean is, I’ll change clothes, pretend to make a run for it, and the three of you can blend in with my puppets and slip away together while everyone’s distracted."

"I’ll run a full lap around the amusement park as a distraction, and you three can find somewhere safe on your own, all right?"

Once she finished, the baby-faced attendant looked at them with bright, hopeful eyes, clearly convinced her plan was solid.

"Hiss... that’s not a bad idea, honestly, but what happens if they end up catching up to us too?" Song Xizheng rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

Lin Yun glanced once more at the tourists outside, who were attacking friend and foe alike without distinction. "That’s exactly the problem — those tourists out there..."

The tourists, unable to tell friend from foe, had indeed already made the baby-faced attendant’s point for her.

"Are the three of us just going to end up trapped here until we die?" Song Zhenzhen suddenly felt a wave of exhaustion wash over her.

After a moment’s thought, the baby-faced attendant got up and ran off toward the room where the puppets were made.

She’d suddenly remembered the tourists hated puppets on sight, and that fact might just hold the key to a solution.

As Sister Linglan had instructed, she needed to find some way to get the outsiders out safely. This amusement park had long since become a hell on earth, and it couldn’t be allowed to keep harming people this way.

The three of them had no idea where the baby-faced attendant had gone, so all they could do was keep watching the commotion outside.

Honestly, the tricolor vests really were formidable fighters — one punch, and just like that, a tourist would be gone entirely.

Oh, and those survivors out there looked pretty impressive too — look at that Gatling gun over there!

The Gatling gun let off a burst of sparks like fireworks.

This startled a number of unsuspecting tourists nearby, who assumed the survivor had pulled out some kind of weapon.

What a chaotic scene this had become! Completely different from how things had looked on their very first day here.

Everyone out there had gone mad — completely, thoroughly mad.

They couldn’t quite understand it either — how, after only a short while inside the puppet theater, everything outside had spiraled into such total chaos.

"Sister Lin, tell me honestly, what exactly did Linglan do out there? How could everyone just suddenly snap like this all at once?"

Song Xizheng tugged at Lin Yun’s sleeve, his voice thick with genuine confusion.

Lin Yun stayed quiet a moment, then finally said, "Honestly, I’m not entirely sure myself."

"But I have a feeling she might be a little mentally unstable right about now..."

After all, Linglan had wanted her to bring Tong Yin back to the shelter, so Tong Yin could travel back to the transit station alongside her.

Ha, as if anyone in their right mind would ever agree to something so risky.

Song Xizheng opened his mouth to say something, then thought better of it, unsure exactly what to say.

Song Zhenzhen had no idea who this Linglan person even was, so she simply crouched down and kept watching the scene outside.

Just then, a wooden puppet, apparently only recently fitted with limbs, limped over behind them and gave Song Xizheng a poke.

Song Xizheng scratched idly at his own back, having no idea it was the puppet poking him.

Puppet: ?

It poked him again.

Song Xizheng frowned. Why did his back suddenly feel so itchy? He’d definitely need a shower the moment he got home.

Sang Biao, who had climbed out of the backpack earlier to watch the spectacle unfold, finally couldn’t stand it and swatted at Lin Yun with one paw.

Prompted by Sang Biao’s gesture, Lin Yun turned around and finally spotted the puppet standing right behind them.

"?"

The moment the puppet realized someone had noticed it, it spun around and looked back at her, clearly wanting them to follow.

Song Xizheng finally caught on, and the three of them promptly fell into step behind the puppet.

Lin Yun complained it was moving far too slowly, so she simply grabbed it by the collar and marched forward herself, pausing every couple of steps to check with it, since she had no idea where it was leading them.

After struggling uselessly a couple of times, the puppet eventually gave up and started giving directions instead.

Before long, the three of them arrived at the room where the baby-faced attendant was waiting.

Hearing noise at the door, the baby-faced attendant called out at once, "Come in, quickly!"

Lin Yun casually set the puppet back down and stepped into the room along with the other two.

"Here, put these costumes on. They’re the ones we normally use for performances at the puppet theater. Then just smear some lubricant onto your joints and act the part convincingly. That ought to get us through this!"

The baby-faced attendant laid the clothes she’d just dug up in front of them, then went to the shelf to search for the lubricant used on the puppets’ joints.

In this amusement park, the lubricant used on the puppets carried a very distinctive smell — the instant it was applied, visitors would know right away that they were looking at a puppet.