"Script?"
Atu chuckled, "The script was sothing we all ca up with together, but Yanan contributed the most. He ca up with a lot of the scenes and is responsible for the main arrangents."
"However, he's difficult to get along with. He often argues with us about how to act and arrange the scenes. If we don't listen to him, he won't perform."
He then whispered, "He didn't co this ti, probably because he's sulking again."
Qin Nuo blinked and asked, "Will he co tomorrow?"
"I don't know. If he does, I'll just be a substitute actor again." Atu grabbed a tissue and blew his nose, but it was still red and runny afterward.
On stage, the leader and a few others were preparing to continue rehearsing, but when they checked the ti, they exclaid, "Oh, it's already this late? I have to go back."
"Let's call it a day for now. Everyone, co back on ti tomorrow to continue rehearsing, okay?"
The other little ghosts responded, indicating they had no issues.
Then, they each packed up the things on stage. Dafu tugged on Atu and said, "Go ask Yanan if he can co tomorrow. We can't do this play without him."
Clearly, no matter how well Atu perford, they still hoped Yanan would play that role.
"Oh, alright." Atu looked a bit downcast.
After everything was packed up, the little ghosts hurriedly left. Atu said goodbye to Qin Nuo and left in a rush with the props.
As soon as the little ghosts left, the stage lights went out completely. The spotlight lingered on the empty stage for two seconds before it too clicked off.
The clock on the wall suddenly chid, coinciding with the little ghosts' departure. It was exactly 2:30 AM.
The large dance studio beca cold and eerie, swallowed by darkness, giving a surreal feeling, as if everything seen from entering until now was just an illusion.
"The main storyline guides to co to the school at 2:30 AM, without specifying before or after. This ans everything seen at this ti is related to the main storyline and has a significant connection to that mysterious principal."
"These little ghosts are suspicious, especially the one nad Yanan. They'll be back here at this ti tomorrow, and I'll return as an audience mber."
Qin Nuo made up his mind.
The appearance of the little ghosts was too sudden, as if pre-arranged.
In the horror ga, especially anything discovered on the main storyline is never coincidental. Any NPC in the ga exists for a reason, to push the main storyline forward.
While discussing the script, Qin Nuo specifically flipped through the actor information in the script and learned the nas of these little ghosts.
Exiting the dance studio, the long corridor beca much clearer. The ghostly blue moonlight lay over it like a thin veil, adding a touch of mystery.
"It's already past 2:30 AM, and nothing seems to have changed. I've been everywhere I needed to go, so where should I go now?"
Qin Nuo looked at both sides of the corridor, hesitated for a mont, and walked towards the staircase. But as he turned the corner, he stopped.
This part of the corridor was a bit narrow, and in the middle, there was a wooden chair with that puppet doll sitting on it, facing Qin Nuo. Its bright red mouth was cracked open in a smile filled with horror. ṝἁŊÖʙΕS̩
"Did it move by itself, or did soone place it here?"
Qin Nuo hesitated, not wanting to provoke it, planning to turn around and take another staircase down.
But at that mont, the puppet doll's broken jaw suddenly trembled, its whole body creaking, and a slightly childish female voice ca from its mouth, "Brother, did you co here in the middle of the night to play with ?"
Qin Nuo raised an eyebrow, not expecting the puppet to speak. He had previously tested it for signs of life and found none.
"Couldn't sleep, just out for a walk. And I'm not your brother, call uncle."
With a simple sentence, Qin Nuo noticed sothing odd.
Although Liang Zisu wasn't very old, his face wasn't youthful. From a child's perspective, he shouldn't be called brother.
"Brother, I'm so lonely. Every ti I get to co out, it's always at night. My only companions are the moonlight and the darkness. Can you keep company? I haven't talked to anyone in a long ti and have forgotten many things."
As the puppet doll spoke, its wooden head wobbled as if it might fall off at any mont.
"What do you an by 'rarely co out'? Is soone keeping you locked up?" Qin Nuo asked, pondering over these words.
The puppet doll seed to have many secrets and showed no signs of losing control, so it might be worth talking to it to extract so useful information.
The puppet doll seed not to hear Qin Nuo's question and continued, "Brother, I'm really lonely and have forgotten many things. Can you tell what the school is like during the day?"
Her voice trembled with a longing to know.
"It's lively during the day, filled with the sounds of students playing. It's completely different from what you see at night," Qin Nuo replied.
"Really? Hearing you say that, I seem to rember a lot of things. I envy you, brother, being able to go anywhere freely."
"And I'm like a bird in a cage... no, more like a person sealed in a coffin, suffocating and terrifying. Even this little bit of ti I have now is a luxury for ."
The puppet doll's voice sounded like it was laughing and crying, filled with desolation.
Seeing that she was still stable, Qin Nuo tried to say, "Have you suffered any injustice? Maybe you can tell , and I'll help if I can."
"Are you pitying , brother?"
The puppet doll asked.
"You can't help . Soday, you might end up like , and then you might even compete with for this precious free ti."
"So, if you want to help , just stay and talk with ."
"Tell about your mories, what you can recall now. Before you forget everything and beco a puppet like us, that would be too pitiful."
The puppet doll's voice carried a hint of sympathy.
"To be honest, I've already lost a lot of my mories."
"Or you could say they've been taken from ," Qin Nuo said.
"Really? That's so sad."
The puppet doll stood up, its body covered in cracks, severely damaged.
"I enjoy talking to you. Since we're both pitiful, why don't you stay, brother?"
As she spoke, countless scarlet veins suddenly crawled out from the puppet doll's back, intertwining like the roots of an old tree, threading through the puppet's body.
The already damaged body beca even more broken.
From the empty eye sockets, two beams of blood-red light shot out.
"Another cursed puppet."
The Blood-Eyed Ghost said, "Go, don't get entangled with it."
"Go?" Qin Nuo was a bit surprised. After opening its third eye, the Blood-Eyed Ghost was quite formidable. It might avoid sothing strong, but the ghost aura from this puppet doll wasn't strong, yet it wanted him to leave.
The Blood-Eyed Ghost understood Qin Nuo's thoughts and said, "It's not just this one in front of you. I sense many sudden cursed auras. Staying here won't do you any good."
"Besides, I really hate curses."
Hearing this, Qin Nuo didn't hesitate any longer and turned to run.
The puppet doll, now transford, emitted a special ghost aura. The aura touched the chair behind it, and the chair instantly decayed into black dust.
Qin Nuo moved quickly, reaching the other staircase in no ti. Suddenly, a loud noise erupted behind him, and the cent of the corner railing exploded.
The puppet doll, enveloped in ghost aura, with those dense scarlet veins threading through its broken body, called out in a voice mixed with pain, "Why are you running?"
"I just want soone to talk to. Such a small request is insignificant to you but a great luxury for . Why can't anyone fulfill it?"
Boom!!
The ghost aura raged, shattering all the windows in an instant, and the walls began to rapidly decay and crumble.
The ghost aura transford into a giant hand, reaching for Qin Nuo.
Qin Nuo abruptly stopped, his right hand revealing two blood-red eyes, the bloodshot eyeballs turning eerily.
Dense black veins and corpse spots crawled up his arm. As the ghost aura enveloped him, the Blood-Eyed Ghost grabbed it out of thin air, tearing the ghost aura apart like cotton candy.
anwhile, the puppet doll continued to approach, its voice pleading, "Brother, please, stay with ."
"I've even forgotten my own na. Don't leave , okay?"
Qin Nuo replied expressionlessly, "You may act pitiful, but I can sense your obvious malice. If I really did what you said, I probably wouldn't be able to leave, right?"
The puppet doll was silent for a mont, then spoke again, but this ti without pleading, only filled with blatant malice and anger, "You're just like them, all of you are ugly."
"If I'm soone else's puppet, then you'll be mine!"
The dense ghost aura continued to envelop, crashing towards Qin Nuo like waves.
"You said so yourself, so I don't have to be polite with you."
Qin Nuo remained expressionless. As the ghost aura approached, he took out the Grave Ghost Stone. Holding it in his right hand, the stone emitted a faint purple glow.
In an instant, the Grave Ghost Stone transford into a purple light, tearing through the layers of ghost aura and striking the puppet doll's head.
Black arcs of electricity crackled, and the puppet doll staggered back, the red veins on its body disappearing, and it fell straight to the ground.
The dense ghost aura vanished without a trace.
Qin Nuo approached, retrieving the Grave Ghost Stone with a gesture, and looked at the puppet doll on the ground.
After being struck by the Grave Ghost Stone, it completely shattered. The steel pins connecting its limbs could no longer support the body, breaking apart inch by inch.
Qin Nuo crouched down to inspect it, only to find a faint light shining through the wood chips.
Then, a small paper figure erged, crawling onto the puppet's finger, twitching twice before being consud by sparks and turning to ash.
"Another one of these little paper figures."
Qin Nuo frowned. Previously, after the man who was chilled to the core by Li Qianqian died, a similar paper figure appeared on his body.
"Is this so kind of curse?" Qin Nuo asked.
"There are countless ways to curse—using blood, using souls, using shells. This type of curse is the most terrifying and costly."
"The simplest, cost-free curse is one ford by resentnt, like that girl nad ng you encountered before. Her totem curse was easily cast, but such cases are rare."
"Then there are ghost creature curses, using specially crafted resentful ghost creatures to cast curses. This paper figure is one of them."
The Blood-Eyed Ghost finished explaining and added, "For now, try not to provoke cursed things."
Qin Nuo couldn't help but ask, "Are you afraid of curses?"
"It's not sothing easily dealt with."
The Blood-Eyed Ghost replied impatiently, "It's hard to explain, just do as I say."
Qin Nuo stood up, and at that mont, various strange noises suddenly echoed throughout the building. In an instant, the entire complex building beca lively.
Qin Nuo sensed sothing and turned to run downstairs.
In the pitch-black corridor, Qin Nuo ran down, flashlight in hand.
But upon reaching the first-floor staircase, he stopped.
The exit's iron door was blocked by a pile of debris, completely sealing the way out.
The debris was familiar to Qin Nuo; it was the discarded human models from the top floor.
Seeing these human models, Qin Nuo felt a sudden sense of unease.
He watched as the backs of the models began to glow, and then red veins grew out, like parasites, piercing into their heads.
Next, the models' facial features suddenly animated, their eyes snapping open, emitting a blood-red light.
Clatter!
The human models stood up one by one, and those with missing parts picked up the limbs and attached them to their bodies.
They didn't care if the parts were in the right place; they just attached whatever they found.
There were double-headed ones, eight-limbed ones crawling like spiders, all sorts of bizarre shapes. As long as they had a head, they were given life.
Then, they all turned to Qin Nuo, as if examining a new life form, their eyes filled with curiosity.
"Damn it."
Qin Nuo cursed under his breath and turned to run back upstairs.
The human models let out high-pitched screeches, chasing after him in a dense swarm.
Reaching the second floor, the Blood-Eyed Ghost said, "Jump out from the second floor."
"What if I break sothing? This body isn't used to much physical activity, it's pretty weak."
"Don't act like a porcelain doll, there's a crooked-neck tree over there," the Blood-Eyed Ghost said.
Qin Nuo didn't think twice, running towards it, flipping over the railing, and landing on a branch. With the help of his right hand, he landed steadily on the ground.
"Their range should be limited. If I'm outside the complex building, unless..."
Qin Nuo's words were cut off as he looked up to see the dense swarm of human models leaping down from the building, relentlessly pursuing him.
"Soone's face is getting slapped again!" the Blood-Eyed Ghost teased.
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