Chapter 2056: Headless Puppet
The size of the cat in the painting didn't match the wounds on the middle-aged man or the dead player at all; it could only be an item.
There was no doubt about that, but more people were thinking about another question: whether the black cat item actually belonged to the Painting Woman.
If it was hers, judging from the situation of the three players, the black cat was certainly not weak, and a player capable of possessing such an item would be even less so.
If it wasn't hers, that meant the castle wasn't absolutely safe just because they didn't actively provoke trouble. Paintings could turn into items—who knew what else might become one?
Still, no one dared to confront her directly. Only Glowing Powder sidled up to the Painting Woman and said, "Sister, you're so amazing. You can even beat a beast item."
The Painting Woman smiled with a hint of pride but still demurely used her communicator to say, "It's not really that impressive."
"How could that be? I could tell from yesterday that you're definitely much stronger than me..." Glowing Powder started to get handsy as she spoke, linking arms with the Painting Woman and heading toward the dining room. "Sister, what do you want to eat? I'll get it for you."
After they left first, the Long-Coated Man asked the High Ponytail and the Middle-Aged Man, "Did you really see a black cat?"
High Ponytail didn't answer, but when the Middle-Aged Man met his gaze, he hesitated for a moment before describing the details: "It was indeed a black cat. And when I came back, I saw that woman injure the black cat's front paw."
"Thank you." The Long-Coated Man nodded in acknowledgment.
The group returned to the dining room one by one. On the way, High Ponytail lowered her voice and said, "You've got some nerve."
This was a sarcastic jab at him for openly revealing last night's situation without hesitation, which essentially cleared the Painting Woman of suspicion.
The Middle-Aged Man glanced at her. "Brother, I've been in instances at least ten years longer than you. I can spot a ruthless character at a glance. I advise you—don't mess with that person. Some people seem easygoing but kill without blinking."
High Ponytail let out a derisive snort. "Ten years longer than me, and you're still a B-rank player?"
The Middle-Aged Man had cultivated his composure well and didn't bother arguing with her, stepping into the dining room first.
The bodies on the table had already been cleared away by the servants. Breakfast was laid out, but this time, no portion was prepared for the Puppet Maker.
"Doesn't the castle owner eat with us?" Xu Huo asked.
"The master usually only dines with guests for dinner," No. 1 replied.
"Can't we see the castle owner during the day?" the Curly-Haired Woman followed up.
"Not necessarily," No. 2 answered. "Sometimes the master invites guests for private meetings."
Xu Huo was more direct. "How do we obtain one of the castle owner's puppets?"
The others were also concerned about this question, but unfortunately, the four servants didn't respond this time. They stood still as if powered down, until the Painting Woman asked No. 4 to bring her another bowl of porridge.
Asking the servants for useful information was the safest thing they could do for now. If they couldn't pry clues out of the servants, they'd have to start testing the castle owner.
But just then, the Painting Woman suddenly dropped her spoon and ducked under the table. When she came back up, she was holding a headless puppet in her hand.
The appearance of the puppet jolted the players, who had been absorbed in their own schemes, back to alertness. Three people immediately lifted the tablecloth to check, but finding nothing, they shook their heads at the others.
"Why is the puppet under the table?" Glowing Powder frowned. "Who broke this puppet?"
Damaging a puppet would surely offend the castle owner, and the punishment would likely be severe. No player would do something like that without knowing the instance rules. The Middle-Aged Man quickly clarified, "I didn't see this puppet yesterday."
"I didn't see it either," High Ponytail said, then fixed her gaze on the Painting Woman.
The Painting Woman held the puppet in one hand and stroked her chin with the other. Clearly, she hadn't noticed it either.
"This puppet must have appeared this morning," the Long-Coated Man said, pointing at it from a distance. "Its clothing is similar to that of the dead player. It might be the first puppet the castle owner made."
The puppet had no head, was less than two palms long, and bore scratch marks, matching the player's cause of death.
"Does the puppet correspond to how the player died?" the Curly-Haired Woman asked. "Did the Puppet Maker make the puppet first, then break it after the player died, or break the puppet first, then kill the player?"
"Could there be an item that binds players to puppets?"
That question hit the nail on the head for everyone. They were terrified that such an item might exist.
"A damaged puppet definitely wouldn't satisfy the Puppet Maker." From the information the servants had revealed yesterday, at the very least, a complete puppet was required.
"So does that mean, as long as the person doesn't die and the puppet isn't destroyed, it counts as a 'satisfactory' puppet?" Glowing Powder asked.
"What if the puppet controls us?" the Middle-Aged Man said. "The puppet was under the table, so the corpse was on the table. The way the body was arranged seemed to have some other meaning—could it be related to a sacrifice?"
Xu Huo glanced at the Painting Woman beside him. She had been deep in thought but finally looked up and said to the group, "I moved the corpse onto the table."
The Middle-Aged Man's face twitched.
"Why?" the others didn't understand either.
"I thought it was lonely for him to die alone in the hallway. The dining room has more people, so everyone coming to eat would definitely see him," the Painting Woman explained with perfect logic.
"I noticed that yesterday," the Sweet Girl said with a smile, not finishing her sentence.
Noticed what? That the Painting Woman's thought process was a bit off? To avoid direct conflict, everyone had refrained from pressing her about the blood on her clothes. They never expected it was for this reason. What was she trying to do?
"Don't tell me you wanted to hold a memorial service for the dead?" the Curly-Haired Woman said with a hint of sarcasm.
"I just wanted to see him off," the Painting Woman said, looking around at everyone present. "Don't worry—whoever dies gets the same treatment."
"Hah!" A chorus of cold laughter erupted in the dining room. Several players left the table with disdain.
The rest didn't linger either. Since there were three puppets on the first day, if the puppets could control the players, then two more players would have to worry about their lives today. And this threat didn't just come from the castle owner—whoever damaged a puppet might be punished, but that didn't mean the person represented by the puppet wouldn't face consequences either. What if the Puppet Maker was just that unreasonable?
And since the Painting Woman had found the puppet and no one had come to retrieve it, it seemed the puppets weren't necessarily kept by the castle owner. So no one wanted their own puppet to be found by someone else.
To find the puppets that had already appeared and were clearly extras, Xu Huo had the easiest time. He searched all the places players could access in the fastest order—dining room, guest rooms, hallway, studio, and display room—and finally discovered a puppet missing its right arm in a corner of the studio. It belonged to High Ponytail.