Chapter 2057: Blood-Colored Dining Table
Xu Huo did not take this puppet. Instead, he waited for other players to discover it.
Because the instance introduction hinted at a hidden rule that the puppet should not be damaged, the other players also refrained from snatching it. In the end, the puppet fell into the hands of the High Ponytail girl.
"Why is it incomplete?" High Ponytail frowned, looking at the puppet in her hand. She had already searched every possible place nearby but could not find the missing arm.
"Maybe it was incomplete from the start," Xu Huo said. "The castle owner made the puppet. He and the servants were the first to come into contact with it. The servants most likely wouldn't go against the owner's wishes."
"You mean the castle owner deliberately didn't make the arm?" High Ponytail didn't understand what this meant.
"Maybe he did make it, but then deliberately removed it," the Sweet Girl said with a smile. "People have artistic pursuits; they can't guarantee success on the first try. Reworking is normal."
This explanation couldn't be ruled out entirely. The key question was: why did the puppet randomly appear in the corner of the studio? What was the castle owner's purpose in placing it there? If the arm was removed from the start, did it mean this puppet could never become a "puppet that satisfies the Puppet Maker"?
This was not good news for the players, especially High Ponytail, because among the various scenarios for obtaining a puppet, securing one's own was the most legitimate and convenient.
If she couldn't get her own puppet, she would have to take someone else's.
High Ponytail couldn't help but shift her gaze from the puppet to the other players.
"Instead of worrying about others, you should think about yourself," Fluorescent Pink said. "The first puppet was a dead player. The second puppet was someone who went out last night. I wonder if this counts as punishment from the castle owner."
High Ponytail tightened her grip on the puppet, not daring to store it in her luggage compartment. She could only follow the group back to the guest room area.
The players did not return to their rooms. Instead, they accompanied High Ponytail, the Painting Woman, and the Middle-aged Man to the open lounge area. High Ponytail had already received her puppet. The next puppets would likely belong to the Painting Woman or the Middle-aged Man.
"What did you do last night?" the Long Coat Man asked the Middle-aged Man about his outing the previous night. If the first day's puppet was made in their likeness, it meant their actions had, to some extent, angered the castle owner. But since the servants had confirmed that free movement was allowed, it could only be that they had done something particularly unusual.
The Middle-aged Man was also racking his brains. He reviewed his entire outing process but before he could speak, the Painting Woman cut in. "Let me go first, let me go first."
Under everyone's gaze, she recounted what she had done the previous night.
At first, she was playing games. After getting bored, she went out. Originally, she wanted to find some food in the kitchen, but there were no leftovers. So, she decided to check the castle owner's workshop for snacks to satisfy her cravings, but the door wouldn't open.
She was about to pick the lock and go in when she saw High Ponytail coming out of the display room. As they met eyes, the Middle-aged Man emerged from the studio, followed by the cat from the painting.
Later, when the black cat attacked the Middle-aged Man, High Ponytail took the chance to slip away. The Painting Woman found it interesting, so she abandoned the snacks and went after the black cat, which also gave the Middle-aged Man an opportunity to escape.
The black cat ran off after the Painting Woman injured its front paw. Since it wasn't a real cat, it wasn't hard for it to hide. The Painting Woman circled around twice without finding it, and then she discovered the corpse of the 25th player.
Seeing the black cat kill someone piqued her interest even more. After another scuffle, she injured the cat's ear and chased it back to the studio, where she could only see the cat on the paper.
"Why didn't you just tear up the painting?" Zuo Yu couldn't help asking.
"Why would I tear it?" the Painting Woman looked at him with a strange expression. "The cat went back into the painting. That means it surrendered. If it surrendered, why would I still hit it?"
Zuo Yu was speechless.
"What happened next?" Xu Huo asked.
"After the cat surrendered, I came out. I thought leaving the dead body in the hallway was bad, so I moved it to the dining room," the Painting Woman said, her expression turning a bit unnatural. She fidgeted and added, "I also took a few items from him."
No one cared about the ownerless items. The Long Coat Man thought for a moment and said, "If the puppet that appears today corresponds to the people who went out last night, we might have found a pattern: the castle owner chooses the subjects for his puppets each day based on who he dislikes the most."
"Could the servants have lied to us?" the Middle-aged Man said, somewhat frustrated.
"It's hard to say if the servants lied," the Long Coat Man said meaningfully, glancing at him and High Ponytail.
From the Painting Woman's description, High Ponytail and the Middle-aged Man had come out of the display room and the studio, respectively. Who knew what they had done inside? If they had damaged something they shouldn't have, it was understandable that the castle owner would target them.
Of course, the Painting Woman was no exception. She had not only tried to pick the lock but also damaged the black cat painting.
However, unlike High Ponytail and the Middle-aged Man, who were anxious and uneasy, the Painting Woman was much more relaxed. She called over No. 1 and ordered a table full of desserts and snacks.
Over the next while, players occasionally left the lounge to check other rooms for new puppets. But until evening, just before dinner time, the third puppet still hadn't appeared.
"Please take your seats, guests. Dinner will begin in five minutes." The four servants reappeared in the dining room.
They didn't need to wait until that time; the players had already come early to claim their seats. Xu Huo had also arrived relatively early this time, so he sat in the middle. The Painting Woman happily took the first seat on the left and called for High Ponytail to sit across from her.
High Ponytail didn't even want to be in the dining room, because she was holding the incomplete puppet. Who knew what the castle owner would do when he saw it?
"If you don't give the puppet to the castle owner, how will he attach the right hand?" the Painting Woman said.
High Ponytail closed her eyes and ignored her, sitting in her original spot.
Soon, the Puppet Maker appeared, and the whereabouts of the third puppet were revealed—he was holding it as he entered. From the exposed parts, the puppet was clearly modeled after the Middle-aged Man, but it was missing a leg.
To show respect for the castle owner, all the players stood up. However, just as they were rising one after another, the Middle-aged Man at the end of the dining table suddenly let out a scream. Everyone turned around sharply, only to see blood splattering from his lower body first. Then, as if crushed by some high-speed force, his entire body flattened in midair. The nauseating sound of bones breaking and grinding lasted less than a second before it was drowned out by the splatter of blood and flesh, the thud of the deformed body sliding down, and the clatter of chairs and tables!