# Chapter 2678: Player Circus City
After a few kicks to send the approaching puppet people flying, they didn't expect several puppets to target Qi Cong, the weakest among them. They actually joined forces to grab hold of him and eagerly bit into his flesh!
Qi Cong screamed in pain as they bit him, but every time he tore one off, new ones pounced on him—the spreading scent of blood seemed to trigger some kind of signal, and even some of the smaller puppets couldn't control themselves from coming forward.
"Get lost!" Qi Cong was injured and, seeing no one paying attention to him, had no choice but to activate the instrument he carried. After blasting away the puppets clinging to him, he immediately jumped onto a nearby rooftop. But he was only up there for a moment before frantically jumping back down, desperately running toward Xu Huo and the others.
At the same time, a masked combat puppet appeared on the rooftop. With a twist of its palm, several micro-bombs flew out!
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The continuous explosions not only blew apart the gathered puppets but also injured a few of the people who had followed Dai He. Fortunately, they managed to take advantage of the explosion's gap to hide in a nearby shop without directly confronting the combat puppet. After stopping the incident, the combat puppet paid no further attention and simply left.
This was completely different from what they had previously learned about combat puppets.
"What the hell is going on? The behavior of these puppets and dolls has no logic at all..." Dai He said in a low voice.
"Shh." Xu Huo interrupted him, watching the situation outside.
Because of the explosion, a few puppets had been blown apart. Just like the puppets he had killed earlier, the broken puppets automatically turned into ordinary cloth skins. Several people emerged from the crowd—two picked up the puppet skins from the ground, while two others replaced the dead puppets and walked into the nearby shop. After these two entered the counter, the puppet skins on them instantly transformed into the original shop owner's appearance, serving customers according to the owner's behavioral patterns.
"Who are you people? How did you get into the back kitchen! Get out!" The new shop owner opened the back door and, seeing Xu Huo and the others hiding inside, immediately shouted to drive them away. It seemed that in just a few seconds, he had completely forgotten what had happened before, not remembering Xu Huo's identity at all.
The group returned to the street, and everything reverted to how it was when they first arrived.
Dai He and the others remained calm, but the injured Qi Cong was furious. The protective suit he was wearing wasn't very high-level, and somehow it had been torn. His arm and thigh had been bitten several times, especially his arm, where two chunks of flesh had been torn off. The self-healing agent he carried wasn't very effective—it stopped the bleeding but couldn't ease the pain, forcing him to grit his teeth and endure.
The current situation was already confusing. They had thought their clothing and appearance were attracting attention, so changing clothes would solve the problem. But after changing clothes, it seemed they couldn't speak. Before they could figure out whether they could speak or not, the puppets had gone crazy for some unknown reason. Yet less than half a minute later, the puppets had returned to normal...
What could they do and what couldn't they do?
Surely they wouldn't trigger the rules just by taking an extra step, right?
Qi Cong tentatively took a step forward. This time, no one suddenly turned their head.
"Good..." He had barely breathed a sigh of relief when he was suddenly pushed hard, stumbling into a door that had appeared in front of him. Thinking it was some kind of trap, he panicked and tried to rush back, only to crash into the Painting Woman who had followed closely behind. He immediately started screaming loudly, then was slapped flying by the Painting Woman, landing at the feet of several puppets watching a performance.
The two sides stared at each other, and Qi Cong scrambled to escape in the other direction.
Xu Huo, who had just arrived through the Spiritual Gate, pushed him aside and nodded to the puppets.
Then both sides walked off in opposite directions.
"I tried it just now. Beating ordinary puppets isn't a problem. Most of them are ordinary people, with a few players mixed in. I don't know if they're starving crazy, but they want to bite living people as soon as they see them," said the middle-aged man leading the Eternal Tower group. "Generally, talking quietly like this won't get their attention."
Xu Huo nodded. "What happened with the combat puppet just now?"
"I wanted to see if I could blow up the building," the middle-aged man said regretfully. "Unfortunately, these things are probably part of the instance's composition. Ordinary weapons are useless, and they'll just attract the combat puppets."
"So luring out the combat puppets isn't difficult," Xu Huo said. "The combat puppets can enter and leave this instance venue. They are our only hope before the Box Carrier appears."
The middle-aged man didn't argue with that point. "You won't be targeted wrapped in these rags?"
Xu Huo smiled. "Whether or not we wear puppet suits doesn't affect the puppets' ability to identify us."
"Their initial siege, aside from a few who genuinely wanted to fill their stomachs, was mostly to make us put on the puppet suits."
"The puppet suits might take effect under specific circumstances, and dead puppets will be replaced by others. Therefore, newly arrived players will eventually become part of the Circus City's role-playing."
The middle-aged man clicked his tongue but had no intention of taking off the puppet suit. "Then I'll bet on whether my luck is good enough."
"I checked earlier. This Circus City is very large. From this position, the only prominent feature is the castle complex to the north. That's almost certainly the center of this instance venue, and also where the most combat puppets are."
The visible area had highs and lows, but the terrain generally sloped upward toward the north.
Xu Huo understood his intention. "You're going to the castle?"
The middle-aged man said matter-of-factly, "I chased the puppets here to destroy their nest... It looks difficult right now, but if I don't vent this anger, how can I face my fallen brothers?"
Everyone present admired his boldness and skill.
Since their goals differed, they naturally wouldn't travel together for long. After climbing the steps to the street above, they went their separate ways.
Xu Huo needed to find Yan Jiayu, so he naturally had to cover as much of the city as possible. The Eternal Tower group had a clear goal—to head straight for the city center. So one continued north, while the other went west.
But unexpectedly, both groups encountered resistance within less than half an hour of travel. The puppets, which had been peaceful, suddenly went crazy and attacked them. This time, the number of players among the attacking puppets had noticeably increased.
"Are they sick?" Qi Cong, who had once again become the focus of attention, couldn't help roaring.
Xu Huo's gaze swept over the props the puppets used as decorations, then looked further into the city. After a moment, he said, "I'm afraid the vast majority of puppets in this city are players."
A bird from somewhere flew from one end of the city toward the castle. From its bird's-eye view, the conflict was only a tiny corner of the city. On more streets, in more distant places, countless puppets diligently played their roles in the circus. Laughter and joy continued like a curse, unceasing, together with this operating city, never stopping.