No matter how strong Xiao Tangqiu’s heart was, he still almost got a heart attack from what Tang Mianmian had said. He not only felt a chill rising from his tailbone, even his scalp was numb with tiny pinpricks. “…….Don’t simply make jokes in a place like this, you’ll frighten me to death……..”

His voice swayed because he found that Tang Mianmian and Lu Si’er’s terrified expressions were genuine. It didn’t look like they were joking or playing a prank on him. In the next moment, he suddenly felt his shoulders sag with a dull pressure – something seemed to have fallen onto his shoulders.

With that, Xiao Tangqiu felt pins and needles all over his scalp as his hair stood on end.

“Qiuqiu……. your……. your shoulders…….” Tang Mianmian looked even more frightened.

Xiao Tangqiu immediately felt numb in one shoulder as a biting chill spread along his entire back. He froze for a few seconds, before suddenly reacting by trying to shake that thing off his shoulder.

He assumed that it would be difficult to get rid of it once it climbed onto him. However, to his surprise, he managed to fling it off with a jerk and felt his shoulder suddenly lighten. That thing was actually thrown off by him!

But he didn’t dare to stay a moment longer in this room so he rushed to grab Tang Mianmian by the wrist and turned to run towards the door.

As he was running, he suddenly heard Tang Mianmian scream in horror, “Qiuqiu! Qiuqiu! “

Xiao Tangqiu paused. Why did Tang Mianmian’s voice…….. sound a little far off from him?

He turned and looked back, only to find that Tang Mianmian and Lu Si’er were still standing in the same place, staring at him with an expression of dread and horror. ………Wait a minute! If Tang Mianmian was over there, then whose hand was he holding now?

He turned his head stiffly and finally saw the object he was holding onto – the crudely made puppet he had just seen in the corner! Right now, he was holding the puppet’s tiny hand while it floated mid-air. Its eyes that were made of black stones glowed faintly in the flickering candlelight.

The puppet’s hand was very small and didn’t have the cold texture of wood, but was warm and delicate like the touch of human skin……. At that thought, Xiao Tangqiu instantly felt his skin crawl.

He was so shocked that at that moment, he even forgot about how terrified he was. He stood there, staring up at the puppet. Then, all at once, he felt the fear in his heart intensify. Although it was a puppet, the texture of its skin was very supple and lifelike, comparable to real skin. No wood or resin material could produce such a lifelike, human texture. Moreover, upon closer inspection, the puppet’s hair seemed to be made of real hair. He could see strands of white hairs hidden in its mane of black hair. There was no way an ordinary puppet could grow white hairs!

Xiao Tangqiu immediately dumped the puppet aside, but as soon as he let go of its hand, the puppet fluttered leisurely into the air. Its black stone eyes looked at him with hatred and in the next second, the puppet’s hair suddenly began to grow wildly until it reached one or two meters in length. And then it bared its teeth at Xiao Tangqiu and shot its hair towards him.

Xiao Tangqiu’s wrist was tangled in the puppet’s hair in an instant. The hair was so thick and tenacious that no matter how hard he struggled, it only became more tightly bound. He watched helplessly as the puppet pulled him closer bit by bit with its hair, and broke out in cold sweat.

“Don’t be afraid! I’ll save you!” Tang Mianmian shouted as he picked up a pillow from the bed. He swung it violently at the floating puppet. His strength was very strong but the puppet wouldn’t budge despite being severely hit. Instead, the pillow fell apart and the feathers inside spilled out.

“Let me go! You ugly monster!” Tang Mianmian shouted as he struggled. It wasn’t certain if the puppet could understand what he had said but it soon divided a strand of hair, wrapped it around Tang Mianmian’s neck and threw him violently against the wall with a loud bang. The force was so great that Tang Mianmian nearly fainted.

Xiao Tangqiu fought desperately to remove himself from its grip and indicated with his eyes for Lu Si’er to find something to save them. However, Lu Si’er merely stood at a loss. Obviously, her brain had gone completely blank. Xiao Tangqiu didn’t know how else they could be saved them and could only think of the object called…. “Lighter! Do you have a lighter?”

Lu Si’er turned pale with fear, “No, no…… I don’t smoke…….”

Xiao Tangqiu didn’t have one on him either. All he had with him was some hemostatic sprays and a flashlight. Even the only piece of candy he had brought from the real world had been eaten up. Tang Mianmian had even less on him. He continued to cry out without hope, “What about scissors? Or a knife? Do you have any of these?!”

Lu Si’er said in despair, “I don’t…….”

Xiao Tangqiu was at the point of desperation, but under the threat of death, he suddenly remembered his special skill card. Before this, someone had given him a flashlight, would someone else give him something that he could use right now?

He held onto the last glimmer of hope as he used his special skill card. At once, a barrage of comments emerged in front of him.

“Exciting content up ahead!”

“Exciting content up ahead! Sexy streamer live streams his one-on-one fight with evil puppet!”

“Come and bet! If you think the streamer will win, comment 1; if you think the evil puppet will win, comment 2; if you think they’ll end up killing each other, comment 3!”

“11111 I bet cute little streamer wins! I bet 10 yellow talismans! Give it your all Mr. Streamer!!!!!!”

……

…… What the hell were these?! He was dying ah! Why were they still betting?! Human life comes first ah! Why wasn’t there anyone rewarding props at the most critical moment?

Just when Xiao Tangqiu was so depressed that he could vomit blood, the only suggestive comment immediately caught his attention – “Why not use the picture on the wall to smash the puppet? Isn’t that more lethal than a pillow?”

He reacted instantly, yes! The picture frame had sharp edges and could be considered as a lethal weapon!

“Painting! The picture on the wall! Throw it to me!” Xiao Tangqiu quickly shouted at Lu Si’er.

Lu Si’er paused for a moment. Although, she was a little afraid of the painting, she rushed to take it down and threw it at Xiao Tangqiu from a distance …….However, her strength was a little lacking, so instead of successfully making it into Xiao Tangqiu’s hands, the painting fell directly onto the puppet.

Xiao Tangqiu’s heart sank at once. All he could think was, it’s over, it’s over. However, at that moment, something completely beyond his expectation happened – the moment the painting touched the puppet, the puppet suddenly gave out a shrill scream; one that was full of fear. Instantly, the puppet disappeared!

Xiao Tangqiu stared at the scene before him, dumbfounded. When the puppet disappeared, its hair naturally disappeared as well. Tang Mianmian immediately fell to the floor with a thump, as the back of his head knocked into the hard surface.

“Fuck! I’m about to die from the pain!”

Lu Si’er asked blankly, “What…… what happened just now?”

“Fuck! Fuck! I definitely have a concussion! I’m going to lose my memory!” Tang Mianmian wailed and scrambled from the ground, “……What the fuck is stabbing me?!”

Xiao Tangqiu hurried to help Tang Mianmian up, “Are you alright?”

“What the hell is stabbing my hand?!” Tang Mianmian picked up something from the floor. Xiao Tangqiu leaned over and realized it was a classic pocket watch with a very delicate design and a beautiful embossed pattern on the outer metal cover. It must’ve been what was pricking Tang Mianmian’s hand.

“Is this a pocket watch?” Lu Si’er, who was still in a state of shock, studied it for a while and seemed to recall something, “It probably fell out of the pillow when you hit the puppet earlier.”

Tang Mianmian seemed to realize something as well, “It’s no wonder I thought I heard something fall out of the pillow at that time; a dong sound! At that time I didn’t think more about it…… “

“Is this Maria’s? But why did she hide the pocket watch in the pillow……” Xiao Tangqiu examined it, then opened the cover of the pocket watch. The pocket watch consisted of two parts – the bottom part was the clock dial which told the time, and the top part had a compartment for a photo. There was a small photo of someone on it.

“It can’t be Lippinobert’s anyway.” Tang Mianmian said, touching his chin. “He has no reason to hide his stuff in Maria’s pillow, right?”

Xiao Tangqiu took a closer look at the photo and immediately froze. There was no doubt that the woman in this black and white photo looked just like Lily Marlene, especially her eyes.

If this woman was Maria…… was the similarity in her appearance and Lily Marlene’s purely coincidental, or was it someone’s intention?

Tang Mianmian also leaned in and immediately discovered that the small figure in the photo resembled Lily Marlene. “Why does this Maria look so similar to Lily Marlene? Could they be sisters or relatives?”

“Judging from the letter from Lippinobert, that shouldn’t be the case,” Lu Si’er shook her head and denied. “They just look alike.”

“It seems that Lippinobert was rather obsessed with Lily Marlene. Not only does he hang her portrait everywhere in the castle, he also looked for someone with a similar appearance to be his wife. This must be true love!” Tang Mianmian sighed with emotion, “I didn’t expect that weird guy to have such an infatuated side to him. You really can’t judge a book by its cover.”

Xiao Tangqiu frowned slightly, “This pocket watch should be an important clue or prop. Let’s put it away first.”

Tang Mianmian didn’t think too much as he casually dropped the pocket watch into his trouser pocket. Xiao Tangqiu turned away to look at the painting that had fallen to the floor. He rubbed his chin while he studied it.

“By the way, what happened just now? Why did the puppet suddenly disappear?” Tang Mianmian suddenly remembered this unusual occurrence in hindsight and quickly asked.

Xiao Tangqiu shook his head and pointed to Lily Marlene’s painting. “I don’t know, but it seems that the puppet disappeared after being hit by this painting……”

Tang Mianmian suddenly realized, “Is this the power of the first wife? The halo of true love? As long as this queen is still around, everyone else are merely concubines?”

Xiao Tangqiu’s mouth twitched, “I don’t know, but it’s most likely due to this painting.”

“It seems that this painting is quite useful! Shall we take it with us then? ” Tang Mianmian asked.

“No, this painting is everywhere. If we meet that puppet again, we can just take one down from the wall,” Xiao Tangqiu shook his head. “Besides, it’s too troublesome to carry a painting everywhere. What if Lippinobert sees us and thinks that we’re thieves?”

“Yes, it would be embarrassing if Lippinobert thought we were in love with Lily Marlene and wanted to rob him of his wife,” Tang Mianmian nodded and said earnestly. “He loves his wife so much that he would definitely kill us.”

Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian put the painting back together, and then rummaged through the other corners of the room with Lu Si’er. There was nothing else of importance, so they left the room.

“Where should we go next?” Tang Mianmian turned to ask Xiao Tangqiu. He just finished speaking when a loud scream echoed from the distance. “Ahhhhh!”