His larger-than-usual head was more conspicuous at this moment. It rested on a thin neck, as if it could fall from it at any moment. Now there was a smile on his face—not a superficial one, but a heartfelt, joyful one—a smile that didn’t make him look normal and gentle, but rather more and more bizarre.
Kou Dong’s back was cold. He didn’t panic, but he opened his eyes and met the big-headed doll’s eyes.
The two of them exchanged glances.
Big Head Doll: “……”
Kou Dong: “……”
Big Head Doll wrinkled his thin eyebrows, as if he felt that something was wrong, and looked at the person in front of him hesitantly. According to the theory, when he caught this person awake, he could drag him out.
But Kou Dong didn’t cry out.
He was hesitant in his heart, vaguely unsure of what to do. In such a long time, this was the first person they had caught who didn’t even cry out. What was wrong with him?
The sound of gongs and drums outside the door had stopped, and a long, thin snake’s tail had already appeared at the door. The Big Head Doll opened his mouth, and just when he wanted to call out to them, he saw the child in front of him smile at him.
Big Head Doll: “???”
As he was confused, he saw Kou Dong raise his hand and hit himself hard on the side of his neck with a hand knife, and he was knocked unconscious.
Big Head Doll: “!!!”
He was confused—how could this kind of operation be possible?
He unwillingly reached out to touch, but heard a faint voice from behind him: “He’s not awake.”
At some point, the beautiful snake had already entered the room silently. His long, black hair was draped like satin, revealing his beautiful face. Perhaps because he often sang the little girl in green, even if he didn’t open his mouth, there was a soft charm between his eyes, and his eyes were like spring water.
The big-headed doll choked and was a bit reluctant: “He just woke up!”
But it was too late. In that moment, Kou Dong had already knocked himself out.
Now, the big-headed doll wanted to pull him out, but due to the fact that the other party was still unconscious and restricted by the rules, it was impossible to make a move.
His big head dropped unhappily, and his slender fingers caressed the smooth face of the child.
“My rabbit ……”
He had long since seen that such a beautiful child was well suited to be a rabbit. He would have the softest, glossy rabbit fur, with long, floppy ears that hung down and could be clutched with a hand. He had thought about it; he just could never catch a break, and when he finally found an opening, he was surprised that the boy still escaped.
That didn’t make him give up; it made him even more excited. A prey that could dodge was far more capable of arousing his desire to invade than any other.
The Beauty Snake remained motionless, only fiddling with his snake tail unhurriedly. “Don’t be hasty.”
The Big Head Doll hummed and laughed softly; his tone contained sarcasm. “You’re not in a hurry?”
The Beauty Snake replied, “What’s the use of being in a hurry? It’s better to plan tightly.”
He lowered his head slightly and looked at the sleeping person on the ground.
The same light as the Big Head Doll’s rose in his eyes.
“He’s a smart boy,” he said slowly, “so… We always have to be prepared for anything.”
He had to wait until he was absolutely sure he could grab his throat before he could show his sharp claws and teeth to him.
This was an excellent quality that a predator should have.
When Kou Dong woke up, it was already bright outside. What big-headed doll and beautiful snake? They had all disappeared. As if it were just an absurd dream.
He reached out and touched his neck, still feeling a little stinging pain.
Ye Yanzhi hung on to his clothes and rubbed his neck without expression; his voice wasn’t very warm. “Now you know it hurts?”
Kou Dong: “Alas, I could only use it on myself.”
He didn’t know how to engage in close combat, and this trick was taught to him by a friend from a police academy in college. At that time, he often felt he was being followed but couldn’t find the voyeur. So his friend from the police academy said, “Then I’ll teach you a trick. If someone wants to rob you, you can knock them out.”.
Although Kou Dong didn’t think anyone would have any ulterior motives towards a big man like him, the other party was so enthusiastic and proactive that he couldn’t refuse.
This had become the only trick that Kou Dong could do. Unfortunately, he wasn’t very skilled in learning and couldn’t approach others, let alone suddenly knock them unconscious. If he were to collide with someone else, his physique wouldn’t be impressive enough.
So the only use of this move was to be able to knock himself unconscious, and each strike was accurate.
What did that mean?
Kou Dong took the opportunity to educate his cub. “It means that there are no useless skills in the world and that more skills do not overwhelm the body. Cub, you should also learn more.”
Ye Yanzhi didn’t make a sound but just gave him a deep look.
“Can you teach me what I want to learn?”
He seldom acknowledged the title cub and even more seldom picked up on the words that Kou Dong threw out as an old father. Now that he suddenly acknowledged his words, Kou Dong was a bit flattered and eagerly responded, “Of course. As long as I can teach, I will definitely teach!”
Who let him be the father? Kou Dong thought proudly.
Ye Yanzhi let out a hmm and wrote this sentence down in his little notebook.
The other party had said that it would all be taught.
——He wanted to learn more than just a little bit.
When they met at the teahouse during the day, Kou Dong spoke with the other two about the nighttime experience, and both of them broke out into a cold sweat and couldn’t help but chide him for being bold and daring to take such a risk.
“You have a big heart.”
On the contrary, the little girl thoughtfully looked at Kou Dong two more times and didn’t say anything.
She had felt from the time of the mermaid copy that the attitude of the NPCs in the game towards the person in front of her was very different; this copy basically verified her thoughts again and again.
More than different?
She even had an absurd thought—it was almost as if the entire game’s NPCs revolved around the person in front of her.
Before entering the game, Ah Xue had vaguely heard some rumors. For example, at the beginning, the game “The Undead” didn’t jeopardize the survival of people; it was just a simple playground; however, from a certain day onwards, special modules appeared in the game, and the rewards in the modules were so rich that they could even be worth most people’s life’s savings.
But the price they paid also became high.
It was no longer time.
Rather, it was life.
In the forums, many people had discussed exactly how this change had happened, and there were many different opinions. Ah Xue had given it a cursory glance at the time, only vaguely remembering that one of them had said it was about a youth.
But among other otherworldly, multi-dimensional, gods and ghosts, and other speculations, such a reason was really unimpressive and even a bit mundane and out of tune with this game. As such, no one believed the claim, and even Ah Xue just looked at it and forgot.
It was only now that she remembered it again that she felt vaguely suspicious.
It was because of a youth.
It was… what kind of youth was it?
She couldn’t recall, so she was determined to go back and then carefully check.
Kou Dong then said, “In that case, Xiao Shuang is in the circus. But he shouldn’t be any of the ones we’ve seen.”
Song Hong agreed with him: “Those kids are familiar with these common circus members, but they didn’t react as violently as you said.”
If it was really Xiao Shuang, they should have been even more fearful than now.
He paused and added, “So, we’ll have to go into this circus one more time.”
This was really worrying, but there was nothing they could do about it. For the sake of the clues, they had to take a risk.
They couldn’t always be trapped inside.
Kou Dong pondered for a while and then asked curiously, “Is it dangerous?”
Song Hong said, “The NPCs are all there; we have to sneak in; of course it’s dangerous.”
He didn’t say in the second half of his sentence that if they were discovered, they would become monsters.
Kou Dong felt doubtful from the bottom of his heart. “Who said we have to sneak in?”
“……?”
This sentence confused Song Hong.
“How else are we going to get in?” He asked, “If we’re just watching the show, we wouldn’t be able to see Xiao Shuang either.”
And they didn’t have any money.
Kou Dong said, “It’s a part-time job, so as long as they give me money, it’s the same wherever we work.”
Song Hong: “……”
Wait, this meant…
Kou Dong put his idea forward with excitement.
“Why don’t we go work in the circus?”
Song Hong︰”……”
Ah Xue︰”……”
How would it work? Did he expect the circus people to give them money to help them avoid the round of picking wood at night?
Did he make a mistake? They were on opposite sides!
Who went to work in the enemy’s lair?
Their thoughts were simply written on their faces, each with a more brilliant expression. Watching him walk on the edge of danger, Song Hong swallowed his saliva and said, “We won’t have much work to do either; we won’t disguise ourselves as something like that too, right?”
No hands, no feet, strange shapes—even thinking about it made him shiver.
Kou Dong shook his head and said, “That’s not necessary.”
Song Hong breathed a sigh of relief.
Kou Dong then said, “We can collect money to solicit customers.”
Based on his full favorability points, Kou Dong could say that he would be the one with the best performance, a true business champion!
He was very confident, but the other two people didn’t have a little bit of confidence, but they finally walked to the circus in front of the vermilion door, completely relying on their trust in him. Kou Dong explained his intention; the gatekeeper looked at him up and down a few times and then went in to pass on the message.
Not long after, the beauty snake appeared in the doorway and asked with a soft voice, “Are you the ones who want to be the caretakers?”
Although this question was directed at the three, his gaze fell straight onto Kou Dong, clearly the only one he really wanted to ask.
Kou Dong nodded and said, “It is the three of us.”
The Beauty Snake’s body hovered up, the corners of his lips slightly upturned, rather like he was smiling. “You guys are still kids.”
Kou Dong wasn’t flustered at all and replied, “Many of the people in your group were also children.”
“……”
The beauty Snake narrowed his pupils and looked at him thoughtfully. Then he sidestepped and made a little space for them to enter. “In that case, you guys can come in.”
His long, thin tail was still hovering on the ground, no different from a true cold-bl*ooded animal. Song Hong and the two of them took the lead and walked through the door, then they heard a small cry of surprise from the back. When they turned their heads to look, it was Kou Dong who stepped on a piece of the person’s tail. The beautiful snake was staring at him, with a storm accumulating in his eyes.
Song Hong was afraid that this action would make the NPC angry, so he hurriedly went to drag Kou Dong. But then he saw the child bend down, struggling to hold the tail in his arms.
“Brother’s tail is so long!”
Kou Dong soullessly complimented him.
But regardless of the tone, this brother title completely doused the Beauty Snake’s just-risen anger, not leaving half a spark. He choked for a moment yet he showed no signs of getting angry, instead he smiled slightly and said, “That sentence sounded good.”
He didn’t care any more, and he walked in front.
The circus hadn’t yet reached its opening time, and the front stage was empty except for a few people. The beauty snake walked straight to the stage and immediately used his tail to push open a small gray door, “Inside.”
The three of them went in.
Once inside, they immediately felt cramped—it wasn’t a spacious place, and the small backstage was densely packed with many oddly shaped people, filling the place to the brim. No one helped them to dress up and change clothes; most of the people present were helping each other, and there were also those who didn’t need to be made up, so they laid in the corner grimly, without saying a word.
Although there were a lot of people and the room was fully occupied, it was still very silent; even a pin-drop movement could be heard.
Kou Dong quickly looked around.
The place consisted of people with missing hands and feet, but their faces were painted white, making them look like deliberately teasing clowns. The human bear had a gloomy expression as he crouched on the box with his hands hanging down and occasionally teasing the fur on his neck. The familiar big-headed doll sat in the corner with a slender leg on the ground, his hands firmly held onto a rope. But at this moment, it had changed from one to two ropes, with one tied to the head of the chubby singing dog lying weakly on the ground; the other was on a well-behaved little sheep; half of its body was trapped in the shadow, with white fur all over its body and a few pitch black hair tips sprouted from under the wool.
“The skin peeled off.” The beauty snake said in a flat tone, as if talking about the day’s weather, “She really doesn’t fit.”
The sheep snapped and curled up a little tighter into the corner, retracting her hooves that were resting on the ground.
“I don’t think it’s suitable either,” the big-headed doll said, kicking the sheep. He was clearly not enthusiastic or interested. “Then let’s change it and make it anew. — Make it into what? Or should we just cut off the arms and legs?”
Xiao Yu winced and almost pleadingly lifted her face up to look at the big-headed doll. But the other party just stepped on her even harder and said without mercy, “Don’t lift it up; it’ll dirty my eyes.”
Xiao Yu let out a sob that was no longer quite human and laid down on the ground.
The beauty Snake sidestepped, showing the people behind him.
He raised his voice slightly.
“These three-”
The eyes of everyone in the room gathered, suddenly brightening as they looked at the person in the very center.
The change was especially noticeable to Ah Xue and the others; it was almost as if someone had set fire to those pupils and made them all burn in clusters.
Black eyes.
Yellow eyes.
Eyes covered by fur.
The pupils were either large or small, but they all looked the same. They all flickered as they faced Kou Dong, a bright joy shining through them.
A sense of suffocation came over him, and under such gazes, Song Hong even felt that his breathing was beginning to be difficult. The looks were prying and unkind, and he had the eerie illusion that if the man beside him took a single wrong step, these monsters would pounce on him and eagerly rub themselves into his bones and bloo*d.
The beauty snake smiled and continued.
“These three want to become the new caretakers of our circus.”
There was still an eerie silence in the room, and only after a long time did Big Headed Doll whisper, “Really…”
He stared burningly at Kou Dong and loosened his grip on the ropes in his hand.
“That’s really good,” he repeated. “That’s really good.”
There was no objection in the circus, so the snake led the three around the mansion.
It was a mansion, but not much of one, with a stage at the front, an open space with chairs for the guests to watch the show, and a common room at the back, where the circus members were dressed and made up. Further in, there were a few small houses with a few men living in them. Kou Dong looked in and thought they didn’t look like guests but more like the ab-ductors.
There was a room in the innermost part of the house, and the door was locked. The Beauty Snake only brought them here, then turned his head and headed back. Song Hong caught a glimpse of smoke coming out from the doorway, as if someone had lit incense. He asked, “Are there people living here too?”
The beauty snake glanced at him and said, “Yes.”
He dragged his body and walked in a winding manner, showing a graceful demeanor. “But don’t come close to this place,” he said.
Song Hong asked, “Why?”
The Beauty Snake was obviously unwilling to say more, cutting this sentence off: “It is for your own good.”
The three of them glanced at each other, and all of them had a guess in their hearts. Kou Dong craned his head to look around and saw that the room was misty and obviously occupied.
Who could it be?
Was it Xiao Shuang that they were looking for?
The Beauty Snake didn’t let them see much more and led them backstage. Song Hong and Ah Xue were sent to watch the door, but Kou Dong didn’t need to go. The beauty snake said he needed to stay here and help sweep the floor and clean the tables.
Kou Dong seriously doubted that that was the real reason. In his opinion, he was sitting here for the group of NPCs to look at.
Even though he had already gone through three copies, it was inevitable that he would be uncomfortable all over from being watched.
Always watching him do something—what was the point?
Unfortunately, these ghosts were quite enthusiastic, but when Kou Dong tentatively asked them what was in the last room, they all remained silent; they were ghosts but still acted as if they had seen a ghost. Kou Dong was very angry; they died once and couldn’t die a second time. Why were they still so cowardly?
When the circus started, the actors and actresses came out, but only Xiao Yu was left behind.
She was still huddled in the corner, her body leaning against the chair leg. She lifted her head up and looked at Kou Dong.
“You want to know?” She asked in a hoarse voice. “You want to know what’s in that room?”
Kou Dong squatted down in front of her and answered, “Yes.”
“Then go and see,” Xiao Yu laughed. “Go on—there is the Xiao Shuang you are looking for. He’s locked up; find him and sneak him out, then you’ll win.”