The moment Yan Wei saw that familiar face, a chill ran down his spine. Not far away, the players who had learned Yan Wei’s way of breaking the game were getting closer, accompanied by flocks of crows flying in from several places around the castle. The cawing of the crows was incessant, their muted cries sounding like screams from the abyss.
The night wind was a bit chilly, and Yan Wei tightened his windbreaker, his hands stuffed in his pockets, his fingertips gently exploring the coins he had placed inside.
There were quite a few figures around; he was now standing in front of the castle gate, unable to see the Puppets behind him clearly, but he could make out another slightly familiar silhouette, likely the ordinary player who had died right in front of him when he first entered the instance/dungeon.
With a serious expression, he whispered to Yan Mingguang, “There are people here that I saw when I was in the maze. They were eaten by crows.”
Yan Mingguang had been running over to find Yan Wei and had seen more than Yan Wei. He said, “I saw some on my way here too.”
Naturally, the people they saw were not the ones still alive.
“So this is the purpose of the maze…”
Puppet Castle; the focus was not on the castle itself, but on the Puppets.
The maze was merely a tool for filtering, allowing players to target each other unknowingly, sending slightly weaker players alive to the crows. The way the castle’s master created Puppets was through the deaths of those who perished in the maze, all turning into the eerie Puppets before them.
The dead would become Puppets, becoming part of the castle’s NPCs.
Even though Yan Wei had always been confident in himself, thinking of this crucial moment made his heart sink.
In past instances/dungeons, what players like them had to do was survive and find the Stairway. As for other unrelated players, if they died, they just died; at most, it meant fewer teammates to help find clues, and for those with grudges, the death of an enemy was actually a good thing.
But now, for every player that died, a Puppet was added—this change brought a double disparity.
The castle still emitted a warm yellow light, and on either side of the open castle gate, the players who had already become Puppets stood expressionless. The previous muted, deep voice echoed again: “Please enter.”
Yan Wei and Yan Mingguang exchanged glances, and Yan Mingguang stepped forward first, entering the castle behind Yan Wei.
The layout inside the castle was quite complex. As soon as they entered, they found themselves on a path flanked by towering trees, surrounded by small Western-style buildings. Further in was the main body of the castle.
The first floor was a spacious hall, with intricate staircases on either side. It was evident that there were many rooms above, and the layout was bound to be very complicated. Although the castle’s style was quite ancient, the light inside was provided by exquisite electric lamps. Hanging from the ceiling was an antique clock connected to the power supply, with a display screen attached to it showing the current time.
Aside from the Puppets and the things inside the castle, there was no one else in front of Yan Wei and Yan Mingguang.
That voice did not say anything further; clearly, their arrival was of no use, and they would likely have to wait until midnight when everything in the maze was completely over to know what would happen next.
Yan Wei and Yan Mingguang took the opportunity to rest for a moment. Before long, Lin Zhen and Yu Feizhou arrived one after another.
The waning moon in the sky gradually shifted, and more players reached the castle. Some had figured out the self-harm method from Yan Wei and others’ ways of breaking the game, while others had made their way up using paths laid by players.
Without exception, when these people saw the Puppets on either side, they all revealed expressions of shock to varying degrees.
There were also some who arrived earlier, sizing up Yan Wei and the others—faces that were very unfamiliar to the forty-some seed players, yet they had arrived the earliest, clearly the first to discover the self-harm method to break the game.
Yan Wei couldn’t be bothered with their gazes, carefully observing everything in front of him, committing the entire situation of the castle to memory.
“Dong—”
The large clock hanging above suddenly rang out, causing everyone present to feel a momentary dizziness.
—Midnight had arrived.
Yan Wei received the prompt indicating he had entered the Undying State.
The Puppets standing on either side began to move again, slowly closing the castle doors. Outside, screams echoed—those were the players who had not made it to the castle before midnight. As stated in the background introduction when entering the instance/dungeon, those who did not arrive would be devoured by the crows.
Once the castle doors were completely shut, the sounds from outside gradually quieted down, leaving only the faint cawing of crows. The number of Puppets around had unknowingly increased, and those players who had just died outside instantly turned into Puppets.
On the Stairway directly ahead, a figure draped in a black robe, with an indistinguishable face, slowly descended.
All the players looked over at that moment.
At the same time, Lou’s prompt sounded.
[Congratulations to the player for successfully arriving at Puppet Castle. The Arena Instance “Puppet Castle” officially begins, and the ranking table starts calculating, ranked by organization. Players who entered due to a failed bet with Lou will have their scores counted towards their respective organizations if they belong to one. If they do not belong to any organization, they will automatically be grouped into one team, and if they successfully survive and exit the instance/dungeon, it will count as the establishment of a new organization.]
Before the voice faded, an additional option appeared on everyone’s Information Panel—View Rankings.
If clicked, a score table listing all organization names would pop up, showing names like Blackbird, Morning Star, Moonlight, Broken Scythe, etc., with all organizations starting with a score of zero.
The figure in the black robe finally reached the players.
He slightly bent forward, very gentlemanly, and bowed to everyone, saying in a deep voice, “Welcome, guests, to my castle for the game.”
The black-robed man straightened up, raised his hand, and snapped his fingers.
In the next moment, seven coins suddenly appeared, floating in front of each person.
“Take your coins, seven for each person,” the black-robed man said, “This game lasts a maximum of seven days, and each person’s initial stake is seven coins.”
He spread his hands, sweeping over the Puppets standing not far away, saying, “These coins can capture my Puppets. As long as you can successfully hit the coins onto them, you can capture them and bring the captured Puppets to me, and you will earn one point in this game.”
“Every day, my Puppets will roam inside the castle—guests, be careful… Of course, you can also look for opportunities to capture them with the coins. But guests need to pay attention to one thing: the Puppets I make are divided into good and evil. Good Puppets can be captured, while evil…”
The black-robed man let out a sinister laugh, his hoarse voice more piercing than the cawing of crows.
“If you capture an evil Puppet by mistake, or let an evil Puppet capture you, you will join them.”
Yan Wei raised an eyebrow.
This meant that not only would dead players turn into Puppets, but capturing the wrong Puppet would also lead to assimilation. Players not only had to distinguish between the types of Puppets but also avoid the hunting of evil ones.
Once everyone had collected their coins, the black-robed man raised his hand and clapped.
In the next moment, lights illuminated beneath everyone’s feet, and a number lit up under each person.
“Why the long faces? Guests and my children are treated fairly; they will disguise themselves, and guests will have extra help. The entire floor of the castle is made of light panels, and the number under your feet indicates the number of Puppets within a 300-meter radius centered on you. This is the only help I can provide to the guests—after all, it’s a game, and fairness makes it more fun.”
“The second floor is for the guests’ rooms; feel free to reside there.”
“For every good Puppet captured, in addition to earning one point in the game, you will also receive ten gold coins, which can be exchanged for a Puppet belonging to you.”
“Within seven days, guests can use the gold coins they earn to find me for exchanges, taking the exchanged Puppet to open the castle doors and leave. As for what you see after opening the door… that’s uncertain.”
“If you do not exchange for a Puppet to open the door from me, you will not be able to leave during these seven days. This is my great paradise, guests; what you see are all my magnificent creations, the most real Puppets in the world.”
The black-robed man chuckled several times.
He snapped his fingers, and the expressionless Puppets around the players instantly vanished.
The black-robed man turned and slowly walked up the Stairway, his hoarse voice growing fainter: “The game has begun. If guests wish to find me, I will be at the observatory on the top floor.”
As the voice faded, the black-robed man disappeared around the corner of the stairs.
The players did not move immediately but instead sized each other up, some seemingly whispering something using Items.
Yan Wei replayed the black-robed man’s words in his mind, slowly spreading his Perception to connect with Yan Mingguang and the others’ Perception.
Lin Zhen spoke first: 【What do you think?】
【Do you all understand the rules? In simple terms, the Puppets are divided into two types; evil Puppets are very dangerous. They will kill players and turn them into Puppets. Only by capturing a good Puppet and handing it to the castle master can you earn one point and ten gold coins. The points are used for ranking the various organizations, while the gold coins can be exchanged for a Puppet belonging to you from the castle master, and only by having a Puppet to help open the door can you leave the castle.】
Yu Feizhou: 【So, no matter what, capturing Puppets is the most important thing. We not only need to strive to climb the rankings but also find the Stairway. The castle master’s hints are already very clear—exchanging for the correct Puppet to open the door leads to the Stairway for leaving.】
Yan Wei nodded: 【Right, we need to ensure that the number of Puppets doesn’t increase to the point of overwhelming the players while trying to score as high as possible, and we also need to identify which Puppets can lead to the Stairway when the castle door is opened. They must have some clues or characteristics.】
This was a subtly existing balance.
As time passed, the number of players failing to capture Puppets would inevitably increase, and more players would turn into Puppets, raising the difficulty and danger, but the probability of surviving players capturing Puppets would also increase.
Lin Zhen clicked his tongue, not using Perception to communicate, but speaking directly: “So it’s just about using the coins we have to capture Puppets.”
Yan Wei opened his mouth, just about to say something when, with a loud “bang,” all the lights in the castle suddenly went out, leaving only the lights showing the number of surrounding Puppets still lit beneath the players’ feet.
At the moment the lights went out, the numbers beneath everyone’s feet were all “0.”
But in the next moment, Yan Wei watched as the number beneath his feet changed to “1,” and a scream from a player suddenly echoed nearby.
“Ahhhhhhh——!!!”
In the dim light, Yan Wei felt Yan Mingguang looking at him.
He murmured softly, “The castle master already said earlier, the game… has already begun.”
