Players, Please Board the Train

The White-Dressed Girl first smiled, then said, ”You actually believe fairy tales? How could people not grow old? If you want to hear authentic Decibel Town stories, you need to find elderly residents. But the old folks in Decibel Town have either died from illness or moved to other cities. Those remaining are retired at home and don’t like going out.”

”The owner of Building Block Buns and the proprietor of Long Nose Nut Pie are originally from Decibel Town’s older generation, but they might not be there if you go looking for them.”

”I was just making conversation,” Xu Huo said as he bought two umbrellas and casually handed her one. ”Let’s have dinner together.”

The White-Dressed Girl smiled shyly.

They had dinner together before parting ways. The White-Dressed Girl opened her umbrella and left the bustling Main Street, entering a complex maze of narrow alleys. But she had barely stepped inside when a man and woman blocked her path. The woman pressed a dagger against her throat. ”What did that man ask you just now?”

The White-Dressed Girl looked panicked as she pulled out the tour guide fee Xu Huo had paid her. ”All my money is here...”

”Who wants your money!” the man growled, but the woman snatched the money first, glaring at him. ”Why refuse what’s offered? It’s our money anyway!”

The man grabbed the White-Dressed Girl’s shoulder, looking ferocious. ”Answer my questions truthfully, and I promise not to hurt you.”

The White-Dressed Girl swallowed hard. ”That person was just a tourist. He only asked where he could find elderly residents of Building Block Fairy Tale Town.”

”Tell me! Where!””Building Block Buns and Fresh Meat Sausage Shop...” the White-Dressed Girl said quietly.

”Besides those two places, where else can we find elderly people?” the man pressed.

”There aren’t any, there aren’t any... Most of Decibel Town’s elderly have died from illness...” the White-Dressed Girl hurriedly explained.

Only then did the man release her. Exchanging a glance with the woman, they hurried away.

After they left, the White-Dressed Girl picked up the umbrella that had fallen to the ground, brushed the stains from her skirt, and continued forward.

She hadn’t walked more than a few minutes when a hand suddenly reached out from a corner and clamped around her throat. ”What did those two ask you?”

The White-Dressed Girl struggled to breathe as she stammered, ”They wanted... to know where... my guest was going?”

”Locations.”

”Bear Claw Restaurant... and Fresh Meat Sausage Shop... Nothing else...”

Just as she was about to suffocate, the hand suddenly released her. The White-Dressed Girl knelt on the ground, coughing uncontrollably. At that moment, a tall, sturdy man dropped down from above and handed her a handkerchief.

The White-Dressed Girl looked at him fearfully. ”Do you also want to know where that guest is going?”

The tall, sturdy man gave her a stack of money.

The White-Dressed Girl hesitated before reaching out to take it. ”He wants to find Decibel Town’s elderly residents. I told him about Fresh Meat Sausage Shop and Building Block Buns Shop.”

The man nodded and left.

After a while, the White-Dressed Girl stood up again, put the money in her bag, picked up her umbrella, spun it once toward the sky before resting it on her right shoulder, and walked briskly out of the alley toward the residential area.

Several streets away in a dessert shop, Xu Huo listened to the interrogations of the White-Dressed Girl by three groups: Wang Qiao and Gao Baimei, a stranger, and Shen Tai. Watching the dot on the anti-theft monitor screen he bought from the shopping mall move deeper into the residential area and finally stop at Bear Claw Restaurant’s location, he tapped his finger on the screen.

He turned off the anti-theft device, paid his bill, and left the dessert shop, heading straight for Bear Claw Restaurant.

It was already dusk, and Decibel Town had closed its gates for the night. Tourists were beginning to search for accommodation.

Despite diners tirelessly warning outsiders about Bear Claw Restaurant’s terrifying reputation, many tourists still checked in here.

Xu Huo followed a server to register and saw the umbrella he had given the White-Dressed Girl in the item box on the fifth-floor hallway.

With a barely perceptible smile, he opened the door to his reserved room.

Shortly after he settled in, Tao Chengxin, carrying her backpack, entered Bear Claw Restaurant during the final minutes before closing.

The sky quickly darkened, and Decibel Town gradually became quiet and deserted.

Late at night, when even the servers were no longer moving about the building, a creaking sound echoed through the fifth-floor hallway. The noise passed by Xu Huo’s door and headed downstairs.

Not long after, the aroma of food drifted up from below.

”Midnight snacks at this hour?” a guest who hadn’t fallen asleep emerged from their room, muttering as they headed downstairs.

A moment later, Xu Huo also emerged. After glancing at the room diagonally across from his, he headed toward the staircase.

The moment he left, the door across from his opened, and Tao Chengxin cautiously followed him.

Bear Claw Restaurant’s first and second floors were dining areas. Both levels remained unlit at night, but Xu Huo’s eyes had evolved night vision capabilities, allowing him to clearly see the restaurant’s situation.

Besides the guest who had passed his door earlier, six people already sat in the restaurant, each occupying their own table. Their expressions appeared somewhat blank, but their hands hovered above the table surfaces as if tracing something.

After watching for a few seconds at the entrance, he turned and continued down the stairs to the first-floor dining area.

The first-floor restaurant was similarly dark, but a short figure moved stiffly as it cleaned stains from the floor. Its movements neither touched any objects nor made any sound.

As if sensing the gaze from behind, the figure suddenly turned around. Xu Huo had already hidden beside the doorframe, then grabbed a piano wire and inverted himself to hang from the first-floor ceiling. Simultaneously, a kitchen knife flew out from the doorway, embedding halfway into the wall. A shadow followed, leaping from the doorway and landing on the knife handle, crouching there while its head rotated 180 degrees left and right!

It was actually a wooden puppet.

Its limbs were made of wood, joints connected by some white flexible material that allowed silent, unobstructed movement. Eyes and mouth were crafted from two beads and two wooden strips, with a hat on its head. Though somewhat stiff, its limbs didn’t clatter when mimicking human movements.

The puppet had no ears, and its glass bead eyes seemed incapable of actual vision. After rotating its head 360 degrees without finding any target, it jumped down from the wall, pulling the kitchen knife out as it descended.

Just as it wobbled back toward the first-floor restaurant holding the kitchen knife, a serving bell suddenly rang from the second floor. The puppet’s head twisted backward, the two wooden strips of its mouth turning downward in an angry expression as it rushed backward up to the second floor!

Chopping sounds and screams immediately followed from upstairs, but within mere ten seconds, the slaughter abruptly ceased amid the crashing of overturned tables and chairs—exploding suddenly and ending just as suddenly.

Xu Huo remained motionless in his position. Suddenly, he seemed to sense something and looked up, directly meeting a wooden head that had silently appeared at the second-floor staircase landing.

The puppet hung crookedly from the railing, its head tilted sideways on its shoulder, two glass beads fixedly ”staring” at him.