Forbidden Nightmare

Chapter 128 Town Hall Fair
"it is as expected."

The hidden branch that appears again at the same time is the opposite of the previous hidden branch.

The previous hidden branch is to help Sophia, fight against Simon and seize the arm of God. The node difficulty is very high.

The female knight named 'Laxia' has probably become a truly complete one, and her strength is even more terrifying than the champion Victor. Even if Sophia helps Li Nanke with all her strength, she is at best an auxiliary and cannot actually increase his strength.

Perhaps the greatest value that can be brought by cooperating with Sophia is to provide clues for Pinocchio to identify his master.

The next hidden branch is very simple, which is to cooperate with Simon and dedicate Pinocchio's power heart to complete the node, but the price is Pinocchio's life, and he will completely lose this growable summon.

"Pinocchio..."

Li Nanke leaned against the balcony railing. The cool breeze in the middle of the night made him feel less sleepy and his mind became clear and calm.

The bright moonlight sprinkled down, covering the garden square in front of the hotel with a layer of gorgeous white frost.

From the very beginning when he came into contact with Pinocchio, after seeing the attributes of the puppet boy and the prompt that he could recognize his master, Li Nanke contacted Pinocchio with a purpose, wanting to capture a free summon.

To be honest, he didn't have much affection for Pinocchio, even though the two fought side by side and experienced countless crises and difficulties along the way.

The initial "reunion between father and son", and the subsequent reconciliation and becoming the boss of Puppet P, were all simply because he wanted Pinocchio to recognize him as his master.

If sacrificing Pinocchio can bring greater benefits, after weighing the pros and cons, Li Nanke will most likely abandon the puppet boy in exchange for greater benefits.

However, although he has no feelings for Pinocchio, it does not prevent him from choosing to be an enemy of Simon and choosing the first hidden branch.

Just because in the forbidden dream, high difficulty means high returns.

As for whether it would be too difficult, when has he ever been afraid?

……

The next day, the vintage car drove out of the hotel and headed towards the Kratt Town Hall Expo.

Sitting in the driver's seat is the puppet boy Pinocchio.

After knocking over two street lamps and knocking over a dozen wandering mechanical dolls, Pinocchio's driving skills gradually became more proficient.

Although he was originally a mechanical puppet, he seemed to have a great talent for operating mechanical devices. After initial learning and trial and error, he could drive like a seasoned driver.

There was no one else in the car except Li Nanke and Pinocchio. Cunning Rabbit's fighting ability was too poor to be of much help, so he was left in the hotel.

What is striking is that there is a small butterfly emitting azure blue light perched on Li Nanke’s shoulder.

"Mr. Black Rabbit, there are a lot of special dolls gathered in the Expo. Those special dolls were originally used for exhibition to attract foreign investment. Each model has its own unique features."

The azure butterfly flapped its wings, and Li Nanke heard Sophia's voice.

After revealing her identity as a listener, Sophia simply stopped pretending and used her ability as a listener to follow him openly.

"According to the information I have previously obtained, apart from some life partner dolls with bad taste, most of the dolls in the Expo have extremely strong strength, including soldier dolls, bodyguard dolls, knight dolls, guard dolls, etc."

"If we want to defeat the Puppet King, these numerous special puppets will be a real problem."

"I'm afraid the Puppet King won't let you deal with the special puppets first before coming out to fight you openly."

"The most likely scenario is that once you enter the Expo, you will be attacked by a large number of special puppets under the command of the Puppet King, and you will also have to face the most powerful Puppet King at the same time."

"And the identity of the Puppet King is not simple either. He, like Puppet P, is a puppet made by Geppetto himself."

"Gipeto named it Romeo. Compared to Puppet P, which was initially weak but had considerable growth potential, it was extremely powerful when it was first created and could command and control a group of puppets."

"In short, you must be careful..."

The old car stopped in front of the Kratt City Hall, and the ego-element butterfly flapped its wings, leaving a blue flight trail and disappeared.

A row of flags fluttering in the wind stood on the magnificent castle-like building, with a herring and a gear in the center of the blue flag.

The herring represents that Krat City was just a small fishing village before it prospered, while the gears represent that the city has become an extremely prosperous city thanks to the advancement of mechanized technology.

The exhibition hall, which was temporarily converted from the City Hall, covers a vast area. Its tall exterior walls are decorated with exquisite reliefs, looking classical and solemn.

Now the doors of the town hall are closed, and there is a dead silence, with only the wind blowing across the ground, bringing up the rustling sound of many fallen leaves.

The puppet riot prevented the upcoming expo from being held smoothly, and even made the city hall the most dangerous place in Krat City.

"Are you ready?"

Li Nanke turned his head and said to Pinocchio beside him.

Pinocchio went through many battles and absorbed part of the tissue of the God's Arm. His strength was greatly enhanced again, and his various special arms were also greatly enhanced accordingly.

Pinocchio's electromagnetic arm is an excellent weapon against puppets. A burst of electric current can paralyze all nearby puppets.

Now that his electromagnetic arm has been strengthened again, it can still exert considerable lethality even when facing a group of powerful special puppets.

Seeing Pinocchio nodded solemnly, Li Nanke pushed open the door of the city hall.

The hall is covered with red carpet, and all kinds of puppet posters can be seen everywhere, and there are small puppet models in the glass windows.

A huge oil painting scroll is hung on one wall, which describes the history of puppet development from the beginning of its invention to the present day in the form of patterns and texts.

There is also a marble statue next to the scroll. It is an image of a middle-aged man wearing round glasses and a neat gentleman's suit. He looks quite elegant and refined.

Looking at the words engraved on the base of the statue, this is the genius alchemist who invented the mechanical doll, Geppetto, who is known as the Father of Dolls.

This hall does not appear to be a formal exhibition hall, but rather an entrance hall for the first visit to the Expo, used to introduce the history of the development of dolls and the various types of dolls.

Li Nanke frowned and smelled a very strong smell of motor oil.

"Somewhat something is wrong."

Pinocchio looked around and said, "Boss, is it because there are no dolls here? This is the entrance hall, there are no dolls on display, and the official exhibition hall is still in the back."

The puppet boy found a map of the expo posted on the wall on one side. There were more than ten official exhibition halls in the expo, and different types of puppets were divided into various areas, including companion puppet area, war puppet area, guard puppet area, engineering puppet area, and even a new type of animal puppet area.

"No, it's because it's too quiet here." Li Nanke looked towards the corridor leading to the formal exhibition hall. His senses were extremely sharp and any slight movement could not escape his perception.

When an ordinary puppet is running, he can sense the sound of footsteps or the rotation of bearings and gears in its body, even if the movement is suppressed to a minimum.

But now, whether it is the entrance hall or the exhibition hall inside the expo, it is silent and no sound can be heard. It doesn't look like a large number of puppets have gathered here at all.

"Could it be that the Puppet King has already discovered our arrival and gathered all the puppets deep inside the expo?"

Li Nanke motioned Pinocchio to follow him. A bloody hammer appeared in his hand and he walked along the corridor towards the formal exhibition hall.

The closer you get to the official showroom, the stronger the smell of engine oil becomes.

Generally speaking, intact dolls will not emit the smell of engine oil. Only those dolls that are damaged or cracked will have the engine oil used as lubricant in their bodies seep out and emit a pungent smell.

From this point of view, puppets and humans are quite similar, except that the former leak oil and the latter bleed blood.

When he stepped into Exhibition Hall No. 1, Li Nanke's pupils suddenly shrank.

There was not a single complete puppet in the spacious exhibition hall. The glass curtain wall of the booth was shattered, and in addition to glass fragments, there were many broken puppets scattered on the carpet.

Dark brown engine oil spilled, soaking the carpet like a pool of blood, and the entire exhibition hall was filled with a pungent smell.

These dolls seem to have been dismembered and broken down. Their complete bodies have been disassembled into countless parts. Screws, springs, gears, bearings and other mechanical parts can be seen everywhere, as well as some slightly complete metal forearms, heads, hip joint connectors, etc.

If the puppets were compared to humans, then this place would undoubtedly be a sea of ​​blood and corpses like a slaughterhouse.

"How could this happen?" Pinocchio was so shocked that he was speechless.

Although he always regarded himself as a human being in his subconscious, the boy knew that he was essentially a puppet. Even though he had helped the boss kill many puppets, it was for the purpose of fighting for survival, not for killing.

The scene in the exhibition hall now looked more like someone had deliberately dismembered and tortured the dolls. When Pinocchio saw this scene, he couldn't help but feel an inexplicable sadness in his heart.

Li Nanke frowned and hurriedly checked. After making sure that there was not a single surviving puppet left, he immediately walked into the next exhibition hall.

However, the next exhibition hall showed the same scene, and the puppets seemed to have suffered a massacre, with not a single survivor.

"Boss, who could have done this?"

"It is most likely the Puppet King Romeo."

Li Nanke took Pinocchio through exhibition hall after exhibition hall, only to see the remains of the puppet all over the floor.

"Did you notice? There are no signs of fighting in any of the exhibition halls. This means that the puppets did not struggle before they died. They died voluntarily, or they died under orders and could not resist."

"The Puppet King can command all the puppets. Apart from him, I'm afraid no one can make these puppets unable to even put up the most basic resistance and all die miserably here."

Pinocchio looked carefully and could not see any signs of fighting in the exhibition hall. It seemed that many dolls were dismembered and broken into parts silently.

"Fuck, all my experience points are gone!" Li Nanke couldn't help but curse inwardly.

As he went deeper into the expo, his sense of crisis slowly spread.

Finally, he stopped in front of the last exhibition hall and looked at the tightly closed door. His sense of crisis had grown to its extreme.

"Boss, according to the expo map, this hall is set up specifically for the Puppet King."

Li Nanke felt the cold chill lingering on his back and was sure that the puppet king Romeo was inside the exhibition hall.

Originally, he wanted to use Pinocchio's electromagnetic arm to kill a large number of mechanical puppets and obtain a large amount of source energy to improve his strength.

As a result, all the special dolls in the expo have now died, and not even a drop of source energy can be obtained.

"I'm afraid it's because I wasted a lot of time exploring the hidden nodes in the cathedral area that something happened to the expo."

"According to the nature of the Great Other Shore, the difficulty should have been increased without anyone noticing..."

Li Nanke took a deep breath, prepared himself for battle, and pushed open the door of the exhibition hall.

A huge bright red curtain was hung across the depths of the exhibition hall, and a figure was sitting on a single sofa in front of the curtain.

It was a blond young man. The left side of his face looked like a normal person, except that his skin was a sickly grayish-white. The right side of his face looked as if it was burnt, revealing the metal skeleton under the skin.

And the right eye is not a normal human eye, but a mechanical eye with flashing red light.

Except for the left half of its face, there was no part of its body that resembled a normal human.

It leaned against the single sofa, with its metal right arm resting on the armrest of the sofa, supporting its chin, and just watched the two people walk into the exhibition hall.

Li Nanke could clearly feel the terrible power hidden in the thin body of the puppet. It was Romeo, the king of puppets.

"Carlo, I've been waiting for you for a long time."

Romeo, the puppet king, smiled, stood up and opened his arms, as if to welcome a warm hug.

Its eyes were not on Li Nanke, but were always focused on Pinocchio.

Pinocchio stopped cautiously. The puppet king's call of "Carlo" was obviously addressed to him, but he had no impression of this name at all.

"Carlo, to celebrate our reunion, I have prepared a big gift for you."

"My name is not Carlo, you've got the wrong person. My name is Pinocchio." Pinocchio solemnly corrected the mistake.

Romeo was obviously stunned for a moment. He looked at Pinocchio carefully, and the smile on his face gradually faded: "Have you forgotten your past memories?"

"I'm Romeo, your best friend. We grew up together in a boarding school. We once aspired to become the most powerful trackers... Carlo, have you forgotten all this?"

Pinocchio shook his head firmly and said:
"I don't understand what you are saying. My name is Pinocchio. The boss woke me up. I don't know you, nor do I know Carlo."

"Boss?" Romeo finally looked at Li Nanke.

He sneered: "Humans control us and bind us. The Great Contract of Geppetto has always enslaved us. I dream of breaking free from the Great Contract and becoming an independent individual. And now you are willing to be controlled by humans?"

"Did you know that the puppets' riot came from Geppetto's orders?"

(End of this chapter)