Don't provoke mentally ill people in the infinite flow genre!

Wang Mingyue wandered around the other side of the cemetery for a long time, carefully reading all the inscriptions on the tombstones, and making sure that none of them were related to the town mayor.

It seems the town mayor wasn't buried here; he was most likely buried near Yi Zanglan.

As expected, she soon saw Yi Zanglan walking towards her, carrying a metal box in his hand.

The two walked towards each other until they met up.

As soon as Wang Mingyue saw the box, she knew that Yi Zanglan had already taken care of the props. She was overjoyed and was about to say something when she turned her gaze slightly and suddenly saw something behind Yi Zanglan.

Her smile froze on her face. She felt a chill run through her limbs. She wanted to point but didn't dare, so she could only widen her eyes and use her facial expressions to signal.

"Behind you... a puppet..."

It was indeed a female puppet, about the same height as an adult, with long hair and wearing a floral dress.

The puppet's front was covered with a bloody face, with only half of the facial features painted on, and it didn't seem to have fully integrated with the wood yet.

The puppet stretched out one hand, its empty eyes staring straight at Yi Zanglan. Blood dripped from its face, and it repeated each word in a mechanical voice.

"They said they wanted to invite me to dance on stage?"

"They said they wanted to invite me to dance on stage?"

"They said they wanted to invite me to dance on stage?"

It kept approaching Yi Zanglan, leaning forward, and in the blink of an eye, it was about to press against Yi Zanglan's back.

Unexpectedly, Yi Zanglan seemed to have known about its existence all along, and did not appear particularly nervous or surprised. She handed the metal box to Wang Mingyue.

"Could you carry this for me? This lady has been with me all the way here, and I need to dance with her."

This is probably one of the rules: whoever gets the item buried in the mayor's grave will trigger the mechanism of being followed by a puppet, and must successfully dance with the puppet before they can leave.

Without a doubt, this puppet was also a victim of Caroline's sorcery back then.

"..."

Wang Mingyue took the box and took a step back with mixed feelings.

Cold sweat slowly soaked her back. She watched as Yi Zanglan turned around, bowed slightly, and gracefully extended his hand in a gentlemanly gesture of invitation.

Not only that, Yi Zanglan even hummed a jazz dance tune, adding his own accompaniment, showcasing his exceptional vocal skills.

Under the cold moonlight, a woman in a hospital gown was embracing and dancing with a bloodied wooden puppet, and their dance steps were strangely in sync.

Even a normal person wouldn't dream of such a bizarre scene.

Wang Mingyue gripped the metal box handle tightly, her eyes fixed on Yi Zanglan, her mind racing as she weighed her options.

How long is this dance going to last? Is it going to go on until we die?

That makes sense, since this box is clearly a key item, and to get the key item, you always have to sacrifice something as a price.

Perhaps it is necessary to sacrifice one person to stay with the puppet so that the other person can leave?

Thinking about this, Wang Mingyue became even more hesitant.

She didn't really care whether Yi Zanglan lived or died. Although Yi Zanglan was smart, she had to let go of him when necessary. Anyway, she had already gotten the items, and she could go back and slowly decipher the password.

Those who are pragmatic and adaptable are truly outstanding.

...Just as she was looking around to find her way and preparing to quietly retreat, she suddenly saw the puppet, who had been immersed in the dance, suddenly have eyes wide open and roar in a hoarse voice.

"Didn't I dance well?"

"Why didn't you say a single thing?!"

The puppet instantly changed its expression, clenching its heavy fist and preparing to deliver a punch to Yi Zanglan. It was conceivable that this punch would be enough to shatter the skull of an ordinary human.

Wang Mingyue let out a low cry and decisively ran back the way she came. She was certain that Yi Zanglan was dead now, and all she had to do was return to the small building as soon as possible.

She thought that perhaps she could climb back to Yi Zanglan's bedroom along the wall, so that she could avoid Sun Qianqian and study the code in peace.

……

However, after running for several dozen meters, she suddenly felt something was wrong, because there was no sound of heavy objects hitting her or desperate screams coming from behind.

Everything was quiet, as if nothing had happened.

She hesitated, stopped, and glanced back—

Yi Zanglan remained standing facing the puppet, holding a rose in her hand—a rose darker than blood.

She held the rose up in front of the puppet and whispered it in a very gentle voice.

"Beautiful lady, your dance is so graceful and captivating. I have never seen a dancer as perfect as you. Please accept this rose that represents my feelings, even though it is nothing compared to your charm."

"..."

The puppet's heavy fist was still hovering above her head, but it seemed to be frozen in place, no longer falling.

After a moment of eye contact, it finally changed its posture, turning its fist into a palm, and slowly accepted the rose she offered.

With a soft, strained creaking sound as its body parts rubbed together under the weight, it clumsily lifted the hem of its skirt, bowed, and turned to leave.

And just like that, he turned and left.

Wang Mingyue was completely stunned.

She recognized the rose as coming from the coffee table in Doris's living room, where a vase was filled with red roses, which Yi Zanglan had observed for quite some time.

Thinking about it this way, Yi Zanglan's request for her to distract Doris before leaving must have been a way for her to steal the roses.

How exactly did they realize this?

Wang Mingyue's mind was still racing with all sorts of random thoughts when she looked up and found that Yi Zanglan was already walking towards her.

She didn't run, because her intuition told her that she couldn't escape even if she ran, and that Yi Zanglan would definitely catch up.

Their eyes met, and she looked slightly embarrassed, managing only to ask with difficulty, "...How did you know that roses could please a puppet?"

"I don't know." Yi Zanglan shook her head, as if she had asked a very strange question. "This is the only rose in the bottle with the deepest color, and it has double petals. Doris likes roses so much, I guess this thing must have some use, so I just grabbed it."

"..."

Wang Mingyue knew perfectly well that what she called a casual grab was actually the result of careful consideration and decisive action.

She was afraid precisely because she knew it so clearly.

She knew how Zhao Chen died, and she had just abandoned Yi Zanglan, so how could Yi Zanglan possibly let her go?

As she was quickly thinking of a solution, she heard Yi Zanglan ask gently with a slight smile.

"Why did you run so fast just now? I asked you to help me with this, but I didn't give you permission to run away with the box."

"...I'm not trying to run away, I just...I just want to find a safe place to hide..."

"Really?" Yi Zanglan's eyes crinkled into a smile, her expression deepening. "In such a desolate cemetery, where is there a safe place?"

"..."

"Being buried in a grave is the safest option, right?"

These words made Wang Mingyue's pores explode instantly. She looked down in shock and saw that Yi Canglan had somehow produced a narrow-bladed dagger in his hand.