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

Doris's house was very tidy, the floor was spotless, there were many posters on the living room walls, and fresh roses were placed on the table, emitting a faint fragrance.

Yi Zanglan and Wang Mingyue sat side by side on the sofa. After a while, Doris brought over two cups of freshly brewed coffee.

"We haven't had any guests at home for a long time, please forgive us for any shortcomings in our hospitality."

"How could that be?" Yi Zanglan shifted her gaze from the bottle of roses and looked at Doris with a smile. "What a fragrant coffee! Just the smell is intoxicating. You are truly a romantic woman who loves life and pays attention to details."

These words clearly touched Doris's heart, and she became happy, replying with a smile.

"Indeed, I believe that a person's love for life should not be abandoned as they get older."

"That's so true. We may not be able to stop the passage of time, but a good mindset can keep us young forever," Yi Zanglan softly agreed. She glanced around and naturally changed the subject, "Judging from these posters you've put up, you must really enjoy theatrical performances, right?"

"Of course," Doris nodded repeatedly. "I love all forms of theatrical performance; their vibrant acting is like opening a new world for me."

"Do you know any puppeteers named Caroline?"

"..."

The keyword triggered her words, and Doris instantly lost her smile, her expression turning terrified and grave.

"Do you know Caroline?"

"I don't know her." Yi Zanglan shook her head, her tone somewhat tentative. "But we've seen her puppet show posters and heard some rumors... She's already left the town, hasn't she?"

"No," Doris said in a trembling voice, "She's dead. She died ten years ago."

Yi Zanglan and Wang Mingyue exchanged a glance. Neither of them was surprised; it was just a logical way to introduce the background story.

Caroline is definitely dead; if she were alive, this game wouldn't be possible.

"Could you please tell us how Caroline died?"

Doris seemed to have made up her mind after a long time, and it was clear that she still felt lingering fear about that past event.

"Well, if you really want to know..." she whispered, "Caroline is a very good puppeteer. She is lively and cheerful. She was very popular when she first arrived in town. Everyone loved her performance. After all, we had never seen such lifelike puppetry."

"However, Caroline is a strange person. Traditional puppeteers usually cherish their puppets, and a puppet can usually stay with them for many years; but she regards puppets as consumables and replaces them with new ones every few days. She once said, 'Old puppets have no need to exist. Just burn them in a fire, and you will make new puppets yourself.'"

Wang Mingyue frowned, remembering the old wooden puppet in the living room.

"Are those puppets hiding some secret?"

"It's more than just a secret!" Doris's pupils dilated sharply, and she instinctively raised her voice. "During that time, strange things kept happening in town. Young men and women were dying mysteriously in their homes one after another, and their hearts were always ripped out and their faces torn off!"

"...Did Caroline kill them?"

"Yes! We later learned that Caroline's puppets were so lifelike because she used some kind of sorcery to incorporate fresh skin and hearts into the material, making the carved puppets as vivid as real people—but this sorcery didn't last long, so the puppets were consumed very quickly."

Yi Zanglan reached out and patted Doris on the shoulder, trying to soothe her overly anxious emotions.

"But she still died, didn't she? Who killed her, and how?"

"It was the mayor. The mayor had a family heirloom exorcism gun, a special weapon for killing evil spirits." Doris sighed with red eyes. "Unfortunately, Caroline's evil magic was too powerful. She sealed the entire theater back then. Although the mayor killed her, he couldn't escape alive and perished with her."

"How can I find that exorcism gun?"

"The mayor died, and the gun disappeared too. No one has found it for so long." Doris held her coffee cup, looking worried. "Ten years have passed in the blink of an eye. Recently, there have been new murders in town. The bodies are killed in the exact same way as they were years ago. Everyone suspects that Caroline's ghost has returned, which is why they are afraid to go out."

After a moment's thought, Yi Zanglan changed her approach tactfully: "Do you know where the mayor lives? Or... where the body is buried?"

Doris looked puzzled, clearly finding her words a bit strange, but she still answered.

"The mayor's house was rebuilt and changed hands long ago. He didn't leave behind a body, but the townspeople still erected a monument for him in the cemetery to the south."

The cemetery to the south.

It's a new location.

Seeing that the information had been collected, Yi Zanglan stood up and politely bid farewell to Doris.

Wang Mingyue didn't get a word in edgewise until she suddenly saw Yi Zanglan wink at her, as if asking her to help block Doris's view.

She immediately understood, quickly took Doris's arm, and praised her outfit.

"I was just thinking that this dress suits you very well, and it would be even more perfect if you could get a perm."

"Oh really, honey? It's a shame town's too dangerous lately. Once the strange things stop happening, I definitely want a new hairstyle!"

At this moment, Yi Zanglan walked up from behind. She looked normal and shook hands with Doris with a smile.

"Goodbye, Ms. Doris. Believe that the light will eventually come to the town."

* * * * * *

The NPC Doris has been refreshed, and the background and mission of this game have come to light.

Caroline, a puppeteer with dark magic, once assassinated young residents of the town, using their fresh skins and hearts for her puppet making. She was later killed by the mayor with an exorcism gun, but the mayor also died in the sealed theater.

Ten years later, Caroline's ghost returns, and strange things begin to happen again. The players, who are playing tourists, need to find the long-lost exorcism gun to eliminate Caroline once again and restore peace to the town.

This is no simple matter. Putting aside the exorcism gun, even if we take a step back, they don't even know where Caroline is hiding.

Wang Mingyue had many questions in her mind and was eager for Yi Zanglan to give her some answers.

But Yi Zanglan is the kind of person who will speak when she wants to, and will remain silent the whole way when she doesn't want to. No matter how you ask her, she always looks like she is thinking, completely blocking out any external interference.

She discovered that communicating with mentally ill people can really cause one's emotions to fluctuate wildly.

"See you at 10 p.m.." Just before returning to the small building, Yi Zanglan finally said these words.

Wang Mingyue breathed a sigh of relief: "...You have a plan?"

Yi Zanglan did not answer directly, but only vaguely indicated: "There will be a good show then."