The night swallowed the vast, abandoned school.
In the dim campus, Qin Nuo, holding a flashlight, led Mo Ting through the chilling night wind back into the complex building.
Without stopping, they went straight to the top floor, where some corners still had those scattered puppets and mannequins piled up, untouched.
After the first night of being attacked by them, they had become completely discarded items, gathering dust and cobwebs.
"That mysterious principal hasn't used the cursed paper dolls against me again. Is he being obstructed, or is he playing the long game, wanting to toy with me slowly, or perhaps brewing some big move?"
As Qin Nuo walked, he thought to himself, glancing around.
Mo Ting also looked around, seemingly able to see something else in those old, abandoned puppets. Her eyes held a hint of bewilderment as she softly spoke, "They are so pitiful."
Back in the stage room, the large stage was already illuminated by spotlights.
In addition, a few other lights suddenly flicked on, making the stage incredibly bright.
Mo Ting looked around and asked, "Where are the brothers and sisters?""They'll be here soon." Qin Nuo found a spot and sat down.
There was a problem now: those little ghosts had their memories refreshed every day, forgetting what happened yesterday, which seemed to complicate things.
He heard some sounds, and a chill spread across the stage. Atu and Agai came out first; they were the smallest and most mischievous, carrying props for the performance, followed by Tang Rou and Dafu.
"The order has changed; Atu wasn't supposed to come out last." Qin Nuo raised an eyebrow, noticing this with suspicion.
"Let's hurry up with the rehearsal today; there's other work to be done."
Tang Rou urged, also asking Dafu to help set up the stage props and distribute the scripts.
"You guys are here; we've been waiting for a while."
Mo Ting saw them, floated onto the stage, and said happily.
Tang Rou glanced at Tang Rou, then at Qin Nuo, without any surprise or confusion on her face. Her voice softened a bit, "We'll finish the rehearsal quickly today. After all, we promised to help you recover your memory."
"Memory hasn't been refreshed?"
Qin Nuo was a bit surprised; tonight had changed quite a bit from before.
Was it the mysterious principal's intention, or did he get some game mechanism assistance while investigating the main storyline?
The script was slapped on Qin Nuo's head, and Tang Rou stood in front of him, hands on her hips, still with that leader's demeanor, and said irritably, "You little rascal, always thinking about being lazy. Can you lend a hand?"
Qin Nuo held his head and said, "My bad, I'll help right away."
On the stage, Agai handed a script to Qin Nuo, "These are your lines for today."
Seeing Agai reminded Qin Nuo of the scene where his grandfather melted, and his gaze lingered on Agai's face for a moment.
"Do I have eye gunk on my face?" Agai scratched his head and asked.
"No."
Qin Nuo took the script, rolled it up, tucked it into the back of his pants, and went over to help Agai with the props, casually asking, "Agai, how long has it been since you last went back to your grandfather's place?"
At the mention of his grandfather, Agai pouted, looking displeased, "I want to go back, but my grandfather might not want me to. With his weird temper, if he hears I'm still in the performance guild, he'll definitely break my legs!"
"With that, it's better not to go back. Let him stew at home alone!"
Qin Nuo blinked; from a few words, he could tell Agai wanted to go back and was also concerned about his grandfather alone at home, but he was stubborn, preferring a cold war rather than going back.
But he didn't know that this thought would mean he'd never see his grandfather again in this lifetime.
Qin Nuo remained silent, not asking further. Instead, Agai asked, "How do you know about my family?"
"I saw your grandfather; he seemed to know I was your classmate."
A casual response, and Agai, being simple-minded, believed it.
The props were quickly set up, and everyone received their scripts. Qin Nuo glanced at his role, still that twisted worldview, a horror-filled and absurd character and plot.
Qin Nuo was used to it by now.
"Time is tight today; let's rehearse with the scripts in hand," Tang Rou clapped her hands and said.
"Yanan didn't come today either?" Qin Nuo asked, now being Qin Feng, so asking this shouldn't seem strange.
No one responded, only Tang Rou said, "Let's just assume he's dead."
The rehearsal started quickly. After the previous two scenes, Qin Nuo had adapted to these scripts.
Qin Feng's status in the guild was evidently not high, and his role had little presence, with only a few lines.
Since Atu replaced Yanan, he, Tang Rou, and Dafu were the core of the skit, while Agai had an even smaller role.
A skit under simple rehearsal ended quickly. Tang Rou called a cut, her little face not showing much satisfaction, but since there were other things to do, she didn't ask for another rehearsal.
Offstage, Mo Ting watched everyone finish rehearsing, her little face showing a hesitant expression.
"Mo Ting, what do you think?" Tang Rou asked, seeing her expression.
Mo Ting hesitated and said, "It feels strange; don't you think the plot is scary?"
Tang Rou was a bit puzzled, "No, it's quite normal. We've been performing for so long and never felt it was scary."
She turned to look at Qin Nuo and the others, "What do you think?"
Qin Nuo thought, finally, someone who understands, but his expression remained natural. He shrugged and said, "The skit is touching and warm. I'm sure we'll win an award on the night of the performance!"
Mo Ting opened her mouth, glanced at the kitchen knife in Tang Rou's hand, though it was a prop, it dripped with blood, the smell of blood strong, and she closed her mouth.
"We will, after all, we've worked so hard for so long," Tang Rou liked this statement, showing a smile.
Qin Nuo checked the time and said, "It's getting late; shouldn't we address Mo Ting's issue?"
Tang Rou asked everyone to pack up, then turned to Mo Ting and said, "Let's go then. Speaking of which, we haven't been back to that place for a long time."
Agai and Atu on stage cheered, "Finally, rehearsal is over; we're exhausted!"
"Speaking of which, that place is like our secret base. I wonder what it's like now?"
Qin Nuo was puzzled but still put his hands in his pockets, pretending to be nostalgic, "Yeah, I miss it there."
Once everyone packed up the stage props, they left the dance room. As they exited, Qin Nuo habitually glanced at the clock on the wall, just as it struck two in the morning.
Pondering, he closed the door to the dance room.
As the door shut, all the lights inside instantly went out with a snap!