When the palm covered his face, a stench and chill spread across his face.
The pressure on his face made Xiao Liu's body stiffen, his nerves numb, unable to move, awaiting death.
Swoosh!!
A cold gleam flashed by, easily severing the ghostly hand, blood splattering everywhere!
Xiao Liu fell to the ground, hurriedly removed the arm, tossed it aside, and touched his face with both hands, breathing a sigh of relief when he found himself unharmed.
The Old Man looked at the severed hand, turned his head, and saw Qin Nuo rushing forward with the Mountain-Cleaving Knife. With a swift chop, the head flew off.
As the head flew away and the body tilted, about to fall, another hand suddenly grabbed Qin Nuo's throat.
Above Qin Nuo's neck, blood rushed, turning it crimson. Just as the ghost hand was about to twist his neck, Qin Nuo's right hand revealed a blood eye, piercing through the headless body's chest.
Withdrawing his hand, he pulled out a bloody heart, crushing it fiercely, along with a paper figure hidden inside.
The headless body swayed twice, then fell to the ground. Its skin split open and dried rapidly like cured meat, turning into a corpse in an instant.Qin Nuo knelt on the ground, coughing, the bruises on his neck clearly visible.
A moment slower, and Qin Feng's character would have met his end.
Qin Nuo stood up, took a few deep breaths, and looked at Xiao Liu, who was getting up: "How are you feeling?"
"I feel like I'm going crazy! Even though it's a game, I was really scared to death just now. Do you know that if you get too scared in a horror game, your nerves can be damaged when you return to the real world?"
"You can still talk so much, your mind should be fine." Qin Nuo flicked the liquid off the Mountain-Cleaving Knife.
"I'm done playing, I'm not taking on this role anymore. Just my luck to run into you!"
Xiao Liu looked at the Mountain-Cleaving Knife in Qin Nuo's hand: "Just give me a quick end."
"There seems to be another rule in the instance: if a Player involved in the main storyline dies during the process, they are directly eliminated and kicked out of the game."
"If I kill you now, you'll lose not only this character but all the effort you've put into the previous character in this instance. Are you sure?" Qin Nuo asked.
He pressed the Mountain-Cleaving Knife against Xiao Liu's waist and said, "Of course, if you want, I can send you on your way."
Xiao Liu hesitated, moved the knife tip away from his groin, and said, "Now that you mention it, I suddenly have the will to live."
Qin Nuo looked over at Li Qianqian, who stood there with a blank expression, her hair covering her eyes.
Xiao Liu whispered nervously, "While she's out of it, should we chop off her head?"
Qin Nuo shook his head.
Xiao Liu scratched his head, uneasily glancing around: "So what's going on now? Why are all these main storyline NPCs suddenly gone?"
"There must be a reason." Qin Nuo looked at the paper figures on the ground, writhing with vitality.
Suddenly, Li Qianqian raised her head, and Xiao Liu panicked, pulling out his life-saving ghost creature, a pitch-black scythe.
"Xiaofeng, I think I remember something."
Qin Nuo didn't approach, asking, "Qianqian, what do you remember?"
"On the night of Children's Day, I was sitting with my classmates, holding balloons. Everyone was happy, and the performances on stage were lively."
"Then it was time for a skit. In the skit, someone played a corpse, acting very realistically. The performance was clearly excellent, but everyone was cursing them."
"Some even started a commotion. When things got out of control, someone stood on stage, bowed to us, and then sprinkled some beautiful things, and everyone quieted down..."
"And then?" Qin Nuo asked. What Li Qianqian said was basically consistent with what Mo Ting had mentioned.
"I can't remember."
Li Qianqian furrowed her brows, trying hard to recall.
Xiao Liu glanced at Qin Nuo: "What's she talking about? Has she gone mad?"
"She's not mad. In fact, she's the most normal one among these game NPCs."
As Qin Nuo spoke, he put away the Mountain-Cleaving Knife and took out the Grave Ghost Stone and Bone-Cracking Hammer, looking up into the white mist.
From the increasingly dense white mist came more movement.
Crisp creaking sounds echoed as figures of various sizes appeared—mannequins, puppets, dolls.
They tilted their heads, staring at Qin Nuo and Xiao Liu, red veins crawling over their surfaces.
"What are these things?" Xiao Liu looked at the figures appearing from all directions, feeling that the scythe in his hand suddenly seemed as harmless as a toy.
"They're all controlled puppets. There should be a paper figure controlling core on the back of their necks."
"Destroying that paper figure will eliminate the threat."
Qin Nuo said.
"With so many of them, knowing the weakness doesn't seem to help much, does it?" Xiao Liu swallowed hard.
"Whatever happens, let's hope for the best."
As Qin Nuo finished speaking, the controlled puppets charged at them one by one.
A dark light shot out, smashing the mannequin at the front into pieces with the Grave Ghost Stone, scattering limbs everywhere.
Qin Nuo switched the Bone-Cracking Hammer to his right hand, fending off the fierce attacks of the puppets.
On the other side, Xiao Liu watched as a stuffed crocodile puppet charged at him. Gritting his teeth, he swung the black scythe in his hand toward it.
The stuffed crocodile's tail whipped around with brute force, sending both him and the scythe flying.
As he hit the ground, Xiao Liu clutched his chest, the intense pain making him gasp for air. Looking at the scythe in his hand, a large chunk had shattered.
"Damn, what kind of main storyline is this, where even a puppet is so damn strong!"
Opening his eyes, the stuffed crocodile lunged at him again, and he scrambled to dodge.
Over there, Qin Nuo wasn't having an easy time either. These controlled puppets weren't particularly strong, but there were too many of them. Two fists couldn't fend off four hands, especially since this body was just a twelve-year-old child.
While fending off the attacks, he suddenly stepped on something and fell backward. Qin Nuo managed to support himself with one hand, but in that brief moment, a swarm of puppets pounced on him.
Bang!!
At the critical moment, a hand reached out, pulling Qin Nuo away, and a kick shattered the heads of two mannequins.
Li Qianqian pulled Qin Nuo behind her, asking, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
Qin Nuo panted, checking himself for any injuries.
Over there, Xiao Liu ran over in a sorry state, hiding behind Li Qianqian, sweating profusely, with scratches from falling and scraping his elbow.
"This main storyline is just inhumane. It's the first time I've seen something like this. Can players even handle it? There's no sense of experience at all!"
Qin Nuo had also scraped some skin, lowered his sleeve, and said, "Compared to the previous instances, this is pretty normal."
Li Qianqian looked at Xiao Liu, who was hiding behind her, trembling despite being more than ten years older than her, and blinked, her gaze returning to the puppets.
More and more wooden puppets emerged from the darkness, staring intently at Qin Nuo and Xiao Liu, the murderous intent still lingering.
Li Qianqian squinted her eyes, stepping forward.
Unexpectedly, all the puppets took a step back upon seeing Li Qianqian's movement.
Qin Nuo and Xiao Liu were stunned.
Li Qianqian blinked, stepped forward again, and all the puppets took another step back.
"Damn, she's a lifesaver!" Xiao Liu's eyes lit up, quickly sticking close to Li Qianqian.
The puppets kept their eyes on Qin Nuo but seemed wary of Li Qianqian.
In the tense atmosphere, after a moment of standoff, the puppets retreated one by one, disappearing into the white mist...