Bai Youwei blinked.

Having Shen Fei guard the bottom of the clock tower — didn’t that basically mean… having Shen Fei act as her shield?

— If Mary and the cat found the clock tower, they would discover Shen Fei first, and then direct their attack at Shen Fei, ignoring whoever else might be hiding at the top of the tower.

Bai Youwei’s feelings became complicated.

She had hoped Shen Mo would treat her even better — yet here he was, willing to use his own cousin as a shield for her safety. He truly was ruthless! …It made her feel just a little bit guilty~

*(Bashful)*

…

In reality, Shen Mo hadn’t thought that deeply about it.

He simply felt that, as a man of the Shen family, Shen Fei had the responsibility to protect women and those weaker than himself. This was the duty a man ought to have. It had nothing to do with anything else.

*(Indifferent)*

…

The group left the stage and walked out of the puppet theater.

Outside, the sun was shining perfectly. A deep blue sky without a single cloud, white daylight falling across everyone’s faces, bright enough to be breathtaking.

They had already spent two days and two nights inside this game.

Now it was the third day.

On the road heading toward the carousel, the scene gradually started to change.

Along the sides of the path, they discovered many plush puppets — except these were puppets with only the outer skin remaining, their plush stuffing entirely hollowed out.

Seeing those plush bears, plush dogs, and plush ducklings lying flat on the ground, limp and emptied, gave off an indescribably eerie quality. Everyone couldn’t help but grow more alert as they continued forward.

They arrived once more at the carousel.

After a full night of burning, this place was no longer the gleaming, vibrant spectacle it had been at the start — it was a scene of utter devastation: charred black rubble everywhere, and countless dismantled puppet dolls piled up in heaps.

The cloth cat’s head had been re-sewn back on. Both front paws had been stuffed with cotton and wrapped in fabric. But the two back legs hadn’t been repaired in time — they were bare, exposing the metal skeleton underneath.

Mary had also been partially restored. The scorched portion of her face had become white and delicate once again. Because no suitable material had been found for her hair, yellow yarn had been used as a temporary substitute.

Everything below her head was still metal — like a robot puppet with a human head attached.

She had the cloth doll on her back and slept atop the cloth cat, one arm forming an inverted triangular cone-shaped blade, the other hand holding needle and thread — as if she had been doing needlework all night long and had exhausted herself.

For a moment, everyone looked at each other in bewilderment.

No wonder nothing had happened the previous night — Mary hadn’t been looking for them at all.

Sewing the cloth cat back together — could that really take priority over hunting down players playing hide-and-seek?

This was baffling, and yet there was no way to find an answer.

Yan Qingwen looked around on all sides and said: “A lot of places burned.”

Fantasy Street and Dream Garden had been almost entirely reduced to ruins. Fairy Tale Kingdom had also been nearly half destroyed by the fire. Fortunately, the dwarf’s mine had blocked the flames from spreading further — otherwise, if everything had burned down, they would have been hard-pressed to find even a single hiding place.

…Suddenly there was a feeling of having dropped a stone on one’s own foot.

Yan Qingwen sighed.

“Maybe we won’t need to find a hiding place anymore.” Yu Yaqing said in a low voice. “As long as we kill Mary this time, the hide-and-seek game will end.”

Would it end?

Everyone looked at one another, and for a moment all fell silent.

“All right, let’s get to work.” Yan Qingwen stretched his arms and assigned tasks one by one. “Yu Yaqing and Tan Xiao, you’re responsible for scouting hiding spots — find every possible hiding place in the entire amusement park, and then we’ll all decide together where to hide tonight.

Shen Mo, Lu Ang, and I are responsible for setting up traps here at the carousel.

Shen Fei is injured — find somewhere to rest.

Youwei, you just said you wanted to go to the clock tower — go up to the very top and assess the situation. A bird’s-eye view might let you observe things we haven’t noticed—”

Once he’d finished assigning everyone, he looked at the group, then extended his right hand:

“I hope… this is the last daytime.”

—