Yu Yaqing slumped back, retreating a step. She was overcome with a sense of cruel, malicious mockery — and fury!

So many people had died, and all along, they hadn’t even figured out what the actual target was!

She clenched her fists tight and suppressed the rage boiling through her entire being. Through gritted teeth, she said: “No wonder… no wonder when the cloth cat’s body was on fire, the very first thing Mary did was throw the doll off her body! It was to protect the real Mary!”

Shen Fei also came back to his senses. He looked at Bai Youwei and asked: “Even if we know now that Mary is the cloth doll — how do we kill her? She and the fake Mary are always together.”

The fake Mary had an effectively immortal body. All steel and iron — couldn’t be chopped, couldn’t be burned!

And on top of that, it was riding a giant cloth cat!

With those two massive obstacles in the way, how were they supposed to kill Mary?

“It’s actually quite simple.” Shen Mo spoke up. “If we had a bow and arrow, we could take her out from a distance.”

“But where would we find a bow and arrow?” Shen Fei blurted out.

“There are bows and arrows.” Yan Qingwen stood up, his voice firm. “The bows and arrows are right near the carousel. I’m going to get them now!”

Along the street running north of the carousel, there was a long row of shooting game stalls — shoot a balloon or hit a doll, win a prize. A standard feature of any amusement park.

The bows and arrows used in the game had blunted, treated arrowheads — not sharp at all. That was why no one had ever thought to use them against Mary or the cat before.

But if the target was a cloth doll — these bows and arrows were more than adequate.

Shen Mo could see that Yan Qingwen intended to go after Mary. He reached out and gripped his shoulder: “I’ll go with you.”

“We might as well all go.” Bai Youwei looked at them both. “The two of you can’t act without backup.”

“That’s right — we go together.” Yu Yaqing gripped her fist. “I’ve never practiced archery, but I can provide support from the side!”

Tan Xiao chimed in: “Exactly! I can help you guys… uh, help you guys distract them!”

Shen Fei moved forward uncertainly. “Brother…”

“Don’t worry.” Shen Mo said calmly. “Yan Qingwen and I are only going to retrieve the bows and arrows and verify whether our theory is correct. And even if we do go after Mary, we’ll definitely wait until daytime — the visibility at night puts us at too much of a disadvantage.”

He spoke, then let his gaze rest lightly on Yan Qingwen. “Don’t you agree, Yan Qingwen?”

Everyone turned to Yan Qingwen in unison.

They all understood in their hearts — Yan Qingwen probably wanted to go take revenge right now, not a single extra second of waiting. But as Shen Mo had said, the disadvantages of moving at night were severe!

In the darkness, puppet dolls serving as “observers” could be lurking anywhere.

The multicolored lights would also distort their perception of the target’s location.

And there was the cloth cat — it would be full of energy throughout the entire night, nothing like the drowsy, heavy state it fell into during the day.

Yan Qingwen understood all of this. But when furious anger surged up and hatred blinded the eyes, how many people could truly stay calm and restrained?

He looked at the faces before him — some familiar, some less so… and in a daze he seemed to see Lu Ang standing among them too, trusting him without reservation, asking him directly in that straightforward way: “Hey Lao Yan, what’s the plan?”

Yan Qingwen closed his eyes. He breathed deeply.

When he opened his eyes again, the image of Lu Ang had already vanished.

He clenched his fists. His voice came out very low, very quiet: “…We go get the bows and arrows, and then — we wait for dawn.”

Everyone let out a breath of relief.

Shen Mo clapped Yan Qingwen on the back. “Let’s go.”

The two of them walked out of the room one after the other.

Bai Youwei watched their departing figures, and couldn’t help offering a silent prayer: please — let everything go smoothly…

…