"When we came out, there were no wax figures in the lounge," Bai Wenxian said.
Xu Huo gestured for Jie Ling to continue speaking.
"After I entered the Wax Figure Gallery, the door behind me was closed, and someone knocked on it from the outside. The sound seemed to come from the lower part of the door. I was scared of the thing that pushed me in, so I wanted to get out first or meet up with Xu Ruosi and Long Aotian."
"I hadn’t gone far when I felt someone following me. When I looked back, it was a middle-aged looking wax figure, exactly like the ghost story Xu Ruosi told!"
"Wait," Bai Wenxian interrupted, "what do you mean exactly like? How do you know it was the same as what Xu Ruosi described?"
"The middle-aged male ghost following a young boy, isn’t that the same?" Jie Ling’s voice rose slightly.
Bai Wenxian had a look of resignation on his face and simply stopped talking.
Jie Ling continued, saying that she was startled when the wax figure first appeared, but she did not rise to Level D by luck alone. Her reaction was fairly quick. She destroyed the wax figure right away, and after realizing it had no offensive power, her fear lessened. It was around that time she heard footsteps—the unmistakable footsteps of Xu Ruosi.
"I can distinguish a person’s footsteps. After confirming they were Xu Ruosi’s, I quickly followed them. Upon reaching the room ahead, I found her passed out. Just as I was about to approach her, someone touched my shoulder from behind... Then I passed out, and when I woke up, I saw you." She turned to Xu Huo, "Mr. Yu, thank you for saving me."
"You’re welcome." Xu Huo analyzed the information in her words. Jie Ling’s experience was similar to theirs; the ghost story came to life, and targeted her because of her timid nature with actions like pushing and knocking on the door, which were quite flexible.
She claimed she could distinguish footsteps, but those sounds might not have been made by Xu Ruosi. After all, there was a wall between them, and it would be strange if Xu Ruosi hadn’t reacted to Jie Ling’s actions on this side.
As for whether the person who fell was Xu Ruosi herself or a wax figure disguised as her, the difference wasn’t significant.
The Wax Figure Gallery wasn’t large; there was enough time during the storytelling for Xu Ruosi and Long Aotian to make two rounds. Since they didn’t return like Bai Wenxian did, the likelihood of an accident was high.
"The footsteps might not be accurate," Bai Wenxian said at that moment. "It’s very possible that the opponent lured you into a trap."
Jie Ling pursed her lips, "With the ghost stories becoming real, I’m not certain whether I was hallucinating or not."
"So where exactly did Xu Ruosi and Long Aotian go?" Bai Wenxian asked. "I didn’t see them ahead, did they leave?"
"Let’s search, a ready-made mystery of disappearance," Xu Huo said.
Bai Wenxian had a sudden realization, but then glanced at his watch, "It’s almost time for our scheduled meeting."
"We encountered an emergency here, the others are probably in the same situation," Jie Ling said.
The three of them quickly discussed and decided to continue forward.
Bai Wenxian and Jie Ling also tried to destroy the walls on both sides, but like the front door, there were walls behind the walls. Xu Huo took out the "Homologous Locator" to search, but unexpectedly, the device malfunctioned.
The range of the "Homologous Locator" was two hundred meters, but inside the Wax Figure Gallery, the display showed only "1".
Xu Huo carried many props with him and even if he couldn’t find the missing Xu and Long, this situation should not have occurred.
A thought flashed through his mind, and he called out to the two ahead, "Let’s check the Strange Tale Room."
After speaking, he moved on. Bai Wenxian and Jie Ling thought he had discovered some clue and quickly followed without asking any questions.
The three of them quickly arrived at the lounge. Without saying a word, Xu Huo picked up a sword and cut through the outer wall of the Strange Tale Room. He placed the locator inside, and to his surprise, the display still showed "1" in the Wax Figure Gallery, whereas the Strange Tale Room now showed a new number of props.
Although the locator claimed it could detect props no matter if they were above or below ground, it was used before in the Strange Tale Room to check if Xu Ruosi and the other two left behind any props. At that time, it didn’t show any props outside the Strange Tale Room, so the claim of detecting "underground" seemed a bit exaggerated.
However, that wasn’t the issue. Another flaw of the locator became apparent: the prop display could be overridden.
Whether inside or outside the Wax Figure Gallery, the locator showed only one prop. If it wasn’t that the level of one prop was too high and overshadowed the others, then it was related to the shape or type of the prop.
Xu Huo didn’t try using any Super Props, but he was wearing the Rank-A Prop "Life Core," and the display remained unchanged.
"What’s wrong?" Jie Ling came over and asked.
"There’s someone up there." He put away the locator, cut through the ceiling of the Strange Tale Room, and indeed, two wax figures fell down one after the other. Just like Jie Ling, they were real people sealed inside wax shells. When they hit the floor, the shells shattered, revealing their true faces.
"These two... I haven’t seen them before," Jie Ling recognized that the faces were neither Xu Ruosi nor Long Aotian.
"They died not long ago." However, no props had been detected on these two bodies before, which likely meant they were moved here later.
"These two must also be players in this instance," Bai Wenxian said. "Sadly, they died here, and I fear it’s an ill omen for Xu Ruosi and Long Aotian."
Xu Huo quickly removed the accessories they were wearing and glanced up at the ceiling again.
There was a cavity above the Strange Tale Room, wrapped in metal around the edges, roughly the height for a person to crouch in.
He stabbed his sword into it, and unexpectedly, the Strange Tale Room began to sink!
Jie Ling took out a "T"-shaped long prop and braced it at the junction of the two rooms, stopping the Strange Tale Room’s descent. Xu Huo climbed onto the ceiling and cut through the metal plate leading to the exit and crawled out.
Bai Wenxian and Jie Ling exchanged glances and also climbed up after him, only to discover that there was another lounge on the outside!
"What’s going on?" Jie Ling exclaimed in surprise. "Does the Wax Figure Gallery have two floors?"
Bai Wenxian quickly realized, "It’s not two floors; the Wax Figure Gallery and the lounge we see here are the only ones. We were just underground before."
Jie Ling wanted to turn back and look below, but now that they’d come out, the Strange Tale Room had risen as well, and they could only see a room upon entering.
"So the Wax Figure Gallery automatically rose when we were climbing up?" She returned, puzzled. "Why was there no sound at all?"
"There could be some prop for soundproofing," Xu Huo speculated while scrutinizing the unchanged lounge, beginning to suspect that the entire Wax Figure Gallery might be a prop.
"No wonder the walls on all sides couldn’t be smashed; it’s because we were underground!" Jie Ling sighed in relief. "We should be able to get out now, right?"
"Hee hee hee!" The laugh of a child, eerie and ethereal, came from ahead.
Jie Ling’s face changed instantly, "We can’t escape even after getting back to the ground?"
Xu Huo checked the time, "It’s already five o’clock; it must be getting dark outside. We need to hurry out; I’m worried something might happen at night."