Chapter 453: Blood Ring

"Is… is it?" a player asked in a trembling voice, pointing at the puppet.

"I… I don't know… I didn't see it just now…" another voice sounded tearful, "Did it just appear out of nowhere?"

While they were discussing, Qing Qing's a kiss wasn't idle either; she step by step slowly retreated to the private box where Cheng Shuili was.

Just a moment ago she was joking about those people standing back-to-back, and now it's her turn.

She unhesitatingly pressed her back directly against the one-way glass in front of Cheng Shuili.

As if that one-way glass were some trustworthy teammate.

And inside, Cheng Shuili sat upright: "……"

She stared at the back of Qing Qing's a kiss for a moment, then couldn't help but say: "Move to the side, you're blocking my view."

Qing Qing's a kiss pressed her back against the cold one-way glass; hearing this, she didn't move away but leaned back even more, her tone carrying a bit of shameless righteousness:

"Wuya Lao Da, you've seen what's happening outside. This glass is sturdy—let me lean on it; it won't block your view for more than a few seconds."

Her words hadn't even finished—

"Click."

A slight crisp sound came from the puppet, instantly drawing everyone's attention.

Immediately, under everyone's gaze, the gray puppet began to jerk… turning its body bit by bit.

With that turn, its front faced Qing Qing's a kiss, and beyond that… was Cheng Shuili seated in the private box.

Qing Qing's a kiss pressed her back tighter and whispered, "What does this mean?"

Before the puppet made any move, Cheng Shuili couldn't figure it out either.

She didn't answer, just watched silently.

The gray puppet suddenly bent at an unnatural angle, extending its hands made of rough wood, and began…

applying.

Yes, applying.

Cheng Shuili was sure she wasn't mistaken.

The puppet used its stiff fingers to dab up the still-wet blood on the floor, then, stroke by stroke, earnestly began to smear it around the blood pool.

It was like a focused painter, and also like a priest conducting some evil rite.

What was it drawing?

All the players who saw this, including Qing Qing's a kiss, felt a cold chill run through their hearts.

As it smeared, at the edges of the light-covered theater, where the light barely reached the shadows, more figures in gray work clothes seemed to silently emerge…

They too stood motionless, facing the audience.

Like a group of stagehands waiting for the actors to take their places.

In the players' collective silence, the announcer's voice, long unheard, sounded again: "Ladies and gentlemen……"

Having just uttered two words, the announcer's voice, as if struck by something funny, couldn't hold back a laugh—two chuckles—before spitting out the rest: "Survivors, congratulations on making it to the third act! The stage for the third act is already set, and the actors… are about to appear!"

"Now! I, the humble announcer, will explain this great final act for the selfless actors!"

The humble announcer? The selfless actors and the great final act?

Cheng Shuili's gaze unconsciously shifted to the gray puppet with its twisted body.

Qing Qing's a kiss whispered, "Has the final act already begun?"

Upon hearing that, Cheng Shuili suddenly understood.

How could actors not know what they're supposed to perform, and why would they be selfless?

Unless… these so-called actors aren't real actors at all, but us players who know nothing!

Cheng Shuili's gaze sharpened instantly, piercing through the mist before her.

"The final act has indeed begun," her cold voice through the glass carried a near‑cruel calm, "these selfless actors are none other than us……"

Qing Qing's a kiss's back instantly tensed, the skin pressed against the glass breaking out in a chill.

Those staff members killing players and drawing the blood ring are likely setting up the stage for this final performance, or holding a blood‑soaked opening rite!

How can we break out?

This is Cheng Shuili's thought, and also Qing Qing's a kiss's thought.

The two almost simultaneously turned their gaze to the gray puppet that had drawn the blood‑red circle.

Sometime, it had already straightened its body.

Following its gaze, it was looking at the bespectacled man in the five‑person group!

"What does this mean?"

"I'm not sure."

Cheng Shuili replied in a sentence, then continued waiting for the announcer's voice.

Tension spread silently in the quiet; after a long wait, the announcer's voice did not sound again.

"What… what does this mean?"

A member of the five‑person team broke the silence with a trembling voice.

"Gone? Why did the broadcast stop?" The bespectacled man stood up, his face showing some confusion as he looked up at the ceiling.

"Didn't it say it would explain the final act to the actors? Maybe it went to find them."

"Then why did it tell us what it was going to do?"

No matter how you say it, this feels eerie; the five discussed for a while but reached no conclusion.

While they were discussing, Cheng Shuili here also whispered with Qing Qing's a kiss.

"Did we guess wrong?"

"Impossible."

Cheng Shuili's voice was very soft, yet carried certainty.

Qing Qing's kiss was originally doubtful, but thinking that the other person could sit in such a private room, and that the previous several acts had not affected her at all, she also believed it.

Then... what is the situation now?

Qing Qing furrowed her brows; the words sounded like a question, yet more like her muttering to herself, the kind spoken without expecting any answer.

But Cheng Shuili nevertheless answered, 'Perhaps... it's that no condition was met?'

That was a strange thing to say; Qing Qing turned her head and glanced— the privacy of the one-way glass was indeed good; besides her own reflection, she could see nothing.

And Cheng Shuili's gaze remained fixed on the bespectacled man whom the puppet was staring at.

The more Qing Qing looked, the more uneasy she felt; she furrowed her brows and asked, 'Aren't you planning to come out? You're just staying in the private room?'

'Let's wait a bit longer; in a moment, even if I wanted to sit in the private room, I wouldn't be able to.'

Cheng Shuili's answer obviously had a hidden meaning.

Qing Qing raised her eyebrows, following her intuition as she looked toward the group of five.

Only then did the bespectacled man notice that the gray puppet had at some point turned its gaze toward him.

At the instant his eyes met the puppet's, he seemed to be startled, his legs went weak, and with a 'plop' he collapsed straight to the ground.

He scrambled backward using his hands and feet, the color draining from his face, his lips trembling, yet he could not utter a complete sound.

Seeing this, the other four were even more terrified, their souls flying away, and instinctively distanced themselves from him.