Chapter 177 Thread of Setting

With no way back, it was a test of who would survive!

Yin Zhen pulled out the antique dagger embedded in her shoulder and decisively sprinted toward the stage.

"Come back!" Zhang Hai shouted from behind. Yin Zhen ignored him. Her ears were filled with the dense CLACK CLACK of puppet joints.

The people in the audience were still twisting their heads, their necks wringing unnaturally, yet their faces remained fixated on her. They were like stringed puppets. Standing up from their seats, their movements stiff, they walked forward on their tiptoes.

Yin Zhen did not look at them. Keeping her eyes on the center of the stage, she swiftly took out the Residual Sound Blade.

[Holding the short blade, you will see the target’s specific lines of setting. By cutting the line of setting with this blade, the target will lose that setting ability for thirty minutes. Cooldown time: twenty-four hours.]

The world before Yin Zhen’s eyes began to fade, everything turning grayish-white—except for the blue lines!

The two thickest lines extended from beneath the stage, connecting to the suspended actress in the center, before splitting into countless fine threads from her body, spreading in all directions, and attaching to every puppet on the ceiling.

As Yin Zhen’s gaze touched those two initial lines, their settings instantly surfaced in her mind.

One to control humans.

One to control ghosts!

Yin Zhen’s heart pounded fiercely. It was an uncontrollable surge of excitement, an unmaskable greed. This damned thing could actually control other ghosts! Indeed, just moments ago, the ghosts of Zhang Hai and Liu Hua had been manipulated by these fine threads.

She had to get this thing!

A person from the audience charged at her, and Yin Zhen dodged past them. Another lunged from her left; Yin Zhen kicked them square in the knee, causing them to pitch forward. Using their back as a springboard, she vaulted onto the stage in just three steps.

On the stage, the actors in theatrical costumes turned their heads in unison. They walked toward Yin Zhen, pausing with every step as blood seeped from their joints. Being controlled, they couldn’t even cry out in pain.

Yin Zhen kicked the person in front flying, knocking down a swathe of people behind them. Seizing the opportunity, she slashed down without hesitation at the setting line that controlled humans.

The blade sliced through the line, but it was only severed halfway.

Yin Zhen dodged the incoming attackers again. She consumed a Monthly Ticket, clearing the cooldown time of the Residual Sound Blade.

[Monthly Ticket: Can reduce the cooldown time of the current Title, Talent, or Item by twenty-four hours. Maximum usage within twenty-four hours is three tickets. Can be stacked on the same Skills or Item.]

With another swing of the blade, the line finally snapped.

Yin Zhen heard a scream that exploded directly in her mind, as piercing as someone scratching their fingernails on a chalkboard.

On the stage and in the audience, all the controlled people froze simultaneously. One by one, like puppets with their strings cut, they collapsed limply to the ground.

Some hit the floor and let out groans of pain, providing an Explanation that they were still alive, while others lay motionless in pools of blood with their eyes wide open—already dead.

Only the actress in the center of the stage remained suspended in mid-air. The rope dug into her neck, and blood seeped from the strangulation marks, trickling down her collarbones and dyeing her theatrical costume red, making it look like a bridal gown.

In the vision granted by the Residual Sound Blade, the other line had vanished, and along with it, the puppets overhead silently retreated.

This crisis was temporarily resolved. Yin Zhen looked toward the door. The place where the main entrance should have been was still just a solid wall.

At this moment, Liu Hua, standing by the doorway, felt a storm of shock surging in her heart, her back drenched in cold sweat. She lowered her voice and asked Zhang Hai beside her, "Didn’t the boss say she had no emotions and wouldn’t be attacked by ghosts?"

Zhang Hai might have looked thick-headed, but his mind was sharp. As soon as he made eye contact with Liu Hua, he understood what she meant.

Just now, they had both watched Yin Zhen get attacked by the Puppet Ghost. Moreover, the Puppet Ghost that attacked Yin Zhen was clearly different from the other puppets—it seemed to be the Source ghost.

Zhang Hai gave Liu Hua a slight shake of his head, and the two shared a tacit understanding.

"Are you... are you people from the Abnormal Investigation Bureau?" Among the few survivors in the audience, a man wearing a director’s vest leaned on the back of a chair and asked Yin Zhen aloud.

Yin Zhen jumped down from the stage. "Li Na, Abnormal Investigation Bureau. Those two are my colleagues."

Yin Zhen spoke with self-righteous confidence, her attitude cold and arrogant. Without the slightest hint of a lie, she immediately won the trust of the director, Li Chenglin.

He practically threw himself in front of Yin Zhen. "Thank goodness! You have to figure out a way to get us out of here quickly!"

A few other survivors came over, surrounding Yin Zhen and talking all at once.

Liu Hua and Zhang Hai walked over as well. Looking at them from the crowd, Yin Zhen tilted her head toward the stage. Her meaning was obvious—she was telling them to go dig out whatever was there.