Theater

Pushing open the door, the first thing you see is the colorful decorations inside. Facing the door is a huge red stage, with rows of comfortable seats below it.

Le Zhengyang walked up to Qin Rang and looked inside, his eyes widening in amazement. "Wow, there are so many paper figures sitting in the audience!"

"There were many paper figures not only in the audience but also on the stage."

The paper figures below the stage sat upright in red velvet chairs, representing people of all kinds of clothing and social statuses.

The stage was decorated on both sides to resemble the suites of Concession Grand Hotel, with white wooden sofas askew and wine bottles scattered haphazardly on the coffee table. The lighting was dim, with only the center of the stage receiving slightly brighter light.

In the center of the stage, two paper figures sat on a sofa. One paper figure raised its hand as if it were singing, while the other paper figure had its back to the stage, hunched over, seemingly doing something.

The group walked around several times. This Instance seemed to be only this big. The other Theaters were not open. The entire Theater was quiet except for them; there wasn't a single living creature in it.

Wang Ningshui and several teammates installed the recorder, and also installed a strange concentration test meter, with six of the ten indicator lights on the meter lit up red.

"The pollution level has been confirmed as level six, tentatively classified A-Rank." After saying this, Wang Ningshui moved the test table to several different locations, confirming that the concentration would rise sharply when the paper figure was near it.

An Ying carefully inspected the area around the venue to see if there were any other discoveries, leaving only Qin Rang and the Containment Department team in the testing area.

"Found it. This Weird Instance has appeared before. Its Anomaly Containment Bureau is numbered A1180. The Rules are unknown. No one ever successfully completed it. Those who failed turned into paper dolls and remained inside the Instance. There is no record of anyone completing it to this day."

"It seems quite a few people have died here, so many paper figures..." Qin Rang said, "You all stay here and continue the investigation, but be careful to stay away from those paper figures."

Wang Ningshui nodded. "Don't worry, we understand."

The Containment Department's job is to provide information and clean up the mess. Fighting the supernatural is the Purger's job; it's not their specialty, and they would just be throwing their lives away and causing trouble if they went in.

Qin Rang came to An Ying's side, An Ying walked away from the group of smiling paper figures in the first row.

"These paper figures have moving eyes, and their bodies are indeed made of paper, so they should be afraid of fire," An Ying said to him.

Qin Rang scanned the paper figures and, sure enough, saw that all of their eyes were staring at him, some with their heads turned to the side, their eyes glancing at him sideways.

"I wonder if ordinary fire could kill them."

An Ying said, "Your Weird Object's flames should work, right?"

Qin Rang: "Want to give it a try?"

In contrast to the two men's caution, Le Zhengyang and his teammates had already pulled a paper figure off the chair and placed it on the ground for observation.

"You guys are really too bold." Qin Rang quickly walked over.

Le Zhengyang's team is used to acting recklessly, and even after several batches of teammates have been replaced, they still haven't changed.

"As long as we can glean some information, that's enough. Don't be too cautious, lest we miss something." Le Zhengyang turned the paper figure over and over, examining it closely.

The paper figure in his hand was wearing a red cotton-padded jacket, had two braids, and two patches of rosy cheeks. It didn't react to his antics, only blinking its eyes occasionally.

"The colors on this paper doll are so vibrant; it looks newer than the others," said a woman with long curly hair in Le Zhengyang's group.

"Juanjuan, how did you figure that out?" Le Zhengyang reached out and pulled over another paper figure for comparison. Qin Rang also leaned over to take a closer look and it seemed that there really was a difference in color.

The female team member named Juanjuan pointed to the clothes of the two paper figures and said, "Not only the colors, but the brushstrokes are also different. Look, the colors and patterns on the clothes of this old paper figure are obviously more harmonious, without any unnecessary brushstrokes. This new paper figure has some brush marks on it, so it must have been made by a novice."

"You mean, these two paper figures weren't made by the same monster?" Qin Rang asked. "There are two monsters here with similar abilities?"

"At least I'm certain that these two paper figures weren't drawn by the same person."

An Ying got up to look at the other paper figures. But just as she turned around, she heard a faint rustling sound of paper behind her.

He immediately turned around and accurately located the source of the sound.

It is the paper figure in the very center of the stage, with its back to the stage.

Under his gaze, the paper figures on the stage fell silent again, as if the sound just now was An Ying's hallucination.

An Ying her head slightly, pretending to look away, but in reality, she gripped the bamboo umbrella tightly with her right hand, her white hair hanging down in front of her eyes, blocking the probing look in her pink eyes.

"Click."

The moment the sound rang out again, An Ying opened her Bamboo Umbrella, pushed her hand forward, and the electric current shot through the umbrella ribs, bursting into a blinding light on the stage!

"Bang!"

The paper figure's body exploded in the electric current, turning into tiny fragments that dissipated.

An Ying swept away the colorful scraps of paper scattered in front of him, the tip of her umbrella piercing through the paper fragments and pointing directly at the paper figure slowly turning around on the stage.

More paper figures rushed forward to block the tip of his umbrella; those that hadn't been activated suddenly all stood up at that moment.

"Beep beep--"

Suddenly, the concentration meter flashed another red light, and Wang Ningshui exclaimed, "How did it rise to S-Rank?"

"What?"

When will the word "unlucky" finally leave Qin Rang's head?

[I've never seen Instance level up so suddenly.]

[S-Rank, the last pseudo-S-rank suffered such heavy casualties, this time it's all over...]

[How could it be S-Rank? The Theater Instance has always been A-Rank, and not many people have participated in it in recent years. Logically speaking, this Instance shouldn't even meet the requirements for upgrading.]

[Could Qin Rang's misfortune have reached an unimaginable level?]

Lin Nieran, who was watching the live stream, understood that it wasn't that the Instance had become S-Rank, but rather that Modian himself was S-Rank, and what was being detected was Modian's energy intensity.

It's not unusual for S-Rank anomaly to appear in an A-Rank Instance.

The sudden loss of control of the paper figures Qin Rang and the others, who activated the various Weird Artifacts Weird Objects. While clearing away the paper figures, they looked at the person confronting An Ying on the stage.

That wasn't a paper figure; it was a person wearing a white shirt and a hat, exuding a strong artistic aura.

He was exceptionally tall, about two meters high, with a slightly hunched back. His shirt had crooked red lines drawn on the back, and he held a paintbrush dipped in red ink in his hand. He lowered his head, his body trembling slightly, as if he were laughing.

"Hehe..."

His laughter was awful, and the expressions on the faces of the others were even more unpleasant.

An Ying slowly retreated until she stood beside Qin Rang and whispered, "It's a trick by the organization."

Qin Rang frowned slightly in disbelief, and the people on the stage slowly raised their heads at that moment.