Everyone took a close look at the little girl in front of them. She had an innocent face, and her smile was very pretty.
But they could tell she wasn't a real person. She was a doll.
There were obvious seams at her joints.
The doll girl looked at them and blinked, then turned around and headed down the path to their left.
They exchanged glances and hurried after her.
They recognized the Puppet Girl. She was the one who had suddenly appeared with a chainsaw while they were riding the roller coaster.
The Puppet Girl was naturally their enemy, but they had been wandering through the maze for too long, with no direction or goal.
Even if she was their enemy, they still had to follow her and see.
When they reached the fork in the middle, they saw the girl waiting for them at the end of the path on the left.
"What do we do? Follow her?" Liu Shuai asked.
"Let's follow her," Wang Ruoxi said.
They were already lost anyway. The worst that could happen if they followed her was that they'd get lost.
But if they were lucky, they might find something else, so they naturally chose to follow her.
They wanted to see what the Puppet Girl was after.
Everyone immediately followed, while the Puppet Girl turned a corner and disappeared from view.
When they reached the bend, they saw the girl waiting for them at the end of another path.
"Looks like she wants to lead us somewhere," Sun Jingyu said.
"Yes, it does," Wang Ruoxi said, "but we can't be sure where she's taking us."
Sun Jingyu said, "This doll probably belongs to one of the two factions in Paradise. The place she's taking us to is probably her faction's territory."
Liu Shuai said, "Who cares where she's going? It's better than wandering around the maze blindly!"
"For once, I agree with you," Zhao Guodong said. "We don't have any other choice."
They decided to follow her!
No matter where the girl was going, they had to follow her and see.
When the girl saw them following, she skipped off down another path. They hurried after her and, sure enough, spotted the little girl again.
Everyone immediately followed.
This went on for over ten minutes. Then they reached another fork, and the girl ran down the path to their left, disappearing from view again.
They chased after her and looked down the left path, but the Puppet Girl wasn't at the end of it.
This time, she had vanished completely.
"Did it leave? But we're still in the maze!" Liu Shuai said irritably.
"Let's go a little farther and see," Wang Ruoxi said.
They followed the left path all the way to the end. The scenery outside looked completely different from what they had seen in the maze.
They had obviously made it out.
"We're out! We finally made it out!" Liu Shuai said, a little excited.
"Don't get too excited," Zhao Guodong reminded him. "Loud noises aren't allowed here."
"Oh, I know," Liu Shuai hurriedly said.
"I don't know if this is a good thing," Sun Jingyu said.
"We're out of the maze now, but we're still in the instance.
"And that Puppet Girl brought us here. We don't know if this place is even more dangerous."
"Who cares?" Liu Shuai said. "I'm not going back into that maze again!"
"Now that we've come this far, we don't have a choice. Whatever's ahead, we have to face it!"
There was only one path ahead, so they definitely wouldn't get lost this time. They followed the sole path and finally saw a glimmer of light.
Ahead stood a large building, with alternating red and green lights at the entrance and a relief of a hideous ghost face on the front door.
"That's our next attraction, right?" With that, Liu Shuai ran up to the entrance in a few strides.
Sun Jingyu's expression changed slightly. "That looks like a haunted house!"
"Judging by how it looks, it really is a haunted house," Wang Ruoxi said.
"I heard the haunted house is the hardest attraction," Zhao Guodong said with a frown.
"Looks like that doll really was up to no good."
"Of course she was up to no good," Sun Jingyu said. "In the first round, she killed the only one of us who had a guide."
They had known this would happen, but there was nothing they could do. They couldn't find their way out of the maze on their own.
They could either choose to die in the maze or follow the Puppet Girl.
The three had no choice but to walk up to the haunted house. Though they were reluctant, there was nothing they could do. They couldn't refuse to go through this attraction.
Going into the haunted house wouldn't necessarily lead to trouble, but refusing to take part would certainly mean death.
When they reached the entrance, Liu Shuai was already tired of waiting. He said,
"You're taking way too long. Let's get started."
"What's the rush? Do you have a way to clear it?" Zhao Guodong asked.
"How would I have a way to clear it?" Liu Shuai said. "I just want to get this instance over with. I'd rather die than stay here."
Liu Shuai looked at the visitor rules by the entrance and said, "Luckily, this attraction doesn't require us to keep smiling, or I'd really want to smash this thing."
"At worst, I'd take it down with me," Liu Shuai added.
Zhao Guodong was speechless. "Is that really necessary? Taking a sign down with you?"
Everyone turned to read the visitor rules.
"Visitor notice: 1. Do not damage the items in the haunted house. They are all the private property of Paradise. 2. Do not attack the staff in the haunted house. They all work very hard. 3. Do not close your eyes. If you do, you will miss many wonderful performances. 4. You must scream and act frightened while touring the haunted house, especially when you see ghosts. This shows respect for the conscientious and responsible staff. 5. You may not quit halfway through. Your tour is only complete once you reach the back door."
Sure enough, there was no rule about staying cheerful this time.
It was a haunted house, after all. How could anyone enjoy themselves while touring it? But being forced to scream was annoying too.
They were Ability Users. There was no way the ghosts inside would frighten them, and being forced to scream deliberately was truly ridiculous.
But in any case, it was much better than maintaining a silly grin the whole time.
The first two attractions had made them smile so much that their facial muscles ached.
"Ready? Are we going in now?" Liu Shuai asked.
They looked at one another and nodded. No matter how dangerous it was inside, they would have to face it all sooner or later.
Liu Shuai placed his hand on the front door. It slowly opened with a creaking sound.
The sound was deeply unpleasant, like something scratching at your body.
At last, the door opened all the way, and the group walked in.
It wasn't as dark inside as they had imagined. Though there were no lights at all, they could still see the things inside, just not very clearly.
Just as they were examining the furnishings in the haunted house, the door suddenly closed on its own.
Liu Shuai jumped, then said,
"Experts, I'm counting on you. Whatever you say, I'll do.
"My IQ is low. I really can't analyze things, and when I enter an instance without a guide, I'm completely in the dark."
They hadn't expected anyone to admit of their own accord that their IQ was low, but the others strongly agreed with Liu Shuai on that point.
If they hadn't reminded him repeatedly, Liu Shuai would probably have died for swearing.
Someone like that really wasn't very smart. They seriously doubted how he had managed to survive one instance after another.
Fortunately, Liu Shuai understood his place. He often took the initiative to charge ahead and did whatever he was told.
Perhaps that was how someone with a low IQ survived game instances.
Sun Jingyu said, "This haunted house is completely different from the original one. I don't have any solutions either. We can only take it one step at a time.
"Based on our experience with the first two attractions, a lot of things are bound to happen in the haunted house, and their purpose will be to make us break the rules here.
"But we only need to remember one thing: no matter what happens, we must not break the rules here.
"Even if we're in great danger and you think you're going to die, you still must not break the rules.
"Because you might not actually die.
"But if you break the rules, you definitely won't survive!"