There was something... some variable he had failed to consider.
Not long after Jiang Yu was dragged away, the enormous Doll Rabbit appeared on the road with a group of smaller dolls, trampling through the still-wet blood as they headed toward the Small Town.
Footprints of every size blossomed like plum flowers across the road, soon stretching into the distance and out of sight.
Li Xian put on the Doll Costume and jumped down from the tree.
Seeing this, Jiang Qiuyue and Song Qingzhang climbed down from two other trees. Although their heads were hidden beneath the costume heads, they were clearly uneasy, looking back every few steps at the now-smeared bloodstain behind them.
"Hurry."
Li Xian urged them on and stepped forward to pull open the Toy Factory's gates.
Things had come this far. They could only steel themselves and push ahead.
To avoid attracting attention, they kept some distance between them rather than huddling together.
Li Xian knew the Toy Factory's layout by heart, so he had not brought the Map. The three dolls hurried toward the Exit as fast as they could, but soon noticed something wrong.
Nothing unexpected had happened. Rather, everything was... too quiet.
They had already passed through two Workshops. They should have encountered at least a few scattered dolls, yet they had not seen so much as a shadow.
Although Jiang Qiuyue had never been to the Toy Factory before, she also realized something was wrong. Her steps grew hesitant, and she moved closer to Li Xian, saying:
"Something's strange."
The dolls heading to the Small Town had not seemed numerous enough to account for all of them. By now, they should have run into at least one or two.
Instead, the emptiness made them uneasy.
Li Xian fell silent for a moment,