Chapter 33.2
The two men gave each other a look, then looked at Lu Si’er, “Should we go take a look?”
Lu Si’er was obviously scared and hesitated for a moment before nodding, “Let’s go and find out what’s going on.”
After the three reached a consensus, they turned to run towards the source of those screams.
It was coming from a room at the end of the corridor on the first floor. Xiao Tangqiu led the way and when he reached the room, he was greeted by a thick smell of blood accompanied by ear-piercing screams.
Xiao Tangqiu was shocked. He immediately raised his flashlight and shone it at the dimly-lit room. After seeing the scene in the room, he froze.
The room was crowded with newbies who were staring at the center of the room with a horrified expression on their faces. There was a short, skinny man lying in a pool of blood. He held his wrist as he screamed ceaselessly. It seemed that the noise and b.l.o.o.d.y smell was coming from from him.
Xiao Tangqiu remembered that Short and Skinny was also a newbie, but he wasn’t very conspicuous when mixed within the crowd so he hadn’t paid much attention to him before this and didn’t have a deep impression of him.
“What happened?” Tang Mianmian and Lu Si’er also entered the room and asked the others.
A young man looked horrified and said, “I… I don’t know…… Didn’t you tell us look for clues? So, we went together to search the rooms. But we’ve been looking in this room for a long time and didn’t find anything. Just now, that guy suddenly screamed and when we turned around, we found that he had lost a hand…..”
Xiao Tangqiu frowned and took a step forward. Short and Skinny’s right hand was broken off neatly. It looked like his hand had been cleanly sliced off by a sharp weapon. Blood flowed out freely from the wound. If he didn’t stop the bleeding, this man would most likely lose his life. He quickly took out a hemostatic agent from his pocket.
The hemostatic agent from the vending machine came in the form of a spray. Xiao Tangqiu sprayed it onto the man’s wound and the blood stopped immediately, But that man wouldn’t stop screaming, as if he was still feeling immense pain from the wound. He only stopped after a long time and looked down to find that the wound had healed completely.
“What is this?” the middle-aged man leaned in curiously, his beady eyes greedily looking at the hemostatic agent in Xiao Tangqiu’s hand.
Xiao Tangqiu immediately stuffed the hemostatic agent back into his pocket. It was also his first time using it so he didn’t expect this thing to be so miraculous. Its results were instant! Even in the real world this would be a precious treasure, much less in this crisis-ridden mission world.
d.a.m.n it! A person’s fortune only arouses envy in others!
He a.s.sumed a casual att.i.tude, “This is nothing, as long as you can leave this place, there are many such things out there.”
“You meank2026;k2026;. besides this kind of magic medicine, there are many treasures like this out there?” The middle-aged men’s eyes suddenly shone with greed.
Xiao Tangqiu paid him no mind. He merely looked at Short and Skinny and was about to ask what had happened earlier when Short and Skinny suddenly pounced on him, his arm stump immediately shooting out a burst of blood. He fell to his knees before him and hugged his thigh, “Big bro! Divine Doctor Big Bro! Help me! Please help me! Please help me get my hand back! My hands are very important to me! I depend on them to make a living! I would starve to death without my hands!”
Xiao Tangqiu frowned and tried to shake him off, but Short and Skinny clung onto his legs with great strength. He couldn’t break free at all and could only helplessly explain, “I’m not some Divine Doctor. I don’t know how to treat wounds or illnesses. I can’t save you.”
“No! You must save me!” The man was very agitated, “My hands are very important! You must help me get my hands back! Otherwise, I won’t let you go! This place is so dangerous, I’ll die here without my hands! If you don’t help me, I won’t let go. We’ll die here together!”
Xiao Tangqiu’s chest was stuffy with anger. He didn’t expect this man to repay his kindness of stopping the bleeding by pushing his luck. The was clearly a case of the farmer and the viper!
“Why are you doing this!” Tang Mianmian was enraged. He rushed forward to help Xiao Tangqiu push aside the man, but the man seemed determined to play out this farce till the very end. He stumbled to the floor and hugged Xiao Tangqiu’s feet with a death grip. Tang Mianmian pulled him hard, but he dodged left and right, sliding around like a worm.
The newbies watched the bustle, gloating over the misfortune of Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian, these two old players. The middle-aged man even said in an indifferent tone, “Please help him. In the case of disaster, we should help each other!”
Just then, the young woman who looked like a white-collar worker interrupted with an expression of shock, “Just now……. I think I saw……..”
“What did you see?” The middle-aged man asked doubtfully.
White-collar Woman trembled all over and turned pale. “When we were looking for something just now…… I saw him …… picking up the puppet from the cupboard over there……. and stealing the golden axe from the puppet’s hand……”
“Then……. I saw the puppet sneer……. I got such a fright…… After that, the man suddenly fell down……. His hand was gone…… It must’ve been cut off by that golden axe!”
“What are you talking about!” The middle-aged man immediately retorted, “How big can an axe from a puppet’s hand be? How is it possible to cut off a person’s hand?”
“But I saw it! The puppet clearly sneered!” White-collar Woman was fl.u.s.tered, “I was almost scared to death! Later, the man’s hand was broken. How can there be such a coincidence?! The golden axe must still be in his hands! If you don’t believe me, check his hands!”
They looked at each other, not believing in such a ridiculous thing of course. But Tang Mianmian, who had been trying to shake off that man, immediately grabbed his hand and tried to pry open his fingers.
The man struggled violently, but ended up losing against Tang Mianmian’s strength; his grip loosened by a crack.
Something tiny fell out of his fingers.
It was only the size of a small thumb, a tiny, delicate golden axe that was covered in blood.
White-collar Woman was very excited, “Look! He was punished for stealing from others!”
Xiao Tangqiu looked around and found a puppet in the cupboard not far away. It was also crudely made but seemed to have slightly better craftsmanship than the puppet before. He suspected that the person who created the puppet had improved his skills.
The puppet looked like a little girl, with two side braids and a cute little dress. Its face was more delicate than that of the previous puppet. Its eyes were two blue stones, which appeared even more lifelike and gleamed in the flickering candlelight. Just by looking at it, he could tell it was just as strange as the previous puppet.
The others had also noticed the puppet. The middle-aged man looked at it a few times and laughed at White-collar Woman, “This little puppet is clearly made to look like a little girl. Why would it carry an axe? Did you make a mistake?”
“I didn’t! When I first entered the room, I clearly saw her holding an axe!” White-collar Woman retorted.
“This little doll is even wearing a cute dress, how could it carry an axe? Why would someone design it like that?” The elite-looking man echoed as well, “And just by looking at her hands you can see that there isn’t a hole in her hand to hold an axe.”
When they all looked at the puppet’s hands, they found that its hand hung down by the side naturally. It didn’t show a gesture of holding something at all.
“How is that possible?” White-collar Woman burst out in disbelief. “But I clearly saw it holding an axe! The axe was just in its hand!”
“How dare you frame me, you b.i.t.c.h!” Short and Skinny gave White-collar Woman a fierce look, “I didn’t steal anything! This golden axe is my family heirloom! Are you trying to frame me and rob me of it?”
“You!” White-collar Woman was left speechless, her face turning red with anger.
At this moment, Xiao Tangqiu suddenly noticed something. His brow wrinkled, “Wait a minute…… look at the puppet’s shoes!”
“What’s wrong with its shoes?” The middle-aged men scowled disapprovingly.
Tang Mianmian leaned in to take a closer look. His expression changed drastically, “Blood! It’s blood!”
The puppet was wearing a pair of small, red leather shoes. If they hadn’t looked carefully, they wouldn’t have seen the blood. Xiao Tangqiu had only found traces of different shades of red on its shoes after careful observation.
“How is that possible? The paint must be uneven.” The middle-aged man wiped the puppet’s shoe with his hand, then froze in shock. His fingertips were stained with blood!
“The blood isn’t dry yet, indicating that it had just gotten on the shoe.” Xiao Tangqiu looked at Short and Skinny and asked, “You’re the only one bleeding in this room. Would you like to explain why your blood is on it?”
Short and Skinny paused, then cried out with vehemently, “How can you tell it’s my blood? Do you have any evidence?”
Before Xiao Tangqiu could speak, the mysterious housekeeper suddenly appeared at the door to the room. She gave Short and Skinny a cold look, “You have damaged the Master’s puppet. For that, you will be punished!”
Short and Skinny’s expression suddenly changed, and he shouted back angrily, “What’s so special about this s.h.i.tty puppet? Who cares if it’s broken?! It’s not like it’s some treasure!”
The housekeeper merely stared at Short and Skinny, not saying another word. Short and Skinny was pale with fright, but he still tried to argue his way out. “It’s just a s.h.i.tty puppet! Don’t tell me you’re planning to extort money out of me just because of this! Let me tell you, I have no money! There’s no way you’ll ever cheat me of my money!”
Just then, several maids appeared from behind the housekeeper. Short and Skinny jumped in shock and watched them with vigilance. However, they only cleaned up the mess, just like an ordinary maid would. In the face of this b.l.o.o.d.y scene, their expressions remained unchanged as they wiped off the blood on the floor, then calmly picked up the broken-off hand.
“Give me back my hand”
Seeing that the maids were about to throw away his hand, Short and Skinny rushed over and s.n.a.t.c.hed it back.
The maids merely continued to wipe up the blood. Although their movements were a little stiff, they were very quick and soon the room was clean again.
The housekeeper carefully picked up the small golden axe, then walked to the puppet. Suddenly, the strangest thing happened – the puppet’s naturally drooping hands raised up by themselves and moved into a posture of holding the axe. After the housekeeper put the golden axe back in place, she gave Short and Skinny another cold look and left with the maids.
“That’s what the puppet looked like just now!” White-collar Woman immediately cried out, “When I first entered the room, that was how the puppet held the axe!”
Right now, the puppet on the table looked completely different than it did earlier. Although its hair was tied up in braids and it was still wearing the same cute dress, the addition of the golden axe in both its hands made it appear really creepy, especially since the small axe was still stained with blood.