What malicious intent could NPCs possibly have? C31.1

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Chp31. part1

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The Iron Puppet Granny was getting closer and closer to the wardrobe.

Pei Han leaned down, pressed his lips to Ning Ge’s ear, and whispered, “Don’t move.”

He nudged her further behind him and reached for the wardrobe door.

His intention was clear: hide her inside and stay put while he lured the Iron Puppet Granny away.

Just then, a sudden creak echoed from the living room.

The sound was loud and came from the direction of the living room.

The Iron Puppet Granny froze instantly.

“Mice! There are mice outside!!” she shrieked, whirling around and charging toward the living room with her massive hammer.

Someone must have made that noise outside.

That terrifying hammer in the Iron Puppet Granny’s hand would make short work of anyone outside. Even the Wooden Puppet Iris, so delicate and beautiful, would likely be no match for her—he was clearly not built for rough combat.

“Stay here and don’t come out,” Pei Han murmured to Ning Ge, then without hesitation, he flung open the wardrobe door and chased after her.

Of course, Ning Ge wouldn’t stay hidden in the closet alone.

The Iron Puppet Granny looked too terrifying, and Pei Han might not be able to handle her after all.

Ning Ge also climbed out of the wardrobe and followed him out of the bedroom.

The commotion had been caused by the Delivery Man and the Cross-dressing guy.

They had originally been hiding together under the dining table, which was covered with a lace tablecloth. As they tried to crawl out, one of them stood up too abruptly and accidentally bumped the table.

When the table moved, its leg scraped against the floor with a piercing screech.

The Iron Puppet Granny spotted them the moment she emerged and immediately swung her massive hammer as she charged toward them.

A single blow from that thing would turn them into mush instantly, so the Cross-dressing guy bolted for the door.

The Delivery Man, seeing the Iron Puppet Granny and her hammer bearing down on him, was utterly terrified. He then performed a bizarre action:

He squatted down on the spot, covering his head with his arms.

Ning Ge: “……”

Did he really think his fleshy arms could block that hammer?

With no other option, Pei Han lunged forward, preparing to confront the immensely strong Iron Puppet Granny head-on.

But something strange happened.

Halfway through her charge, the Iron Puppet Granny suddenly slammed on the brakes.

She stopped, hammer in hand, and tilted her head, wrapped in a floral headscarf, toward the Delivery Man.

Then, with a twist of her neck, she turned toward the Cross-dressing guy who was sprinting toward the door.

As if she had spotted a new target, she ignored the Delivery Man and charged toward the Cross-dressing guy with inhuman speed, closing the distance in just a few strides.

Pei Han and Ning Ge understood immediately. Together, they shouted at the Cross-dressing guy, “Don’t move!”

Pei Han was right: this dungeon required wit over brute force.

The Delivery Man had accidentally stumbled upon the Iron Puppet Granny’s weakness.

She seemed more sensitive to moving targets.

If people remained still, she treated them like furniture in the room, seeing no problem.

Only moving things were “rats”—immobile things were not.

The Cross-dressing guy turned in surprise to look at Pei Han and Ning Ge, instinctively slowing his steps.

However, the Iron Puppet Granny no longer pursued him.

Though effectively blind, the Iron Puppet Granny was not deaf. Pei Han and Ning Ge’s loud shout had successfully captured her attention.

After all, anything that made noise was “rats.”

The Iron Puppet Granny raised her massive hammer high and charged toward Ning Ge and Pei Han, instantly singling out Ning Ge between the two “rats.”

Ning Ge committed to her newly discovered strategy.

She fell silent and didn’t run. Under the threat of the whistling hammer, not even her eyeballs moved.

Pei Han did the same.

They became like two instantly frozen plaster statues.

Sure enough, the Iron Puppet Granny, who had already reached Ning Ge, stopped.

She tilted her head, scrutinizing Ning Ge as if wondering when this new piece of furniture had appeared in the room.

Holding her hammer, the puppet granny brought her iron face close to Ning Ge.

The pitch-black eyes were less than ten centimeters from Ning Ge’s, and the massive iron hammer nearly brushed her leg.

Ning Ge forced herself to hold her gaze steady, holding her breath, not even twitching. She looked like someone lying on the ground playing dead after being chased by a bear.

Iron Puppet Granny stared fixedly at Ning Ge, whose eyes were vacant, unfocused, and seemed to pierce through the woman’s head to fixate on a point in the void. Like a silent competition, they waited for the other to surrender.

I can’t breathe. Ning Ge felt like she was holding her breath until she was about to suffocate.

Finally, Iron Puppet Granny broke first.

She turned her head, noticed the new “furniture,” and walked over to examine Pei Han.

Pei Han remained motionless, as solid and still as an ice sculpture.

Iron Puppet Granny turned away in frustration.

She’d taken only two steps when she suddenly whirled around.

The two figures behind her hadn’t been fooled; they remained perfectly still.

Deeply disappointed, Iron Puppet Granny began stomping around the room, swinging her hammer wildly.

“Where’s the rats? Where is it? Where have the rats hidden?”

When Pei Han and Ning Ge froze, the Cross-dressing guy also stopped. He quickly understood what was happening and now didn’t dare move either, his arm raised in the pose of reaching for the door.

The living room was in such a commotion that Ning Ge noticed Owen and Teacher Su peeking out from the room across the way. Discovering the bizarre situation, they didn’t dare make a sound.

Hearing the commotion outside, Iris poked his head out from the kitchen, awaiting Ning Ge’s instructions.

Ning Ge concentrated, releasing Thought Silk and draping it over Iris.

Don’t make a sound, don’t move. If you don’t move, she won’t see you, Ning Ge transmitted the command to him.

Iris received it and obediently stood still.

As a wooden puppet, he could remain motionless without even needing to hold his breath. His eyes didn’t blink, and pressed against the wall, he looked like a life-sized doll, blending seamlessly with the surrounding furniture.

The room fell silent, save for the rhythmic clatter of Iron Puppet Granny’s iron-shod shoes on the wooden floor.

Ning Ge, Pei Han, the Cross-dressing guy, the Delivery Man, and Iris all froze like statues.

“Where’s the rat? Where is the rat?”

Iron Puppet Granny searched the area in vain, growing increasingly agitated.

“The rat is hiding in the furniture,” she declared with a bizarre conclusion.

Her gaze swept across the room before settling on the dining table. She raised her massive hammer high.

Boom! With a single swing, she obliterated the dining table.

The innocent table collapsed in a tragic heap, splintered wood fragments flying into the head of the Delivery Man, who was crouching nearby. He didn’t dare move. This couldn’t go on.

Even if they successfully pretended to be furniture, given the Iron Puppet Granny’s volatile nature, she could turn on them at any moment, deciding she didn’t like these “furnishings” and bringing her hammer down.

Pei Han seized an opportunity to signal everyone to head for the door.

He wanted them to go first. The situation was at a stalemate, with everyone trapped inside as the Iron Puppet Granny’s hostages. One wrong move could be disastrous.

As the Iron Puppet Granny turned her back, Ning Ge and Pei Han quietly crept forward two steps.

When she turned around, they froze instantly.

The others understood.

Whenever the Iron Puppet Granny had her back turned, they would immediately start inching toward the door. Even the Delivery Man mustered the courage to stand up and tiptoe toward the exit.

It was like playing “1-2-3, Red Light¹” with the Iron Puppet Granny—they could only advance when she wasn’t looking.

And they had to be absolutely silent, not making the slightest sound, lest they attract her attention again and end up face-to-face.

Ning Ge noticed that Owen and Teacher Su had taken off their shoes to tread lightly, carrying them in their hands and walking forward slowly in their socks.

Everyone crept toward the door, one step at a time.

Though progress was slow, it was steady and consistent.

Unable to find anyone, the Iron Puppet Granny peered around the room, muttering to herself, “Where are the rats? Where are they? Come out, you rats brats!”

The rat brats advanced toward the door in silence.

The group gradually converged, drawing closer to the door.

Only Ning Ge wasn’t with them.

From the start, Ning Ge had no intention of going to the door.

With less than forty minutes left on the countdown and the Silver Medal still unobtained, failure would mean random execution. Time was running out, and not a moment could be wasted.

Ning Ge’s target wasn’t the door.

She quietly crept toward the Iron Puppet Granny.

Pei Han’s original target had also been the Iron Puppet Granny. Noticing Ning Ge moving in the same direction, he made a gesture toward the door when the Iron Puppet Granny turned away.

Ning Ge shook her head.

Footnote:

1.  “1-2-3, Red Light” is most commonly associated with a children’s playground game where players try to reach a finish line without being caught moving  ↩︎