Then there was a "jingle bell", and a key was pushed out of the crack in the door: "Please, help me, I can't open the door by myself." ”

Qi Zhen paused slightly, then bowed down to pick up the key.

Gu Zhenzhen's expression behind her changed slightly, she seemed to sense that something was wrong, and was about to step forward to stop her, Qi Zhen immediately pressed her index finger to her lips: "Shhhh ”

He gave Gu Zhenzhen a look, signaling to reassure her that he knew what to do.

Qi Yan did not hesitate to stuff the key he picked up into his pocket, and did not use it to open the door to save people: "I'm sorry, we are guests of this manor, the housekeeper reminded me that guests are not allowed to open the locked door without authorization, I will hand over the key to the housekeeper and let him come over to help you." ”

The nail scratching sound inside the door suddenly became louder: "Don't! I don't want to give the key to that old guy! ”

Her voice changed from the pitiful appearance just now, and became hoarse and angry.

Qi Yan raised his eyebrows slightly: "Why?" ”

There was silence in the door for a moment, and he continued to cry in a pitiful tone: "Help me, please save me." ”

Qi Jiu: "We'll save you, but you have to tell us, are you Catherine?" ”

Maiden Men: "Yes, I am Catherine, the older sister of the twins, I am sure you must have heard my story, I am running out of time, so I would like to ask you to help me." ”

Qi Yan put his hand into his coat pocket and rubbed the cold key repeatedly: "How can we help you?" Except for the unauthorized opening of the door, which we are not allowed to do. ”

The girl in the door: "You need to find a way to open the door for me, and you also need to find my body and set me free!" Help me, please. ”

The crowd exchanged glances again, whether her body meant a corpse or ......

Qi Jiu: "Do you mean the body when you left seven years ago?" ”

Girl in the door: "No, it's a puppet made by Melissa, that's my body, my thirteen-year-old body is already rotten!" ”

"I'm trapped here, I can't get my body, it's my body..."The girl scratched at the door faster, her tone becoming more and more rapid and frenzied.

Qi Zhen: "So now it's my sister Melissa who imprisons you here?" ”

The girl's voice in the door was hoarse: "Yes." ”

Qi Jiu: "Did Melissa also make it for you?" ”

Girl in the door: "Yes..."

Qi Jiu's face showed a look of understanding: "So, you are a puppeteer, right?" ”

The girl in the door was silent for a moment: "... Yes. ”

Qi Yan raised the corners of his lips: "Okay, we understand." ”

"Remember! Find me! Help me, and I will repay you, kind guests! ”

The girl inside the door seemed to have a premonition that something bad was happening, and frantically scratched the locked door, and the sharp scratching sound echoed in the corridor, stabbing people's scalps, "Don't give the key to that old guy!" ”

Qi Jiu: "Don't worry, we'll go and find a way for you now, please don't worry." ”

As he spoke, Qi Yan left along the corridor with the key that he had "tricked", and the three people behind him looked at each other, and finally followed lightly.

"Qi Jiu, what's the situation now? Where are you going? Qin Rang quickly caught up and asked eagerly.

Qi Jiu: "Let's bother the old housekeeper again." ”

"Huh?" Qin Rang scratched his head puzzled, "But the hoarse girl in the door just now... Are we really going to go to the butler to explain the situation? But she told the housekeeper that she couldn't tell her..."

Qi Jiu: "You don't have to tell the housekeeper so clearly, don't worry, you'll know later." ”

Qin Rang nodded and questioned again: "So, isn't this really the main line wish that we need to accomplish?" Rescue Catherine, a girl imprisoned in the door..."

Qi Zhen shook his head: "Don't forget that what we want to fulfill is the puppeteer's wish, and Catherine is just a puppet now, I just confirmed it with her, and she admitted it herself." ”

Qin Rang: "What do you mean ......?"

Qi Jue fixed a glance at him: "Do you remember the fifth rule that the housekeeper ordered?" ”

"- The puppets are very honest, but don't take them all for granted, remember."

And Catherine, who was hoarse and desperate for help inside the door, was a puppet who couldn't fully believe it.

Chapter 162: Highway Circus (56)

Qi Yan recalled that they were in the study just now through the hidden door, obviously they heard the footsteps before they heard the knock on the door, whose footsteps were they? Could it be that Catherine inside the door sent it out to attract them?

Is it possible that she was trapped in that room as an illusion? She wants the pitiful illusion that her guests see...

The old butler told him that the puppet was honest, but the puppet's words could not be fully trusted.

In the conversation with the girl in the door just now, she did have to answer all questions, she was the older sister of the twins, Catherine, she was imprisoned here by her sister Melissa, and she couldn't open the door by herself.

Aside from other restrictions for now, it seems more convenient for her to enlist the help of her fellow puppeteers who have escaped from prison and let them open the door for her with the key.

Let's say the footsteps in the hallway are Catherine's words... In doing so, she may have deliberately guided the kind guests to complete the forbidden action of "opening the door" herself, in order to gain some kind of benefit.

Catherine didn't lie, but recalling the footsteps in the hallway, Qi Zhen suspected that she was playing with words: she couldn't open the door by herself, but in addition to asking for help from the guests who were not allowed to open the door, she could also ask for help from the five puppeteers who had just escaped from prison.

And finding the newspaper hidden in the cupboard is the trigger point for the "Catherine knocks on the door for help" plot.

Once a guest gets the information that the famous puppeteer Lady Melissa has made the closest puppet partner based on her deceased sister, Catherine will use the sound of her footsteps to attract these tourists who have known her...

Of course, Qi Zhen also knew that these were his own speculations, and he couldn't be very sure that the footsteps were made by Catherine, and more evidence was needed to verify it.

Now that he knows his sister Catherine's room, Qi Zhen still needs to find his sister Melissa's room, and he believes that Melissa's bedroom must have more important clues.

Qi Yan came to the door of the old butler again, he raised his hand and knocked lightly, and continued to wait patiently.

But the old butler's patience seemed to be almost exhausted, and his tone was full of impatience: "May I ask what is the matter?" ”

Qi Zhen opened the door: "Sorry to interrupt, I wanted to come over and tell you that Ms. Melissa seems to be back." ”

The three of them looked at each other behind Qi Zhen, Melissa came back? How did they not know?

After a while, Qin Rang sighed softly, and came again and again, this actor of Chacha is online again, but I don't know how he wants to set up NPCs this time.

"Impossible!" The voice of the housekeeper in the door became excited, he stood up from the chair with a slam on the ground, walked quickly towards the door, and kept muttering, "Miss has something to go out and can't come back!" At least not now, it's impossible! ”

Qi Yan outside the door deliberately said "Huh" in confusion: "We heard a lady's voice on the second floor, I think she is Ms. Melissa, probably behind the door of the penultimate room in the south corridor..."

"No, no, no! That's not Melissa! That's ......" The old butler suddenly raised his voice, and his tone became unusually rapid and trembling, "Kind guests, please remember the rules I told you, and never open the locked room without permission, there are surprises in the locked Pandora's box, but there are also demons, curiosity kills cats!" ”

Qi Yan pretended to be uninteresting and asked, "Are you sure that the person in that room is really not Miss Melissa?" I'd like to personally thank her for her hospitality tonight, but it would be a shame if she didn't. ”

The old butler's tone was fierce and determined: "I'm sure not!" The last room in the south corridor is Melissa's room, she won't go to the penultimate room, it's her forbidden area, she won't go in if she kills! ”

"Don't pay attention to the strange movements, maybe the naughty little guests are playing a prank! Remember the rules for tonight, my dear guest! The old butler instructed again.

It turns out that the last room in the south corridor is my sister Melissa's room...

Qi Jiu, who successfully got the words from the other party's mouth, raised the corners of his lips with satisfaction: "Okay, we are clear, thank you for the reminder, we are very sorry for disturbing your rest again, good night, Mr. Butler." ”

"I remember that room was also locked." Lu Zhi is meticulous and has a good memory.

Qi Zhen nodded: "Let's go to the electric switch room again, take a gamble, and see if there are any naughty little guests in Ms. Melissa's room who want to escape from prison." ”

The last time he came to the turnstile room with the old housekeeper, Qi Yan noticed that every room in the manor had a switch.

Qi Zhen climbed the ladder and quickly found the electric switch in Melissa's room, and with a "click", he manually dialed the electric switch.

The light restricts the movement of the normal puppeteers, as long as the electric switch in the target room is pulled and the room is plunged into enough darkness for a long time, the puppets under the cover of darkness will be able to quietly escape from the prison, they will crawl out of the cupboard, and then find a way to open the locked door, just like the five puppeteers who successfully "escaped" from the morning room.

What followed was a long wait, after powering off the target room, Qi Jiu, Gu Zhenzhen and Qin Rang squatted in the corridor outside the door, until there was a more and more intense sound from the locked door, and the footsteps were getting closer and closer, and then, the "bang bang" sound kept smashing against the inferior wooden door, and the locked doorknob also shook violently up and down, and the paint pieces on the door fell off one after another.

Qi Yan exchanged glances with his teammates, he won the bet, and twenty minutes later, the puppeteer in the room couldn't hold it anymore and was eager to try to slam the door!

At the moment when the three "escaped from prison" puppeteers successfully removed the door, the three people who had been prepared in advance surrounded them, Gu Zhenzhen and Qi Yan skillfully picked off the silk threads that controlled the puppeteers' movements of hands and feet, and Qin Rang dragged them back into the house and fixed them at the foot of the bed with the prepared ropes.

In the turnstile room, the road executive very tacitly re-dialed the switch, and the master bedroom at the end of the corridor was restored to light.

Melissa's master bedroom has no puppeteer cabinets, only a closet-door nearly two meters high that is open, and various floral dresses and evening dresses are scattered on the floor.

Qi Yan quickly noticed that there were two pieces of each style of these scattered clothes, and it seemed that Melissa had prepared exactly the same living items for her puppet sister as herself, although her real sister had died seven years ago, and the current sister was just a puppet made by herself.

But Melissa's thoughts and emotions seem to have been pinned on this particular puppet, just as she said in front of the media camera.

On that side, Qin Rang was still concentrating on tying up the "trophies" puppeteers.

"Were you hidden in the closet before?" Qi Yan asked, turning to the puppet trapped in the mummy on the ground.

The wood on the ground wriggled like maggots, and one of them seemed to nod.

Why doesn't there be a puppet cupboard in my sister Melissa's room? Why are these puppets in the closet again?

Qi also noticed a stack of newspapers and a phone on the dresser piled high with makeup.

Qi Yan hesitated slightly, and first set his eyes on the newspaper, and quickly flipped through it-

Mysterious Disappearances or Connections: Children Disappeared in Puppet Theatre

"The Case of a Missing Child: Puppet Theatre as a Key Clue"

Dozens of parents gather at the puppet theater in anticipation of their children's safe return

……

Almost every newspaper in this stack of newspapers has news reports about puppet theaters and missing children, although this series of missing children has not been solved, but from the information given in the newspapers, the place where the children disappeared each time was in the "Melissa and Catherine Puppet Show" performance theater.

The police suspect that the perpetrators are people who have deep ties to the puppet theater, such as the staff who often go in and out of the backstage, but because the theater workers are very mobile, it is difficult to find useful clues for a while.

Among the speculations of private investigators and the public, there are also suspicions that it is a loyal fan of the "Melissa and Catherine Puppet Show", and some even speculate that it is Miss Melissa herself.

But all speculation could not find a reliable chain of evidence, and the investigation was deadlocked, but the disappearance of children continued.

Qin Rang was speechless: "This... The missing children ended up being puppeteers manipulated by silk threads, these children and their families were so miserable, they just wanted to have fun watching a puppet show..."

Qi Yan was engrossed in checking the information and timeline in the news, and frowned: "Have you noticed?" The disappearance of the child only came after Catherine, the puppet partner, officially took the stage, that is, after Melissa's twentieth birthday. ”

Gu Zhenzhen nodded, his face solemn: "So the disappearance of the child is either some kind of sacrifice, or Catherine's appearance touches some kind of curse, or... Is it Catherine's puppet's hand? ”

"In short, these disappearances are inseparable from the puppet Catherine, we will find out if we ask the victims."

As he spoke, Qi Yan took out the colorful candy figure he had bought from the mobile food stall and handed it to one of the puppeteers: "Do you want to taste it?" It tastes very good. ”

The puppeteer's stiff eyes began to roll wildly: "Don't! I don't want to eat the Grim Reaper's candy! If you eat candy, you will be killed! Kill it and you'll be made into a puppet! ”

Qi Ji put away the candy and patted the puppeteer's head to appease: "But, aren't all the viewers who enter the "Melissa and Catherine Puppet Show" able to eat candy? ”

Puppeteer: "That's it, it's this... If you see the show, you will be killed! I'll be made into a puppet by that sister! ”