Moonlit Calamity: The Dragon Girl's Life of Idleness is Broken

Chapter 352 The Puppet Troupe

At midnight, when all was quiet, the night was pitch black, devoid of stars, appearing both still and profound.

The people in the city were all asleep, and so was the inn. Apart from the occasional sound of the wind outside, the entire environment was quiet enough to hear a pin drop.

Just then, a dozen strange figures slowly approached the inn.

"Tap—tap-tap—tap—"

"Tap—tap—tap"

The dozen or so figures leaped onto the second floor of the inn and then clung tightly to the outer window of Long Chuqing's superior room.

"Play with me..."

"Crunch...crunch...crunch..."

"Play...with...me..."

A sudden voice sounded.

Their mouths opened and closed, and with the two halves of the rough wood colliding, they awkwardly spat out one word at a time.

"Come out...to play..."

"Crunch...crunch...crunch."

"Play...together...for the New Year...it's lively."

Let's play together!

The sounds were intermittent, varying in pitch, and extremely strange in tone—stiff, wooden, subtle, childish, elusive, and eerie, carrying an inhuman emptiness and longing that shattered the stillness of the night.

That sound was so terrifying that it sent chills down anyone's spine.

Long Chuqing slowly opened her eyes, listening carefully to the sounds outside the window as she looked around.

The oil lamp on the table was still burning faintly. She turned her head and glanced at Princess Ruoyang sleeping soundly in bed. She had not only climbed mountains and ridden in a carriage for a long time today, but also strolled around the night market for more than an hour. Perhaps she was exhausted and was not disturbed by these subtle noises.

Since Princess Ruoyang was traveling and had no maids or servants to attend to her, for safety reasons, she was allowed to share a room with Long Chuqing.

"Haa..." Feng Yu yawned, clearly annoyed at being suddenly woken up: "What kind of junk dares to disturb my sweet dreams?"

Fei Feng also woke up. She transformed into a wisp of pale golden light and peered out the window.

Good heavens! A bunch of blurry outlines were clinging to the window, close together or overlapping, their movements stiff and their postures contorted, like spiders firmly attached to the window paper.

It looks like a human, but it's a bit too short.

Fei Feng suddenly realized: "So the puppets have come to life. Speaking of which, why are these puppets all clinging to our windows and making ghostly noises? To be honest, these things aren't scary, but listening to their slurred voices is still quite creepy."

Feng Yu asked doubtfully, "Puppet spirits? No, they should be acrobatic puppets! Could they be here to find Qingqing?"

“They’re not here for me.” Long Chuqing looked at Ruoyang sleeping inside. “They’re probably here for the princess. This unlucky kid was probably targeted by them back at the night market.”

As she left the bustling city, she vaguely sensed a strange aura, which she guessed was from these puppet demons.

Instead of receiving retaliation from Hu Guangyan and Magistrate Hu, the puppets from the night market came knocking on their door.

"Feifeng, shield the princess's hearing so she can get a good night's sleep," Long Chuqing said. "If the little girl wakes up, she'll probably be frightened by what she sees."

Fei Feng replied, "Alright!"

A pale golden halo blocked Princess Ruoyang's ears.

"Crunch...crunch...crunch."

"Play...during the New Year...it's lively...let's...play together."

"Come out...and...play...with...us."

"Play with us... together."

"Crunch...crunch...crunch."

The childish, awkward laughter was somewhat irritating; they not only shouted, but even started banging on the windows with their wooden arms.

"Boom...boom...boom..."

Others might not hear the puppet's faint, wooden sounds, but they could hear the knocking on the window. Although the sound was not loud, a vigilant person would still notice it.

"Swoosh—rip—"

The wooden puppet tore a hole in the window paper, and a wooden arm reached in through the crack. It grabbed the edge of the window and shook it vigorously, as if trying to break through and crawl in.

"Swoosh." Long Chuqing threw off the covers and sat up, grabbing an outer garment to put on.

"Annoying, I'll go chase them away." Feng Yu transformed into a beam of light and rushed towards the window.

Just as she was about to unleash a sword strike to send them flying.

"Susususu..."

The puppet broke through the window and crawled in.

The combined strength of more than a dozen puppets was considerable; the window was not very sturdy and was quickly smashed open.

"Wow...good heavens, they just swaggered in like that?" Feng Yu was somewhat surprised. She didn't rush to make a move, wanting to see what these things were up to: "They've got some nerve."

"Quite a few!" Fei Feng exclaimed. "Are they preparing for a team battle?"

"Crunch...crunch...crunch."

Let's play together...!

The puppet dressed in a red theatrical costume and with its hair in two buns stood at the front and made a sound.

Beside it, a wooden general puppet with half an arm missing propped itself up on its remaining leg and wobbled to its feet, its rusty iron armor rattling loudly.

"Play...ah..."

The general puppet raised its only remaining arm, holding a wooden sword and pointing it towards the bed.

Another puppet stood up, its face seemingly painted with the makeup of a female role in Peking Opera, but now the paint on its face was mottled, cracked, and faded.

It raised its stiff arm, waving its somewhat worn-out costume woodenly, uttering words in a series of "ee-yah-yah" sounds.

A wooden puppet dressed in a bright red official robe and hat, with a full beard, landed in the room with a stiff backflip. Its face was dignified with a hint of drunken humor. It swayed and steadied itself as it stood up.

There was also an old man puppet with a long white beard and white hair, whose head kept shaking, seemingly because its joints were a little loose.

A doll resembling Chang'e, its face was relatively well-preserved compared to other puppets. A faint blush was painted on its cheeks, making it appear much softer. The cold wind blew in through the broken window, causing the half-worn red silk hanging on its body to flutter.

A comical puppet with only half a body and a clown-like face was bouncing on the ground with its remaining half, making dull thuds on the floor.

These puppets are all about 1.2 feet tall (about 40 centimeters).