The control room door appeared to be locked.

After more than 20 years of wind and rain, the lock is still holding its post without slacking off or giving up.

Lu Ban felt a sense of respect.

Then he used a crowbar to pry the door open.

Clang——

With a loud bang, the lock that had lasted for more than 20 years finally died.

Lu Ban came to the control room.

The control room is responsible for the opening and closing of the stage curtain, the projection of lights, the playing of music, and the operation of stage control. Jiangcheng Grand Theater has three rooms, located above both sides of the stage and directly opposite the stage.

There should be many instruments in this room, but now there is nothing.

But the control room was not dark.

The transparent windows reveal the theater hall. Because half of the dome had collapsed due to the fire, light from outside could shine in, and the control room was obviously illuminated by this, but it was only a little light.

It was getting dark, and the last bit of sunset glow was fading quickly. The sky seen from here was already dark, and night was about to fall soon.

Lu Ban looked down from a high place and saw the stage shrouded in twilight.

Surprisingly, apart from some charred marks, the stage seemed quite empty. Although the seats were empty and messy, the stage was the only one that stood alone. The dim light fell on it, just like a spotlight during a performance, stubbornly whitewashing the passing prosperity.

Move your eyes and you will see a piano on one side of the stage.

"piano?"

How is it possible that there is still a piano left?

The moment Lu Ban had this doubt.

Ding——

The quaint piano suddenly emitted a distorted sound, but Lu Ban clearly did not see anyone next to the piano!

The hairs on his back stood up. Lu Ban leaned forward slightly and tightened the crowbar in his hand, wanting to see more clearly.

Bang——

At this moment, his foot suddenly missed a step, and he quickly lost his balance and was about to fall.

Click——

Lu Ban's crowbar hooked on the sill of the broken window, and he managed not to fall down.

Looking down, Lu Ban saw that there was a hole under the left foot he had just stepped out. The floor under the protruding control room may have exhausted its last bit of life and collapsed due to the visit of guests who had not been seen for many years.

If Lu Ban didn't have the crowbar, or had walked a little further forward, he would probably have fallen from the control room and broken at least one leg.

He hurriedly took a few steps back, wanting to leave the room.

But Lu Ban's back soon leaned against something, and the lines of that thing were felt through the touch from behind, and it turned out to be the shape of a person!

Lu Ban's heart skipped a beat and he turned around hastily, shining the flashlight while raising the crowbar in his hand.

He saw that in the corner of the control room, where the sunlight from the theater lobby had not yet reached, there were several pale human figures standing.

That's a mannequin.

These mannequins are wearing tattered tuxedos, skirts, etc., just like guests about to attend a grand banquet.

"Why are these things piled up here?"

Lu Ban looked up and down at these model dolls.

He saw that it was someone's prank, but crooked eyes were painted on the blank faces of these model dolls.

These eyes seemed to be looking in the direction of the theater hall, with a certain weird feeling.

Lu Ban knocked the one in front with a crowbar.

Not moving.

He then used the flashlight to illuminate the rest of the control room. It was completely empty except for these few model dolls, which were placed there abruptly.

He turned around and prepared to leave, but took another apprehensive look at the mannequins.

Not moved at all.

But... the eyes of these puppets seemed to have turned towards the door where Lu Ban was.

"…The problem is indeed huge."

Lu Ban put away the flashlight and quickly returned to the front hall.

It was already completely dark. He checked his phone and saw that it was already seven thirty. He had actually been exploring the corridor for over an hour.

At the same time, the text on the mobile phone screen distorted and turned into cold prompt text.

[Mission Start]

[Found the performer: 0/1]

[Survived until dawn: 10:29:43]

"Ten hours...until sunrise at six tomorrow morning?"

Lu Ban set the alarm on his phone for six o'clock tomorrow morning, put it in his pocket, and then pushed open the creaking door of the theater hall.

Even in its dilapidated state now, Lu Ban could still feel the former glory of this theater. It could accommodate more than a thousand people, which was considered quite large at the time.

However, the fire destroyed nearly half of the auditorium and the second floor was almost reduced to charcoal. Even after so many years, Lu Ban could still smell the hot and suffocating air.

The once magnificent dome was shattered, and starlight poured through the gap, casting a hazy white light on the stage.

Lu Ban came to the first row and knocked on the stage with a crowbar to confirm its sturdiness before jumping up.

His shoes stepped on the wooden boards, making a crisp clattering sound, which echoed in this hall, which was broken but still had a sound amplification structure.

Lu Ban walked carefully to the piano, and the light of his flashlight swept across the piano shrouded in the night.

He didn't know how to maintain a piano, and couldn't recognize the brand, but the piano gave him a sense of being ancient and old, yet also brand new. Lu Ban shone the light on the keys and didn't find a speck of dust.

Not only the keys, but even the strings of the open piano were free of dust.

Thinking of this, Lu Ban finally realized that something was wrong.

He leaned down slightly and rubbed the ground with the back of his fingers.

Clean and tidy.

The floor of the stage is clean.

After being abandoned for so many years and with no one cleaning it, it should be covered in dust.

But……

"Wait a moment."

Lu Ban came back to his senses.

The clothes of the mannequins in the control room just now were not covered with dust except that they were tattered! ! !

clatter--

At this time, a slight sound came from the direction of the control room on the other side. Originally, this sound should have been completely unnoticed, but now it was so quiet and the echo effect here was so good, so the sound was clearly transmitted to Lu Ban's ears.

He glanced over there, and saw a face behind the glass of the control room, peering at where he was.

"!"

When Lu Ban shone the flashlight quickly over there, he saw that it was also a model doll, with the same weird eyes painted on its face.

“…Is there any on the other side?”

He shone the flashlight into the control room opposite the stage, but unfortunately, there was no mannequin there.

Lu Ban walked off the stage and looked around. There seemed to be nothing more unusual.

He walked off the stage, found a good chair in the first row, brushed off the dust on it with a crowbar, and then put down his backpack.

Lu Ban took out the self-heating rice and water and prepared to have dinner first.