The good news is that the superpowers that failed in the second stage have returned to everyone.
The bad news was that Xia Chuhe saw two familiar faces as soon as he entered the third level.
On stage was a little girl who looked almost exactly like Bao'er.
One of them, sitting in the audience, was a woman. She was a fellow prisoner of the Silent Valley, who had attempted to force Xia Chuhe to hand over some of his spoils after Xia Chuhe took the core of the instance, but ultimately died under the rules of the Silent Valley. She remained in the position of bleeding from all seven orifices as she had died.
The challenge gave everyone no time to think; the rules immediately appeared in mid-air:
1. Remain silent
II. Stage curtains are equivalent to a wall of repentance.
III. Choosing props to please the audience
IV. Successfully completing the challenge is considered achieved when the audience's laughter reaches the threshold decibel level.
This is a stage with curtains sewn from human skin, teeth embedded in the armrests of the seats, and almost every ghost in the audience is bleeding from all seven orifices, the blood on their faces appearing dried, as if scorched by flames.
The deaths of all the spectators were similar to those of the captive women of Silent Valley. It's not hard to see that they all died under the rules of Silent Valley.
Mo Yun was the first to realize this; he trembled violently, his teeth chattering.
He saw his own destiny reflected in these ghosts.
He will die under the rules of Silent Valley.
The first level, the second level... each level is more difficult than the last. What kind of torment will this level bring?
Even if Xia Chuhe passes the test, can he really successfully resolve the shadow of the rules that hangs over Silent Valley?
The uncontrollable trembling of his teeth was stopped by a strong slap on his shoulder. Xia Chuhe patted his shoulder, grabbed his chin with his hand, and coldly turned his head towards the stage, physically preventing him from contacting those ghosts and interrupting his wild thoughts.
Immediately, Xia Chuhe's gaze shifted to Li Qiusheng, and unsurprisingly, she saw a look of astonishment on her face. This expression was clearly caused by the girl on stage; Li Qiusheng had also mistaken the girl for Bao'er.
But Bao'er is clearly in Taotie City, so it's impossible for her to be here.
Both Dashan and Moyun wore strange expressions.
Xia Chuhe typed on his wristwatch: 【Who did you see?】
Da Shan: [Sister]
Da Shan replied on behalf of Mo Yun in writing: [The youngest girl in Silent Valley, very well-behaved, very pitiful.]
Four people saw three different faces. But the faces they saw were those of people they were close to, the faces that made it difficult for them to be wary of them.
This girl is strange.
The girl didn't show weakness to the four, nor did she try to win them over. Instead, she gracefully strode to the microphone in the center of the stage, stood on tiptoe, held the microphone, and smiled, saying, "The performers everyone has been waiting for are here! Please welcome them to the stage to choose their props. Oh, and please give them some encouraging applause!"
Sparse applause rang out from below the stage. A large decibel meter floated in mid-air for a moment, its shape very similar to the sound pattern gauge in the first round. It was also divided into three areas: yellow, red, and black. The lukewarm applause caused the decibel level to briefly stay in the yellow area.
As the applause subsided, the decibel meter needle slowly dropped back down, and the brightness dimmed as the sound faded, disappearing back into the darkness.
The rules for the first and second levels were accurate, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, the rules for the third level will also be correct.
Xia Chuhe looked around and, not seeing any obvious traps on the stage, stepped forward.
Li Qiusheng, Dashan, and Moyun followed in turn.
Upon stepping onto the stage, the four could see that a wooden puppet was hidden behind the curtain. The puppet had a smiling mask tied to its round head, with its eyes narrowed into slits and its lips in a pointed V-shape.
Xia Chuhe clenched his fist, then relaxed it, feeling uneasy all over.
Although the doll's eyes were squinting, she felt that the doll was staring at her, and that it was staring at her wherever she went.
Needless to say, Li Qiusheng, Dashan, and Moyun felt the same way.
The girl pushed a large box, almost as tall as herself, closer to the performer. The box seemed very heavy, and she had to exert all her strength, her little face turning red.
Xia Chuhe turned his face slightly away, suppressing the urge to lend a hand.
Da Shan couldn't resist walking to the girl's side and silently helping her push the suitcase until it reached Xia Chuhe.
"Thank you, kind sister." The girl blinked. "I'll let you in on a little secret: you can choose card items later, and I'll repay you for it."
The girl's voice was quite loud; apart from Dashan, the other three people all heard it.
The girl opened the box, revealing four props inside.
On the far left is a long, inflated balloon covered in sticky bits of rotting flesh.
The second item from the left is a pair of dance shoes. From a top-down perspective, they appear to be beautiful and elegant pink pointed-toe leather shoes. However, if you look at them from a slight angle, you can see that the soles are embedded with a ring of blackened teeth.
The third item is a strangely shaped shadow puppet, with fine threads that gleam with a metallic sheen and are so sharp they seem capable of easily cutting through skin.
The fourth item was an ordinary card, face down, which looked the most normal of all the items.
Xia Chuhe deliberately kept his gaze elsewhere from the girl's face, rationally considering her intentions—she was doing it on purpose, she was trying to sow discord.
Of the four items, only the cards seemed the safest, a point the girl's words undoubtedly emphasized once again.
If the performers are not united and unwilling to cooperate, everyone will try to fight for the safest prop.
At that time, without the need for level rules or hidden monsters to intervene, the performers will first engage in a battle of wits and kill each other.
The girl urged the four of them in her innocent, childlike voice, "Hurry up and choose the props you want! Who wants to go first? Don't steal the cards from the kind older sister!"
She's stirring things up.
Xia Chuhe picked up the card directly.
The girl's smile widened, and the corners of her mouth turned up high.
The smile vanished the next second.
Xia Chuhe slapped the card into Dashan's palm and gave her a reassuring smile.
Mo Yun's gaze lingered on the rotting flesh balloon and the eerie shadow puppet, reluctant to leave the cards.
Before he could make up his mind, Li Qiusheng took away the eerie shadow puppet without any politeness.
Mo Yun dared not hesitate any longer and quickly reached out to the rotting flesh balloon.
Halfway there, it was stopped by Xia Chuhe, whose wristwatch lit up: [Balloon in danger, look inside]
Through the rotting flesh, Mo Yun carefully observed the inside of the balloon and discovered that the inner wall of the balloon was covered with fine blood vessels, just like a living thing.
Startled, Mo Yun immediately picked up the tooth-shaped dance shoes, no longer hiding her love for their cute pink color and elegant pointed toes.
Xia Chuhe finally picked up the balloon, and as soon as she touched it, she felt it wriggle slightly in her hand.
The girl was clearly disappointed that she didn't see the four of them fight.
But she quickly rallied: "The performers have chosen their props, so let the performance officially begin. Please give them a round of applause!"
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