The puppet spoke: "Ah! Thank you for releasing my soul. I've been trapped in this castle for so long, doing countless chores for them. I'm so tired, and finally I can rest. If you can, please release the other puppets as well. Some of them have worked even longer than I have. In return, I can tell you a secret: the Queen's magic book is in a hidden compartment behind the shelf. You're such a kind person, I wish you well!"
The puppet's voice grew fainter and fainter, its mouth could no longer open, and soon it turned into dust.
Outside the house, a servant who was working in the field suddenly collapsed, his skin cracking like parched earth.
A strange pain welled up in Linghu Lan's heart, a feeling reminiscent of the Princess and the Pea.
In the fairy tale, the Princess and the Pea stayed behind, and in the end, we don't know what happened, but it certainly didn't end with the prince and princess living happily ever after.
Linghu Lan removed the needles from the foreheads of the remaining puppets one by one, and each puppet expressed its gratitude to her.
Outside the house, the remaining servants collapsed one by one, their skin bursting open like sacks, with no internal organs inside.
When she pulled out the last puppet, Linghu Lan keenly realized that it was a woman, and she remembered the kind old servant who had treated her in the castle.
She paused for a second, then finally removed the needle.
Two tears streamed down the puppet's face as she sighed. "As a princess, my life has been so terrible. Thank you, thank you!"
Linghu Lan calmly replied, "You're welcome! May you rest in peace!"
We observed a moment of silence.
She moved the shelf, found the hidden compartment, and retrieved the magic book.
Upon opening, it was discovered that only one page could be accessed; the rest of the book seemed to be sealed and could not be opened.
Linghu Lan quickly scanned the page of the magic book, which contained some basic knowledge of magic and incantations, and she silently memorized them.
From now on, she is also a novice magician.
She packed the book and left the basement.
At this moment, the entire castle was quiet and there was no sound.
Linghu Lan walked towards the door and saw in the hall that the old woman's body had turned into dry tree bark, empty inside, like an inflated human skin that had deflated.
Linghu Lan bowed silently, picked up the oil lamp on the table, struck a match, lit the curtains, and then walked out of the castle.
Not long after she left, the entire castle burst into flames, turning into a sea of fire.
The king, who turned into a sheep, the prince, who turned into a deer, and the queen, who turned into a mouse, all perished in this sea of fire.
The dark fairy tale of the Princess and the Pea has come to an end.
Not long after leaving the castle, Linghu Lan keenly sensed a spatial distortion.
She turned back to look at the castle in surprise. The castle, which had been burning in the raging fire, had vanished into thin air, as if it had never existed.
A winding road appeared where the castle had disappeared, connecting so perfectly with the current road that Linghu Lan thought she was seeing an illusion.
She thought silently for a while and concluded: The castle in the fairy tale of the Princess and the Pea should be on another time track. For some reason, it suddenly overlapped with the current time track. She accidentally stumbled in, set the castle on fire, and destroyed the parameters on the time track. The time tracks no longer overlapped, which is why the current road was revealed.
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