Operation Red Book

Ivy's face turned pale and her steps gradually slowed down.

Mr. Zhu thought that he had frightened her with his dirty talk, and a smug look gradually appeared on his face.

Little did he know that a white puppet quietly appeared behind Mr. Zhu.

The black and white mask on its face looked very strange under the light, especially the upturned mouth and the drooped eye corners.

The puppet stretched out its hands stiffly, slowly waiting for Mr. Zhu's approaching neck.

At this time, Mr. Zhu was backing away smugly with a smile on his face, completely unaware of the danger that was about to come behind him.

"Watch out behind you!" Ivy shouted with all her might.

Just a few inches away, when the puppet's hand gently touched Mr. Zhu's skin, Mr. Zhu quickly turned around to avoid the puppet's attack. The creaking sound of the wood colliding touched Ivy's heartstrings.

Ivy suddenly remembered the vampire who held her hostage on the train. The chill of the vampire's fangs scraping her neck fermented in her memory. Goose bumps suddenly appeared on her skin, and her whole body felt heavy.

Mr. Zhu kicked the puppet down with a flying kick. The puppet's joints made noises, and it twisted its body like a zombie in a doomsday movie.

"What are you standing there for? Run and find a place to hide!" Mr. Zhu turned around in a hurry and yelled at Ivy.

Ivy's neck was shrunk, her body was stiff, fear was in her eyes, and her legs were as if filled with lead, standing still.

"It's over. The child is frightened."

Mr. Zhu put his arm around Ivy's shoulders and helped her limp back.

Before they reached the audience seats, countless screams rang out in front of the stage, and the sound waves hit Mr. Zhu and Ivy's eardrums.

Hearing the sound, the two men looked towards the stage. The red and blue puppets fighting on the stage had stopped fighting each other at some point, and instead dragged a spectator from the stage. Each of them tied him up and killed him with a shot in the stomach, and blood immediately splattered all over the stage.

"Oh no, this isn't in the play, what's going on..."

Mr. Zhu muttered to himself, looking up at the platform holding the puppet strings.

Mr. Zhu's pupils shrank slightly, and he saw that the people who were manipulating the puppets on the platform had all disappeared, and were replaced by strange puppets of different colors.

Apart from a few screams, the audience upstairs and downstairs were still clapping and cheering, thinking that it was all part of an opera, and there was still laughter in Shisanfang as usual.

"No, no, no, I won't go up there. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before!"

The robed man who was overtaken by other spectators screamed in fear, but no matter how he struggled he could not escape the waves of the spectators and the grip of the puppets. Helplessly, a bloody hole was pierced in his stomach and he died with hatred in his heart.

"Girl, can you walk by yourself now?"

Mr. Zhu shook Ivy gently, and when Ivy nodded, he let her go and ran towards the box on the second floor.

Ivy had her back to the stage. The cheers of the audience and the "swish" sound of the long tasseled spear piercing into the human body swept through Ivy's thoughts.

"Massacre..." Ivy thought so, and endless sorrow surged in her heart.

“It was like the Holocaust.”

The audience in front of the stage finally realized something was wrong, but they were no match for the unaware people in the back, and one by one they were sent to their deaths on the stage.

The audience on the platform and in the back all stopped to watch this bloody fun. The strong smell of blood filled the air of Shisanfang, intensifying their bad taste.

The guards of Shisanfang were quietly knocked down one by one, and replaced by one strange puppet after another.

Before we knew it, the gate of Shisanfang was closed.

From the perspective of people at the Chinese market, it was still bustling with activity. No one knew that a puppet riot was going on in Shisanfang.

More puppets appeared in the corners, and a sharp dagger appeared in the hands of each puppet.

They walked behind the audience and started swinging their knives, knocking down several people with a series of moves.

Blood gushed out in large quantities, staining the puppet's clothes and the magnificent Shisanfang.

There was a commotion among the crowd, with screams and cries coming one after another.

The audience ran for their lives frantically, but when they reached the gate they were frightened away by the puppets guarding the gate.

Some fearless people rushed towards the door, but were immediately strangled by the puppet and died on the spot soon after.

"What to do? What to do? What to do……"

Ivy muttered to herself, still not recovering from the fact that she was part of this massacre.

In the darkness, the white puppet walked towards them slowly with a clattering sound, holding a bone-chopping machete in its hand.

Ivy searched her pockets all over her body, but she had nothing on her except her purse, let alone a handy weapon.

Seeing the puppet with a machete approaching her, Ivy gritted her teeth, quickly ran into the surging crowd, and followed the crowded people to the corner.

After finally squeezing out, someone ran so fast that he bumped into Ivy, causing her to stumble and fall on the stairs.

"Yes, go to the box. There is a door there."

Ivy looked at the stairs in front of her, then looked at the puppet holding a dagger behind her. She lowered her body and climbed up quietly.

The private rooms on the second floor were almost empty. The overturned teacups were still steaming, and the chairs and stools were placed in a mess.

Ivy ran all the way to Mr. Zhu's box, turned around, closed the door, and moved two stools to block the door.

She had just calmed her panicked heartbeat, but when she turned around, she was startled by the tied-up doll on the ground.

In a corner not far away, Mr. Zhu was smoking a pipe in one hand and holding a retro-style phone in the other, speaking English with a heavy accent, and his words were full of anxiety: "Send someone quickly... There is no one, my people are in the Indian Ocean... Anything is fine, hurry up!"

After hanging up the phone, he turned the dial and dialed another number: "Where is Shuyang? The situation is urgent. I will hide first and let him deal with it... SCO will send someone immediately. Don't call Scotland Yard. Do you hear me!"

After hanging up the phone with a "click", Mr. Zhu took a few deep puffs of his cigarette, and when he turned around, he was startled by Ivy.

"You recovered so quickly? You couldn't even walk just now."

Mr. Zhu walked to the puppet while smoking a cigarette and raised his foot to press on the puppet.

"What are these?" Ivy asked, panting. "Why... suddenly, they started killing people."

"This puppet has become a spirit. I have no idea what's going on. It's too weird today. I have to tell its fortune when I get home." Mr. Zhu bent down and pulled off the mask of the puppet.

The puppet's head is an oval-shaped piece of wood with some wood grain on it. Its eyes are dark and look creepy at first glance.

"Why are there puppets performing here? It looks so weird no matter how I look at it."

Ivy hugged her neck, trying hard not to look at the puppet on the ground.

"What do you know? This is the specialty of my Shisanfang." Mr. Zhu pursed his lips and said dissatisfiedly.

"My craft is a traditional one, and it's my livelihood. The puppets don't need to be kept alive, and I just need to oil them every day. If they break, I can fix them. If they can't be fixed, I can replace them. It's that simple."

"Besides, my puppet show is my signature! The puppeteering skills are incredible. Many people come from far away to see it!"

Mr. Zhu took another puff of his cigarette and narrowed his slanted almond-shaped eyes.

"There's no one controlling it, so why is it moving on its own?" Ivy asked, pointing at the thin string on the puppet's head.

Mr. Zhu put down the pipe in his hand and sighed heavily.

"Ah - this is strange. I've been here for ten years, and this is the first time a puppet has become a spirit. I think..." Mr. Zhu said mysteriously, "There's something fishy..."

"boom--"

The door of the box was kicked open, and three or five puppets gathered outside, each with large patches of blood on their clothes.

They all raised the bloody daggers in their hands and were about to swing them down.

Mr. Zhu glanced at the viewing platform in the box, grabbed Ivy by the back of her collar and pulled her over.

"Jump quickly!" Mr. Zhu pointed at the hollow observation deck.

"I, I won't dance...ah——"

Before Ivy could finish her words, Mr. Zhu put his arms around Ivy's waist, turned over and jumped down together.