A Midnight Escape Story for Farmers

As he said, Carpenter Wang had arrived at the square at some point, holding a strange thing in his arms.

——It was a wooden doll with a length of two feet. It was dressed in rich clothes and heavy makeup, and it looked like a decoration for a festival.

Carpenter Wang took it, squeezed away other NPCs all the way, walked to the long table, chatted with the father and daughter behind the table, and then handed the doll in his arms to Zhang Yu.

"That's what you said, the maker of the doll?" Xiao Fengdi stared at Carpenter Wang and asked softly.

He had always wanted to meet this NPC before, but Fang Shiqing went to Carpenter Wang's house with him once, but it was in vain.According to neighbors nearby, Carpenter Wang is always busy at work during the day, and it is difficult to ensure that you can meet him when you come to visit—unless it is a rainy day like last time.

Unexpectedly, we ran into each other during the festival.

"Yes, are you going to talk to him now?"

Carpenter Wang sent the doll out, bought another zongzi, and then turned and left.

"No need," Xiao Fengdi quickly looked away, "There is no strange aura about him, no matter how you look at it, he is just an ordinary person."

"But those puppets were indeed made by him... Can ordinary people make 'substitutes'?"

"Yes. Think about it, aren't most of the clay puppets in temples made by ordinary craftsmen? But those can also become the Dharma bodies of gods and Buddhas. The reason is the same. Maybe it's just that a monster noticed that he made puppets, and made use of them."

Speaking of this, Fang Shiqing couldn't help but glanced at Zhang Yu's side, and saw that she casually stuffed the doll behind her back, and then continued to be busy with the zongzi business, as if she didn't care much about it.

"Shall we go over and have a look?" He continued to ask the boss for advice.

"No hurry," Xiao Fengdi looked away, and said, stuffing the zongzi in his hand, "Before that, you should eat the zongzi first."

"……Hey?"

He had completely forgotten about it, and was momentarily stunned, "But now..."

"Let's talk about other things after eating," Xiao Fengdi added, "Wu and five homophones are 'evil'. The custom of the Dragon Boat Festival has the meaning of 'eliminating evil'. Eat more zongzi to clear away bad luck."

...Wait, you said that hanging mugwort leaves can get rid of evil spirits, but what kind of evil is eating zongzi?

"Boss, you," Fang Shiqing couldn't help but said, "You wouldn't..."

"Could it be something?" The other party looked back calmly.

"……nothing."

Fang Shiqing originally suspected that the boss was deliberately giving him the rare food, but after thinking about it carefully, he felt that this idea was a bit too pretentious.They don't have any special relationship, why did they treat him so well?

So, why on earth should it be so good?

"...Thank you, boss, the whole one is a bit too much, you can divide it into a third, no, just a quarter."

Finally, Xiao Fengdi divided the zongzi into two.I don't know if it was an illusion, but Fang Shiqing always felt that the half of his rice dumpling had a lot of meat in it. Could it be that Zhang Yu deliberately picked a meaty one for the boss?

Next to them, two girls were talking and laughing and comparing the sachets they received, Gu Jinhong and He Xiangwu were discussing the zongzi from their hometown, and Zhao Jun was reading the announcement.The players haven't gathered together so peacefully for a long time, and the atmosphere now makes people feel very comfortable.

Swallowing the last mouthful of glutinous rice, Fang Shiqing sighed contentedly.

Speaking of food, he remembered the information he had obtained from the ranch daughter.Hunting can obtain meat, but how to hunt?Do you have to have a shotgun?

After resting for a while, seeing that the flow of people in front of the long table finally became less dense, the two got up to look for Zhang Yu.

"—wooden doll? You mean that?"

Zhang Yu just entrusted all the work at hand to her father and sat down behind the table.She wiped the sweat off her face, picked up the doll and handed it to Fang Shiqing.

"Carpenter Wang gives me dolls every year. He said that the Dragon Boat Festival is also the Girl's Day, and he wants to give things to girls. He must have so many wooden dolls that the family can't fit them. He gives them away when he sees the opportunity... I put them in my house. There are four or five in a row, if you like, this will be given to you?"

"No, no, we're just curious and want to see it." Fang Shiqing shook his head nervously, he really didn't want this kind of thing.

This large puppet is very delicately made, with a faint smile on its face, which looks mysterious and elegant.But Fang Shiqing only felt his scalp tingling when he saw it, and he felt that he might really suffer from puppet phobia.

Xiao Fengdi took the doll, fiddled with it a few times, then suddenly grabbed Fang Shiqing's hand and pulled him towards him.

"What's wrong?" Fang Shiqing was stunned, looked up at him, but found that he was looking not far away——

A black-haired girl was standing in the crowd of people coming and going, looking at this side quietly.

"—" Fang Shiqing's breathing paused for a moment.

Her face is exactly the same as that of a puppet, but her expressions and eyes are vivid, with a touch of resentment.Even though it was more than ten meters away, the substantive resentment was still firmly locked on his body.

——Wait, did I do something that would be resented by the wooden man? !He was baffled for a moment.

After a while, Xiao Fengdi returned the doll to Zhang Yu, and then directly dragged him to a secluded corner away from the crowd.

Fang Shiqing waved his hands at Zhang Yu in a panic: "Well... we're leaving first, thank you!"

"Ah," Zhang Yu forced a smile, "walk slowly."

She stared at the hands they held together and bit her lips tightly.

Fang Shiqing didn't know what Xiao Fengdi wanted to do, anyway it was absolutely right to follow the boss.The two walked through the green belt next to the square and came to the sidewalk opposite the bar. Because most of the townspeople gathered in the square, this side is very quiet now.

Fang Shiqing kept turning his head to look around, but the girl could no longer be seen from this distance.He squinted his eyes and tried his best to search among the people, but he never saw the recognizable long black hair.

"Boss," he whispered, "that puppet is gone! She doesn't seem to be in the square anymore—"

"Well," Xiao Fengdi said, "she is right behind you, do you want to look back?"

"What?!" Fang Shiqing turned his head reflexively, and saw that the girl was walking a step behind him. The distance between the two sides was only more than half a meter. When he turned his head, he almost touched her cheek.

"Wow!"

He jumped up all of a sudden, dodged to the other side, and bumped headfirst into Xiao Fengdi.

"It's okay, I'm here. Don't run around."

Xiao Fengdi stretched out his arms and hugged him.This time the hug was on the waist. If putting shoulders together was considered a normal sign of a good relationship between men, hugging the waist—and it was such a solid way of hugging, but it was really ambiguous.

Fang Shiqing was still in shock and couldn't notice this, but the eyes of the black-haired girl opposite him immediately changed.

She reached out her hand, as if she wanted to grab him.Fang Shiqing quickly shrank back, but completely hid in the boss's arms; after nearly a week of baptism in dreams, he was very used to doing this.

The puppet girl seemed to be a little afraid of Xiao Fengdi, she couldn't get any closer after being dodged like this, and could only cast more and more sad eyes.

Fang Shiqing calmed down a little, but bewildered with doubts.

"You—" the girl suddenly spoke, "Why are you avoiding me like this?"

Before Fang Shiqing could answer, Xiao Fengdi directly covered his mouth: "Don't talk, don't answer her questions for now."

"Don't you like me?" The girl's eyes moved upwards, and she and Xiao Fengdi looked at each other for a moment, with a trace of resentment leaking from her eyes, "You like me, right? I saw liking here. You should have come to me if no one was in the way."

"..." Girl, that must be your illusion.

Fang Shiqing quickly reviewed every meeting with this girl, and made sure that he had never had a good impression of her—or, "it".

"Come to me," she said, tilting her head like in a dream, "I will make you happy. I will give you everything you want, friendship, family, love; respect, recognition, trust... as long as Come here, and I'll give it to you."

Fang Shiqing felt that the arm holding him was getting heavier, and he was a little out of breath.He struggled a little, but in exchange for an even stronger hug, Xiao Fengdi whispered in his ear: "Don't go."

"..." Fang Shiqing felt overwhelmed, and thought to himself that I'm not a fool, and besides, even a fool wouldn't be deceived by monsters painting big cakes.

"Why do you listen to him?" The puppet girl glared at Xiao Fengdi, then looked at Fang Shiqing and said, "He has no right to influence your will. Come, tell me yourself, you are willing to come to my side."

Fang Shiqing struggled again.This time Xiao Fengdi slowly let go of his hand, but still loosely hooked his waist, as long as he encountered a situation, he could immediately bring him back into his arms again.

"Uh..." Fang Shiqing took a few breaths, a little unsure, "I, can I talk to her now?"

"As you wish." Xiao Fengdi said expressionlessly.

He looked at the puppet girl on the opposite side, and found that she was looking at him expectantly, and was immediately embarrassed.That expectant gesture was undisguised, and even made him, who was destined to live up to this expectation, feel a little guilty.

"Well..." He cleared his throat, "Actually, I want to ask you a question."

The doll looks at him.

"I just want to ask, why me? Why are you staring at me?"

——Why, this puppet is so keen to take him away?Why Fang Shiqing, not any other player?

In fact, he knew that there was probably no answer to this question.This is a game, the monsters will act according to the pre-set programs, and will target all players who trigger the conditions.

Perhaps the trigger for this puppet monster was to visit the NPC King Carpenter on a rainy day, and he just happened to do that—that's all.

But—why is it him?Is this really just a coincidence?What's more, what she promised was not the fame and fortune that the world usually wanted, but just what he wanted most.

"Is it because you think I'm most likely to be bewitched by you?"

"——" the puppet tilted its head, looked at him for a while, and suddenly smiled slightly, "Okay, I will answer your question. But before that, you have to give me the answer first: are you willing to come to me Are you here?"

"I don't want to." Fang Shiqing replied in a second.

"—Why?" The puppet was slightly surprised, "Ah, I understand. This is not your own decision, but the person around you is forcing you, right?"

"..." The boss in her mouth sounded like a villain, "No, really not. Now it's your answer."

"Why did you focus on me? Why must it be me, not someone else? There should be quite a lot of people holding your avatar." He asked again.

"..."

The girl looked at him with a lonely look in her eyes.After a while, she finally showed an innocent and pitiful smile, "Probably because you are cute."

After she finished speaking, she stepped back silently, and suddenly disappeared into the air.

--cute? ?

Fang Shiqing was shocked by the last sentence left by the puppet monster.

"cute"?Is this term used to describe an adult male?Except for a few professions who make a living by selling images, under normal circumstances, who would judge a man as "cute"?

Xiao Fengdi slowly let go of his hand: "It's gone."

He took out a scroll from his arms, tore it apart, glanced at it and frowned.

"This time, the monster appeared through the double in the square. I tried to locate its body again through the double, but it still failed," he said, "The results still showed that its body was not in this world at all. .”

Fang Shiqing patted his face hard, trying to cheer himself up a bit.He thought for a while and said, "Well, boss, do you think it will be the boss of the next dungeon? Because it is a boss, the main body is hidden in the dungeon, not in the scene of Fengyue Town, so you always lock Not to her body."

"possible."

So the two went back to the square to read the announcement, and found that there was no notification to trigger the dungeon. It seemed that either the guess was wrong, or the puppet girl really gave up after being rejected.

"Shiqing! Brother Xiao," You Qingyu was nearby, and ran over as soon as he saw them, as if he was looking for him, "Where did you go? I thought you eloped with Brother Xiao."

"Uh...do you have something to do with me?"

"Of course, have you forgotten? Didn't we agree that we will go to the neighboring town by car tomorrow!"