Chapter 187
Chapter 187
At the mouth of an alley in the distance, a staggering figure could be seen faintly, making its way into the street.
Jiang Li’s heart pounded wildly.
She looked around.
The surrounding taverns and restaurants had long since closed.
The entire street was unnaturally desolate. There was nowhere for Jiang Li to hide.
Instead, the town’s streets were lined with an abnormal number of candied hawthorn stalls.
Jiang Li picked one at random, lowered her body, used the stone statue in the fountain as cover, and quickly ran behind the stall to hide.
This candied hawthorn stall was at the rear of the street, about twenty meters away from the fountain.
The stalls were built from rough concrete. The low cement wall was just enough to conceal a person.
There was even a small round hole deliberately set into the cement wall.
Jiang Li held her breath and crouched behind the stall.
Through the round hole in the cement wall, she looked toward the center of the street.
The sound of bells had come from the head of the street. Judging by the sound, it was still slowly approaching the fountain.
But as Jiang Li watched, the “jingle, jingle” of the bells in the alley vanished without warning.
Jiang Li checked through the hole again and again.
She discovered that the dark silhouette that had been at the head of the street had disappeared along with it.
“What are you looking for?” A mouthful of rotten teeth, chuckling wickedly, stretched out from behind Jiang Li’s neck.
The sound of “jingle, jingle” appeared behind Jiang Li.
Jiang Li’s body went rigid.
She slowly turned her neck and found herself face-to-face with an old grandfather in a red hat.
He was dressed like Santa Claus.
Though his clothes and accessories made him look like Santa Claus, his whole body was ragged and filthy.
Santa Claus set down the red, wet sack he had been carrying over his shoulder and gave Jiang Li a simple, foolish grin.
Then he crouched behind the stall with Jiang Li.
In an excited, rising tone, he asked again,
“Who are you hiding from?”
“Can I join in? This is so tense…”
Santa Claus pressed close against Jiang Li, crouching at her side.
He copied Jiang Li’s posture and carefully peered through the round hole at the street outside.
Santa Claus’s black rain boots happened to be pressed against Jiang Li’s calf.
Jiang Li swallowed instinctively.
Rain boots.
The shoes the Old Man was wearing… were filthy rain boots.
In the prophecy, the killer who used a dagger to slice open Little Red Riding Hood Zhao Qingqing had also been wearing rain boots.
At the end of that prophetic vision, rain boots covered in black mud left a trail of footprints along the path as they walked out of the forest.
Jiang Li was squeezed into the corner by the Old Man, unable to move.
She cautiously glanced down.
For now, there was no black mud on those boots.
If Santa Claus was the killer, that meant Zhao Qingqing had not yet been murdered, and the killer had not gone looking for Zhao Qingqing yet.
But what did this Santa Claus have to do with the Red-Eyed Rabbit?
Jiang Li remembered the rules saying that the killer was the Red-Eyed Rabbit…
“Why aren’t you talking? I asked what you’re doing hiding here, who you’re hiding from, who you’re hiding from!
Why do I feel like you don’t respect me?
There’s no one outside at all. Are you lying to me? You’re lying to me!”
When Jiang Li ignored him, Santa Claus lost control and started roaring.
He hurriedly searched himself for something. Jiang Li did not know if he was looking for a knife.
Jiang Li wanted to run, but the Old Man had her trapped in the corner, blocking her in completely.
Jiang Li wanted to call the Red Infant on her shoulder.
But somehow, the Red Infant had fallen asleep at some point. By now, he was already deep in dreamland.
No matter how she called him now, he would not wake up.
Jiang Li clearly remembered that the Red Infant had just eaten the Colorful Ice Cream.
Logically speaking, after eating the ice cream, he should not be this drowsy.
How had the Red Infant become like this…
There was no time to think. The Santa Claus before her was growing more deranged by the second.
Santa Claus grabbed Jiang Li by both shoulders and furiously slammed her against the low concrete wall.
And beneath the Old Man’s red hat, something seemed to be growing outward.
At that critical moment, Jiang Li’s hand brushed against something sticky on the ground.
A familiar scent drifted into her nose.
Sweetness…
The sweetness of honey!
Jiang Li immediately picked up the thing from the ground and stuffed it straight into Santa Claus’s mouth.
The Old Man’s face flushed the instant he tasted the candied hawthorn, and he fell quiet at once.
His manic agitation seemed to have been soothed.
The thing beneath his red hat also slowly shrank back in.
Jiang Li quickly bolted out from behind the stall and sprinted as far away as she could!
All the candied hawthorns sold on this street had honey mixed into them!
Judging from the current situation, honey was highly effective at resisting contamination.
That was also why there were so many vendors selling candied hawthorns on this street!
These candied hawthorns were the only chance passersby had to survive.
As Jiang Li passed the stalls, she swept up a batch of candied hawthorns along the way.
The jingling of Santa Claus’s bell chased relentlessly after her.
Farther ahead was the moat that separated the town from the castle.
There was no bridge over the moat. The river was deep, the current swift, and Jiang Li could not cross it.
To reach the castle, she might need the Little Soldier’s help.
While she hesitated, Santa Claus had already finished eating the candied hawthorn and flashed right behind Jiang Li.
“W-wait a second…” Santa Claus was panting hard from the chase. “Why are you walking so fast? Your present… I still haven’t given you your present!”
Santa Claus set down the huge sack dripping with red liquid from his shoulder, then shoved half his body into it, rummaging for who knew what.
Just as Jiang Li was about to take out another skewer of candied hawthorn to stall for time-
The door of the little house on the right, the one hung with small colored lights, opened with a creak.
Through the crack, a kind-looking Old Lady wearing a hat and an apron poked out half her head.
The Old Lady beckoned to Jiang Li. “Good child, come in quickly!”
Outside the house was unsafe.
But inside the house, there might also be danger!
Just as Jiang Li was about to refuse-
From below the crack in the door, the Little Soldier’s head poked out as well.
“Witch, hurry inside! It’s dangerous out there. Come in and hide for a while!”
Santa Claus was still buried in the bloodstained sack, fumbling around.
He seemed to have been grabbed by something inside and was struggling fiercely.
Jiang Li had originally planned to choose neither side and run toward the other end of the town street.
But unexpectedly, she discovered that a bank of fog was drifting across the once-clear night sky.
The fog came from the direction of the forest and was now spreading from the far end of the town street.
She couldn’t enter the fog zone!
Even if Jiang Li had the Mist-Treading Lantern, it would be useless!
The existence of the Mist-Treading Lantern would only reveal her position to Santa Claus.
Trapped between advancing and retreating, what should she do…
The fog was still spreading.
The struggle between Santa Claus and whatever was inside the sack was clearly about to end, and Santa Claus very obviously had the upper hand.
Jiang Li raised her eyes and looked toward the Old Lady in the little house on the right.
This was the only choice left!
Jiang Li moved toward the little house.
If entering the Old Lady’s house meant death, then that could only mean this Instance was unwinnable.
But there was no such thing as a guaranteed-death scenario, so the Old Lady’s little house was safe!
Jiang Li quickened her steps and ran toward the little house.
But just as she got within a meter or two of the door-
The clock behind the little house’s glass window caught Jiang Li’s attention.
Jiang Li glanced at the clock with a strange look in her eyes, and her steps toward the little house suddenly stopped.