Chapter 99: Chapter 99: Long Boot Musketeers

"Boss, those people are catching up."

Lin Xin’Er glanced to the side, her brow furrowing slightly as she spoke in a low voice.

"Don’t worry about them." Bai Qimeng waved her hand dismissively. "As long as we find the Card Pool without any trouble, we’ll be fine."

Wang Xi had also noticed the commotion behind them.

He recalled the various rules of the Mazes, one of which was particularly crucial—the scenery inside a Maze was in a constant state of flux, changing without any discernible pattern at intervals of about one minute.

In other words, even if two groups entered the same Maze, the first group might find a forest, while a second group entering just a moment later could find themselves in a city.

And those two groups would never be able to meet.

Just like a game instance.

Although there was no explicit rule, generally speaking, two parties of Heroes who didn’t know each other would not enter the same area unless they had a prior arrangement. They would even deliberately avoid it.

This was to avoid unnecessary trouble.

It was an unspoken rule among Heroes.

♪DOOT DOOT DA—

As the three entered the Circus, a big-headed Mechanical Doll dressed as a clown at the entrance blew a horn.

The Mechanical Doll’s appearance was unsettlingly creepy.

It looked dilapidated. Its explosive red curly hair was severely shedding, and its painted smile was mottled and peeling, leaving behind only a red nose, red lips, and a pair of red eyes.

"O, esteemed guests, welcome to... *BZZT*... welcome to the ’Great Emperor Circus,’ where every dream comes true."

Its red eyes flickered like a faulty lightbulb, and another small piece of paint peeled off the corner of its mouth.

Amid the jarring sound of grinding gears, its head suddenly tilted at an unnatural angle, its red nose looking like it was about to fall off completely.

"Heh heh... *BZZT*... Be they sweet dreams or nightmares, please enjoy them to your heart’s content. We wish our guests a ha-ha-happy time—"

The clown Mechanical Doll let out a series of broken laughs.

The end of the last sentence was drawn out and garbled, like the eerie warble of an old-fashioned gramophone running out of power.

BAM!

Without a word, Bai Qimeng kicked it straight on.

The clown Mechanical Doll immediately staggered, its red eyes instantly going dark as sparks sputtered from its open mouth.

"You talk way too much." Sister Shuai slapped the clown Mechanical Doll’s face, making a loud PANG PANG sound. "Hurry up and give me three tickets."

"*BZZT*... Please select a show to watch."

The clown Mechanical Doll struggled to speak, spitting out three flag-like posters along with more sparks.

The posters depicted:

A cat wearing a feathered, wide-brimmed hat, holding a Thrusting Sword and a musket, with a pair of oversized long boots on its feet;

A smiling monkey riding a unicycle, holding a Flying Knife in its mouth while juggling three glass bottles;

A Magician in a tuxedo, pulling a dove out of a top hat.

"This is the stage selection unique to the Circus area. Three performance events, corresponding to three different stages."

Bai Qimeng explained calmly.

She had done her homework before entering the Maze in order to get the Follower Card she wanted.

"The first is ’Long Boot Musketeers,’ the second is ’Monkey on a Unicycle,’ and the third is ’Soul-Startling Mage.’"

"Once you’ve chosen a show, you can’t change it. Only with a ticket can you enter the corresponding stage, and you can’t leave until the performance is over."

"Boss, which one should we choose?"

Lin Xin’Er asked, looking at the three posters.

"The Circus’s performance lineup isn’t fixed, but we got pretty lucky this time."

Bai Qimeng smiled.

"’Long Boot Musketeers,’ of course! According to my intel, the Maze Card Pool in this stage’s venue has the highest probability of dropping a Follower Card!"

With that, she took out three Magic Stones, shoved them into the Mechanical Doll’s mouth, and pointed at the first poster.

"We’ll take this one."

Seeing this, the clown Mechanical Doll made another strange sound:

"Three ’Long Boot Musketeers’ tickets. Esteemed guests, please keep them safe... *BZZT*... If they are lost, you will be responsible for the consequences!"

After speaking, its chest opened with a CLANG, revealing a square opening. A tray popped out, holding three hard, yellow-brown tickets with serrated edges.

The tickets were ink-printed with a cartoon cat head and bore the words "Long Boot Musketeers Entry Ticket (Single use per person)."

Bai Qimeng gave a call.

The three of them each took a ticket from the tray.

Then, they strode into the Circus.

Before leaving, Wang Xi glanced back.

The dilapidated clown Mechanical Doll still stood by the entrance, horn in hand, ready to welcome the next wave of guests.

「Gamma Special Type Mechanical Doll · Clown (Neutral/Four Stars/Elite)」

Looking at the Bronze-framed text box, Wang Xi raised an eyebrow.

’This ticket-selling greeter doll is this strong?’

’And... ’

’It’s a Gamma Special Type Mechanical Doll, a model I’ve never seen before.’

’This Maze’s setting is completely different from the medieval style of the Stag Kingdom. Could it be... the homeland of Pinocchio, the Clockwork Kingdom?’

Wang Xi couldn’t help but speculate.

He shook his head and looked away.

Not long after the three of them left, the group of young men and women finally arrived at the entrance.

"Agh! We’re a step too late!"

Liu Wenjie stomped his feet in frustration.

"This is bad. I don’t know which show they bought tickets for..."

"Brother Jie, what should we do now?"

The red-haired girl asked hesitantly.

Liu Wenjie thought for a moment, raised his selfie stick, and spoke to his phone:

"Let’s have the viewers vote on it!"

Instantly, the livestream’s chat exploded with curses.

"We gave you a chance and you blew it!"

"Told you to run faster, now you’ve lost them!"

"I tipped 10 Credit Points for nothing! Fucking refund me!"

"Dumbass streamer."

Liu Wenjie fumed, but only for a moment.

He pretended not to see the comments, walked up to the clown Mechanical Doll, and reluctantly took out five Magic Stones to buy tickets.

When the three posters popped out of the clown’s mouth, the livestream viewers finally quieted down for a bit and started voting.

"The kitties are so cute, don’t hurt the kitties."

"We’re all monkeys, don’t hurt the monkeys."

"That creepy Magician looks like a total pushover. Streamer, streamer, go fuck him up."

"Fuck him up +1 (Heavy punch)!"

"..."

Liu Wenjie took a deep breath. He had no choice but to follow his viewers’ wishes, spending a fortune on five "Soul-Stirring Magician Entry Tickets" before leading his companions inside.

...

...

Wang Xi’s group of three arrived at the designated performance area—

The Iron Cage Theater.

It was a circular, open space about the size of a basketball court, surrounded by iron bars. The whole thing looked like a giant iron cage.

The iron bars were covered with black cloth, but the scene inside was faintly visible through the gaps—

In the center of the caged area stood a three-meter-tall, rotating iron target platform, its bullseye riddled with holes as dense as a honeycomb. The area was also cluttered with numerous humanoid targets and barriers made of stacked sandbags for cover.

The velvet-covered seats in the front row of the audience section were already scorched by gunpowder, pockmarked with stray bullet holes, and splattered with bloodstains.

Many "spectators" were still in their seats, but their backs were completely motionless, which was quite eerie.

"Once we’re inside, we can’t leave until we defeat the monsters. Let’s discuss our strategy here first."

Bai Qimeng stopped in front of the barred gate and turned to face Wang Xi and Lin Xin’Er.

"Listen up, there are four key points to watch out for."

"First, all the spectators in here are Mechanical Dolls in disguise, and they’re frenziedly aggressive... But as long as you don’t disturb them, they’ll just keep sitting there like idiots."

"Second, the main enemies are the ’Long Boot Musketeers,’ a group of sword-wielding, gun-slinging walking cats. Their strength is decent. They usually hide behind the cover on stage and launch sneak attacks."

"Third, there are landmines buried on the stage. They’ll detonate whether they’re stepped on or shot by the walking cats’ muskets."

"Fourth, when the performance is nearing its end, the leader of the Long Boot Musketeers will appear. It’s the equivalent of a final boss, a Demon King. It’s quite strong and represents the deadliest threat."

Bai Qimeng laid out all the intel she had gathered.

According to her, the best way to clear the stage was to eliminate all the Mechanical Dolls posing as spectators in the audience section within the ten minutes before the Long Boot Musketeers appeared.

This would give them more room to maneuver during the subsequent fight against the walking cats, and they wouldn’t have to risk venturing into the mined area.

The positional advantage they gained would translate into kill efficiency, allowing them to clear the field before the leader cat appeared.

Then they could focus solely on the boss fight at the end.

"Unfortunately, the ’Boot Cat’ Maze has a special mechanic that restricts the use of Mechanical Doll-type Cards, regardless of the scene."

Bai Qimeng sighed.

"Follower Cards like ’Guard Dog’ and ’Guardian Eagle’ are paralyzed the moment they’re summoned, making them completely useless."

"So we have to clear out the fake audience ourselves, and we can’t make too much noise, or we’ll be swarmed by all of them at once."

"Miss Bai," Wang Xi said after a moment’s thought, "if you two aren’t confident about it, why don’t you just leave this part to me?"

He offered a slight smile.

"I happen to have a stealth-type Card that’s perfect for assassination."

Hearing this, the two women were a little surprised.

"If that’s the case, then that would be suitable."

Bai Qimeng nodded.

"But there are over a hundred of those fake spectators. Can you handle them all by yourself?"

"Let’s give it a try first," Wang Xi said. "I’ll do my best to clear them out in the first five minutes. After that, you two can jump in as you see fit, and we’ll try to finish them all in one go."

"Okay."

Bai Qimeng and Lin Xin’Er nodded.

Then, the three of them walked to the barred gate and inserted their tickets into the slot of an iron box.

KLANG—

The iron gate opened with a tremendous noise.

Upon entering, Bai Qimeng and Lin Xin’Er tacitly stopped, standing in the aisle of the audience section without moving forward.

"Be careful," Bai Qimeng instructed.

"Don’t worry."

Wang Xi quietly activated his Card and smiled.

"I’m very mysterious."

— 「Mud Howling Dark Frog」

His eyes transformed into Yellow horizontal pupils. With a single movement, his figure flickered and vanished from his spot.

The entire process was completely silent.

It was as if someone had hit the mute button.

As Bai Qimeng and Lin Xin’Er watched, a white light flashed in Wang Xi’s hand, revealing a Flat-Headed Beheading Sword.

He moved like a gust of chilling wind, weaving through the last row of the audience. The silver-gray glow of his sword fanned out, and with a few soft *CHING*s, several heads went flying as dark brown machine oil spurted out.

"Amazing!"

Bai Qimeng exclaimed in amazement.

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