Dawn had broken, what could they do now?
It seemed that nothing they did could change their current predicament.
The four members of the Red Gloves team exchanged glances, each falling into their own thoughts.
After the sun rose a bit higher, they went out as usual, just like the previous day, to see if they could avoid the people secretly watching them.
Once the morning passed, they returned to their hotel room and began discussing countermeasures.
After testing things throughout the morning, they hadn't discovered anything suspicious around them, nor had they encountered anything unusual.
This made them wonder whether the people monitoring them had been lured away by the old man from last night.
Someone suggested taking advantage of this opportunity to try leaving Puning Port, if they could get out, they could request reinforcements.
Others questioned whether last night's dream had been staged by that old man, and perhaps nothing had actually happened from beginning to end.
In the end, they split into two teams of two.
One team would stay put, while the other would attempt to leave, one by land and the other by sea.
That afternoon, they successfully boarded their respective carriage and ship and departed.
At night, the two Red Gloves members who remained in the hotel waited for their teammates who had left less than five hours ago.
All four gathered once again in the room.
After a moment of silence, the one who had left by carriage cleared his throat and began recounting his experience.
"The carriage I took this afternoon suddenly had its horses go mad. The whole thing nearly fell apart from the shaking. The driver had no choice but to let me get off and continue on foot. I planned to wait and see if there were other carriages leaving Puning Port, but after an hour, none appeared."
"With no carriage available, I decided to leave on foot. Following the map, I headed toward a nearby village. To avoid being noticed, I deliberately avoided the main road and took forest paths instead."
"After walking for over an hour, I somehow returned to the exact same place. That's definitely not normal. So I came back to the hotel to discuss it with you all."
After he finished, the one who had taken the ship also spoke about his experience.
Everything had been normal at first, but after about two hours, the captain informed them they might have encountered sea fog. The ship had been circling the same waters, unable to find its original route, and could only return.
The captain, a seasoned sailor, said that someone among them must have offended the Sea God, and that the god was preventing them from leaving.
The captain and crew all believed this explanation, so he was sent back ashore.
Coincidence? Accident?
These explanations no longer made sense for what they had experienced.
"The honorable Goddess would not sit idly by while Her believers suffer. If we fail to send our scheduled report, the Church will know we're in trouble."
"For now, our most important task is to stay alive and wait for support from the Church."
"Let's rest for the night. Tomorrow, we'll think of a way to break this situation."
...
At around ten at night, under dim yellow light, Hastur sat at his desk, flipping through a new book sent by Ms. Lisa. It was yet another work praising the great King in Yellow.
It mainly told stories of the King in Yellow wandering the world in various incarnations, blending fairy-tale elements with a touch of dark realism.
Hastur personally thought it was quite well written. Ms. Lisa seemed to have real talent in this area.
After finishing the book, Hastur stretched slightly, preparing to take a bath and rest, when he suddenly saw Ariella rush excitedly to the window, meowing twice into the dark night outside.
"Has Sharron returned?"
A smile appeared on Hastur's face as he walked to the window. The glass shimmered with light, and a figure appeared within it.
"Meow." Ariella pawed at the glass, as if trying to pull Sharron out, but failed.
Crash!
Using too much force, Ariella shattered the stained glass. A large piece fell to the ground, while the remaining fragments in the frame cracked into more than a dozen pieces, each reflecting Sharron's figure.
Ariella's deep blue eyes widened, unable to comprehend the strange scene.
After watching for a moment, it tried to reach out again, but seeing the shards on the ground, it withdrew its paw and let out a pitiful cry.
Soon, Sharron's reflection in the glass merged into one and moved to another pane.
"Meow?" Ariella leaned closer, its eyes almost pressed against the glass.
Inside, Sharron extended her hands, picked up Ariella, and brought it into the mirror world.
Entering the glass for the first time, Ariella was visibly excited, happily lying in Sharron's arms with only its little head sticking out.
Seeing this, Hastur decided not to bother arguing about the broken stained glass.
After playing for a while, Sharron shifted from the remaining pane into a mirror on the desk, then stepped out from it.
Even after having successfully advanced to Sequence 4 and become a Puppet, Sharron's appearance and temperament hadn't changed much.
As expected, before her advancement, she had already resembled an emotionless puppet.
Even now, though she played with Ariella, her face remained completely calm, without the slightest emotional fluctuation. Her eyes were clear like still water, equally devoid of emotion.
It was becoming harder and harder to discern her true thoughts.
After observing for a while, Hastur smiled. "Welcome back."
Sharron nodded, then placed Ariella on the desk and said, "Many people are investigating me."
Hastur raised an eyebrow, unconcerned. "Perhaps it's just routine work."
Sharron said nothing, her eyes, nearly the same color as Ariella's, fixed on him.
"They're here because of Ince Zangwill. The aura and traces you left that night were recognized," Hastur explained with a faint smile. "Speaking of which, I was dragged into this because of you, I'm on their investigation list as well."
That night, when dealing with Ince Zangwill, Hastur had concealed himself, later seized 008, and erased all traces.
Logically, the Red Gloves shouldn't have been able to lock onto him, not even that Eye of the Goddess.
They must have traced him through Sharron, noticing him based on her movements.
In other words, Sharron's recent troubles had been caused by herself.
Hastur kept his gaze on her face, but couldn't detect even the slightest emotional change. At this moment, she truly resembled a real puppet.
Though she could speak, in terms of suppressing emotion, she was like an exquisitely crafted life-sized doll.
The only pity was that there was no opportunity to play dress-up games… cough…
Hastur suppressed those improper thoughts and said, "I'm also thinking about how to deal with them."
Although Ms. Lisa was handling the matter for now, it would be best not to involve Sharron too deeply in the affairs of the Yellow Robed Priests.
Sharron said calmly, "008 is an ominous sealed artifact. It's best to stay away from it."
Hastur laughed. "It can be troublesome at times, but it's still somewhat useful."
At the moment, 008 lay quietly in a box on the corner of the desk.
It was only because Sharron was present that it hadn't started bouncing around in protest.
Seeing that Hastur insisted on keeping 008, Sharron didn't continue the topic.
Hastur asked her to sit before saying, "Tell me about your experiences during this time."
"Very good."
"That's it?"
"Mm."
"Miss Sharron, you're even more sparing with words than before."
"Meow." Ariella chimed in as well.
"Have you ever seen a talkative puppet?" Sharron replied.
"Yes," Hastur answered firmly, causing a rare flicker of surprise in her eyes.
"In the novel I wrote for you, those cold, emotionless puppets actually have hearts burning with passion. They long to communicate with others."
"..."
"Look at Ariella, even though it can't speak human language, it always tries to join our conversations. It shows that communication is an instinct of living beings."
"Meow!" Ariella glared angrily at Hastur, then ran to Sharron, covering its eyes with its paws as if crying.
"You see? Even a cat can show such vivid expressions. How could a human be worse than a cat?"
Hastur spoke with intent. He knew that Sharron's quietness and lack of emotional display were part of her nature.
But when acting as a puppet, she could easily merge completely with that role, because she resembled one too closely.
It was easy to sink into it, but not so easy to come back out.
He didn't want Sharron to eventually become someone who had lost all emotional fluctuations.
A Sharron who could smile and cry was much more endearing.
"Mm." Sharron nodded, her gaze seeming slightly softer.
"How about trying a smile?"
Sharron ignored this obviously self-serving suggestion.
After staying for about twenty minutes, she left.
Her visit tonight had two purposes: to inform Hastur of her successful advancement, and to give him a brief warning.
As soon as Sharron left, 008, pretending to be dead inside the pen case, began bouncing around, demanding to come out.