Chapter 251

“Leon, you’re sure nothing will happen, right?”

“Just relax.”

After tapping on the mirror in the booth twice and summoning out the Black Goat that had been temporarily shoved inside, Leon instructed it to find the location of the anomalous item holder while keeping a close eye on the group of puppets on stage without turning his head, softly comforting:

“I just had…a friend check, and the condition of the souls of the audience is normal. There’s no sign of any kind of control, so watching the play should be safe.

Moreover, since the news broke, Morning Star Theater Company has already performed over a dozen times. If there was going to be an issue, it would have happened by now, not wait until now…”

“Patta, patta, patta dada da…”

Before Leon could finish speaking, strange sounds came from the direction of the stage. A large number of wooden beads the size of teardrops fell uncontrollably from the face of the female lead puppet, clattering onto the stage floor.

And from the perspective of all the spectators, the female lead who should have been smiling and accepting Elijah’s invitation to start their beautiful twelve days together, suddenly began crying eerily.

Agatha’s beautiful face, though adorned with a playful and charming smile, had large tears of despair and pain flowing uncontrollably from her bright eyes…

“…”

Not… if I hadn’t come, nothing would’ve happened, but as soon as I arrived, things started happening? Watching the puppets on stage abruptly stop performing and start trembling, Leon really couldn’t hold it together anymore. Meanwhile, the audience members who noticed the anomaly began to stir with murmurs due to the sudden crying of the female lead.

“Why is she crying? Did something happen at the actor’s home?”

“Oh my, how rare it is to watch a play, and it ends up being ruined.”

“This is the level of the chief performer at Morning Star Theater Company? Tsk tsk tsk, after Andre was banned, Morning Star’s plays are truly not worth watching anymore.”

“Damn it, I traveled so far especially for this… Do we mean anything to you?! ***! Give me my money back!”

“Everyone! Everyone, please listen to me!”

Amidst the clamor of curiosity, regret, and anger from the audience, the manager of Central Cross Theater rushed out from backstage, pushing past the actors to reach the microphone, bowing repeatedly to the audience below while profusely apologizing: “The actress playing Agatha today had an incident at home, so her emotions might be unstable, affecting your viewing experience. We sincerely apologize.

Rest assured, our theater will take full responsibility. After the show, the ticket price will be fully refunded, and gifts will be provided to those who came from afar… Hurry! Apologize to everyone!”

After hearing the theater manager’s words, the audience’s anger subsided somewhat.

However, for some reason, despite the theater manager’s repeated hints, the actress playing Agatha showed no reaction, maintaining her original posture while continuing to cry large tears and smiling at the audience below.

“What’s wrong with her?”

“How can she laugh after ruining the performance? Is this the quality of Morning Star’s actors?”

“Not just Morning Star, right? Master Wilde hasn’t produced any new works with sincerity in recent years.”

“Indeed… Master Wilde’s new works these past two years haven’t meant much. Even if there were slightly good ones, with these actors, they probably wouldn’t perform them well.”

“…”

“This… sorry, she might be too guilty, so she’s… momentarily stunned…”

After reluctantly explaining a bit for the actress, looking at the audience starting to express dissatisfaction again, the slightly stout theater manager wiped sweat with a handkerchief while smiling apologetically: “Everyone, the stage needs to be rearranged, and the actors need to prepare again. During this preparation period, why don’t we invite Master Wilde to come out and chat with everyone?”

The holder of the anomalous item this time must be him.

Looking at the middle-aged man who was interacting with the audience on stage, Leon glanced at the glass of the lovers’ booth and, as expected, received a positive response from the Black Goat.

So this time, the anomalous item holder is locked down as Master Wilde, with abilities related to puppets, drama, manipulation, etc., and currently no record of harming others…

After obtaining relatively complete intelligence, Leon didn’t linger further but pushed open the door of the lovers’ booth, pulling the princess and quickly heading toward the exit passage.

Although it seems relatively safe for now, given the completely unknown abnormal situation, it’s better to play it safe and send the princess out first, then have her bring people to organize the evacuation of the audience as soon as possible.

And he himself should also keep some distance, setting up a sniper rifle in a place where he can monitor the scene but won’t be affected immediately, just in case that master suddenly goes berserk…

“Nonsense, this is not at all because there’s a problem with my script!”

Just as Leon and the princess were about to enter the exit passage, Master Wilde on the stage seemed to have been provoked by some of the audience’s words and angrily shouted at them: “It’s the actors’ fault! My script is the best! But with their level, they simply can’t convey its essence! Nor can they portray the complex and profound emotions of the characters! If Andre were still here…”

“Not necessarily, right?”

As soon as Master Wilde’s angry shout ended, a middle-aged man sitting in the front row facing the main platform, likely a drama critic or similar profession, coldly laughed and shot back:

Not one mistake in content within 69 Book Bar!

“As a form of expression to showcase stories spanning a few days, years, or even decades within two or three hours, drama is inherently an art of compromise.

So learning how to balance structure and emotional allocation, adjusting the difficulty of the script according to the actors’ levels, is something a playwright should master.

Forgive me for saying, if your plays become worthless without sufficiently outstanding actors, isn’t there a possibility… that what you write, these old-fashioned contents, are originally worthless things?”

“…”

Disaster!

After hearing the “friendly exchange” from the stage, even without the Black Goat nearby, unable to see the state of Master Wilde’s soul, Leon knew from the middle-aged man’s sharp criticism alone—

Something big is coming! Sure enough, after listening to the middle-aged man’s words, Master Wilde, who had initially seemed mentally stable, was directly “detonated.” His bloodshot eyes widened dramatically, gritting his teeth and raising his hand toward the audience below.

“Worthless? I’ll let you know just how foolish your evaluation was!!!”

With Master Wilde’s angry shout, the more than three thousand audience members in the entire Central Cross Theater, including Leon and the princess who had already rushed into the exit passage, couldn’t help but shiver all over.

Then, amidst the terrified expressions of the more than three thousand audience members, they not only lost control of their bodies but also lost the human appearance of their skin and flesh, rapidly petrifying uncontrollably.

And one transparent thread after another quietly descended from the azure sky of the port city, accurately tying around every joint of these more than three thousand puppets…

“This should be about right.”

After taking a deep breath of the fresh yet briny sea breeze, looking at the tranquil and beautiful harbor town before him and the more than three thousand “residents” living peacefully within it, Master Wilde’s weary face finally revealed a satisfied smile, and his hand that had been raised toward the audience finally swung down heavily.

“The Twelve Days of Fellowship, Act One, Scene One, begins!”

(End of Chapter)