I Explore Urban Legends - Chapter 113: Toy Story (Patreon)

A long time passed. Even when the spiritual energy finally dissipated completely, the doll had never gone beyond Liam’s range of control.

Through the doll, he could also faintly sense the things around it, almost like having a tiny additional field of vision.

He couldn’t make out much, but it was enough to distinguish friend from foe.

Liam could tell that the range of this ability was enormous. At the very least, he currently had no way to measure its limit.

At last, the final piece of the puzzle had fallen into place.

With this ability, he could use [Hasbro] to enhance the toys, [Command] to control them, then use Charlotte’s ability to manipulate them remotely.

Liam himself might not have much need for something like this.

But if he gave these toys to other people, they could provide them with plenty of protection.

He named this combination of abilities Toy Story.

To practice and test it, Liam took out the remaining dolls Goldman had sent him.

He made them perform all sorts of movements, then sent them farther and farther away so he could get used to that unusual field of vision.

Watson quietly watched from the side until another doll finally ran out of spiritual energy.

He immediately stood up, proudly raised his head, and strutted over to Liam before nudging him with his rear end.

His actions seemed to say that those little bear dolls were useless and Liam should let him handle things instead.

Ever since taking down several Blood Servants, Watson’s confidence had gone through the roof. Now whenever something happened, he wanted to rush in and give it a try.

Liam gave him a pat on the rear and told him to hurry back to sleep.

Only then did Watson return to the RV, looking back every few steps.

Once Watson was gone, Liam prepared to practice Toy Story again.

But when he went over to where he had left the dolls, he realized he had already used them all up.

Looks like he needed to restock.

...

The next day, Liam visited a long-established toy store in Boston.

The shop specialized in handmade, old-fashioned toys, which was exactly what he needed.

Modern toys made popular by cartoons were much more appealing to children these days, but most of them were essentially disposable, low-quality products.

They were cheap and poorly made. That made them affordable for ordinary families, but they weren’t what Liam was looking for.

While testing his abilities, Liam had discovered that although a doll’s attack power and mobility depended on how much spiritual energy he infused into it, its durability was still limited by the material it was made from.

Goldman’s dolls had been expensive, but they were little more than crudely made showpieces. They simply couldn’t withstand serious attacks.

Liam pushed open the shop door.

The owner was a gray-haired old man wearing a head-mounted magnifying glass as he repaired a damaged rag doll.

When he saw Liam enter, he immediately stopped what he was doing, stood up, and came over to greet him.

“Well, my big friend, what kind of toy are you looking for?”

“I need something sturdy.”

The owner didn’t find the request strange at all. Instead, he led Liam farther inside.

“Then you’ve come to the right place. Back here, I have toys that only people with real taste can appreciate. They’re completely different from the mass-produced junk out front.”

With that, he led Liam deeper into the shop.

The old store was quite small, and because most of its customers were children, the aisles between the shelves were extremely narrow.

The owner was a thin, wiry old man who could move through them easily, but Liam had to turn sideways and carefully squeeze his way forward.

Once they reached the back, the sight before him was completely different from the front of the shop.

Huge old shelves filled the room, packed with toys of every kind.

Jointed solid-wood dolls, tin wind-up toys, cast-iron figures, and all kinds of rag dolls.

The place was practically a museum of toy history.

The owner introduced them proudly.

“I’ve been running toy stores since I was young. Everything here is from my finest collection.”

Liam hadn’t expected to stumble across a treasure trove like this just by picking a store at random.

He leaned closer to examine a set of marionettes.

New ideas immediately began flooding into his mind.

Still, just to be sure, he asked,

“These are basically collectibles now, right? They’re not actually for sale?”

The owner shook his head and sighed regretfully.

“No. Treating toys as collectibles is the greatest insult you can give them. Anyone is welcome to buy my toys.

“It’s just a shame children don’t like them anymore. All they care about now are the cartoons they see on television. These old fellows have gone out of fashion.”

Liam nodded in agreement.

He had nothing against modern popular toys, but he believed old toys simply needed the right opportunity to show off their unique charm.

“Sir, I’m a TV host. I work on a children’s channel, and I have a few ideas about the toys you have here.”

The owner immediately grew wary.

“You’re not here to sell me toys, are you? I don’t accept sales pitches.”

“I’m not a toy salesman.”

Does this old man have memory problems?

Liam complained inwardly before explaining his idea.

“The toys here are extremely well made. I’d like to buy some and use them on my show.”

“These things can be used on television? I may be old, but my mind still works. Don’t try to fool me.”

The owner clearly had no idea what Liam meant.

Trying to explain modern entertainment to an old-fashioned man like this was proving troublesome, so Liam simply picked up a wooden marionette, infused it with some spiritual energy, and placed it on the floor.

The little puppet immediately stood upright.

It moved its limbs, and with a series of “tap, tap, tap” sounds, performed a short tap dance before finishing with a bow.

When the puppet finished, the owner didn’t move.

Confused, Liam waved a hand in front of his face.

Still nothing.

He didn’t have a stroke, did he?

Just as Liam was about to step forward and help him, the old man finally reacted.

His hand trembling, he pointed at the puppet and stammered,

“It came alive! It’s alive!”

“No, sir, it isn’t alive. I’m controlling it. You just didn’t notice how I was doing it.”

Liam hurriedly explained, worried the old man might actually scare himself into a medical emergency.

“Oh. So that’s what it was.”

The owner let out a long breath.

For a moment, he had genuinely thought his toys had all come to life.

He sometimes imagined things like that himself, but only as idle fantasies.

If it ever actually happened, his old bones certainly wouldn’t survive whatever chaos those toys caused.

“In that case, which one do you want?

“Just so you know, these may look old, but they’re all brand-new, high-quality toys. They aren’t cheap.”

“No problem. I’ll take these, these, and everything over there too.”

Liam picked out a huge assortment of toys in all shapes and styles.

He planned to experiment with as many types as possible and see which ones worked best for television.

The owner’s smile grew so wide that all the wrinkles on his face bunched together.

He personally wrapped every toy in kraft paper and tied each package with twine.

“Wow. You really do everything the old-fashioned way.”

“I have modern gift boxes too, but you bought so much that I ran out of packaging.”

After Liam left, the owner hummed happily as he returned to the counter.

He pulled out a large box filled with broken toys from underneath, casually selected one, and began repairing it.

Just then, the door opened again.

“Sir, do you still repair toys here?”