I Explore Urban Legends - Chapter 152: Janice’s Transformation (Patreon)

Liam had always believed that the most important aspect of his “Hasbro” ability wasn’t enhancing the power of weapons, but transforming cold, lifeless weapons into toys that children loved.

If a fully armed soldier had blown that monster apart with a rifle, half the children would have been traumatized, and the rest would have nightmares for years.

But now, the children were all crowding around, excitedly asking what kind of weapon he’d used just now.

It was enough to erase the shadows cast by this incident from their minds.

In the future, when they recalled this event, they would only think of him as a god who had descended from the heavens to save them, not of a bloody, terrifying monster.

“All right, kids, quiet down and listen to me.”

Once the children’s excitement had subsided a bit, Liam continued:

“Are there any other kids inside?”

The children fell silent, deep in thought, when one of them spoke up:

“I think I heard some crying from inside, but I’m not entirely sure.”

As long as there was even a hint of a lead, it was worth going in to check.

“Good job. Let’s go.”

Hearing that he intended to venture further inside, the children didn’t feel any fear about the place; now, as long as they stayed by his side, they felt there was nothing to be afraid of.

Liam walked over to the toy standing nearby. Ever since the cartoon monster had died, it had remained standing there in a fighting stance.

It wasn’t until he touched it that it collapsed to the ground.

“Liam, it protected us. Can you save it?”

One of the children stepped forward, speaking with a tremor in their voice.

“No problem. I just happen to know a pretty skilled toy repairman.”

Just then, Janice looked at the remnants of paint on the floor.

Suddenly, the world in front of Liam looked a little different.

He glanced back and saw a faint blue spiritual glow in Janice’s eyes.

At the same time, he sensed a peculiar aura; it seemed as though a thin blue thread in the air was guiding him.

Looking down, he saw that the thread aligned with the path of the cotton stuffing scattered on the ground from the stuffed animal.

Could he actually sense the locations of those cartoon monsters now?

He tried it a few more times and discovered that this ability had a limited range: he could only see the traces left by the cartoon monsters within about ten meters.

The ability was almost absurd. How could Janice help him sense these things?

The mysteries surrounding her were piling up.

But that didn’t stop Liam from making good use of this ability; with it, he could save more children from this disaster.

Following the thin thread, Liam tracked forward.

As they ventured deeper, the lights around them grew brighter, as if someone were still operating the mechanisms from within.

Gradually, the sound of wooden puppet bodies stomping on the ground reached their ears.

Liam waved his hand, signaling Watson to stay alert.

Deep inside, they came upon an astonishing scene.

A great army of Nutcracker soldiers stood in a circle around their wooden king.

In front of the King, a wounded rag doll and an armless wooden puppet were kneeling, gesturing frantically as if making an urgent plea.

Hearing the group’s footsteps, all the puppets immediately turned to look at Liam.

The rag doll pointed at Liam. The wooden puppet tried to do the same, but with both hands gone, it could only stick out a foot.

The King nodded and tapped his scepter firmly on the ground.

The soldiers turned to face Liam, raised their spears, and slowly advanced in a disciplined formation.

“So you want to win with numbers?”

Liam wasn’t about to let them get away with it.

He reached into his waist pouch, grabbed what was inside, and flung it out.

A large number of plastic toy soldiers landed on the ground; this time, Liam had upgraded them, simultaneously tossing out some infantry fighting vehicles.

The toy soldiers immediately boarded the infantry fighting vehicles, while the rest formed ranks and raised their guns.

The king waved his scepter, and his soldiers leveled their spears at Liam’s toy army.

Seeing this, Liam waved his arm and shouted loudly:

“Soldiers, attack!”

No sooner had the words left his mouth than the two sides plunged into a melee.

The infantry fighting vehicles immediately sprang into action, weaving through the ranks of soldiers, their machine guns firing continuously and inflicting heavy damage.

But the soldiers didn’t stand idly by; they immediately began stabbing the ground repeatedly with their spears.

Although the infantry fighting vehicles maneuvered quickly to evade, the number of holes in the ground kept increasing. Eventually, one vehicle was cornered and destroyed by the pikes.

Seeing this, the soldiers nearby immediately grabbed their rifles and opened fire to cover their teammates.

Faced with this harassment, the wooden soldiers immediately diverted part of their force to attack the toy soldiers.

With this cover, the frequency of attacks on the infantry fighting vehicles decreased significantly, and they were finally able to fire freely once more.

As the number of fallen soldiers grew, the enemy could no longer withstand the pressure and began to undergo other changes.

Suddenly, the sound of wood tearing could be heard coming from one soldier’s body; his expressionless, round face instantly contorted into a hideous grimace, and his frame, originally just over a meter tall, began to swell, gradually becoming as tall as the wooden puppet, yet grotesquely deformed.

The remaining soldiers likewise began to transform.

Liam had been waiting for this moment; he roared at the top of his lungs:

“Now! Everyone, concentrate your fire!”

The soldiers immediately pulled out the rocket launchers strapped to their backs and aimed them at the monster soldiers.

“Boom!”

Explosions rang out one after another, blowing all the soldiers to pieces.

Seeing his men reduced to this state, the king immediately tapped his scepter, stepped forward, and walked toward Liam.

The rag doll and the wooden puppet followed him, glaring at the group.

Just then, the king suddenly turned around, abandoned the two toys, and fled.

The two dolls never expected the king to simply leave them behind; they stood there dumbfounded, staring at his receding figure.

“BIU!”

A beam of light struck the king, knocking him down.

The rag doll and the wooden puppet turned to face Liam and, without a moment’s hesitation, lunged at him frantically.

“BIU! BIU!”

A few shots shattered the two puppet monsters.

Once Liam had cleared out all the remaining threats, he finally heard faint sobbing.

Following the sound, the group finally discovered more than a dozen children inside a building.

Including the children rescued earlier, they had now saved more than twenty. Yet Liam frowned.

It was currently the busiest time of day at the amusement park, and as one of the most popular attractions, “Little World” would have at least a hundred people inside.

Even if you subtracted the adults, there shouldn’t have been only twenty-odd children.

Where had the rest gone?

Liam didn’t dwell on it too much; the most important thing right now was to get the children he’d found out of there and deal with the immediate situation first.

As the group left “Little World,” the parents waiting at the entrance immediately embraced their children.

Some parents hadn’t found their children yet; after asking about the situation, they rushed straight into “Little World” regardless of whether it was still dangerous inside.

Liam suddenly noticed that there were far fewer adults present; only after asking around did he learn the reason.

Outside the amusement rides, there were still quite a few cartoon monsters lurking in the shadows, ambushing passing visitors.

Liam compared them to the Bendy he’d encountered earlier and noticed that the monsters inside the rides seemed somewhat weaker; he wasn’t sure why.

Then he spotted Bob, Bobby, and Maria frantically searching the area.

When Bob saw Liam, he immediately relaxed and rushed over.

“Liam, I finally found you! That was so dangerous just now; that Pluto suddenly turned into a colorful monster, and my brother and I barely managed to fight him off.”

Only then did Liam notice that the brothers had sustained some injuries, though fortunately they weren’t serious, so he gave them a few words of advice.

“We can’t stay here. You two need to leave right away and get back to the bus in the parking lot.”

He then addressed the parents behind him:

“If you’ve found your child, please leave right away. It’s not safe here.”

Although Liam wanted to continue searching for the remaining children, there were too many people here now, and he couldn’t move freely.

He was also afraid something might happen if he left them outside.

A large crowd streamed out of the amusement park. During this time, Liam occasionally spotted cartoon monsters peering at him from behind trees and bushes, only to vanish in an instant.

The monsters were larger than the objects they hid behind, yet somehow vanished completely. It was an ability straight out of a cartoon.

When he reached the park’s main gate, a large crowd of visitors and staff had gathered there.

After asking around, Liam learned that not a single monster had appeared here; it was a very safe place.

As a result, many visitors hadn’t gone home but had chosen to gather here instead.

Some visitors were too timid to go inside to look for their families, hoping they would return on their own.

Others simply felt it was safe now and were standing there to watch the commotion.

There were also some staff members present, all ordinary people, who stood there with worried expressions, enduring the visitors’ criticism.

Those who couldn’t stand it naturally left the park right away, but some responsible staff members remained, hoping to get to the bottom of what had happened here.

Liam suddenly spotted Betty in the crowd; she was passionately rallying her colleagues around her.

“This must be a conspiracy by another company. They’ve long resented our perfect park, which is why they’ve turned our cartoon characters into this. We must all unite to get through this crisis.”

She spoke with great fervor, but her words didn’t sway her colleagues; they simply felt this woman had been brainwashed by the company.

To be honest, Liam was also very puzzled. Based on his guess, a model employee like Betty should have turned into a monster by now.

Just then, Betty spotted Liam and hurried over to meet him.

“Liam, I’m so glad to see you’re safe and sound. Where are your kids?”

“Some are still trapped in the park. I plan to take them back to the car first, then go back to look for the rest.”

Upon hearing this, Betty said excitedly:

“That’s great! You have to take me with you; I need to uncover the conspiracy behind this incident.”

“Sure.”

After getting his consent, Betty tried to lead the group toward the parking lot.

Just as she was about to step through the park’s main gate, she suddenly felt as if she’d hit an invisible barrier and crashed right into it.