### Chapter 16: The Stand-in!
Ding dong~
Lianhua stood at the door, eagerly waiting for her best audience member to open it.
It didn’t take long before a silver-haired loli flung the door open.
Upon seeing Lianhua, Ye Xing naturally broke into an adorable smile.
“Good morning, Lianhua!”
“Mm, good morning, Ye Xing.”
“Want to come in and hang out?”
“Well, I won’t hold back then!”
Lianhua stepped inside and immediately spotted the fluffy-haired ghost girl, Eypar, crying her eyes out.
“Waaah… defiled by a little loli, I’ll never get married now~!”
“Eypar?”
Hearing her name, Eypar looked up, confusion written all over her face. She didn’t actually seem to be crying; that earlier voice was just for show.
“Are you… Lianhua, Ye Xing’s friend?”
“Yup, I remember you.”
“Ah, I remember you too…”
Eypar shrunk her neck, feeling a little timid.
In the past timeline, being controlled by the Puppet Master had left a decent psychological scar on her.
But Lianhua didn’t seem so terrifying now.
The heavy atmosphere of danger had vanished from her, now lurking somewhere on a puppet in the little house.
Even so, Eypar still felt a bit nervous about being overly casual in front of her.
She was totally feeling intimidated.
Speaking of which, as a ghost girl, isn’t it a bit embarrassing to be bossed around by two lolis?
She’s a big sister, you know!
Eypar grumbled internally, lacking the confidence to say anything in front of the two lolis.
Meanwhile, Lianhua smiled gently at Eypar.
“Since you’re living here with Ye Xing, you can’t make her angry, okay?”
“Uh, alright…”
With a response, Lianhua turned to Ye Xing, her gaze softening.
“Ye Xing, do you have anything to do today?”
“Hmm, not really. Let’s go watch your puppet show at the theater.”
Ye Xing and Ye Lan put on their outside clothes, their appearances tidied up.
They exchanged glances, looking like mirrors of each other, then simultaneously broke out into satisfied smiles.
“Looking good~”
Look at me, I’m super cute today.jpg
“Let’s go, Lianhua! We’re off to the theater!”
“Mm.” Lianhua nodded, feeling fantastic.
Hearing this, Eypar’s fluffy hair perked up, and she quickly raised a hand.
“I wanna join the fun too!”
“Uh…”
Ye Xing shot Eypar a silent glance, then looked at Lianhua with an inquisitive expression.
Lianhua replied, “Sure~ The theater doesn’t mind extra spectators, and besides, didn’t Ye Xing say? Eypar is basically half my audience, so it’s fine.”
Ye Xing nodded, seriously cautioning Eypar, “Once we get to the theater, you better not pull any pranks, okay? We have some scary characters in there, and if you upset them, I can’t save you.”
“Don’t worry, Eypar is super honest!”
“Ugh~ If only that were true.”
With that, Ye Xing, Lianhua, and one ghost girl headed out.
Shortly after Ye Xing stepped out, Ye Lan also exited the little house, heading towards the Night Watcher Base to meet up with Zero Meow and White Fish.
From what Zero Meow said, it sounded like they were going shopping today.
Ye Lan had heard of the horrors of girls going shopping but wasn’t sure if they would experience any of that.
No matter what, she was mentally prepared!
…
Scene Change
Ye Xing and Lianhua breezed through the mysterious passage, followed by the curious Eypar glancing around.
“Wow… it’s super dark here.”
After a while, Eypar finally spotted a glimmer of light.
With her curiosity lighting the way, she glided ahead into the vast theater, her eyes wide.
“Wow~ It’s huge!”
Now Eypar understood what “there’s a whole world inside” meant.
Despite her past as a wanderer, she had never seen a scene like this before.
As Eypar floated around, eager to uncover its mysteries, a shadow suddenly emerged from a short distance away, radiating an aura that sent shivers down Eypar’s spine.
Eypar tensed up; that familiar feeling was eerily similar to the time the Puppet Master glared at her—so scary!
“Ji!”
Eypar ducked behind Ye Xing at lightning speed, suddenly too shy to peek out.
Ye Xing followed Eypar’s gaze.
Out from the shadows stepped a tall figure—the Group Leader.
“Audience Performer, who is this behind you?”
Eypar cautiously peeked from behind Ye Xing, carefully eyeing the figure who seemed to be one of her kind, too, but she couldn’t muster the courage to speak.
In response to the Group Leader’s question, Ye Xing’s brain short-circuited for a moment, instinctively blurting out, “This is my stand-in—Papaya Ghost!”
“Pffft~” Lianhua couldn’t help but laugh.
Because it was just a bit funny.
“Stand-in?”
The Group Leader muttered, seemingly pondering what a stand-in might be, then gave Ye Xing a confused look.
Realizing her mistake, Ye Xing’s face began to heat up.
“Joking… she’s my friend, here to watch the performance.”
“Ah, I see! Since you’re here to watch, the Rising Sun Theater Group welcomes you enthusiastically. We hope you enjoy our members’ performances, beautiful ghost lady.”
“Eh? Y-yeah! I absolutely love watching performances!”
Feeling the respect in the Group Leader’s words, Eypar’s confidence started to swell.
Of course, the most she dared was to have a conversation with the Group Leader.
Pranks? No way!
Just as the Group Leader was about to retreat back into the shadows, he seemed to recall something and fixed his gaze on Ye Xing.
“By the way, Audience Performer, are you interested in participating in our theater group’s unique activity?”
“Activity?” Ye Xing looked puzzled.
“Yes, it’s an outdoor performance—this is the activity of the Rising Sun Theater Group.”
With this, Ye Xing finally comprehended the underlying meaning of the Group Leader’s words.
In terms of the Night Watchers, this was just going out to incite a star eclipse!
Holy smokes!
Ye Xing couldn’t believe she could learn about the upcoming star eclipse ahead of time!
Is this the perk of joining the Star Eclipse organization?
Wait—this isn’t the time for that.
How should she respond to the Group Leader?
“Um…” Ye Xing pondered.
The Group Leader gave her time to think, not interrupting her.
To go or not to go?
Ye Xing recalled a little social knowledge—if you want to fit into a group, you need to participate in collective activities.
The outdoor performance must be a group activity for the Rising Sun Theater Group, right?
Thinking along those lines, Ye Xing found herself nodding instinctively.
“I’ll join.”
“Thank you for your participation! In that case, even if this performance doesn’t attract other spectators, we will at least have one true audience member.”
Because the Audience Performer is a permanent member of the Rising Sun Theater Group.
She can’t be replaced.
