Doll Survival Game

“The iron cages above are almost completely broken! Let’s quickly leave the fourth floor.” Yuan Mo swiftly hoisted the long-haired man and Li Wei, taking a couple of steps forward as he spoke.

The silver thread loosened, the key fell into the magician’s hand, and then the doll said to Zhang Mimi, “Let’s go.”

Zhang Mimi was momentarily stunned, nodded, and fell to the back, planning to cover the group’s retreat.

The Mantis Woman still followed behind the doll, while the Demon stayed beside Zhang Mimi. The people in the iron cages did not reach out to the Demon; their hands were all extended toward Zhang Mimi.

The Demon watched Zhang Mimi, swaying his body left and right as he moved forward, not rashly attacking these people, and praised, “Quite cautious.”

These monsters would immediately grow spikes if anyone attacked them, and once the spikes were extended, their physical abilities would instantly strengthen. At this distance, Zhang Mimi couldn’t dodge, and would be pierced through.

Zhang Mimi ignored the Demon, his peripheral vision catching sight of the piles of human flesh on the stone and wooden tables, a thought quickly flashing through his mind–were these meats sourced from actual human bodies?

And who did this? Placed here, it seemed useless…

A faint light flickered behind him, Zhang Mimi refocused his gaze forward and leaped, then quickly said, “Hurry, they’re catching up.”

If they caught up, he would definitely have to strike, which would be troublesome. One person attacked would turn into a ‘porcupine,’ and the people around him would be attacked by the ‘porcupine’… In the end, a bunch of ‘porcupines’ would come at them.

Luo Yiran also knew what would happen if they struck, possibly leading to total annihilation if not careful, but everyone needed time to reach the door and open it, and these people were catching up.

In a flash of thought, Luo Yiran manipulated the magician to stop, turned around, and raised his hand, then said to Zhang Mimi approaching, “Let’s switch.”

Zhang Mimi didn’t hesitate, raised his hand to take the key from the magician, and brushed past the doll.

The Demon paused slightly, then stopped, standing among dozens of monsters, watching the doll and magician facing him, his gaze inscrutable.

Luo Yiran ignored the Demon, raised his hand to quickly regenerate the silver thread, and in the blink of an eye formed a huge net in front of him, the ends of the silver thread connected to the pillars and stone slabs.

Demon: “…”

Demon snapped back: “I’m still on this side!”

Who cares about you. The doll looked expressionlessly at the people extending spike after spike from their bodies, then they all crashed into the silver thread, the spikes piercing each other, and blood quickly dripped down the silver thread net.

Due to time constraints, the doll didn’t use the sharp and tough silver thread, only intending to block these people, but… it was too heavy.

Luo Yiran saw countless silver threads breaking, he frowned slightly and raised his hand to lay down several more nets.

“Young master, need my help?” The magician, temporarily acting as a transport tool, tilted his head and asked.

“No need, lest you get kicked out of the instance again.” Luo Yiran replied, then as he was about to lay down another silver thread net, Zhang Mimi shouted from behind, “Doll, it’s ready! Come quickly!”

Luo Yiran looked up, watching the Demon step onto his silver thread net upon hearing Zhang Mimi’s voice, then jumped to his side in a few steps.

The doll clicked his tongue lightly but didn’t hesitate to lay down two more silver thread nets and turned to leave.

As he stepped onto the stairs leading to the fifth floor, the group of people fell silent, whether they had stabbed each other to death or because they had left the fourth floor and had no reason to attack.

Click.

The door closed, Luo Yiran paused.

The Demon closed it, he was the last to enter, and after entering, politely reached out to close the door.

The doll frowned slightly but still said nothing, he manipulated the magician to turn around, “To the fifth floor.”

They needed to clear the level faster.

The Demon glanced behind him, his lips slightly curved.

But he didn’t notice the doll on the shoulder of the black-suited magician also turned to look at him, his lips slightly curved as well.

Fourth floor.

After the door to the fifth floor was closed, silence invaded this floor, until about three minutes later, one of the stone tables suddenly began to wriggle.

Then somehow it transformed into a tall humanoid creature.

But the humanoid form was only below the head, the head showed no trace of human features, it was purely a pig-head shape.

Moreover, several knives were inserted into the thick shoulders, directly into the flesh, but the pig-man showed no sign of pain, standing upright and rubbing his waist, his voice discontented, “Finally left.”

“So why bother with this cooperative instance, it’s all a mess.” The pig-man complained to the stone floor beside him.

A dwarf about half a meter tall emerged from the stone floor, having been trampled by Zhang Mimi and others, but it seemed this disguised item hadn’t exposed him, he patted the dust off himself, “Don’t worry about it, since our own instance designs couldn’t pass, we can only follow the Dead Woman… Anyway, it’s their own instance, let them mess around.”

If it collapses or is widely cleared, this instance would just be closed.

“But it’s frustrating! This was supposed to be our paradise.” His carefully nurtured pets, his comfortably arranged slaughterhouse!

Baige Tower, when it existed as a standalone instance before, was a place no one could reach the fourth floor.

Because back then, the Mantis Woman on the third floor was not the little brat she is now.

“Stop talking,” the dwarf said as he walked to the wall, touching it and frowning. “Besides the hint NPC set up outside for the challenge, there are two other groups.”

“One group can’t enter Baige Tower; they must be players participating in another instance.”

“The remaining group is with that red-eyed doll from earlier.” The pig-man rolled up his sleeves, looked around the fourth floor, and sighed, “Goodbye, my paradise.”

The dwarf withdrew his hand. “There are quite a few players outside now. If we go out, we might be attacked as monsters, so you can still play in your paradise for a while.” They planned to leave once the players outside dispersed a bit and head to a new instance for their duties.

The pig-man’s eyes, squeezed by flesh, looked at the pile of dead bodies, itching to go over. “Let me clean them up.”

Even though they were smashed and hard to separate, he could still chop them into meat paste for fun.

The pig-man raised his hand to tear open the silver thread net, pinching the silver thread. “This item is really good; it seems sharp and tough.”

“Controlling it is exhausting,” the dwarf said, not envious at all. He took out an iron tag from his pocket, placed it on his chest, and the iron tag extended six spider-like limbs to lift him up. “I’ll go check the damage on the iron cage above. If it’s not too severe, we can bring…”

Before he finished speaking, the pig-man suddenly exclaimed, “Why can’t I pull this silver thread?”

The dwarf was stunned, then turned to see the pig-man pulling on a silver thread, the end of which was wrapped around a stone table. Even after being pulled down, it floated in the air, seemingly connected to something.

He frowned slightly, and upon seeing a faint reflection, he took out another iron tag and placed it on his temple. The tag instantly transformed into glasses emitting a faint blue light, allowing the dwarf to see the extremely thin silver thread connected to the end of the silver thread.

What is this?

The dwarf followed the silver thread with his gaze and saw it connected to the gap in the door leading to the fifth floor.

Is the thread stuck in the door, or…

Whoosh–

Like the sound of wind, but more like the swish of an arrow being shot.

The pig-man turned around but saw nothing, yet felt the silver thread in his hand being forcefully tugged.

The dwarf could see, through the glasses, the equally thin silver thread net rising from the ground and coming towards them.

“Danger!” The dwarf’s pupils contracted, he shouted–this was definitely very sharp! It might cut through their bodies!

But it was too late to dodge.

The pig-man let out a scream, while the dwarf was temporarily protected by the shield extended from the iron tag, his face full of disbelief–what on earth is going on!

How could the doll’s silver thread leave so much behind here?! Did he know they were hiding on the fourth floor all along?

…Impossible! The concealing item has never been detected by any player!

The silver thread embedded in flesh, the pig-man let out a furious and painful growl.

“I think I heard… a scream?” Zhang Mimi uncertainly raised his head.

“An illusion,” Luo Yiran said with an unchanged expression.

The Demon and the magician heard it more clearly. The magician only smiled slightly, while the Demon frowned, looking at the little doll on the magician’s shoulder.

Luo Yiran noticed the gaze, turned his head, and smiled slightly, “What’s wrong?”

The Demon was silent for a moment, then shook his head with a smile, “Nothing, but since everything is done, we can enter the fifth floor now.”

Luo Yiran did not deny the Demon’s words. He even flicked his hand in front of the Demon, a slight reflection flashing across his fingertips, the doll’s smile gentle, “Indeed.”

Zhang Mimi and Yuan Mo glanced at the doll, both feeling the Demon wasn’t referring to their escape from the fourth floor.

However.

Zhang Mimi placed his hand on the door, slowly pushing it open, “I’m opening the door.”

As the door opened, the magician turned his head, his voice very small, “How did the young master know there were others there?”

The doll raised his eyes, the emotions in his red pupils indistinguishable, speaking in a joking tone, “Just a hunch.”

After all, it’s a slaughterhouse; how could there only be prey locked in cages?

Though he didn’t understand why the master of the slaughterhouse wouldn’t show up, they had visited and received the other’s “gift,” so leaving a gift in return was appropriate.

The doll disconnected the silver thread from his fingers–hoping the gift would be appreciated.

The magician looked up, watching the door being pushed open, revealing a vast and tranquil deep blue water surface inside the fifth floor, with several doors adorned with human-shaped patterns standing on the water.

This almost captured everyone’s attention.

But Luo Yiran’s first sight was the slowly appearing text on the door Zhang Mimi opened.

Perhaps due to the height or other reasons, the first words Luo Yiran saw were–[…Please players hand over the most precious item on them…]