Doll Survival Game - Chapter 135

Inside the basement, now a scene of utter chaos, countless silver game pods lay flat on the ground. The dim yellow light flickered on and off-just not long ago, this place had been bright.

But now.

Viscous green liquid was dripping from above.

On the basement ceiling, slime-like things clung above, but they weren’t gathered together; instead, they were scattered in patches across the ceiling. Some blocked the lights, and the largest patch was right in the center, its sticky liquid dripping bit by bit onto the game pods below.

That was the corpse of a monster, dripping onto the game pod where Luo Yiran lay.

Xia Lang was kneeling on the ground, his torso hunched in a grotesque arc of severe curvature, both arms twisted at unnatural angles. His left leg was covered in wounds, and his right calf was broken in two.

Behind him lay a blue, centipede-like monster, as long as two men, but its unmoving form made it clear it was already dead.

A little farther away, there were two men in white coats. One had already fainted, while the other was still conscious, but his eyes stared blankly at the kneeling Xia Lang.

His whole being radiated terror.

Why… could he kill these monsters?

Blood was seeping from Xia Lang’s ears, and the weapons Via had given him were almost all destroyed. His fingers, twisted behind his back, were covered in wounds.

Floating before him, the sprite representing the [chance] item hovered in midair, thumb-sized.

Xia Lang stared fixedly at the game pod in front of him, Luo Yiran’s image reflected in his pupils.

The sprite flitted beside him, surveying the chaotic surroundings, its voice piercingly sharp: “Confirm selection of vitality?”

“…Con…firm.”

Xia Lang’s bodily functions were plummeting. He wanted to breathe deeply, but each breath brought excruciating pain.

The sprite seemed to pause for a moment, then looked toward the gentle-faced young man inside the game pod: “Confirm target for use is player Luo Yiran.”

“…Yes…”

Xia Lang looked at Luo Yiran inside the game pod, at that face so achingly familiar-when he was the first to wake up and saw that Luo Yiran’s body wasn’t a doll, he’d already had a bad premonition.

And earlier, when he’d just sat up from the game pod, still unclear about what had happened, a monster had come at him, and not far away there was another monster, saying-

This method really doesn’t work, let’s just kill them directly.

So, those people in white coats were killed and partially eaten by the monsters.

At the same time, the monsters smashed the silver, oval game pods, dragging people out from inside and killing them.

Not long after, when he saw that one of the game pods held Luo Yiran, Xia Lang, while feeling that bad premonition, also understood something.

But he couldn’t break the game pod, nor could he find the so-called power source keeping it running; it was just a bare game pod sitting there.

And the monsters kept attacking him.

Xia Lang exhaled softly, the taste of blood filling his mouth-so, he could only fight with everything he had to kill them.

But now, his vision was growing blurry. Xia Lang looked at the game pod in front of him-he felt that something monsters could easily smash, he shouldn’t have been unable to open before. Maybe it was a rule, restricting players from breaking the game pod from the outside.

So, he could only break the rule. Use the item [chance] to bring Luo Yiran vitality.

“Cough, cough…”

As if all his strength had been drained, in that instant, Xia Lang felt the pain in his body fade away, replaced by a strange sense of weightlessness.

A powerful sense of death.

Xia Lang’s eyes widened-he was dying… No! Not yet… the game pod hasn’t opened…

The thumb-sized sprite suddenly darted in front of him and grabbed his nose: “[Chance] in use.”

Xia Lang’s body froze, and then the blood stopped flowing from his wounds. All his bodily functions seemed to pause.

His body was “stopped” just before death.

The sprite floated back a little, then said, “The price of breaking the rules to bring vitality is more than you can bear.”

Xia Lang’s mouth was full of bloody foam, so he kept his words brief: “Just… break… an opening…”

The reason he’d woken up was because there had been a crack in his own game pod.

The sprite looked up: “Then you will die.”

He knew. Xia Lang nodded lightly and looked at Luo Yiran.

The sprite hovered with interest: “He’s currently in an illusion of his own making, a place that perfectly matches his wishes without any flaws.”

“If you don’t pull him out, he might live happily for a lifetime… at least, he definitely won’t suffer. So, in my view, there’s no need at all.”

Happiness…

Xia Lang looked at the ground, cherishing everything he could still sense and see: “He won’t be happy there.”

The sprite was momentarily stunned.

A bruised and battered smile appeared on Xia Lang’s face, though it looked a bit twisted: “He’ll definitely realize it’s all fake, and if it’s fake, then for Ranran, that place is a cage.”

No one living in a cage could ever be happy.

“…I want him to be happy.” Xia Lang’s eyes grew hot, and he realized he really was going to die, to die before Luo Yiran even opened his eyes, so his voice trembled slightly: “Grandpa Luo also wants him to be happy.”

I’m so scared, Ranran.

No… not really that scared, just a little bit scared.

But will I see Grandpa Luo? Probably not. He bears sin, he’ll go to hell, while Grandpa is in heaven.

Xia Lang’s tears fell in big drops as he remembered Luo Jun grabbing his hand before he died, saying to him-

“From now on, I’ll have to trouble you to take care of Ran…”

Luo Yiran was always so strong. Xia Lang had never seen him cry, never seen him “hurt,” truly resilient and powerful, completely different from himself.

But in his and Grandpa’s eyes, Luo Yiran was just an ordinary human being.

When Luo Jun died, Xia Lang saw an expression on Luo Yiran’s face he’d never seen before. At that moment, Xia Lang broke down in tears, watching as Luo Yiran didn’t shed a single tear, while some relatives on Grandpa Luo’s side called him an ingrate.

But he just clung to Luo Yiran, crying all the while, comforting him not to be sad, telling him that everyone dies, it’s the natural order.

Luo Yiran was a normal person, no different from anyone else.

To him, it was just that Luo Yiran had the added identity of family.

His only remaining family.

Xia Lang looked at the sprite: “Take everything you can, and then give Luo Yiran a sliver of vitality.”

Really, there’s nothing to be afraid of. In times of pain, he had also sought to escape through death… It’s just that now he was a little happier than before.

A little happier, so death became a little scarier.

But, Xia Lang lowered his head to look at his own body. He couldn’t go on living anyway.

The sprite tilted its head: “The life you have left isn’t enough to bring vitality, so I’ll have to take more.”

Xia Lang nodded without hesitation.

The sprite floated to Luo Yiran’s game pod, then looked at Xia Lang one last time. Its tiny finger touched the game pod, and a long gash appeared.

At the same time, blood began to gush from Xia Lang’s body again. He stared hard at Luo Yiran, his shoulders hunching forward-he wanted to wipe away the green monster corpse fragment that had fallen onto Luo Yiran’s game pod.

The game pod was broken, the corpse fragments would flow inside, and Ranran didn’t like things being too dirty…

Crack-

A very soft sound, and the holographic display beside Xia Lang shattered. His wide eyes began to lose focus, and the surface of his pupils reflected two figures, one tall, one short.

……

Luo Yiran caught Xia Lang as he collapsed forward. He didn’t know how he’d managed to get there so quickly. After a moment of silence, he looked up, his gaze unreadable as he stared at the sprite nearby.

The sprite also looked at Luo Yiran, giving a friendly reminder: “That guy is dead, you know.”

“And, I’ve taken everything from him.”

Luo Yiran knew that when a player died, everything would be erased except for their personal space, so taking everything meant-

“What about his personal space?”

The sprite frowned, looking at Luo Yiran with some confusion. Its voice was calm-was this a normal reaction?

Maybe he just hadn’t processed it yet?

“He no longer has a personal space.”

The magician stared intently at Luo Yiran, then watched as Luo Yiran said nothing, just glanced around before standing up.

He found Zhang Mimi and Yuan Mo’s game pods, then felt around his body-even though it was a different body, the puppet thread was still there.

The puppet thread struck the game pod, but the pod didn’t react at all.

The sprite didn’t hurry to leave. It tilted its head and said, “Players can’t break this. That’s the rule.”

Luo Yiran paused, withdrew his hand, and looked at the magician.

The magician met Luo Yiran’s gaze. He didn’t speak, just walked over and, quickly and effortlessly, broke open the game pods.

The sprite was stunned, watching as blood burst from the magician who had broken open the two game pods, then he quickly vanished from the spot.

Huh?

Luo Yiran looked at the sprite.

The sprite was ready to leave at any moment, so even though it felt this player’s state was getting a bit scary, it still didn’t leave. Its gaze instead fell on Zhang Mimi and Yuan Mo, who were waking up in a daze behind him.

That was the boss just now, right? So why would he risk breaking the rules to help these two players?

A humanoid figure appeared at his side again. The sprite turned its head and saw a black-clad man with skeletal wings appear-

Another boss…

Yuan Mo stood stunned, confused by the change in his surroundings… but perhaps it was already instinct, so even though he’d been eating at home just a second ago, the moment he saw Xia Lang covered in blood ahead, he quickly bit his finger and rushed over-

The wound looked so serious, he had to save him quickly…

He lifted Xia Lang up, but the spirit serpent on his finger just wouldn’t go in.

Yuan Mo froze.

Luo Yiran walked up to the sprite, his roundish eyes fixed on it.

The sprite felt a sense of oppression. It frowned in displeasure and opened its mouth: “Do you know why you all keep encountering these dead-end instances?”

Luo Yiran said nothing, just stared at it with a chilling gaze.

That look… The sprite was even more displeased. It curled its lips, glancing at the dead Xia Lang out of the corner of its eye: “Because he got me.”

“Whoever possesses me will encounter a dead end within three instances… so, he brought all of this upon himself.”