Doll Survival Game - Chapter 136

“Ran.” Luo Jun’s aged face was etched with deep wrinkles from his smile, his voice and tone as steady as ever. “Take good care of Xia Lang.”

“In the future, it’ll be him accompanying you.”

Layer upon layer of silver threads encircled the thumb-sized sprite and the Demon who had just emerged from Luo Yiran’s illusion.

Luo Yiran smiled gently as he gazed at the sprite. “Tell me, what did you mean by what you just said?”

The Demon shrugged, carefully avoiding the silver threads as he raised his hands. “You ask him, ask him directly. Why are you treating me like this? I helped the magician… Hmm? Speaking of the magician, where is he?”

Luo Yiran ignored him and continued to look at the sprite.

The sprite was in a state where it could leave at any moment, so when it became displeased with Luo Yiran’s demeanor and was about to leave directly, the silver threads suddenly darted forward. In its line of sight, there was only a flash of silver light.

The sprite stared at its severed arm. “…”

Luo Yiran raised his hand, his fingers glinting faintly with the reflection of the silver threads, which were impossibly sharp yet incapable of harming him. “You can leave, as long as you’re certain you can escape before I sever your neck.”

The sprite narrowed its eyes and glanced at Xia Lang. “…You’re worlds apart from that dead human.”

“He was the kind of person who knew you were safe inside but still wanted to pull you out.”

But the one pulled out was clearly a different kind of character from Xia Lang-a ruthless one.

“Naturally.” Luo Yiran’s hair hung softly over his forehead. “After all, he was a good man.”

The Demon looked at the two of them. “Hey? Could you pay some attention to me? Are you ignoring me?”

The sprite didn’t even glance at him. Its arm regenerated, and it spoke with an intrigued expression. “I don’t mind telling you.”

“The primary purpose of the item ‘chance’ is to bring vitality.” The sprite glanced at Xia Lang again. “But I don’t wait for players to encounter a deadlock before using me; instead, I create deadlocks to force humans to use me.”

“Because of the rules set for the item ‘chance,’ I must adjust the instance accordingly.” The Dead Woman’s voice suddenly appeared. No one had noticed when she had materialized behind Luo Yiran. “But no instance can develop entirely according to the scripted plot… Xia Lang was just unlucky, appearing in the basement prematurely.”

Luo Yiran chuckled. “Unlucky.”

The Dead Woman didn’t attack him, even though her “companion” was being held hostage. “Although this deviates from the original setup, the ultimate outcome remains the same. Whether he came here or not, he would still face a deadlock…”

These two monsters were never designed to be defeated by a single player.

But Xia Lang was impressive; he managed to survive without using the item ‘chance.’

The sprite tilted its head. “But in the end, he survived the deadlock on his own. So what now? All the preparations were made, and the item ‘chance’ must be used… So the only option is to adjust your predicament.”

The situation Luo Yiran and the others faced couldn’t yet be called a deadlock. Apart from special cases like Xia Lang, who possessed the item ‘chance,’ they couldn’t impose a deadlock on players.

Thus, the self-illusion was merely a scenario with a high likelihood of being inescapable. Players could live out their lives peacefully within it, making it subtly “non-lethal.”

Zhang Mimi finally snapped out of it at this moment. He hadn’t noticed anything amiss while trapped in the self-illusion earlier.

He looked at the bosses present, his gaze finally settling on Xia Lang, who lay motionless in Yuan Mo’s arms-once again realizing the malice of this game.

It was never a friendly game.

The Dead Woman and the sprite exchanged glances. After a slight nod, she tentatively reached out to place her hand on Luo Yiran’s shoulder. “Leaving the basement means you’ve cleared the instance…”

Swish-

Luo Yiran withdrew his hand, the silver threads retracting. The sprite, who had intended to escape while the Dead Woman distracted everyone, suddenly had its head severed and fell to the ground, dissolving into tracking blips.

The air in the basement seemed to fall silent for a moment, along with everyone present.

“My apologies.” Luo Yiran’s voice was soft yet chilling. He turned to look at the Dead Woman, whose hand had not yet rested on his shoulder, his expression filled with regret. “I’m a timid person. You startled me by approaching suddenly, so my hand slipped…”

Luo Yiran’s expression shifted, his brows arching into a smile. “But it’s no big deal, right? As long as there’s still a player holding the item ‘chance,’ it will still exist… Isn’t that correct?”

He was probing to see if the sprite had been completely killed. The Dead Woman’s eyes flickered. She didn’t seem angry; instead, she withdrew her hand and said, “You should leave now.”

Luo Yiran stared at her, his gaze shifting.

The Dead Woman hesitated.

The killing intent wasn’t just coming from in front of her but also from behind. She turned to glance at Zhang Mimi, whose face was grim and body tense.

The Demon, who had been lounging casually, now had a serious expression. He looked at the group, his gaze finally settling on Luo Yiran. “If you want to make a move, I don’t mind. But let’s not even discuss whether you can kill us. The most important issue is that we can’t be killed right now. And if your goal is revenge… we’re not your enemies.”

“So why bother?”

Yuan Mo’s lips moved slightly as he looked down at Xia Lang in his arms. The wound on his finger had already healed. Yuan Mo slowly lifted his gaze, meeting Zhang Mimi’s eyes.

Zhang Mimi nodded lightly, then turned to look at Luo Yiran.

If Luo Yiran decided to make a move, they would follow suit. Besides, Luo Yiran currently had a human-like appearance, which meant he could probably use the spirit serpent… If it came to a fight, they might not necessarily lose.

The atmosphere was tense, but Luo Yiran simply turned his head to look at the Demon.

The Demon: “…” Why does this feel like a bad omen…

“Right now… you can’t be killed?” Luo Yiran’s long lashes lowered, then his smile curved upward. “So that means, in the future… no, perhaps in the next mode, you can be killed… is that correct?”

The Demon blinked-doomed.

“Thank you.” Luo Yiran smiled like an angel. “For telling me something so important.”

The Demon: “…Tch.”

Having already violated the rules earlier, this time the Demon felt intense pain as his body began to collapse. At the same time, he was forcibly ejected from the Dead Woman’s instance.

Killing someone who can’t die is pointless.

Luo Yiran turned his head calmly to look at the Dead Woman.

The Dead Woman: “…”

Her lips twitched. “You should have made him return the pass to me first.”

Otherwise, the Demon could still freely enter any part of her instance later. The surface-level instance was one thing, but deeper areas-like the minor instance behind the relief door or the self-illusion-were places she wasn’t keen on letting others enter freely.

Luo Yiran remained silent.

The Dead Woman thought for a moment. She had a favorable impression of Luo Yiran, especially because his reactions in the minor instance had completely resonated with her. Thus, unless absolutely necessary, she didn’t want to make a move against him. She decided she could reveal a little-

“The third mode is about to begin soon…”

The incessant warning beeps echoed in the Dead Woman’s ears, but she continued, “After the third mode starts, our lives will be equal to yours. We will only have one life.”

Her arm began to bulge unnaturally, while half of her face sank inward, leaving her entire body uneven and distorted. She looked at herself and said, “The punishment for breaking the rules isn’t limited to one form.”

Luo Yiran looked at her indifferently. “Is that so?”

The Dead Woman glanced at Luo Yiran. Her bones twisted within her body, and the pain made her voice tremble. “So… if you want revenge, wait until… that time… comes.”

Luo Yiran stared at her for a moment, then turned and walked toward the two white-coated men huddled in the corner. “I know you’re not my enemies.”

He smiled. “I’m just venting.”

Though he called it venting, he didn’t feel sad. He understood better than anyone that death is inevitable. He simply felt that Xia Lang shouldn’t have died here.

He should have died under the bright, sunny sky.

So, perhaps he was merely upset-upset that things hadn’t gone as he had hoped.

Luo Yiran thought calmly, then turned back to meet the Dead Woman’s gaze.

The Dead Woman dared not reveal too much more. Instead, she carefully scanned Luo Yiran’s body from head to toe, finally locking eyes with him.

-This player is very clever. He can deduce much more.

“…”

The third mode, bosses and humans sharing equal lives, and his body.

Luo Yiran’s thoughts deepened. He suddenly recalled that the next instance would be an organizational battle instance, where most players would be competing for-revival potions.

Bodies and potions.

Doll bodies and human bodies.

…Revival…

The Dead Woman raised her eyes.

Luo Yiran gave her a slight nod.

The Dead Woman’s displaced eyes showed a hint of a smile.

At that moment, Zhang Mimi ran over. “Ran.”

Luo Yiran glanced at the trembling white-coated men and said to Zhang Mimi, “Let’s ask some questions before we leave… You know instances sometimes connect to each other. It’s good to gather more information.”

Zhang Mimi hesitated, swallowing his words of comfort before nodding. Yuan Mo, carrying Xia Lang, walked over. The conscious white-coated man shrank against the wall at the sight of Xia Lang, his eyes filled with terror.

Luo Yiran sat cross-legged, his face expressionless. “Answer all my questions.”

The white coat swallowed hard. “O-okay…”

Zhang Mimi and Yuan Mo exchanged a glance.

The white coat desperately wanted to leave, but his legs were too weak. His gaze flicked to the front, where the Dead Woman’s mangled body lay. His pupils trembled, and his fear deepened. “W-what do you want to ask?”

Luo Yiran stared at his features, his pupils cold and mechanical. “What is this place?”

“Sky City’s Changfang Street… T-Tianhong Company’s underground third level…”

“Sky City? In the sky?” Zhang Mimi froze.

And Tianhong-why did that name sound familiar?

The white coat, panicked, thought these people might have suffered memory loss due to some trauma in the game. Nervously, he explained, “D-did you forget? It’s the year 4187 now. The surface of the Earth is damaged and uninhabitable, so we humans created floating ground. Now, all of humanity lives above the sky…”