Doll Survival Game - Chapter 138
“Xia Lang hasn’t come to the villa all day,” Duan Miaomiao curled up on the sofa, sneaking a glance at Li Qi Feng, who had come to the villa alone. She deliberately spoke loudly, without lowering her voice.
Li Qi Feng looked over.
Duan Miaomiao quickly averted her gaze-sometimes she wondered if the reason Li Qi Feng rarely spoke or showed expressions was because moving his facial features might make the scar on his face shift as well.
Li Qi Feng glanced at her but said nothing, heading upstairs to the training room.
-Alright, he couldn’t possibly be that childish. Duan Miaomiao thought to herself and called out to him, “Uncle-”
Most of them had started calling Li Qi Feng “Uncle” under Via’s lead, even though they weren’t much younger than him.
Li Qi Feng paused and turned back, “What is it?”
Duan Miaomiao looked at the empty first floor of the villa, “Is Via still coming?”
Li Qi Feng nodded, “He’ll come.”
His response was so straightforward that she didn’t know how to continue the conversation, so she awkwardly replied, “…Oh.”
Li Qi Feng nodded slightly and was about to head upstairs when he turned back again, “Lin Ye said Xia Lang’s personal space has disappeared?”
Duan Miaomiao perked up, “Yes.”
After answering, she froze for a moment, then scratched her cheek, “But Luo Yiran didn’t seem too worried. Maybe, perhaps, it’s nothing serious.”
Actually, when they learned about Xia Lang’s death, they weren’t overly concerned. They just felt more pressure because, under the current circumstances, their organization would definitely need to obtain a revival potion during the organizational battle.
However, after Via and Li Qi Feng left yesterday, she tried to access Xia Lang’s personal space, only to find a system message stating that the personal space no longer existed.
Later, they learned from Luo Yiran that [Chance] had “taken” all of Xia Lang’s “possessions.”
But regarding the disappearance of Xia Lang’s personal space and the uncertainty of where his soul was, no one knew if this would affect his revival.
At the time, Luo Yiran didn’t seem to react much, perhaps because he had already mentally prepared himself.
Li Qi Feng didn’t comment further on Duan Miaomiao’s response. He simply added, “Via is currently exchanging [Chance], so he’s temporarily unavailable.”
Duan Miaomiao processed this for a moment, “Via has [Chance] too?”
Li Qi Feng nodded, then headed to the rooftop training room.
In Luo Yiran’s room.
Yuan Mo sat in a chair, deeply withdrawn, sketching the doll on the table. After a while, he stopped.
Luo Yiran looked up, “Don’t feel like drawing anymore?”
Although sketching dolls still had a creative vibe, the absence of the magician made the atmosphere feel lacking… But that wasn’t the reason for Yuan Mo’s withdrawal.
Yuan Mo stared at the sketch in front of him, putting down his pencil, “If we talk about real-time separation, it’s only been a short while. But Miaomiao and the others have already forgotten about me.”
Not entirely forgotten, though. When they looked at him, they were startled, then blurted out, “Who are you?” Afterward, they said he seemed familiar, and finally-
“…Yuan Mo? Is that your name?”
“…”
He was indeed easy to forget, with a low sense of presence. When entering an instance, he had considered the possibility that if the time spent in the instance was too long, people might forget him upon returning.
But being mentally prepared didn’t mean he wasn’t hurt. And he still hadn’t recovered from Xia Lang’s incident…
So it was just one difficulty piled on top of another.
Luo Yiran paused, then stood up, “How long did you spend in the self-illusion?”
Yuan Mo looked up, “Over a week. Mimi spent about the same amount of time… So he didn’t forget me. Generally speaking, if someone frequently thinks about me, there’s a slim chance they won’t forget even after half a month or a month.”
Luo Yiran pointed to himself, “I spent over three months in the self-illusion.”
Yuan Mo: “…?”
Luo Yiran lowered his gaze, “But I didn’t forget you.”
Yuan Mo pondered, “So it’s really because dolls don’t have brains…”
He paused, “But you were human back then, right?”
Luo Yiran smiled faintly, almost playfully, “Maybe because even as a human, I was very much like a doll.”
Everything he perceived was weakened, so Yuan Mo’s lack of presence likely had little effect on him.
Yuan Mo didn’t understand this statement, but it didn’t stop him from realizing that Luo Yiran wouldn’t forget him. He relaxed a little.
-Even if it’s just one person, as long as someone remembers him… He didn’t want to live as if he couldn’t leave even a trace behind.
However, since no one had asked much about the instance yesterday, perhaps Miaomiao and the others had spent an exceptionally long time in their instance, which might explain why they forgot him.
Luo Yiran: “If you’re done drawing, go upstairs to train. The system has scheduled the organizational battle for five days later, still on Sunday night. Five days isn’t much time.”
Yuan Mo frowned, “Do I have to explain my identity to them again?”
“Probably.”
Yuan Mo frowned even more.
Fortunately, as they spent more time together, they would gradually remember him.
So it wasn’t too bad.
Carrying his sketchbook to the door, Yuan Mo suddenly turned back, “By the way, Ran, don’t you think the name of the company Tianhong sounds familiar?”
Luo Yiran didn’t look up, “Yeah, I heard it in a minor instance. It seems to exist as a kind of clue, just enough to make us associate it with the full-immersion game.”
So back then, Lin Chi and the others had briefly mentioned it, but nothing about Tianhong had come up afterward.
Minor instance?
Yuan Mo stood at the doorway, a bit confused. “But I’ve never been to a minor instance.”
“That’s probably something you heard in the self-illusion,” Yiran replied, not particularly surprised. After all, just as Yuan Mo said, he hadn’t been to a minor instance, so the game placed the hint in the self-illusion. Yuan Mo’s vague memory of it was likely because it had been “corrected” in the self-illusion.
Yuan Mo had no more questions for now, so he walked out, even pulling the door shut for Yiran as he left.
Yiran was left sitting alone in utter silence.
There was one thing Yiran appreciated about the people in this little villa: they rarely pried or asked too many questions.
He swiped the holographic display in front of him and tapped to return to his personal space.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a red dot appear in the message section below, indicating someone had sent him a message. But Yiran didn’t rush to open it.
Not until the scenery before him twisted and he returned to his personal space did he finally look around. Not seeing the magician, he tapped to open the message.
A pale pink chat box popped up in a flash.
Little Deer1: [Master, master, someone sent you a message! Do you want to receive it?]
Little Deer: [Master doesn’t need to type, you can just speak~]
Yiran: “……”
After a moment of silence, Yiran asked, “You’re the one from… the fourth page from the end of the book.”
Little Deer: [Yes! I gave myself a name so it’s easier for master to call me.]
“……”
Monster communicator-Little Deer.
For some reason, Yiran thought of where this name might have come from. Without much expression, he exited the message interface and turned his gaze to the window.
He glanced outside at those familiar NPCs. After three or four seconds, he opened the message interface again, ignoring Little Deer’s frantic, tearful complaints, and asked directly, “Aren’t the messages sent to me directly?”
Little Deer’s crying emoji froze. It replied: [No. Because the previous master had blacklisted them all.]
So there’s a blacklist function. And since the previous master was the Dead Woman, it was her who blacklisted them. Looks like she really didn’t get along with those bosses. Yiran looked up. “Remove it.”
With his player identity, plenty of bosses were bound to test him. If every message had to be filtered through Little Deer first, it would be a hassle. He’d rather check them himself.
Little Deer sensed that Yiran was removing the blacklist because he found it annoying, so it replied pitifully: [Oh.]
As soon as it said that, the message interface on the holographic display began to flash. Yiran was just about to check when his whole body froze, and he instinctively looked out the window again.
Faintly glowing, Xia Lang, half-transparent, was sitting with his knees hugged on the roof of the house diagonally opposite, red tiles beneath him, his figure white.
Yiran stood up, watching Xia Lang in the night.
There was no expression on Xia Lang’s face, his eyes hollow, as if he could vanish at any moment.
Yiran had seen that expression on his own face before. He was silent for a while-if revived, would Xia Lang still be Xia Lang?
The thought flashed by, and Yiran withdrew his gaze, turning back to the holographic display.
Then his eyes twitched.
-At a glance, all the messages were from “old acquaintances.”
He watched silently as the messages kept piling up. After a moment, he noticed a few names were just numbers and asked, “Little Deer, what do the numbers mean?”
Little Deer replied: [It’s like page numbers in the book. If you don’t know who that page corresponds to, it stays like this.]
[But if you know who it is, you can write their name on that page, and then the friend list will show the note accordingly.]
[Right now, master, you’ve already got some names filled in by default-those you know. The others are still hidden.]
Yiran: “……”
So, all those bosses know exactly which page in his book corresponds to whom, but he only knows the ones he recognizes.
Tsk.
The holographic display froze. Yiran looked at the top-the last person to send a message.
94827: [I am the Dead Woman.]
Yiran: “……”
Little Deer: “……”
Yiran watched as “94827” turned into “Dead Woman.” He replied with a simple “Got it,” then opened the next message. The next one was from the Demon.
Demon: [Doll, is the magician not by your side? Is he? Is he? Is he?]
Demon: [Because he’s seriously injured, hahaha!]
Demon: [Though I am too, but I don’t feel pain, hahaha.]
Lunatic.
Expressionless, Yiran skipped him and opened the next string of numbers, hesitated, then tapped it-
Yiran: [Where is he?]
The Demon replied quickly: [Beg me and I’ll tell you~]
Yiran: “……”
Yiran: “Little Deer, how do I delete someone?”
Little Deer: [De-delete isn’t possible…]
Yiran: “Blacklist.”
Little Deer: [……………You can blacklist others, but you can’t blacklist Mr. Demon. He’s the one who created me.]
“……”
Suddenly, the Dead Woman sent a message: [Ran, I know where the magician is.]
So the two of them are together now.
The thought flashed through his mind, and Yiran ignored the Demon: [Can you tell me?]
Dead Woman: [We’re friends, of course I can.]
Footnote:
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- Little Deer(小鹿):This name is a playful pun. The “Monster Communicator” is called “怪物通讯录” (guài wù tōng xùn lù). The character 录 (lù), which means “record,” “directory,” or “list” (as in an address book or contact list), is a homophone for 鹿 (lù), which means “deer.” So, the “Monster Communicator” names itself “Little Deer” because the sound of “deer” (鹿) is the same as the final character in its own name/function (通讯录).
