Doll Survival Game - Chapter 139

Luo Yiran looked at the message sent by the Dead Woman. He raised an eyebrow slightly at the word “friend” in her message.

Were they friends?

But this wasn’t the main point right now, so he didn’t ask. Instead, he focused on the next message from the Dead Woman.

Dead Woman: [He’s in the Floral Courtyard.]

Luo Yiran frowned. The Floral Courtyard?

[Where is the Floral Courtyard?]

It took two or three minutes before the Dead Woman replied: [Wait, I haven’t forced it out yet.]

Luo Yiran: “…”

Forced… it out?

If he guessed correctly, this so-called “forcing”… was forcing it out of the Demon?

Did the Demon know where the Magician was?

A subtle, unpleasant feeling rose in his chest.

The confirmation came quickly. This time, the Dead Woman’s message directly mentioned the Demon’s name: [The Demon said it’s a place where beings like us go to alleviate pain. There’s no suffering there.]

Dead Woman: [But I’ve never left my instance… so this is the first time I’ve heard of it.]

Luo Yiran: “…”

The Dead Woman continued: [That place belongs to the Floraghost. When the pain exceeds what we can bear, we are automatically transported there.]

[However, for now, you can’t enter it through any means outside of participating in the game.]

Pain that exceeds what they can bear… Luo Yiran lowered his gaze, recalling the time in the basement when the Magician’s body erupted with blood.

But the punishment must have been more than what he had seen. After the Magician was logged out, he must have endured additional punishments.

Luo Yiran rotated his finger, which was covered in ball joints. He didn’t dwell on why he had sought the Magician’s help at that moment.

…But he understood why the Magician had helped him without hesitation.

It seemed the Dead Woman had let the Demon go, as the Demon sent him another message at this moment. The tone seemed calm: [I underestimated you.]

Luo Yiran glanced at it and then returned to his conversation with the Dead Woman, his expression unchanged. He then sent her a message of thanks.

The Dead Woman quickly replied: [You’re welcome. We’re friends.]

Luo Yiran saw the word “friend” again. He narrowed his eyes slightly and then typed out a response.

…

The top floor of Baige Tower now had a small pointed hut that wasn’t there when Luo Yiran and his team cleared the instance. The hut wasn’t large, but it was very tall, its spire seemingly piercing the sky.

The Demon stood at a distance from the Dead Woman, his massive skeletal wings wrapped around his entire body. His pitch-black clothes were slashed in several long tears. He shouted toward the Dead Woman, who was sitting on the edge of the tower: “Why isn’t he replying to me?”

The Dead Woman, dressed in a white gown, dangled her legs over the edge. A brand-new book rested on her lap, and she held a pen, writing in the book as she replied to the Demon: “I don’t know.”

A subtle pause lasted for a second before the Dead Woman added, “But he’s replying to me.”

“…”

The Demon wasn’t incapable of defeating the Dead Woman, but since she was in her own instance, she had the upper hand. Moreover, he hadn’t gone all out, so he could only endure being suppressed.

After two seconds of silence, the Demon, still unwilling to give up, shouted again: [What did he say to you?]

The Dead Woman paused. She looked up. “He asked for my name.”

The Demon squinted. “Then just tell him your name is Li Wei.”

The Dead Woman didn’t respond. She lowered her head and stared at the message Luo Yiran had sent her: [Since we’re friends, can you tell me your name?]

The Demon seemed to sense something. His expression shifted. “The original name cannot be spoken. You haven’t forgotten that, have you?”

The Dead Woman hadn’t forgotten.

-The original name could not be revealed to others. That name represented her when she was still human.

But Luo Yiran was human. The Dead Woman’s hand brushed against the pages of the book.

Now, that original name had become a curse for them. If someone explicitly uttered it, they would feel an excruciating, bone-deep pain.

After a moment of silence, the Dead Woman lowered her head and wrote the name “Li Wei” in her reply to Luo Yiran. Then, she held her book and received only a smiling emoji in response.

The Demon scoffed. He looked down and confirmed that Luo Yiran hadn’t replied to him at all from start to finish-

The next time they met would probably be in the third mode… Perfect. Without those restrictions, he could freely toy with that annoying little doll.

The Dead Woman wanted to reply again, but faced with the smiling emoji, she didn’t know what to say. So, she turned to the Demon and snapped, “Give me back the pass, and then get lost.”

A completely unceremonious eviction. The Demon pouted, pulled out a small square token, and tossed it over. “Fine, fine, I’ll go find that wooden angel to play with. See you next time~”

The Dead Woman didn’t even glance at him as she caught the token.

As the Demon’s figure disappeared, a fleeting thought crossed his mind-

Lately, had he been getting rejected more often?

Via had just traded the [Chance] item to the person who wanted it last time. For some reason, he had even explained the side effects of the [chance] item before the trade.

Though the person had exchanged for it without hesitation.

Via didn’t say anything more after that.

…He was a bit surprised that he had even mentioned the side effects.

Perhaps Xia Lang had influenced him a little… like that irritatingly soft personality of his.

After completing the trade, Via returned directly to the minor instance. By the time he arrived, it was already 7 p.m. Everyone had just finished their training and was gathered on the first floor of the small villa. So, as soon as Via entered, he was met with everyone’s stares.

Via: “…”

Via: “Wow, everyone’s here to welcome me? I’m so honored!”

The tone was familiar, yet not entirely so.

But the atmosphere in the small villa lightened a bit.

Zhang Mimi leaned in. “Come on, tell me, what were you up to during the day?”

“Trading items with someone. There was one item I didn’t really like,” Via replied as he glanced at the doll seated at the table, spinning something in his hands. Between his fingers, faint glimmers of silver thread flickered in and out of view.

The magician wasn’t around, nor was Xia Lang. Luo Yiran had to rely on himself for his daily activities. Some of the silver threads he cast out were difficult to retrieve, so he left them where they were temporarily, thinking he could use them later. However, he hadn’t expected that one of the threads would accidentally scratch Duan Miaomiao in the afternoon.

When Duan Miaomiao started wailing, Zhang Mimi thought it wasn’t such a bad thing-it could keep everyone on their toes. But Lin Ye’s comment had been a wake-up call: “You’ll definitely stumble into it half-asleep in the morning, and your leg will probably be done for.”

Outside of instances and the training room, losing a leg wasn’t something you could guarantee would heal. At the time, no one had even considered that Yuan Mo’s spirit serpent might be able to fix it. Yuan Mo had tried to chime in a few times but never managed to get a word in.

In the end, Lin Ye made the decision: Luo Yiran had to retrieve all the silver threads, and from now on, he wasn’t allowed to leave them lying around after use.

So now, Luo Yiran was busy collecting his silver threads.

As he wound the threads back, he realized how inconvenient it was. Ever since the silver threads had gained the ability to extend automatically, he hadn’t paid much attention to reusing them. Having to suddenly revert to collecting them after every use felt like a hassle.

Via watched as Luo Yiran’s movements gradually slowed. His large, round red eyes drooped, his gaze fixed on his ball-jointed hands.

It seemed as though he was lost in thought, staring at his doll-like body.

Via broke the silence. “What’s on your mind?”

Luo Yiran looked up at Via. After confirming the question was directed at him, he replied, “I was wondering if this body of mine was transformed from my original human body.”

Everyone froze.

Luo Yiran recalled the Dead Woman’s earlier hints. His gaze dropped again, his thoughts wandering as he stared at his fingertips.

Zhang Mimi, however, remembered what Luo Yiran had looked like as a human. He said, “Setting everything else aside, your human appearance was… well, let’s just say you looked really obedient, like a merit student.”

Luo Yiran: “…”

Via, who had some authority on the matter, pointed at Luo Yiran. “This guy was a merit student.”

Zhang Mimi was taken aback. “A merit student? Didn’t you say you two had never met before?”

Via tilted his head, the white-gray tips of his hair brushing against his eyelids. Black roots were starting to grow in, but overall, his hair still looked good. “We haven’t met. It’s just that Xia Lang mentioned he was a merit student back in the Fairy Tale Forest.”

The room seemed to fall into a brief silence, which was eventually broken by Luo Yiran. He turned to Yuan Mo. “Can I ask you something?”

Yuan Mo, who was usually most attentive to the doll, immediately met his gaze when Luo Yiran looked at him. “What is it?”

Luo Yiran said, “Where do you live in the real world? Just give me a general area.”

After a moment’s thought, he added, “I’m in Huancheng City, Y Province.”

By volunteering his location first, regardless of his reasons, Luo Yiran came across as trustworthy in Yuan Mo’s eyes. Without hesitation, Yuan Mo replied, “Huanqing City, C Province. But most people call it the Mountain City because it’s built into the mountains, and almost none of the roads are flat.”

Duan Miaomiao’s eyes widened. She naturally joined the conversation. “I’m in the capital. Pretty far from all of you.”

Zhang Mimi turned to her. “I’m closer to you. T Province. Just a two-hour high-speed train ride away.”

Via, sitting cross-legged on the sofa, looked at Luo Yiran. “We’re in Y Province too, but not the same city as you… By the way, why are you asking Yuan Mo-Ge about this?”

Luo Yiran glanced at Yuan Mo. “Back in the self-illusion, my subconscious assumed you lived near our school. They also mentioned that a high school student often came to your house for meals. I even imagined that person’s name and appearance.”

Yuan Mo was stunned. He thought he’d misheard. “Wait, he-you had him in your illusion? My neighbor’s high schooler has the last name He, is really tall, but has a baby face. Ran, the one you imagined… was it the same?”

“No,” Luo Yiran denied. He repeated, “The things in the self-illusion were just what my subconscious believed and imagined.”

Yuan Mo let out a sigh of relief. For a moment, he’d thought Luo Yiran was so skilled that he could deduce everything from the tiniest bit of information.

“…”

Wait. So that meant everything he’d encountered in the illusion was based on what he thought and believed? No wonder it had felt so real.

“…Illusion?” Lin Ye suddenly spoke up. She frowned as she looked at them, her gaze finally landing on Zhang Mimi. “It wasn’t just you who got trapped in an illusion. All three of you were?”

Zhang Mimi nodded, taking a step back. “You said to wait until everyone was here to go over it, so I didn’t tell you more.”

Luo Yiran looked up. “Go over what?”

“The instance,” Lin Ye replied.

His dark hair was starting to grow out at the roots as well. Leaning back in his chair, his deep eyes met Luo Yiran’s bright red ones. “I did some digging yesterday. Last week, almost every player, regardless of whether they were part of an organization, encountered or were somehow involved with one particular place in their instances-”

“Sky City.”