Doll Survival Game - Chapter 140

Everyone sat down. Luo Yiran had already put away the silver thread, tucking it into his pocket. Afterward, he stared absentmindedly at the bulge it made for a second.

All the players had gotten involved with Sky City in last week’s instance, which meant there was a high chance that this week’s organizational battle would take place in Sky City.

Although Luo Yiran and the others didn’t know this for certain, none of them seemed particularly surprised. After all, ever since they’d learned about the past from that white coat, they all felt Sky City was bound to reappear as an instance location.

Lin Ye looked at Zhang Mimi.

Zhang Mimi tilted his head innocently and blankly. “What’s wrong? Is there something on my face?”

Lin Ye: “……”

Lin Ye: “Excuse me, sir, could you tell us what happened in your instance?”

Zhang Mimi let out an “oh,” but before speaking, he glanced at Luo Yiran.

Luo Yiran said, “Go ahead. If you miss anything, I’ll fill in the gaps.”

Yuan Mo quietly shrank back. He hadn’t even been to a minor instance, so he had absolutely no say in the matter.

Zhang Mimi, on the other hand, was quite at ease. He started recounting things in the order they’d entered the instance.

He spoke concisely and quickly. When he got to the part where they reached the fifth floor, and he and Luo Yiran decided to both enter minor instances to try to reach the top floor directly, Via couldn’t help but interrupt: “There wasn’t a single Sky City element in your instance?” They were almost at the top, and still nothing.

Zhang Mimi clicked his tongue. “Of course there was! You’ll find out in a minute.”

Li Qi Feng karate-chopped Via on the head. Via sucked in a breath through his teeth, then obediently muttered an “oh.”

Zhang Mimi wanted a cigarette. He hadn’t touched one in days, and now, recalling everything, his mouth itched terribly. But when he caught sight of Lin Ye’s fingers out of the corner of his eye, he forced himself to hold back.

Lin Ye hadn’t smoked in a long time either. The faint yellow on his fingertips had faded back to white.

Taking a deep breath, Zhang Mimi continued, “But to enter that minor instance, you had to give up the most important item on you. So Ran gave up the revival potion at that point.”

As he spoke, Zhang Mimi glanced worriedly at Luo Yiran.

The matter of the missing revival potion had already been mentioned yesterday, when Via had clamored for Luo Yiran to use it to save Xia Lang. Luo Yiran had explained, but hadn’t gone into detail about where it had been used.

Now, Via finally learned where Luo Yiran had used the potion, but he couldn’t help blurting out, “The game did this on purpose, didn’t it? Setting up this kind of ‘toll fee’.”

This time, Li Qi Feng didn’t interrupt him, but frowned and agreed, “Very likely.”

Although no one had asked about what exactly happened to Xia Lang in the instance, and Zhang Mimi’s account still had Xia Lang missing, everyone already knew from yesterday that Xia Lang’s death was because the item called [chance] had brought them into a dead end.

Looking at it now, maybe the instance was designed to ultimately force a dead end and push Xia Lang to use [chance], and taking away the players’ most precious items was part of that.

Li Qi Feng glanced at Via-yesterday, when Luo Yiran brought up [chance], it was also because he suspected Via had that item as well, so he mentioned it as a warning.

…In the end, everyone only knew bits and pieces yesterday, since no one was in the mood to ask for details.

Whether it was the shock of learning about Xia Lang’s death or the exhaustion of just finishing the instance, either one alone was enough to scatter their focus, let alone both at once.

Now, thinking back, Zhang Mimi also felt the game had done it on purpose. After all, this was a boss-designed instance, and in the basement, listening to the Dead Woman and the doll talk, he realized the instance could even be changed halfway through. That only confirmed what Via had said.

So he nodded in agreement, then hesitated before continuing, “…Anyway, after that, Ran went to the Dead Woman’s minor instance, and I went to… Tang Bai’s minor instance.”

The mention of Tang Bai made Lin Ye look at Zhang Mimi.

The others looked at Luo Yiran, more curious about the Dead Woman.

But Luo Yiran still didn’t speak, as if he’d decided to wait until Zhang Mimi finished before saying anything.

Duan Miaomiao raised her hand. “This minor instance-was it an illusion?”

Zhang Mimi glanced at Luo Yiran. “It was an illusion, but everything that happened in the minor instance was everything the Dead Woman knew about the boss’s past.”

With this, as Zhang Mimi continued his account, everyone finally understood.

Lin Ye’s expression was complicated the whole time.

Zhang Mimi didn’t go into detail about what he’d experienced, but quickly glossed over the character swaps and who had the key in the minor instance.

When Luo Yiran heard that the key was with Lin Na-the one with Tang Bai’s identity-he looked up at Zhang Mimi.

Zhang Mimi skipped right over the part about Xia Lang’s younger brother character. He really didn’t want to… well, talk about Xia Lang right now, but some people could probably guess that character looked like Xia Lang.

Like Luo Yiran. Zhang Mimi glanced at the doll on the table, then continued.

As they listened, everyone’s gaze gradually drifted to Luo Yiran.

Luo Yiran was silent for a moment. “Why are you all looking at me?”

Everyone shook their heads, not admitting how curious they were about what had happened in Luo Yiran’s minor instance.

“After the minor instance, we went straight to the top floor. The Dead Woman opened a direct passage to the top,” Zhang Mimi said, and then, seeing Via’s increasingly twisted expression, hurriedly added before he could ask, “But it wasn’t over. The so-called top floor wasn’t the end at all.”

Via’s expression twisted even more. “Your instance really knows how to take detours.”

Zhang Mimi thought about that terrifying minor instance with a hint of helplessness. At the time, he had thought completing it would mark the end. “Yeah. But back then, since the task we heard upon entering the instance was to reach the top floor of Baige Tower, we assumed we had cleared it.”

Zhang Mimi glanced at Luo Yiran again.

Luo Yiran met Zhang Mimi’s gaze. After a moment’s hesitation, he picked up where Zhang Mimi had left off. “And then, naturally, we heard a system notification saying the game was under attack and had been paused. After that, we exited the game.”

Everyone: “…?”

Luo Yiran’s crimson eyes lifted slightly. “I suspect that from the moment we reached the top floor, we entered a self-illusion. In the illusion, everything exists because we believe it does. And precisely because we believe, that world becomes even more real.” It was a vicious cycle.

“Moreover,” Luo Yiran glanced at Yuan Mo and Zhang Mimi, who were equally puzzled and curious, “if you notice something off in the illusion, you can’t say it out loud. The moment you do, it gets ‘corrected’-or rather, the memory of what you found odd is forcibly erased.”

Yuan Mo nodded vigorously.

Lin Ye frowned. “In that case, can you plant suggestions in yourself? For example-[If something feels off, don’t speak] or [Trust no one]. If you repeat it enough, even if the brain forgets, the body might remember instinctively.”

“And by not speaking, you might find a way to gather information and escape.”

“That’s the key,” Luo Yiran said, his expression unchanging and his voice steady. “Even if you don’t speak, even if you understand the nature of the illusion, it won’t break.”

Lin Ye: “…”

Duan Miaomiao couldn’t help but ask, “Is the illusion dangerous?”

Luo Yiran shook his head. “Almost entirely harmless. It seems to trade the absence of danger for a stronger sense of entrapment.”

“And because of that, once you ‘wake up,’ all you can do is clearly recognize that you’re in an illusion, but you can’t break it. You just have to keep living in it. After all, humans can’t survive without thinking about anything.”

At first glance, it didn’t seem like much, but upon deeper reflection, the feeling of helplessness became apparent.

A kind of… deeply stifling feeling.

Zhang Mimi let out a sigh of relief. “Good thing I didn’t notice anything.”

So he happily spent over a week there.

Everyone: “…”

Luo Yiran turned his head away. “Actually, it’s not so bad. If you try to believe in your own fantasies, you can make that world quite interesting.”

At this moment, Via suddenly thought of something. “…Does this mean Xia Lang didn’t enter the illusion?”

Luo Yiran nodded. “Correct. That so-called self-illusion was still part of the game, and Xia Lang wasn’t in the game.”

Duan Miaomiao didn’t immediately catch on. “Aren’t we always in the game?”

Luo Yiran looked at her. “I’m referring to the game within the game.”

The game within the game? Lin Ye frowned. “A full-immersion game?”

Duan Miaomiao shivered. “Then which company owns that full-immersion game? Tianhong?”

Luo Yiran nodded again.

Duan Miaomiao and the others exchanged glances, and then she clapped her hands-she had made the connection!

Luo Yiran didn’t rush to ask. Instead, he succinctly and quickly explained the remaining important points.

After hearing everything, Via felt his head ache. “Your instance is way too much, isn’t it?”

It was like a trap within a trap within a trap-even the system notification they received upon entering the game could have been fake.

Lin Ye frowned. “Your task difficulty is much higher than ours.”

“But you just mentioned that when you came out of the basement, there was no one around… If the timing matches, the reason you didn’t see anyone might be because we were infiltrating Tianhong.” Lin Ye moved his fingers slightly, as if he wanted to sniff them, but then remembered they carried no trace of smoke. He let his hand drop again. “Our task was to steal a document from Tianhong Company and destroy it.”

Via added with a cheerful smile, “Although we ended up just snatching it outright.”

Lin Ye’s face darkened. He still felt a headache thinking about how Via had disrupted his carefully planned stealth operation. It was a very bad headache.

“Our instance wasn’t as complex as yours. Although there were many restrictions, it ultimately boiled down to destroying the document. However, we didn’t know the exact location of the document, so the task was essentially to find it.”

“Originally, we had plenty of time to gather information. But…”

Lin Ye’s expression twisted, and he trailed off.

Li Qi Feng lowered his head, his tone heavy. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t keep things under control.”

Lin Ye waved it off. “It’s not your fault.”

Via nodded. “Yeah, yeah, it’s not the uncle’s fault.”

Lin Ye looked like he was about to explode but held back. He turned to Via. “…Right, it’s not Li Qi Feng’s fault.”

“Our task had a time limit of half a month. From that, you can tell the document was hidden very well. But midway through, Via disappeared-for a full 14 days. On top of that, other players were causing trouble, so by the end, we only had one day left. We had no choice but to take the crude approach of blowing up Tianhong’s headquarters, destroying the entire building to ensure the document was destroyed.”

The three who had been to the Monster World instance: “…”

After a brief silence, the three turned their gazes to Via. Via grinned brightly. “Ah, my bad, my bad.”

“But there was nothing I could do. After all, in our instance, aside from the four of us, everyone else was part of the [Hunter] organization.”