Doll Survival Game - Chapter 33 - The Vanished Mermaid (Part 26)

The doll’s silence made the magician fall silent too.

The rose burned quietly, and the magician looked up, accusingly, “Young master, you’re being too much.”

The doll shifted his gaze, skipping over the matter, and calmly said, “I haven’t rested for a long time, I’m a bit tired.”

The magician sighed deeply and laid his right hand flat in front of the doll.

The doll manipulated the magician again, stepping onto the magician’s hand.

The hand lifted, and the doll sat on the magician’s shoulder, leaning against the magician’s gray hair, closing his eyes as if to nap.

The magician sat cross-legged on the ground, looking at the rose’s stem on the floor, with a mocking smile.

The sky darkened, the torrential rain didn’t stop, and Xia Lang fell into a deep sleep, curled up in a corner, leaning against Artel.

In the middle of the night, Artel opened his eyes and sat up.

The doll almost instantly opened his eyes as Artel moved, looking over in the dim light, “Idia.”

The one who opened his eyes was Idia.

Luo Yiran was a bit surprised, “I thought you wouldn’t wake up in Artel’s body again tonight.”

Idia stood up, “I was locked up… Besides, having legs on land is still better.”

The doll watched Idia walk into the rain, quickly getting soaked, with golden curls sticking to his face.

The magician suddenly spoke, “There’s an umbrella behind me.”

The doll paused, manipulated the magician to get up, take the umbrella, and open it, stepping into the rain, feeling the magician’s faint goodwill, he sincerely said, “I’ll try to remember you.”

Magician: “…”

Idia stood at the edge of the building, looking at the nearby shelter, with a mocking smile, “The seawater will flood it, so many people, yet only those who have eaten mermaid meat can survive… But I won’t let them live.”

The seawater had already risen to the height of the fourth or fifth floor, Luo Yiran could vaguely see someone clinging to something downstairs, but couldn’t make out the person or what they were clinging to.

Too dark.

“Curious about my past?” Idia suddenly turned back.

Luo Yiran was stunned for a moment, “Are you going to tell?”

Speculation is always speculation, if he could know the real past, it would be great, at least he could score high when the instance ends.

“A reward for you.” Idia said with a mysterious smile, his eyes showing anticipation, anticipating the doll’s expression when he saw his score.

Hair covering his eyes, Idia reached out to brush the hair from his forehead, but his movement paused for a second, then he looked at Luo Yiran with a half-smile, “The mermaid is dead.”

The connection was severed.

Luo Yiran smiled, clasping his hands together, “Congratulations.”

Idia didn’t care about the mermaid’s life or death, he touched his face, speaking with a calmness bordering on coldness, “Artel is my brother, we grew up with very similar faces.”

Artel didn’t turn into a mermaid not because his father favored him more, his father loved no one. It was just that when they ate mermaid meat together, everyone initially had adverse reactions, except Idia.

So his father chose Idia.

At that time, there was already much progress in mermaid research, the only thing they wanted was to recreate a mermaid, for cyclical use.

So they chose him, who had no rejection issues.

He was too young then, and the mermaid’s tail was too large, the unequal weight and energy crushed him.

So, when he was about to die, those people scraped the scales off the mermaid’s tail, and bit by bit carved the fish meat away.

Only when a mermaid bone was left did Idia withstand it.

During that period, Idia often thought he would die, but the mermaid’s tail was so lively, it dragged him into this world.

He felt everything the mermaid had felt, his pain brought tears, but the tears turned into pearls, Idia suddenly understood-he was no longer himself.

A manufactured existence, nothing at all, this hybrid couldn’t be like a real mermaid, he couldn’t engage in intimate contact to give them special abilities, and his pearls weren’t pure.

So Idia was always experimented on.

Being able to go to Artel’s body was a pleasant surprise, Artel had eaten the mermaid’s heart, sometimes he could feel Artel’s feelings, which distracted him a bit.

Then one day, he opened his eyes in Artel’s body.

After a long silence, Idia was so excited he trembled all over, he got out of bed and found the room where his father was, stabbing him to death one knife at a time.

This was Idia’s first murder, he didn’t feel uncomfortable or painful, instead, he felt happy.

No one suspected Idia, nor Artel, because Artel was too stupid.

Idia found his path to revenge, using Artel’s body to grind his pearls into powder, waiting for the people of Water City to bring children under eighteen to eat mermaid meat.

Because those under eighteen only needed a very small amount of mermaid meat to gain breathing ability.

And those who had the chance to eat mermaid meat were the chosen excellent ones, Idia smilingly mixed pearl powder into the mermaid meat, waiting to see what those excellent ones would become.

Then those people turned into his favorite state, lifeless monsters that needed moonlight to move.

Idia watched from the shadows as Water City thought this was a rejection reaction to mermaid meat, calling them fools, then directly gave out pearls in the dark.

The number of monsters increased, Water City thought the mermaid monster would infect others.

Idia laughed so hard he trembled-look, sometimes, people are really stupid.

Later.

The existence of mermaids was completely exposed, so Water City decided to release Idia for a parade, to attract attention for Water City.

But it wasn’t him who paraded, it was Artel.

A mermaid with only a fish bone would scare everyone.

That water tank was much prettier than where he lived, Idia rarely saw Artel, and when he did, Artel always looked at him with envious eyes.

This was something Idia couldn’t understand.

What was he envious of?

Envious of those people touching his face, his body with greasy hands?

Or envious of those people carving meat off him bit by bit after he grafted the mermaid’s tail?

Or perhaps, envious of those people hurting him while saying Idia is so cute, really like Idia?

Idia felt like vomiting.

So, during the parade, he replaced Artel.

The water tank was filled with real pearls, Idia replaced the pearls in the tank before the parade, then watched the fanatical crowd outside the tank, pretending innocence as he threw out his pearls.

The parade was once a month, Idia didn’t often throw pearls, so those people really never discovered.

But as the mermaid monsters that followed the moonlight increased, Water City began to forbid residents from going out at night.

It was during that time that problems started in the prison, Idia felt the sensation from the tail, this sensation-belonged to the real mermaid.

But unfortunately, the mermaid wasn’t here for revenge, he was here to destroy himself.

Idia couldn’t understand.

…

“Perhaps.” The wind still blew rain onto the doll, strangely, the rain on the tail felt comfortable, but he still gently wiped it away, “The mermaid was just too tired.”

Idia looked at the shelter, unable to understand the mermaid, unable to understand fatigue, his only remaining purpose was revenge.

Revenge against the entire Water City, those who hurt him, the onlookers, those cheering outside the tank.

He wanted to take revenge on them all.

The water level kept rising, the doll gradually saw the people floating on the water below. He paused, then manipulated the magician to bend slightly, pulling the magician’s hair to cover most of his body, smilingly greeting the people on the water, “Hello there.”

The people on the water had seen someone above for a long time, they were struggling to swim to this tall building, as it was the tallest nearby.

But as they got closer, they saw who was standing on the building.

The blond young man and… the doll and his puppet.

Guan Cheng was dumbfounded, Fang Jincheng and the others were also dumbfounded.

It was Li Zhi, who was almost out of strength, who spoke first, pulling the equally exhausted He Qingqing, shouting to the doll, “Help!”

He wasn’t asking the doll to save him, but asking the doll not to stop them from coming up.

The doll looked at the bedraggled group without speaking, just smiling happily.

Fang Jincheng was a bit flustered, “Our mission has already failed… Doll, just save our lives, we just want to survive now.”

The doll glanced at Idia, then suddenly asked, “Are you willing to help us?”

Fang Jincheng wanted to ask what they needed to do, but Li Zhi interrupted him, “Sure.”

Fang Jincheng was incredulous.

Li Zhi subtly reminded, “The building can’t hold too many, but the doll is confident.” The doll must have a way to survive even if Water City is completely submerged.

… Li Zhi forgot the doll was a doll.

His voice was small, the doll couldn’t hear, but the magician could, finding it amusing, he told the doll with a smile.

The doll gave them a thumbs-up.

Then he looked at Idia.

Idia frowned at these people, “These are the ones you want to save.”

“It’s all fate.” The doll said openly.

“And you can have them help you…” The doll looked down at the group, seriously asking, “You will help Idia, right?”

The group agreed almost without hesitation.

Then Idia and the doll watched as the group came up, when they reached the top, the doll seemed thoughtful, “Failing the mission doesn’t mean death.”

“Sometimes it doesn’t.” Fang Jincheng shook his head, his hairstyle completely gone, “We failed to join the faction, but as long as we survive for five days, the mission can count as partially failed, we just need to accept the punishment.”

“What is the punishment?”

“Not sure, sometimes it’s being sent to a high-difficulty instance, sometimes it’s being stripped of all items. We’re more likely to be the latter.”

The doll had only seen ordinary items, like things that exist in reality, but clearly, there are other special items in the game.

“We’re likely to lose items.” Li Zhi wiped his face, “Whatever you need us to help with, we can do, since leaving this instance will probably mean losing items anyway.”

The water level rose crazily, as dawn broke, the seawater was about to flood the building they were on, the shelter finally emitted panicked murmurs.

Xia Lang was chilled awake by the water, he jumped up and looked around, “Ranran!”

Before the doll could respond, Guan Cheng reacted first, turning to see Xia Lang coming out of the small room.

Both were stunned.

“Cheng-Ge, you’re here!” Xia Lang greeted, then quickly ran to the doll’s side, looking at the water right at his feet, “It’s rising so fast!”

The doll smiled and pointed at Idia.

Xia Lang suddenly understood.

Idia suddenly turned to Xia Lang, impatiently saying, “Come here.” Xia Lang retreated a step in confusion.

“Go ahead.” The doll said softly, “Soon the water will flood the entire Water City, he can help you survive in the water.”

Xia Lang immediately went over, the others also lined up at Idia’s signal.

Since they couldn’t resist, they might as well go with the flow.

Soon, they really went with the flow.

Luo Yiran then pulled away the magician’s gray hair, revealing his fish tail, “Not bad.” Everyone was like him now.

Idia was a bit unhappy, he had wanted to turn the doll into a monster alone, so the doll would be special, and special would be excluded.

The doll saw through his thoughts at a glance, he wagged his tail, “Even without a fish tail, I’m special.”

Idia snorted, ignoring the doll, and jumped into the water.

The doll manipulated the magician to move forward, while telling the others, “Follow him.”

The group hesitated for a moment, then were swept away by a wave from Idia.

As the magician was about to enter the water, he suddenly said, “Young master, are you really not worried I’ll die?”

“Will you die?” The doll manipulated the magician to jump into the water. In the not-so-clear water, the magician’s gray hair floated behind him, he spoke without hindrance, “No.”

Descending slowly along the building in the water, the doll still couldn’t breathe, unable to feel what it was like for water to pass through gills.

He watched Idia reach the entrance of the underwater shelter first, then the others flailing their tails helplessly at the bottom.

Idia impatiently swept the group over with water.

Li Zhi fumbled around on himself for a while, then reluctantly took out a talisman and stuck it on the side of the shelter.

The group retreated, Li Zhi muttered something, and the talisman exploded, making a muffled sound underwater.

Water rushed into the shelter, to avoid being swept in, the magician grabbed onto a part of the building, the doll grabbed onto the magician’s gray hair.

He couldn’t hear much, but could imagine what the scene inside was like.

Idia suddenly turned back, across the not-close distance, Idia mouthed to the doll: I’ll make them suffer.

“Them” naturally referred to those who ate mermaid meat, those who experimented on him.

The doll smiled slightly, then after Idia turned his gaze away, he manipulated the magician to head towards the center of Water City.

“Young master?”

The doll raised a finger, smiling, “Shh, keep quiet, the story’s about to reach its finale, the villain now needs to do some good deeds to redeem himself.”

Like going to rescue Idia’s body.