Doll Survival Game - Chapter 38 - Temporary Teammates

No one paid much attention to Via’s joke, including Luo Yiran himself-how could he be scary? He was clearly harmless. However, none of them really understood the situation, but the one thing they could be sure of was that Luo Yiran was indeed different from others.

Lin Ye wanted to touch his face, but remembering the makeup on it, he put his hand down. “Even though the way you came in is a bit strange, it’s certain that you’re a special species.” Otherwise, Luo Yiran would just be an element.

Luo Yiran chuckled without responding to that. Instead, he asked, “When did ‘World Human’ start operating?”

“About a year ago,” Lin Ye recalled. “Not many from the first batch are still alive.”

The doll nodded slightly.

“Hahaha.” The conversation was left to Li Qi Feng to listen to, while Via was flipping through his phone and suddenly laughed out loud. Although the phone couldn’t operate any apps other than the World Human app, the notifications section was enough to amuse Via, especially-

Via looked up at the others without saying a word, then raised his phone. “Look, Ranran, you’re number one!”

Luo Yiran was momentarily stunned. Via held the phone up to him, and he saw the large font at the top-the average score ranking.

His gaze moved down.

The first name was Luo Yiran, followed by his score and a photo of his doll form.

“…”

“I knew you hadn’t seen it!” Via happily put his phone away, speaking with a bit of a sarcastic tone, “Number one, huh, impressive~” It wouldn’t be hard for anyone to find Luo Yiran.

Lin Ye, seeing Luo Yiran’s photo and name, realized that the doll had just entered the game, so he explained, “All players are on the ranking list. If someone is patient enough, they can find anyone. So hiding your name doesn’t really work… But you do stand out a bit, not just because you’re first, but also because it shows you’ve only officially participated in one game, and your first instance score is that high. That’s quite noticeable.”

Because most people struggle just to survive.

Luo Yiran opened his own phone, his gaze briefly passing over the photo of the woman in second place, Wei Lianlian, before stopping at the average score of 55 at the bottom.

“What’s the full score?”

The doll’s sudden question made everyone pause. Via wasn’t the first to react, but he was the first to speak, “Everyone guesses it should be 70. It can’t be 100. If the full score were 100, out of thousands of people, someone would have scored over 70.”

Luo Yiran raised an eyebrow slightly. He didn’t voice his own suspicions, but instead placed his finger on Wei Lianlian’s photo. “She looks familiar.”

Lin Ye squinted at it, then his long eyeliner slightly lifted. “She’s an actress, just not very famous. Maybe you’ve seen her on TV.”

“Good thing the game’s events can’t be talked about in reality,” Via closed his phone. “Otherwise, even if Wei Lianlian is a small-time celebrity, if it got out that she’s a murderer, she’d make the headlines.”

“So, do you guys have anything else to say?” Via was bored. He lay on the table, blinking hard at Lin Ye.

The doll also looked at Lin Ye, his tone relaxed. “I don’t have much… If Mr. Lin doesn’t have anything else to say, I’ll head back with the puppet.”

Talking under the guise of being fellow special species was just a pretense. It was obvious Lin Ye was looking for more than just a chat about special species. Who would believe it if he said he just wanted to chat?

Especially since Lin Ye had been subtly observing him.

Lin Ye shook his head and smiled. “I do have something else.”

The doll showed no resistance.

So Lin Ye continued, “I watched your entire live broadcast. You’re quick-witted, and-” Lin Ye glanced out the window, “your puppet is also very strong.”

In other words, you’re both brainy and brawny.

“So you need my help with something.” The doll widened his eyes slightly in surprise, praising Lin Ye, “You’re quite bold.” To seek help from someone you’ve never met, just based on a live broadcast.

…Does this indirectly mean he appeared very friendly in the instance?

After the doll widened his eyes, the eerie feeling around him diminished slightly. Lin Ye smirked, “It’s a mutual benefit. I’ll offer compensation. If you find it unsuitable, we can just leave it at that.”

The doll shrugged. “Why don’t you tell me the compensation first? After all, I’m not keen on going to a punishment instance.”

The air fell silent for a moment.

Via was the first to exclaim, “How did you know it was a punishment instance?”

The doll tilted his head, smiling. “So it really is.”

Via: “???”

Li Qi Feng gave Via a karate chop on the head. “Talk less.”

Via yelped, tears welling up as he looked at the seemingly well-behaved doll sitting to the side. “How did you know?”

“You’ve reached a cooperation or deal.” The doll lightly pointed at the three of them. Their body language and exchanged glances had told him that. “I don’t know anything else, but the one thing I do know is that you’re going to a punishment instance.”

“Aren’t you afraid of being embarrassed if you guessed wrong?!” Via wiped his tears.

“I wouldn’t be embarrassed,” Luo Yiran replied nonchalantly, then looked at the recovering Lin Ye. “Since it’s a punishment instance, did you also fail a task? And it’s the same instance, quite a coincidence.”

“It’s not me, it’s my cousin who failed the task… Her instance was a total wipeout, but she survived by accident.” Lin Ye explained, looking at Li Qi Feng and Via. “When their task failed during the live broadcast, I happened to have a friend who knew them, so I came to probe-whether their punishment was to participate in a high-difficulty instance or to have all their items confiscated.”

“It turned out to be an instance. Generally speaking, those who are about to participate in a punishment instance will be in the same one.”

“After inquiring, it was indeed the case.” Lin Ye’s fingers tapped lightly on the table. “And from the instance title, you can infer some things, so I made a deal with them. The deal is to protect my cousin as much as possible.”

The doll paused, showing some interest. “The title can reveal some things…”

“Can you show me the instance? If I’m interested, I’ll join, and the compensation can be whatever.”

Lin Ye didn’t hesitate. He took out his phone. Since he was already bound as a teammate with his cousin and Li Qi Feng, his next instance was already determined to be the same as theirs.

It was a bit far, so the doll stood up and jogged over.

Via wanted to laugh but held it in.

Lin Ye brought up the task and placed the phone in front of the doll.

On the phone, almost as big as him, a line of bold text appeared-[Notification: Due to the association with teammates, player Lin Ye will participate in the instance “Lin Na’s Last Day” on June 7, 2021, at 23:30.]

[The instance requires a total of 13 people, currently confirmed participants: 5.]

Lin Ye wasn’t sure if the doll had finished reading, so he kept his hand still, his heavily mascaraed lashes slightly lowered. “Lin Na is my cousin.”

No wonder some things could be inferred. This instance, directly named after Lin Na, clearly indicated she was in the most danger.

“Very interesting.” The doll smiled, taking a few steps back. He looked up, “I’m willing to join, but the seventh is a Monday, and my instance time hasn’t reached a full week.”

“A week doesn’t actually mean a full seven days. It means you must participate in an instance once between Monday and Sunday. You can participate on a Monday one week and then on the weekend the next week.” Via mumbled an explanation, then happily extended his index finger to the doll. “Didn’t expect us to become temporary teammates. Come on, shake hands~” As he spoke, he glanced out the window to see if the magician was there.

And sure enough, he turned to see the magician’s bandaged face right at the window.

Via quickly withdrew his paw. “No need for a handshake between temporary teammates.”

The doll also glanced out the window. The magician was waving a red rose at him, and Luo Yiran nodded slightly before looking back at Lin Ye. “I have a request. If Xia Lang is willing, I’ll bring him along.”

Lin Ye was about to add him as a friend and create a teammate relationship when he paused. “Then discuss it with him first. If he’s unwilling, you can dissolve the teammate relationship to avoid being pulled in directly. But if he’s willing, I can offer an extra share of the compensation.”

“Ah… it doesn’t matter.” The doll smiled. “I haven’t created a teammate relationship with him yet.”

He hadn’t even checked Xia Lang’s messages.

“Then, let’s team up.”

…

Seeing the doll wave at him, the magician happily walked in, the rose he used to greet now tucked into the bandage around his neck.

The magician reached out to pick up the doll.

Luo Yiran found the return button on his phone and said, “Then we’re off.”

Li Qi Feng and Lin Ye nodded, while Via waved exaggeratedly. “Take it slow on the way back, come again next time!”

Luo Yiran smiled and nodded, then quickly pressed return.

In the blink of an eye, they were back at his place. Luo Yiran glanced up before looking down to study the World Human app-he remembered Via mentioning that once you became teammates, you could send a request to visit each other’s personal space. If the other person didn’t respond within an hour, it was assumed they agreed…

So, can this feature be turned off? What if someone sends a request while he’s asleep?

Finding no answers, Luo Yiran was silent for a moment before opening Xia Lang’s chat.

“Young master,” the magician couldn’t help but ask, “why do you never speak to me first?”

“…” The doll smirked, “Put me down.”

The magician placed the doll on the table.

Luo Yiran quickly replied to Xia Lang’s message, then looked at the magician, his gaze briefly passing over the rose on the magician’s neck-it looked like the rose was growing out of the magician’s neck from this angle.

“Aren’t you curious about what we talked about?” Since the magician wanted him to speak, the doll asked what he was curious about. “And you left voluntarily, which isn’t like you.”

The magician crouched down, his gaze level with the doll, his tone filled with affection. “Even if you can’t control me, I won’t pry into what the young master doesn’t want me to know. I want the young master to gradually trust me.”

“After all, we’ll be together for a long time.”

Familiar words, and-trust?

“You’re overstepping.” The doll’s red eyes lifted. “We don’t need trust between us, ‘peaceful’ coexistence is enough.”

“But I believe if I try hard enough,” the magician’s face moved closer to the doll, “you’ll trust me.”

“Then feel free to try.” The doll took a few steps forward, closing the distance between them.

The magician didn’t dodge or avoid, allowing the doll to walk up to his cheek, then reached out to grab the red rose at his neck. He kindly reminded, “Young master, I haven’t removed the thorns from the rose, be careful with your hands.”

The doll didn’t listen. He directly took the large, blooming rose, then casually said, “Don’t wear it, you don’t match with red roses.”

Killing intent surged for a moment. The magician crushed the rose in the doll’s hand, a slight redness seeping through his fingers. He met the doll’s eyes, which seemed to be watching something amusing, his voice trembling as if suppressing anger. “Young master, I don’t like it when you lie to me…”

How could he not match with roses?

The doll laughed, releasing the rose stem and stepping back a few paces, then looked down at the message Xia Lang had sent: “Okay.”

“There’s a guest coming…” Luo Yiran looked up, his eyes curved with a smile. “Are you going to throw a tantrum in front of the guest?”

The magician paused, then reluctantly stood up, releasing the rose. “I’ll go change my bandage… Who’s the guest? Do they like tea or wine?”

Luo Yiran remained expressionless. “Xia Lang. Some hot milk would be nice.”

The magician: “…”

The magician smiled. “He can have water.”