Doll Survival Game

In the classic portrayal of a female ghost in horror films, with her long dress and black hair, Xia Lang let out a scream.

The “ghost” was startled, took two steps back, and then screamed herself.

Stunned by her scream, Xia Lang stopped and looked bewilderedly at the “female ghost.”

Then-

“…Sister?”

The “female ghost” paused, looking back at Xia Lang just as bewilderedly. After a moment of innocent eye contact, she turned to switch on the light, then looked back again to see Xia Lang crouched in a corner of the room: “Xia Lang?”

Xia Lang recognized her as the girl who blindfolded Lin Na during a midnight birthday party, who was also his “sister” according to his character setting. Relieved, Xia Lang tried to stand up but fell face first to the ground as his legs had gone numb from squatting.

His fall was both clumsy and humorous. Duan Miaomiao chuckled, “Take your time.”

Scratching his head awkwardly, Xia Lang slowly tried to ease his stiff limbs while half-squatting by the bed, and then said, “You…”

“I’m Duan Miaomiao.” She smiled, “I’m probably seven or eight years older than you. Just call me Miaomiao-Jie¹.”

“Miaomiao-Jie,” Xia Lang said, looking towards the window, “This is…”

Miaomiao-Jie now felt awkward as she tugged at her nightgown with a helpless expression, “Well, I actually thought this was heaven because I remember being killed.”

Xia Lang was stunned.

Thinking he was scared, Miaomiao-Jie quickly reassured him with a wave of her hand, “It might just be my nightmare! Look, I’m alive and well, I have a body temperature, and I can bleed.”

“It’s just that I couldn’t believe it when I woke up and went out to find everyone, but no one answered their doors…” She felt embarrassed, “But I didn’t knock on all the doors, I would have continued if I knew you were here.”

“And because no one answered, I started worrying that I might really be dead and this was heaven meant for me to get used to being alone,” she confessed, feeling embarrassed by her thoughts but continued seriously, “I couldn’t give up, so I went out to climb through the windows to see if there were still people in the rooms.”

“Then I climbed into your room… mainly because your window was open.”

By now, Xia Lang was utterly confused; he looked at the white curtain by the window still swaying slightly in the wind-so what he had feared all night was just a curtain?

However.

“I actually…” Xia Lang choked up nervously, “I actually broke character twice.”

Miaomiao-Jie blinked, then panicked, “So I really am dead? Is this heaven?”

“No.” Xia Lang was certain, this was definitely not heaven; after all, if he were to die, he would surely go to hell.

Taking a deep breath, Miaomiao-Jie tied up her dress, “Let’s find a hammer and check the other rooms then?”

The door was hard to open, but the window glass could be broken.

Xia Lang nodded. His legs were no longer numb, so he stood up, hesitated for a moment, then went over to the desk and pulled out a diary.

Curious, Miaomiao-Jie approached, “Is it a clue? I’m not clear about my character setting either, I only know I love studying, and I quite dislike Lin Na.”

Xia Lang pursed his lips, looking down, “It’s not a clue, just a garbage daily life.”

Miaomiao-Jie was taken aback, then looked at Xia Lang-she was somewhat incredulous that Xia Lang would say such a thing.

When Lin Ye was live broadcasting in Central Square, she could tell that Xia Lang had a very extreme personality, but he was generally soft-spoken, timid, and mild when there wasn’t any danger.

And now, without any apparent danger, Xia Lang had spoken such words.

“What did she do?” What exactly did Lin Na’s sister do to make Xia Lang so angry?

Xia Lang remained silent, just looking at the diary with disgust.

Miaomiao-Jie felt that Xia Lang wouldn’t say more, so she simply comforted him, “Don’t mind whatever it is… remember, it’s just a game setting.”

After a long while, Xia Lang spoke without looking up, “Let’s go to the next room.”

He didn’t respond to Miaomiao-Jie’s comforting words, because he couldn’t just not care.

He despised this instance, where victims were made to play the roles of their bullies… it was disgusting.

The voting ended, and the system announced everyone should return to their character settings.

Lei Jing was killed instantly by a light falling directly on her head.

Because everyone was close by, blood splattered on nearly everyone.

Except for Luo Yiran.

Lin Luo instinctively blocked the blood splatter for Luo Yiran.

The doll looked up at the blood stain on Lin Luo’s face, not really wanting to get involved, but due to his character setting, he reached out his hand.

Lin Luo looked down.

Luo Yiran casually wiped Lin Luo with his sleeve, his gaze shifting to Lei Jing’s corpse, feeling an inexplicable sense of unease-was her death too arbitrary? It felt like a farce.

Everyone else was shocked by Lei Jing’s sudden death, especially since the scene was quite sudden and terrifying. Brain matter mixed with blood covered the table, yet Lei Jing’s body lay relatively intact in her position.

For a moment, everyone was stunned before they began to act in character.

The frightened, the screaming… it was like a poorly executed spectacle in the entertainment industry.

After all, everyone was still baffled, but fortunately, they were not warned for breaking character, as if the rules had been relaxed.

Listening to the “accompaniment” nearby, Luo Yiran thought for a moment, then looked up, withdrawing his hand that was still wiping Lin Luo.

Lin Luo looked aggrieved.

Luo Yiran glanced at Lin Luo, deciding to join the others, so he pulled out an almost crying expression, his voice breaking, “Lin Luo, this is so scary.”

Via, who was fake crying on Li Qi Feng’s shoulder, shivered, synchronizing with the surrounding brainwaves for a moment-dolls are terrifying.

The magician was also stunned, his fingers trembling uncontrollably, his expression twisted with suppression for a moment-he knew it was acting, but… it would be better if they could really cry.

Lin Luo reached out, his fingers curling slightly behind Luo Yiran’s back, his voice low and hoarse, “It’s okay to cry, it might make you feel better.”

Such tender words.

Luo Yiran was stuck for a moment, then buried his head into Lin Luo’s palm, his body trembling slightly.

It could be interpreted as fear, or as breaking down in tears.

But Lin Luo’s palm felt no wetness.

He wasn’t crying. The magician felt a sense of loss.

Luo Yiran’s face was warmed by the touch of Lin Luo’s palm, expressionless-how could a doll cry? His body had no water content.

After the “breakdown” in the living room, everyone tacitly left the area.

It was now afternoon, with less than ten hours left to end the day. Everyone felt that time was passing quickly, and hardly anyone felt hungry.

Something felt off, some even took out their phones to compare with the clocks.

Luo Yiran remained silent, Lin Luo’s character turned into that of an aloof young master, after being frightened in the living room, he returned to the room with Luo Yiran without even greeting his parents.

Luo Yiran knew the magician must know more than them, so he glanced at Li Qi Feng, Via, and Lin Ye-Lin Luo’s relationship with his family wasn’t good…

Because Lin Luo was gay?

Back in the room, Luo Yiran was placed by his backpack, and just as he was about to distract Lin Luo, Lin Luo took the initiative, “I’ll go to the bathroom.”

The doll paused-the magician was giving him space.

Luo Yiran didn’t delve deeper; a magician’s character could completely flip from one moment to the next, so there was no point in probing. As soon as Lin Luo left, Luo Yiran immediately opened the love letter.

The paper was pulled out, and Luo Yiran was confronted with a glaring red color with two awkwardly written words-Whore.

Luo Yiran raised an eyebrow, his first thought-so he wasn’t two-timing.

Just then, Lin Luo suddenly came out of the bathroom, his initially smiling eyes darkened upon seeing the paper in Luo Yiran’s hand.

Whore was glaringly conspicuous.

Luo Yiran: “…” What space was being made, the magician definitely left intentionally to catch him in the act.

“Yiran, is this for Lin Na?” Lin Luo walked over, then saw the envelope on the desk, the words for Lin Na etched into his eyes, his expression darkened further.

Luo Yiran assessed the situation, considering how a couple deeply in love would react when encountering this scenario-disliking the boyfriend’s sister, and sending a letter with extremely vulgar words to the boyfriend’s sister; then getting caught red-handed by the boyfriend.

He thought for three seconds, then quickly reconsidered his character setting, his expression turning stern, slightly angry, “So what if it is!”

Lin Luo didn’t like Lin Na, so based on his relationship with Lin Luo, he should know Lin Luo’s dislike for Lin Na, and he had been seen stealing a kiss from Lin Luo, likely by Lin Na.

So his reason for sending this letter, whether direct or indirect, certainly stemmed in part from Lin Luo.

But Lin Luo glared at him, so he should be angry.

Luo Yiran waited two seconds, and no warning for breaking character sounded.

Lin Luo’s expression was serious as he pulled the paper from Luo Yiran’s hand, “You shouldn’t do these things.”

Luo Yiran looked incredulously at Lin Luo

Lin Luo folded the paper neatly and put it in his pocket, “I disliked Lin Na before we were together too, you pay too much attention to her, I’m always afraid you like her.”

“But it seems you hate her.” Lin Luo crouched down, his face full of emotion, “But I should handle these things, I don’t want you to dirty your hands.”

Luo Yiran’s eyes flickered, “You hate her more than I thought.”

Lin Luo’s expression was cold, “She’s a bastard child, why shouldn’t we hate her? And always showing that face like she doesn’t care about anything… if she really didn’t care, she shouldn’t have come back, right?”

A bastard child.

That explained the whole family’s attitude towards Lin Na.

Luo Yiran checked his phone-it was six in the evening.

He raised his eyebrows slightly, as if time had sped up, or a segment of time had been directly erased.

Similar to how unnecessary scenes and redundant timings are cut from films and TV shows.

But this time, too much had been cut. Most people would notice.

During the noon voting, Luo Yiran had already verified this, when he said it was time to vote, it hadn’t actually been a full hour yet.

But since he said it was time, and there were no objections at that moment, so time proceeded.

“…”

Something was off in this room.

Luo Yiran looked up-something was discordant.

It was an instinct, as if something sudden was about to happen.

Lin Luo’s fingers curled slightly, then he seemed to sense something and looked towards the window.

Luo Yiran also turned to look at the window the next second, and both saw the glass as if silently struck by something, cracking in numerous places.

Lin Luo’s pupils shrank, and he instinctively grabbed Luo Yiran and dodged towards the door.

The glass shattered, scattering into the room. Logically, there should have been a loud noise, but strangely, there was no sound at all, as if they had all gone deaf.

Just as Luo Yiran was about to say something to check if they had indeed lost their hearing, his peripheral vision suddenly caught sight of a small, chiseled-like crack on the room’s floor.

Seemingly sensing something, Luo Yiran and Lin Luo simultaneously looked up towards the window-

Had someone come in?

Footnote:

1. -Jie(-姐): In Chinese culture, using “xx姐” (pronounced as “xx jie”) to address someone is quite common, especially in Mainland China and other Chinese-speaking communities. The term “jie” means “older sister” and, when used in this context, typically carries a sense of affection and friendliness. It indicates respect and amiability towards the person, similar to calling someone “sis” or “big sister” in English.