Doll Survival Game

Duan Miaomiao’s mind went blank for a moment.

Until a heavy thud came from outside the door, Lei Jing swung a hammer against it.

Duan Miaomiao finally caught her breath, her neck and back rising and falling quickly, then Xia Lang pulled her back several steps.

“She, she?” Xia Lang stammered, staring at the shaking door.

Duan Miaomiao took a deep breath. She could still hold her ground in this situation, but she hadn’t expected Lei Jing to come up so quickly. Seeing the “killer” who “killed” her through the peephole was enough to stun anyone.

Fortunately, the door was locked, and Lei Jing would need some time to open it…

Duan Miaomiao gave Xia Lang a look and then glanced at the window.

Xia Lang nodded and moved toward the window.

Duan Miaomiao raised her voice slightly, “You killed me before because of the character setting, right? But now, there’s no need for us to kill each other!”

Lei Jing slammed a knife against the door, kicked it hard, and said in a sinister tone, “I just got screwed over, not happy.”

Duan Miaomiao: “…” Honestly, she felt a bit happy about Lei Jing getting screwed over.

“The guy inside,” Lei Jing banged on the door, “is Luo Yiran’s teammate, right? Watch me tear you to pieces.”

Xia Lang paused, nearly falling from the window ledge.

The commotion outside stopped, and Lei Jing’s voice, less aggressive, sounded, “Little girl, I only want to kill the guy. Open the door, and I won’t hurt you.”

Xia Lang clung to the window, looking at Duan Miaomiao with some panic.

Duan Miaomiao sighed silently and waved her hand at Xia Lang.

Xia Lang breathed a sigh of relief and quickly moved aside.

Duan Miaomiao also slowly retreated, raising her voice, “You’re lying! You just said you weren’t happy! If I open the door, you’ll definitely kill me first!”

Lei Jing indeed thought that way. She really wanted to kill, but the door was quite sturdy, and it might take a while to break it. So she leaned closer to the peephole, pulling out a smile, “How could I? I killed you before because of my character setting. In the setting, the Lin Family is my enemy…”

She grew impatient outside and slammed the knife against the door handle again, “Open the door, you hag!”

Duan Miaomiao clicked her tongue-no way was she opening the door.

And this woman had no patience at all!

Duan Miaomiao thought for a moment, then bent her body against the window ledge, cupped her hand around her mouth, and shouted, “If you have the guts, come in! Let’s see who kills whom!”

The commotion outside paused, then grew even more intense.

Duan Miaomiao gasped and quickly closed the window, moving toward Xia Lang.

Xia Lang whispered, “Miaomiao-Jie, why did you provoke her?”

“To make her think we’re still inside,” Duan Miaomiao said, holding the axe with some difficulty, “It’ll take a while to break the door, so we can buy some time.”

Xia Lang understood.

Duan Miaomiao looked up, her face serious, “If she realizes we ran away, she’ll definitely think we escaped through the window and then return to her room to catch us.”

Xia Lang timidly glanced ahead, unable to imagine what it would be like if Lei Jing appeared in front of them.

“Which room is Luo Yiran in?” Duan Miaomiao squinted, looking through the window, though it was daylight, the windows of these rooms were closed, and she couldn’t see inside.

“The next one,” Xia Lang carefully moved over, but there was a curved wall between them and the next room. Although there was a place to step, there was nothing to hold onto.

Duan Miaomiao reminded Xia Lang, “Be careful.”

Xia Lang nodded, pressing his body against the wall and moving slowly.

Xia Lang took quite a bit of time to get across, and Duan Miaomiao breathed a sigh of relief, then prepared to go over herself and glanced back.

Then she saw Lei Jing poking her head out of Xia Lang’s window.

Duan Miaomiao: “!”

Terrifying! But Lei Jing was indeed almost able to enter the room because it had taken nearly twenty minutes since they entered the house.

Lei Jing showed a cruel smile, easily jumping onto the window ledge, then weighed the knife in her hand.

Duan Miaomiao: “…” You want to hit me, right? You’re definitely going to hit me!

“Xia Lang! That crazy woman is coming!” Duan Miaomiao hurriedly handed over the axe, “Quick, smash the window and get inside!”

Xia Lang made it past the curved wall, unable to see Lei Jing poking her head out, but he quickly grabbed the axe and tried to break the window. However, Duan Miaomiao was urgently shouting, “Ah, ah, that crazy woman is going to throw the knife at me! Xia Lang, hurry… ah, ah, ah, she’s making a throwing motion!”

Xia Lang panicked, then swung the axe at the window, but he was too rushed, and the axe slipped from his hand.

Fortunately, the window glass shattered quite a bit, and Xia Lang didn’t care about the broken pieces. He reached out and grabbed the window, shards piercing his hand, tears streaming down his face. He turned, reaching out his other hand toward Duan Miaomiao, “Miaomiao-Jie, jump! Grab my hand.”

Duan Miaomiao didn’t have time to think about whether Xia Lang’s thin arms and legs could hold her. She took a big step, grabbing Xia Lang’s hand as her body wobbled and started to fall.

A chill came from behind, and Duan Miaomiao turned her head, watching the knife fly past her and land on the ground.

“This crazy woman’s aim is so good,” Duan Miaomiao lost all her initial ladylike composure. She quickly reached out and grabbed the window ledge herself, being careful not to cut her hand.

Outside, Lei Jing cursed loudly, seemingly throwing the hammer as well, but it probably hit the room next door, judging by the sound of breaking glass.

Xia Lang didn’t care about anything else. He pushed the curtain aside and entered the room, sniffing, his left hand trembling, blood dripping from his fingers. Xia Lang didn’t pay attention to his hand; he ran to the bed and stared at the person lying there in shock.

Duan Miaomiao also came in, “How is it, is anyone there?”

“…Yes.” Xia Lang stared blankly at Lin Luo and the doll beside him on the bed.

To be honest, the scene was quite cozy. Lin Luo had a somewhat mixed-race appearance, with long, slightly curly black hair. When he quietly closed his eyes, he looked like a large doll, complementing the delicate little doll beside his cheek.

Especially since the two were wearing matching outfits.

Duan Miaomiao came in and saw it too. She reacted for a second, then reached out to Lin Luo’s nose, “He’s breathing, alive. Probably asleep.”

Xia Lang also reacted, leaning toward the doll and reaching out.

After three seconds, Xia Lang’s face showed horror, “No, no, no…”

Duan Miaomiao: “…Xia Lang, I think dolls might not need to breathe?”

Xia Lang: “…”

Xia Lang: “Sorry, I forgot…”

Duan Miaomiao glanced at Xia Lang’s hand, “You should stop the bleeding.”

Xia Lang grabbed some paper from the table.

Duan Miaomiao went over and pulled the axe out of the ground, glancing at Xia Lang, “You’re tougher than I thought.” She had expected Xia Lang to cry for a while.

Xia Lang paused, then looked at the doll on the bed.

Duan Miaomiao didn’t notice; she picked up the axe and remembered something, her face changing, “If everyone is unable to resist, it’s dangerous.”

Xia Lang’s face changed too.

Duan Miaomiao gripped the axe, looking outside, her voice trembling slightly, “Should we… go deal with Lei Jing?”

Just, protect everyone?

But as soon as she finished speaking, a sound came from the door.

Knock, knock, knock.

The knocking suddenly started, and at the same time, the system’s voice, long absent, sounded in Xia Lang’s ear-

[System Notification: Congratulations, player Xia Lang, for completing task two.]

[Since player Xia Lang is already in real space, no task rewards.]

[System Notification: Task four released.]

[Player Xia Lang, please survive until Lin Na wakes up.]

The system voice ended, and the knocking outside stopped, replaced by a man’s surprised voice, “Lei Jing?!”

“Oh my god, Lin Ye, it’s Lei Jing!”

Xia Lang and Duan Miaomiao silently leaned together, looking at the increasingly bright sky outside, unable to understand why task two was completed.

Sounds of fighting came from outside, Duan Miaomiao knew she should help, but if they went out, they might just make things worse. The only thing they could help with…

Duan Miaomiao suggested, “Should we keep climbing and wake Lin Na? Our task should be to survive until Lin Na wakes up, right?” If they wake Lin Na, the task should be completed.

Then task four should be released, possibly stopping Lei Jing.

Xia Lang didn’t know why, but Duan Miaomiao’s words suddenly gave him a very bad feeling, though he couldn’t understand where this unease came from, he could only say, “…Okay.”

“This is Lin Na’s dream, right?” Luo Yiran sat in Lin Luo’s arms, looking at the words written on the wall.

[Terrible everything, but I can’t escape.]

Time stopped at midnight, no longer moving forward a minute or second. Luo Yiran and Lin Luo had come to Lin Na’s room and saw the red words in the corner behind the desk.

Lin Luo seemed a bit surprised, “Why?” He glanced at the door, as if worried Lin Na would return.

Luo Yiran tilted his head slightly, “Isn’t this house just like we can’t get out?”

“Her consciousness constructed this scene, but the dream isn’t controlled by her, because she wasn’t there when we voted, but time was fast-forwarding.” The doll carefully looked at the words, “It means the person controlling it is one of the people in the living room at the time… the extra non-player.”

“Then calling it a dream is a bit of a stretch, right?” Lin Luo tilted his head.

“Even if it’s not a dream, it’s a world created by Lin Na’s consciousness.” The doll didn’t hesitate, “The instance name is here… and it can be confirmed this isn’t real space.”

The system’s mention of “complete death” basically confirmed that Duan Miaomiao was still alive. Xia Lang couldn’t be completely sure because there was still a “Xia Lang” alive here.

But Duan Miaomiao was enough to prove that dying in this space wasn’t truly dying.

So, this space is fictional, and the bodies still exist, which can only mean-replication.

The game replicated their bodies and then sent their replicated bodies to this fictional space.

…Perhaps it can also explain Xia Lang, Xia Lang was most likely OOC death, because Xia Lang’s character setting Luo Yiran knew he couldn’t play. If OOC death, then it might be mental death, the body would still be intact, so “Xia Lang” could still move. And Duan Miaomiao was physically damaged, so she couldn’t move anymore.

[System Notification, task four released, player Luo Yiran, please leave this space.]

The system’s voice suddenly sounded, confirming Luo Yiran’s thoughts, but the system language said player Luo Yiran, so this matter wasn’t known to everyone.

“It’s dangerous.” Luo Yiran crossed his arms, remembering something, “Lei Jing should have gone to real space, right?”

“Not just her.” Lin Luo smiled, “If this is really a dream, can we still go out if Lin Na wakes up in reality?”

“You guys are quite polite.” Via’s voice came from outside the door, interrupting their conversation, surprised, “You just distracted Lin Na.”

The doll and Lin Luo turned together.

Via clapped his hands, pointing behind him at Li Qi Feng, “We tied up the others.”

Luo Yiran blinked, “All of them?”

Via thought for a moment, “Not all, just those who completed task two and are still ‘playing’ their roles. At this point, if they’re still playing, they’re either OOC or assimilated.”

“Tying them up doesn’t interfere with us gathering clues.”

“Oh, right, Lin Ye and Zhang Mimi were OOC. Before midnight, we found an excuse to go to Lin Ye’s room for clues, but the window glass suddenly shattered, and Lin Ye and Zhang Mimi’s reactions didn’t match their character settings, then OOC’d, becoming like ‘Xia Lang’.”

“The others were quite normal, collecting clues…”

Li Qi Feng stood at the door, “We found some torn items belonging to Lin Na in the storage room on the first floor, got some information…”

He paused, his gaze fixed on one side, his eyes locked.

Cracks appeared on the wall, crooked strokes slowly emerging.

“There’s information here.”

Lin Luo quickly moved over with Luo Yiran, then saw three words slowly appear on the wall-[Die Out.]

“…”

“???”

“It’s probably Lin Ye and the others passing information, right?” The doll raised an eyebrow slightly, “That explains the sudden window break… and maybe the chandelier falling in the living room that killed Lei Jing.”

“Lin Ye and the others can pass information into this space, but we can’t pass information out.”

They had also broken some things here. If they could affect the other space, it wouldn’t have taken until Lin Ye came over to start passing information.

It’s like real space affecting fictional space, but fictional space can’t affect real space.

Li Qi Feng and Via were a bit confused, the doll suddenly smiled at them, “Shall we exchange information?”

Such a familiar question, Via quickly agreed.

The four gathered together to quickly exchange information. Then Li Qi Feng and Via heard the system broadcast task four.

Li Qi Feng frowned, “So we just die out?”

The doll smiled, nodding, not seeming worried about what would happen if they couldn’t die out, he simply suggested very kindly, “Shall we be good people and take everyone out together?”

Via froze, “Huh?”

“Put Lin Na in a bathtub with a window, fill the bathtub with water.” The doll said happily, “Then burn down this house.”

Doing this, Lin Na should be the last to die, so there’s no need to worry about anything happening in real space if Lin Na dies before them.

Li Qi Feng fell into thought. Via blinked in confusion, “If you want to help people out, just kill them, why bother setting a fire…” And doll, your obsession with fire is too deep!

The doll tilted his head, “Then you guys kill them, I’m just a doll with limited mobility. But the fire is necessary because I can’t die easily, but self-immolation will definitely kill me.”

And, maybe this can test that non-player.

Li Qi Feng thought of something, his brows furrowing tightly, “If we can get out alive, isn’t this instance not quite right, no one has been injured so far?”

Lin Luo’s eyebrows moved slightly.

“Of course, the boss is messing with us.” Luo Yiran’s smile widened, his eyes curved as he said without hesitation, “Not to mention the awkward character setting, just relying on death to get out of this fictional space, don’t you feel like we’re being toyed with?”

And the side task, the temptation to directly clear the instance is huge, but the boss controls the fictional space’s time, making it impossible to have time to get a perfect score.

“Playing hungry before eating the main course.” The doll changed his expression quickly, putting away his smile, “It’s quite skilled.”

The boss’s process should be to first watch them shiver in fear of death, then watch their surprise when they realize they’re still alive, and finally face real death…

So when they all get out, that’s when the real horror begins.