Doll Survival Game

“……”

Everyone cautiously avoided Lin Na, fearing that she had turned into a monster and would attack them.

But Lin Na quietly proceeded down the corridor to the stairs, seemingly headed for the living room.

Blood trailed behind her, and Lin Ye frowned slightly as she watched: “We should follow her down.”

The group descended the stairs, with Zhang Mimi and Li Qi Feng also carrying the bound Lei Jing.

Lei Jing seemed tired, not struggling, but her eyes fiercely glared at the doll in Lin Luo’s arms.

“Young master, her gaze is truly terrifying,” Lin Luo whispered.

The doll and Lei Jing exchanged glances, but the doll merely chuckled.

Just as they reached the middle of the staircase, they saw Lin Xiaohai and Wang Xing standing by the living room. Via, hearing the commotion, looked up with a serious tone, “Everyone, we have a major problem…”

Before Via could finish, he saw Lin Na, with a knife stuck in her neck, slowly moving towards the round table in the living room. He stared wide-eyed for a second before quickly correcting himself: “I take that back, my problem seems not so big after all.”

Xia Lang, trailing behind, leaned down from the staircase: “What’s happening with you?”

Via watched Lin Na silently heading towards the round table, his voice calm: “Just two people who aren’t breathing moving around.” Compared to what you’re dealing with coming down here, it’s nothing.

Li Qi Feng frowned: “Is it also a suicide?”

“Ah? Shouldn’t be,” Via replied, shifting to the side. He watched Lin Na move freely and decided to let the two he was blocking move freely too, so everyone saw Via’s previously blocked room slowly emptying.

It was Tang Bai and Cheng Chen.

The doll saw the two with their eyes closed and bodies stiff, heading straight for the round table and remembered something: “They chose to die by fire.”

Via reacted quickly: “So, they died later than when Lin Na woke up?”

The doll frowned-no, the fire started on the first floor, and by the time he and Lin Na were about to die, the house had collapsed, while Tang Bai and Cheng Chen were just staying on the first floor.

By all accounts, they shouldn’t have died later than them unless they didn’t believe it was a fictional space until the end and tried to escape the house when the fire wasn’t too big.

…Or perhaps…

Lin Luo stepped onto the first floor’s flooring, and Luo Yiran suddenly said, “Assimilation.”

Xia Lang, close by, responded: “Huh?”

Yiran didn’t answer Xia Lang, but thought carefully-they had another type of assimilation, not the kind that leads to OOC (Out of Character experience) causing their demise. It was the type they experienced early in the game when they first recalled the memories about the character they were playing, unintentionally using their self to replace the character.

That is assimilation.

OOC leads to their mental “death,” replaced by the character, while assimilation is a fusion of player and character. Over time, the player’s consciousness would fade…

Then, can one still exit the fictional space after merging?

This question remained unanswered, but the impact of assimilation, besides being significant at the game’s start, was negligible later on. Thus, it seemed more like a hint at the beginning, reminding you of what kind of person your character is.

Yiran was still unsure of what exactly happened to Tang Bai and Cheng Chen’s deaths.

“Please, take a seat.”

A female voice rose, just heard moments ago, so everyone almost thought it was the system’s voice until everyone’s gaze fell on the round table, seeing Lin Na seated there, at the very center of the table.

Lin Na tilted her head slightly, the action moving the knife in her neck, appearing quite chilling. She smiled again and said, “Please, take a seat.”

Why could she still talk like this! And the system’s voice really sounds just like hers-Via inhaled a cool breath.

Zhang Mimi casually placed Lei Jing in a chair, to prevent her from moving, he even thoughtfully tied the rope to the chair. Then, as he was about to sit next to Lin Ye, he noticed Lin Ye was sitting next to where a light fixture had fallen: “You can’t sit there, right?”

“Just move it away, or you could find another place to sit,” Lin Ye shrugged slightly.

Zhang Mimi looked around, then chose to move the shattered light fixture.

Lin Xiaohai and Wang Xing found seats next to each other, while the already deceased Tang Bai and Cheng Chen sat beside them.

“…” Wang Xing didn’t want to sit next to the dead, but looking up, there were no two adjacent seats left, so she had to endure.

The others gradually took their seats, and Zhang Mimi, after tidying up the last one, sat down with a worried expression, facing the broken edge of the table in front of him.

[Seated Completed.]

The system’s voice rang out, still in Lin Na’s voice.

[System Notification: Task Five Released.]

[This round’s task is a new one, all previous rules are void.]

[Task Five Rules: This task involves a round table vote, requiring two targets to be voted out. For each target, multiple rounds of voting may occur until all task targets are voted out, ending Task Five.]

[The first task target has no restrictions.]

[The second task target, due to its uniqueness, requires players to self-identify using their previously played characters during the voting process. Note: Only self-identification is required, no need to act.]

[Those voted out receive a death penalty.]

“……it didn’t say who the task target is…right?” Xia Lang cautiously asked: “Or did I miss hearing it?”

[The voting round for the task target will be announced by the task target themself.]

Everyone was stunned, then a voice suddenly emerged: “Ah… this round is about voting me out.” The voice tested the waters, seeming to only start speaking after hearing its own voice.

But the voice was ethereal, unclear from where it came, and indistinguishable as male or female.

“I am a non-player, currently among you,” the voice chuckled: “Vote me out, kids.”

Luo Yiran quickly scanned the group, noting no unusual behavior. He slightly frowned.

System: [The first round is initiated by the non-player. The task is to vote them out. Starting with player Zhang Mimi, proceed clockwise. Each person has five minutes to speak, followed by a collective discussion for fifteen minutes, then the first round of voting will occur.]

“Ah? Me?” Zhang Mimi froze, then his eyes sought help from Lin Ye: “What should I say?”

Lin Ye’s lips moved, then he paused, raising his hand to his mouth and shaking his head.

Zhang Mimi took a second to react, then looked around at everyone: “Can’t you guys speak anymore?”

Everyone tried to make a sound, then nodded towards Zhang Mimi-they were all rendered speechless.

Zhang Mimi: “……”

He helplessly scratched his blonde hair, the “I LOVE YOU” tattoo on his face crumpling together, and looked around at everyone, thinking: “Then I’ll start by eliminating the dead, that’s Lin Na, Tang Bai, and Cheng Chen.”

“Then I’ll exclude myself and Lin Ye. Although it seems the non-player hasn’t done much yet, they wouldn’t make it easy for us, right? But Lin Ye and I have been passing information to everyone after OOC. We’re helping everyone!”

Zhang Mimi was very serious, but since everyone was silenced, no one could question or agree.

Lin Ye sighed, finding the reasoning a bit thin, weaker than their actions of binding Lei Jing and stopping Duan Miaomiao and Xia Lang.

Zhang Mimi furrowed his brow, muttering: “What else, what else… Oh right! The non-player doing nothing might be to prevent us from finding them!”

“So, the non-player could be one of us who’s very low-key!”

The doll tapped the table, and Zhang Mimi looked over.

Yiran intended to mouth words, but realizing he was too small, he tapped Lin Luo instead.

Lin Luo tilted his head, speaking on behalf of the doll: Specify the suspect.

Zhang Mimi realized, then soon hung his head low, rubbing his chin: “I don’t know…”

“This concerns everyone’s life and death; I can’t just suspect anyone.”

The doll paused, then mentally crossed Zhang Mimi off the suspect list.

Zhang Mimi had nothing more to say, so he quietly waited for his remaining time to pass. As time nearly expired, he looked at the motionless Cheng Chen beside him: “Next is him, right? How can a dead person speak?”

As his time ran out, Zhang Mimi witnessed how a dead person could speak.

Cheng Chen, with his eyes closed, raised a pale finger towards the doll: “I suspect him.”

…Just like Lin Na, it was unclear how he could speak.

Yiran: “……”

He had been suspecting that these three deceased were being manipulated by a behind-the-scenes boss, and now he was even more suspicious.

Zhang Mimi gestured in confusion: Reason???

Cheng Chen remained unmoved.

For a moment, everyone looked at Yiran with complex eyes-was he being targeted?!

Next was Tang Bai, who straightforwardly pointed at Yiran as well. Yiran felt no surprise, just waiting for the time to pass, a bit embarrassed to be continuously pointed at.

The dull ten minutes allocated to Tang Bai and Cheng Chen passed, and it was finally Wang Xing’s turn.

Wang Xing took a deep breath, slightly nervous, and shifted towards Lin Xiaohai before speaking: “I am not a non-player. The reason can be explained by the fact that Xiaohai and I have always been together… But since Zhang Mimi mentioned being low-key, considering you might suspect us, we’ll clarify that we’re not being low-key.”

“Most of you know each other, and we are just two girls who want to get through the instance. We avoided interacting with you out of concern, so it might seem like we’re low-key.” Wang Xing became more composed as she spoke, feeling their suspicion wasn’t strong: “There’s also a second voting target later, right? That one should be related to Lin Na, we have quite a few clues about her, we can prove ourselves.”

“As for who I suspect…” Wang Xing frowned: “I can exclude some people like Zhang Mimi did, but I can’t confirm who the non-player is, so I’ll reserve my judgment on the suspect.”

Lin Xiaohai followed, echoing Wang Xing’s words, then added: “The non-player probably hasn’t done much before. Because it’s impossible to do a lot and still leave no traces, so they must have been doing very little to hide themselves.”

“Also, to avoid not being able to vote out the non-player and subsequently reduce our numbers, the second round of voting might be related to voting related to Lin Na. By then, we can prove we know a lot.” Lin Xiaohai frowned, then thought: “But it’s also possible that the non-player doesn’t need to learn to know these things… So we might still have to see who has been less active since entering the instance.”

She fell into thought, but shook her head after a moment: “We’ve been separated from everyone for most of the time, can’t think of anyone, suspect reserved for now.”

Next was Lin Luo.

Lin Luo sighed in relief, leaning back: “Ah, finally I can speak… But I have no suspect, I just want to verify that Yiran is not the non-player, since two dead people voted for him, to prevent anyone foolishly following suit, I’m just reminding.”

Everyone looked at him.

Lin Luo smiled: “The suggestion to burn everyone was Yiran’s, and you were able to come over so quickly thanks to Yiran’s effort.”

Via raised his hand in agreement, confirming it was true.

Wang Xing and Lin Xiaohai nodded too.

Lin Luo shrugged, his dark hair slightly moving: “Also, Yiran being targeted by Tang Bai and Cheng Chen can also verify he’s not the non-player.”

“Dead people can’t move; they must be being manipulated, so the manipulator is most likely the non-player, translating to Yiran being targeted by the non-player.” Lin Luo pulled a smile: “And my actions were mostly the same as Yiran’s, except Yiran helped you escape the fictional space.”

“So, Yiran was targeted by the non-player because he was helping you.” Lin Luo gradually led to his point: “Although I don’t expect you to help back, at least don’t wrongly target Yiran, okay?”

Lin Xiaohai and others paused, then nodded slightly.

Yiran: “……” He was just momentarily annoyed by the boss’s manipulative attitude…

Lin Luo contentedly leaned back on the table: “I’m done.”

Everyone was stunned, Yiran sitting by Lin Luo’s side, patted his hand.

Lin Luo looked down at him for a while, then compromised and added: “The non-player isn’t me? Although you can see I’ve not been very interested in any instance up to now, but I’m generally disinterested in all instances.”

In “World Human,” there are many such dispassionate players, they naturally go through instances, and if they can’t get through, they calmly accept death’s arrival, after all, players in “World Human” are murderers, their experiences differ from ordinary people.

Yiran wasn’t worried about Lin Luo, just that Lin Luo was a decent means of transportation, and he didn’t want to waste this round.

Lin Luo smiled: “Just that recently I watched the live broadcast, and I quite liked Yiran, being with him fulfilled a small wish.”

Yiran: “……” No need for superfluous words.

The five minutes quickly passed, and next was Yiran sitting beside Lin Luo.

Realizing he could speak, Yiran raised his hand full of ball joints to his neck, glanced at Lin Na kneeling motionlessly at the center of the table, then his gaze followed Lin Na towards Lei Jing tied to the chair.

Lei Jing, secretly sawing the rope: “?”

The doll revealed a small smile: “We can’t be sure who to vote for this round, right?”

Everyone seemed to understand what Yiran was indicating, they all looked towards Lei Jing.

The doll showed a gentle smile: “Then how about we vote for Lei Jing?”