Doll Survival Game

In another login space, Via stared at the two invitations before him, hesitating for a moment. He finally reached out and picked up the elf’s invitation-after all, elves sounded kind, beautiful, and pure.

But just as he opened it and before he could even read the contents, the invitation suddenly burned away as if consumed by invisible flames, disappearing completely. Not even ashes remained, scattering from his fingertips.

Via froze for a moment-was this… the elf regretting inviting him?

Oh well, no big deal. There’s still Little Red.

Besides, they were teammates, so whoever joined a faction first would probably pull the rest of the team in automatically, right?

Thinking this, he reached out for the other invitation. But this time, before his fingers even touched it, Little Red’s invitation vanished as well.

Via: “…?”

[Notification.]

The system’s voice suddenly rang out, startling Via.

[Player Via, due to binding teammate relationships, you are directly assigned to the faction of Lord Luo Yiran (Doll). Please protect the lord and his treasure-“Puppet.”]

Via: “???”

Via: “Ha-”

—

“…”

Trying not to dwell on how his other teammates might react, Luo Yiran raised his crimson eyes with utmost seriousness. “Excuse me, did you get my puppet’s consent?”

No response.

The space around Luo Yiran gradually brightened, and he let out a deep sigh-hopefully Lin Ye and the others wouldn’t be too upset. Judging by the situation, it was clearly more advantageous to join a native lord’s faction.

After all, native lords offered unique abilities and bonuses.

Blinding sunlight pierced through, shining directly on the doll. Luo Yiran lowered his gaze with little reaction-time to check his starting location.

“Tree top?”

A gust of wind blew, and the doll swayed precariously on the highest branch of a massive tree. He quickly grabbed onto another branch nearby to steady himself, then scanned his surroundings.

Where was the puppet?

Judging by the sensation in his index finger, it seemed to be at the base of the tree.

But the game had just warned against moving immediately after logging in…

Luo Yiran dismissed the idea of controlling the puppet to climb up for now. He turned his attention to the holographic display that hadn’t disappeared and reached for his phone. It wasn’t there-likely replaced by the display, which now resembled the interface of the World Human app.

There was even a flashing red dot in the team messages section below.

While checking the map, Luo Yiran responded to his teammates about the reason for creating their own faction. Fortunately, everyone had seen the announcement when Luo Yiran earned the “Lifetime Enemy of the Forest” title, so it was easy to explain.

-For once, he was grateful that such a widespread enemy title came with a “worldwide” announcement.

After quickly replying to the messages, Luo Yiran immediately returned to the map. The map showed his and his teammates’ locations, as well as the territorial divisions of the various factions.

The red area in the center belonged to Little Red’s territory, labeled “1” and “rabbit head.”

It seemed that the first territory was Little Red’s, and the lord’s treasure was… a rabbit head?

Following this logic, the second territory’s lord was the werewolf, with the treasure being the werewolf’s tooth.

The third territory’s lord was the unicorn, with the treasure being its horn.

The fourth territory’s lord was the serpent man, with the treasure being its chest scale.

The lord of the fifth territory is the elf, whose treasure is the elf’s ears.

The lord of the sixth territory is the vine monster, whose treasure is the vine monster’s flower.

Currently, Luo Yiran is within the territory of the vine monster.

The doll noted down the regions, lords, and treasures, then let his gaze wander across the map. His name was absent-was it because he didn’t have a territory?

His gaze paused as he noticed the upper right corner of the map. Two lines of text were written there: [Lord No.7: Doll Luo Yiran, no territory, treasure: the doll’s puppet.]

The doll: “…”

So, he was listed after all.

The holo-panel continued flashing with notifications. The doll tapped it again and found a group chat-like feature for team messages. Everyone was discussing where to meet once the game officially started.

The matter of creating their own faction was irreversible, and everyone had accepted it well.

After scrolling through the messages, the doll glanced at the map again and sent a message: [Did any of you receive invitations? What did they say?]

Responses quickly popped up.

Via: [I got invitations from Little Red and the elf, but I didn’t have time to read what they said.]

Lin Ye: [Usually, you get two or three invitations, right? I received three. I read one from the unicorn. It mentioned that if I wanted to join its faction, I’d need to collect a certain type of grass… but I didn’t catch what kind.]

Duan Miaomiao: [I read the vine monster’s invitation. It requires a blue leaf.]

From afar, Xia Lang hesitated before sending a message: [Your lords seem so gentle. I read the serpent man’s invitation, and he wants a piece of flesh from my body. He even said, “Don’t worry, I’ll heal you.” But judging by the abilities offered after joining, they seem pretty powerful…]

[Couldn’t see what abilities the vine monster provides. Didn’t have enough time.]

[Same here.]

The doll narrowed his eyes slightly.

Different lords demanded different items. Judging by their requests, the serpent man clearly posed a greater danger, but perhaps his abilities and bonuses were also more formidable.

Luo Yiran thought of the little girl he had briefly encountered before. She was likely Little Red. He lowered his head and asked: [Did anyone receive an invitation from Little Red?]

Via and Xia Lang responded in the group chat, both stating they hadn’t had time to open it.

Luo Yiran paused-those two?

The system hadn’t yet announced that movement was allowed, likely because all 150 players hadn’t successfully logged in yet.

The doll lowered his head. He couldn’t see the ground; the dense trees in the middle obscured his view. He checked the map to locate everyone’s positions, then sent a message:

[Most players are going to look for the items requested by the lords, so let’s complete task two first.]

Via: [Great idea! Let’s beat them to it!]

Li Qi Feng: [I’ll go with Via to get the serpent man’s chest scale. It’s right in this area.]

Xia Lang: [I’ll join you. I’m also in the serpent man’s territory!]

Luo Yiran narrowed his eyes slightly and asked: [Lin Ye and Duan Miaomiao, will you go for the werewolf’s tooth? You’re both in the werewolf’s territory.]

Lin Ye or Duan Miaomiao: [Sure.]

Zhang Mimi: [I’m in no lord’s territory, far from all of you. But relatively speaking, I’m closer to the doll. I’ll come find you instead. After all, you’re the lord, and our treasure is the puppet-we need to protect you.]

Luo Yiran had no objections: [Alright.]

Luo Yiran: [But be extra careful. While the numbering of territories doesn’t necessarily reflect strength, judging by its size, the serpent man’s territory is second only to Little Red’s. It might be quite powerful.]

Via replied casually: [No worries, it’s not like we’re going to fight him head-on.]

Taking the chest scale wasn’t much different from a direct confrontation, but since Lin Ye and the others in the group were already lecturing him, the doll decided to let it go. His gaze shifted downward to the massive tree below.

Even though this was just a game, he couldn’t help but feel curious. How had this tree grown so enormous in less than a month?

Was the instance’s timeline inconsistent? How much time had passed in the forest since he left?

Or was this forest just an illusion?

Luo Yiran raised his head and scanned his surroundings before comparing them to the map. The forest had expanded significantly-far beyond what he remembered.

Unable to make sense of it, he remained silent for a moment. Then, a new message popped up in the team chat.

Duan Miaomiao: [There’s a player whose starting point is just five meters from me, but I’m hiding behind a tree, so they can’t see me.]

Xia Lang: [Be careful.]

Duan Miaomiao: [Got it. But they just moved, and then a woman in red knocked them back to their starting point…]

Duan Miaomiao: [That woman in red called herself a regulator… Wait, aren’t regulators only in starter areas?]

Lin Ye, the social butterfly, chimed in to explain: [I’ve heard that if an instance covers a large area or has too many players, regulators might step in to help.]

Luo Yiran immediately thought of Mr. Gardener, the man with green leaves and flowers growing from his hair. His lips twitched: [Usually, there’s only one regulator per instance, right…?]

Lin Ye: [Not necessarily. Given the size of this instance and the number of players, there could be several.]

Via burst out laughing: [Maybe one for each region! Ranran, you might even run into Mr. Gardener again. Wasn’t he the regulator in your starter area?]

Duan Miaomiao: [Including the no lord’s territory, there are seven regions in total. Does the game even have that many regulators…?]

The doll stared blankly at their lively conversation, his expression cold. He thought to himself with icy detachment-he’d bet ten sets of simulation exam papers that Mr. Gardener would definitely show up.

At this moment, Luo Yiran was deeply convinced that this instance was designed to target him specifically.

But.

It wasn’t over yet.

The holographic display suddenly flashed a new message: [Lord No.7, please fill out invitations to recruit players to your faction～]

[Please note: Since you cannot provide abilities or bonuses to recruited players, they will join your faction directly upon invitation. However, newly recruited players will have the right to betray you.]

[Please invite with caution～]

Luo Yiran: “…”

Got it. He was the backup plan-the kind of backup plan that begged to be one.

Dappled sunlight filtered through the leaves as the magician, carrying his small suitcase, let out a soft sigh. His voice was low: “Mr. Gardener, why are there several players around here watching me?”

Above him, blending seamlessly with the tree’s colors in a deep brown suit, Mr. Gardener’s pale skin and dark green hair-tipped with vibrant leaves-matched the surrounding foliage perfectly. He sensed Luo Yiran’s presence below, but the doll was too small, and the dense leaves obscured him from view.

Retracting his gaze, Mr. Gardener shrugged slightly. “Can’t be helped. The magician is currently the target of every player.”

The magician knew very little about this instance. Tang Bai had reported to Little Red, saying something along the lines of-

“The magician broke the rules and got punished just to protect that doll, even showing up in my instance when he wasn’t needed.”

On top of that, 2657, who had visited Little Red earlier, confirmed that the magician carried a distinct scent of blood. As a result, Little Red had kept the details of this instance highly confidential.

Thus, the magician was largely in the dark about this instance, except for knowing it was a long-term one.

Hearing Mr. Gardener’s words, he stroked his chin thoughtfully. “They’re after me?”

The green leaves at the tips of Mr. Gardener’s hair swayed gently in the breeze. Since the game had already begun, he decided to be forthright. “I’ll tell you. The doll has been rejected by the forest and became a lord without a territory. His treasure has been designated as you. Among the players’ tasks, one of them is to compete for treasures… Understand now?”

So that’s why there were so many eyes on him.

The magician chuckled.

Mr. Gardener paused slightly, lowering his head. “What’s so funny?”

The bandages on the magician’s face stretched into a faint curve. “Young master, this time, you’ll have to protect me.”

“…”

“Magician, tell me.” Mr. Gardener’s voice turned cold. “Your feelings for that doll-are they more than just amusement?”