Doll Survival Game

“Huh?”

On a high mountain in the no lord’s territory, Lin Ye withdrew his hand from the unconscious player’s face, then took out a tissue to meticulously wipe his fingers.

But before he could finish, Yuan Mo suddenly spoke in alarm, “Lin, Lin Ye… Look at the map!”

“The tracking blip for Luo Yiran’s location on my holographic display seems to have vanished!”

“…It’s not just from your map,” Lin Ye crumpled the tissue, his smile unwavering, yet somehow more menacing than when he wasn’t smiling.

He stared at the map with a dangerous glint in his eyes, “The only relief is that we haven’t received a notification prohibiting force, so the doll might not be dead.”

“He might be in a place where the ‘signal’ is blocked, hence not showing on the map,” Via said, his expression unchanged. Perhaps because, aside from Xia Lang, he was the first among those present to know the doll and had interacted with him quite a bit. “If he were to stay out of trouble completely, I’d find it odd.”

“After all, he’s the one who set fire to the Fairy Tale Forest.”

Everyone present had seen the notification that the system had suddenly popped up back then. Duan Miaomiao recalled the feeling when she first watched the doll’s live broadcast and sighed, “Honestly, I’m not all that surprised.”

“It’s not about being surprised,” Lin Ye’s expression darkened, “It’s about our lives being tied together now. His whims aren’t just his own concern anymore.”

Li Qi Feng was examining Via’s arm, while Via’s gaze flickered over the scar stretching from Li Qi Feng’s temple to the corner of his mouth. Then he turned his head, “Why don’t we go find him?”

It was a casual suggestion, but once spoken, everyone fell silent for a moment, then-

Yuan Mo expressed genuine concern, “Let’s go. What if Luo Yiran is somewhere he can’t get out of on his own? We should go rescue him.”

Zhang Mimi rotated his wrist, “Doesn’t matter to me. I’ve rested enough, could use some activity.”

Duan Miaomiao glanced at the player Lin Ye had knocked out, “I think we should look for the doll. Didn’t this guy say players can’t stay in their territories all night? We might run into other players then.”

“If we stick together, it might be easier to look after each other.”

Lin Ye nodded expressionlessly, “And most importantly, the doll mustn’t die. You all heard earlier, aside from our faction, other factions’ players have the option to submit after their lord dies.”

“But we don’t have that fallback.”

“…”

Via and Li Qi Feng exchanged a glance, then Via shrugged, “Let’s go find him then. Though I doubt the doll is eager to see us right now.”

Who cares if he wants to or not.

-For a moment, their thoughts aligned.

Action followed thought.

Lin Ye looked at the map. Since they had moved, they now needed to briefly pass through the serpent man’s territory to reach the no lord’s territory where the doll and Wang Xiaoming had met.

The route wasn’t particularly long, and it wouldn’t take them long to get there. They just hoped nothing would go wrong while passing through the serpent man’s territory.

Lin Ye glanced at Yuan Mo and Via, then estimated the time, “Rest for another ten minutes, then we’ll set off.”

Giving Yuan Mo a bit more rest, and allowing Via’s hand to heal fully.

However… what about Xia Lang? Bringing him along might be difficult if we encounter a boss or other players, and Xia Lang himself probably needs more rest.

Zhang Mimi noticed Lin Ye’s gaze and understood what she was thinking. Confidently, he gave a thumbs-up, “Let’s all go together. Xia Lang is so light, it’s like carrying a plastic bag for me.”

“No need to exaggerate,” Lin Ye said, rubbing her forehead as she glanced around at everyone. But indeed, it seemed most suitable for Zhang Mimi to carry him.

“Then we’ll set off shortly.”

It’s quite dark.

The doll was holding onto something soft and long, a black vertical strip that felt quite odd.

He looked down at the faintly glowing green liquid below-he remembered being swallowed by a large mouth.

So, is he in the stomach now?

Doesn’t seem like it…

Luo Yiran sighed softly. The magician’s connection on his index finger was weak, almost nonexistent. He didn’t feel like he was controlling it, which likely meant the magician was free.

And on the holographic display beside him, he couldn’t see anyone’s tracking blip on the map, including his own.

“…Ah.”

Luo Yiran suddenly realized-if Lin Ye and the others couldn’t see his location, he’d be in trouble, probably getting nagged, especially by Lin Ye.

After all, she was quite “enthusiastic” with her reminders when he left.

Looking up at the black vertical strip he was holding, the doll didn’t make excuses-it was ultimately his fault for not noticing Little Red’s appearance.

…

About three minutes ago.

“Hey-weren’t you planning to dismember me?” Luo Yiran used silver thread to temporarily restrain the shadow’s movements, then lightly stepped back onto a tree branch, looking at Wang Xiaoming. He casually pointed his finger in the air, “But look, you haven’t even scratched a finger of mine.”

Wang Xiaoming was probably used to quickly finishing battles with others, but now he was struggling, which made him momentarily anxious.

Unfortunately, he didn’t capitalize on that moment, as the shadow’s attack and Wang Xiaoming’s attack were happening simultaneously. From observation, the shadow wasn’t controlled by Wang Xiaoming; it seemed to act on its own after receiving a command.

But he was controlling both himself and the magician’s body.

So, let’s provoke him a bit more, see if he reveals a bigger flaw…

Suddenly, a pull came from the single strands of silver thread distributed around, and the doll slightly raised his head. He saw a small yellow bird’s claw hooked onto his silver thread, flying off to one side.

Hmm? A bird?

Too troublesome to untangle, might as well kill it.

Just as the thought crossed his mind, the doll paused. He suddenly realized-this seemed to be the first bird he had seen in the Fairy Tale Forest, and his silver thread was incredibly sharp, so why was it merely tangled?

A bad feeling arose, and the doll raised his hand, intending to retrieve the thread while there was still some slack. But the bird quickly accelerated and landed in a small person’s palm.

Simultaneously, the thread went taut.

In the distance, the girl in red, clutching a bloody rabbit head, stood within Little Red’s territory, staring at the doll with an innocently sweet smile.

The next moment, she grabbed the silver thread on the bird’s claw at a speed almost invisible to the naked eye and yanked it fiercely.

The doll’s body tilted, then was suddenly pulled into Little Red’s territory.

As he was being pulled away, Luo Yiran made a split-second decision in mid-air to loosen the silver thread from the ball joint of his ring finger, so he wasn’t pulled into the girl’s hands but landed on a tree branch within Little Red’s territory.

No sooner had he steadied himself than a gaping maw emerged from the dense foliage beside him and swallowed him whole.

Yes, swallowed.

…

At that moment, the girl harbored almost no murderous intent, and he didn’t feel her gaze, his attention mostly on Wang Xiaoming and the shadow.

…It was an oversight.

Luo Yiran glanced at his index finger-unsure whether the magician had already fled or was just watching the commotion nearby.

He thought for a moment, then looked down at the green liquid below. After hesitating, he still reached out with the silver thread to touch the liquid.

The eerie liquid seemed harmless; the silver thread was unaffected.

But his body was not made of silver thread.

Luo Yiran stared for a moment, then let go and fell, stepping into the faintly glowing green liquid, frowning at its sticky nature.

After landing in the liquid, the doll felt no effect on his body, so he looked up again at the black vertical strip he had just grabbed and paused-now seeing a broader scope from this distance, he noticed many black vertical strips, clustered together, the one he had grabbed being the longest.

Aside from the color, they resembled something else.

The doll looked down at his fingers, noticing they were covered in black powdery substance with a faint strange scent.

“…”

The doll was silent for a while, then looked up again-had he been swallowed by a flower?

After he had set fire to the Fairy Tale Forest, a bunch of bizarre creatures had emerged, including strange, self-ambulating flowers.

It felt similar; the black vertical strips were stamens, the glowing liquid was unknown, and because the glow was too faint, he couldn’t see clearly if what enveloped him were petals.

It was unclear why the stamens were on top, perhaps the flower was upside down?

But the silver thread should be able to cut through this thing; escaping was the plan, though he needed to worry about encountering Little Red afterward.

The doll raised his hand, the bob making a “ding” sound, but as soon as the silver thread began to move, Luo Yiran felt a strong gust of wind above him, and the dark surroundings suddenly lit up.

He froze, then looked up.

Now he could clearly see he was enveloped in petals, but at that moment, the flower had been cut open from the middle, and he was falling with the severed half of the flower.

Luo Yiran looked in one direction, then redirected the silver thread towards the person who had cut the flower.

A bandage-wrapped hand reached out, catching the bob at the end of the silver thread, and the doll’s body soared, landing in the magician’s palm.

Luo Yiran looked up, seeing the bandages on the magician’s face lift in a smile: “Young master, you can control me now.”

The doll’s eyelashes trembled slightly.

-Just then, he hadn’t controlled the magician, but the magician had come to his rescue; even when he had extended the silver thread, he hadn’t controlled the magician to catch it, but the magician had still reached out.

“Magician, you really fell in love with humans!” A childish voice filled with anger came from the side: “Are you out of your mind?!”

The doll turned his head, then his eyes widened slightly-the trees around the magician were all snapped in half, the sky fully revealed, and on the ground lay dozens of human-sized flowers, each with neat, severed marks.

The green liquid from the flowers spilled all around.

And not far away, the girl clutching the rabbit head was disheveled, her face and body marred with wounds.

The doll hadn’t yet controlled the magician, so the magician reached out and turned Luo Yiran’s face toward him.

His face, still wrapped in bandages that maintained an upward curve, was slowly being stained red.

Luo Yiran heard him speak in a supremely restrained voice: “Young master, please control me.”