Doll Survival Game

he turned to Luo Yiran with teary eyes, looking utterly wronged. “Ranran, am I useless?”

“…?”

Luo Yiran’s lips twitched oddly-surely, he must be imagining things.

Xia Lang wasn’t the type to say something like that on purpose. He was probably just giving up on arguing with the magician because he knew he couldn’t win.

“Don’t overthink it. You’re very capable,” the doll said casually, not paying much attention to Xia Lang’s expression. “The magician is just trying to mess with you.”

The magician: “…”

Hmph.

Xia Lang rubbed his eyes. “Okay!”

After his “okay,” he glanced at the magician, his expression tinged with fear.

The magician raised an eyebrow slightly, a smirk playing on his lips-interesting. Though Xia Lang’s face showed fear, his gaze was clearly antagonistic.

Xia Lang unconsciously began picking at his fingers.

As much as he didn’t like hearing it, the magician wasn’t entirely wrong. Xia Lang lowered his eyes-he really wasn’t great at spotting others first. Most of the time, he needed someone else to notice them before he did.

But still…

Xia Lang glanced at the magician again-tall, thin, brooding, and now even more terrifying with his blood-stained bandages. He looked every bit the fearsome boss.

What a terrifying boss.

But why, despite being so scary, had Ranran’s attitude toward him changed?

Xia Lang couldn’t figure it out. He lowered his head again, picking at his fingers. It didn’t matter. If Ranran wasn’t going to stay vigilant around the magician, then he would do it for him.

…

By the time the sun rose on the third day, Fairy Tale Forest remained eerily unchanged.

In the central lobby.

Tian Tang stretched lazily as she woke from her nap.

She looked up and playfully pouted at Wei Lianlian before turning her attention to the display panel. “This is so boring. I feel like quitting… And it’s already the afternoon of the third day! Why haven’t the game rules changed yet?”

Since yesterday, the ownership of treasures hadn’t shifted much… well, not entirely. The elf’s treasure had been stolen and then reclaimed. Meanwhile, apart from Luo Yiran’s group, the other players had been quite active.

Though, in reality, they hadn’t accomplished much.

Players had been throwing themselves at the treasures one after another. By the second night, some had even managed to unlock the abilities granted by the lords. This led to infighting, as many believed that relying on treasures to clear the game would ultimately leave only Wang Xiaoming or Feng Bai standing. Their only option seemed to be eliminating both factions to secure victory.

Unfortunately, even now, no faction had been wiped out.

Even though all the players aligned with the elf faction had been eliminated, the faction itself wasn’t considered destroyed because the elf lord was still alive.

Aside from the elf faction, the unicorn faction had the fewest surviving players, with only three left besides the lord.

The other factions had uneven player distributions, but overall, only about fifty to sixty players remained alive in Fairy Tale Forest.

In other words, between the second and third days, around forty players had died.

And most of those deaths hadn’t been at the hands of bosses-they were caused by other players.

“The rules might only change tonight,” Fang Jincheng remarked, his gaze first landing on the well-hidden members of Faction No. 7 before shifting to the other two groups. “Feng Bai has decided to make a move against Wang Xiaoming, and since Wang Xiaoming’s group hasn’t found the elf, they’ve decided to strike back at Feng Bai’s faction.”

It wasn’t hard to understand their reasoning. While both sides were strong, if one faction completely wiped out the other, the victorious side would instantly fulfill the game’s clearance conditions.

Wei Lianlian, who had been watching their display panels earlier, chimed in, “They probably think surviving the night will be tough, so they’re aiming to meet the clearance conditions before nightfall. That way, they won’t have to split their focus.”

“Based on when the game started, it seems like tonight will be the final stretch. Once the sun rises again, the game should end,” Guan Cheng said, taking a deep breath. He seemed a bit anxious for Luo Yiran and his group. “Why haven’t they made a move yet?”

Judging by the rate of player casualties, Faction No. 7 hadn’t lost a single member. They should be the most energetic faction, yet they were so relaxed it was as if they weren’t participating in an instance at all. Some of them were even still asleep!

Moreover, the doll’s display panel had been muted since the beginning, and it hadn’t been restored. This had caused the merged display panels of other players to also fall silent.

And another thing! Most of the players in Faction No. 7 were veterans. From the moment they suspected this instance was a live broadcast instance, their lip movements while speaking had been so subtle that it was impossible to tell what they were saying.

Tian Tang, on the other hand, couldn’t care less. After all, she wasn’t the one participating in the instance.

She yawned lazily, having stayed up all night watching two skilled players battle until dawn. After that, she’d watched other players gang up to slaughter the elf faction. Naturally, she was exhausted today.

Her afternoon nap had lasted several hours, but she still felt sluggish. Covering her wide-open mouth as she yawned, her voice came out hoarse and muffled, “Maybe they’re planning to seize the treasure during the chaos tonight? Or they’re waiting for Wang Xiaoming and Feng Bai to fight each other to the point of mutual destruction before stepping in?”

Fang Jincheng’s eyes lingered on the doll’s delicate, ethereal face displayed on the panel. Suddenly, a thought struck him. “If they hadn’t chosen to give the treasure to Wang Xiaoming, perhaps the hunter’s clearance method is to annihilate both factions.”

After all, aside from the hunter, no one else had joined the serpent man’s territory. Naturally, they could act without any internal disagreements.

And now, the hunter’s faction, along with Wang Xiaoming, still had a total of seven surviving members, each one formidable.

“Are you saying the doll is still trying to stop the hunter from killing people?” Tian Tang extended a finger to tap the display panel, her brows furrowing. “But Wang Xiaoming’s faction currently holds three treasures. It’s definitely hard for them to give those up.”

Fang Jincheng hesitated, but Guan Cheng spoke up, “About that-it’s likely the doll has considered this, but I don’t think he intentionally orchestrated this situation. What he’s probably thinking is: if someone has to be targeted, it should be Wang Xiaoming. That’s why he gave the treasure to him.”

“That works too,” Wei Lianlian murmured, her eyes half-closed. “The fewer deaths, the better…”

Wei Lianlian paused, then remembered something: “It’s been a while since any new players have joined the game. It seems that ever since the dolls entered the game, there haven’t been any players participating in the new player instance.”

“Then there was last week’s game notification about the update, as well as the appearance of revival potions and organized battles.” Wei Lianlian frowned. “I wonder if these are related.”

“I don’t know. But from what we see now, the revival potions can resurrect those players who have died in the game and whose souls are drifting in their personal space.” Fang Jincheng sighed-he too planned to try and obtain a revival potion after learning this.

But why the game update?

Wei Lianlian looked at Duan Miaomiao’s holographic display, only to see her staring at the ants crawling on the ground as if in a daze, while sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves, casting patterns on the ground. Wei Lianlian also became slightly lost in thought-updates must bring changes, right? Either something new is added, or something is lost.

“What puzzles me more is the absence of new players now.” Tian Tang moved her arms while sitting on a chair, mumbling that she was getting stiff, then continued: “Does the lack of new players mean we old players are meant to play until we die?”

“I remember World Human players were never numerous, and people die every day.”

Wei Lianlian snapped back to reality: “The only way to leave the game ‘World Human’ is to completely clear it, but the game has yet to reveal how one can truly achieve that.”

Although the game hasn’t disclosed it, as an early entrant into the game, she has heard rumors about how to completely clear it.

But it was just a rumor.

A player had learned it from an instance boss, to completely clear ‘World Human,’ you need…

“Are the dolls finally making their move?” A player sitting not too far away suddenly interrupted Wei Lianlian’s thoughts excitedly, slapping his leg: “Wasn’t I just watching them for so long… What were they doing before, relaxing as if going on a picnic with family!”

Looking over, they saw the dolls extinguishing the fire they had just used for cooking, with Zhang Mimi standing up, rubbing his hands together and mouthing a phrase.

He wasn’t paying attention to his lip movements, so Wei Lianlian made it out-

He said: “Let’s go!”

Duan Miaomiao wiped her eyes, a faint light flickered in front of her eyes, and the sunlight on the ground turned from bright white to somewhat dim-it was probably around five o’clock, and it would soon be dark.

“Feng Bai and Wang Xiaoming are about to meet.” Duan Miaomiao rubbed her eyes; she had just used an item “Vision,” which allows one to see any place without obstacles, but it has a limited number of uses.

She had one use left.

“Then it’s almost time for us to move.” The dolls wrapped themselves in silver thread to reinforce it, after all, a single thread was too easily broken: “Follow them in the teams we divided, and be careful not to be discovered too early.”

Yuan Mo smothered the fire with dirt: “Hopefully, they will have decided the winner by nightfall.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Luo Yiran looked up: “Even if they haven’t decided the winner, they have each depleted some of their strength… But still, be extra cautious, they definitely know we’ll be there to snatch the treasure.”

Duan Miaomiao held the cross, touching her face: “It’s going to be chaotic soon.”

Lin Ye nodded, then said: “No worries, we will proceed with our plan.”

After he finished speaking, everyone looked at the dolls.

Luo Yiran paused, then smiled: “Don’t worry, I will survive.”

Zhang Mimi gave a thumbs up: “You go for it, we’ll handle the treasure.”

Via licked his lips: “Whether it’s the serpent man or the hunter, this guy will… Ouch! That hurts!”

Li Qi Feng did not hesitate to smack Via on the head with a short knife: “Don’t refer to yourself like that.”

Via: “…Sorry…”

Duan Miaomiao chuckled, then tightened her grip on the cross-everyone would survive this instance.

“Let’s go,” Lin Ye said as he removed his cloak, spreading red wings.

Zhang Mimi rubbed his hands together: “Let’s go!”

Xia Lang followed Via, holding two short knives and took a deep breath, then glanced at Luo Yiran.

Luo Yiran noticed his gaze and looked back.

Xia Lang said: “I will also survive.”

Because you can’t see me next, and I can’t die out of your sight.

The dolls nodded slightly.

Then he manipulated the magician to turn around, and the next moment, the system voice suddenly rang out-

[Ding Dong]

A cheerful girl’s voice echoed throughout the Fairy Tale Forest, and the previously fairly bright sunlight suddenly turned dim, as if jumping from five o’clock to around seven o’clock.

[Dusk has arrived, and night will soon fall.]

The girl’s voice was naive and full of cheerful emotions: [Dear players, on this last night, we will welcome a grand celebration, oh~]