Doll Survival Game

A miscalculation, it turns out that after a certain number of violations, one is forcibly logged out.

A flash of darkness passed, and in the next moment, the scenery changed. The magician found himself sitting on the rooftop of a familiar street, beneath him were reddish-brown tiles, and above, the blue sky and white clouds.

Below, the bustling crowd moved back and forth.

The magician remained motionless, blood trickling down his body, dripping from the tiles onto the ground, landing right in front of a child who exclaimed in surprise, “Mom! What’s this?”

“…Blood?”

Panic began to stir below, with people looking up.

The magician raised his hand with a gentle wave, and the crowd below paused momentarily, then resumed their activities as if the magician had never existed.

“It really does hurt,” the magician murmured, withdrawing his hand. He sat in silence for a while, then slowly began to remove the bandage from his face.

The bandages wrapped around his body were tightly wound, but those on his face were not completely covering the back of his head, instead, they were mostly wrapped around the back of his neck, with a few strands securing them in place, leaving his hair uncovered.

As the magician unwound the bandages from his face, his gray hair swayed with his movements.

He paused at his neck, then brushed his long hair back, revealing a face full of cracks and blood.

His eyes were as deep as the night, yet as clear as glass marbles, reflecting the sky above. “The young master should be fine…”

The magician whispered almost tenderly.

-He should be alright, after all, Little Red isn’t particularly strong.

But he had told the young master to wait for him.

The magician pressed his temples in mild frustration, then bent slightly to collect the bandages from the tiles. This movement caused the bandages on his neck to slip slightly, revealing a hint of black beneath.

But the magician quickly wrapped the bandages back up, covering them to just below his eyes.

He leapt down from the rooftop, unnoticed by the passersby, and walked straight to the shop window, where a small red velvet bench was placed. He imagined the doll sitting there, “The time flow here is different from Little Red’s instance.”

Perhaps if he waited here for a dozen minutes, the doll would finish the instance and return.

The magician watched as the blood-stained bandages in his hand slowly turned white again, pondering-should he wait here?

After all, once midnight passed, the second mode would begin, and then he could stay by the young master’s side.

The magician touched the shop window with his fingertip, a slight smile playing on his lips-

“Young master, will you miss me?”

At least, for now, he was still thinking about it.

Luo Yiran landed on the ground, adjusting his sprained leg with a rare fluctuation in his tone, “A puppet, why act on its own!”

Though he wasn’t sure of the specifics, the magician’s disappearance was undoubtedly related to his independent actions.

Little Red stood in the pool of blood, not looking towards the doll, but she could sense the magician’s disappearance. Yet she didn’t turn back, instead moving towards the direction of the giant’s head.

The doll watched her movements, the silver thread floating beside him.

Little Red stood before the giant’s head, its murky eyes seemingly still gazing at her.

“You really aren’t my mom and dad,” Little Red squatted down, her chubby face showing a hint of regret. “In times of crisis, parents would look at their children with worry, wouldn’t they?”

“Right, doll?” Little Red suddenly turned to look at Luo Yiran.

Luo Yiran remained motionless. “I don’t know. I don’t have parents.”

Little Red was taken aback, tilting her head slightly. “You don’t have parents either?”

Luo Yiran displayed a smile that was gentle yet insincere. “I’ve never met them.”

Little Red showed a sympathetic expression, pulling out flesh balls from her pocket, one after another.

The doll realized he couldn’t stop her, so he merely watched.

Little Red mechanically took out the flesh balls, her face still holding a sympathetic expression. “If you can survive my army of monsters, I’ll forgive what you did to my forest and even give you a mom and dad.”

The doll’s gaze involuntarily flicked to the two giants, his expression complicated. “No need.”

Little Red pretended not to hear, as the flesh balls in front of her transformed into monsters and charged at the doll.

Though there were no powerful monsters left, she still had countless lesser creatures, and also…

“Oh dear, oh dear… Little Red, what’s going on with you? You’re all dirty,” a teasing voice suddenly rang out.

Effortlessly killing a four-legged monster, the doll landed on it, taking a moment to glance towards the source of the voice.

A man dressed entirely in black landed on the giant’s head, his wings made of pure bone gently folding behind him.

The man squinted his eyes, which were clear yet deep as the night, and kicked the giant’s cheek with a laugh. “And your mom and dad are dead, you know. Normally, when a child’s parents die, they cry.”

The laughter and his speech had a discomforting and familiar rhythm.

The doll leaped up, slaying the attacking monsters while avoiding the splattering foul blood-this person must be the Demon.

Little Red’s round face was full of displeasure. “Don’t touch my No. 1 and No. 2.”

The Demon jumped down from the giant’s head, looking at the doll. As their eyes met, the Demon’s eyebrows raised, and he excitedly turned his head to Little Red. “I like him! Catch him for me… hmm?”

The Demon paused, sniffing the air. “The magician was here…” He looked at the doll fighting fiercely, his expression changing. “Oh, so this is the doll controlling the magician.”

“And where’s the magician?”

Little Red hugged the rabbit head. “He was forced out for breaking the rules.”

“Eh-what a pity!” The Demon hugged himself, looking at the doll.

Little Red sat down, occasionally tossing out a flesh ball. “If you want this doll, catch him yourself. I just want to kill him now.”

The Demon sat beside her, pouting. “I can’t. I just broke the rules too. The game warned me that if I keep fighting, I’ll be forced to log out.”

Little Red froze, staring at the Demon in disbelief. “What did you do?”

The Demon chuckled, “I got into a fight with the regulators from other territories.”

Little Red exclaimed, “You’re causing trouble for me?!”

The Demon cradled his face, gazing at Little Red, “You’re really angry, huh? So cute… But I couldn’t help it. It’s rare to get out of the territory, so I had to have some fun.”

“And besides, for mere humans, there’s no need for regulators to intervene, right? Your bosses can handle it themselves,” he said with a mischievous grin.

“Who did you deal with?” Little Red asked.

The Demon glanced at the doll, sensing an “emptiness” from the tiny figure. “Just picked a few at random, and what do you mean by ‘deal with’? It was merely a friendly spar.”

Little Red took a deep breath, “What about the angel?”

“That’s the one!” the Demon grumbled, “He stopped me.”

“But he was the one who attacked me first, and I didn’t resist at all, so he got kicked out,” the Demon said gleefully.

Little Red was furious, biting down on the Demon’s arm, mumbling, “The game… sent you, right?”

The power was suppressed to fifty percent of its original strength, yet there were still many bosses present. Even though the players participating in her instance were of high quality, the scales of justice were still tipped.

Moreover, considering the early stage of the instance where boss abilities were even more suppressed, she had requested regulator assistance.

But she forgot that the bosses’ abilities would recover in the later stages, and the presence of regulators would only tip the scales further… In the end, the game sent the Demon to eliminate the late-stage regulators, making the balance more even.

The Demon allowed Little Red to gnaw on him, even reaching out with his other hand to pat her head, “Be happy. Initially, I was supposed to ‘send’ all regulators away and then leave with the angel, but now you’ve been forced by the players to keep some regulators to help… So weak.”

Little Red snapped, “Get lost!”

“Nope,” the Demon said, watching the doll’s fluid movements, “I want to watch the show.”

Little Red angrily tossed out a few more flesh balls-so the game would let her pass this instance not just because she lowered the bosses’ strength by 50%, but also because of the Demon.

The Demon patted Little Red’s head again, smiling as he comforted her, “I know you wanted to prepare a grand celebration, but you’re still a child. It’s normal to overlook some things.”

Little Red disdainfully dodged, and the Demon withdrew his hand, gazing at the doll with fascination, “I really want him. This ’emptiness’ is something I haven’t seen in a long, long time.”

Just as Little Red was about to retort, the system’s voice suddenly rang out-

[Congratulations to Faction No. 7 player, Zhang Mimi, for obtaining Lord No. 6’s treasure-the flower of vine monster.]

The doll happened to leverage himself into the air, glancing in the direction of Zhang Mimi and the others-only when the treasure is “planted” in oneself does this notification appear. Wang Xiaoming, after obtaining the flower of vine monster, took some time before “planting” it in himself, which is why there wasn’t an immediate system notification.

However, Luo Yiran’s peripheral vision shifted to the Demon and Little Red-why didn’t the Demon attack him?

Little Red sighed at the notification, “It’s starting to get boring.”

“Hmm…” the Demon pondered, then raised his hand, smiling, “By the way, although I can’t fight anymore, I can talk to the doll. Maybe I can disrupt his actions, and then he’ll be torn apart by the monsters.”

After all, his main ability was mastering the “truth and falsehood,” which easily disrupted the state of deceitful humans.

Little Red paused, then looked at the doll, “You can try, but I don’t think he’ll be shaken.”

“I think so too,” the Demon said casually, ” ‘Empty’ people are always hard to shake, but let’s try anyway, it’s quite boring.”

He stood up, took a couple of steps forward, and then waved cheerfully at Luo Yiran with his eyes closed, “Doll.”

Luo Yiran paused, standing atop a monster, and glanced at him.

The Demon curled his lips into a smirk, “Living among humans must be tough for someone like you.”

Luo Yiran lifted his gaze, the silver thread retracting into his hand, while the monster’s flesh scattered around him.

The Demon opened his eyes, smiling slyly, “You know, if you keep living, eventually we’ll judge you, list your sins, and then give you…”

“I hate you,” Luo Yiran interrupted the Demon.

A monster attempted a sneak attack from behind, but Luo Yiran didn’t turn around. He simply raised his hand, gripping the silver thread, and pulled it forward, causing the monsters behind him to be torn apart.

The doll stood amidst the backdrop of flying blood and flesh, his red eyes fixed on the Demon, his face devoid of any expression, “You remind me of the magician.”

The Demon chuckled, displaying an exaggerated smile, and placed a finger below his eye, “Wow, you’re quite perceptive.”

“But saying that, do you dislike the magician?” The Demon slid his finger from beneath his eye to the corner of his mouth, the grin becoming slightly sinister.

The silver bob spun in the air before returning to Luo Yiran’s left hand, the silver thread stained with blood coiling around his arm, and the doll’s expression clearly showed disgust.