Doll Survival Game

“Congratulations to Faction No. 7 player, Xia Lang, for obtaining the treasure of Lord No. 4-the serpent man’s chest scale.”

The system’s voice echoed through the forest, causing Wang Xiaoming’s hand to tremble. He quickly glanced at his display panel, where the serpent man’s health bar was dangerously low-damn it!

He needed to hurry…

“Congratulations to Faction No. 7 player, Xia Lang, for killing Lord No. 4.”

Wang Xiaoming froze, feeling as if something had suddenly bound his body, rendering him unable to attack. An Ming also halted her actions in an instant, hesitated for a second, then leaped forward, kicking him in the neck and shouting-

“That tattooed punk!”

Zhang Mimi immediately turned around, “Hey-don’t call me that.”

Despite his words, he swiftly countered the incoming Wang Xiaoming with a punch.

One hit, and it was over.

“Congratulations to Faction No. 7 player Zhang Mimi for killing the last member of Faction No. 4; congratulations to Faction No. 7 for successfully occupying Territory No. 4.”

An Ming fell silent, and after a while, she clutched her head, her pupils trembling-what had she just done?!

Wang Xiaoming was the last survivor of Faction No. 4??? She should have killed him directly! Now they had to deal with the vine monster too???

Why hadn’t she thought it through?

The next moment, the system’s voice saved her-

“Congratulations to Faction No. 7 player, Lin Ye, for killing Lord No. 6.”

An Ming looked up gratefully, then saw on the map that her teammates quickly converged with the tracking blips of Faction No. 6 players, and then-

“Congratulations to Faction No. 2 player Fu Ni for killing the last member of Faction No. 6; congratulations to Faction No. 2 for successfully occupying Territory No. 6.”

Yay! Task completed!

An Ming cheerfully went over to pull out the wolf tooth from Wang Xiaoming’s mouth, then turned and left.

Feng Bai gritted his teeth, and after blocking an attack from the shapeshifted being, he immediately ran-things were looking grim, but Little Red’s health bar hadn’t changed, so he should go find her.

Zhang Mimi and Li Qi Feng quickly followed.

Duan Miaomiao was pushed back several steps by Feng Bai’s block, but she steadied herself and flexed her claws, “Wow, is this the power of someone who can really fight?”

The force wasn’t strong, yet it pushed her back quite a distance.

Yuan Mo ran over, pointing at the group message, “Let’s go meet Lin Ye; there’s still Mr. Gardener to deal with over there.”

“Huh? Okay!” Duan Miaomiao snapped back to reality, “And Xia and the others?”

“They’ll be on the way.” Yuan Mo felt the spirit serpent within him, “Via said Xia Lang is badly injured, so I’ll heal him first, then head to Lin Ye’s side.”

Duan Miaomiao quickly bent down, “Hop on, let’s hurry.”

Yuan Mo shamefully climbed onto Duan Miaomiao’s back-why couldn’t he run faster?!

It’s a bit… cold.

Xia Lang gazed at the moon through the gaps in the leaves above, tightly wrapped by a giant green python, his breathing labored.

The python’s mouth was large enough to swallow him whole, and it bit into his shoulder.

This happened because the serpent man’s head was knocked off course by Via’s shot, so the sharp, arm-sized fang only pierced his shoulder.

“Xia Lang!”

Via sprinted over and yanked the broadsword embedded in the serpent man’s head backward, causing the slightly flattened snakehead to collapse. Xia Lang could finally breathe a sigh of relief, but his body was severely mutilated and covered in blood, causing him to collapse on the spot.

Via reached out to hold him, being as gentle as possible, yet Xia Lang still trembled and managed to say, “…it hurts…”

“Why do you have to be so reckless? You even stabbed the snakehead after grabbing the scales… If I hadn’t reacted quickly, do you believe your head would have been bitten off by now?” Via found it utterly incomprehensible.

He couldn’t understand Xia Lang’s obsession with killing the serpent man, nor could he comprehend how Xia Lang managed to kill it.

Even though he witnessed it all, he still found it unbelievable.

Xia Lang, how miraculous.

The moonlight blurred into Xia Lang’s eyes as he was poisoned again. Amidst his blurred vision, he saw a white-haired young man desperately trying to stem his wounds, continuously calling out his name.

“Xia Lang-”

Was it an illusion? He thought he heard someone else’s voice.

Xia Lang closed his eyes, but the moonlight he just saw seemed to linger before him, so bright, just like before.

It was as bright the day Grandpa Luo died.

It was the same brightness when he pushed his classmate from the fifth floor.

…After killing someone, the meaning of life changes. He could never go back…

“I’m sorry…” Tears slipped from his tightly shut eyes, and the barely audible words escaped Xia Lang’s mouth as Yuan Mo hesitated with his hand outstretched, then fed the spirit serpent to Xia Lang first.

Xia Lang choked and coughed a couple of times, then broke down crying, with blood and tears continuously falling-sorry Ranran, I shouldn’t… I shouldn’t have killed… I shouldn’t have… tried to escape everything through death…

Before Grandpa Luo died, he spoke many, many words to Ranran, and afterward, Ranran became a “good person.”

Every day, he wore a gentle smile, spoke kind words, picked up trash on the street, and always found time to help others. He became a very exemplary “good person,” especially when they had just entered middle school, a nearly brand-new environment where everyone had a very good impression of Ranran.

So, Xia Lang became afraid. He was afraid of ruining the beautiful aura that surrounded Luo Yiran, so he endured the bullying from his classmates alone.

He couldn’t understand why he was always bullied-because he was frail? Because he was quiet back then? Because… he always followed someone bright and dazzling?

He avoided Luo Yiran.

Luo Yiran had so many friends; he wouldn’t miss him… and Luo Yiran mustn’t find out he was bullied again.

Luo Yiran was a good kid now, but if he found out, he would surely come to help. How would he help?

Fight? Warn? Or tell the teachers who always downplayed serious issues?

None of it would work.

Those who thrive in the sunlight, he couldn’t, just because he preferred the shadows, bring himself to cast a shade over someone else.

He quietly distanced himself from Luo Yiran, but it seemed as if Luo Yiran didn’t notice at all, which for some reason made Xia Lang even more upset.

Until one day, Luo Yiran suddenly asked him, “Do you want to come home with me today?”

It was the first time Luo Yiran had asked him that since they had grown apart.

Xia Lang suddenly realized something and said to him, “Tomorrow, I’ll come home with you.”

Because that night, the classmate who had been bullying him had asked him to “hang out.”

It wasn’t until the next day that he went home with Luo Yiran. On the way, Luo Yiran bought him an ice pop and said, “Don’t worry, that classmate just slipped up.”

Xia Lang was stunned. He looked up at Luo Yiran’s expressionless face as he said, “Weren’t we together last night?”

Xia Lang’s body trembled, overwhelmed by a crushing wave of emotions, and then he came down with a high fever that lasted nearly three days.

During those three days, he was trapped in endless fear-he was wrong; he shouldn’t have tried to handle it on his own, and he had also ruined Luo Yiran’s… purity.

Especially since Luo Yiran seemed normal during classes over those three days, but the moment he stepped into the room, his face would lose all expression.

Luo Yiran said, “I’ve been waiting for you to speak up, but you said nothing.”

He also said, “Do you know you could have died that night? He was much bigger than you… Do you realize we would never see each other again if you had died?”

…

What a terrifying thought.

Xia Lang was consumed by fear.

During those three days, the police came over, and they spoke with Luo Yiran-more surveillance… shouldn’t be… this child… pretty… highly regarded…

In a daze, Xia Lang heard these words, and then on the night he recovered from his fever, he opened his eyes to see Luo Yiran holding a knife in front of him.

Luo Yiran touched the blade, and blood slid down his fingers as he softly said, “If you died, you would surely go to hell, and in hell, there would only be you. Grandpa and I wouldn’t be there.”

“You would never see us again.”

The courage that knows no fear lingered on him only briefly, and Xia Lang knew that Luo Yiran understood his thoughts of “it’s no big deal if I die,” his world-weariness, and the pain of living.

But as he watched the blood drip from Luo Yiran’s hand, a deep fear of death suddenly surged within him. He grabbed the knife empty-handed and then hugged it to his chest.

The blade cut into his skin, painful, but the pain of feeling like Luo Yiran might leave him at any moment was even more excruciating. Xia Lang was on the verge of madness-“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

He kept apologizing as blood stained his body and the bed.

Luo Yiran took a few steps back, and Xia Lang panicked. He threw down the knife and came to Luo Yiran, covered in blood.

Luo Yiran coldly turned his head away, and Xia Lang, with a voice full of sobs, grabbed at his clothes-“Look at me, don’t leave me.”

When Grandpa Luo left, he didn’t cry. He thought he was naturally wicked, but he never considered that he was just slow to react. Seeing that Luo Yiran wouldn’t even glance at him, he finally understood-he only had Luo Yiran left.

“Please look at me! I’ll never take myself lightly again, I won’t die, I won’t.”

“But everyone will die eventually,” Luo Yiran finally turned around. “Birth, aging, sickness, and death are the natural order of things.”

Xia Lang tightened his grip on his clothes: “Even then, even if I were about to die the next second, I’d make it to your side to breathe my last.”

He would never again indulge in self-destructive tendencies.

But Luo Yiran was right; he would inevitably die and would surely go to hell. If dying meant he could never see Grandpa Luo and Luo Yiran again, at least he wanted them to look at him in his final moments.

Luo Yiran picked up some gauze, tended to his wounds, and spoke in a voice light yet as gentle as the wind: “Strive to live on… even if you feel immense pain.”

…

Luo Yiran lowered his head: [How’s Xia Lang?]

Yuan Mo: [Almost died, now he just keeps crying.]

Luo Yiran: [Take good care of him, no need to come over here later, you guys rest or maybe stop Feng Bai from coming.]

Yuan Mo: [Is that alright?]

Luo Yiran: [It’s fine, if you’re worried, you can stay close by and watch.]

Luo Yiran: [But don’t intervene, it wouldn’t be nice, so many people picking on one little girl.]

Yuan Mo: […]

“You’re patronizing me.” Little Red despairingly threw a flesh ball; she watched the doll pile up monster corpses into a small mountain while dodging with the silver thread, her fingers tracing something in mid-air.

Only one hand still seemed to be enjoying itself.

Luo Yiran exited the group interface and opened the map again, he looked up with a smile. His gaze briefly swept over the rabbit head in Little Red’s arms: “How could I?”

He still wanted to get that rabbit head.

Little Red narrowed her eyes, aware of what Luo Yiran intended, and then scoffed coldly before throwing a dozen flesh balls all at once: “Come on, try and see if you can get my treasure!”