Chapter 40

The first game was hide-and-seek. Lu Jiangfei hid behind a large rock amid the bushes, so nervous he almost stopped breathing. He didn’t know what would happen next or who would be found. If it were one of his friends, would he step forward to help, or just watch them die…

His head was pounding with thoughts until he heard a man’s loud cry for help, screaming it wasn’t him, he didn’t want to water the flowers and so forth. The voice was unfamiliar, likely one of the two couples that had been captured with them. One of them had already been turned into fertilizer, leaving just this last man.

It turned out he was the one found.

Wiping sweat from his brow, Lu Jiangfei cautiously crept closer to peek. The man was now kneeling on the ground begging for mercy, his girlfriend beside him, crying in despair and pleading with a little girl.

The innocent little girl floated in the air, giggling as if enjoying a spectacle, until the man’s forehead was bloodied. Holding a doll, she said with an air of mercy, “If you don’t want to water the flowers, then find someone to do it for you. Ask who would be willing to help you. I believe you must have good friends who would help. Please ask them, and hopefully, by the time I return, you will have found someone.”

With the doll in her arms, the little girl disappeared.

At that moment, Lu Jiangfei felt the true cruelty and brutality of the situation, which was hundreds of times more terrifying than if the doll had killed someone directly!

He saw the man kneeling on the ground, his eyes suddenly filled with hope as he turned his gaze to his girlfriend, who stood frozen in shock. She panicked and took a few steps back. “Xu, Xu Hong, why are you looking at me like that?”

Xu Hong, irrational and overwhelmed by despair and fear, wanted to live and didn’t want to die. “Baby, you love me, right? Help me, please help me!”

The woman screamed, holding her head as if the last barrier in her mind had shattered. She turned and ran desperately, with Xu Hong tightly chasing after her, sweetly calling her baby while his eyes grew increasingly crazed.

The woman’s strength was no match for Xu Hong, who eventually caught her. Ignoring her struggles, he dragged her toward the garden.

Yuan Lu emerged at some point, shaking all over, his eyes wide with terror, murmuring, “Why is this happening, why…”

Song Wei and Tian Lang also came out, with Ke Minmin and Yu Yandan following them, dirty and disheveled, their makeup smeared, sobbing softly without a care, “What do we do, what do we do? Are we all going to die here?”

Lu Jiangfei said, “Did you all hear that?”

Yuan Lu, Tian Lang, Song Wei, Ke Minmin, and Yu Yandan looked at him and silently nodded. The little girl’s voice had almost spread throughout the forest, and because they heard her, they had come out.

They had thought the first game was over, just a test of luck where the lucky ones would live longer. Little did they know the little girl was actually leading them to kill each other!

At that moment, everyone regretted setting foot on Wawa Island, the beginning of this nightmare.

…

Lu Jiangfei was the first to step forward. He kicked the man named Xu Hong to the ground. A woman rolled over the bones, crawling out frantically. She hid far away, looking at Xu Hong with unrecognizable and fearful eyes, desperately wiping the mud from her hands. She could still smell the stench in the mud and feel the eerie sensation of her hand pressing on bones. What made her more desperate was the thought that her boyfriend she thought she loved wanted her to die.

Seeing his plan failed, Xu Hong’s eyes, bloodshot, glared at Lu Jiangfei with deep malice, wishing he could tear him to pieces.

Lu Jiangfei said, “Do you realize what you’re doing? You’re killing someone. Even if you escape, you can’t escape death. Don’t forget, the law will still hold you accountable.”

Xu Hong was stunned, then exclaimed, “I was forced to, yes, I was forced to do this. It was self-defense, I don’t deserve to die!”

Lu Jiangfei could understand Xu Hong; when people are scared, they don’t know what they might do, just like him. If he had been the one found, he might not have been able to face life and death calmly either. But he also couldn’t stand by and watch a murder unfold without saying a word; that would make him an accomplice. “This is murder. The object of your self-defense shouldn’t be your girlfriend, but… you should understand.”

Xu Hong chuckled bitterly, “Understood, of course I understand. Since you’re so noble, why don’t you die for us?”

Lu Jiangfei bowed his head, looking at Yuan Lu and Song Wei standing silently nearby, then walked back and found a rock to sit on. He covered his face, equally anguished and desperate.

Yuan Lu patted his shoulder and said, “It’s… there’s nothing we can do.”

Lu Jiangfei managed a bitter smile, “I should have listened to Ma Ao, I shouldn’t have come, and I should have persuaded you not to come either.”

Tian Lang sat down heavily on the ground. “Enough, if I hadn’t experienced this myself, no matter who told me there were… ghosts in this world, I wouldn’t have believed it.”

Song Wei added, “Yeah, who would believe in ghosts if they hadn’t seen them with their own eyes? We’re just unlucky.”

Yuan Lu hung his head, “I remember this morning when I left, my mom kept telling me not to come, and I thought she was being too naggy. I regret not listening to her…”

They all had quite a lot of courage, having visited many haunted places before. Even the girls Ke Minmin and Yu Yandan, who were horror live stream hosts, were not faint-hearted. But just one night on the island had terrified them, making them wish they could turn back time. They definitely wouldn’t choose to come to this island again!

But now it was too late for regrets.

The little girl hadn’t returned yet. Xu Hong sat like a caged beast under a tree. He wanted to seek revenge on Lu Jiangfei, but Lu Jiangfei was surrounded by five people who obviously knew each other. He wouldn’t gain anything by going there, and another woman had disappeared without a trace since the game started, making it clear why he had asked his girlfriend for help.

At that moment, even Xu Hong’s girlfriend had hidden behind Lu Jiangfei and the others. She was smart not to get too close, but she still squeezed herself close to Lu Jiangfei.

Not wanting to wait for death, Xu Hong didn’t want to die. He looked at Lu Jiangfei and the others, stood up, and walked towards his girlfriend. He knelt down with a thud, “Baby, I was wrong, forgive me this once. I’ve thought it through, I’ll go die myself later. It was only because I was possessed that I treated you that way, please forgive me just this once.”

The girl cried bitterly, “Get away! Get lost!”

Xu Hong continued speaking beside her, his voice growing quieter, deliberately avoiding Lu Jiangfei and the others, “Do you think that man will save you? When real trouble comes, he’ll abandon you too. Baby, we’ve known each other so long, you have to believe me.”

“No, I’ll never believe you again. I told you to get lost, didn’t you hear?”

Xu Hong, yelled at, moved to the side, his gaze growing darker.

…

About ten minutes later, the little girl returned, holding the doll, and cheerfully asked Xu Hong, “Did you find a good friend willing to help you?”

Xu Hong was so frightened he couldn’t utter a word, his whole body trembling.

Lu Jiangfei and Yuan Lu and the others sat in place, not daring to speak.

He suddenly rushed forward, knelt in front of his girlfriend, grabbing her hands, “It’s her, she loves me, willing to give her life for me, she’s willing to help me!!”

His girlfriend struggled frantically, but couldn’t break free, only able to scream desperately, “I’m not willing, it’s not true! You beast, let go of me, let go! We’ve broken up, I don’t love you!”

Afraid her resistance would raise the little girl’s suspicions, Xu Hong, both anxious and angry, slapped her face hard. The woman, already mentally strained and frightened after a sleepless night, fainted on the spot. Xu Hong quickly said, “It’s her, it’s her! She’s willing to help me!”

The little girl giggled, “Well, it seems you have a nice friend, so today let her water the flowers.”

Lu Jiangfei and Yuan Lu and the others looked at the little girl in shock as the cloth doll jumped down from her arms and kicked the woman towards the Bone Garden. Her soft abdomen pierced through a wooden stake, blood dripping profusely.

Xu Hong stared, dumbfounded, at the woman hanging from the stake, her eyes wide open. He chuckled, then chuckled again, clenching his fists.

Ke Minmin and Yu Yandan couldn’t hold back their screams any longer and fainted.

Lu Jiangfei, Yuan Lu, Tian Lang, and the others were sweating profusely. They thought that as long as the woman openly refused, Xu Hong would definitely be helpless and the little girl wouldn’t listen either. But who knew… who knew it would turn out like this?

Lu Jiangfei clenched his fists, trembling, “Why? She said she was unwilling, why still make her water the flowers?”

Yuan Lu added, “It was that man who was caught, why make someone else suffer for him? He’s sinister and vicious, even willing to betray his own girlfriend, such a person… such a person!”

The little girl tilted her head, as if it were obvious, “But didn’t she not refuse in the end? Since she didn’t say no, it’s natural for her to water the flowers.”

They stared at the little girl in shock. She took a deep breath, the smell of blood making her very happy, “Do you see how much prettier my garden has become? Not bad, now let’s play drop the handkerchief. Whoever my doll catches, will help me water the flowers.”

The cloth doll stood in front of them, expressionless, its large eyes, which could move but not blink, took up half of its face, swirling around, looking tattered and ragged, holding an old handkerchief found somewhere.

Lu Jiangfei, Yuan Lu, Tian Lang, and the others widened their eyes, their faces showing terror, sweating profusely.

A cold wind blew through, seemingly carrying the light laughter of the dolls, giggling, giggling…

Drop, drop, drop the handkerchief,

Gently place it behind the little friend,

Don’t tell him,

Hurry, hurry, catch him,

Hurry, hurry, catch him,

Hurry, hurry, catch him.

Caught, who is it?

…

The third game was dodgeball, but instead of balls, the two dolls were throwing skulls at them. If you got hit, you had to go and water the garden.

The fourth game was “Red Light, Green Light.”

The fifth game was “Shoulder Tap.”

Lu Jiangfei was tagged during the shoulder tap game. The rules were simple: protect your shoulders from being tapped by the dolls. If you got tapped, you became a ghost, which meant you were dead.

By then, he was already very weak. He couldn’t remember how long it had been since he last ate or drank. When they climbed the mountain, they had packed lightly and didn’t bring much food or water. With so many people, the only time they could eat was after the little girl’s game ended-once the game was over, the little girl would leave, and they could move freely. They would try to drink some dew or eat some leaves and roots. Sometimes, if they were lucky, they would find a few edible mushrooms on the dead branches…

But these were just enough to keep them from dying of thirst or hunger. Their strength and energy were rapidly depleting.

Moreover, three more people had died. One was Xu Hong, who got caught during the drop the handkerchief game. Xu Hong had just pushed his girlfriend out as a shield, but he didn’t expect to die so soon after. When he died, he seemed utterly incredulous, his face full of despair and terror, his eyes wide open, not at peace. Another was the woman who had argued with her boyfriend initially. She was hit by the skull dodgeball and kicked into the Bone Garden by the doll. The third was Yu Yandan, who fell and was caught during the “Red Light, Green Light” game due to exhaustion…

Watching people die one by one, Lu Jiangfei and the others realized this was a game that truly claimed lives.

At that moment, Lu Jiangfei suddenly thought of a possibility: “The little girl only said she needed our blood to water the garden. If, I mean if, in the next round, whoever gets caught, we all help him bleed into the garden, could that prevent anyone from dying?”

Lu Jiangfei’s suggestion was not accepted. Yuan Lu said, “Our blood won’t be enough. If everyone bleeds, we won’t last long.”

Ke Minmin was still immersed in the fear of her companion’s death. She hugged herself, trembling, and said, “I don’t want to live anymore. It’s too terrifying. I even think it’s better to die early… to avoid daily fear and eating mud and grass! Yu Yandan is dead. I watched her die right in front of me. I don’t want to live anymore. Really, I want to die and be done with it!”

Tian Lang tried to comfort her, “Minmin, we’ve made it this far. Don’t say such discouraging things. We can all get out of here alive…”

Ke Minmin completely broke down, “Get out alive? How is that possible! It’s been days, have you heard anyone coming to rescue us? Have you found a way out? We’re surrounded by trees, and the trees are full of dolls. Every move we make is under that little girl’s watchful eye. We can’t escape!”

Yuan Lu remained silent. Tian Lang suddenly said, “I agree with Lu Jiangfei’s suggestion. We have five people left, at most we can play five more rounds before we all die here. But if in the next round, whoever gets caught bleeds twice as much, and the rest of us bleed a little, maybe we can last a bit longer.”

Yuan Lu glanced at Tian Lang, “If we all lose blood, will we have the energy to play the games?”

Lu Jiangfei smiled bitterly. In the end, only one person would survive the game. But when only one person is left to play, it means there’s no choice, and that person must die.

But if everyone was still alive, the chances of survival were greater.

At the same time, this meant that both the winners and losers had to take risks together. The winners, who didn’t need to get hurt, now had to bleed and get hurt. This was indeed a tough choice.

Because of the disagreement, the sixth game had already started.

Lu Jiangfei was tagged on the shoulder. The little girl floated in the air, laughing, “You’ve been chosen to be my new gardener. Do you need your friends’ help? I’m curious if your friends are willing to help you. Go and ask them.”

Lu Jiangfei licked his dry lips and said, “We play your games, but the person caught bleeds twice as much as the others. Is that okay?”

The little girl laughed like a bell, her voice piercing. Even the dolls hanging on the trees laughed, as if watching a dying clown struggle.

“Sure, ask them if any good friends are willing to bleed with you.”

Lu Jiangfei said bitterly, “No need. In the next round, it’s up to them whether they want to bleed together or separately.”

Lu Jiangfei thought about his life. The people he felt most sorry for were probably his parents. By now, his disappearance must have spread, and they must know. He hadn’t had a chance to repay them, and now they had to bury their child.

He blamed himself for being too presumptuous. He should have respected the unknown. If he hadn’t been so arrogant and blindly confident, he wouldn’t have stepped foot on Wawa Island, and he wouldn’t have ventured out at night. If he had listened to Ma Ao, he wouldn’t be in this situation.

At that moment, he suddenly remembered that Ma Ao had given him several Talismans when they set out. He hadn’t taken them seriously and wanted to throw them away. But Ma Ao had insisted on putting them in his down jacket pocket. He had forgotten about them, so the amulets were still in his pocket…

Yuan Lu, Tian Lang, and Song Wei all showed shocked expressions. Ke Minmin had already started crying. Due to lack of water, she couldn’t even shed tears, only hoarsely shouting “No” and “Help.”

The little girl loved their desperate and pitiful looks. It made her happy. The doll walked up to Lu Jiangfei. It still had no expression, but its eyes, which should have been fake, became more lifelike, looking almost human…

It walked up to him, easily able to kick him into the Bone Garden. Lu Jiangfei suddenly took out a handful of Talismans from his pocket. He held the Talismans in front of him and said, “Don’t come any closer!”

He held the Talismans tightly, nervously waving them at the approaching doll. A golden light flashed, and the doll, with its wooden face, was actually pushed back! But just as it stepped back, the doll, without a mouth, let out a scream and charged at Lu Jiangfei again! Not only that, but the dolls hanging on the surrounding trees also started screaming…

The little girl said in her childish voice, “This human is so fun. Don’t kill him. I want to make him into a doll. I want to make him the most powerful doll.”

Yuan Lu, Ke Minmin, and the others trembled, terrified by the little girl’s words. Make him into a doll? Did that mean every doll hanging here contained a human soul?

They remembered seeing these trees in the forest, almost every tree had a doll hanging on it. The dolls didn’t move, but their eyes would turn. Every time they passed by, the dolls would stare at them with their black eyes. Sometimes they would laugh, sometimes they would make a hissing sound…

So, did each doll contain a ghost?

…

Gu Feiyin and Ma Ao prepared to go into the mountains after dark. As they left the guesthouse, Gu Feiyin noticed that the doll she had thrown at the entrance was gone. She didn’t know where it had been thrown.

Ma Ao said, “Didn’t you say not to touch it? Who threw it?”

Gu Feiyin replied, “I don’t know. Maybe it ran away on its own?”

Ma Ao: “…” Could you not say such creepy things at night?

They walked to the foot of the mountain but were stopped by the patrol guards. Due to recent events, the village strictly prohibited anyone from going up the mountain at night to avoid further incidents.

“Go back quickly. It’s dangerous at night. Do you want to die?”

Ma Ao smiled and said, “We’re not going up the mountain. We’re just taking a walk near the foot of the mountain. We just had dinner and want to take a stroll.”

The police were suspicious, “You can walk in the village. Why come out here? Go back quickly. Don’t go up the mountain, understand?”

Ma Ao repeatedly said they understood. They wouldn’t risk their lives. He then asked, “Is there really no news? It’s been ten days. If we can’t find them…”

The police said, “We want to find the missing people more than anyone. There’s no need to hide anything. No news means no news.”

Ma Ao sighed in disappointment.

Meanwhile, Gu Feiyin suddenly picked up a doll from under a tree. It looked like the one she had brought down the mountain earlier? All these dolls looked the same, so she couldn’t really tell. She poked it twice, and seeing no reaction, she casually threw it away. She then looked at the dolls hanging on the tree. One of them didn’t even have a head, just a body hanging there.

She couldn’t help but poke it. The doll swayed twice, seemingly lifeless. She then moved to the next one without hands.

After Ma Ao finished talking to the police, he turned to look at Master Gu. He saw her circling the tree several times, poking the dolls. The dolls were now swaying all over the tree. Not only did he find it creepy, but even the police felt uneasy and quickly said, “What are you doing? You shouldn’t touch these.”

Gu Feiyin replied seriously, “I’m checking if there are any children inside these dolls.”

Ma Ao: “…”

Police: “…”

…Why would there be children inside the dolls? They felt a chill down their spines, goosebumps rising all over.

The police said, “Alright, alright, go back quickly. Don’t go up the mountain at night, understand?!”

Gu Feiyin and Ma Ao had to go back, planning to come out later. It was hard to find anything during the day, and going out at night had a higher chance of success. Ma Ao checked the time, “The villagers sleep early, and there’s not much activity at night. We can sneak out around ten.”

Gu Feiyin nodded in agreement. It was only a little past seven, so they could sleep for a few hours and avoid getting sleepy later.

She went back to her room. Ma Ao looked at the closed door and touched his nose. He was particularly scared and wanted to follow Master Gu inside. He was really afraid of being alone, worried that the dolls would come to bother him. But being alone with her might get him kicked out, so he decided against it.

He went back to his room to rest.

The guesthouse was very simple, about ten square meters. The room had a bed, a wardrobe, a table, and a stool. There was also a tiny bathroom, just big enough to take two steps. Although the room was small and could be seen at a glance, he didn’t dare go to the bathroom to wash up. He got into bed, pulled up the covers, and lay down, planning to sleep for a while to have energy later.

Gu Feiyin always had good sleep quality. She usually fell asleep as soon as she lay down. Ordinary noises rarely woke her up. As she slept, she suddenly felt crowded, unable to turn over. It felt like something was occupying her bed. She couldn’t stand it and opened her eyes drowsily. She saw a doll with wide-open eyes staring at her!

Its eyes were wide open, its face stained with red blood, and she could smell the stench of soil mixed with blood.

Gu Feiyin’s drowsiness vanished instantly as she realized why she felt so cramped. Her bed was crowded with dolls, even a few perched on her body. The plastic faces of the dolls bore eerie, cold smiles.

Meanwhile, Ma Ao, in his own room, sensed something was amiss. It felt like he was being watched, sending chills down his spine. He hadn’t turned off the lights, so he cautiously opened one eye, only to find a doll sitting right in front of him!

The doll had been there for an unknown amount of time, quietly staring at him. Its plastic face was unnervingly lifelike, seeming both dead and alive.

Ma Ao’s legs went weak, and he let out a piercing scream, grabbing the peachwood sword by his bed and swinging it wildly. “Master! Master! Master, help me!”

It felt like an eternity had passed, but finally, there was a knock at the door. “Knock, knock.”

Ma Ao hadn’t locked the door, so he shouted, “The door’s open, come in, hurry!”

He turned hopefully, only to see a dirty doll floating in the air, smiling at him with a sinister grin.

Ma Ao’s eyes rolled back, and he fainted.

…

Ma Ao didn’t know how long he had been unconscious. When he finally came to, he found himself still in bed, staring at the pale ceiling. He breathed a sigh of relief; he hadn’t been dragged off to some strange place by the dolls. But wait-why did he smell something nauseatingly bloody?

He sat up abruptly, locking eyes with the doll sitting at the foot of his bed.

Terrified, he shrank back, ready to flee, but then he realized he was surrounded by dolls!

Some were floating, others lay on the ground-about twenty in total-all staring at him with dark, gloomy eyes. Ma Ao was on the verge of tears, huddled at the head of the bed, wondering if he was going to die here.

Just as he was at a loss, the door opened again, and he saw Master Gu walk in leisurely. Her long black hair draped over her shoulders, and her pale face looked chillingly cold. She stood at the door, smiling strangely as she said, “You’re awake. Get up; we need to head up the mountain.”

Ma Ao: “…”

He pointed at the dolls surrounding him in terror. “They-they-they’re surrounding me!”

Gu Feiyin glanced at the dolls, her expression souring. These dirty things had dared to invade her bed, dirtying her blankets, which she had to replace with new ones from the innkeeper. Washing them wouldn’t suffice, and selling them wouldn’t cover the cost.

She had been furious, beating the dolls until she heard Ma Ao’s scream. She had tied them together with yarn and brought them over to see what had happened. When she arrived, Ma Ao had already fainted on the floor, but fortunately, he was breathing and unharmed.

She tugged on the white yarn. “Don’t worry, these are the dolls I’ve captured.”

Ma Ao: “…”

Only then did Ma Ao notice the dolls were tied together with a thin white thread, strung in a long line. The thread was so inconspicuous that he hadn’t seen it at first. Now that he did, his face turned a shade of liver.

Ma Ao said nervously, “Master, how did you catch so many?”

Master Gu grinned. “I was lucky; they came to me.”

The dolls collectively turned to stare at the peculiar Long Black Straight Hair: “…”

Ma Ao: “…”

He had encountered just one and had been scared to death. How was encountering a whole group considered lucky?! Had he misunderstood the meaning of “lucky”?

Gu Feiyin thought for a moment, pointing at the doll sitting at Ma Ao’s bedside. “This doll is the one that was in the photo with your friend. With it, we should be able to find your friend.”

Ma Ao, initially scared, was now delighted. “Really? Is it really the one? Can we find them? Wait, didn’t you say there were four other little friends?”

“Yes, this is one of the little friends.”

For some reason, although this “little friend” differed from his understanding, it made him feel even more chilled and fearful.

She tugged on the string, asking, “Where have you hidden the people? Lead us there now.”

The doll’s eyes shifted, staring at her silently. Gu Feiyin’s fists came down hard, further damaging the already battered doll. It whimpered and rolled, pulling the string as it flew away.

It was scared. Normally, they could appear in any doll, and Taoists couldn’t catch them. But this Long-haired Woman was bizarre, not only able to capture them but also making them feel pain, even though the blows landed on the dolls.

Now, they could only return to find their sister for help…

Gu Feiyin said, “Let’s follow them.”

Ma Ao: “…”

He hesitated, “Shouldn’t we inform the Daoist and the police next door?”

She considered it, saying, “I can take care of you alone, but if those little friends come along, I might not be able to protect them. What if something happens?”

Ma Ao: “…”

Alright, calling the ghosts “little friends” was one thing, but why were the Daoist and police also “little friends”?

Faced with such a title, why did he suddenly feel a sense of dread?

…

Twenty-some dolls strung on a yarn flew up the mountain. Only eight could fly; the rest dragged along the ground, like real dolls being pulled.

Gu Feiyin and Ma Ao followed the dolls up the mountain. At night, Wawa Island was far more terrifying than during the day. Walking through the forest felt like being watched by countless eyes. The broken dolls and limbs scattered on the ground looked like dismembered corpses.

Ma Ao gripped the peachwood sword tightly, holding the flashlight, not daring to fall behind.

They walked deeper and deeper, for about half an hour, until even the sounds of insects and birds disappeared, as if they had reached the other side of the mountain. Ma Ao’s anxiety grew. “Master, how much longer do we have to walk?”

Gu Feiyin tugged on the string. “How much longer? Isn’t there a shortcut?”

She was somewhat tired. Being human was troublesome; a few steps left her breathless. Dolls could float, but she couldn’t. At times like this, she missed Neighbor Miss. If she were here, things would be much easier.

Doll: “…”

Ma Ao: “…”

A shortcut was impossible. They walked for over an hour, and Ma Ao sensed there were no living creatures around. He even smelled a strong scent of blood, and every tree was adorned with a doll.

Ma Ao had heard that some people discarded unwanted items into the sea, and the sea would wash them ashore. A classmate who lived by the sea often collected things from the beach.

These dolls on the trees were old and worn, perhaps collected from the beach.

What was more unsettling was that the dolls’ eyes seemed to move. They were like the dolls strung on the yarn, their eyes shifting but their bodies unable to move, as if trapped inside.

Ma Ao was drenched in cold sweat, remembering something, and nervously approached Master Gu. “Master, there was a doll in my room earlier. Did you catch it?”

Gu Feiyin said, “No, when I saw you, you were already on the floor. Did that doll scare you into fainting?”

Ma Ao: … No, of course not.

Ma Ao said, “Did that doll escape and come back to report?”

Gu Feiyin nodded. “Possibly.”

Ma Ao panicked. “What should we do? They’re prepared for us; aren’t we at a disadvantage?”

“Hmm? They’re waiting for us; we need to hurry.”

“…”

After walking for so long, Gu Feiyin finally smelled a rich fragrance, even stronger than the Face Ghost’s scent. Last time, those ghosts were worth only a few yuan each. She wondered if this one could fetch twenty. If she ate half and sold half, it would be great, hoping the heavens wouldn’t cause trouble.

Deep in the forest, the little girl’s head turned towards the woods, her pale face breaking into a sinister smile.

“Someone dares to enter my Doll Forest. I want to see who is so bold. I’ll turn them into a doll too!”