Chapter 3
by GideonChapter 3: Lilith’s Doll (2)
In the blink of an eye, Bai Xing lunged forward. Under the relieved gazes of the other players, who had also noticed something was wrong, he abruptly tackled Lilith to the ground just as she was reaching toward a little snake on the wall.
Ah…
So that’s how it is.
High above in the tower, Ye Jiujiu, who was controlling Lilith, tilted her head slightly and smiled.
He had touched her puppet.
With the abilities granted by Puppet Creation, Ye Jiujiu successfully used this opportunity to mark Bai Xing as her puppet. And then…
“Transform into a puppet.”
Almost the instant she issued the command, Ye Jiujiu heard an announcement from the Death Game.
“Congratulations! You have obtained an A+-ranked puppet: Bai Xing.”
At the same time—
Bai Xing’s previously lively eyes instantly became vacant and lifeless.
Immediately afterward, every player’s mind was filled with the game’s announcement.
“Player Bai Xing: Deceased. Current number of players in the dungeon: 4.”
This announcement clearly caught the remaining four players completely off guard.
Even Ye Jiujiu hadn’t anticipated it.
She had originally thought she could plant Bai Xing among the players as an undercover puppet…
It was a shame, certainly, but the attempt hadn’t been entirely pointless.
At the very least, she had learned an important dungeon rule: transforming a player into a puppet caused the system to declare that player dead and broadcast their death to everyone else.
Watching the remaining four players instantly adopt grim, guarded expressions, she thought expressionlessly, lowering her eyes coldly.
The next moment, under Ye Jiujiu’s continued control…
“Ahhh!”
Lilith stared blankly at Bai Xing, who remained motionless in the exact position of someone tackling her to the ground. It was as though she had only just recovered from the sudden turn of events.
The little girl angrily scrambled to her feet and kicked him.
Even that didn’t seem to satisfy her.
She turned around and glared at the remaining four players. Her expression was righteous, almost aggressive.
“Are you people crazy?! You haven’t even gotten what you came for, and you’re already trying to attack me?”
Huh?
Seeing Lilith shamelessly blame others for something she had done, Doro, who had been Bai Xing’s companion, was the first to lose his patience.
Suppressing his hot temper, and remembering that Lilith was a main-story NPC, he tried to reason with the little girl in front of him, hoping there was still some way to salvage the situation.
“He wasn’t trying to attack you! He was trying to save you!”
As he spoke, Doro gestured for Lilith to follow his gaze toward the snake…
Or rather, the snake mural on the wall?
Doro: …?
Well, damn—
It wasn’t just Doro. Even the other three players fell silent under Lilith’s accusatory and questioning gaze.
In the ensuing silence…
You’re explaining this, right?
Li Changming looked at An He with his eyes.
Do you seriously think I’m good at coaxing children?
An He felt that Li Changming really thought far too highly of him.
Shouldn’t this sort of thing be left to…
His gaze deliberately skipped over Doro, who looked as though he desperately wanted to stare a hole through the floor, and finally landed on Ye Lingmei, who was looking everywhere except at the people around her.
Ye Lingmei: …?
Hey! Don’t push my buttons! Do you think I’m a kindergarten teacher who can effortlessly sweet-talk children?
She turned her head, intending to find someone else to take over the situation, but—
Under An He’s subtle prompting, Lilith had already turned her attention toward her.
Ye Lingmei: …
[An He, you little—!]
She did her best to smile.
“Sweet Lilith, I promise this was all a misunderstanding. Why would anyone ever want to hurt someone as adorable as you?”
Really?
Lilith blinked her beautiful, wide eyes. Her attitude visibly softened a little.
Seeing this, An He realized that this approach was working. Without further hesitation, he grabbed Li Changming and began showering Lilith with compliments in the most serious manner imaginable.
The little girl was so pleased by their flattery that even the hem of her dress seemed to flutter with delight.
She gave an arrogant little huff and finally decided to let the matter go.
“Well, if he’s dead, then he’s dead. There’s nothing I can do about that.”
As she turned around and reached toward the little snake again, Lilith didn’t forget to give them another serious warning.
“Let me tell you again: I’m really not myself yet, so you absolutely must not touch me without my permission!”
What does she mean by ‘I’m really not myself yet’?
An He’s eyes flickered slightly.
“Then when will you finally become yourself?”
He asked softly, as though he were merely making casual conversation.
With the possibility of discovering new clues and rules before them, none of the players paid any further attention to Bai Xing’s death.
After all…
In the Death Game, death was simply far too commonplace.
Unexpectedly, Lilith, who had been fiddling with the little snake, actually stopped moving when she heard his question.
“Do you… want to know?”
A hollow, ethereal girl’s voice suddenly emerged from Lilith’s body.
The next moment—
Lilith slowly tilted her head.
She continued turning until her head had rotated a full 180 degrees. Her sapphire-blue eyes stared eerily at the players without blinking.
“Do you really want to know?”
The dim lights in the corridor suddenly began to flicker.
As the atmosphere grew increasingly oppressive, a sensation resembling the approach of death tightly gripped everyone’s heart.
“Of course.”
An He steadied himself.
Under Lilith’s gaze, as blood tears gradually trickled from her eyes, he removed his glasses and casually wiped them.
He appeared completely composed, but only he knew just how much pressure he was enduring.
Still…
He couldn’t show weakness.
Showing weakness meant death.
“What’s wrong with wanting to know? Lilith is so adorable. Of course I’d want to know everything about someone as adorable as you, wouldn’t I?”
Hmm?
I-Is that so?
Lilith blinked.
Finally, looking at An He’s calm and composed expression…
She believed him.
“Lilith will be ready very soon!”
Her twisted head slowly returned to its normal position.
“When that happens, I’ll be able to play with all of you!”
Lilith’s tone even carried a hint of the coquettish, spoiled mannerisms of a little girl.
“But for now, only my beloved doll is allowed to touch me!”
With the crisis seemingly over, the players hadn’t even had time to breathe a sigh of relief when—
Lilith giggled and scraped the snake’s tail one last time.
“BOOM—!”
An ear-splitting explosion suddenly erupted.
As the wall rotated, a long underground passage appeared before everyone’s eyes.
Underground?
Li Changming’s expression stiffened.
He recalled the nursery rhyme he had memorized at the very beginning.
There had been a line near the beginning:
Rain from the heavens falls ever so softly,
A beautiful doll shall dwell in the tower.
The beautiful doll…
That should be referring to Lilith’s beloved doll.
So…
“…Weren’t we supposed to go to the tower?”
An He put his glasses back on.
An He had clearly reached the same conclusion as Li Changming.
“Do you have a key?”
With just one sentence, Lilith left An He completely speechless.
He politely gestured for Lilith to continue leading the way.
It was an extremely long, dark passage.
After walking for an unknown amount of time—
Lilith, who had been leading the group, suddenly disappeared.
“BANG! BANG! BANG!”
Flames abruptly burst into life, and the previously pitch-black passage was instantly illuminated.
Before the others could recover from the sudden brightness—
“AHHH!”
A sharp, familiar scream immediately made the four players look up.
That was…
The four players’ pupils contracted.
Two Liliths?!
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