Chapter 6: Lilith’s Doll (5)

That question…

Was a good one, wasn’t it?

Watching the three grown men around her take a synchronized step backward, Ye Lingmei, who had reacted a beat too slowly, nearly ground her teeth to dust.

She fought back the urge to abandon every last shred of her good manners and morals just to give those three useless men a piece of her mind. Instead, she forced herself to squeeze out a smile.

But—

This time, Lilith, who was now convinced she had finally seen through their true nature, didn’t listen to a single word.

Not listening, not listening! The turtle is chanting scriptures!

Lilith stubbornly pursed her little lips, refusing to listen to reason no matter what anyone said. Even An He was beginning to feel an itch in his hands just looking at her.

She was every bit as troublesome as a spoiled, unruly child. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

Li Changming remained silent before finally turning to An He.

They had less than fifty minutes left before the dungeon’s time limit expired. They could no longer afford to waste precious time trying to coax a child.

Otherwise…

“Do you even know the way to the tower?”

Lilith spoke in a sinister tone.

“And if you dare try to use force against me, I’ll kill myself right in front of you. How about that?”

Li Changming, who had just been about to have An He tie Lilith up with his vines so they could make a run for it: “…”

He looked at Lilith, whose gaze was fixed firmly on him, and slowly put on an innocent smile. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

What else could they do?

They had to humor her, didn’t they?

Even Doro, hot-tempered as he was, managed to suppress his temper. He practically had to get down on his knees and beg Lilith to show them mercy before—

Deciding that enough time had passed and that everyone was nearing the limit of their endurance, Ye Jiujiu finally controlled Lilith and made her nod.

With Lilith’s cooperation, the group managed to reach the tower in the final ten minutes.

They climbed a long flight of stairs. At the very top stood a door so clean that it looked brand-new.

There was an indentation on the door, and its shape was exactly that of a heart.

“We’re here! We’re here!” Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

Lilith skipped forward excitedly. In front of everyone, she practically couldn’t wait to press the heart against the door.

The moment the door swung open with a thunderous rumble, Li Changming thought he was finally about to clear the dungeon—

“You have been eliminated! Current number of players remaining in the dungeon: 0.”

W-What?

Utterly bewildered, Li Changming forced his eyes wide open and desperately tried to peer through the doorway.

“Shh—”

Amid the profound darkness, the last thing he saw was the two Liliths holding hands. Their heads were twisted at an unnatural angle as they raised their fingers to their lips, signaling for silence.

… Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

“Dungeon evaluation complete. System calculating…”

“Dear Miss Ye Jiujiu,

“The evaluation results for your dungeon, Lilith’s Doll, are as follows:

• Participating player rank: A+

• Number of participating players: 5

• Number of players who cleared the dungeon: 0

• Player negative emotional feedback: Excellent

• Current dungeon difficulty assessment: Difficult Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

• Overall dungeon rating: S-rank Premium Dungeon”

“The following are the updated details of your privately owned dungeon:”

“Dungeon Name: Lilith’s Doll (S)

Number of Dungeon NPCs: 1 [Ye Jiujiu]

Dungeon Duration: 6 hours

Dungeon Background:

Lilith is an extremely adorable little girl. She owns a very beautiful doll.

However, just a few days ago, her doll mysteriously disappeared. Lilith was devastated. She couldn’t stop thinking about it, day and night, until finally… Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

One night, she dreamed that her beloved doll had appeared inside an old castle.

Determined to uncover the truth and rescue her precious doll, Lilith decided to visit the castle.

You happened to encounter Lilith on her way there.

After hearing her story, driven by intense curiosity, you decided to accompany her into the castle.

Dungeon Clearance Prerequisite:

Protect Lilith.

Dungeon Clearance Conditions (complete and submit any ONE of the following):

1. Discover the entire truth behind the disappearance of Lilith’s doll. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

2. Return Lilith’s most beloved doll to her.

3. Kill the doll. [Hidden Mission; this condition will not be displayed unless triggered.]

Note: This dungeon contains a special hidden item that can be taken out of the dungeon after completing the Hidden Mission.

[Hidden Item: Substitute Death Puppet (100 Points will be deducted from the NPC’s account.)]”

“You will receive a dungeon reward of 500 Points.”

“Your personal trait has been successfully unlocked. The following is your updated personal status panel:”

Name: Ye Jiujiu

Background Classification: Modern World Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

Overall Personal Rating: A+

(You may be more delicate than a flower, but your beauty is so extraordinary that it can serve as a weapon… and you possess the intelligence to bring out your malicious side.)

All Dungeons: Lilith’s Doll

Dungeon Rank: S

Skills:

Puppet Creation (Lv. 1): You can create any puppet you desire and grant it certain abilities. You can also transform any marked existence into a puppet under your control. All puppets you transform will retain the strength they possessed before their transformation. If a puppet is damaged, you can spend the corresponding amount of Points to repair it.

P.S.: Direct or indirect contact involving you or your puppets can be considered a successful mark. For example, if you or one of your puppets touches A, or if B touches A, both A and B will be marked by you.

[Points required to upgrade to Lv. 2: 1,000] Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

Paint and Powder (Lv. 1): You can freely alter the appearance of your puppets. Make them bigger or smaller, fatter or thinner, beautiful or ugly. You can assign whatever dazzling colors you wish.

[Points required to upgrade to Lv. 2: 1,000]

Silken Thread Manipulation (Lv. 1): You can control your puppets.

[Points required to upgrade to Lv. 2: 1,000]

Trait: The Butterfly Dream of Zhuang Zhou, or Is It Zhuang Zhou Dreaming of a Butterfly? You are the puppet, and the puppet is you.

Points: 699.8

“How utterly lacking in challenge…”

Ye Jiujiu casually examined her updated status panel and remarked without the slightest emotion. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

From the very beginning, every step the players took had led them straight into the traps she had laid.

If they had been more cautious early on and avoided touching Lilith, they could have escaped the trap. But once the players encountered the two Liliths and triggered the Hidden Mission, they had already plunged halfway into the abyss of failure.

Although there were three possible dungeon clearance conditions, the moment the two Liliths appeared, the players’ choices had already been divided into separate paths.

At that point, the players essentially had only three options.

The first was to kill neither Lilith.

The second was to kill the Lilith with a beating heart.

The third was to kill the Lilith without a beating heart.

According to Ye Jiujiu’s design, keeping both Liliths alive was indeed the optimal solution. That was precisely why she had deliberately placed the Hidden Mission’s trigger at this point. She had also used the nursery rhyme to explain exactly how to distinguish the doll from the real Lilith, handing the players complete control over their own choices. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

Of course, some players might remain cautious and resist the temptation of the Hidden Mission.

But what if Lilith told them that they absolutely had to kill one of the two?

Wouldn’t they think: So that’s why the clues were made so obvious! Killing one of the Liliths must be part of the main storyline. We’re supposed to do it!

And that brought them down to the remaining two possibilities.

Two choices that appeared to offer a glimmer of hope but were, in reality, both paths to certain death.

Footnotes

1. The turtle is chanting scriptures: A playful expression used to dismiss someone’s words as meaningless or irritating. Lilith is essentially refusing to listen.

2. The Butterfly Dream of Zhuang Zhou: A philosophical idea about the uncertainty of reality and identity. It refers to a famous story in which the philosopher Zhuang Zhou dreams he is a butterfly, then wonders whether he is a man who dreamed of being a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming of being a man.