Chapter 9: The Doll Is Too Delicate to Take Care of Herself (2)

“Modern World Background, A+-Rank Player: Storm has triggered a Joint Advancement Instance Dungeon. Your level has been detected as A+, meeting the NPC level requirements for this player’s Joint Advancement Instance Dungeon. Would you like to participate?”

“Warning: Killing players inside this instance dungeon will earn you the corresponding points. If an NPC dies, 20 points will be deducted, and the NPC will be removed from the current Joint Advancement Instance Dungeon. NPCs who remain alive when the instance dungeon ends will receive a reward of 200 points. (You have been detected as an A+-rank NPC. You will receive an additional hidden reward.)”

Let’s set aside the hidden reward for now. Just the fact that…

200 points?

You never realize how expensive everyday necessities are until you’re the one paying for them.

Ye Jiujiu, whose current point balance was still below 200, blinked and couldn’t help counting on her fingers.

Her puppet shop was her own territory, so she didn’t have to pay rent to the game system. However, electricity and water bills were still deducted daily. Add food expenses, snacks, consumable household supplies, and all sorts of other miscellaneous daily expenses…

Even if she did nothing but stay inside her shop, her daily living expenses would amount to approximately two or three points.

Now, all she had to do was stay inside the Joint Advancement Instance Dungeon until it ended, and she would receive 200 points… Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

She could also take the opportunity to find a way to raise awareness of her dolls…

Who could possibly resist such an offer?

“Participate.”

She absolutely had to participate!

Whoever refused was a coward!

“Confirmation complete. NPC, please take your position!”

A flash of white light appeared. By the time Ye Jiujiu regained her senses, she was already inside a hotel room.

“This round’s game instance dungeon will begin in 20 minutes!” Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

Looking at the countdown ticking away on the screen, Ye Jiujiu glanced around the room. Eventually, she found a book titled Hotel Handbook on the bedside table.

“Dear Guest, welcome to Snow Village Hotel. Please read the following accommodation guidelines:

1. Snow Village Hotel has three floors in total.

The first floor consists of the hotel reception area, staff accommodations, kitchen, dining area, service area, entertainment area, and other facilities.

The second floor is the standard guest room area.

There are two types of standard rooms: single rooms and multi-person rooms.

Guests staying on this floor may request room service once per day or visit the first floor to enjoy the hotel’s complimentary entertainment facilities. However—

Entering the third floor of the hotel is strictly prohibited. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

The third floor consists of the luxury guest room area and the premium dining area.

The luxuriously furnished suites include three bedrooms, one living room, three bathrooms, one study, one walk-in wardrobe, a private garden, and an additional terrace overlooking the endless snowy scenery of Snow Village. Each suite is also equipped with a private swimming pool.

Guests staying on this floor may move freely throughout the hotel and are provided with 24-hour private concierge service.

2. This hotel will protect every guest. However, in accordance with our service philosophy that the customer is always right, and that premium customers are the ones who are always right above all others, guests on lower floors must not provoke guests on higher floors.

If a conflict occurs between guests staying on the same floor, room card numbers will determine their priority. The lower the room number, the higher the ranking, and the more likely the hotel is to take that guest’s side.

3. Your room card is the only valid proof of residence within the hotel. Losing your room card means losing your status as a hotel guest.

4. You must not attack hotel staff or endanger their lives without reason.

5. Although this hotel provides room service, guests must prepare the rewards themselves. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

In the interest of fairness and impartiality, the reward must be proportional to the difficulty of the requested service.

If a staff member makes a mistake while providing a service, you may resolve the matter yourself or file a direct complaint. The hotel will take such complaints very seriously.

6. Daily accommodation fees:

Second-floor guests: 3 points per person.

Third-floor guests: 5 points per person.”

Ye Jiujiu, who had just finished reading the last rule: …?

Five points a day. The instance dungeon would last 30 days, meaning she would have to spend a total of 150 points on accommodation.

If she managed to survive until the end, her 200-point reward minus the 150-point accommodation fee… Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

That meant her actual reward was only 50 points?

Although she had a vague feeling that she’d been tricked, still…

Ye Jiujiu glanced around her hotel room, which could easily be described as luxurious.

Five points a day for full accommodation and meals?

What a bargain!

Come to think of it, if she did nothing but lie low until the end, this would basically be a 30-day hotel vacation, and she’d even earn 50 points on top of that…

She loved it! She absolutely loved it!

Just as Ye Jiujiu happily pondered how she could find an opportunity to advertise her little shop and, while she was at it, select a few stronger players to convert into her own puppets for free… Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

The countdown ended.

“Welcome to the Death Game! This round’s instance dungeon officially begins!”

“Instance Dungeon Name: Snow Village Hotel

This advancement round is a special Joint Instance Dungeon.

There are 20 players ranked B+ or above, including 7 A+-rank players.

There are 280 NPCs (the lowest NPC rank is B+, while the highest is S. There are 3 A+-rank and S-rank NPCs in total).

Current player advancing from A+ to S rank: Storm.

Instance Dungeon Duration: 30 days. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

Instance Dungeon Background: Snow Village Hotel is located deep within a snow-covered region. Beneath its endless stretches of ice and snow lie one mysterious legend after another, each buried and forgotten.

Your Assigned Identity: Hotel Guest.

Your Room Number: 3-03.

Your Room Card Rank: A+.

Your Guest Token: Mark a player as your puppet.

Player Clearance Missions (complete either one to clear the instance dungeon):

1. Collect two room cards ranked equal to or higher than your own.

(Third-floor guests who lose their room cards may have them reissued. However, each reissuance will cost 1,000 points.) Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

2. Receive guest tokens from two hotel guests whose ranks are equal to or higher than your own.

(Each time an NPC gives away a guest token, 1,000 points will be deducted from that NPC.)

Note: All A+-rank players other than Storm who successfully clear this instance dungeon will obtain the qualification to trigger a new advancement instance dungeon for promotion to S rank.”

“All NPCs are requested to read the Hotel Handbook carefully. Any NPC who violates the rules will be directly expelled from the instance dungeon.

Eliminating one player will earn you 50 points. Eliminating Storm, the A+-rank player attempting to advance to S rank, will earn you 100 points.”

Ye Jiujiu, who could no longer smile after reading everything: …?

Her stunningly beautiful face seemed to have become covered in countless question marks.

Her guest token was actually the ability to mark players as her puppets? Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

That was something she could reluctantly accept, but the truly outrageous part was—

Giving away one guest token would cost 1,000 points?

In other words, it wasn’t that she couldn’t convert players into puppets. She simply had to spend 1,000 points to bring home a player-ranked puppet of at least B+ rank?

After looking at her current point balance, Ye Jiujiu felt utterly miserable.

Hadn’t she just spent 200 points on materials and only managed to create Big Bear, a C-rank puppet?

At this stage, if given a choice between spending 1,000 points and obtaining a player-converted puppet of at least B+ rank, Ye Jiujiu would undoubtedly choose the latter.

But the problem was…

She didn’t have any points! Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

Wasn’t this equivalent to eating fried chicken, drinking cola, and devouring grilled skewers right in front of someone who was trying to lose weight?

They might as well have simply told her outright that it was forbidden!

This was psychological torture!

Was this really something a decent system would do?!

And there was something even more outrageous…

If she hadn’t misunderstood, A+-rank players who wanted to clear the instance dungeon had to seek out A+-rank or S-rank NPCs.

But there were seven A+-rank players, while there were only three A+-rank and S-rank NPCs combined?

And wouldn’t you know it? Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

She was one of those three A+-rank and S-rank NPCs!

She didn’t even need to think about it. Even if she made no effort to seek out the players, they would definitely come looking for her.

And among the three A+-rank and S-rank NPCs, she would undoubtedly be the easiest target to deal with.

Ye Jiujiu took a deep breath—

Her fists immediately clenched.

Her earlier happiness burst like a fragile bubble. It had all been so fake, so utterly mocking, as though someone had gone out of their way to slap her hard across the face.

Damn it!

She’d been scammed! Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

As expected, no pie would ever fall from the sky, and there was no such thing as a free lunch!