Chapter 10
Chapter 10
Before starting the car, Yu Huan suddenly glanced toward the southwest and frowned slightly.
Yu Lingling followed his gaze curiously. “Bro?”
Yu Huan was silent for a moment. “Lingling, what kind of person do you think Doctor Song is?”
Feeling the car warm up, Yu Lingling unwound her scarf. “Kind of annoying. Someone who relies on external aids.” She folded the scarf neatly on her lap and obediently fastened her seat belt. “He’s not purely bad or thoroughly good. Still, it looks like he’ll live a very long life. After all, scourges live for a thousand years.”
Although Yu Lingling still didn’t know exactly what the threads were, she had noticed that Doctor Song relied on them far too much when making judgments. But threads were inanimate objects, and deceiving an object was much easier than deceiving a person.
Besides, what if the threads disappeared one day?
But she and Doctor Song weren’t on good terms, so she had no intention of warning him.
Yu Huan smiled. “I don’t feel like having copper-pot hot pot on West Street today. How about beef hot pot instead?”
“Sure.” Yu Lingling was an unabashed carnivore. As long as there was meat, she wasn’t picky. “I want hand-pounded beef balls.”
The siblings happily went out for hot pot, then spent the afternoon at the mall stocking up for the New Year. When they returned home, Yu Lingling saw the black cat again. This time, however, Yu Huan spoke before she could go play with it.
Yu Huan got out of the car and steadied himself with his cane. “Lingling, leave the car out front for now. I need to go out for a while.”
Yu Lingling looked at the black cat, then at her brother. She took the wheelchair from the trunk and had him sit down, spread a small blanket over his legs, and finally removed her own scarf and wrapped it snugly around his neck. “Hmph, hmph, hmph.”
Yu Huan ruffled her hair. “Order yourself some takeout tonight. What do you want for breakfast tomorrow? I’ll bring it home.”
Yu Lingling thought for a moment. “Pizza.”
Yu Huan agreed, gave her a couple more reminders, and then steered the wheelchair away.
Only after both her brother and the black cat had disappeared from sight did Yu Lingling start carrying the shopping inside. She had always known her brother had a password, but since he didn’t want her to know it, she was perfectly happy to pretend she didn’t.
Once home, Yu Lingling put everything away and carried the large Dollhouse model she’d bought at the mall into her room. She opened a drawer and took out the Princess Dollhouse. After confirming that the Four Dolls inside were still asleep, she casually set it on the desk.
Yu Lingling took a shower first. Then, with great ceremony, she changed into a new pair of fluffy pajamas patterned with cats. Only after lighting a red-and-white scented candle on the desk did she begin unboxing the model.
It was a three-story wooden villa that stood over a meter tall once assembled. The first floor contained a living room, dining room, and kitchen. The second floor had two bedroom suites, each complete with a bed, bathroom, study, and sitting room. The third floor had the same layout as the second.
The rooftop had been designed as a small garden, and Yu Lingling even added a swing chair.
By the time she finished assembling everything, it was already the next morning. After carefully inspecting the villa, Yu Lingling picked up the palm-sized transparent box.
If Doctor Song had obtained his threads and their ability to distinguish truth from lies by entering the Horror Game, and that ability could be brought into the real world, then that meant she could do the same.
Before this, Yu Lingling had only thought about buying something according to the right dimensions. But if the Horror Game existed and even the threads could be brought out, why should she limit herself to doing things the conventional way?
The threads were capable of sensing a peculiar fluctuation of energy.
Yu Lingling considered this, then recalled how it had felt in the so-called Auspicious Village. A soft glow began to radiate from the transparent box in her hand as she looked toward the wooden villa.
The transparent box rose from Yu Lingling’s hand and drifted over the little wooden villa. The villa faded into a phantomlike image.
Yu Lingling felt as if something had been drained from her body. She hated the weakness that washed over her, along with the sensation of someone pounding her head with a hammer.
Even without anyone telling her, Yu Lingling knew she had overtaxed her ability. But it shouldn’t have affected her like this. She shouldn’t be this weak.
The miniature wooden villa vanished, then reappeared in a corner of the transparent Dollhouse.
The Dollhouse remained just as small as before, which made the villa inside look even tinier and more exquisite.
Yu Lingling hefted it in one hand, pulled open the curtains, and climbed onto the bay window ledge. Facing the sun, she planted one hand on her hip and raised the Dollhouse high with the other. After two smug little hums, she declared, “Piece of cake.”
“Lingling?”
A familiar, puzzled voice came from outside the yard.
Yu Lingling looked down and saw Yu Huan sitting in his wheelchair, watering the vegetables as he stared up at her in confusion.
Yu Huan glanced over the altered transparent box before his gaze finally settled on Yu Lingling’s face. “Go back to sleep after breakfast.”
Yu Lingling let out a surprised yelp. “When did you get back, bro?”
“Just now,” Yu Huan said with a smile. “I brought you pizza and some of Old Zhang’s giant meat buns.”
Yu Lingling casually set the Dollhouse on her desk. After washing up, she went to eat breakfast.
Yu Huan didn’t ask what had happened to the model they’d bought. Once Yu Lingling finished eating, he simply urged her to get some rest. “I have to leave on a two-day business trip. Take good care of yourself while I’m gone.”
Yu Lingling was already used to her brother traveling for work. “Why do I feel like you’ve been going on a lot more business trips since June?”
In the past, Yu Huan had only traveled once every three to six months. Sometimes he would be gone for three or four days, and other times for ten days or so.
But since June this year, this was already his eighth trip. None of them had lasted long, but something still felt off.
Yu Huan sighed. “I’ll be back before the New Year, though.”
Yu Huan no longer had to enter the Horror Game, but over the past six months, the Horror Game Instance had become increasingly active and manifested repeatedly in the real world.
The authorities would lock down an area whenever they discovered one and send specialists inside to deal with it, but many ordinary people were still dragged in. Very few of those people ever made it out alive.
As for telling the public about the Horror Game?
That would only cause greater panic and unrest.
Panic, unrest, and other negative emotions provided energy to the Horror Game, allowing it to manifest in reality even more frequently.
Some countries made no attempt to control its manifestations. Instead, they deliberately trained people and sent them into the Horror Game. As for the ordinary people caught up in it, they became nothing more than stepping stones for those trainees.
As the only top player to have successfully broken free from the Horror Game Instance, Yu Huan served as a consultant to the Special Department. Even when dealing with an unfamiliar instance, he could form a reasonably accurate analysis using the available data and existing intelligence.
Yu Lingling carefully studied her brother’s expression. Although he looked somewhat tired, she saw no disgust or reluctance in his eyes. Only then did she nod. “Okay.”
Yu Huan stayed until after lunch before leaving. His ride waited outside the residential complex, as he never allowed those people anywhere near the home he shared with his sister. Before he left, he transferred a sizable sum of money to Yu Lingling and asked a neighbor to keep an eye on her.
In Yu Huan’s eyes, no matter how old his sister was, what abilities she possessed, or what her true identity might be, she would always be the little girl who needed his protection – the one who became frightened whenever darkness fell and thunder rumbled.