Chapter 35
Chapter 35
Although Yu Huan hadn’t been polite in the slightest, he was still escorted home with the utmost respect. Along with him came an assortment of fresh ingredients he’d made a special detour to buy.
The moment the car entered the residential complex, Yu Lingling looked up. She was sitting cross-legged in the courtyard, pointing here and there at the Princess Dollhouse. Her nose twitched slightly as she caught a somewhat unfamiliar scent.
Yu Lingling made no attempt to hide the Princess Dollhouse. Instead, she turned on the computer and opened an online first-grade class, positioning the screen to face the newly added desk inside the Princess Dollhouse.
“Study hard. I’m going to check your work.”
While she’d been in the instance, Yu Lingling had already resolved to make these four illiterate little dolls study. As a good child, she naturally had to keep her word.
The car stopped outside Yu Lingling’s home, and someone got out first to unload Yu Huan’s wheelchair.
As soon as Yu Huan emerged from the car, he saw his little sister dressed in fluffy bunny pajamas. He paused for a moment before smiling.
“I’m back.”
Yu Lingling’s eyes curved into crescents as she hugged a stuffed rabbit with one arm. “So am I.”
Yu Huan walked over and ruffled her hair. “Long time no see.”
The people who had brought Yu Huan home were unloading the ingredients from the trunk and placing them outside the courtyard gate. Hearing his words, they assumed he was referring to the few days he’d been away on business. They even found themselves thinking that the siblings seemed quite close. Once everything was unloaded, they left.
But Yu Huan and Yu Lingling both knew what those words truly meant.
The moment Yu Huan saw Yu Lingling sitting outside in nothing but fluffy pajamas, he realized that one of her alternate personalities was currently in control. Yu Lingling’s primary personality was especially afraid of the cold. Whenever she left a well-heated room, she bundled herself in layer after layer.
As for which alternate personality this was, her outfit made it obvious.
This was the alternate personality that had first split off after Yu Lingling was taken to the research institute. The researchers had experimented on her using items brought back from a Horror Game Instance, and this was the earliest alternate personality Yu Huan knew of.
Children loved to imitate others and were easily influenced by the people around them.
Of all the alternate personalities, this one loved research the most – and cared the least about life.
Even so, Yu Huan still believed she was a good child.
Yu Lingling nestled affectionately against his side and spoke in her softest, sweetest voice, saying something utterly cruel.
“They won’t let me come see you, Brother. They’re so annoying. Sooner or later, I’m going to eat them all.”
Yu Huan tugged one of the rabbit ears on the back of her hood. “Don’t deliberately say things that will make your sisters angry.”
Yu Lingling huffed, then broke into a grin again. “Brother, guess how I got out?”
The primary personality was exceptionally strong-willed. Without her permission, none of the alternate personalities could take control of the body.
After entering the courtyard, Yu Huan noticed the lesson playing on the computer. When he saw that it was an online class for first graders, his gaze shifted to the Princess Dollhouse.
Yu Lingling had just opened her mouth to speak when her beautiful, smiling face abruptly darkened.
“So annoying.”
Yu Huan looked at her.
Yu Lingling gave another huff. “Brother, I’ll come play with you again later.”
The moment she finished speaking, Yu Lingling let out a yelp and bounded toward the house.
“I’m going to freeze myself sick! I’m going to catch a cold! Brother, I’m going to catch a cold!”
Yu Huan smiled helplessly, his expression full of indulgence. He knew that Yu Lingling’s fear of the cold was mostly psychological, but so what? His little sister was free to choose the life she wanted now.
“I’ll make you some brown sugar ginger tea in a bit.”
Yu Lingling went back inside, then poked her head out again and called impatiently, “Bro, did you bring me a present?”
Yu Huan quickened his pace. “I did.”
Yu Lingling let out a delighted howl, then ran back inside to change.
By the time she emerged again, she had thrown an ankle-length black down coat over her fluffy pajamas and pulled a rabbit-eared hat over her head. Bundled up from head to toe, she waddled out like a clumsy little penguin.
As she passed Yu Huan, she reminded him, “Bro, you go inside and rest first.”
Yu Huan acknowledged her without sparing the transparent box in the courtyard another glance.
Yu Lingling stacked everything on the wheelchair and pushed it straight into the house.
Yu Lingling placed the items – treasures that everyone would fight over if they were ever put up for grabs – on the table in the courtyard. The four little dolls had never imagined that even after becoming anomalies, they would still be forced to attend classes.
Yu Huan looked at the bags and wrappers from all the puffed and fried snacks scattered around the room, then slowly exhaled. “Didn’t you promise me you’d eat proper meals?”
Yu Lingling saw them too, but replied with brazen confidence, “I’m not the one who ate them.”
Technically, she wasn’t wrong. Whenever something good was done, Yu Lingling considered all her alternate personalities part of herself. But when one of them did something bad, what did that have to do with her, the primary personality?
Yu Huan had already taken off his coat and rolled up his sleeves. He washed his hands, preparing to make Yu Lingling some brown sugar ginger tea. “Why did you let her out this time?”
Yu Lingling crouched by the kitchen door, opening the things her brother had brought back one by one and sorting them into piles. “I’m not telling you.”
Why had she done it?
She merely wanted to find out whether only she, the primary personality, could enter a Horror Game Instance, or whether an alternate personality could enter as well. Was entry tied to the body, or to the soul?
Yu Lingling picked out what she wanted to eat and muttered under her breath, “I should’ve known better than to let her out. She takes forever to do anything.”
Yu Huan already had a guess after hearing that. He hadn’t expected his sister to enter a Horror Game Instance for the second time so soon. This usually happened only when a player had an intense desire to enter the game.
“What did she do?”
As the primary personality, Yu Lingling could access the memories of every alternate personality whenever she wished. The alternate personalities, however, did not share memories with one another. They knew only what the primary personality was willing to let them know.
Yu Lingling summed it up. “She dealt with a tragedy caused by a scumbag’s infidelity. Oh, and one more thing – if you want a good life, you need to be a little selfish.”
Sacrifice yourself to support an entire family?
Not a chance.
Hearing his sister say that people needed to be more selfish, Yu Huan thought of that frail young man. “There’s nothing wrong with helping others when you can afford to, but if you can’t even take care of yourself, don’t think about helping anyone else.”
Yu Lingling finished arranging everything, then leaned close to her brother and sniffed. “Bro, did someone upset you?”
“No.” Those people’s affairs had nothing to do with him. Yu Huan reminded her, “If anyone comes to you with all sorts of nonsense, ignore them and don’t believe what they say. Lingling, even the things you see might be fake, let alone what other people tell you. Trust your own judgment.”
Yu Lingling was about to wash some strawberries when she asked, “Is that why there are so many things you never tell me?”
Yu Huan turned to look at her and repeated what she had said earlier.
“I’m not telling you.”