Chapter 58
Chapter 58
Yu Lingling used to love celebrating New Year.
Back at the orphanage, New Year meant that unwanted children like them would get to eat meat. Sometimes, there would even be little cakes.
At the laboratory, the staff would take time off for New Year. Sometimes they forgot to leave the children any food, and they would go hungry, but at least they didn’t have to be strapped to operating tables or injected with strange substances that made their bodies hurt.
After Yu Huan brought her home, New Year meant all kinds of delicious food. She could curl up with her brother in their warm home, and for those few days, he wouldn’t scold her no matter what she did.
But now, Yu Lingling didn’t want to celebrate New Year at all, because her brother was gone.
Yu Lingling wanted to go wherever she could be closest to him, and the only place she could think of was a Horror Game Instance.
Song Siyuan’s rank was too high, so he wouldn’t be teaming up with them to enter an instance for the time being. He would, however, wait for them in the Horror Game Lobby.
Before entering their instance, Yu Lingling took Tongyu around the mall and supermarket and bought quite a few things.
Since Song Siyuan knew Yu Lingling and Tongyu would be entering an instance, he had notified the Special Department in advance.
Everyone living in this residential complex was now either a member of the Special Department or a player, so Yu Lingling and Tongyu entering a Horror Game Instance wouldn’t affect any ordinary people. Even so, the area still had to be sealed off.
Although Yu Lingling and Tongyu were already on the same team, they didn’t appear together when they entered the Horror Game Lobby. This was also why Yu Lingling wanted to buy a house inside the Horror Game.
Once they had a house, they would have somewhere to rest. They could both enter the house before leaving the Horror Game, and they would still be there the next time they logged in. It could serve as their base as well.
Yu Lingling had told Tongyu to stay where he was. She followed her teammate’s displayed location straight to him.
Tongyu was crouching beneath a tree.
It wasn’t until Yu Lingling went over that she realized he was staring at a fluorescent blue mushroom that looked decidedly suspicious.
“Do you like this mushroom?”
Tongyu shuffled aside to make room for her. Only after Yu Lingling crouched beside him did he say, “It glows.”
Yu Lingling understood. Because it glowed, Tongyu could see it.
“There are lots of unusual plants here.”
Tongyu turned toward her curiously.
Yu Lingling stood up, then reached out and pulled him to his feet. “Let’s go.”
Tongyu rose with her help. “What kind of instance do you think they’ll assign us?”
At their current ranks, Yu Lingling and Tongyu couldn’t choose their own instances. Once they reached C-rank, they would be able to choose for themselves.
Information about newly opened instances would appear in the Central Plaza. As long as an instance wasn’t full, players could enter it of their own accord. Once all the slots were filled, its information would disappear.
C-rank could be considered the second major threshold for players. The first was the three rookie instances.
“I don’t know.” Yu Lingling thought for a moment before continuing, “I saw an item in the store that lets you choose your own instance. Once we’ve cleared a few more instances, saved up some Game Coins, and gotten used to our skills, we’ll pay the instance that stole your eyes a visit.”
Once Tongyu’s sight was restored, he wouldn’t have to crouch pitifully on the ground just to look at a glowing mushroom anymore.
Tongyu asked quietly, “What if getting my eyes back doesn’t restore my sight?”
Yu Lingling had already considered that possibility.
“Then we’ll find you another pair of eyes. I saw an A-rank hospital instance in the listings. They say there’s an incredibly powerful supernatural doctor inside. If medicine doesn’t work, we’ll turn to the occult. There’s another instance with a Wishing Pool. As long as you offer it enough in exchange, it can grant any wish.”
This was Tongyu’s first time hearing about any of those things, but what mattered even more was that Yu Lingling was genuinely trying to find a solution for him.
“There might be a few minor issues after your sight is restored,” Yu Lingling added after some thought. “But that’s okay. We’ll find a way to fix them.”
Tongyu held Yu Lingling’s hand and listened to her speak. She made him feel as though there was nothing in the world she couldn’t overcome.
“Okay.”
Yu Lingling first took Tongyu to an inn Song Siyuan had told her about. The inn was small, but very clean.
Song Siyuan did not tell Yu Lingling anything about the innkeeper. He only said it was a safe place to stay, and that as long as she did not want to be found, no one would be able to find her there.
The inn was much like the hotels outside, with rates based on room type.
Although Tongyu still had some Game Coins, even if they were teammates and he did not mind, Yu Lingling could not bring herself to spend money he had risked his life to earn.
She chose the small twin room best suited to their needs. It cost twenty Game Coins per day.
Once inside, Yu Lingling inspected the room out of habit. She even released the Four Dolls to make sure there were no items or props of any kind in the room. “Let’s enter an instance.”
Tongyu sat obediently on the bed and nodded.
Although Tongyu was a little older, whenever he was with Yu Lingling, he seemed more like an obedient younger brother.
Yu Lingling sat beside him and took his hand, imitating what her older brother had once done. “Don’t be afraid. I’m here.”
Tongyu nodded vigorously. “Are you sure you don’t need me to put Puppet Threads on you?”
“I don’t.” Yu Lingling reminded him, “Have you forgotten what I told you before? We need to find out whether you can use Puppet Threads directly if you enter the instance with me. You probably had to bind them in advance before because they entered the instance while you stayed outside.”
Tongyu murmured his agreement.
Yu Lingling’s expression turned serious. “I don’t need you to use Death Substitution for me. I need you to do as I say and try using Injury Transfer on a bad person or an anomaly inside the instance, then see whether it affects you.”
Tongyu’s heart began to race.
An innocent smile suddenly appeared on Yu Lingling’s face, only to vanish just as quickly. Her tone remained unchanged. “Tongyu, you can become even stronger.”
For a split second, Tongyu sensed that the aura around Yu Lingling had changed. But her words immediately captured his attention, and he stopped thinking about what had just happened. “Okay.”
This was the first time anyone had placed such expectations on him. It made him feel important rather than dispensable.
Yu Lingling lowered her eyes slightly and warned inwardly, “Behave. Don’t make me smack you.”
At the prospect of trying something new, her alternate personalities had grown restless. She would not have minded letting one of them out before, but not now. No one could stop her from becoming stronger.
Only after sensing that all her alternate personalities had quieted down did Yu Lingling say, “Get ready. We’re entering the instance.”
Tongyu agreed.
On the Horror Game App on her phone, Yu Lingling selected the option to form a party with Tongyu and enter an instance.
Tongyu heard the System’s voice.
“Your teammate Yu Lingling has invited you to enter an instance with her. Do you accept the party invitation?”
The moment the System finished speaking, Tongyu hurriedly answered, “I accept.”
[System Notification: Make-Do Team members Yu Lingling and Tongyu have successfully formed a party. Matching with an instance. A prolonged absence from instances has been detected for team member Tongyu. Penalty mechanism activated. Instance difficulty increased.]
Tongyu flinched. He felt as though he had dragged Yu Lingling into trouble.
Yu Lingling tightened her grip on his hand. “It’s fine. I already expected this.”
Game Coins could be used to delay entering an instance, but the cost increased with every extension.
If delaying it by one month cost one hundred Game Coins the first time, the second month would cost two hundred. The price would keep rising until the player could no longer afford it and was forced into an instance.
There was also a bug in this system. After delaying for several months, a player could enter one instance, and the cost would reset.
That was exactly how the Special Department had arranged things for Tongyu. However, a Horror Game Instance would never let a player clear it so easily. If someone entered an instance after postponing it, the difficulty was bound to increase.
The Special Department therefore had to strike the right balance. But before they could put that balance into practice, Yu Lingling had already spirited Tongyu away.
Tongyu finally relaxed after hearing Yu Lingling’s reassurance.
[Matched with a D-rank instance. Entering the game shortly. Please prepare.]