Chapter 6
Chapter 6
Yu Lingling meant every word she said. She had never believed that nonsense about how children were innocent or that every child was still a life.
The older girl next door had told her that no one could force a woman to give birth. A child born against the woman’s will was better off never existing.
Her brother had repeatedly warned her that she must never kill anyone in real life.
A child born against the woman’s will didn’t have to exist, and since this wasn’t reality, killing was allowed. Therefore, there was absolutely nothing wrong with helping the woman get rid of the child.
Yu Lingling found no flaws in her logic whatsoever. Once she woke up, she would tell her brother that she had been a good child today too.
As for the four additional alternate personalities that had split off from her…
Yu Lingling’s gaze wandered. Every girl needed a few little secrets of her own.
Beneath the Blood Moon, the woman stared fixedly at Yu Lingling. Her face, already deformed by the absence of her teeth and tongue, twisted even further. Right in front of Yu Lingling, she pulled back the bedsheet and aimed the sharp stone she had been hiding in her hand at her own belly.
The instant Yu Lingling saw what she was doing, she hurriedly called out, “Wait.”
After Yu Lingling stopped her, the woman’s body began to mutate. Sharp teeth sprouted inside her mouth, and her eyes filled with mockery. She had known it. Everyone who came here was nothing more than a pack of two-faced, sanctimonious-
Yu Lingling had already taken out a dagger, a kitchen knife, and a machete. After inspecting them, she found the dagger rusty, while the machete, though sharp, looked somewhat unwieldy. In the end, she raised the kitchen knife.
“How about using this? I’ll go find some liquor to disinfect it for you.”
When she killed the man, she had smelled alcohol on him, so he probably drank regularly.
The woman stared at the kitchen knife Yu Lingling was offering her.
Yu Lingling leaned closer, a suppressed longing in her eyes. “Do you know how to use a knife? I can help. I have perfect marks in theory.”
She simply had no practical experience.
After thinking it over, Yu Lingling said with complete seriousness, “But you’ll have to write me a letter of authorization and a liability waiver. If anything goes wrong by accident, it has nothing to do with me.”
The vicious, twisted look in the woman’s eyes cleared completely. She might be uneducated, but even she felt that letters of authorization and liability waivers weren’t supposed to be used like that.
She could sense that everyone in the village who had humiliated or harmed her was now dead.
Two trails of bloody tears ran down the woman’s face.
Yu Lingling looked conflicted. Finally, with obvious reluctance, she handed over the kitchen knife. “Fine. I won’t fight you for it.”
At those words, the woman’s eyes went lifeless. Both the joy of avenging herself and the relief of finally being understood vanished without a trace.
Watching from their screens, the audience had at least a hundred curses they wanted to hurl at Yu Lingling.
The woman’s eyelids drooped. She skipped the process entirely and simply stood up to present the result.
Yu Lingling looked at the woman’s sliced-open belly, then at the bluish-purple infant crawling around by her feet, dragging its umbilical cord behind it. It resembled a flayed monkey.
Her eyes lit up.
Ding! New illusions unlocked: Ghost Mother and Ghost Infant.
So this was what Horror Game was truly about.
Yu Lingling stared intently at the Ghost Mother’s belly. “Would you like me to stitch that up for you?”
While suturing the wound, she could also take the opportunity to study how a ghost’s body differed from a human’s.
Wonderful. A brand-new research topic!
The intensity of Yu Lingling’s gaze made the Ghost Mother’s hair stand on end. She threw something at Yu Lingling, then vanished.
Yu Lingling let out a disappointed sound and sighed deeply. This Ghost Mother illusion hadn’t been very good. It had disappeared far too quickly.
Her gaze shifted to the bluish-purple Ghost Infant on the floor.
The Ghost Infant’s pitch-black eyes met Yu Lingling’s, and it immediately tried to crawl away.
Yu Lingling stepped on the umbilical cord trailing behind it.
“I promised I’d help her get rid of you.”
The Ghost Mother had paid her and left the Ghost Infant behind. Wasn’t that obviously a request for Yu Lingling to deal with it?
Yu Lingling raised her blade and brought it down. Yet just before it struck, an invisible barrier blocked her attack. Without the slightest hesitation, she pivoted and slashed behind her.
This strike wasn’t meant to kill. It was meant to force whoever was behind her to retreat.
Yu Lingling planted one foot on the head of the Ghost Infant, whose mouth was packed with sharp fangs, pinning it to the ground. She looked at the four alternate personalities. “You’re being naughty.”
The moment they met Yu Lingling’s gaze, all four children instinctively took a step back.
The girl who looked older than the other three swallowed hard and summoned her courage. “You cleared it.”
As soon as she spoke those four words, a mechanical voice sounded in Yu Lingling’s mind.
[Tutorial Solo Instance: Auspicious Village cleared perfectly. Calculating clear rewards.]
Yu Lingling’s expression immediately darkened. Without another word, she punted the snarling Ghost Infant across the courtyard, charged into the house, and began rummaging for loot.
[The Livestream Room is about to close. 3, 2, 1.]
As the final number ended, Yu Lingling’s Livestream Room disappeared.
Meanwhile, Yu Lingling was still darting all over the instance, scooping up everything in sight, useful or not.
[Instance rewards: Exclusive Gift activated. This gift is suitable for children between the ages of four and six. Please draw your gift now.]
Yu Lingling discovered that although she was still standing in the courtyard, she no longer seemed to occupy the same spatial dimension as the four alternate personalities. It was a strange, subtle sensation that made her extremely uncomfortable.
A battered raffle box appeared in front of Yu Lingling, close enough for her to touch simply by reaching out.
The box was grimy, as though it had been fished out of a trash can. Judging by its material, it seemed to be made from the skin of some unknown creature, and the stains covering it looked like dried blood.
On closer inspection, the raffle box seemed more like a living thing. Something inside it was constantly writhing and struggling to break free.
Yu Lingling was fearless within her own hallucinations. She first ran her hand over the outside of the box. The surface was smooth and warm, even slightly elastic. She peered through the hole in the lid, but the interior was pitch-black, and she couldn’t see a thing.
[Player, please draw your gift.]
Yu Lingling curled her lip and reached inside. The box clearly wasn’t very large, yet she couldn’t feel any of its inner walls. Something brushed against her fingers, and she immediately grabbed it.
The instant Yu Lingling caught hold of something, the raffle box vanished. A crude, transparent plastic box appeared in her hand, and information about the so-called gift flowed into her mind.
Princess Dollhouse: A Dollhouse every little princess dreams of owning. Decorate the rooms to your heart’s content and dress up your dolls however you like. But be warned – dolls have tempers too. Be careful, or they might tear you to pieces.
Yu Lingling shook the box vigorously, but there was nothing inside.
[The instance is about to close. Player, please prepare to depart. 3, 2…]
Yu Lingling looked at the four alternate personalities and flung the box in her hand toward them, enveloping all four.
Since it was a Princess Dollhouse, how could it not have dolls?
Alternate personalities? Not anymore. Now they were her dolls!
[Beep, beep, beep-beep!]
A shrill error alarm rang out.
[3, 2, 11111111, beep-beep, 3, 333…]
It sounded like an old, worn-out machine that had jammed and could no longer function.
[Instance error. The Auspicious Village Solo Instance will be permanently closed.]
[111111. Instance closed.]