Chapter 7
Chapter 7
Yu Lingling felt as though something had hurled her out. The spinning sensation of weightlessness sent her heart racing and her vision went black. She snapped her eyes open and sat up, only to find herself in her familiar bedroom.
A soft knock came at the door. After three taps, the person outside stopped.
“Lingling, time to get up.”
Yu Lingling was dressed in fluffy pink bunny pajamas. She climbed out of bed but couldn’t be bothered to put on shoes, so she went to open the door barefoot.
A thick, soft carpet covered the floor, warm and comfortable beneath her feet.
Outside sat a young man in a wheelchair. He had refined, handsome features and a slender build. His sleeve had ridden up while he knocked, revealing a thin, bony wrist.
Yu Lingling cried happily, “Bro, I had a really, really good dream! It was so much fun!”
The young man was Yu Lingling’s older brother, Yu Huan. They were not related by blood. When Yu Lingling was six, Yu Huan had suddenly appeared in her life, adopted her, and given her the name Yu Lingling.
After opening the door, Yu Lingling turned and headed back into her room. Then she paused with a puzzled sound and backed up several steps to check the alarm clock on the table. It wasn’t even six thirty yet.
“Bro, isn’t our appointment with the doctor at nine?”
Normally, her brother only came to wake her when it was nearly eight and she still hadn’t gotten up. Why was he so early today?
Yu Huan fell silent for a moment before gently explaining, “I read the time wrong.”
Yu Lingling had only asked in passing, so she thought nothing more of his answer and pulled open the curtains.
On winter mornings where they lived, the sky at this hour was only just beginning to brighten. The sun wasn’t even up yet. It looked completely different from eight in the morning.
Yu Lingling glanced back at her brother in confusion, but she didn’t dwell on it and went straight into the bathroom to wash up.
Yu Huan watched Yu Lingling disappear into the bathroom, a flicker of concern passing through his eyes. He looked toward the head of her bed, where an inconspicuous transparent box sat. Something seemed to be faintly visible inside it.
The hand Yu Huan had resting on the arm of his wheelchair tightened into a fist. He gave the box one last look before wheeling himself away.
“Lingling, I’ll go make breakfast.”
“Bro! Bro!” Yu Lingling’s muffled voice came from the bathroom. “I want a burger! Double beef!”
Although Yu Lingling had only asked for a burger, Yu Huan knew her appetite and preferences. Along with a double-patty beef burger, he also prepared egg-stuffed flatbread and several other dishes.
In the real world, Yu Lingling looked no more than twelve or thirteen. She had tied her hair into twin ponytails and wore rabbit-patterned slippers with soles that lit up. Leaning against the kitchen doorframe, she poked her head inside.
“Bro?”
Yu Huan wasn’t sitting in his wheelchair in the kitchen. Instead, he supported himself on a cane with one hand while pouring soy milk into a bowl with the other.
“Take this out.”
“You got it!”
Yu Lingling entered the kitchen to carry out the food, chattering all the while as she told her brother about her wonderful dream.
“I dreamed about a little village in the south. Everyone there was so welcoming! They found me somewhere to stay and even played games with me.”
Granted, the accommodations hadn’t been very good, since they were in a cellar. And the villagers’ intentions hadn’t exactly been pure. They’d wanted to abduct and sell her.
But none of that was a big deal.
At such close range, Yu Huan could sense the strange energy rippling off Yu Lingling even more clearly. It was an energy he knew all too well – and despised. His legs, which had long since fully healed, began to ache once more.
Yu Huan quickly composed himself and walked out with the aid of his cane.
“And then?”
Yu Lingling returned to the kitchen and brought out the remaining dishes.
“It had a wonderful ending. Their whole family was reunited, and they’ll be together forever.”
She had sent every last one of them off. How could that not count as a reunion?
Yu Lingling sat down close beside Yu Huan.
“There was also a huge doggy. The moment it saw me, it started rolling around on the ground. It was super friendly!”
Based on Yu Lingling’s description, Yu Huan tried to determine which instance she had encountered. Yet none of the instances he knew matched. Had he been away so long that the Horror Game Instance selection had been updated?
Although Yu Lingling had been the one to ask for a hamburger, the moment she sat down, her chopsticks went straight for a golden-fried dough stick. She took a bite, then dunked it in her soy milk.
Fried dough sticks, meat buns, egg-stuffed flatbread, tea eggs.
Yu Lingling ate with her eyes crinkled in delight. Only at the very end did she finally pick up the hamburger and start eating it.
Compared to hamburgers, Yu Lingling clearly preferred a traditional Chinese breakfast. But hamburgers had become something of an obsession for her. Before her brother took her in, all she could do was watch other children eat them and listen to them show off.
Now, whenever Yu Lingling wanted one, she could have one.
Yu Lingling could eat even more than a grown man, but Yu Huan had long since gotten used to it. It was only when she reached for a strawberry that he moved the plate away.
Like any ordinary parent, Yu Huan reminded her, “You have to rest for fifteen minutes after eating before you can have fruit.”
Yu Lingling let out an aggrieved whine and began clearing the table.
The siblings lived in an old six-story apartment building. Their unit was on the ground floor, and not only was it spacious, it also came with a yard.
The building had seen several accidents over the years, so Yu Huan hadn’t paid much for the place.
Still, it was a home they had chosen together. Every piece of furniture inside had been picked out by the two of them, and the yard was full of vegetables they had planted together.
As their home gradually took shape, Yu Huan and Yu Lingling grew closer and closer. By now, they had truly become family.
Yu Lingling was even willing to listen to Yu Huan and be a good child in the real world.
Once Yu Lingling finished cleaning up, Yu Huan handed her the plate of strawberries. “Eat them inside. We’ll leave at eight thirty.”
Yu Lingling accepted the plate. “Aren’t you having any, Bro?”
Yu Huan gave a quiet, “Mm.”
Only then did Yu Lingling carry the plate inside. “Call me if you need anything, Bro.”
Yu Huan shifted into his wheelchair. “I’m going to water the plants.”
After returning to her room, Yu Lingling sat cross-legged on a chair. She ate strawberries with one hand while picking up the transparent box with the other and examining it. “A Horror Game Instance?”
Inside the transparent box were four sleeping miniature figures. A closer look at their features made it obvious that they were her four alternate personalities from Auspicious Village.
Yu Lingling might have been a little mentally unstable, but she wasn’t stupid.
After confirming that the transparent box was the Princess Dollhouse from that so-called lottery, and that the four alternate personalities inside were the dolls she had captured, Yu Lingling carefully reviewed everything that had happened and reached a conclusion.
Sure enough, there was nothing wrong with her mind. The problem was with the world.
That meant she was sure to pass today’s follow-up evaluation.
The corners of Yu Lingling’s lips curled upward. Not only had she found something far more interesting than hallucinations, she had also confirmed that she wasn’t sick at all.
The thought put Yu Lingling in such a good mood that she began humming. After roughly measuring the transparent box, she took out her phone and started looking for someone to custom-make miniature furniture and doll accessories.
The Princess Dollhouse might have been a Dollhouse in name only – and practically useless at that – but she was in a good mood, so who cared?
Little beds, little cabinets, little tables – buy, buy, buy!
Pretty clothes and bedding – buy, buy, buy!
Unfortunately, her brother was in poor health and far too softhearted. Even the name Horror Game Instance sounded completely wrong for him. It would be better not to let him find out about it.