chapter 25
The overalls were wedged around Bai Jiang’s waist, stretched too tightly to move either up or down. The two shoulder straps dangled uselessly.
Cheng Miao stared.
Qi Jiajia stared.
Tong Qian stared.
After enormous effort, they peeled the overalls from him. Cheng Miao shook her head. “They don’t fit you.”
Sighing in resignation, she took them. “I’ll do it.”
They really needed to save more Items. Without them in this instance, Tong Qian would not have survived, and they could not have passed the final trial.
The moment Cheng Miao volunteered as the toy, Qi Jiajia’s slightly lifted lips plunged downward. She yanked hard on Cheng Miao’s shirttail, making her stumble.
“Why are you suddenly acting crazy?” Cheng Miao demanded, baffled.
Whenever Bai Jiang saw Qi Jiajia, he remembered her yandere expression. Feeling distinctly unwell, he quietly stepped away.
“Did anyone say the toy must be alive?” Qi Jiajia’s sinister question stunned everyone.
If not a living person, then what? A corpse?
Qi Jiajia released Cheng Miao’s clothes and pointed at Baby Bear. “Zhao Liang only had his head pulled off. Baby Bear didn’t eat him.”
Everyone stared at her. She had observed that awfully carefully.
Cheng Miao frowned in disagreement. “That’s only a theory. What if you’re wrong?”
“Then you can try afterward. The rules never say it has to be a living person.” Qi Jiajia glared at her while tugging her braid, her small face dark as a storm cloud.
Cheng Miao was unmoved. “As you said, Zhao Liang was decapitated. How can he be a toy?”
Qi Jiajia faltered, then answered more weakly, “Maybe Mama Bear can sew it back on…”
Tong Qian and Bai Jiang refused to imagine the scene.
Cheng Miao rubbed her forehead, wanting only to dismiss the girl quickly. “If Mama Bear won’t sew him, will you stop making trouble?”
Qi Jiajia pressed her lips together and nodded stiffly. Before Cheng Miao could say more, she jogged over, picked up Zhao Liang’s head, and placed it beside Mama Bear’s paw.
The sight of a small girl laboriously dragging a fat, headless corpse produced considerable visual impact.
Bai Jiang and Cheng Miao could only hold their breath, force themselves not to look at the mangled neck, and drag the body to Mama Bear as quickly as possible.
Without any real hope, Cheng Miao placed the overalls on the corpse and backed away.
Qi Jiajia did not move. When Mama Bear ignored the body, something in the sight seemed to provoke her. She picked up the overalls and threw them.
Splat!
They struck Mama Bear’s sewing supplies from her paws.
“Damn it, you lunatic!” Cheng Miao cursed. Her fingers moved, summoning Liu Xue’s Jump Rope, while her gaze remained fixed on Mama Bear.
Bai Jiang shielded Tong Qian behind him and tore a necklace from his neck.
The atmosphere tightened to the breaking point, yet Mama Bear seemed unaware. Confused, she lowered her head and retrieved the needle and yarn. When she saw Zhao Liang’s body, her eyes brightened.
Puncture. Pull.
The giant fishbone pierced flesh. Hemp thread joined the severed head to the body.
Blood continued dripping. Half sewn, the head hung against the chest like a poorly made scarecrow, its unseeing eyes staring at the players below.
Tong Qian could bear no more. Covering her mouth, she hurried aside to vomit.
Bai Jiang stood behind Cheng Miao, staring at Qi Jiajia in horror. The girl had guessed correctly. This truly was one route to clearance.
Qi Jiajia turned around as though the fury and violence from moments before had belonged to someone else.
For the first time, she smiled openly, humming as she lifted her chin at Cheng Miao like a child awaiting praise for a perfect score.
Parent Cheng… could not bring herself to offer praise.
“Boring.” Qi Jiajia rolled her eyes. She did not seem to care about anyone else’s opinion or expect thanks. Turning away, she resumed watching Mama Bear sew the doll.
Bai Jiang continued staring at her as though she were a ghost. Cheng Miao said mildly, “She’s a clever child. She’ll just do almost anything to get attention. She grew a little crooked.”
Her mouth was venomous, but outside instances, she knew when to yield and when to stand firm.
Inside one, her abilities and reactions were excellent. She was impulsive, but still decent overall.
Bai Jiang had no words.
A little crooked? She’s veered all the way to the moon!
In truth, Cheng Miao believed Qi Jiajia needed therapy. A crazed yandere might approach puzzles from unusual, ingenious angles, but she could easily get herself killed.
More importantly, their goal was to return to reality. If this continued, Qi Jiajia would return as an antisocial personality incapable of integrating into modern society.
Mama Bear worked swiftly. Before long, she had sewn the overalls securely onto Zhao Liang’s corpse. At a glance, it almost resembled a living person.
Qi Jiajia looped her hangman’s rope around the body, and the group hauled it in front of Baby Bear.
“ROAR!” Baby Bear, which had been sitting blankly, brightened at the sight of a life-sized toy.
Its excited cry made everyone look through the open door. A gap slowly appeared in the formerly solid fence.
“Run!” Cheng Miao saw dawn breaking. The sun rose over the horizon at an impossible speed, and the two bears that had been eating fish and sewing began to grow restless.
Qi Jiajia immediately sprinted after Cheng Miao. Bai Jiang hoisted Tong Qian onto his shoulder and followed.
“Faster! Hurry! They’re coming!” From her position over Bai Jiang’s shoulder, Tong Qian watched the three bears abandon their objects and charge with astonishing speed.
Compared with the day before, they had become incomparably faster.
No one dared look back. Holding their breath, the group plunged through the opening in the fence and into chaos. The brown bears’ furious roars gradually receded behind Cheng Miao.
After several blinks, they returned to familiar darkness.
Tong Qian had never experienced an instance settlement and did not know what to do. Then Bai Jiang set her down. “After this instance, I should have enough Travel Coins to reach a Guesthouse. I plan to find the senior who mentored me. He’s at Turtle Dove Guesthouse.”
After a moment of silence, Bai Jiang continued. “Cheng Miao, if you’re willing to join our Club, we would be honored. When you advance, choose that Guesthouse. We have teammates there.”
As before, the darkness around Cheng Miao felt tangible. She no longer bothered examining it.
“Is there a meaningful difference between Guesthouses?”
Cockroach Dormitory, Mosquito Dormitory, Turtle Dove Guesthouse… Their names plainly came from their Front Desk attendants, but she did not know what deeper implications that held.
“My senior said they’re more or less the same. Different Front Desk attendants do have different personalities. It’s safer to have companions in a Game than to fight alone, so many people form groups… And only players in the same Inn can form a team.”
Bai Jiang suspected Cheng Miao would not seek out his Club. Still, she had contributed the most in this instance. Providing information could at least repay some of that favor.
Cheng Miao thanked him and said nothing more. Bai Jiang took the hint and stopped asking, turning toward Tong Qian. “You performed very well for a newcomer. Our Club would welcome you too.”