I Have Yet to Become a Doll Today

Was it merely to scare people and add a sense of horror to the game?

Everyone was at a loss.

Bai Youwei said, “Let’s first talk about the corpse-bearing woman.”

Spotting pen and paper on the table, Du Lai picked them up to draw a rough sketch.

There were twenty-three households in the village, each represented by a square on his sketch. He roughly drew out a distribution map and circled two points at the extreme east and west—

“There’s an old willow tree on the east, an old locust tree on the west. Based on the scenes I’ve seen and the traces left by the wheels, the path of the corpse-bearing woman is approximately like this…”

He drew a winding line that started from the east, moved to the west, and then looped back. The path was essentially a circle through the village.

“An elderly woman in her seventies or eighties, pushing a handcart with a mat on top. The mat must be covering a corpse,” Du Lai succinctly explained the situation. “I didn’t show myself, so I’m not sure if she poses a threat.”

“Did you only see the old woman?” Bai Youwei asked doubtfully. “I heard a very young woman’s voice.”

“Me too.” Fu Miaoxue added. “The voice sounded very young.”

Du Lai shook his head, “Apart from the old woman, I didn’t see anyone else.”

In a serious tone, Shen Mo said, “So, we now have two problems. One, why did the paper figure suddenly appear at our door? Two, why did the voice of the corpse-bearing woman sound younger than the woman Du Lai saw?”

He paused, and looking at them, said, “Do you have any thoughts about it?”

“Every household in the village has their doors closed. Only the old scholar’s door is open. It seems that besides asking the villagers about the situation tomorrow, we should also find a chance to investigate this mansion,” Bai Youwei suggested.

Fu Miaoxue reminded, “Don’t forget, we were able to enter because we recited the Classical Chinese verse. If we want the villagers to talk, we’ll probably need to make an effort, just as it was when I played ‘Riddle Kingdom’. Each inhabitant had a set of riddles to solve! The theme of the game might be different, but many mechanisms are interconnected!”

Bai Youwei agreed with Fu Miaoxue’s viewpoint and nodded in approval.

Those who have played games extensively will notice that no matter how the game rules change, some things always interconnect.

“The ultimate goal of corpse-moving is burial,” Shen Mo analyzed. “Once we figure out why the corpse-bearing woman hasn’t buried the body yet, we would be close to clearing this game. Let’s investigate together when daylight comes.”

A trace of a smile appeared on Du Lai’s tired face. “It seems this is like a detective riddle game, where you have to solve A, which usually needs B, and to solve B, you usually need C. The answer comes only when A, B, and C are all connected.”

Fu Miaoxue sighed, “Damn, this is bothersome. I hate it when I have to use my brain~”

Bai Youwei said, “I love using my brain.”

“Why?” Asked Fu Miaoxue, looking at her with innocent eyes.

Bai Youwei patted her own leg and said, “Because there’s nothing else I can move.”

“Oh…” Fu Miaoxue had a sudden realization.

After a while, she felt something was off. She looked at Bai Youwei suspiciously, then at Du Lai, and whispered, “Why do I feel like she just insulted me?”

Du Lai chuckled and, taking Fu Miaoxue’s hand, said to the others, “We’re going back to our room. Contact us if anything happens.”

Shen Mo slightly nodded.

All four of them were not new to the game and had their own approach to it. After finalizing their plan, they each went back to their rooms for rest. The scare that night seemed to be but a minor episode.