Chapter 1 The Wooden Doll

Lying on the sofa was a wooden doll resembling a little girl.

The doll was nearly half a meter tall, made entirely of wood, with its surface painted in colors close to human skin tones. In its left hand, it held a utility knife, and in its right, a television remote control. A string of cross-shaped keys hung around its neck.

The doll wore a red dress, a brown wig styled in two braids, and had rouge on its cheeks, with a bright, lifelike smile.

It had to be said that the doll's overall craftsmanship was quite exquisite.

Its eyes, ears, neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, and even each finger could move independently.

It was more realistic than a Barbie doll,

yet less human than modern Bjd (Ball-jointed doll) dolls.

Bathed in the dim light emanating from the television screen, it appeared ghostly and terrifying.

Clang—

Li Ang's cleaver, swung downward, was blocked by the doll's right arm, the one holding the remote control.

Not only did the blade fail to chip off any wooden fragments, but it also felt like striking solid steel, causing the cleaver to tremble slightly and his wrist to ache.

Click, click.

The doll jerkily moved its neck, slowly raising its head.

Its wooden eyelids blinked gently, and its pale green pupils stared intently at Li Ang above.

Crack.

The doll abruptly exerted force with its right hand, crushing the remote control.

The television in front of the sofa, as if affected by a button being pressed, reverted to a snowy screen filled with static.

Subsequently, the doll's right hand flipped backward with extraordinary flexibility, its five fingers inverted, pressing down on the cleaver's blade.

Li Ang unhesitatingly withdrew the cleaver to prevent the weapon from being seized.

At the same time, he stomped his foot on the ground, retreating several steps to the dining room.

Click, click.

The wooden doll in the red dress, as if performing a mechanical dance, stood stiffly from the sofa. Its body continued to face the television, but its head abruptly turned ninety degrees to the left without any warning, staring at Li Ang.

Is this the "threat" mentioned in the mission objective that could potentially cause fatal harm?

Li Ang looked at the bizarre doll, not rushing to attack, but instead attempting to negotiate, "Hello?"

Based on the information gathered earlier, the character Li Ang was playing was likely the male homeowner of this residence.

Facing this doll, there might be a solution other than fighting.

"..."

The doll stood motionless on the sofa, still holding the utility knife in its left hand, unresponsive to Li Ang's words.

"Little girl, you don't seem willing to talk?"

Li Ang put on a professional, friendly fake smile. "How old are you, little sister? Have you ever gone to school? What kind of medicine are you taking?"

"..."

The doll remained silent, with no reaction.

"Little sister, how about we put down the knife first, okay?"

Li Ang said with a fake smile. The script mission restricted player skills and equipment, but the title ability of 【Digging Secretist】 was still in effect.

It displayed the secret in the doll's heart as 【I hate the way I look now】.

Hate the way I look now?

Does this sentence mean that the doll itself isn't a doll, but was transformed from a living person or something else?

Or is it simply that the doll thinks she is ugly?

Li Ang's mind raced. He immediately said, "If you can tell me how to get to the second floor, I'll help you with maintenance.

Don't judge a book by its cover. I used to be a professional doll maker with a good reputation in the industry.

Listening to the noises you make when you move,

your joints haven't been maintained in a long time, right?

Even dolls need to be exquisite, you know.

My suggestion is to first use a Cillit Bang to wipe your joints,

then use joint cushions inside your joints to prevent wood wear,

and then perform a degreasing and polishing on your surface, and finally replace your face-up and body blushing,

I guarantee you'll become the most beautiful doll who drinks dew, eats honey, and walks on rose petals..."

Crack!

The doll in the red dress abruptly twisted its head, raised its arm, and pointed the utility knife at Li Ang.

So, it still wants to fight?

Li Ang's expression immediately darkened. His tone became unfriendly. "Little sister, I advise you to behave yourself. See this cleaver in my hand?

I didn't want to hurt you before, that's why I didn't chop hard. If you insist on being my enemy, then I'll have no choice but to..."

Before he could finish speaking, the doll suddenly swung the utility knife in its hand.

A narrow blade of qi, two meters long, extended from the thin blade of the utility knife.

With a "tearing" sound,

the sofa, television, and coffee table were all sliced in half by the qi blade.

The coffee table collapsed with a crash, and the upper half of the television fell, while the still-standing lower half continued to emit sparks.

"Fine, you win."

Seeing this, Li Ang unhesitatingly put away the cleaver and baseball bat, turning to flee.

What a joke. This doll had even learned the legendary Dou Qi emission.

That strike just now was clearly the system telling him that he couldn't fight head-on, giving the player some time to escape.

Li Ang fled from the dining room to the kitchen. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the doll jumping off the sofa and approaching rapidly, chasing after Li Ang.

During the escape, Li Ang continuously threw objects such as plates and stools at the doll.

However, the doll easily shattered them with the qi-emitting utility knife, scattering them into pieces on the ground.

Moreover, this doll seemed to possess intelligence, deliberately avoiding the doors along the way.

It didn't follow Li Ang's intentions to destroy some fixed scenes—such as the doors to the bathroom, garage, and the French windows of the parlor.

Li Ang ran around the house once. Although the doll's destructive power was astonishing, its movement speed wasn't fast.

Along the way, Li Ang was able to discover more information about the house.

For example, on the other side of the first floor, to the right of the living room, was another red wooden door.

The door had no doorknob or keyhole, only a circular groove in the middle, which looked like it needed something to be placed in it.

Besides that, Li Ang also discovered that there was indeed a corridor staircase behind the living room leading to the second floor.

However, a thick, silver-white iron gate stood in the middle of the staircase, blocking passage.

"What does this mean?

What kind of family would deliberately put an iron gate in their own house?

Even a doomsday survival enthusiast wouldn't be this exaggerated, right?"

Just as Li Ang was pondering, his heart began to beat violently once again.

It was as if a giant hammer had struck his heart.

Bang!

Li Ang's face suddenly turned pale, and his left hand instinctively loosened, pressing against his chest. The baseball bat, no longer restrained, fell freely to the ground with a "thud".

The pain in his heart was so intense that all his limbs lost control.

Li Ang staggered, falling forward and collapsing on the ground.

And behind him, the doll was still approaching slowly and steadily, continuously wielding the deadly utility knife.

How could this be...

Li Ang barely supported himself on the ground with his left elbow.

The intense pain in his heart was not something that the player could control. It should be a setting of this script mission itself.

Since entering the script, he was certain that he had completed the information gathering phase, and there were no mistakes in his decisions—or rather, it had only been a short time since entering the script, and there hadn't been many opportunities to make decisions.

If the possibility of the player's own mistakes was ruled out,

then the current predicament could only be a so-called segment pre-set by the script mission.

In other words, under the current conditions, there must be a theoretical way out.

Where would the way out be?

Li Ang instinctively took out the two props he had obtained after entering the script mission from his pocket.

A metal padlock and a strong flashlight.

At the same time, a burning, intense pain, like a burn, came from the back of his left hand—a black English tattoo, twisted like an earthworm, appeared out of nowhere on the back of his left hand.

It displayed 【Use Flashlight】

Where did this tattoo come from?

Use the flashlight?

How to use it?

Could it be that the flashlight was indestructible, enough to withstand the knife qi emitted by the doll's utility knife?

Or...

Li Ang narrowed his eyes. At the moment when the doll was about to rush over, he pressed the button at the bottom of the flashlight twice in a row.

The flashlight first emitted a beam of white light.

Then, because Li Ang pressed it twice in a row,

the flashlight immediately switched to strobe riot mode.

It continuously flashed at high speed, emitting a dizzying strobe strong light.

A strange thing happened. Facing the strobe light emitted by the flashlight, the wooden doll's movements constantly slowed down.

After a few seconds, it directly froze in place, motionless.

Pain came again from the back of Li Ang's hand, and the twisted tattoo continued to emerge. 【Flashlights can seal them for twenty minutes, each use halves the sealing time, quickly find a way to the second floor】

Flashlight...seal...

Li Ang frowned deeply, while continuing to shine the strong flashlight on the wooden doll, he raised his head and shouted towards the house, "Hello?

Is anyone there?

Who are you?"

...

The house was silent and there was no response. The tattoo on the back of his hand did not fade or continue to emerge.

Li Ang stood in place waiting for a moment, and after seeing no change, he had no choice but to walk forward and study the sealed doll.

Looking at it up close, the smiling wooden doll looked even more bizarre and terrifying.

Li Ang reached out to pull out the utility knife in the doll's hand, but he couldn't pull it out at all.

The doll itself seemed to have been cast with a freezing spell, as solid as steel, firmly welded to the ground, impossible to destroy.

Only the cross-shaped key on the doll's neck,

possibly because it wasn't integrated with the doll,

could be moved.

Li Ang removed the cross-shaped key from the doll's neck, and weighed it in his hand.

In the entire first floor of the house, the only door with a cross-shaped keyhole was the wooden door leading to the garage.

"To get to the garage, you must encounter the doll..."

Li Ang groaned, moving the constantly flashing flashlight slightly away.

After confirming that the doll would not move even when out of the light, he switched the flashlight back to the less dazzling constant light mode, stood in place and looked around for a while,

He found a medium-sized ceramic flower pot, pulled out the landscaping plants planted inside, and poured out the soil.

He covered the doll with the flower pot, and on top of it, he put some glass shards from the broken coffee table.

That way, even if the doll woke up, Li Ang in the distance would be able to hear the sound in time.

The tattoo of unknown origin said that the strong light of the flashlight could seal them for twenty minutes, and that each seal time would be halved.

But Li Ang wouldn't completely believe the tattoo's words.

The condition of this house was bizarre. There were too many strange places.

Why did he, or rather, the character he was playing, have a heart attack from time to time?

Why did the television play programs from the real world?

If this was happening in the real world, then why didn't the neighbors call the police when they heard the noise in the house?

There were too many things worth questioning and too little information, which made in-depth thinking seem a little too entangled.

Li Ang shook his head, putting the jumbled thoughts out of his mind, took the cross-shaped key, passed through the corridor, and came to the garage door, using the cross-shaped key to open the garage door.

He held the cleaver, cautiously pushing open the wooden door.

The light in the garage was on.

The garage wasn't large, and the walls on both sides were fixed with cross-grid iron wire networks, on which various tools were hung.

Such as chisels, hammers, saws, cotton threads, wrenches, etc.

There were also tennis rackets, ping pong paddles, and golf bags.

In the middle of the garage was a silver-white medium-sized car.

"Chevrolet SUV?"

Li Ang frowned, immediately thinking of the news program he had heard on the television in the living room.

A serious car accident occurred in Carmel Town. A Chevrolet SUV lost control during driving and collided with a motorcycle.

Could this be the vehicle that caused the accident in the news program?

Li Ang walked around the SUV and found no signs of a collision. The paint was also very new. There was no sign of a fresh coat of paint applied to hide the traces of a hit-and-run.

"Hint, or coincidence?"

Li Ang narrowed his eyes and muttered to himself: "Could it be that the male homeowner of the residence that I am playing killed a motorcycle driver in a hit-and-run that led to the victim's death.

Did the motorcyclist turn into a vengeful spirit and come to settle the score with me?

But there are no traces of a collision on the car?

Or is it a coincidence, and I'm just thinking too much..."

He carefully checked the SUV and found a square wooden box placed on the driver's seat. There seemed to be a pattern printed on the right side of the wooden box.

It was not very clear because the window was blocking it.

Unlike the French windows and the back door of the house, the SUV did not have the system prompt of 【Unable to Enter】.

Li Ang opened the car door and found it locked, so he took a cotton thread from the tool rack and tied a bowline knot in the middle of the thread.

Then, he held both ends of the cotton thread in his hands.

He gently inserted the cotton thread into the car door of the SUV's driver's seat.

He wiggled both ends of the cotton thread back and forth and slowly lowered the cotton thread into the car.

Then, he used the bowline knot in the middle of the cotton thread to loop around the car door bolt inside the car.

He pulled the cotton thread, tightening the bowline knot and tightening the car door bolt.

Finally, he pulled the cotton thread upward to unlock the car door.

"I'm still rusty, when I was younger, it wouldn't even take fifteen seconds to open this kind of car door..."

Li Ang muttered and pulled open the car door handle. As soon as he opened the car door, he smelled the scent of lavender air freshener in the car.

He inspected the interior of the vehicle. The car was very clean. There were no car keys. There were a few photos in the car's storage compartment, the same as the one in the parlor's photo frame. They were all family photos of four people.

There were no faces of the children in the photo either.

Apart from that, there were no suspicious spots inside the car.

Only the wooden square box on the driver's seat remained.