Author: 木尺素 / Mu Chisu

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 1

[Player Zhou Qian, you’ve been bound to the game and is player A7577.]

[Welcome to the tutorial stage.]

[Please wait for the instance to load…]

[Loading completed.]

With these prompt lines, Zhou Qian pushed open the door in front of him and walked into a pink room.

The ceiling, floor, bed, wardrobe—all were pink.

Sitting on the bed was a little girl with pink hair and pink clothes. The bed and the floor around her were filled with dolls.

Each doll looked different; some had round faces and noses, big heads, and small bodies; some were cloth-made, and the style was more towards the cute side; some were like rubber Barbie dolls, slender and thin, looking somewhat sexy.

The styles were so different that most likely they came from different manufacturers, but like the little girl on the bed, they all had the same long pink hair and were all wearing pink princess dresses.

The moment Zhou Qian stepped in, the entrance door closed automatically. He raised his hand and tried to turn the door lock but could no longer open the door.

At the same moment, the little girl on the bed looked up at Zhou Qian with a pair of cold eyes and said in a childlike voice, “Help me find the doll I hate the most!”

[Player mission has been triggered: Find the most hated doll.]

[Task time limit: 90 seconds.]

[Select the correct doll and say, “Let’s kill it together” to pass the level; the player has only three chances; if all three selections are wrong, it will be considered as a failure, and the player will be devoured by the resentful doll.]

A semi-transparent panel popped out from the watch on Zhou Qian’s left wrist. These sentences suddenly appeared on the panel, blinked for a few seconds, and then disappeared automatically.

At the same time, Zhou Qian heard a rustling sound. He looked up and saw all those dolls standing up. They all cracked a smile in unison and then slowly walked towards him.

Not long after, all the dolls, along with the little girl, and even the pink color of the entire room deepened a bit. Everything was changing towards the color of blood at a speed visible to the naked eye, as if the whole room was a huge mouth of a demon opening. If Zhou Qian didn’t pass the level in 90 seconds, this mouth would close, tearing Zhou Qian to shreds and swallowing his flesh.

At first glance, these dolls stood very chaotically, but they roughly stood in three rows. Zhou Qian easily counted that each row had 10 dolls, so it wasn’t difficult to calculate that there were a total of 30 dolls in the room.

He had three chances to select the correct one from the 30 dolls; purely based on luck, his chance of clearing was 10%.

But Zhou Qian was clearly not a man who believed in luck.

He had been hanging around casinos with his father since he was young. Winning cards was never about luck, but observation, psychological quality, and hand speed.

Therefore, Zhou Qian didn’t immediately take action but thought about the limited information he had.

These dolls were all different, but all cute and beautiful. There were none that had a distinctively hateful characteristic, so why would there be a doll that the little girl hated the most?

Wait, she used the word “most”, which meant she hated all these dolls, but there was one that she hated the most.

The little girl dressed up these dolls like herself, so it stood to reason that she should like pink and them as well.

But since she hated them…

Zhou Qian tried to speak to the little girl. “Do you hate pink?”

“Of course I hate it!” The little girl stared at Zhou Qian angrily. “I hate pink, I hate dolls! Help me find the one I hate the most as soon as possible!”

Hate pink, hate dolls.

But she was wearing a pink skirt again, surrounded by a bunch of dolls who were also wearing pink skirts.

These clues could only point to one thing—she was forced to dress up like this, and these dolls were bought for her by others.

While thinking, Zhou Qian quickly glanced at all the dolls again.

These dolls didn’t seem to be produced by the same manufacturer, which he noticed from the beginning.

At this moment, Zhou Qian focused on their eyes. The eyes of the dolls had different colors: blue, green, black, brown, and the like. As for this little girl…

Looking back at the little girl, Zhou Qian found that her eyes were black.

The dolls’ hair, eyes, and costumes should have been different, but after they were bought back from different stores, they were replaced with uniform pink hair and dresses.

What about the little girl?

How could a little girl with black eyes and a Chinese face have pink hair?

It should be the same as the dolls; she was dressed like this.

Zhou Qian probably guessed the truth of the matter.

But he still needed to confirm it again.

[Friendly reminder: You have 70 seconds left to clear the level.]

Zhou Qian didn’t even look at the prompt that popped up on the panel but walked directly towards the little girl.

As the room approached blood red, all the dolls showed darker and harsher smiles, as if waiting for the countdown to end so they could enjoy Zhou Qian’s flesh to the fullest.

The little girl also smiled. She opened her mouth, and bright red blood flowed from between her teeth. The pink room, which was beautiful and warm just a moment ago, immediately became bloody and terrifying.

Zhou Qian walked up to the little girl, who was bleeding from the corner of her mouth, without hesitation.

Reaching out, he grabbed the little girl’s hair and pulled it hard.

The pink wig was immediately uncovered and fell to the ground.

It was clearly a boy under the wig, but he was dressed up as a girl, looking like a Barbie doll.

Zhou Qian narrowed his eyes, pulled his sleeves and lifted them up. “Sorry, I just want to make sure if there are any injuries on your body.”

After that, Zhou Qian clearly saw that his arms were full of bruises.

This boy was dressed up as a girl, and he had such injuries on his body. It wasn’t difficult to imagine what he suffered.

[Friendly reminder: You have 60 seconds left to clear the level.]

Accompanied by such prompt words on the panel, the little boy’s mouth opened wider, and more and more blood flowed out of it, even onto Zhou Qian.

The dolls were also close at hand. They almost formed three circles, enveloping Zhou Qian inside.

Three of the dolls walked faster and had already bitten Zhou Qian’s trouser legs.

He didn’t know if it was an illusion, but Zhou Qian heard the sound of them swallowing saliva, as if they couldn’t wait to enjoy a good meal.

[Alert: Player has touched the resentment doll. Player Zhou Qian’s HP has dropped to 99%.]

When touched by the resentment doll, the player Zhou Qian’s HP drops to 99%.]

[Once HP drops to 0, the player will die.]

On the panel, the red health bar representing life value had only slightly decreased, posing no threat at all.

Therefore, in this simple game, the only thing to worry about was the time limit.

Zhou Qian glanced at the panel and turned his eyes back to the little boy. He asked, “You hate pink, you hate dolls, so what do you hate the most? The person who bullies you?”

The little boy shook his head.

At that moment, a dagger suddenly appeared in his chest, incessantly stabbing inward. More and more blood gushed from his chest and mouth as if it were inexhaustible.

But the little boy was smiling, as if he were about to be set free.

The increasingly blood-red room reflected in Zhou Qian’s eyes, turning them the same bloody hue.

With his bloodshot eyes, Zhou Qian looked at the little boy and asked almost emotionlessly, “I see, you hate yourself the most, don’t you?”

“Yes.” The boy’s face was adorned with a detached smile. Yet as he continued to vomit blood, this smile became eerily strange. “I poisoned myself, and after taking it, I vomited a lot of blood. I was in so much pain. I wanted to die quicker, so I stabbed myself.”

“I feel so cold and lonely after death… Come and keep me company…”

[Friendly reminder: You have 50 seconds left to clear the level.]

After this reminder, more and more dolls started to surround Zhou Qian.

One couldn’t help itself and bit into Zhou Qian’s flesh through his trouser leg.

[Player Zhou Qian’s HP has dropped to 95%.]

Zhou Qian kicked the doll away without any pain or itch, showing no anxious expression.

He asked a few things just now because he wanted to confirm one thing—whether this little boy hates himself the most. Now he had received a positive answer.

The little boy should have been dressed up as a little girl by an adult man with a dark hobby and was forced to be with the dolls all day long.

He was forced and humiliated, but he forgot to hate the person who humiliated him, but instead resented himself.

So he killed himself.

The person he hated most was himself, so much so that in the space where resentment formed after his death, he was still repeating suicidal behaviors.

In this way, it was self-evident what the answer to clear this level was.

[Friendly reminder: You have 40 seconds left to clear the level.]

Taking a casual look at the prompt that jumped out of the panel, Zhou Qian thought to himself—he had enough time to examine a doll every second, there should be plenty of time for everything.

Zhou Qian began to quickly check one doll after another.

[You have 30 seconds left to clear the level.]

[You have 20 seconds left to clear the level.]

[You have 15 seconds left to clear the level.]

[Player Zhou Qian, please clear the level as soon as possible! Otherwise, you will die!]

With time so tight, Zhou Qian had no chance to make mistakes.

But he didn’t panic.

After checking 15 dolls and still not finding the target, all he could do was sigh about his bad luck.

[You have 10 seconds left to clear the level.]

[You have 9 seconds left to clear the level.]

……

When the prompt [You have 5 seconds left to clear the level.] popped up, Zhou Qian didn’t even blink, but the man sitting in front of the screen became panicked.

Seeing everything through the screen, he couldn’t help but yell, “You’ve wasted too much time at the beginning! No need to observe so much, nor ask questions! Just brutally tear open each doll to check!”

The person who was shouting was Yu Xian.

He was currently sitting in a rented room, staring intently at his phone screen without lifting his head.

Whether this player named Zhou Qian could complete the level was related to whether Yu Xian could win a bonus, so he was particularly nervous.

Yu Xian and his roommate Zhu Qiang both lost their jobs a month ago. They were both at the end of their ropes. If they couldn’t find work next week, they planned to leave this big city and return to their hometown to find another way to make a living.

But tonight, they both received an advertisement on their phones at the same time.

[Do you want to get rich overnight?]

[A group of players is trying to complete a game. Bet on the selected player, and if he succeeds, you will win 30,000 yuan.]

Neither of them had money in their bank accounts, so they weren’t afraid of getting scammed or getting their phones infected with viruses.

So they both clicked in.

When it was time to select a player to bet on, many avatars appeared in front of Yu Xian. He chose with the mindset of watching a movie and randomly selected a good-looking player, who happened to be Zhou Qian.

But as the game progressed, Yu Xian couldn’t help but doubt his choice—Do good-looking people really have bad brains?

In fact, Yu Xian didn’t really think that a pie would fall from the sky.

But just 30 seconds ago, his roommate Zhu Qiang received a text message—his bank account had received 30,000 yuan.

The player Zhu Qiang chose was called Lu Mengmeng, a young man in his early twenties who looked quite cute.

Lu Mengmeng completed the level 30 seconds ago. The system sent him a treasure chest. After receiving the prize from the chest, he left the game.

At the same moment, Zhu Qiang received the bank transfer notification.

“Holy shit!” “Holy shit!!” “Holy shit!!!”

After carefully reading the deposit text message three times, both of them simultaneously exclaimed in surprise and then focused their attention on Zhou Qian, who hadn’t completed the level.

Seeing Zhou Qian procrastinating, Yu Xian roared, and Zhu Qiang couldn’t help saying, “Lu Mengmeng’s method of passing the level just now was right! He didn’t ask anything; he just tore open all the dolls to check!”

Yu Xian: “Damn it, I’m really anxious! You got your 30,000, while I’m still hanging here! If Zhou Qian doesn’t pass, you’ll have to cover the rent next month!”

“Ah, finally!” Yu Xian let out a sigh of relief. “Zhou Qian finally passed the level! He finally found the doll!”

Zhu Qiang: “So all those stories and plots are useless. They’re all just coverups, wasting the player’s time! Alright, it looks like Zhou Qian is about to leave the game. Eh… eh? Why isn’t he leaving?! What’s he doing?!”

“Fuck, that little boy is about to turn into bones, and he dares to touch it?! What if he gets attacked?! Even though his health bar is quite high, there’s still a risk, right?!”

At this moment, in the game.

Zhou Qian had no idea that someone was watching him play and even placed a bet on him.

He just calmly found the key to complete the level.

The little boy hated dolls. Because to him, the existence of the dolls was actually a reminder that he, like them, was just a toy to be touched and played with.

Hidden among all the dolls was a boy doll, forced to wear a pink wig and a pink dress, resembling the little boy.

Since the little boy hated himself the most, he certainly hated it the most.

With a swift motion, Zhou Qian picked up the doll, turned to the little boy, and said, “Let’s kill it together.”

Immediately, the countdown on the system panel stopped.

[Player has found the most hated doll and successfully passed the tutorial level. An ending animation will play next. After the animation ends, the player can log out of the game.]

Sounds of faint crying echoed around, seemingly coming from all the dolls.

The bed, cupboard, ceiling, and floor, all of which had turned blood-red, slowly darkened until they merged with the black night. The little boy collapsed to the floor, his flesh peeling off, turning into a skeleton.

Zhou Qian didn’t retreat. Instead, he approached the boy, squatted down beside him, held his hand without fear, and said softly, almost bewitchingly, “None of this is your fault. You shouldn’t hate yourself, let alone kill yourself. The person you should kill is the scum who did this to you.”

Suddenly, a look of hatred appeared in the boy’s eyes. “You’re right, I should kill him! Kill Li Dafu!”

[Player Zhou Qian has triggered a side quest for the associated level: Kill Li Dafu.]

Glancing at the new prompt on the panel, Zhou Qian asked the boy, “Who is Li Dafu?”

“My uncle!” The little boy clenched his fists.

“I see. Your uncle tormented you. Blood must be repaid with blood. I will take revenge for you,” Zhou Qian said with a hint of excitement in his eyes.

His gaze at the boy seemed filled with pity at first, but a closer look revealed a trace of bloodlust. It was as if he was not only seeking revenge for the boy, but also looking for an opportunity to kill freely.

“Now, can you tell me where Li Dafu is?”

“He will be attending a meeting at Apple Paradise. I stole his invitation. Now I’m giving it to you! With the invitation I give you, you can blend into the park. If you run into him, kill him for me!”

[Player Zhou Qian has obtained the item: Li Dafu’s Invitation.]

[Li Dafu, you are the most devout believer in the “God Epoh”. Unfortunately, God has let you down. To make up for it, God has granted you this precious invitation, allowing you to meet him in Apple Paradise.

At that time, you can do as you wish with Him. “No matter how outrageous your actions are, God will not refuse you.”]

So, Li Dafu is a follower of a god called Epoh.

But what could have caused God to disappoint him?

Gods are usually high above us. What could have possibly happened for a god to allow his followers to do as they wish with him?

Zhou Qian narrowed his eyes slightly and quickly asked the boy before he disappeared, “Since you were able to steal such an invitation, do you know any secrets about Li Dafu? What’s the deal with this God Epoh that he worships?”

“The great God can fulfill people’s wishes. Li Dafu wanted money, and God gave it to him; he wanted…”

The boy said resentfully, “He wanted me, and God gave him that too! Bound by God’s power, I couldn’t escape from Li Dafu, so I had no choice but to kill myself! Now… Now Li Dafu has made another wish to God, saying he wants to resurrect me. But God said his power has weakened, and he cannot fulfill Li Dafu’s wish. He felt sorry and sent this invitation…”

Hmm, so… this god isn’t a traditionally benevolent god.

What is his purpose in doing all this?

Zhou Qian pondered briefly, his gaze falling on the last sentence of the invitation—[Only guests with an invitation are eligible to enter the park. Please keep it safe.]

Now that he had cleared this mini-instance, Apple Paradise and God Epoh must be elements in another instance.

Normally, the first challenge for players entering that instance would probably be how to get into Apple Paradise.

But with this invitation, the problem was already solved for Zhou Qian.

Indeed, triggering hidden plotlines could be beneficial.

Everything he had done previously wasn’t a waste of time.

The earlier mini-instance was a beginner’s tutorial mode, with almost no risk of death, just allowing the player to familiarize themselves with the operation process.

Among the 30 dolls, 29 were female, and only one was male. Thus, “gender” became the only distinctive trait that made this doll different from others. Therefore, the answer to the puzzle had to be it.

There was no need to explore any storyline; the player could quickly find the answer by examining each doll.

But after all, the system designed this tragic story, so there must be a purpose behind it.

At this point, Zhou Qian found out that his guess was right.

By the time Zhou Qian put away the invitation, the little boy had completely turned into a pile of bones.

All kinds of furniture, and even the whole room, had disappeared.

Zhou Qian arrived in the middle of the night, with the unlit villa behind him and the villa’s backyard in front of him.

The backyard was very desolate. A skeleton quietly lay on the ground, and the 30 brand-new and exquisite dolls next to it formed a sharp contrast.

After the little boy committed suicide, he was buried in the backyard. These dolls became his burial objects. However, he still hated them after death. Therefore, the player accidentally dug up the bones and dolls in the backyard and entered his space of resentment.

At this moment, both the villa and the backyard were slowly fading away in the night, implying that the end of the animation was about to be played.

A red light rose from the skeleton and fell on Zhou Qian.

[Player Zhou Qian has obtained a one-time defensive buff—”The Blessing of the Little Boy”.]

[When your HP drops to 5%, this buff can help you withstand 100% of the next damage.]

Yu Xian: “Ah, does this mean that this buff can only prevent damage once?! What a poor bargain. I mean, if you encounter a situation where you’re getting beaten up by a boss and only have 5% left, what’s the use of preventing damage once? If the boss uses his toe, the 5% HP will be gone…”

Zhu Qiang: “Indeed, it’s not that useful, but it’s better than nothing. Hey, hey, there’s a treasure chest coming; let’s see what he got?”

After the red light on Zhou Qian disappeared, a shiny golden treasure chest appeared in front of him.

[Player successfully passed the tutorial mode and got a treasure chest. After opening, you can get a random item.]

Following this prompt, Zhou Qian walked up to open the chest and opened it. Inside was a green mass.

[Player gets item: Grass]

[Function Description: A plant?]

[Grade: F]

In the game, Zhou Qian: “Fuck.”

In front of the screen, Yu Xian and Zhu Qiang said at the same time: “Fuck.”

In this game, the level of items was ranked from high to low in the order of A to F, and special level items belonged to the S series.

Undoubtedly, a grade of F was the lowest level of items.

Lu Mengmeng just passed the game and got a Grade C defense bracelet.

It was true, comparing to others could really piss one off.

After collecting the reward item, Zhou Qian’s system panel received a new prompt.

[Player Zhou Qian can enter the associated instance: “Apple Paradise”.]

[Instance Difficulty: Level 1; Clearance Rate: 70%]

[Hidden Achievement Completion Rate: 10%]

[Number of Players: 5]

[Player Zhou Qian is about to log out of the game. You must enter a level one instance within three days.]

[Tip: You have the side mission of “Killing Li Dafu”, who is Rank E. You have just cleared the tutorial mode, haven’t obtained any skills, and all your attributes are at the lowest Rank F.]

[Due to the considerable disparity in power between the two sides, you can choose to tackle other level one instances first. After gaining levels and skill upgrades, you can then enter “Apple Paradise”…]

[Of course, the greater the difference in power, the higher the rewards for completing the task. Players should make a careful choice based on their needs.]

[This game adopts a customized instance recommendation mode.]

[The tutorial mode can also reveal a player’s characteristics and potential. In addition to “Apple Paradise”, the system has provided an additional 5 regular level one instances based on your traits for you to choose from.]

[Please choose the instance you want to enter and the time of entry. You have three days to think about it.]

Zhou Qian didn’t need to think about it at all; he made his choice on the spot—Instance: “Apple Paradise”; Time of Entry: Three days later.

His operation made Yu Xian and Zhu Qiang exclaim in surprise.

—With the useless buff, useless grass, and without obtaining any skills, Zhou Qian was going to take these two things and directly challenge the Rank E Li Dafu?

Yu Xian had no time to grieve for Zhou Qian when he received several lines of prompts himself.

[The player you bet on, Zhou Qian, successfully cleared the level. 30,000 yuan will be credited to your account. Player Zhou Qian will enter the level one instance “Apple Paradise” in three days. You can choose to continue betting on him, or, of course, you can take the 30,000 yuan and leave this game altogether.]

[To participate in the bet, you need to pay 30,000 yuan. If Zhou Qian fails to clear the game, you will lose these thirty thousand yuan; if Zhou Qian successfully clears the game, you will receive a reward of 1,000,000 yuan.]

[Gambler Yu Xian, you have ten minutes to make a decision.]

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Kinky Thoughts:

I always wanted to do an infinite/unlimited flow novel, so I picked this one up from a recommendation.

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