The darkness lasted no more than five or six seconds, but felt as long as an eternity.

Bai Youwei narrowed her eyes and saw a sphere sliding down from the top of the cave’s opening—its diameter was exactly the same as the opening, so when it came down, it blocked the only light source completely.

After the ball slid down, light was exposed again. Everyone saw a golden sphere floating below the opening, with sunlight spilling onto the ball’s surface, brilliant gold light, dazzlingly bright.

“Hello everyone! I’m the Monitor for this game. Welcome to the Doll Game!”

The golden ball was talking.

It used a lively, childish tone, like a five or six-year-old child.

It spun a circle in the air, floating past everyone, creating gusts of wind—

“There are quite a lot of players this time! Five, six, seven, eight, nine… mm-hmm, so many! Twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty… thirty-three! There are a total of thirty-three participating players this time! Please play seriously and work hard to clear the game!”

People stared at the golden ball in fear, nerves taut.

Even Hui Ge and his thugs forgot their movements.

“Why are you all looking at me like that? Hey! That woman, and you, why are you crying? You should play games happily!” The golden ball twisted, having no facial expression, yet its tone was exceptionally expressive.

“You don’t want to play the game, do you?” It huffed unhappily. “Refusing the game will turn you into a doll, you know. You should have known that when you entered! Not playing the game is not allowed!”

“How do we play? Tell us the rules.” Zhang Hua stood up, shook the mud spots off his glasses, put them back on, looking completely indifferent and numb. “Dead sooner or later anyway… I hope it ends quickly.”

He seemed to have given up struggling, with no will to survive in his eyes.

“It will be very quick.” The golden ball giggled. “The game duration is only 20 seconds, it’ll end very quickly!”

Shen Mo frowned.

This place had dim lighting and mud everywhere. Whether running or jumping, everything took effort. If the game time was only 20 seconds, for the players, this probably wasn’t a good thing.

Bai Youwei also gently furrowed her brows.

She clearly understood her disadvantage. If the game format was action-based and also time-limited, she would probably only be able to wait for death.

She couldn’t count on being carried again.

With mud soup everywhere, having Shen Mo carry her again would only get both of them killed!

“Now I’ll introduce the game rules. Everyone listen carefully! I’ll only say this once. If you can’t remember the rules, you’ll die very easily~”

The drawn-out final syllable made people’s teeth ache.

This childish baby voice was grating, but no one cared. Right now they were all on tenterhooks, listening to the golden ball announce the rules word by word—

It first rotated in a circle.

The golden-textured sphere gleamed brilliantly under the light.

“Did everyone see? Here, is a golden ball. In a moment, I’ll launch the ball from any position, any angle, with any amount of force. Your task is to find me within 20 seconds.”

The golden ball said in a proud tone: “As long as one person finds the ball, everyone can clear the game! It’s very easy, right? Both simple and fun! Better than any other Monitor’s game, right?”

“What counts as finding it?” Tan Xiao seemed fearless like a newborn calf, stepping out boldly to ask. “Does seeing it with my eyes count as finding it?”

“No.” The golden ball floated in the air swaying left and right, simulating a human shaking their head. “Finding the golden ball has two criteria—

One, hands must touch the ball;

Two, the ball must be in a stationary state.”

It floated higher, saying considerately: “To help everyone understand better, I’ll demonstrate once first!”