*Ding! Welcome to the Doll Game!*
*The theme of this game is ‘Red, Yellow, Blue.’ This is a non-standard game. Win and loss conditions are defined at the discretion of the supervising Inspector —*
As a flash of white light erupted, that familiar recitation rang out — though this time, at least, it didn’t repeat that segment about being turned into dolls.
Before Bai Youwei could even make sense of her surroundings, she felt a chill beneath her feet. It took her a moment to register — she was standing on a beach.
Cold seawater was washing over her feet.
Her shoes and socks were soaked through. Bai Youwei furrowed her brow and rolled her wheelchair toward the shore.
She had no intention of drowning before she’d even figured out the game.
The wheels sank into the sand, making it a struggle to push. After great effort she finally put some distance between herself and the water — and noticed, a short way ahead, a blond man staring at her.
Bai Youwei looked back at him.
Strange — this man’s irises were red.
Seeing Bai Youwei rolling closer, the blond man seemed frightened. He turned and fled in a panic.
As he ran, Bai Youwei caught sight of a number printed on his back: 17.
A bright red number printed on his white shirt — startlingly out of place, nothing like decorative stitching. Could these be player numbers for the game? Perhaps every player had one?
Carrying that question with her, Bai Youwei stopped and looked for a hidden spot to check whether she had a number somewhere on herself.
She glanced to one side — and found, printed on her right sleeve near the shoulder, the number “11.”
It seemed each player’s number was in a different location.
Bai Youwei knit her brows with mild annoyance.
If the number had been on her back, it would have been easy enough to handle — her wheelchair’s backrest and her long hair would have covered it in layers. But a number on her sleeve was harder to conceal.
Just then, a distant ringing sound reached her.
Like a bell calling people together.
Perhaps the number was irrelevant — it might be better to head toward wherever that bell was coming from first.
But if the number mattered…
She might end up in serious trouble for taking that gamble now.
Bai Youwei weighed the decision for a moment, then chose to ignore the bell for now and conceal the number first.
She found a scorched rock by the shoreline, ducked behind it, stripped off her dress and turned it inside out, then put it back on —
Wearing it inside out looked a little odd, but unless someone looked closely, they shouldn’t be able to tell.
Bai Youwei examined herself from several angles, satisfied that the number was no longer visible, before finally stepping back out from behind the rock.
The ringing continued.
She braced herself against the rock face and shuffled along it step by step, finally settling back into her wheelchair with a breath, then wheeled herself in the direction of the sound…
…
The place resembled a small artificial island. The further inward one went, the fewer plants there were, and the flatter the ground became.
With the obstacles gone, Bai Youwei’s wheelchair picked up speed. Approaching the center, she found it was nearly all open ground — a wide, flat plaza.
And at the center of the plaza, a large gathering of players had assembled.
The players eyed one another with wariness. Some had red irises; some had yellow; others had blue.
Red, yellow, blue.
Bai Youwei thought she now understood what had happened with the blond man earlier.
He must have been frightened by the color of her eyes — and might even have mistaken her for a monster from the game.
At the center of the plaza stood a small house.
A ball rolled out from inside —
This time, not a golden ball, nor a glass one, but a solid, sturdy stone sphere.
“Hello, everyone! I am the Inspector for this game — welcome to the Doll Game!”
The ball rolled cheerfully across the ground. Carved into its surface were three differently-colored eyes; as it rolled, those three eyes cycled in and out of view — red, yellow, and blue.
—