“Why did the ones we’d already confirmed back out?” Bai Youwei asked with a furrowed brow. “Didn’t Shen Mo tell you the reason?”

“It all traces back to what happened in the fourth battle!” Tan Xiao vented with great frustration. “Someone bolted out of the battle game in a complete panic — and afterwards went around telling everyone how terrifying the king inside was, how unstoppable he was, how deranged. Said he could deflect any attack, that he could even control other players. Naturally, after hearing all that, everyone got scared off!”

“Deflect any attack… control other players…” Bai Youwei was taken aback. “You mean Fu Miaoxue and Du Lai… lost?”

“Ah, that…” Tan Xiao looked uncomfortable, hesitating. “…Yes, they lost. Yan Ge said the other side had very powerful items and there was no way to come back from it, so Fu Miaoxue demoted all the surviving subjects before things went wrong for her.”

“With Du Lai protecting her, how would things go wrong for Fu Miaoxue?” Bai Youwei pressed, frowning. “Did you actually listen to any of this?”

Tan Xiao’s voice dropped a few notches: “I listened… that Du Lai — he was controlled by the enemy king using an item. Then Yan Ge had everyone focus fire on the king, but somehow all the attacks ended up hitting Du Lai instead. So… Du Lai definitely couldn’t have survived that…”

Bai Youwei pressed her lips together. Her expression shifted — something difficult crossing her face.

Tan Xiao stole a glance at her, and to avoid making things worse, picked out only the good news: “But Yan Ge also said that even though that king won, he won in terrible shape. His whole body was burned to pieces — barely any unburned skin left. The item he had is almost certainly destroyed too!”

Bai Youwei was quiet for a long time. When she finally spoke: “That king — is his name Willard?”

Tan Xiao startled. “That sounds about right.”

“Willard does have an item capable of controlling players, but I don’t know the exact mechanics, and the item’s limitations are unknown.” Bai Youwei said in a low, steady voice. “Now that he’s won, my opponent in the final battle should be him.”

Tan Xiao, in his usual offhand way, said: “What’s there to be afraid of? His item is probably nine-tenths burned anyway. Fu Miaoxue and Du Lai didn’t die for nothing — they did us a huge favor.”

Bai Youwei frowned and glanced at Tan Xiao.

Tan Xiao looked faintly confused. “…Did I say something wrong?”

“It’s nothing.” Bai Youwei looked away. Her mood had turned heavy. “Go eat. Cheng Laoshi and Xiaoxin have been waiting all this time.”

“Oh.” Tan Xiao scratched his hair, turned and started toward the dollhouse door — then his feet stopped. He turned back and asked: “You’re not eating?”

Bai Youwei: “Don’t worry about me. I want to wait a little longer.”

Tan Xiao asked no more, and went inside to eat.

The dollhouse door stood quietly in the bedroom, warm light spilling through from within — the kind of light that felt like it could offer hope.

Bai Youwei sat alone in the quiet, cold living room, watching that door, her mind drifting back through everything she had lived through since the world changed…

Shen Mo had come to her home and pulled her out of it.

On the highway, she had met Tan Xiao and Cheng Laoshi.

There had been the group of students led by Tu Dan.

And Pan Xiaoxin, surviving on her own terms without an adult to shelter her.

Some people searched for a way forward. Others only wanted to stay trapped on an island until they died.

And there had been that group who overcame everything to build a base — trying to stand against the unknown, that rhombus of geometric light suspended in the sky…

Bai Youwei thought for a long time. About many things.

On her wristband, the countdown ticked down second by second. Shen Mo still had not returned.

She understood clearly — even if there was only one minute left, he would refuse to give up. He wanted to, right up until the final moment, gather more subjects for her.

But this time…

This time, it was already, truly, impossible.

Hope — that kind of thing — you don’t always have it.

Sometimes, you just have to learn to face despair.

Bai Youwei drew a long breath, reached up to her neck, and unclasped the golden key to the dollhouse. She set it gently on the coffee table.

This world — she had once hated it with everything she had.

Now, only now, she realized: she had loved it too.