“How can you say such things?! This is too much!!!” the ball shrieked in fury. “A game with rewards this generous naturally has to have added difficulty on top of the base level! Otherwise how would the game balance itself? How would it balance?!!!”

The crystal ball flashed with red light, and the drifting snowflakes inside were illuminated by that crimson glow — like bubbling blood.

“You outsiders! You understand nothing!”

Its voice was that of a child throwing a tantrum, and yet the cry still carried a furious edge.

“An overseer not only has the obligation to ensure the game runs normally — they must also intervene promptly whenever imbalance occurs! I never deliberately hid the game rules!”

Bai Youwei stared at it steadily. “So — if we had been wearing the right clothes when we offered the stuffed bears, nothing would have happened, correct?”

“That’s exact—” the ball cut itself off, then grew even angrier. “You were deliberately fishing for that answer?!”

Bai Youwei denied it: “No, I wasn’t.”

The ball: “You absolutely were!!!”

Bai Youwei didn’t bother arguing further. She turned to Shen Mo and Yan Qingwen and the others: “It seems it was simply a matter of clothing. Let’s go upstairs and change.”

Yan Qingwen gave her a long look, then nodded and turned toward the second floor.

The others followed one by one.

Shen Mo was the last to leave. The first floor was left with only Bai Youwei, the ball, and the unconscious Li Li on the sofa.

The crystal ball drifted and bobbed its way over to Bai Youwei’s side, its tone sinister: “So you think changing clothes will be enough to clear the game? Don’t dream. The difficulty of the dollhouse is not as simple as you imagine. Soon, you’ll pay the price for your arrogance!”

Bai Youwei smiled.

“There’s something I want to tell you,” she said.

The ball paused slightly, then drifted closer. “What’s that?”

Bai Youwei said, “Actually… your game is the worst of all the games. Completely terrible.”

The ball: “…”

“See — you’ve paid the price even faster than me,” Bai Youwei curved her lips in a smile. “Forced to sit in front of the players and endure humiliation. Are you happy now?”

The ball: “………………”

So infuriating.

It really wanted her to just die already.

…

The people upstairs came down one by one.

Everyone had changed into new clothes, and none of them looked entirely comfortable.

Zhu Shu was relatively fine — she had been used to wearing all kinds of performance and stage costumes, so she slipped into this sort of clothing with ease.

Su Man, on the other hand, was clearly struggling. She was the type who rarely wore even a skirt unless the occasion absolutely demanded it — her everyday wear was a simple women’s button-down and jeans. Now she was stuffed into one of these voluminous, frilly princess dresses, adorned with all manner of ribbons and decorations. The expression on Su Man’s face was deeply disgruntled.

Teacher Cheng was dressed in a black tailcoat, looking like the butler of some ancient manor.

Tan Xiao and Pan Xiaoxin had been cast as the young master and the little young master of that same manor.

Lu Ang had a stocky build, and even dressed up in a full formal suit, still looked unmistakably like a bodyguard.

As for Shen Mo and Yan Qingwen — their looks were good enough and their builds well-proportioned enough that, once dressed up, they resembled dignified, aristocratic princes.

Shen Mo in particular — whether because Bai Youwei’s eyes had a built-in filter for him, she wasn’t sure — but when she saw him descend the stairs, her gaze nearly went completely straight.

A perfectly tailored formal suit, a strong jaw line, sharp and handsome features, deep and unhurried eyes… perfect in every single way. Her gaze was unguarded, almost greedy in the way it lingered on him.

Shen Mo walked over to her, the corner of his mouth curving slightly upward.

“Am I imagining things?” he said softly, with a low laugh. “Why do I feel like your expression just now was a little… hungry?”

“Was it~” Bai Youwei grinned and wrapped both arms around his waist, her small hands wandering here and there. “The suit fits so well.”

That remark made the others look particularly put-upon.

“Yeah…” Lu Ang muttered under his breath. “Almost like it was tailor-made for us.”