The ball said nothing.

Bai Youwei’s gaze toward it grew increasingly suspicious.

After a moment, she said to Pan Xiaoxin: “Go bring the music box over.”

Pan Xiaoxin: “…”

The crystal ball exploded in a furious shout: “Hey! Are you deaf to ball-speak?! I already said attacking the referee is a violation! It’s a serious — violation — of the rules!!!”

Pan Xiaoxin, who had been about to stand up, froze, unsure whether to listen to Bai Youwei or to the ball.

Bai Youwei looked at Pan Xiaoxin with calm, gentle eyes. “It’s fine. We’re just bringing it over for a look, winding the spring, listening to the music. That won’t count as a violation.”

Pan Xiaoxin nodded, composed his expression, walked over, picked up the music box, and carried it back.

The crystal ball on top of the music box snorted coldly: “You’d better not try any tricks! Don’t think you can exploit loopholes in the rules! Any violation will be punished by the referee… ah — !”

Pan Xiaoxin suddenly stumbled, and with a loud thwack, fell to the floor!

The music box stayed cradled in his arms, but the crystal ball was flung out in a parabolic arc, hit the floor hard, and bounced twice before rolling all the way to the corner of the wall!

“Oh my! Xiaoxin, are you okay? Get up quickly!” Bai Youwei clutched her chest in alarm. “How did you trip? Thank goodness it wasn’t on purpose, or the referee would have ruled it as a deliberate attack!”

On the floor, Pan Xiaoxin: “…”

On the floor, the ball: “…”

Cheng Weicai hurried over to help Pan Xiaoxin up, brushing the dust off his legs. “Are you hurt? Did the fall hurt? Next time be more careful when you walk — was there standing water on the floor from the flooding earlier that made you slip?”

Pan Xiaoxin quietly put the music box on the table, then looked at Bai Youwei.

Why did he have the feeling… that just now, Weiwei jie had tripped him?

Hmm…

Wasn’t Weiwei jie’s legs disabled…

“Is there a screwdriver?” Bai Youwei said with great enthusiasm. “Now that the referee isn’t sitting on top of it, there’s no problem taking it apart, right? Go ahead — take it apart!”

Shen Mo took a screwdriver and dismantled the music box.

In the corner, the crystal ball, now covered in dust, slowly rolled back —

The ball’s round body pressed against the wooden floor, producing a creaking sound. Where it rolled, the floorboards cracked faintly, as though bearing a thousand pounds of weight, splitting into a long hairline fracture — heavy, silent, like suppressed rage.

It rolled all the way back to the living room and stopped, watching as they dismantled the music box into scattered pieces.

As they took it apart, they counted the nails.

“One, two, four… eight…”

“Do you think that just because you dismantled the music box, you’ll clear the game?” The spiteful childlike voice rose faintly from within the crystal ball. “The doll house: one season to live, one season to die. In total, during the calibration phase, 6,798,052 players entered. Of those who survived to the autumn round, only 1,289 remained. And every single one of those people — also failed to survive to winter!”

Bai Youwei looked toward the crystal ball on the floor.

The counting in the room had stopped…

Stopped at 12.

The nails they needed were far more than twelve.

The crystal ball burst into laughter on the floor: “Haha! Foolish humans! Did you think dismantling the music box would clear the game?! The doll house is unlike any game you’ve played before! Its difficulty is unparalleled!”

The people stared at the nails on the table in silence, and expressions of dejection slowly crept across their faces.

“The doll house — one season to live, one season to die…” Yan Qingwen gave a bitter smile and a soft sigh. “So that’s how it is.”

Bai Youwei frowned. “What do you mean?”

Yan Qingwen looked at her: “Do you remember the first round of summer? Tan Xiao and Li Li found a model ship…”

He left the sentence unfinished, but everyone understood what he meant.

Li Li’s face went white as paper, and he murmured: “The model ship… had a lot of nails on it…”