Mali hit the ground with a soft thump, landing in the shards of broken glass scattered across the floor.

In almost the same instant, every light in the amusement park went out.

The roller coaster stopped running. The carousel stopped turning. The Ferris wheel stopped moving. The dolls all went still.

The music fell silent.

The sky went dark.

Bai Youwei looked out toward the outside world. Yan Qingwen stood in the night, sharp and motionless, like a sculpture.

She finally, truly, let herself relax — her knees gave way beneath her, and she sank to sit against the stair railing.

“Sorry — it took me a while to find a clear shot.” Yan Qingwen said.

His voice wasn’t particularly loud, but the amusement park was so utterly quiet now that despite the distance between them, Bai Youwei heard him perfectly clearly.

She let out a rueful smile, bowed her head, and felt the sweat on her cheeks drop to the floor. She murmured softly: “Finally… a little later and I truly wouldn’t have been able to hold on…”

Not far away, the rabbit padded over slowly and pressed its fluffy little head against her knees — and stayed there, unmoving, as if it too had completely worn itself out.

Bai Youwei picked it up and gave it a gentle pat.

Mm… nearly all its charge used up. It really had worked hard.

Bai Youwei held the rabbit and rested quietly.

From the staircase below came the clear sound of footsteps. She didn’t look back. A moment later, a pair of warm hands — faintly damp with sweat — wrapped around her and lifted her with steady, deliberate care —

The familiar embrace gave her that languid, coming-home feeling. Even though this man was covered in sweat, blood, and mud, he always brought her a sense of deep, settled calm.

Bai Youwei rested against Shen Mo’s chest, closed her eyes for a moment to recover, then opened them. “Where are the others?”

Shen Mo carried her down the stairs, his tone unhurried: “Tan Xiao was injured. He’s out.”

Bai Youwei asked: “What about Yu Yaqing?”

Shen Mo’s footsteps faltered, just briefly — then resumed, continuing down. “…She didn’t make it.”

Bai Youwei went still, and asked: “She died?”

Shen Mo gave a quiet “mn.”

Neither of them spoke. The spiral staircase, and nothing but the sound of footsteps — one after another, steady and continuous.

After a long while, Bai Youwei asked again: “Was she in pain when she died?”

Shen Mo stopped, and looked at Bai Youwei. “Not in pain. When she died… she didn’t suffer too much.”

Bai Youwei heard this. Her expression settled into a quiet daze, and she gave a small, slow nod. “That’s good.”

……

The two walked out of the Crystal Tower to find Yan Qingwen and Shen Fei waiting for them outside.

A little further away, the supervisor was walking slowly toward them —

“Congratulations to all of you on clearing this game.”

Bai Youwei. Shen Mo. Shen Fei. Yan Qingwen.

The rabbit-headed figure’s gaze moved across each of their faces in turn, its tone gentle: “Your performance was more extraordinary than I had imagined. The Doll Game is never stingy toward its victors — you will receive the finest reward in the game’s history.”

“The finest reward?” Yan Qingwen gave a cold, scornful snort.

Shen Mo said flatly: “So many people died. Unless they can be brought back to life, there probably isn’t a reward that deserves to be called ‘the finest.'”

The rabbit-headed figure gave a faint smile. “Items capable of resurrection do exist — though they are not to be found within my game.”

At those words, every one of the four people present froze.

An item that could bring someone back from the dead?

Such a thing truly existed in this world — an item that could resurrect the dead?!

Yan Qingwen asked urgently: “Which game is it in?! Which game do we enter to get an item like that?!”

The rabbit-headed figure replied: “The Doll Game has 7,124 varieties in total. After testing and review, 3,361 were closed due to unfixable flaws; 2,156 were closed because their data was too homogeneous; 1,092 were closed due to a clear-rate below 0.01%; another 343 were closed due to a clear-rate above 10%. That leaves 172 currently in active operation — and of those, only 1 contains a resurrection item. Your probability of encountering it is approximately one in two hundred, so I do not believe you will be fortunate enough to find it.”