Shen Mo thought for a moment, then tossed the severed arm onto the sofa. “Leave it for now. We can’t just throw it out like regular trash — that could cause trouble.”

Maybe if they discarded it, it would hurt someone. Or someone else could exploit it.

But Bai Youwei wasn’t thinking about any of that. Her brow was deeply furrowed, her expression full of displeasure. “It was lying on the floor just now, and now you’ve gone and thrown it on the sofa — the sofa cover was just changed, and it hasn’t even washed its hands!”

The hand on the sofa immediately rolled itself off onto the floor, palm-side down and arm pointing up, and crawled rigidly toward the kitchen —

A moment later, Bai Youwei and Shen Mo heard the faucet turn on, water splashing noisily.

They looked at each other, expressions equally unreadable.

Shen Mo was quiet for a moment, then said, “Now you don’t have to worry about it dirtying the sofa cover.”

Bai Youwei: “Mm……”

“But…” Shen Mo patted her head, “remember to warn Teacher Cheng and Xiaoxin about it first.”

Seeing a severed hand in the middle of the night would be quite terrifying otherwise.

Bai Youwei was still mulling over how to deal with the thing.

Just then, the sound of water from the kitchen stopped. Uneasy, she and Shen Mo went to check together — and found the arm wiping its hand on a kitchen rag. She immediately erupted in fury.

“You wiped your hand on the DISHCLOTH?! What’s the point of washing it then?! That rag is covered in grease!!”

The hand startled violently — thud — it tumbled off the edge of the sink, then scrambled to hide in the narrow gap behind the refrigerator, trembling.

“Behind the fridge is full of dust! It’s filthy!” Bai Youwei said furiously. “Fridge! Move out of the way!”

The refrigerator didn’t budge.

Shen Mo glanced at her. “The fridge is one we brought in from outside.”

Just a regular household appliance — not a product of the game. Not that smart.

Bai Youwei bit her lip, raised her hand, and smacked the refrigerator hard several times — thud, thud, thud.

“Get out here! Go wash your hand again! With soap — scrub both sides — then dry it with the paper towels on the dining table, and after that… just sit on a chair! No getting on the floor!”

The mistress of the dollhouse’s commands could not be disobeyed by anyone.

The hand crept out, shaking, and following Bai Youwei’s instructions, rubbed its palm and back against the soap bar, working up a lather…

Bai Youwei watched it with eagle-eyed supervision. “If you dirty anything in this house again, I’m sending you outside to chop wood. Never come back inside!”

Shen Mo could barely suppress his amusement.

He glanced over at the plush rabbit quietly charging in the living room and couldn’t help but think: this household is getting livelier and livelier…

In a vast, open space of enormous proportions, countless cubes were arranged in perfect order.

One of the cubes was emanating a pure white light — fluctuating between bright and dim — and the rabbit-headed inspector stood before it, methodically carrying out data restoration work.

This was its job, its duty. Day after day, year after year… always laboring to satisfy the system’s requirements.

A ball rolled to its feet.

The rabbit-headed figure stopped and turned around, seeing a manga-handsome man with golden hair and blue eyes walking toward it. Behind him came a marionette on strings, an elderly figure in a grey robe, a stone idol with three faces, ghost flames hovering in midair… and many others besides.

Everyone had come.

The rabbit-headed inspector regarded them quietly, gaze settling at last on the manga man’s face. “What is it?”

The manga man said, “The system just flagged an anomaly. After investigation, it was found that you distributed in-game functional items to a player as a reward.”

The rabbit-headed inspector gave a small nod. “That’s correct.”

The manga man was clearly unhappy. “Please explain your reasoning. The items this player is carrying have already had a significant impact on game balance — so why did you still… In any case, we cannot help but suspect that in your oversight of the game, you harbored an intent to show favoritism.”

The rabbit-headed inspector showed a flicker of surprise. “You said… favoritism?”