It was a very young and beautiful face.

Bright eyes, gleaming teeth, snow-white skin, dark hair, a delicate nose, a pointed chin — except that she was a doll.

Du Lai’s chest heaved violently. He had gone to such lengths to keep it hidden — all for her sake, because he had not wanted her to be seen as a freak.

Bai Youwei was disabled in her legs, and still she had to endure so many strange and pitying stares. If someone like *this* were to appear before the world — what would the consequences be?!

He lunged to cover her with the cloth again — and was shoved off again.

“Everyone’s already seen it, what’s the point of covering me now!” She impatiently flicked her sopping wet hair out of her face and turned to look at Bai Youwei and Shen Mo.

But both Bai Youwei’s and Shen Mo’s expressions held only a brief flash of surprise before quickly returning to calm, as though the fact that she was a doll was not, in the end, a very big deal.

“Why aren’t you shocked?” the black-robed woman demanded.

Bai Youwei replied without expression, “We were shocked.”

The black-robed woman: “……”

Hmph!

They clearly were not the least bit surprised!

Du Lai, seeing there was no undoing this, made one final attempt at damage control. He explained to Shen Mo and Bai Youwei: “Miaoxue ended up like this inside a game. I used an item to save her, but for some reason, her body has remained in a doll’s state. I hope you can keep this secret for us. I’m sure you understand — if others were to see her like this, it would bring no end of trouble!”

The black-robed woman immediately said, “Let them see! So what if they do? If you think I’m trouble, then why did you save me in the first place? You should have just let me die!”

“Fu Miaoxue!” Du Lai’s patience finally gave out. “Can we discuss this *after* we get out of the game?!”

But she was even more stubborn than him. “Du Lai! Just because you saved me doesn’t give you the right to boss me around! I live my life on my own terms! Either do things my way, or we break up!”

Du Lai was so furious he could barely speak. He stared at her through gritted teeth.

Bai Youwei and Shen Mo looked at each other. Their feelings about these two were complex, to say the least.

They were clearly lovers — the closest of relationships — and yet they treated each other almost like enemies. Not to the point of actual hatred, but the way they interacted was unmistakably shot through with hostility.

Fu Miaoxue in particular never seemed to stop taking out her frustrations on Du Lai, and Du Lai put up with all of it without a word. It was genuinely remarkable.

Shen Mo stepped in, interrupting the standoff between the two of them —

“Du Lai, the item you used — is it the kind of item that can bring the dead back to life?”

Bai Youwei was startled. She looked at Shen Mo.

She hadn’t thought of that angle.

Du Lai was also momentarily taken aback, and then his gaze grew deep and careful. “…So you already knew about it too.”

Fu Miaoxue gave a cool smile and said, “Don’t get your hopes up too high. It’s very likely that by the time you go through all that hardship to get the item, the family member or friend you’re reviving may not want to live in a state like this at all. Look at me now — doesn’t it seem like a joke?”

She said this, then glanced sideways at Du Lai, her voice light and cutting: “Are you out of your mind? Was it even worth it?”

Du Lai said nothing, his face dark.

Shen Mo and Bai Youwei said nothing either.

They were both thinking: if this kind of item were used on Lu Ang and Yu Yaqing…

To turn a person into a talking, walking human-shaped doll — was that a form of salvation, or a new kind of torment?

Bai Youwei couldn’t be sure how Yan Qingwen would react to the news, but she felt quite certain that Yu Yaqing’s pride would never allow her to exist as a doll — because it was, in another sense, a form of defeat. The most humiliating kind of defeat.

Without their noticing, they had walked out of the dense forest.

Beyond the forest lay a hillside, and at its foot was a cluster of houses that looked like a small village. Faint lights glimmered here and there through the dim, rainy dark.

Fu Miaoxue stood on the hillside and said lazily, “Weren’t you just asking what the opera *The Bone-Carrying Woman* was about? I’ll tell you now~”

—