The game had changed everyone.

Fu Miaoxue still appeared to be the same domineering, arrogant young mistress she had always been — yet she was no longer merely his young mistress.

She had changed.

Du Lai knew he had changed too.

It was precisely because people could change so easily that one always longed for things that were enduring and permanent — a promise, an agreement, or the simple presence of someone beside you…

Du Lai gently pulled Fu Miaoxue into an embrace.

Her body no longer had the softness of a living person, and her hair carried only the scent of synthetic fibers.

“Once this game is over, let’s go to the labyrinth as soon as possible.” Du Lai said quietly. “The labyrinth can upgrade everyone’s stats — it will definitely be able to change you back.”

“And if it can’t?” Fu Miaoxue asked.

Du Lai released her slightly and looked at her with steady seriousness. “If it can’t, we’ll find another way. If there are items to revive players, there must be a way to turn a doll back into a human.”

“Maybe there is, maybe there isn’t.” Fu Miaoxue smiled faintly. She took Du Lai’s hand and said calmly, “Du Lai, promise me one thing.”

Du Lai’s brow furrowed slightly.

“Promise me,” said Fu Miaoxue, “that if I die — don’t try to save me again.”

Du Lai stared at her.

Fu Miaoxue suddenly smiled, and for a rare moment, the glass eyes of the doll showed a spark of something only the living possessed.

“If Bai Youwei is the one who kills me, I give you permission to avenge me — after all, that’s your way of showing you love me~” she said with a cheerful grin. “But absolutely, absolutely do not revive me! Living like this is worse than death! It’s too stifling!~”

Du Lai’s face was taut, and he said nothing.

She clung to him and continued to wheedle, “If I die again, don’t save me — okay? Du Lai — you’re the best in the whole world — just promise me — please~”

Du Lai drew a slow breath…

Then he asked her: “Then what about me — what am I supposed to do?”

“You?” Fu Miaoxue blinked, momentarily taken aback. “…You, of course, live on carrying the love you have for me! And you are absolutely not allowed to cheat — otherwise I’ll haunt you even as a ghost!”

Du Lai gave a bitter smile.

He neither refused nor agreed. He simply said, “Don’t worry. I won’t let you die.”

“How can you be so selfish?!” Fu Miaoxue expressed her displeasure, eyes blazing. “Just because you love me, you won’t let me die? You are really too selfish!”

“Maybe dying together here wouldn’t be so bad.” Du Lai smiled. “Your plan might not even work.”

“Stop saying things like that!” Fu Miaoxue grew even more unhappy. “Isn’t this all for your sake?! Only if something happens to Bai Youwei can we get her items and puzzle pieces. Ugh, I wonder if she’s figured it out yet…”

“Probably.” Du Lai looked toward the village beyond the tree line. “But even if she has, she most likely won’t know exactly what’s going on.”

Plop.

A drop of water fell onto Fu Miaoxue’s cheek.

She looked up at the moisture-laden leaves overhead and murmured, “It’s going to rain again.”

Whenever it rained, the Corpse-Hauling Woman would be coming soon.

Du Lai rose to his feet and brushed the dirt from his clothing. “Let’s go — we need to start moving too.”

Fu Miaoxue picked up the spirit tablet and looked at it.

— *Tablet of the Departed: Liu Yanruo, Beloved Daughter of the Liu Household.*

If her guess was correct, this Liu Yanruo was the Corpse-Hauling Woman — the woman known as Li.

Using the spirit tablet to guide Liu Yanruo back to that “tomb” — returning fallen leaves to their roots — was the only way to truly and finally end everything that had been happening in this village.

…Of course, timing was also crucial.

At minimum, they had to wait for both Bai Youwei and Shen Mo to be asleep before she and Du Lai could make their move.

As Fu Miaoxue thought it through, her steps involuntarily faltered. A vague sense of unease rose in her chest.

Hmm, something feels off…

This plan… seemed to have… a flaw.

—