Shen Mo carried Bai Youwei inside and set her down on the sofa.

Bai Youwei looked around.

Perhaps it was because she had turned the tables and become the mistress of the place — the same surroundings felt entirely different from before.

“Can we live here?” She glanced around in disbelief. “Does this mean we’ll never have to sleep in a tent again? This game has always loved tormenting people, so getting a reward this good all of a sudden is… honestly kind of shocking…”

Shen Mo found a pair of pink women’s slippers in the shoe cabinet.

Then he remembered that Bai Youwei couldn’t walk, and put them back.

They had come straight from the tent, so both were barefoot, and the floor wasn’t exactly clean — it was dusted over with a layer of grime.

Bai Youwei glanced at the dusty floor and wrinkled her little brow in complaint: “It’s so dirty in here… couldn’t it at least be a little cleaner?”

Bang — bang!

Two sudden sounds rang out inside the house!

They came so abruptly that Bai Youwei startled.

Shen Mo stepped in front of her, his gaze sharp as he looked toward the storage room beside the staircase.

“Was that where the sound came from?” Bai Youwei asked in a hushed voice.

“Yes.” Shen Mo replied in a low tone. “Stay here. I’ll go check.”

Bai Youwei felt a prickling unease, worried this reward might be hiding a trap the way the gold coins had. She said quietly: “…Be careful.”

Shen Mo nodded and walked over slowly —

His footsteps were steady, nearly soundless. But just as he took two steps, the storage room door creaked open!

Shen Mo halted, staring at the door with both wariness and puzzlement.

Then he saw — a dustpan and a broom, bouncing and hopping their way out of the room.

Shen Mo: “…”

Bai Youwei: “…”

Two seconds of stunned silence later, a bucket and a mop came clanging and clattering out of the storage room as well! They filed in behind the dustpan and broom, sweeping and mopping the floor in orderly fashion, brimming with industrious energy.

Bai Youwei and Shen Mo looked at each other, too speechless to say anything.

After a long pause, Bai Youwei finally spoke: “They could’ve at least given me a smart cleaning robot — it’s not as though the system’s technology can’t pull that off. Why go so retro? It makes me look like such a childish mistress.”

Shen Mo silently quirked the corner of his mouth.

“What are you laughing at!” Bai Youwei raised her eyebrows.

Shen Mo kept a faint smile on his lips. “Nothing.”

Bai Youwei mulled it over thoughtfully. “It seems the dollhouse can carry out the mistress’s commands. I’m just not sure how far that extends…”

She looked at the broom that was sweeping, then ordered: “Go sweep the stairs clean.”

The broom and dustpan did indeed change direction and scurried off to sweep the stairs.

She looked at the fireplace and said: “Light the fire.”

The fireplace roared to life, the firewood cracking and popping.

She then looked toward the kitchen and said: “I want some tea.”

The tap turned on by itself, the kettle filled itself to the brim with water, and settled itself on the stove to heat.

Bai Youwei added: “I want a steak.”

This time, the dollhouse fell silent.

Shen Mo rubbed her head. “Stop tormenting it. At least give it a cow first.”

“I was just testing,” Bai Youwei said carelessly. She tossed the rabbit in her arms down to the floor. “Go charge yourself.”

The rabbit got up, looked left and right, found an electrical outlet in the corner of the wall, and trotted over on its little stubby legs.

“The level of intelligence in this dollhouse feels a lot like the rabbit,” Bai Youwei observed. “Both can respond to short text commands.”

Shen Mo glanced around and said mildly: “Well, they were both made by the same system.”

He picked Bai Youwei up. “Let’s go. Take a look upstairs.”

—