Shen Mo and Bai Youwei walked through the dollhouse again from top to bottom.

Aside from the house becoming intelligent, the layout and furnishings were basically the same as before — except all the dolls that had been everywhere were gone, the books in the study were gone, and the only garment left in the wardrobe was the black Lolita dress Bai Youwei had worn.

Presumably because the dollhouse now recognized only one mistress by default.

They went out through the front door and found themselves back inside the tent.

Going out through the back door brought them to the hillside outside the dollhouse — downhill led into the woods, and walking forward could take them around to the front entrance of the house.

After wandering a full loop, the two returned to the living room.

The floor had been swept clean and gleaming. A fire burned in the fireplace, and tea sat on the coffee table.

Bai Youwei took a sip of the steaming tea, then set it down and muttered with a slight pout: “It’s not as good as the tea Teacher Cheng brews.”

—

“Teacher Cheng brews tea according to your taste — there’s a difference between brewed with care and brewed without,” Shen Mo said as he also took a sip. He looked around the house and remarked lightly: “This reward is somewhat beyond the ordinary.”

Bai Youwei paused, then nodded slowly:

“It is. Not only did they give us shelter, they’re providing unlimited water, electricity, and gas. No wonder that orb said the game was in calibration. Looking at both the difficulty and the rewards… this game really is out of the ordinary.”

Most props in the doll game were single-use.

The occasional prop that could be used multiple times — like the mud — still came with corresponding restrictions on its scope, such as only working on surface flesh wounds.

But the dollhouse was like a game glitch.

For instance — if a player entered the dollhouse mid-game, would the game fail to proceed due to insufficient player count?

What would the Inspector do? Wait for the player inside the dollhouse to come out, or wait for others to join the game?

And then there were the mazes that pushed the human body to its limits — deserts, rainforests, glaciers, any harsh environment was possible. But if a player brought a dollhouse into one, eating and drinking well every day inside the maze — what would be the point of the maze’s difficulty?

“Remember the rabbit-headed person from the tortoise-and-hare race the first time?” Bai Youwei asked Shen Mo.

Shen Mo gave a small nod. “Mm?”

“At the time, I exploited a loophole in the rules, and to avoid breaking them, the rabbit-headed person found a compromise — giving me the rabbit as one-tenth of itself. You found it strange that with such advanced technology, it still needed charging to replenish its energy. Thinking back on it now, wasn’t that precisely for game balance?”

“Yes…” Shen Mo reflected, “If a player entered the game carrying a prop that could release unlimited electricity, it would be extremely unfair to the other players. To maintain balance, the Inspector limited the prop’s energy replenishment method — that was a remedial measure too.”

Bai Youwei let out a light laugh. “But now, I can charge it to unlimited, can’t I?”

“Genuinely strange.” Shen Mo gave a faint smile and shook his head. “They clearly care so much about game balance — how did they end up creating a reward like this?”

“Maybe Yan Qingwen guessed correctly.” Bai Youwei curved her lips. “Both the difficulty and the rewards in this game are wildly inappropriate. It hasn’t been calibrated to a proper state yet. We stumbled upon a bargain.”

“This kind of bargain, let’s not stumble upon it again. One more time and no amount of mud would be enough.” Shen Mo stood, ruffled her hair. “Are we resting here tonight?”

Bai Youwei stretched both arms out to him. “Let’s go back to the tent — otherwise Teacher Cheng won’t be able to find us and might be scared into a heart attack.”

Shen Mo watched how naturally she made that gesture, and for some reason paused slightly.

Bai Youwei held her arms out, tilting her head to look at him. “What’s wrong? Carry me.”

Shen Mo stared at her face for several seconds without blinking.

Bai Youwei grew more puzzled and asked again: “What’s gotten into you? Are you going to carry me or not?”

He snapped back to himself, bent down, and lifted her. “…Carrying you.”

She let out a cold huff. “Then why were you dawdling!”

Shen Mo said nothing.

It was just that something in his chest had been poked a moment ago…

The way she’d asked to be carried — it was a little bit adorable.

—