Chapter 58
As soon as Wen Xingxue finished speaking, he pushed the clown doll back into his pocket.
The next moment, Xing Nuo felt the world spin.
He couldn’t see anything, only feeling weightless and disoriented, as if he were flying.
Fortunately, a doll’s senses were less acute than a human child’s. Otherwise, he would have been sick.
When he finally felt steady again, Xing Nuo shook his dizzy head, not daring to peek out, and asked in a small voice:
“Big Brother? We back in mushroom house?”
Wen Xingxue’s voice was still hoarse and indifferent.
“No.”
Xing Nuo mumbled “Oh” and, clinging to the edge of the pocket, asked tentatively:
“Can I come out now?”
Wen Xingxue: “No.”
Standing in front of Wen Xingxue were several brown bear security guards.
The imposing, lifelike teddy bears, unlike the cute and cuddly ones in the town, looked almost like real brown bears.
And they were much larger and more menacing, their several-meter-tall bodies making the humans seem tiny.
“You dare trespass in our core factory?!”
“Unforgivable! This is the most important place in our town!”
“All our dolls are made here! No outsiders are allowed without authorization!”
The bears roared, their anger echoing through the factory.
Xing Nuo, curled up in the pocket, felt like his little doll body would be torn apart by the roars.
He worriedly poked Wen Xingxue’s waist with his little round hand, wanting to say something, but, afraid of interrupting him, remained silent.
Wen Xingxue drew his blade, feeling the little one’s tickle against his waist, and smiled faintly.
“Don’t worry. It’s just a few toy bears.”
Just a few C-level monsters, nothing to worry about.
He quickly moved to the side of the bears.
Before they could react, he kicked one over and swiftly brought his blade down.
In a single breath, the teddy bear was split in two.
Instead of fluffy white stuffing, chunks of human flesh and blood spilled out.
Dismembered limbs and organs, some still looking fresh, tumbled from the bear’s belly.
Wen Xingxue, not even glancing at the gruesome sight, swung his blade again, killing another bear.
Within minutes, the one-sided battle was over.
Wen Xingxue quickly left, destroying the factory’s surveillance cameras along the way, and reached a nearby river.
He tossed his blade into the water, watching as the bloodstained water gradually cleared, and called out to the little doll:
“Come out.”
Xing Nuo, who had been hiding quietly, quickly peeked out of the pocket.
He looked up at Wen Xingxue’s calm face and asked anxiously:
“Big Brother, we got caught stealing?”
Wen Xingxue shook his head. “No, we didn’t have time to steal anything.”
Xing Nuo, relieved, having never stolen anything before, and not wanting Big Brother to be a bad person, said:
“It’s okay. Stealing bad.”
Wen Xingxue sat down, cross-legged, not answering, and took the clown doll out of his pocket.
Xing Nuo, standing on the grass, looked up at the star-filled sky.
The wind ruffled his little cloth clothes, the clouds tinged with purple, floating around the silver moon.
Wen Xingxue, looking at the little doll standing by the river, suddenly asked:
“Little Clown Doll, do you want to be human again?”
Xing Nuo tilted his head, looking at the Big Brother, and nodded.
“I want turn back. If find Daddy…can turn back.”
Wen Xingxue chuckled and retrieved his blade from the river.
“Your daddy can turn you back?”
Xing Nuo nodded firmly, his face filled with trust and hope.
“Of course! My Daddy super powerful!”
Wen Xingxue, cleaning his blade, scoffed.
“You’re quite confident. Too bad, without the Heart of Toys, you’ll always be a toy.”
Xing Nuo shook his head, confused.
“Not! Little Gween Doll said…if we grant human wish…can turn back!”
Wen Xingxue sheathed his clean blade and snorted.
“He lied to you. That’s just Toy Town’s marketing strategy, a way to sell those ugly dolls.”
He then added:
“And what kind of wish can you even grant?”
Xing Nuo gasped, thought for a moment, and then said earnestly:
“Big Brother, you can wish…for Zaizai to sleep evewy night!”
Wen Xingxue: “…”
“Don’t push your luck.”
Asking for a wish and having to grant one to this ugly little thing in return? Was he insane?
Xing Nuo, persistent, poked Wen Xingxue’s leg, circling him like a little top.
“You wish! Then Zaizai definitely make wish come twue!”
Wen Xingxue, speechless, placed his hand over the chattering doll’s mouth.
“Enough. Be quiet. Even if you grant a wish, you won’t turn back.”
Xing Nuo, his mouth covered, still struggling, mumbled:
“Why?”
Wen Xingxue patted his head, a smirk playing on his lips.
“No need to ask so many questions.”
He put the clown doll back in his pocket and walked towards his mushroom house.
“Let’s go back.”
If they didn’t go back to sleep soon, it would be daylight.
Xing Nuo didn’t know when they returned to the mushroom house. When he woke up, it was already bright outside.
A crowd of people and teddy bears were gathered outside, arguing loudly.
Xing Nuo slid off the bed and ran to the door.
“No fight! What’s wrong?”
Wen Xingxue wasn’t there, so Xing Nuo, the little master, faced the angry teddy bears alone.
The white bears, seeing the tiny clown doll, smaller than their paws, sneered.
“Clown Doll, where’s the human who brought you here?!”
“Did he run away, knowing he’s in trouble?!”
“He dared to hurt our brown bear guards! How dare he!”
Xing Nuo, intimidated by the bears’ angry expressions, their fluffy faces contorted in rage, took a step back.
But he still waved his little hands, trying to explain.
“No, Big Brother no wun away. He come back soon.”
A player, watching the commotion, asked, confused:
“What’s going on? What happened?”
A white bear, its anger making it lose control, bared its teeth at the human.
“Wen Xingxue trespassed in our factory! And he attacked our brown bear guards! You better behave, or you’ll be turned into dolls!”
The players gasped, exchanging glances.
What did the factory have to do with this dungeon?!
Wasn’t the objective of this dungeon to participate in the doll exhibition?!
They had spent the entire day working and earning money to buy clothes and accessories for their dolls, trying to figure out the teddy bears’ preferences to increase their chances of winning.
And Wen Xingxue had gone to the factory?
Two players from the same guild exchanged a look, their faces serious.
Did Wen Xingxue discover something they missed?
But they couldn’t think of anything unusual about this dungeon.
The biggest challenge so far was the town’s exorbitant prices and the unfriendly teddy bears.
If they wanted to clear this dungeon, they might have to spend all their points.
For players who were reluctant to spend their hard-earned points, or those who didn’t have many to begin with, this dungeon was almost impossible to win.
As they were debating, Wen Xingxue arrived.
He walked over, picked up the little doll in front of the white bears, and put him back in his pocket.
He glanced down at the pouting doll, his eyelids half-closed, and handed him a wrapped sunflower-shaped piece of playdough.
“Here, play with this.”
Xing Nuo, holding the thumb-sized toy, relieved, poked Wen Xingxue’s hand.
“White bears say…Big Brother hurt bwowun bears.”
Wen Xingxue hummed, looked up at the bears blocking his door, and put his hands in his pockets.
“Are you accusing me? Where’s your proof?”
The white bears were enraged, one of them almost jumping up and down.
“You destroyed the surveillance cameras! But we know it was you!”
Among these humans, only this one was powerful and difficult to deal with.
Who else could have hurt the brown bears?!
Wen Xingxue, ignoring them, entered his house and, before closing the door, looked up at them coldly.
“If you have no proof, then it wasn’t me. Come back when you find some.”
He closed the door, shutting out the bears’ angry curses.
He placed the clown doll on the table and said:
“Don’t learn from those rude, foul-mouthed bears. Even as a doll, you should be polite.”
Xing Nuo nodded, clutching the playdough, and asked:
“Big Brother, why white bears come find you?”
He hadn’t seen the fight last night, having been in Wen Xingxue’s pocket, and had thought they were just running away.
Wen Xingxue didn’t answer. He poked the playdough in Xing Nuo’s hand.
“Why aren’t you playing with it? Don’t you like sunflowers?”
Xing Nuo looked at the playdough and sighed, thinking the Big Brother was childish.
He was almost four years old!
He put the playdough aside, stood up, walked to the table like a worried little adult, and looked at Wen Xingxue.
“Big Brother, you went to work this morning?”
He had overheard the other players talking about working to earn money for rent.
But Big Brother had just been wandering around the streets with him!
They hadn’t earned a single coin yesterday!
If this continued, they would be kicked out of their mushroom house!
Wen Xingxue, seeing the little doll’s worried expression, chuckled, his usually cold and stiff face softening slightly.
As Xing Nuo glared at him, his little hands on his hips, Wen Xingxue nodded dismissively.
“Yes, I’ll go find work today.”
