Chapter 60
After a long while, Xing Nuo finally recovered from his shock.
He stood up, walked around the large bag, and stared at it, his mouth agape.
He looked up at Wen Xingxue, his little clown face full of questions.
“Big Brother, what’s this? You…bought…?”
Wen Xingxue nodded, pulling down his black mask to reveal his pale face, a slight smile playing on his lips.
“Bought it…for you.”
Xing Nuo stared at him, his button eyes unblinking, his little head tilted in confusion.
“Why?”
Buying so many expensive things for Zaizai.
He was just an ugly little clown doll, disliked by everyone.
Xing Nuo, remembering what Shen Wen had once said, scratched his cheek and said:
“Dad said…no one…kind…for no reason…only family…”
Like Dad, and Brother, they instinctively doted on Xing Nuo.
Their love was unconditional and unwavering, and Xing Nuo accepted it without hesitation.
But what about this Big Brother?
Xing Nuo didn’t understand, so he simply asked.
Wen Xingxue, his eyes half-closed, seemed to be considering the same question.
After a long moment, he chuckled and ruffled the little clown doll’s messy hair.
“Strange. The moment…I saw you…I felt like…I should…pick you up.”
An ugly little doll lying next to a trash can, somehow brave enough to be wandering around the central city looking for someone.
He had looked so small and lost. Wen Xingxue, stopping amidst the bustling crowd, had inexplicably brought the ugly doll home.
After thinking for a while, he couldn’t explain his strange attachment to the doll.
“No reason. Don’t think…too much. Try these…see if they…fit.”
He took out a warm yellow hoodie with a sunflower print from the bag and handed it to Xing Nuo.
“Try it on.”
Xing Nuo held the little hoodie, his small, round hand touching the embroidered sunflower, and unexpectedly, felt a lump in his throat.
His dad and brother both knew Zaizai loved sunflowers.
This strange older brother always complained about how ugly Zaizai was, but when buying clothes, he still considered the little clown doll’s preferences.
Xing Nuo sniffled and, hiding behind the large bag, struggled to put on the hoodie.
Wen Xingxue sat on the carpet, his legs crossed, and emptied the bag, sorting the items.
He folded the clothes and placed them in a pile, gathered the various hats, and although he hadn’t found any suitable shoes for a doll, he had still bought a few pairs.
Whenever he put together a nice outfit, he would call Xing Nuo.
“Come here, this…looks better…than before…”
Xing Nuo, having just changed into another outfit, panted, exhausted.
He was constantly changing clothes, running back and forth like a little fashion model.
Finally, having tried on countless outfits, he tripped over the carpet, his clothes falling off, the doll landing face-first on the floor.
He simply rolled over onto his back, his little hands on his belly, and lay there motionless.
Wen Xingxue was still sorting through the dozens of bow ties he had bought.
He was thinking about how to match them when he looked up and saw the lifeless little doll lying on the carpet, as if it had given up on life.
He paused, then, a smile playing on his lips, walked over and picked up the exhausted little doll.
“Tired?”
Xing Nuo, dangling in the air, continued to lie there with his eyes closed, not moving.
Wen Xingxue found the little thing rather amusing. He poked its soft belly.
“Alright, no more…trying on clothes…”
Hearing this, Xing Nuo finally opened his eyes.
“Okay,” he replied.
Wen Xingxue chuckled, placed the dramatic little clown doll on the bed, and found a small, star-patterned blanket.
“Go to sleep if you’re tired. It’s late.”
Xing Nuo, exhausted, snuggled under the small cloth blanket, his little body stretched out on the soft pillow, and instantly fell asleep.
Wen Xingxue stood by the bed, looking down at the little clown doll. After a long while, the smile on his face faded.
He returned to the living room, sat down on the carpet, and carefully folded the clothes he had bought for the little clown doll.
The night was quiet, a silver moon hanging in the sky.
In Toy Town, brown bears and tigers patrolled the streets, circling the toy factory.
They stopped and questioned any suspicious-looking humans, especially those whose backs resembled Wen Xingxue’s.
The entire town was on high alert after Wen Xingxue’s nighttime raid on the factory.
The streetlights remained on all night, and teddy bears patrolled every corner.
Not only were the toy animals on high alert that night,
the players staying next to Wen Xingxue’s house also kept their lights on, watching his every move.
Although they still didn’t know what was so important about the factory, anything that made Wen Xingxue risk a nighttime raid must be related to the core secret of the instance!
But the night was quiet and uneventful.
The light in Wen Xingxue’s house stayed on all night, and the players, using various abilities to monitor him, saw no sign of him leaving.
The players sharing rooms to save money exchanged puzzled glances.
“Is Wen Xingxue not going out tonight?”
“It’s almost dawn, he’s probably not going anywhere.”
“Damn it, we waited all night for nothing!”
Wen Xingxue, having evaded both the teddy bear patrols and the human players, carefully folded the clothes and hats, arranging them neatly in the small basket.
He looked down at the full basket and nodded in satisfaction.
Good, now his little clown doll wouldn’t look so pathetic!
He placed the basket in his spatial wristwatch and, having stayed up all night, lay down on the bed and closed his eyes.
Despite the town’s heightened security, Wen Xingxue had appeared completely relaxed these past two days.
During the day, he would take the little clown doll shopping, adding more cute accessories and clothes to the basket.
At night, he would coax the uncooperative, stubbornly resistant little clown doll into trying on new outfits and hair clips.
Whenever Xing Nuo would lie down and refuse to cooperate, Wen Xingxue would bring out another small toy to entice him.
Although Xing Nuo rarely fell for it, Wen Xingxue seemed to enjoy the dress-up game immensely.
Finally, Xing Nuo, waving his small, round hands, patted Wen Xingxue’s face, trying to bring him back to reality.
“I’m not…fashion doll! Can’t wear…so many…clothes!”
Wen Xingxue shrugged, unmoved.
He glanced at a newly opened clothing store on the street and stroked his chin thoughtfully.
“We need…more…no winter clothes…yet…”
Xing Nuo sighed dejectedly, lying on the sofa like a small, salted fish devoid of dreams and hope.
In the end, he was dragged out of the house by Wen Xingxue.
Just as they left their small, fenced-in courtyard, before Wen Xingxue could even close the gate properly, they heard a startled cry from next door.
“You’ve turned into a doll!”
Xing Nuo, startled, poked his head out of Wen Xingxue’s pocket, craning his neck to see what was happening.
Wen Xingxue, afraid he might fall out, pushed his head back in.
“Little thing…so nosy…don’t fall out…”
Xing Nuo mumbled something, his head tilted, not quite hearing, too engrossed in the commotion next door.
The players, who hadn’t gone to work yet that morning, emerged from their houses.
“What’s wrong? What were you shouting about?”
“A doll? Someone lost their doll? Can they still participate in the competition in two days?”
Amidst the seemingly concerned questions, the player who had screamed pointed at the nightstand, his voice trembling.
“Yu Bin…he…he’s turned into a doll!”
The human who had been lying on the bed was gone, replaced by two plush dolls on the nightstand.
One was the doll Yu Bin had chosen before entering Toy Town, named Xiaoguo.
The other was a doll that looked exactly like Yu Bin!
The players crowded around the nightstand, staring at the two dolls, a sudden chill running down their spines.
He had turned into a doll even though he hadn’t failed the instance?!
And it was a lifeless doll!
Just as they were frantically discussing this, Yu Bin’s doll, Xiaoguo, suddenly spoke, its voice clear and cheerful:
“Yu Bin said he wants to stay here…and be best friends with Xiaoguo…forever!”
Xiaoguo smiled, its mouth stretching into a wide grin. Despite its cute doll face, its expression seemed…unsettling, even sinister.
The players’ hearts sank.
They clearly remembered that the dolls they had chosen before entering the town were lifeless objects.
But now, Yu Bin had become a lifeless doll, while his doll, Xiaoguo, had come to life!
In that instant, they didn’t dare think about where all the living dolls in this town had come from.
They took a step back and turned to Yu Bin’s roommate, wanting more information.
But the roommate wasn’t close to Yu Bin and could only recall a few insignificant details.
“…Yu Bin was…quite introverted…and he liked buying clothes…for his doll…he didn’t have many points…spent most of his money…on the doll…”
Then his eyes widened as he remembered something.
“I remember now! He was very attached to Xiaoguo…he even said…he wished Xiaoguo…was alive…like the teddy bears in town…”
The players gasped.
“So…the doll…swapped places with him?!”
Not having witnessed a human turning into a doll, they hadn’t considered it a truly terrifying possibility.
But now, looking at Yu Bin’s doll, its lips curved into a fixed smile, a wave of fear washed over them.
Becoming a lifeless doll seemed even more terrifying than death!
A player stumbled back, thinking of the plush doll in his pocket, and let out a cry of terror.
“No! I don’t want this doll anymore! It’s too scary!”
Just as he panicked, another player, calmer, said sternly:
“Don’t want the doll? Then you’re forfeiting the doll exhibition, which means you’ve already failed.”
And the consequence of failure was…becoming a doll.
