Chapter 62
The players, looking at the duck doll’s sinister expression, turned and saw the other cute and fluffy dolls’ expressions also turning creepy.
They had been in Toy Town for seven days, and only now did the system notification sound:
[Toy Town Battle Royale, officially begins! Players must escape Toy Town and board the train to Central City before dawn!]
The players were stunned.
So, the real dungeon only started after the Toy Doll Exhibition on the seventh day?!
What was the point of their hard work and spent points then?!
“This stupid dungeon! What a scam!”
“No wonder Wen Xingxue didn’t take the competition seriously!”
“Ahhh, my hard-earned points! I spent most of them on this stupid exhibition!”
“Only half? I spent almost all of mine!”
The players, filled with resentment, glared at the creepy-looking dolls.
“Enough complaining! Let’s run! They’re just D-level and C-level monsters. We can escape if we’re careful.”
They had already suffered the biggest setback of this B-level dungeon.
Most of the dolls weren’t very powerful. The battle royale itself was only C-level difficulty.
That’s why the clearance rate for this dungeon was relatively high, despite being B-level.
The players turned and ran towards the town gates, using their abilities and props.
Behind them, teddy bears, ducks, geese, and other toys, their eyes glowing red, chased them relentlessly.
In the chaos, no one noticed Wen Xingxue disappear.
He reappeared at the entrance of the toy factory.
Because of the Toy Doll Exhibition, the brown bear security guards had been assigned to maintain order.
They were probably chasing the other players now.
Wen Xingxue touched the sleeping clown doll in his pocket.
He didn’t wake him, but entered the factory alone.
The factory was empty, the machines silent, the usual noise replaced by an eerie quiet.
Wen Xingxue went down the stairs, the sound of his footsteps echoing in the stairwell, waking Xing Nuo.
Xing Nuo, who had fallen asleep before the exhibition even ended, yawned, rubbing his ugly little face, trying to wake up.
He poked his messy head out of the pocket, looked around, and tilted his head up.
“Big Brother, competition over? Where we going?”
He had become quite attached to this Big Brother, who made him feel safe.
But once they left this strange toy town, Xing Nuo would continue his search for Daddy.
Zaizai not be doll forever, he thought.
Wen Xingxue, without looking down, poked the little doll’s head with his finger.
“Stay inside. Don’t fall out.”
He had said this countless times since picking up the clown doll.
And every time, Xing Nuo would obediently retreat into the pocket.
This time was no different. Xing Nuo pulled his head back in, his little hands gripping the edge of the pocket, and asked again:
“Big Brother, we no go back to mushroom house?”
He had grown attached to the little mushroom house, seeing it as a temporary home.
Wen Xingxue continued down the stairs, reaching the basement.
He paused, then shook his head.
“No, we’re not going back. And we won’t be coming back here again.”
Xing Nuo, scratching his cheek, yawned, and, ever curious, asked:
“Where we going?”
Wen Xingxue stopped in front of a door, not answering the question, but looking down at the clown doll.
“Little Clown Doll, where do you want to go?”
Xing Nuo, his hand on his chin, replied naturally:
“Go home. Find Daddy and Big Brother…eat cloud bwad~”
Wen Xingxue’s pale face was expressionless, his eyes cold and menacing.
But he smiled faintly and asked a question he had been wanting to ask:
“What if…you came with me…to see different worlds?”
Wen Xingxue had been alone for a long time, fighting and surviving, his only goal to kill Shen Wen. He didn’t have much reason to live.
But this little clown doll was different. It had brought a strange warmth into his life.
Ugly and nothing special, besides its optimistic personality.
But Wen Xingxue liked it.
Like his own child, he found himself inexplicably tolerant of its flaws.
Having this little thing with me wouldn’t be so bad, he thought.
He looked down at the clown doll, who was deep in thought, his hand on his chin, and didn’t rush him.
Xing Nuo thought for a long time, then shook his head.
“No, Big Brother. Zaizai miss Daddy and Big Brother. They wait for Zaizai…be worried.”
Wen Xingxue was silent for a moment, then chuckled.
“Alright then.”
He opened the only door in the basement and pushed the clown doll back into his pocket.
“Stay hidden. I’m going to find something.”
Xing Nuo, overcome by sleepiness, struggled to stay awake, but he still dozed off.
When he woke up, before he could ask Wen Xingxue if he could come out, he sensed something and peeked out of the pocket.
He saw a beautiful glass case, a glowing gem floating inside.
All the light in the basement seemed to be concentrated on this gem, oval-shaped, pulsing with life.
Xing Nuo gasped, his face illuminated by the gem’s light, making him look almost…pretty.
He turned to Wen Xingxue, who was staring intently at the gem, and whispered:
“Big Brother, what’s that?”
Wen Xingxue looked slightly disheveled, his knife in his hand, a tear in his sleeve.
But he seemed unfazed, his gaze fixed on the gem.
“This is the Heart of Toys.”
The source of Toy Town’s existence, the life force of all the toys, the essence of the humans turned into dolls.
Players who failed the dungeon and became dolls couldn’t actually turn back into humans.
Their consciousness and memories would gradually fade, their sleepiness increasing, until they forgot everything.
They would become true, lifeless dolls.
And when that happened, their life force would be completely absorbed by the Heart of Toys.
And a new, sentient doll would appear in Toy Town.
The Heart of Toys sustained and expanded the town’s existence this way.
“Your life force is being slowly absorbed by it.”
Wen Xingxue looked down at the sleepy clown doll, his face filled with exhaustion, and raised his knife.
“Little Clown Doll, I still don’t know your name.”
He swiftly brought his blade down.
The glass case shattered, the shards scattering, reflecting the light, illuminating the basement.
Wen Xingxue, ignoring the small cuts on his arms from the glass shards, stepped inside and, just as he reached for the Heart of Toys, asked again:
“What’s your name?”
Perhaps they would meet again someday.
Xing Nuo, mesmerized by the shimmering shards of glass, finally answered:
“I Xing Nuo. Big Brother, what youw name?!”
Wen Xingxue’s eyes widened in surprise, then he smiled.
“Xing Nuo…I see.”
He raised his knife and, ignoring the monstrous teddy bears rushing towards him, struck the Heart of Toys.
The SSS+ level blade, although meeting some resistance, successfully split the Heart of Toys in two.
The gem pulsed brightly.
Xing Nuo, his enhanced doll vision, couldn’t bear the intense light and covered his button eyes with his hands.
The toy monsters behind them, their eyes glowing red, froze in the light and collapsed, their life force fading, dissipating into the air.
The Heart of Toys, after all the toys in Toy Town had fallen, turned into an ordinary, dull gray stone.
Lifeless and ugly, its surface rough and pitted.
Wen Xingxue walked over, picked up the stone, and put it in his spatial storage.
His pocket was now empty.
In Central City.
A system announcement echoed through the square:
[Toy Town dungeon, core “Heart of Toys” destroyed, dungeon permanently closed!]
[Congratulations to players Shen Ke, Bai Luo…Wen Xingxue, for clearing the dungeon!]
The players looked up at the leaderboard on the giant screen.
“As expected of the Big Boss! Not only did he clear the dungeon, but he also destroyed the core!”
“I should have chosen that dungeon! It would have been so easy!”
As the players chattered excitedly, in a small alley several streets away, the unsold green-haired doll suddenly woke up.
He was standing outside the display case, looking at his human hands and feet, tears streaming down his face.
I’m back!
So, destroying the Heart of Toys was the way out!
He wiped his tears and turned to the clown doll, Xingyuan.
“You’re back too?! Didn’t you run away? That’s strange. Is your name Xingyuan or Xing Nuo?”
Xingyuan, looking at his hands, a cruel smile twisting his face, was about to speak when he felt a sharp pain in his neck.
He collapsed to the ground, his eyes filled with rage and disbelief.
