Chapter 21: Sigh, Still Uncle and Nephew? Part 2

“Oh! Senior Tao, you’re back?” Someone recognized Tao Fangyi and raised a hand in greeting. Tao Fangyi answered them one by one.

Some toys were about to enter the elevator to head out on missions, while others were just coming back out.

Wang’s head swiveled nonstop. He found the space far too surreal.

“How does it feel?” Tao Fangyi asked softly.

“Like a toy store came to life,” Wang answered truthfully.

“Oh! Watch out!” Tao Fangyi suddenly warned him. Wang reacted, but he had already kicked something hard.

The object flew a short distance. Tao Fangyi hurried after it, picked up the hard thing, and patted its body off.

Only then did Wang notice it was a tiny block figure. He had been looking up and around earlier and hadn’t watched his step.

“Sorry, this kid just arrived at the Nineteenth Level,” Tao Fangyi apologized on Wang’s behalf.

“No problem, Senior.” The little block figure jumped to the ground, waved at Tao Fangyi, and clattered away.

There were toys that small?

Wang stared at the toy’s retreating back. As he was about to take a step forward, Tao Fangyi called out to him again.

This time Wang stopped.

One by one, plastic “ingredients” with hook-and-loop fasteners bounced and hopped past Wang’s side.

They were toys for playing house.

Wang watched as an entire collection of pots, pans, and dishes ran by. Then he felt the light around him being blocked by something.

Wang looked up and saw a huge mass of brown fuzziness.

“Hey! Don’t step there! Don’t step!” This time Tao Fangyi wasn’t talking to Wang.

Tao Fangyi rushed over and pulled Wang back, and the enormous brown-furred thing that had been about to come down also halted.

Once Tao Fangyi had pulled Wang farther away, Wang was able to see the whole thing clearly.

It was a gigantic Hugging Bear, probably two meters tall. Right now Wang was about the same height as Tao Fangyi, so it was only natural that he hadn’t been able to see it properly before.

The Hugging Bear looked a bit embarrassed upon seeing them. “Sorry, Senior Tao—and you, little mummy.”

“No harm done, just be more careful from now on.” Tao Fangyi led Wang toward the portal on the T-shaped corridor. Normally, Tao Fangyi would file his report first before going home, but since he had Wang with him, he needed to get Wang settled in first.

So Tao Fangyi took Wang to his own little town.

Wang had barely spoken since stepping out of the elevator. He had been observing nonstop.

They walked straight along the town’s sidewalk, and Wang kept looking around.

After watching for a while, Wang finally couldn’t help speaking up: “The houses here are normal-sized. How can you live in them?”

“A house this size is a bit of a struggle for me. I set up a small bed inside my house,” Tao Fangyi explained.

“All your houses here are so colorful.” Wang felt like the houses here looked like rows of macarons in a dessert display case—inexplicably beautiful.

Even the Chinese-style courtyards had glazed tiles in all different colors.

“We painted them according to our individual tastes,” Tao Fangyi explained.

“Why did that person stack a snowman in front of their door?” Wang pointed at two white lumps in the front yard of a certain house. “Can you customize the temperature around your own house too?”

Tao Fangyi glanced over, then suddenly looked a little awkward. “Er, that’s not a snowman. Our four seasons here are the same as in the real world.”

“So it’s just a decoration that looks like a snowman?” Wang asked.

“…That is a body they’re making,” Tao Fangyi said.

Wang: “…Huh?”

“To come to the Nineteenth Level, you have to leave everything in the past behind and start over. Remember what I said? Both your memories and your body will dissolve.” Tao Fangyi explained, “But later we regain our memories, and we can use points to exchange for materials to build a new body.”

“I get it. Their preference is snowmen.”

Just then, the front door of that house opened, and an angry doll stomped out with a basket.

The doll was holding a cigarette in its mouth, except the doll’s mouth structure had no indentation at all, so the cigarette looked more like it was floating in midair.

The furious doll wore only a pair of pants. The chest area of its upper body had two crosses sewn with thread—probably where the nipples were supposed to be.

The doll spotted Tao Fangyi. Its eyes widened, and it let out a “Ha!” “You’re back from your mission?”

“Yeah, things went pretty smoothly this time. I even picked up a kid on the way.” Tao Fangyi tugged Wang forward a little. “His name is Wang.”

“Wang? Tao Wang? That’s an unlucky name.” As the doll spoke, it scooped a huge glob of blue paste out of its basket and—splat—flung it onto the snowman.

Wang: ?

He then watched as the doll pulled out two rectangular tools with handles.

They looked exactly like putty knives.

The doll took both tools and started smearing them over the snowman.

Those were definitely putty knives!

“Tao Fangyi, take a look—is this body I’m making showing any improvement?” the doll asked while “spreading putty.”

Tao Fangyi fell silent.

“I think I’ve improved a little. How far do you think I am from succeeding?” the doll asked.

Tao Fangyi: “…The moment you start making it, it already counts as a success.”

So Tao Fangyi didn’t think much of the doll’s progress at all.

Oh, so their bodies were something they all molded from “play dough” themselves?

“I do think I did a decent job on the face, but my team leader said my face has no muscles inside—won’t even be able to make expressions—so it failed inspection.”

Tao Fangyi wore a perfectly polite smile.

“Oh right, I also made a hand.” The doll pulled a roughly one-meter-long “palm-leaf fan” out of its little basket.

The doll asked Tao Fangyi, “What do you think of this?”

Tao Fangyi: “…Isn’t it a little too big?”

“Knew it was a bit big.” The doll was dejected.

Wang thought it was a whole lot more than “a bit big.”

“But hands are so hard to make. Hands are so hard.” The doll clutched its palm-leaf fan, flopped onto the ground with a thump, and started crying.

“I’m taking this kid home first.” Tao Fangyi waved at the doll.

The doll waved back.

As Tao Fangyi walked away, he introduced Wang to this snowman maker.

“He was a ‘cult leader’ from over a hundred years ago. The political situation was chaotic back then, and he wanted to make himself emperor, but he got caught,” Tao Fangyi said. “He hasn’t recovered his memories yet, so he seems a little slow at the moment.”

“Are all the bad seeds who committed horrible sins but weren’t sentenced to death gathered here with you?” Wang asked.

“Not all. Coming here to work is just one option.” As Tao Fangyi spoke, he brought Wang to the front of his own house.

“You have to jump to grab the door handle?” Wang thought the main door looked much too high for him.

“There’s a small door over here.” Tao Fangyi led Wang to his doll-exclusive entrance.

Wang followed Tao Fangyi inside and felt the tiny, doll-customized entryway.

“Your home is really beautiful,” Wang praised.

“Really?” Tao Fangyi had just decorated his house according to his own preferences.

“Yeah, genuinely beautiful.” Wang examined the interior decor.

It was indeed very pretty, very refined, very warm.

Tao Fangyi must be a doll who truly loved life.

Wang took off the white pocket shoes Tao Fangyi had given him and took a few steps forward.

A pity. A real pity.

What a pity Tao Fangyi had brought him in!

He would dye this warm house inch by inch with his own aura, would twist everything until it went mad!

He would tear away Tao Fangyi’s disguise and make him fully unleash his true nature!

“You can change back to your true form size at home,” Tao Fangyi reminded him. “Do you want to?”

“Yes!” Wang spun around and ran toward Tao Fangyi.

Tao Fangyi tapped his forehead. The power suppressing Wang vanished, and Wang’s body began to lengthen.

After helping Wang transform back, Tao Fangyi prepared to go inside, but just as he took his shoes off, Wang scooped him up in one hand.

“Heh heh heh.” Wang laughed, and the sharp teeth in his mouth clacked and clattered.

Wang stared intensely at Tao Fangyi, laughing louder and louder, more and more unhinged.

The bandages on Wang’s body seemed stained with filth, and the veins in his neck grew more prominent.

Wang was in a state of high excitement.

Tao Fangyi showed no reaction.

Wang pressed his face against Tao Fangyi’s face and began rubbing wildly.

Look at this completely innocent doll. He has no idea what’s about to happen to him. Truly pitiful.

“Hehehehehe.” Wang practically tried to stuff Tao Fangyi into his mouth.

Tao Fangyi’s head was caught between Wang’s two rows of teeth. He did not move.

This kid was too enthusiastic. He didn’t even know how to respond properly.

And Wang really did have very white teeth, brilliantly white from every angle.

No odor from the mouth either—a fierce ghost who paid attention to personal hygiene.

Tao Fangyi waited for a bit, then realized Wang still had no intention of letting him down. He thought it over. This was the first time he’d had such intimate and prolonged contact with someone.

As a guardian, shouldn’t he record this moment?

So Tao Fangyi freed his hand from Wang’s grip, took out his phone, and snapped a selfie.

Tao Fangyi’s phone had sound effects and a flash.

Wang’s face got flashed, and his self-amused actions stopped.

Tao Fangyi began tapping away rapidly.

Wang silently let go with his mouth. By then, Tao Fangyi had already posted to his social circle.

The photo showed his face squished between sharp teeth, and the caption read: 【Our Wang’s first kiss, a bit too enthusiastic, huh.】 followed by two hand-over-mouth snickering emojis.

Wang: …

Wang Qiang was the first to appear. He left a question mark and then asked whether Tao Fangyi had been tricked by some monster.

Why did this old man always show up so fast? Did he live on the internet?

Wang ground his teeth.

And then a video call invitation from Wang Qiang came through.

“Hey! Hey!!” Wang jumped in fright. “You are not allowed to answer! I don’t want to see outsiders!”

Tao Fangyi, who had been about to pick up, had to press decline. Then he sent Wang Qiang a voice message: “I’m perfectly fine. I just picked up a very cute little fierce ghost.”

Tao Fangyi looked up at Wang. “He has a distinctive look, a great physique. Could even be a model, honestly.”

Wang Qiang didn’t send a voice message—his fingers made typing easy anyway: 【Model? But he looks like an ugly ghost to me.】

Wang: …

Tao Fangyi got upset. “The kid is right next to me! What are you writing?!”

Tao Fangyi was angry now. He put away his phone and patted Wang, who was beside him. “Let’s ignore him. His aesthetic sense is broken.”

Wang followed Tao Fangyi farther inside.

Tao Fangyi was a bit worried Wang might feel hurt. After a few steps, he looked up and asked, “Are you okay?”

“I’m great. Are you asking if what he said got to me? Ha ha, don’t worry. With a name like Wang Qiang, what kind of taste could he possibly have?” Wang rattled off everything in one breath. “Could someone of our strong personal style ever fit into his world? And he dares to critique us? Hahaha.”

Tao Fangyi sensed that Wang bore unusually strong malice toward Wang Qiang.

Tao Fangyi thought Wang Qiang was a very handsome name, but he couldn’t get the words out.

Tao Fangyi suddenly felt his head grow dizzy and fuzzy.

Wang noticed the doll at his feet wobbled and spun in a circle. He crouched down and asked what Tao Fangyi’s condition was.

“Me? I’m fine.” After saying that, Tao Fangyi took a step forward, then—thump—collapsed on the ground, unable to get up again.