Meanwhile, the two of them also saw clearly that the strange doll, which had vanished from the room, now appeared in the living room.
And that eerie aura from before faded from the butler in an instant, as if nothing had ever happened.
This doll was indeed full of bizarre mysteries!
Why did it suddenly disappear from the room? Why did it reappear in the dining room? These questions could not be answered for the time being.
Then, time finally pushed forward to noon at 12 o'clock.
Perhaps because of living alone abroad, Ke Shufan had honed decent cooking skills. He quickly prepared a sumptuous lunch and placed it on the dining table.
Of course, the participants didn't forget to prepare the same lunch for "Tongtong" as for everyone else, as required by the list.
What made the participants uncomfortable was that during lunch, Butler Wei, as usual, showed a kind smile and kept "chatting" with the doll. Although this scene was very strange, when they thought of the supernatural forces behind the bizarre phenomena, they not only dared not show awkward expressions but also had to convince themselves to treat the doll like a real person.
After lunch, Butler Wei's ghostly figure disappeared from their sight once again. Then, Ye Xiaomei told the other participants about her encounter with the gardener that morning.
The information Ye Xiaomei had obtained was undoubtedly a key clue in the story. It seemed to reveal the origin of this strange doll, but it also contained many questions.
Why did the manor catch fire for no apparent reason?
Why did no one else get hurt, but the child of the painter couple died tragically on their birthday?
And most importantly,
According to the old gardener, making this lifelike puppet was the painter couple's spiritual寄托 for their deceased child. But in the participants' view, that clearly wasn't the whole story.
There were two possibilities here.
"The first possibility is that this puppet is indeed possessed by a vengeful spirit. Perhaps the conditions for the spirit to kill haven't been triggered yet, or maybe some seal hasn't been broken. In short, this terrifying spirit is still bound by the story's rules and can't act freely."
"The second possibility is that the painter couple's true purpose might be different. The so-called spiritual寄托 could just be an excuse. Their real goal might be to perform some ritual to summon back their dead child's soul, and we participants, in the roles we play in the story, are the sacrifices for this resurrection ritual!"
"Regardless of which possibility it is, following the pattern of horror stories, the plot will inevitably turn hostile toward us. What we need to do now is to dig up as many clues as possible and find a way to escape the danger!"
Having said this, Ke Shufan paused, his brow slightly furrowed.
And then...
What roles would the butler and the gardener, these two story characters, play in the narrative?
Both of them were witnesses to the tragedy back then. So far, they hadn't shown any hostility toward the participants and had even offered some help, making them seem like reliable story characters.
But was that really the case?
Finally, there was the painter couple.
They seemed like mere background to the story, not even present in the manor at the moment. Yet clues about them ran through the entire narrative, and they too seemed shrouded in mystery.
However, due to limited clues, no reliable conclusions could be drawn about these mysteries for now.
Of course, for Xiao Bai, besides these mysteries, there was an even bigger problem.
Tongtong's "game" was a danger that could strike at any moment!
Throughout the afternoon, the participants searched the remaining rooms but found no valuable clues. As everyone was lost in their own thoughts, time unknowingly pushed forward to 6 p.m. As required by the list, everyone gathered again in the dining room to complete the task of "accompanying Tongtong for dinner."
Next was the 9 p.m. task. According to the list, every night at 9, they had to read a bedtime story to "Tongtong."
This time, Chen Cailing volunteered, taking "that thing" back to the second-floor room.
Then, she picked a storybook from the shelf and began reading earnestly.
After a day of practice, even though she was facing a doll, Chen Cailing could now more naturally imagine it as a real child. And after finishing the entire story without anything unusual happening, she finally breathed a huge sigh of relief, having smoothly completed the list's requirement.
Finally, after covering it with a blanket and soothing it to "sleep," Chen Cailing's gaze lingered on the doll's delicate face before she slowly backed toward the door.
Although the room felt oppressive and the doll was strange, aside from the occasional eerie phenomena and sudden disappearances, nothing threatening had happened so far. So Chen Cailing didn't feel particularly panicked. But she didn't notice that when the room fell back into darkness, the doll's head quietly turned toward the door, silently staring at it.
According to the list's requirements, the day's caregiving tasks were over.
The first day of the story had passed smoothly. At this point, the four participants gathered again to discuss the clues they'd collected during the day.
After a day of exploration, it was certain that the painter couple had indeed left. The only ones left in the manor, besides the four participants, were Butler Wei and the gardener with an ugly scar on his face. From the gardener, Ye Xiaomei had learned the doll's origin—the story of the painter couple's real son's death.
This substitute doll, though exhibiting some supernatural traits, had so far shown no inclination toward killing.
After discussing for a while with no further progress, and seeing that it was getting late, the four participants returned to their respective rooms.
For Xiao Bai, there was no trace of sleep.
After triggering the prompt to "play games with Tongtong," the danger hadn't come all day.
Tonight, it surely wouldn't be a peaceful night.
So Xiao Bai sat up straight and volunteered to take the first watch of the night. Chen Cailing, feeling very tired, didn't refuse and soon fell asleep.
Then, Xiao Bai stood up and walked alone to the window.
Outside, the night was pitch black, with no lights anywhere, as if the whole world consisted only of this manor, like an isolated island in an endless ocean.
This wasn't her imagination. If someone were to step out of the manor, they would immediately find that everything around it had vanished. No matter which direction they went, there was only endless darkness.
Strange Tales Radio was like a lazy artist to the extreme. In the supernatural worlds it created, aside from the stage where the story unfolded, everything else was usually hastily sketched, like an unfinished void in a game world.
Because of this, the participants in the story had no way to escape, as the space they were in wasn't a real world at all.
Rustle, rustle, rustle.
Xiao Bai was lost in thought when suddenly, a strange noise came from behind her. Her heart tightened slightly. She didn't wake Chen Cailing but turned around and slowly walked toward the door where the sound came from.
The rustling noise eerily stopped at the door. Just then, Xiao Bai noticed a yellowed slip of paper that had been slipped under the door by someone.
On the paper, three crooked words were written: Come catch me.
-- PS: Thanks to Blood Dance City for the tip. There will be an extra chapter later; I'm finding time to write it.