Yinquan Town (Part 3)

Shi Xiaofeng was the first to pick up Liang Baobao. He tucked the heavy little cub under his armpit and said in a somewhat stiff tone, "I have to find a place to give you two big butts! Can you just bite a girl's hair casually?"

Liang Qing crossed his arms and looked at it, then raised his legs and followed Shi Xiaofeng's pace.

The two of them entered the kitchen one after the other. Liang Qing closed the glass door. From here she could clearly see what was happening in the living room.

The other three had also arrived in the living room. Daisy sat on the sofa, feeling aggrieved, her porcelain-white face haggard from a high fever. Nie Yun approached, apologetically offering to comb Daisy's hair, but the girl dodged him.

It was obvious that Daisy was very attached to John. She tilted her head and stretched out her hand for John to hug her: "Papa..."

"Tell me, what did you find?" Liang Qing turned to Shi Xiaofeng and asked.

Shi Xiaofeng breathed a sigh of relief. Liang Qing's observation skills were indeed remarkable.

"Daisy's temperature is at least 42°C. A child with that temperature would have convulsed, but she's sleeping peacefully... I just checked her pulse..."

"She has no pulse, right?" Liang Qing said firmly.

This time it was Shi Xiaofeng's turn to be surprised: "How did you know?"

"He," Liang Qing rubbed the soft hair on Liang Baobao's head, and his tone couldn't help but slow down. "He never bites my hair and Nie Yun's hair, but he likes to chew on the clothes in the training bag, towels, and even the tassels on the keychain."

"You mean..."

"Bao Bao can clearly tell what is human and what is not."

In the living room, Nie Yun chatted with John as usual, occasionally adding some tea to them. John said he was very thirsty and drank cup after cup. Daisy leaned in his arms with a sluggish look and said nothing.

"You mean, someone's bonded character has a teenager?"

John nodded and replied to Nie Yun, "It's very rare to see someone like you come out with a baby. In the second level, I saw an Englishman teaching his fifteen or sixteen-year-old bonded character how to use a gun. After the round, many players died at the hands of this boy." John smiled wryly, "You know, it's all about points and survival."

"So you sneaked in, planning to wipe us out and occupy the safe house?" Liang Qing walked behind John unknowingly.

John turned his head and suddenly felt a sharp pain in his temples, and he fainted. Daisy, who was next to him, tried to move, but Shi Xiaofeng held her arm tightly. She struggled desperately, shaking her head.

"How long can the medicine last?" Liang Qing asked Nie Yun.

"I don't know. I've already emptied the whole bottle. He might not even wake up after this level." Nie Yun said in a light tone, sticking out his tongue at Daisy playfully, "Hey, your papa can't protect you anymore."

Daisy's round face instantly showed disgust and hatred that didn't match her age. "How did you find out?"

Nie Yun held Liang Baobao in his arms with a proud look on his face. "Who do you think took Baobao down from the sofa? He woke up and ran straight to your room with a frown on his face."

Liang Baobao nibbled on his sleeve contentedly and yawned deeply.

Liang Qing picked up the doll that had fallen from John's arms and examined it carefully. "Only a fake one could withstand such high body temperatures. I guess you started impersonating Daisy after the tavern burned down. Where is the real Daisy?"

"She's dead." Knowing there was no need to pretend anymore, the doll Daisy spoke in a mechanical voice. At that moment, the eight-year-old Daisy on the sofa disappeared.

The doll sat upright in Liang Qing's palm. "When the zombies rushed in, a player detonated a bomb. Daisy was very close, but John turned and ran without taking her. Even before this level, John wanted to give up on Daisy. He felt she was a burden. And he succeeded."

"Daisy was indirectly killed by John?" Nie Yun's eyes widened. "But isn't it said that if a bound character is abandoned, the player himself will also die?"

"If it was lost 'accidentally' or not taken care of, I think the system would have difficulty in identifying it." Liang Qing said carefully.

The doll nodded mechanically. "I transformed into Daisy and reappeared in front of John. He looked disappointed, but he had to take me with him."

"What is your purpose? I mean, you are just a prop, right?" Shi Xiaofeng asked.

A strange smile appeared on the doll's face. "All parents who abuse and abandon their children must die. Daisy used to be a very good girl. She trusted John wholeheartedly."

There was a moment of silence in the room. Liang Qing reached out and stroked the doll's hair. "Can you transform into anyone?"

"Can."

"Boys too?"

"……Can."

"Then why don't you try to become Liang Baobao?"

The doll's face twisted and her voice rose: "I don't want to."

"reason?"

"He bit my hair and it hurt."

Liang Qing deeply believed that if the adults had not been there, the doll might have used Daisy's appearance to fight with Liang Baobao.

"Daisy... I mean, if you don't have another name, can I call you Daisy?"

The doll nodded.

"I can help you fulfill your wish of revenge for Daisy, on the condition that you follow us and become Baobao's amulet. When needed, you can also protect Baobao just like you protected Daisy. Are you willing?"

As an inconspicuous prop doll in the game, Daisy the doll seems to have never been given the right to choose, or rather, it has never thought that it can be questioned equally.

The doll raised its head and stared at Liang Qing. The latter did not urge her and leisurely took a few bites of bread.

"Okay, but..." Daisy showed a resistance on her face, "I don't wear diapers."

"Deal." Liang Qing smiled and touched its head.

"By the way, how did you know John was going to give up Daisy?" Nie Yun was still brooding over the fact that an eight-year-old girl had vanished from this cruel world. She hated John lying on the ground so much that she wished he had been given rat poison instead of anesthetic.

“When I’m very close, I can sometimes catch the fleeting thoughts in people’s minds.”

"Oh?" Liang Qing became interested. She looked and saw that she and Shi Xiaofeng were closer to the doll.

"Then he and I, tell me, what are we thinking?"

Liang Qing pointed and Shi Xiaofeng panicked.

The doll replied in a mechanical voice without any emotion: "He was just thinking that although you are more beautiful and graceful than Nie Yun, under the warm yellow light, Nie Yun is more adorable."

"Hahahahahahaha..." This was the first time Liang Qing laughed out loud after entering the game. Nie Yun's face flushed red, and Shi Xiaofeng covered his head with his hands in despair.

"What about me?" Liang Qing pointed at himself.

"You like Liang Baobao very much, and you want to protect him well."

The doll paused and continued, "Don't worry, I will help you protect him."

——

When John woke up, he found himself sitting in the restored tavern lobby. Anna, the bartender, was cleaning glasses behind the dusty counter. No trace of last night's battle remained.

It was already daybreak outside, but the fog was so thick that nothing could be seen more than ten meters away. The town was still eerily quiet. John could hear no other sound except the muffled music from the old record player in the shop.

There were several weapons at hand. In addition to the ones he handed over to Liang Qing and the others, there were also two heavy machine guns and a mountain of ammunition magazines. Under the ammunition magazines was a piece of paper: Meeting is fate, these things can be exchanged for your map, I wish you good luck!

"Fuck you, bandit!" John cursed. He carefully looked through the weapons and found that they were far more valuable than his Silver Springs zombie map. A hint of luck appeared on his face again.

"Papa, I'm hungry." A weak girl's voice came.

John turned his head and found Daisy sitting on the bench next to him, her face still pale, looking at him pitifully.

He was a little impatient: "Last night, in order to give you a safe place to rest, all my points were taken away by those people. How can I have money to exchange for food for you!"

John didn't tell Daisy that his real purpose last night was to steal some of the people's things when they weren't paying attention, but he didn't know that he would be tricked in the end.

Tears welled up in Daisy's eyes, and she seemed even weaker after the high fever.

John thought of something: "It would be great if you could use a gun as well as the boy Jarrod brought! Don't be such a burden all day long... Come here."

He lowered his voice, and Daisy obediently moved closer: "Go out and make some noise, not too loud, just enough to attract a few zombies nearby. Papa will be responsible for killing them all, so that we can exchange points for food."

Exchanging food was too tempting for an eight-year-old child, but when Daisy heard that she was asked to summon zombies herself, she trembled with fear: "Papa, I don't want to... I'm scared..."

John instantly became impatient: "This isn't the first time you've done this. Didn't you do it well last time? If you don't want to starve to death, just listen to me!"

Daisy lowered her head, a trace of scarlet hatred flashing in her eyes. She nodded obediently, stood up and walked into the white mist outside the tavern.

Soon, a girl's low singing voice echoed through the white fog, followed by the terrifying roar of the zombies approaching. The girl's singing suddenly stopped, and she screamed. She was shouting for help in John's direction.

Inside the tavern, John suddenly stood up and shouted back into the white fog outside, "Daisy? What's wrong with you? Where are you?"

The voice was loud, but the man's face showed no sign of panic. Only when he could no longer hear the girl's cries for help did he rise from behind the table, raising his gun and pointing it in the direction of the white fog. There, the first zombie stumbled in, followed by three or five dark figures.

Easy to handle. John thought happily, with these weapons and the burden gone, he was sure he could make it.

The next second, he pulled the trigger, but heard the click of an empty chamber. John frowned, opened the magazine and checked carefully, only to find that in a few seconds, the gun in his hand disappeared into thin air.

And behind him, a heavy, rancid hand reached out...