I'll also work hard to conquer the dungeon today.

Chapter 672, Section 2.5, Chapter 14: 'The House of Silk' and the Dollhouse

The studio reeked of decay, with dilapidated, damp floors and overgrown mushroom bushes.

In the corner lay piles of doll fragments, as if discarded by their owner, filthy and emitting an unbearable stench.

The torrential rain pounded against the broken windows, making the ground extremely slippery. The tattered curtains clung to the walls or were billowed high by the gale blowing through the broken windows. The vase by the window was shattered beyond repair, and the rotting gentians spoke of a tragic and cruel fate.

Mu Yegui scanned the room. Although Ling Tong and she had entered together, she hadn't seen him since. It was as if they had entered through the same door but into different spaces.

Is it an agency or...?

What are the special mechanics of dungeons?
On the old workbench lay a tattered diary, as if abandoned by its owner, lying there forlornly. Scattered green light flickered beside the diary. Mu Yegui walked over and took a look, discovering that they were fragments of a gemstone, shattered beyond recognition.

Based on the color and composition, we can conclude that these are the doll's 'eyes,' but they are no longer usable.

Joan told them to come to the fifth-floor studio to find the 'eye,' but what she found was that the 'eye' was broken. Useless 'eye' fragments are obviously scrap, which makes Joan's mission impossible.

There cannot be any task that is absolutely impossible to complete; that is, there must be something to change it or there may be a 'backup option'.

Could Ling Tong's disappearance be related to the 'backup plan'?
The first task, "Please find the eyes of the closed-eyed doll," is a dungeon quest, so it's definitely achievable. Does this mean the existence of the "eye" fragment is actually a hint?
Rule four, "Only the 'eyes' designated by the puppeteer are the true eyes of the closed-eye puppet," should also be interpreted in conjunction with this broken 'eye.'

Is there a hidden third 'eye'?
Does this hidden third 'eye' require some action to appear?

If that's the case, then we can rule out one possibility: it's absolutely impossible for her to complete it here. Because the puppeteer Joan isn't in the puppet museum, he can't proceed with sculpting the 'eyes'. In other words, either it already exists, or it needs to be guided from another timeline.

If such a thing already existed, then was there any need for Ling Tong to disappear? They could have easily searched the puppet museum extensively and obtained the third hidden 'eye'.

Furthermore, it's generally impossible to make an odd number of eyes for a doll.

The reason there is no option to piece together the 'eye' fragments is simply because broken gems cannot be pieced together again, as there will be cracks, and anything with cracks will definitely not be what the quest requires.

Joan is an artist who does not allow anything flawed to be used to decorate his artwork—the dolls.

In conclusion, the third hidden 'eye' must be obtained through some action, and it must be outside her current timeline. The reason is still that Joan is not in the dollhouse, so it's impossible for her to re-sculpt the 'eye'.

If that's the case, could Ling Tong's disappearance mean she traveled to a point in the past?

There was a timeline shift before when we were at the 'Secret Mansion,' which was also related to Joan. So, it's not surprising that we're making this assumption now, and it makes sense.

If two people enter the same room at the same time but appear at different points in time, the information they can obtain must be unequal.

The complete answer lies in integrating information that is not readily available from both sources.

So what does she need to do?

Suppose Ling Tong travels back in time and triggers the appearance of the third hidden 'eye', then what should she do?

We can't just sit here and wait, can we? If that's the case, why not just go back to the past together? Otherwise, staying here would be pointless.

Therefore, she must need to do something.

Is what she needs to do related to the diary? Or is the diary just a hint?
Mu Yegui reached out and opened the diary. Many pages of the diary were stuck together, and there was dense writing on it, but most of it was illegible because it was wet.

She picked up the diary, and a black card fell out from between the pages. The card was drawn with many blooming 'Muko' flowers, but most of them were different. Some were 'white Muko' with only one petal dyed black, some were withered, and some were spotted.

Rather than a painting, it's more accurate to describe it as a special kind of writing, because the repetition and the placement of the images are extremely regular. However, this is the first time she has ever seen such writing.

A 'click' sound came from behind her as a doorknob turned. Mu Yegui slowly turned around to look at the door that was about to be opened. Her expression was calm and she was not surprised. To her, this kind of unexpected situation was the most normal development in the dungeon.

She didn't think about hiding or preparing for defense or attack; she simply calmly accepted it with her gaze and waited for the event to unfold.

"Dad? Hmm? Isn't he here?" Miss Lily stood on tiptoe, holding the doorknob, and peeked in, asking in confusion.

She then saw Mu Yegui standing in front of the workbench. She pushed the door open abruptly and shouted coldly, "What are you doing here!"

Mu Yegui lifted his eyelids and slowly said, "Use your waterlogged brain to figure out why I'm here. Don't you know Qiong isn't in the studio? Are you trying to scare me or play a prank by saying something like that?"

Miss Lily trembled with rage. Her eyes red, she glared at Mu Yegui and shouted, "Who knows what you're doing sneaking around here! I've been watching you the whole time! Are you trying to steal something? You bastard! I'll never let you get away with this!"

Mu Yegui slightly raised his eyes to look at Miss Lily and said softly, "Miss Lily, are you deliberately ignoring what you don't want to hear? I'm here because Qiong asked me to, not because of any sneaky things you're talking about. If you want to find an excuse to pick a fight with me, please use a smarter reason. Otherwise, I don't mind telling Qiong that you're trying to make trouble for me."

"I...I didn't!" Miss Lily quickly denied, a hint of panic flashing across her face.

Miss Lily's face flushed red as she angrily said, "How old are you? How dare you try to tell your parents? It's simply... shameless! You've gone too far!!"

Did you notice the different titles? This is where the real story begins; the previous parts were just appetizers.

I will release two chapters in a row with similar titles, but they are set in different timelines: Mu Yegui (after the story ends) and Ling Tong (before the story begins), so the descriptions are opposite.

The two people received completely different information, and they had to deduce the correct answer themselves.

Incidentally, there are actually two storylines about Qiong here. If Mu Yegui follows the storyline before the main plot begins, he will have a 'CP' (couple) storyline with Qiong, commonly known as the unrequited love storyline.

If Mu Ye Gui follows the route after the main story ends, the 'CP' storyline will become a redemption-oriented story like Fei Xiu's.

The former can be considered love, while the latter is faith; these are completely different emotions.

According to the voting results in the group, Mu Yegui will follow the route after the end of the story, so the route before the start of the story is Ling Tong's (it's just a simple story progression).

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(End of this chapter)