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

Chapter 687, Sections 2.5-27: The House of Silk and the Dollhouse (Dream)

The dark sky seemed to be veiled by a thin gauze, making everything hazy and indistinct.

The boy, dressed in mourning clothes, stood silently before the tombstone. A gentle breeze ruffled his soft, faded golden hair, but it couldn't bring him back to reality.

As time passed, the people who had attended the funeral gradually left.

Fewer and fewer people remained, with only the young boy standing there silently with his head down, motionless, like an unchanging ancient sculpture.

The head maid looked at him with concern, stepped forward, bent down, and said something to him, but received no response from the young boy. In the end, he could only shake his head and leave helplessly with the maids.

I don't know how much time passed, but then rain began to fall from the dark sky. The rain was dense and cold, and the drizzle washed everything around us as if it had faded.

This is the scene that Ling Tong and his two companions saw after entering the door.

A boy of about twelve years old, dressed in black mourning clothes, stood silently before his father's tombstone, his head bowed. The light rain soaked him, making it hard to tell whether it was tears or rain. His once beautiful, jewel-like blue eyes were now dull and lifeless, as if veiled by something, no longer possessing their usual clarity and purity.

He didn't look up at them, but he pinpointed their location with remarkable accuracy and said softly, "You've arrived."

Ling Tong looked at him without saying a word. Although he seemed no different from usual, something seemed to have changed in the unseen world.

Seeing that no one answered him, Joan was not angry. She just stared blankly at her father's tombstone with her deep blue eyes and said to herself, "Ms. Taylor said that from now on I will walk alone. Without my father and mother by my side, I will be all alone."

“I think she’s wrong. I’ve always been alone. I was before… and I will be in the future… I’ve always been alone.”

Qiong slowly raised her head to look at Ling Tong. Rain fell on his hair, then dripped from his hair onto his forehead and slid down his cheeks. His eyes were filled with confusion and helplessness, unable to find any direction to go.

No one held an umbrella for him, and no one stood beside him; he was all alone.

"Should I learn to be alone...?" He stared at Ling Tong, yet looked through him at something else. He kept seeing everything in a blur, unable to capture any focus.

Joan looked down at her hands; her body was so cold and she couldn't shake off the emptiness in her heart.

What exactly did he lose?

do not know……

Now I really don't know anything.

His parents never taught him what to do in this situation or how to protect himself.

"Are you still there? I want to hear your voice... please?" Joan pleaded, her lips trembling.

Ling Tong was slightly taken aback. He knew that these words were not addressed to them, but to another being.

Suddenly, Xin Bai felt as if the hairs on his body stood on end. He had only taken one step forward when he was stopped by Ling Tong's outstretched hand.

"Don't go over there," Ling Tong whispered.

Then, the three of them saw a black figure slowly emerge from not far away. She looked the same as always, but her aura was terrifyingly unfamiliar, yet it gave the impression that this was her true self.

The girl, carrying a quarter-sized doll, slowly walked towards Joan, saying softly, "Why didn't you use an umbrella when you knew it would rain today?"

"You've finally come? I knew it wasn't my imagination." Joan's eyes reddened, and he bit his lower lip to suppress his excitement and joy, speaking in a very calm tone.

"When I first saw you at the age of six, I felt that this was exactly how you should look, the perfect doll image in my mind. So I went to my father, wanting to learn how to make dolls, wanting to make you. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't do it, and I even began to doubt whether I really saw you that day?"

"So I've been waiting... and waiting... I still remember what you said, that you wanted to meet me when I'm capable of standing on my own two feet in the future. But what does it mean to be capable of standing on my own two feet?"

"My mother left before I could even understand what was happening. The unexpected grief made me want to see you even more. If only you were a doll, if only I could make one. I want to see you, I want to have you, but my father said I couldn't make a doll. I don't understand why. I crave you so much, why can't I make a doll?"

The girl listened quietly to Joan's words without offering any comment, even though he spoke in a respectful tone about some truly frightening things.

Hearing this, Xin Bai quietly approached Fei and whispered in his ear, "Mu Yegui isn't a puppet god, so how could he possibly bless people to make puppets?"

"Can you tell me how to make you?" Joan took a few steps forward and asked anxiously.

The girl asked softly, "Have you ever made a finished doll?"

Joan paused for a moment, then shook her head and said, "No."

"Then, you can try making a doll like the one in my arms first. Once you've actually finished it, you'll know what to do." The girl lowered her eyes and stroked the long hair of the doll in her arms, speaking slowly.

"Is a doll like this enough?" Joan asked again.

"You should have seen the dolls your father made. They all move and have their own consciousness; they're not just simple inanimate objects. That's what I require too." With that, the girl turned and left.

"I understand... I can definitely do it!" Joan said firmly, clenching her fist.

Although he still didn't know what truly constituted a doll, he thought he could do it if it meant seeing her again.

The scenery gradually disappeared, and the three of them returned to that space where gravity was reversed and rules were disordered.

Xin Bai pondered that scene, stroking his chin, and slowly said, "How about this headline, 'Mu Yegui deceives an innocent young man'? I'll put it in the newspaper as soon as it gets out, and maybe I can make a fortune. Who would have thought that the puppeteer would become obsessed with puppets because of a single sentence from Mu Yegui when he was a child? I clearly saw that he didn't care about puppets at all before. So, the source of the disaster is Mu Yegui?"

“No.” Ling Tong shook her head and said softly, “She meant that once Qiong made a living puppet, she would understand what it truly means to be called a puppet, instead of being like this, knowing nothing yet having wild and unrestrained imaginations. But unfortunately, judging from the puppeteers we’ve encountered, I think Qiong has misunderstood her meaning.”

"So... the source of the disaster can only be seen through the next door?" Xin Bai said dejectedly, his face falling.

"Not necessarily. The Spider Queen hasn't appeared yet. The real show is yet to come. All the doors disappear after you enter them once, which means we only have one chance each time. So, whether we encounter the Spider Queen or not, we must try to kill her at least once."

This shows that Joan has begun to walk into a dead end.

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(End of this chapter)