Oh no! I'm surrounded by female ghosts!

"doll?"

Su Ming looked thoughtfully at the cursed doll that had fallen into a deathly silence.

He had a bold guess in his mind.

But this needs to be confirmed.

The method for verification is very simple.

Su Ming walked up to the cursed doll, stretched out his hand, and said in a commanding tone, "Give me the thing you've always carried with you and can't bear to throw away."

The cursed doll reacted.

She stood up stiffly and picked out an exquisite doll from a pile of toys.

Su Ming took the doll.

This doll did not trigger any prompts for the key item.

"That's not it."

Su Ming tossed the doll away and still held out his hand: "Take another one."

The cursed doll opened the drawer and took out an exquisite picture book.

Su Ming took the picture book, but still did not trigger the prompt for the key item.

"Replace it."

That's quite interesting.

None of the items brought by the cursed doll triggered any prompts for the key item.

She did it unintentionally.

Or... on purpose?

If it's the former, then that's fine.

But if it's the latter...

That would be very interesting.

This cursed doll, which seems to require all commands, is actually putting up the weakest resistance in the most silent and patient way.

"Get it again."

"Get it again."

"That's not it."

The instructions echoed repeatedly in the silent room.

Finally, the cursed doll froze in place, silent for a long time, before slowly bending down and taking out a small black wooden box, about the size of a palm, from the most hidden corner of the room.

The glimmer of light in her eyes flickered violently, and her body stiffened even more.

In the end, however, she still handed the small box to Su Ming.

Su Ming immediately opened the wooden box.

To their astonishment, they found a rusty knife inside.

In this room that seems to have stood still through time, there is a strangely out-of-place rusty knife.

The moment I picked up the knife, a system pop-up appeared.

[Obtain the key item "Rusty Knife" to unlock the Cursed Doll's backstory ①]

[Background Story ①: The Sealed Self]

My name is Xu Qinghe. From the moment I was born, my life was planned and controlled by my parents. All my preferences were denied, all my ideas were stifled, and all my life trajectories were arranged by others.

I have no privacy, no freedom, no independent thought or vibrant personality. From beginning to end, I am just a puppet they carefully manipulate.

Only the despair and resentment that accumulated deep within my heart never faded during those suffocating and oppressive days.

Looking at the background story of the cursed doll.

It indeed confirmed Su Ming's guess.

Take a closer look at the room's layout.

He hadn't paid attention to the decorations on the bookshelves, wardrobe, bedside table, and desk in his room before.

Upon closer inspection, it's clear that it wasn't a decoration at all, but a discreetly designed camera.

It's not just these things that can be identified at a glance.

Upon closer inspection, you'll find that the eyes of some dolls are actually hidden cameras.

There's still a door.

The door to the dollhouse does look rather strange now.

Because it has no lock, only a door handle.

It opens with a gentle pull.

Outside the door was a thick, impenetrable darkness, impossible to enter, as an invisible wall blocked its way.

Su Ming used the blurred boundary to step outside the door.

The darkness remained, but the outlines of some types of furniture could be discerned.

He activated his Great Eye of Insight, which spawned twelve pairs of eyes, allowing him to see through the darkness.

It is an ordinary residence.

The area is not large, with three bedrooms and one living room, a little over 120 square meters.

Everything in the house seems to have been frozen in time, forever existing in its newest form.

A family portrait hangs in the center of the living room.

The family of three in the photo are all smiling brightly.

But if you look closely, the smile of the eight or nine-year-old girl in the middle seems a bit fake, as if she's wearing a mask.

The most eye-catching item is the wine cabinet.

The wine cabinet was filled with all kinds of certificates, trophies, and awards, a dazzling array of items.

Xu Qinghe, like Wen Qi, is a top student.

The only difference between the two is that Wen Qi takes the initiative to learn, aiming to always be number one.

Xu Qinghe was forced to move forward, not voluntarily; she was simply being driven in the designated direction by a desire for control.

All the honors displayed in this room never belonged to Xu Qinghe; they were all just things her parents used to show off.

And she is the biggest "trophy" in this family.

A meticulously crafted "perfect trophy" that has all its edges smoothed out and all its ego stripped away.

This area has not yet been activated.

So, Su Ming only watched for a short while before returning to the dollhouse.

Now look at the cursed doll in front of you.

No, it should be Xu Qinghe.

Her name is Xu Qinghe.

Looking at Xu Qinghe again, Su Ming's eyes had changed.

All the questions I had before were answered at this moment.

It's not that she lacks a sense of self; she's just used to being ordered around. Even after becoming a ghost, she couldn't escape it, becoming almost numb with obedience.

"Xu Qinghe".

Su Ming shouted.

Xu Qinghe immediately stood up straight, seemingly waiting for Su Mingxin's new instructions.

Tell me, what do you want to do now?

Xu Qinghe tilted her head, somewhat not understanding Su Ming's words.

Su Ming repeated, "Tell me your most honest thoughts. What do you most want to do right now?"

Xu Qinghe understood.

But she didn't dare to answer, or perhaps she didn't know how to answer, and just hung her head.

Su Ming took a step forward, his gaze falling on her stiff doll-like body, and said bluntly, "I don't like how you look now."

"Like a puppet, rigid, stiff, and lifeless."

"Can't you change your form?"

"Come here." He grabbed Xu Qinghe's hand and placed it on his arm: "Grow flesh, just like me."

Xu Qinghe understood.

The material of her body began to change.

The doll's surface began to lose its rigid texture, and a few fine red veins, like newly formed veins, slowly spread along the finger bones.

In just a few breaths, a vivid, three-dimensional, and warm young girl's body was fully presented before Su Ming's eyes.

Her appearance was no different from her previous doll-like appearance, but her overall temperament had undergone a complete transformation.

Gone is the lifeless stiffness of a doll; instead, it exudes a vibrant and lively "human" energy.

Yes.

She's so human.

Even the temperature of the meat is maintained at around 36°C.

Especially those colorful eyes that seemed to hold a thousand stars—something no living person could possess.

Even with colored contact lenses, it's impossible to achieve such a dazzling and clear finish.

Su Ming had only ever seen eyes like that in anime.

"very good."

Su Ming nodded in satisfaction, raised his hand and patted Xu Qinghe's shoulder, saying, "Don't rush, think it over carefully."

"Tell me when you've thought it through."

After saying that, Su Ming didn't linger and turned to leave the dollhouse.

I already know the name of the cursed doll.

As he took out his phone, ready to call Zhou Zhengyang, he suddenly froze.

Now that Xu Qinghe has become his adopted character.

All traces of her in reality will be erased.

So even if Lao Zhou investigates, he probably won't find anything.

"Let's check again in 2012."

After muttering to himself, Su Ming lay down on the bed and started scrolling through his phone.

However, this time he wasn't browsing entertainment content like short videos, but rather looking through a lot of information about Lin Jiajia.

Around 2 a.m.

He sat up abruptly, his pupils contracting slightly.

Zoom in on a girl's photo with your finger.

She was a slender, thin girl with a slightly hunched back, like a delicate blade of grass afraid to face the wind.

Her appearance was delicate and clean, yet she was always shrouded in an unyielding sense of loneliness.

Her clear eyes were filled with fear, giving her a fragile and easily broken appearance.

This reminded Su Ming of a certain animal.

A fawn, a small animal always ready to escape back into the depths of the forest.

She is one of many Lin Jiajias.

The reason Su Ming targeted her.

That's because, through the information he discovered, this guy had an online name: "I am purely fictional."

This online name is very famous in the hacker community and is recognized by the industry as a top expert.

The key is.

Her online name is exactly the same as the name of one of Su Ming's raised characters.

Is it a coincidence?

Su Ming didn't think so.

He is more convinced that Lin Jiajia is likely the prototype for his sixth character.

The information is shown at the end of the document.

Lin Jiajia passed away suddenly in 2015 at the age of 23.