Fog filled the air, and the streets were deathly silent.

No one noticed, at the very back of the group, a tiny, short-legged little dumpling of a child, wearing an Ultraman backpack, stumbling along behind them.

The adults were tall with long legs, each taking large strides. In this environment of unknown terror, they were also walking quickly, so the little dumpling had to practically run to keep from falling behind.

He was wearing grayish-green overalls. His chubby, round arms and hands, gripping the straps of his backpack, looked like sections of a lotus root, with adorable little dimples – you just wanted to poke them.

At this point, the new players hadn’t noticed this little cub, but the livestream chat was already going wild.

[Look! Look what treasure I’ve spotted!]

[Holy crap, someone this small is a player? Is the system broken?]

[Are we sure this isn’t the parenting channel?]

[Aww, so cute! Come here and let auntie kiss you!!]

The group stopped at a crossroads.

Su Qiao, a delicate-looking girl who was second to last in line, felt something bump into her calf as soon as the group stopped.

It was light, not heavy.

In fact, because she was wearing shorts, the touch was soft and fuzzy.

Instantly, she froze.

This was her first time in a game instance. Was she really this unlucky, getting taken out right at the start?

She clearly remembered that there was no one behind her. If it wasn’t a person, then what was it?

Su Qiao’s face turned pale with fright. She bit her lip, quickly glanced back, and then whipped her head back around.

Her expression became even worse, and she almost burst into tears on the spot.

She confirmed it again: there really was no one behind her!

Was she going to be the appetizer for this first round? She knew she shouldn’t have walked at the back. The end of the group was always the easiest place to get snatched without anyone noticing; it happened all the time in horror movies.

Just then, her calf was gently poked from behind.

“…” Seeing that she didn’t react, it poked again.

“…” Su Qiao’s face was ashen. She didn’t dare turn around, didn’t dare move. She could already imagine the scene of turning around and being face-to-face with a ghost…

“Jiejie…”

A soft, childish voice came from behind…and slightly below.

Su Qiao finally broke down. She couldn’t care about anything else. She grabbed the unfamiliar guy in front of her, crying, and pointed behind her: “Help me, there’s a ghost! There’s a ghost doll back there!”

Gu Ghost Doll Lin: …

Suddenly, everyone’s gazes fell on Gu Lin.

The fog was thick, and the light was poor. Gu Lin’s skin was also almost transparently pale. At first glance, he really did look like a ghost doll.

But a ridiculously good-looking ghost doll.

The love of beauty is human nature. Any creature, even a ghost, if it’s associated with beauty, will make people lower their guard and feel a sense of affection.

Seeing Gu Lin, everyone was stunned. Even Su Qiao, who had been scared to tears, couldn’t help but freeze.

This…

He was just too cute!

One look, and your heart would melt!

Were ghosts this high-value these days?

Subconsciously, no one would have thought that a player could be this small, a little cub who probably still wobbled when he walked.

But no matter how cute he was, he was still a ghost doll. The players all backed away, not daring to get too close to Gu Lin.

Anything could happen in the game world. This ghost doll might look weak, but it could be an act, deliberately lowering their guard so that they’d relax, and then it would bare its fangs and begin its hunt.

The most skilled hunters often appear as prey.

Gu Lin puffed out his cheeks, turning into a little pufferfish, his voice full of grievance: “I’m not a ghost doll!”

His voice was soft and cute, and his pronunciation was very clear.

Hearing him say this, no one said anything, but their expressions clearly showed they didn’t believe him.

If he wasn’t a ghost doll, could he be a player?

There’s no way a player could be this small. Was he here to be a joke?

Tactics, it must be tactics.

A ghost doll with tactics, regardless of its combat strength, certainly had a high level of intelligence.

Then, the system’s cold, mechanical electronic voice blasted in all the players’ ears.

[Welcome to Mermaid Town]

[Mission: Obtain pearls formed from mermaid tears or survive for three days]

[Number of Players: 10]

Hearing the system’s voice, everyone silently counted the number of people.

There were six men and three women, nine adults in total. Adding this cub, who was definitely under two years old, made exactly ten people.

“…” Holy crap, he really was a player?!

Livestream:

[Hahahahaha, oh my god, I’m dying of laughter]

[Look closely, nine bewildered players with nine bewildered faces]

[Ha, everyone didn’t expect there to be such a tiny player, did they? Shrugs]

[The little baby’s expression is so aggrieved, okay? You big meanies, why are you accusing him of being a ghost doll!]

[Hey, he’s even wearing an Ultraman backpack? He’s clearly a kid going to kindergarten!]

The game had a main system, and each player had their own individual sub-system.

The sub-system was a personal livestream system, with a personal attribute panel, a system store, livestream bullet comments, etc.

Each player could only see their own livestream interface.

Gu Lin looked at the bullet comments. He couldn’t read yet, but strangely, he could automatically understand the content of the comments, probably because the system was accommodating players who couldn’t read.

Gu Lin clutched his Ultraman backpack.

He wasn’t a ghost doll, and he wasn’t a kindergartener. He was almost two years old now, not old enough for kindergarten yet. He was in daycare.

The human world was so troublesome, making you wait until you’re three years old to go to kindergarten.

Gu Lin was an auspicious beast cub, trying hard to integrate into human society. He hadn’t fully integrated yet when he was pulled into this horror livestream game.

The voice called the system just said he had to stay here for three days.

This was a disaster. If his gege found out he hadn’t come home for three days, he’d be furious.

The cub, he, would definitely get a beating.

Maybe he should find the little pearls and give them to his gege. He’d say he spent these three days digging for treasure.

Yes, that’s what he’d do!

Gu Lin clenched his little fists, feeling that his little brain was so clever to come up with such an idea!

He was truly amazing!

He had to find the little pearls. Only then would his gege really believe that he was out treasure hunting and that’s why he didn’t come home for three days!

His personal sub-system, 9527, sensed his little thoughts and wanted to explain something, but seeing that this misunderstanding actually motivated him to find the pearls and complete the mission, it didn’t say anything.

Time in the game flowed differently from time in reality. Three days in the game was at most three minutes in reality, just the time it took to take a nap.

Gu Lin, having figured out how to explain things to his gege, shifted his attention to something more important.

He rubbed his empty little tummy.

He was so hungry. The system said this place was called Mermaid Town, but where were the fish? He hadn’t seen a single one.

He just didn’t know if this kind of fish was tasty.

Luckily, he wasn’t picky.

9527: “…”

What kind of amazing streamer had it gotten bound to?!

–

Learning that this human cub was really a player, the other players were collectively speechless.

Gu Lin looked far too young, at most two years old. To be pulled into a horror world filled with ghosts at such a young age, it looked like the system was playing a joke on everyone.

It was hard enough for adults to ensure they could clear the game and survive, let alone a soft, defenseless little cub.

If the ghosts came, wouldn’t they just gobble him up, several at a time?!

Everyone else felt sympathy and concern for this little cub. But in the face of life and death, no matter how much sympathy they felt, in a critical situation where they could barely protect themselves, no one could afford to look after him.

Life and death were up to fate. If he was lucky, he’d die with some dignity; if he was unlucky, he’d become an NPC’s afternoon tea. However, it seemed much more likely that the latter would happen.

Su Qiao had mistakenly thought Gu Lin was a ghost doll earlier. Now that she knew he was a player like them, her feelings were complex, a mixture of pity and tenderness welling up inside her.

She had just started university and hadn’t yet experienced the dangers and hardships of society. Her eyes held a clear naivety, and her heart, a naive clarity. Seeing that Gu Lin could barely walk steadily, and remembering that she had just wronged him, she felt even more apologetic.

She squatted down in front of Gu Lin, softening her voice: “Little friend, what’s your name? Do you want jiejie to carry you?”

Gu Lin said in a childish voice, “My name is Gu Lin. Thank you, jiejie, but I can walk by myself.”

Su Qiao smiled, her eyes crinkling: “Then can jiejie call you Linlin? Jiejie saw you were having trouble walking earlier.” She was referring to the incident where he had bumped into her.

Gu Lin lowered his long, brush-like eyelashes, looking pitiful: “Because my tummy is hungry.”

That’s why he couldn’t walk properly.

He raised his delicate little face, his voice clear and tender: “Jiejie, I didn’t mean to bump into you, and I didn’t mean to scare you. I just wanted to say sorry. Jiejie, I’m sorry.”

Not only was his pronunciation clear, but his logic was also very sound.

Su Qiao completely melted. Darn it, how could she meet such a soft and adorable cub in a horror game! She was nineteen this year; given the age difference, she could actually be called “auntie,” but this cub sweetly called her “jiejie.”

And this cub was so smart! She hadn’t even mentioned him bumping into her, yet he could figure it out and even apologize politely. So, he poked her not to scare her intentionally, but because he accidentally bumped into her and wanted to apologize? How could he be so well-behaved?!

The other players also felt sympathy for Gu Lin. After all, he was such a small cub, and not only was he ridiculously cute, but he was also so polite and well-behaved. If it weren’t for the inappropriate timing, everyone might have been fighting to hold him.

But the players still noticed something was off.

This was a small town shrouded in fog. The surrounding fog was thick, and the streets and buildings were all enveloped in it. There wasn’t a single person on the streets besides them, the new players. It felt like a ghost town. Aside from the sounds they made, they couldn’t hear anything else. It was strangely quiet, quiet enough to make people panic.

When they first entered the game, everyone was terrified, their hearts filled with fear. But they realized that, ever since they discovered this little cub, the atmosphere had suddenly become relaxed and lively. They had forgotten to be afraid, and their fear had inexplicably vanished.

And the most unsettling thing was that this little cub didn’t show any fear at all. His delicate, porcelain-doll-like face was abnormally calm, as if he were in his own home.

The current scene looked like a horror scene no matter how you looked at it. The adults were scared to death, so why wasn’t this little cub scared at all? Or was it that newborn calves aren’t afraid of tigers, and he simply didn’t understand the situation, so he wasn’t afraid?

Gu Lin’s stomach growled. Right now, he only cared about eating; everything else was secondary. He even forgot about his earlier determination to find the little pearls for his gege to prove his innocence.

He looked at the increasingly thick fog. Where was he going to find fish here?

“Jiejie.” Gu Lin looked at Su Qiao, his voice childish, innocent, and full of grievance: “Why aren’t the fish coming out yet? My tummy is already growling with hunger.”

Su Qiao: “…”

The others: “…”

Livestream: “…”

Was he saying what they thought he was saying?

No way!