Chapter 294: Draw a Prison on the Ground

The soul-recalling doll is a peculiar supernatural artifact; each doll has a unique true name, its only true name.

The grantor can establish a connection with the soul-recalling doll through this single true name and manipulate it to accomplish tasks. Ning Zhe’s doll was originally Fan Daike’s.

Its original name was “Little Poor One,” later changed by Lan Shiwen to “Xia Rong.”

“Hello, Xia Rong, Mama needs your help with something,” Ning Zhe said, taking the cloth doll from his shoulder and holding it in his arms. “Do you see this music box?”

Little Xia Rong sat in Ning Zhe’s lap, her button eyes made of blue sapphires motionless.

“And over there—that’s a metal door,” Ning Zhe lifted Xia Rong high so she could see the closed door of the interrogation room nearby, and the investigation team guarding it.

After this, Ning Zhe set Xia Rong on his knees and, before her eyes, flipped the music box over to reveal the winding mechanism on its bottom.

“This is a music box. Opening the lid plays the music immediately; winding the mechanism delays playback—one full turn equals a 30-second delay.”

Ning Zhe placed the music box into Xia Rong’s tiny hands and added:

“I’ll wind it twice. You must kill every person here within one minute, then open the metal door and deliver the music box into the room behind it.”

The doll named Xia Rong sat quietly on Ning Zhe’s knees, unmoving.

“Understood?” Ning Zhe asked.

Xia Rong nodded.

“Good girl,” Ning Zhe said, hugging the soft little doll and kissing her forehead. “Mama loves you.”

Setting down the doll clutching the music box, Ning Zhe wound the mechanism twice, setting the delay to 60 seconds, then transformed into a sparrow and swiftly flew away from Zhong Lou.

He could not stay here—the music stored in the box was not ordinary melody, but a requiem played by ghosts; once it began, even the deaf would hear it.

The cute doll, shaped like a little girl, clutched the music box her mother gave her, small and still, seated on the carpet beside the bookshelf.

The moment Ning Zhe left Zhong Lou, she stood up.

“Xia Rong has begun killing,” Ning Zhe flapped his wings out of the Moon Viewing Terrace and dove downward.

Dejin Hansa and Mei Lin’s housekeeper maintained real-time communication via wireless earpieces; if the investigation team encountered trouble, Pulu Meiliya would immediately receive the alert and reverse the move.

Killing and capturing ghosts were handled by Xia Rong; all Ning Zhe needed to do now was one thing.

“Stop her from reversing the move.”

Sixty seconds isn’t long, but it isn’t short either—factoring in external variables, it might be a bit longer. Last time, from when the investigation team entered the interrogation room to when they reversed the move, roughly twenty seconds passed.

That means, between the investigation team’s annihilation and Pulu Meiliya deciding to reverse the move, there will be about a twenty-second buffer.

Sixty seconds plus twenty seconds—less than a minute and a half. What can be done? Can…

—Draw a prison on the ground.

“Sh… what… is… shhh… thing!…”

Discordant static crackled through the earpiece, making Mei Lin frown. “Dejin Hansa? Can you hear me? What’s happening?”

Pulu Meiliya’s fingers instinctively rested on a chess piece carved with the character “ Zu ,” and she looked up. “Something went wrong?”

"I don't know. There's no sound from over there," Mei Lin shook her head. "I told them not to enter the interrogation room—the door's closed. There shouldn't be any more incidents..."

“If our opponent were merely unconscious degenerates, this knowledge would suffice,” Pulu Meiliya murmured. “But don’t forget—the hidden ‘intruder’ still exists.”

The intruder who breached Fan Niansha Castle likely has already mastered the rules of the Necromancer.

Rigidly operating rules and an Ascended One who commands spirits are entirely different things.

Reverse the move. No matter what happened, reversing first is safest.

Pulu Meiliya pressed her finger against the piece; the smooth, warm touch of the ivory gave her profound reassurance. Within the chessboard, nothing was irrecoverable.

Suddenly, a darting shadow caught Pulu Meiliya’s gaze. She turned her head in confusion and saw Mei Lin, her face tense, staring intently at something.

“Mei Lin, what are you looking at?” the girl asked softly.

“A bird, Your Highness,” Mei Lin said. “A strange bird—appeared from nowhere, circling us. Its beak seems to hold something, dragging a long… rope?”

Pulu Meiliya’s eyes widened. For the first time, fear flickered across her doll-like pale face, then vanished quickly. “No… it can’t be… too much of a coincidence. How could it possibly be that exact thing…”

Not a single note, not a single sound, not a single thing inside!

As if to confirm a terrifying suspicion she refused to accept, Pulu Meiliya unhesitatingly moved her fingertip and pulled the pawn that had crossed the river back to its original position.

She reversed the move.

The pawn had crossed the river five minutes ago. Pulling it back rewinds time five minutes—to when the pawn had not yet crossed.

Yes, that’s how it works.

Pulu Meiliya looked up at Mei Lin. She stood beside her, just as she had five minutes ago.

“Mei Lin,” Pulu Meiliya asked. “How are Dejin Hansa and the others?”

“Uh…” Mei Lin frowned, confusion crossing her face. “No sound from the earpiece. Dejin Hansa hasn’t replied. Wait—there’s sound now…”

Before she finished speaking, Mei Lin’s legs buckled and she collapsed to the floor.

“Mei Lin!” Pulu Meiliya panicked, frantically reaching into Mei Lin’s collar.

Good—Mei Lin still had a pulse. She wasn’t dead, just unconscious—or perhaps in a deep sleep—for reasons unknown.

What had she heard? Pulu Meiliya suppressed her dangerous curiosity and reached for the chessboard, reversing another move.

Since the board was laid out, Pulu Meiliya had maintained a rhythm of one move every five minutes. Reversing one more move beyond the first rewinds time ten minutes back.

Time rewound ten minutes. The unconscious Mei Lin awoke, standing beside her, perfectly restored.

“Mei Lin, quickly take off your…”

Before Pulu Meiliya finished speaking, a thud echoed—Mei Lin collapsed again, sinking into deep sleep.

(End of Chapter)