[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world":3,"chapter-survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-294":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Survival Guide in a Mysterious World",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2299263,4497,"Chapter 294: Draw a Prison on the Ground","survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-294",294,"\u003Cp>The soul-recalling doll is a peculiar supernatural artifact; each doll has a unique true name, its only true name.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Its original name was “Little Poor One,” later changed by Lan Shiwen to “Xia Rong.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“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?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Little Xia Rong sat in Ning Zhe’s lap, her button eyes made of blue sapphires motionless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“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.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe placed the music box into Xia Rong’s tiny hands and added:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“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.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The doll named Xia Rong sat quietly on Ning Zhe’s knees, unmoving.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Understood?” Ning Zhe asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xia Rong nodded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Good girl,” Ning Zhe said, hugging the soft little doll and kissing her forehead. “Mama loves you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The moment Ning Zhe left Zhong Lou, she stood up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Xia Rong has begun killing,” Ning Zhe flapped his wings out of the Moon Viewing Terrace and dove downward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Killing and capturing ghosts were handled by Xia Rong; all Ning Zhe needed to do now was one thing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Stop her from reversing the move.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That means, between the investigation team’s annihilation and Pulu Meiliya deciding to reverse the move, there will be about a twenty-second buffer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sixty seconds plus twenty seconds—less than a minute and a half. What can be done? Can…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>—Draw a prison on the ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Sh… what… is… shhh… thing!…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Discordant static crackled through the earpiece, making Mei Lin frown. “Dejin Hansa? Can you hear me? What’s happening?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pulu Meiliya’s fingers instinctively rested on a chess piece carved with the character “ Zu ,” and she looked up. “Something went wrong?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"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...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If our opponent were merely unconscious degenerates, this knowledge would suffice,” Pulu Meiliya murmured. “But don’t forget—the hidden ‘intruder’ still exists.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The intruder who breached Fan Niansha Castle likely has already mastered the rules of the Necromancer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rigidly operating rules and an Ascended One who commands spirits are entirely different things.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Reverse the move. No matter what happened, reversing first is safest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Mei Lin, what are you looking at?” the girl asked softly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“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?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not a single note, not a single sound, not a single thing inside!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She reversed the move.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The pawn had crossed the river five minutes ago. Pulling it back rewinds time five minutes—to when the pawn had not yet crossed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yes, that’s how it works.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pulu Meiliya looked up at Mei Lin. She stood beside her, just as she had five minutes ago.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Mei Lin,” Pulu Meiliya asked. “How are Dejin Hansa and the others?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Uh…” Mei Lin frowned, confusion crossing her face. “No sound from the earpiece. Dejin Hansa hasn’t replied. Wait—there’s sound now…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before she finished speaking, Mei Lin’s legs buckled and she collapsed to the floor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Mei Lin!” Pulu Meiliya panicked, frantically reaching into Mei Lin’s collar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Good—Mei Lin still had a pulse. She wasn’t dead, just unconscious—or perhaps in a deep sleep—for reasons unknown.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What had she heard? Pulu Meiliya suppressed her dangerous curiosity and reached for the chessboard, reversing another move.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Time rewound ten minutes. The unconscious Mei Lin awoke, standing beside her, perfectly restored.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Mei Lin, quickly take off your…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before Pulu Meiliya finished speaking, a thud echoed—Mei Lin collapsed again, sinking into deep sleep.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1033,"2026-06-20T06:29:22.815Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","3eb96ce43e4db3fc16c92a7e5e58ede07bc6673a6ade500ddb62cd3fa1e2e470","survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-295","survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-293",353,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fsurvival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-cover.jpg"]