Chapter Two: The Doll Moved

When she saw Feng Tianlin, she happily picked him up in her arms. “Wow! What a beautiful doll! Thank you, Daddy!”

“As long as you like it, cherish it well. It’s getting late, go to bed soon.”

Looking at this little girl, Feng Tianlin realized she was probably the daughter of this middle-aged man. Who would have thought that such an oily, unkempt man could have such an adorable daughter?

“Heh, scaring a little girl like this should be a piece of cake.”

Just as this thought crossed his mind, the little girl, Long Mengting, skipped and hugged him, carrying him off to her room.

Inside this room, brimming with girlish charm, Feng Tianlin pondered carefully how he could extract fear from this child.

“Hmph, just wait a while. I’ll suddenly stare at her and scare her out of her wits, ha ha ha...”

But Long Mengting simply switched off the lights, plunging the entire room into darkness.

She clutched him to her chest, flopped onto the bed, and fell asleep almost instantly, not giving him the slightest chance to act.

Feeling the softness of the young girl’s body, Feng Tianlin would have worn a bitter face if not for the eerie smile he couldn’t control.

“Does it really have to be like this? I can sense everything but can’t feel sleepy at all. How boring!”

A ray of morning sunlight streamed through the window, finally bringing an end to his torturous night.

Long Mengting had already finished washing up and came out of the bathroom, holding her jet-black, lustrous hair in her hands.

Yes, the pure and lovely Long Mengting was bald, but her lack of hair did nothing to diminish her beauty; on the contrary, it gave her a unique charm.

After placing the wig on her head, she smiled at Feng Tianlin. “I have a serious illness. After the nurse gave me injections, all my hair fell out.”

Chemotherapy, it seemed.

“Daddy goes out to work early every day. He always used to leave me alone, but now, it’s different. I have you to keep me company.”

Clearly, her father had been lying to her; he didn’t have a job at all.

Looking at her sweet smile, Feng Tianlin was reminded of his own younger sister in his previous life. She, too, had leukemia, and when they couldn’t find a suitable bone marrow donor, her hair all fell out and she died in his arms.

She had worn the same sweet smile as she passed.

The faces of the two gradually overlapped in his mind. They were so alike—optimistic, cheerful, beautiful...

Was this fate’s design?

Could Feng Tianlin still bring himself to frighten this little girl for horror points? Not only could he not bear it, but he silently swore in his heart:

“From now on, I’ll protect this kid! Anyone who dares touch her will answer to me!”

But without power, all that was just empty talk. If he wanted to become stronger, he had to scare people. Since he couldn’t touch the little girl, he’d have to start with the middle-aged man.

“All right, let’s play house together.” Long Mengting’s childish voice rang out.

Unable to move or speak, Feng Tianlin could only play house with her as her doll.

Finally, evening came and Long Tian returned home.

At the sound of the door, Long Mengting excitedly grabbed Feng Tianlin and ran to the entrance to greet her father.

Just as Long Tian was about to close the door, a pair of large hands gripped it firmly. Three rough-looking men swaggered in.

One of them, a man with a knife scar on his face, looked around and grinned. “Long Tian, we finally found where you live. Isn’t it time to pay your debt?”

Long Tian had clearly been followed by these debt collectors.

Hearing this, Long Tian’s expression grew tense. “I... I still don’t have a job. Can you give me a few more days?”

Scarface immediately let out a malicious laugh, his gaze lingering lasciviously on the girl hiding behind her father. “A few more days? You think we’re running a charity? Pay up now! Otherwise, your daughter...”

Long Tian instinctively shielded Long Mengting, trying to sound calm despite his fear. “What do you want?”

“What do I want?” Scarface echoed with a sneer. “Of course, I’ll take her to work the streets. There’s quite a demand for girls like her these days, ha ha ha!”

He stepped toward them with a lewd grin, clearly up to no good.

But Long Tian was prepared. He whipped out a fruit knife and brandished it at the men, threatening, “Stay back! Or I won’t be polite!”

The thugs, however, only sneered in contempt. Scarface drew a curved blade from his coat and swept it in front of Long Tian.

“You think you can scare us with that little toy?”

He advanced on them.

At this, Long Tian’s last restraint snapped. With a desperate yell, he charged at Scarface.

“I’ll fight you to the death!”

Scarface dodged easily and kicked him to the ground, where all three men began to punch and kick him.

“Stop! Please, stop!” Long Mengting clung to Feng Tianlin, tears streaming uncontrollably down her face. With her tiny body, she beat at Scarface, trying to save her father.

But ill and frail as she was, she posed no threat to these grown men. They shoved her aside and continued their assault.

“Damn it! You think you can threaten me with a knife?”

Seeing his daughter thrown aside, Long Tian seemed to tap into some hidden reserve of strength. He staggered to his feet, grabbed Scarface, and tackled him to the ground.

After a brief struggle, a bloodstained blade pierced out of Long Tian’s chest. He went still—dead.

Scarface shoved Long Tian’s body off, pulled the knife from him, and licked the blood from its edge.

“Was it worth it? You wasted your life for nothing.”

The other two men stared in shock. They were just low-level gangsters, following Scarface to see the world. None of them had ever witnessed a murder, and now they looked at Scarface with growing fear.

Seeing their hesitation, Scarface barked, “What are you standing there for? Grab the little girl! Or did I come here for nothing?”

Long Mengting had just witnessed her father’s death. Her tears had dried; her eyes were filled with disbelief as she stood there, stunned.

Feng Tianlin was beside himself with anxiety. He was just a doll—unable to move, unable to speak, unable even to reason with them!

The two thugs began to approach. Feng Tianlin knew he couldn’t sit and wait for death. At the very least, he could move his eyes—the only thing he could control.

As the blond-haired thug was about to grab Long Mengting, Feng Tianlin locked his gaze onto the man’s eyes. His stare was so swift and fierce it seemed to pierce right into the man’s soul.

The blond thug recoiled in terror, nearly collapsing as his legs buckled.

At the same time, Feng Tianlin heard the system’s notification.

“Horror Points +30”

“Holy crap! The doll’s eyes moved!”

The blond thug pointed at Feng Tianlin, his finger trembling.

The other man, skeptical, turned his gaze to the doll.

Feng Tianlin knew this was his chance! He quickly fixed his eyes on the second thug.

“Horror Points +50”

With the system’s notification, Feng Tianlin didn’t hesitate to activate his skill: Nightmare Form. At last, he could move!

“Damn! The doll can really move! Scarface, come see this!”

Hearing their shouts, Scarface grew impatient. “So what if its eyes move? Toys these days are advanced—you think it’s like the ones we had when we were kids?”

He strode over to see for himself.