Chapter 98

“……”

The twin sisters couldn’t understand why, despite them clearly trying to release malice, this person’s reaction was so different from everyone else’s.

Shouldn’t she be scared? At the very least, she should be panicking.

Why was she obsessing over something like that?

In fact, the twins started to feel like they were the ones on the receiving end of hostility. They had an unexplainable hunch that if they didn’t give her the answer she wanted… things might not end well for them.

Shi Jian was also taking the question very seriously.

She could accept being made into a doll—but being lumped together with others as “equally pretty”? That was unacceptable.

Unless they could prove otherwise.

Though Shi Jian doubted they could.

The twins looked at each other—then turned and bolted.

Small animals and children are very sensitive to emotions. They instinctively avoid danger.

Seeing this, Shi Jian didn’t even think—she immediately gave chase.

She wasn’t letting this go without a definitive answer. When it came to beauty, Shi Jian refused to accept any ambiguity or brush-off.

The headmistress of Angel Orphanage watched the scene and remarked, “That volunteer seems to be getting along quite well with Huanhuan and Lele. They’re already playing together.”

She had originally assumed that among so many volunteers, Shi Jian would be the hardest to get along with. The headmistress had a bit of a bias, thinking pretty girls were often spoiled and doted on.

She hadn’t expected to witness such a heartwarming scene amid all the chaos—

A stunning woman bent down, hands gently resting on the children's shoulders, speaking in a soft, warm tone.

Approachability? Check.

As the children ran ahead, she quickly followed, afraid to let them out of her sight.

The headmistress: She must be worried they’ll get hurt while running.

Attentiveness? Also check.

The headmistress gave Shi Jian high praise for her work and attitude.

...

Shi Jian had no idea she’d left such a good first impression on the orphanage’s headmistress. As for the twins, they were thoroughly unamused.

They felt like this new volunteer was seriously unhinged—completely relentless!

Since they hadn’t given an answer, Shi Jian constantly asked the same thing: “Who’s the prettiest?”

Because the twins were assigned to Shi Jian, they spent a lot of time with her. Whether they were sliding down the slide or just walking, they kept hearing that same question.

In the end, the twins chose to give in. Reluctantly, they told Shi Jian:

“You’re the prettiest.”"You're the prettiest, okay?! Can you stop bothering the kids now!"

Though… that was indeed the truth.

Shi Jian, unsurprisingly, got the answer she wanted. Still, she had to correct them.

"Mind your expressions. I didn’t force you—just asked you to speak objectively."

What kind of expression was that supposed to be?

The twin sisters: “……” So annoying.

Because of this whole episode, the younger sister even went and hid her doll afterward—she didn’t want anything related to dolls for the time being.

…

“So this is how we’re babysitting now?”

“When are we supposed to see treasure chest fragments?”

“Right now it doesn’t feel much different from a normal instance.”

Even though the volunteers were assigned kids to watch, they still found time to discuss.

As everyone said, up until now, things didn’t seem much different from a regular instance. No one had seen any sign of treasure chest fragments.

Most of the streamers came for the large points reward and useful items.

Many began exploring the orphanage—searching drawers and cupboards. Shi Jian even saw someone rummaging through the trash bin.

And judging by everyone’s expressions—

Totally fruitless.

It wasn’t just happening on Shi Jian’s side either. After arriving at the orphanage, she had a call with Tang Tian, who had already reached the nursing home. Same deal—no sign of any treasure chest fragments.

All they could do was follow the arrangement and take it one step at a time.

Shi Jian, for her part, remained calm. It was just two days—if something’s meant to show up, it will.

The streamers hadn’t been gathered for long before the caretakers led everyone to the art room.

All the children were there, and Shi Jian spotted the twin sisters again.

The caretaker told the streamers, “The kids are preparing thank-you gifts for you. Once they’re done, you can hang their heartfelt creations by your bedside…”

The art room carried a faint scent of paint. The classroom was bright and spacious, and the kids all seemed to be drawing seriously.

Even though they’d already revealed their true nature at the beginning—and clearly couldn’t be treated like normal children—there was still something disarming about the scene.

What could possibly go wrong with drawing?

In any case, everyone still had to look after their assigned kids.

So the streamers all headed toward the children.

The twin sisters took the initiative to greet Shi Jian. They smiled up at her cheerfully, as if they’d completely forgotten the earlier unpleasantness.

Chattering nonstop."Jiejie Shi Jian."

"Look at our drawing. Do you want to join in too?"

"This is a special gift we prepared just for you. Do you like it?"

Shi Jian responded cautiously, "Let me take a look."

She walked behind the twin sisters.

The viewers in the livestream were also curious—what kind of drawing would the twins give Shi Jian?

Shi Jian had guessed it might be something ugly, but what she didn't expect was—not exactly ugly—but the two had collaborated to draw a perfectly neat coffin!

...

Given her experience in the Misty Forest instance, Shi Jian was very familiar with zombie coffins, so she recognized it immediately: right there on the white paper was a clearly drawn, fully-formed coffin.

The twin sisters intended to gift Shi Jian a coffin drawing, and according to the caretaker, she was supposed to hang this drawing by her bedside.

Shi Jian: "......"

She was okay with actively riding in a coffin hearse before, but she absolutely did not want to hang this above her bed—that’d be begging for nightmares!

The twin sisters handed Shi Jian the coffin drawing with seemingly innocent tilted heads. One of them even provocatively shoved a crayon into Shi Jian's hand.

"Jiejie, why aren’t you saying anything?" Pretending not to know.

"Do you like it?"

"Come on, join us and help complete the drawing!"

Shi Jian replied in a teacher-like critique tone, "It's average."

She then asked, "You really want me to join in?"

The twin sisters blankly nodded, only to watch in stunned silence as Shi Jian actually picked up the crayon, mixed some color, and started drawing on the paper.

She began by drawing several circles on the coffin—then added eyes, a nose, a mouth, arms, and legs.

Finally, she colored it in a cheerful yellow.

After she was done, Shi Jian inspected her work with satisfaction and nodded. "Now it looks great."

"What are you doing?!"

"What did you draw?!"

The twin sisters shrieked when they realized what she’d done. One even tried to fix it—but it was too late. The drawing was beyond repair.

The perpetrator, Shi Jian, replied casually, "SpongeBob."

Since they’d insisted she join the drawing, Shi Jian took full liberty. She might not want a coffin drawing hanging over her bed, but a SpongeBob? That was fine.

Seeing the coffin so square and boxy, Shi Jian simply transformed it into SpongeBob.

She looked proudly at the twin sisters, who were now pale-faced and speechless.

Shi Jian had grown.

She was no longer the old Shi Jian!It was just a coffin drawing, and they thought that would scare her?

What kind of international joke was that?

Shi Jian was currently feeling inflated with pride. She thought she had handled it pretty well—until a small hand poked her in the back.

“What is it?”

Having just put the twin sisters in their place, Shi Jian had a bright, triumphant smile on her face. But the moment she turned around and saw who poked her, that smile nearly froze.

Because standing before her was a headless boy.

He was also dressed in a clean, uniform orphanage outfit, but everything above his neck was gone—a mess of blood and flesh at the cross-section.

No one knew where the sound came from, but the headless boy asked Shi Jian, “Have you…”

Caught off guard and startled, Shi Jian’s mind blanked for a second—but she quickly interrupted him: “No.”

Shi Jian’s strategy: interrupt the spell, don’t let him finish the sentence.

Based on her horror movie experience, nothing good ever comes after that kind of setup.

Headless boy: “……”

He paused for a moment, but then continued, “…have you seen where my head went?”

Shi Jian: “……”

She finally understood this instance’s ghosts and monsters—they were all self-absorbed.

The NPC on the bus was like this, and now so was the headless boy.

Shi Jian wasn’t sure whether this boy would attack, but that didn’t stop her from slowly backing away while preparing to pull out her chainsaw.

The boy stood there, clearly waiting for an answer. Shi Jian felt it would be awkward to say nothing, so she glanced at the drawing of SpongeBob, cleared her throat, and made a suggestion:

“Why don’t you ask the Magic Conch Shell?”

Headless boy: “???”

…

The live chat exploded:

【Damn, I was just laughing at the superstar drawing a second ago, and then suddenly a headless boy popped up. I almost died of fright.】

【I nearly screamed. Wasn’t this supposed to be a casual instance? I actually believed it.】

【Good thing Fairy Shi Jian interrupted that “spell” real fast.】

The headless boy didn’t attack Shi Jian. Instead, he seemed to realize something.

“Mistaken.”

He murmured this, then turned and found the streamer he was actually assigned to, repeating the same question.

Shi Jian let out a sigh of relief and pieced together a guess from what he said.

He probably couldn’t see properly because he had no head, and was supposed to target the streamer he was assigned to. Shi Jian was just collateral.The twin sisters were whispering nearby.

“Why is Hou Xiao looking for his head again? But it’s definitely not with William.”

“Of course not.”

Shi Jian caught this and casually joined the conversation. “Why isn’t it with William?”

The twin sisters replied as if it were obvious. “Because Hou Xiao hates William.”

He hated him so much, he wouldn’t even let his head fall near him.

Shi Jian: “Oh?”

She showed genuine interest in the topic. The twin sisters, having repeatedly failed to get the upper hand with Shi Jian, now realized there was something she didn’t know—and immediately started showing off.

The kids at the orphanage also formed little cliques and factions.

Who was friends with whom, who didn’t get along, who had leadership skills…

The twins spilled everything like pouring beans.

Shi Jian asked them, “Do you two also have kids you don’t like?”

The twins exchanged a look: Was she trying to learn about us and win us over?

“Of course we do.”

“We don’t like Su Xinxin.”

As for why, they didn’t say.

Shi Jian suspected the kids at Angel Orphanage had probably never seen SpongeBob SquarePants. They didn’t seem to get excited about it. And indeed, the twins confirmed they hadn’t seen it—they loved Mr. Rabbit, which was popular among the kids at the orphanage.

When they brought up Mr. Rabbit, the twin sisters got visibly excited and even had Shi Jian watch it with them.

Shi Jian watched about half an episode, and all she could think was: of course this is what kids in a horror game would like. The show was saturated with gore and violence, and Mr. Rabbit was an outright villain.

The most surprising discovery—

Mr. Rabbit looked exactly like the gray rabbit that had bitten off Host Xiao Jin’s head on the central hub’s giant screen.

…

Shi Jian’s time with the twin sisters had been relatively peaceful—until a sharp, piercing wail suddenly shattered that peace.

The one wailing was the headless boy.

After failing to find his head with his assigned streamer, he let out a scream.

Shi Jian instantly felt her eardrums ache. The cries of children could be loud and shrill, but this wasn’t ordinary crying.

Besides the piercing pain in her ears, her head felt like it was being struck repeatedly with a small hammer—waves of throbbing discomfort.

Shi Jian quickly covered her ears, but it didn’t help. The sound felt like it was being poured directly into her skull.

All the streamers present, except the children, were affected.But the one who suffered the most was the streamer assigned to the headless boy—blood was slowly seeping out of both his ears.

“I…”

“I think I can’t hear very well anymore…”

The male streamer, with blood running from his ears, said this in a panicked voice.

He had taken the brunt of the impact.

But no one had time to worry about him, because they were quickly faced with a similar challenge themselves.

The twin sisters, upon seeing what happened, excitedly grabbed Shi Jian’s hand with an expression that clearly said, Now things are getting fun.

In unison, they said, “Come on, try to tell us apart—who’s the older sister and who’s the younger.”

“If big sister doesn’t want to hear us cry like that again, she better not get it wrong.”

They looked completely identical—their voices, clothes, even the curves of their hairstyles were exactly the same, like they were copy-pasted.

Even neighbors of identical twins might not be able to tell them apart, and Shi Jian had only known them for a few hours.

This was definitely a hard mode challenge.

The twin sisters smiled mischievously: this time, they were being serious.

They still hadn’t gotten the scare they wanted out of Shi Jian and were feeling very unsatisfied.

Shi Jian remembered what the caretaker had said—older sister was Tong Zihuan, younger sister was Tong Zile.

Shi Jian quickly pointed at the girl on the left. “You’re the older sister.”

Then pointed at the one on the right. “You’re the younger sister.”

Her tone was confident, without the slightest hesitation.

When she didn’t hear any crying afterward, she knew she had gotten it right.

The twins’ pupils widened in shock.

Impossible!

How did she get it right so easily?

She must’ve guessed!

Some viewers in the stream asked:

【Is the streamer really that lucky? Just guessed right like that? I seriously can’t tell them apart at all.】

【Babe, open your eyes—they have name tags on them.】

Shi Jian hadn’t guessed based on their faces—she’d remembered that they had name tags.

At the gift shop, she had bought a bunch of name pins—the kind where you could write a name. She had originally just thought they were pretty. After learning everyone’s names, she wrote them down and gave the pins out. Not just the twins—everyone got one.

Shi Jian hadn’t expected they’d actually come in handy. Even she was surprised when the challenge came up.

Shi Jian kindly asked, “You two haven’t started learning to read yet, huh?”She actually already knew the answer in her heart.

The twin sisters really hadn’t started learning to read yet—they didn’t even want to learn how to count.

Shi Jian didn’t forget to interact with the livestream viewers. She lowered her voice and said with mock grief, “This is what happens when you suffer from illiteracy. If only they had a kindergarten diploma.”

But her smile was dazzling.

She just loved uneducated kids like this.

Not only did Shi Jian avoid the “screaming into the ears” attack, but she also got an unexpected reward.

She had actually received a treasure chest fragment.

Shi Jian looked down at the fragment that had appeared in her hand out of thin air, her eyes lighting up.

So that’s how you could get chest fragments?

……

There were a few other streamers like her too. What they had in common was that they had answered the children’s questions correctly.

As for those who failed, they all ended up like the streamer with the bleeding ears.

“I got a fragment!”

“Me too!”

“How many did you get?”

“One.”

The streamers who had successfully obtained fragments were excited and began chatting in small groups.

From the moment they entered this “leisure” dungeon, many streamers had been searching everywhere for treasure fragments. No one expected that the first one would come from interacting with the kids.

Someone sighed, “Too bad it’s only one fragment. Who knows where the next one will come from?”

Shi Jian: The next one is coming from right here.

The streamers then noticed Shi Jian encouraging the twin sisters, “Do you want to ask me again?”

Shi Jian even gave them suggestions. “You two could spin around really fast, shuffle the order—then maybe I won’t be able to tell who’s who.”

Shi Jian’s thought process: If guessing who’s the older sister and who’s the younger nets her treasure fragments, then she could play this game forever and never get bored.

Was this just a treasure chest fragment?

No—it was practically a pet expansion ticket, whitening pills, high-value points...

The twin sisters still hadn’t tasted the cruelty of society, and were successfully tricked by Shi Jian’s sweet words.

They had originally thought Shi Jian just got lucky. No way she’d get it right again the second time, right?

The sisters put in a full effort, spinning while holding hands so fast they practically kicked up a breeze, determined to make her dizzy and confused.

But they didn’t know—because they were uneducated—that Shi Jian didn’t rely on that at all to tell them apart.

Second time, third time, fourth time…Shi Jian identified them all correctly!

Then the treasure chest fragment in her hand instantly turned into four pieces.

Both the other streamers and the viewers were stunned.

Was this a treasure fragment production line?

The twins asked, Shi Jian answered—and with just this one trick, Shi Jian could easily achieve treasure fragment freedom!