The Childhood Friend

From the memory fragments, this Big Brother Wen was a neighbor from his childhood. His personality was as gentle as water, and their relationship had always been excellent, with Wen taking extraordinary care of him.

He had also been extremely dependent on this neighbor, to the point of being radical—driven by a possessive streak, he had once chased away all of Wen Jingshi’s friends so that Wen could only accompany him.

However, all good things must come to an end.

After the college entrance exams, Wen Jingshi’s family met with a sudden misfortune. He chose to go abroad for further studies, promising before he left that once he achieved success through his own hard work, he would immediately return to find him.

But at the time, having just finished high school, the “Protagonist” couldn’t understand why. He wholeheartedly believed that the other party was tired of his controlling nature and was using this “excuse” and “empty promise” to get away from him. After all, he had plenty of money to support Wen Jingshi; Wen didn’t need to work hard at all, he only needed to stay by his side forever.

Yet those words, spoken from the heart, failed to sway Wen Jingshi’s decision in the slightest.

Facing the boy who clung to him imperiously to stop him from leaving, Wen Jingshi only let out a helpless, light sigh and leaned down to look at him with his usual good temper: “But I want to rely on myself to give you a better life.”

And just like that, Wen Jingshi left without looking back.

After Wen Jingshi went abroad, he remained trapped in that memory. Instead of moving on, he became increasingly extreme.

In this state, dolls that couldn’t move or speak became the best choice for his emotional sustenance.

However, perhaps influenced by that first relationship, he no longer placed his feelings on a single doll. Instead, he became fickle. Once he grew bored with a doll playing the role of a lover, he would begin crafting the next substitute.

In the plot, “he” had always misunderstood Wen Jingshi. Although he spoke to him with sarcasm upon learning of his return, he still rushed excitedly to meet him, only to leave in a fit of rage midway through because of a minor disagreement in values.

Afterward, his temper became even more unpredictable, and he treated the dolls worse and worse, venting all his anger on them—until one day, he died suddenly in the basement where a roomful of dolls was kept…

The behavior of “him” in the story would not be commented on for now, but the fuse of the tragedy was Wen Jingshi’s return.

If Wen Jingshi hadn’t come back, perhaps things wouldn’t have escalated to that point so quickly, but he just had to return.

Ye Shengge knit his brows in distress and whispered to the system: [Is it okay if I don’t go?]

If he didn’t have to go, he could maintain the status quo and have more time to find a way to seal the dolls.

[As time passes, your attachment to your childhood friend is like red wine—the longer it lasts, the more mellow and intense it becomes,] the system said word by word. [So, you cannot skip it. You must go see him.]

The small tuft of stray hair on top of Ye Shengge’s head instantly wilted and drooped.

He nodded reluctantly: [Fine then.]

Ye Shengge thought for a few seconds. Referencing the sarcastic manner of the previous dungeon boss and simulating “his” personality in the plot, he sent two messages to Wen Jingshi.

Ye Shengge: [Has the sun risen from the west? I thought you’d never return to the country in this lifetime.]

Ye Shengge: [Does it matter if I’m free? What matters is if a busy man like you is free. How would I dare to be busy?]

In just two short sentences, not only was he being sarcastic, but anyone could see how much resentment the sender held.

After sending the messages, Ye Shengge stopped looking at his phone and looked worriedly at the two naked dolls on the sofa.

The urgent task, besides figuring out how to deal with the neighbor brother, was to settle these two dolls in the living room and the ones he had discarded in the basement.

The place for settlement had to be chosen carefully; at the very least, he couldn’t put them all together, to prevent any accidents.

And also to prevent himself from “crashing the car” while trying to seduce the dolls.

Thinking of this, Ye Shengge’s cheeks burned.

This was truly too embarrassing.

He actually had to do such improper things—maintaining ambiguous relationships with six dolls simultaneously like a “Sea King,” while also meeting his “White Moonlight” childhood friend and acting like a deeply affectionate, paranoid lover.

For Ye Shengge, whose romantic experience was practically zero, this was a bit hard to accept.

But he still hypnotized himself into being both “scummy” and “tea-like,” muttering incessantly in his heart: Dolls aren’t real people, and pursuing the childhood friend is just one-sided. According to the plot, the childhood friend won’t agree to his paranoid request for a relationship; instead, he’ll advise him to see a psychiatrist. So, I’m not really two-timing at all.

After successfully brainwashing himself, Ye Shengge immediately sought the system’s help, successfully found the walk-in closet, and then, in a separate wardrobe, pulled out two sets of oversized men’s clothing.

The clothes in this cabinet were all prepared for the dolls.

Before discovering his feelings for the dolls, “he” had treated them like a little girl treats beautiful Barbie dolls—extremely meticulous, preparing many clothes and accessories.

But after discovering his feelings, he preferred the dolls wearing nothing at all—he was perverted to the extreme.

However, Ye Shengge had no hobby of looking at naked doll bodies, let alone getting styes in his eyes.

So these clothes had to be worn.

Ye Shengge held the two sets of clothes tightly and cautiously walked down the stairs, all the way to the sofa.

But looking at the two dolls lying one on the left and one on the right, their gazes fixed forward, Ye Shengge suddenly hesitated.

This was bad.

Though they looked like lifeless puppets on the outside, Ye Shengge knew they both had self-awareness.

No matter who he dressed first, he would likely offend the other doll, wouldn’t he?