Stay calm!

Mo Bai pressed hard on the space between her thumb and index finger, and her racing heart gradually settled.

Running away wouldn't solve anything. With a three-day death threat looming over her, she had to face the monster outside the door.

So, Mo Bai called out toward the door while doing her best to sound calm, "Who is it?"

"It's Mommy, sweetheart. Open the door," came a soft, gentle voice from the other side. It sounded completely harmless, except it sounded nothing like her mother's usual loud voice.

"Just a second," Mo Bai replied.

The knocking stopped. The Mommy outside the door seemed to be patiently waiting for Mo Bai to open the door.

Mo Bai didn't rush. Given her physical condition, taking time to open the door made perfect sense.

If she were lying in bed right now, she'd have to sit up, pull the wheelchair over, and then use her arms to move herself into it. This whole process would take at least ten minutes. So even if she took half an hour to get to the door, it would still be reasonable.

Mo Bai intended to use this time to prepare and to see if the Mommy outside would eventually break in if she waited long enough.

She calmly wheeled herself over to the bed and felt around the headboard. As expected, she found the object hidden under the mattress.

It was a metal baseball bat.

Girls living alone should take precautions, and Mo Bai, with her disability, would have almost no chance of escaping if danger struck.

To prepare for emergencies, she had stashed a metal bat by the bed. This room was an exact replica of her real home, right down to the bat.

Mo Bai gave it a couple of swings. Though the bat was heavy, she handled it with ease, as if it was a wooden stick.

Because her lower body was paralyzed, Mo Bai used her arms for some of the work her legs would normally do, so her upper body was far stronger than the average female.

While she wasn't a bodybuilder, wielding a heavy metal bat was no problem for her.

With the bat in hand, Mo Bai felt much calmer.

She wasn't sure if a physical weapon would work. Maybe against a strange monster like Mommy, something supernatural was needed to defeat it.

But Mo Bai believed that the mysterious force that had given her the task to "survive" wouldn't have done so unless she had a real chance. Otherwise, it could've just let her die directly rather than going through all the trouble.

Those who have no desire are fearless. She had nothing to lose and thus didn't fear the unknown danger ahead.

Mo Bai draped a thin blanket over her lap, completely hiding the metal bat by her side. Who would ever guess that a frail girl in a wheelchair was hiding a weapon like that?

She touched the bat through the blanket, then felt her preparations weren't enough. She opened a storage cabinet and took out a medical kit filled with various drugs.

Besides the medications she took daily to keep her body functioning, there were also powerful sleeping pills and painkillers. The kind of stuff you wouldn't find on the market.

She took so many medications that her body had built up a high resistance. Her doctors already prescribed the strongest available drugs.

The sleeping pills she had were like tranquilizers that could knock out a regular person in minutes with just three tablets.

The painkillers were even more dangerous. In high doses, they could cause hallucinations.

Doctors only gave her small amounts at a time. But Mo Bai always took the minimum necessary, preferring to tough it out, so she had stockpiled quite a bit.

As Mo Bai was getting the drugs, the voice outside called out again, this time with more urgency: "Why aren't you opening the door yet? Mommy really misses you. Hurry up and let me in."

Though the voice was still soft, the knocking had turned frantic. Clearly, Mommy was running out of patience.

Without even looking up, Mo Bai casually replied, "Mom, you know I'm not well, so I can't move fast. What's the rush?"

There was a brief pause. Then Mommy outside hesitated and said, "Oh, right… You're not well?"

Mo Bai sneered. So this Mommy didn't even know her physical condition.

Maybe it only knew her through her social media.

She quickly opened her chat app and checked her Moments feed. It matched what she had posted in real life. She wasn't the type to share much, mostly books and game updates. A stranger couldn't possibly figure out her real-life situation from that.

"Looks like we're both in the dark," Mo Bai thought.

She grabbed two bottles of mineral water. She dropped a handful of sleeping pills into one and a handful of painkillers into the other.

She shook the bottles hard and watched the pills dissolve silently into the water, leaving no trace.

She used her nail to scratch a shallow mark on the caps, then returned the two bottles to their place. They looked perfectly ordinary among the rest of the water.

She had used both physical and chemical methods. This was all the preparation she could do for now.

Mo Bai put the medications away, took a deep breath, and told herself: No matter what's outside the door, stay calm. Don't panic.

Just then, a heavy thud hit the door, like someone slamming their head against it. Mommy's voice had turned cold and threatening: "If you don't open the door, Mommy will come in herself."

Mo Bai checked the time. It had been ten minutes since the knocking first started.

She sat by the door, close enough to open it with one reach.

But she didn't open it. She sat still in her wheelchair, calmly watching the door.

She wanted to know how long the monster would wait, and how long the door would hold.

Theoretically, she couldn't survive three days just by hiding. Bringing someone back from the dead was never that simple.

She would have to face the monster eventually. Before that, she wanted more information.

The banging grew louder and more intense. Sharp, grating, scratching sounds joined in. Mo Bai suspected that the creature was gouging into her metal door.

She analyzed calmly: "The monster outside has a tool or claws sharp enough to cut metal. The force of impact is strong. One or two more hits might break the door.

So far, it has only been using physical attacks. It probably doesn't have supernatural abilities. Or if it does, it can only use them a limited number of times, like a trump card.

The door offers some defense, which suggests the monster can be hurt by physical means. But it's strong, and there's no way I could win in a direct fight.

The longer it waits, the angrier it gets. If this continues, it might spiral out of control. Then I won't be able to catch it off guard. Time to open the door."

She must show weakness to confuse the enemy.

So Mo Bai pinched her voice and said in a timid tone, "I'll open it now. Don't knock so loud... It's scaring me."

The knocking stopped, and Mommy's voice softened again: "If you're scared, then open the door quickly. Mommy's getting angry, be good."

"Okay." Mo Bai adjusted her expression, then reached out and opened the door.

The room's light spilled into the pitch-dark hallway. Standing outside was a woman Mo Bai had never seen before. It wasn't her mother, but also not the monster from the Moments' photo. She looked normal.

Well, she only looked normal.

The woman's face, neck, and hands were covered in makeup so thick that it was like plaster. There were even traces of it on the door where she had been knocking.

But what was more horrifying than the foundation were the deep scratches on the metal door, which were at least one centimeter deep. It looked like the door was on the verge of being torn apart.

She was wearing an overpowering perfume. It was so strong that it made Mo Bai want to sneeze. But despite the floral scent, a faint yet unmistakable stench of decay lingered.

One of the woman's eyes wasn't moving with her gaze. It just sat there, unnaturally fixed.

Mo Bai recalled the photo she'd seen earlier. Could this thing shove a fallen eyeball back into its socket?

As Mo Bai sized her up, the woman was also closely inspecting her.

From the woman's perspective, the girl inside was beautiful and fragile. Sitting in her wheelchair with a blanket over her lap, she looked weak and delicate. Her eyes held unmistakable fear, and her expression was pitiful.

"So pretty," the woman murmured, her gaze growing hazy. She reached out to touch Mo Bai's face. "You're like a delicate porcelain doll. Just a little squeeze, and you'd shatter."

Mo Bai quickly spun her wheelchair back, dodging the hand.

This monster was intelligent. She tried to conceal her abnormalities with clumsy makeup. And she clearly had disturbing tendencies. She might do something twisted.

For Mo Bai, that was good news.

What she feared most was being killed instantly. With her low combat ability, she couldn't stand a chance against something that could scratch up a metal door.

A pervert was better.

A pervert wouldn't kill her right away. It would try to confuse her, threaten her, and even torture her physically and mentally.

And during that process, she would have the chance to strike.

"W-Who are you?" Mo Bai curled up, controlling her wheelchair to slowly retreat, pretending to be dumb and scared.

The more the enemy underestimated her, the more opportunities she'd get.

The woman smiled. The movement tugged at her skin, pulling off a piece that was still attached to raw flesh.

She quickly pressed it back in place.

Step by step, the woman entered and shut the door behind her. She wore a "gentle" smile as she said, "I'm your Mommy."

"You're not my mom!" Mo Bai put on a bravely defiant face.

The woman locked the door behind her, set a thermal food container on the table, and backed Mo Bai into a corner. Her eyes rolled, and one of them fell out, dangling from its socket.

Using that loose eyeball, she stared at Mo Bai and said dangerously, "Oh? Mommy wouldn't hurt her own child. But if you're not my child, then I can hurt you, right?"

It was still within Mo Bai's tolerance. She had gotten a key piece of information from the woman's words. If she acknowledged this Mommy, then the woman wouldn't kill her right away. Maybe she'd wait three days, have her fun, then kill her.

Mo Bai made a pained expression. She hesitated for a moment, then reluctantly said in a small voice, "Okay... You're my Mommy."

As the word Mommy left her lips, blood-red text appeared before her eyes again.

[Congratulations, Probationary Citizen Mo Bai, on triggering the "Playing House" game. Partial rules are as follows:

Rule One: You have a complete family.

Rule Two: Mommy loves cooking, but she is not good at it. Do not tell her that her food is not delicious.

Rule Three: Mommy loves obedient children. Do not refuse Mommy's requests directly.

Rule Four: Mommy is softhearted toward pretty and weak children. The higher your appeal value, the more likely you will awaken Mommy's love.]

Mo Bai quickly read the rules and assessed the situation.

It was the word Mommy that triggered the game. Based on the earlier blood-red text, the game's time limit was three days. The rules likely hid a path to survival, and breaking them could lead to death.

But she didn't have the full picture yet.

From what she knew so far, she could infer the following:

First, a complete family implied there was also a father.

Second, the food Mommy brought wasn't anything good. It could be avoided but not rejected outright. And she couldn't say it tasted bad.

Third, appeal value might make this Mommy less inclined to kill her.

Now, she understood why her best friend had done her makeup to look so much like her real self. It was to boost her beauty and increase her appeal value.

So… did she have to rely on her face and on acting weak to survive this?

Mo Bai frowned. She didn't like this method of playing the game.