Famine 71: The Witch’s Doll

The witch’s wooden puppet stared at Si Zhiyan for a long time.

Upon that wooden face, the ink-drawn pupils were chipped and worn, the old lines smeared and chaotic; its gaze never wavered from Si Zhiyan, as though it was struggling to comprehend his words.

After a while, the girl’s emotionless voice sounded again: [Liars must swallow a thousand needles.]

Buzz! Tangled threads flashed with a chilling, murderous gleam.

“No problem,” Si Zhiyan’s smile remained unmoved. “If I failed to provide those smiles, as promised, I would swallow the needles.”

“Of course, any agreement will only be fulfilled after you’ve helped me get through this crisis.”

“After all, the dead can offer nothing at all.”

[…]

The stalemate dragged on. The steam in this place was thick and oppressive; droplets clung to Si Zhiyan’s lashes, forcing him to blink.
He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, there was nothing before him but an empty expanse of steamy water.

The witch’s puppet had vanished.

Buzz!
Silken threads vibrated gently near his ear.

Si Zhiyan slowly turned his head. The witch’s puppet stood just half a step away, its wooden face pressed against his side, the enormous, painted grin filling his entire vision.

The puppet looked like a young girl, just over one and a half meters tall, dressed in the witch’s signature white robe, kimono, and crimson hakama. Damp black hair trailed to the ground, her figure damp with the scent of sulfur.

Her mouth opened and closed, spitting out a few words; the mechanical, smiling voice subtly triggered that uncanny valley effect, leaving one chilled to the bone.

[Please. Take. Care. Of. Me.]

She had agreed.

Si Zhiyan quietly pressed down on his heart, which had nearly leapt from his chest.

The belated system notification now rang out in a persistent cascade—

[Ding! You have obtained [Legendary Terrain – Thousand Lakes Hot Spring]!]
[The terrain has been added to your farm’s backpack. Please choose a location to place it within your farm.]

[Ding! You have obtained [Tenman Shrine Hot Spring Festival Hall (Abandoned)] x1!]
[Ding! You have obtained [Tattered Ritual Array Blueprint] x1!]
[Ding! [Heavenly Pulse Witch – Wooden Puppet] has entered into an agreement with you. You may now utilize her abilities.]

[Side Quest Accepting…]
[Ding! Side quest accepted.]

[Side Quest – The Witch’s Pact: Collect 5,000 smiles within the [Tenman Shrine Hot Spring Festival Hall]. Current progress: 423/5,000.]
[Checkpoint: Before the Eye’s retaliation arrives, reach at least 50% progress, or the quest will be considered failed.]

[Quest Failure Penalty: The player must swallow a thousand needles and become the Witch’s friend.]

…Indeed, making an agreement with the witch was not something that could be resolved with casual trickery.

To swallow a thousand needles, to become the witch’s “friend”… One could imagine, even in death, there would be no peace.

Fail, and it meant certain death; the pressure was immense.

Si Zhiyan stretched his limbs, and laughed—in spite of everything—with genuine ease.

No matter. Let it come. Risk and opportunity forever walk hand in hand.

The more he understood the power of the witch’s puppet, the more satisfied Si Zhiyan felt.
To face the Eye’s retribution in seven days’ time, he would need to rally every power that could be rallied.

Si Zhiyan rose to his feet and asked, “Do you have a name?”

The little witch puppet’s face was fixed in a beaming painted smile. She did not move.

Not willing to communicate… Well, that made sense, given how unfamiliar they still were. Si Zhiyan did not mind.
This creature was both puppet and person, and there was an inherent sense of unease in dealing with it—something he knew he’d have to overcome.

Come to think of it, this witch was quite an old artifact. Now that she was out of the water, he could see her sculpted cheeks were rounded, the charcoal-drawn eyes pitch black and innocent, her hair adorned like a young girl’s. It was clear she was meant to resemble a child.

Whoever created the witch—why would they choose to make a shrine maiden, a servant of the gods, in the form of a little girl?
Why had the world met with destruction, and how had she survived, able to remain here all this time?
Si Zhiyan silently formed a question mark in his mind.

Perhaps, only when the witch fully opened her heart would he receive answers to these things.

Aside from that, the term “terrain bait” was strange as well.

Just as points were called “Shards of Tears,” the system’s naming conventions often cut right to the essence. This name surely carried significance.
“Terrain” was self-explanatory, but “bait”—bait for what?
What did it lure? And by what means?

And most importantly… where would it appear?

With so little information, there was no way to deduce the answers for now. But Si Zhiyan carefully noted the location where this bait had appeared—

It lay in the very heart of the bloody hot spring ritual array, in the hands of the little witch, with countless corpses outstretched around it, crowding close.

As Si Zhiyan pondered, a sudden system prompt sounded—

[Peep.]
[…]

Hmm?

He was left waiting for more.

But that was it. These two prompts appeared without warning and ended just as abruptly, leaving him confused.

Still, at the very least, it proved one thing: whatever it was—after the world’s destruction, up until this very moment—it still existed.

Si Zhiyan shook his head. The sense of unease, of something uncanny, lingered everywhere… Once he had survived the “Eye’s” retribution, he would have to hasten his exploration of this world.

Still, whatever the case might be—

Si Zhiyan reached out and lightly ran his hand across the woodwork on the wall.
A wooden inn, a hot spring… all of it was packed away into his backpack; all that remained here was a hollow mountain cave.

Now, it was time to go home.

…………
……

[Mist World – Day 8 / 2:34 pm / Farm / Current Farm Integrity: 51%]
[7 days remain until the Main God’s Eye strikes]

Upon returning to the farm, the first thing Si Zhiyan did was exchange for a large stone tablet.
He placed the [Tattered Ritual Array Blueprint] atop it and handed it to Zhong Yanqing’s research team.

“This version includes content near the array’s core, so it’s more complete and accurate than what Gao Zhai’s group traced before,” said Si Zhiyan.
“Please double-check for omissions, make a complete copy and see if anything new turns up. If there are reparable areas, go ahead and fix them as well.”

“Try to avoid damaging the original in the process. Once you’re done, return it to me.”

Though the ritual array was to be delivered to Nidhogg, he wanted to review it personally—study and dissect it—before handing it over.

Zhong Yanqing’s eyes shone as he exclaimed, excitedly, “Understood!” and set to work.

At the same time, the Spring Grass Mercenary Group arrived at the gates of the farm.

“Um…” Liang Qingshuang began hesitantly, wringing her hands together. “I know this is a bold request… but, Farm Owner, since you’re now in charge and Chen Chun just died, we have nowhere else to go now.”

“I wonder if you might allow us to station ourselves on your farm, and offer our strength in your service?”

Behind Liang Qingshuang, Gao Zhai, Tiger, and the rest of the mercenaries huddled together, looking up at Si Zhiyan with hopeful eyes, awaiting his answer.

Just as Si Zhiyan had predicted: had he gone out of his way to invite them, they would only have been suspicious, worrying it was a trap.
But by displaying overwhelming strength and indifference—doing nothing at all—these people would inevitably come, begging for a chance to settle here.

Worshipping strength was human nature.

Si Zhiyan gave a gentle and reassuring nod. “You may.”

At his reply, the Spring Grass Mercenaries erupted in cheers. All four hundred or so members embraced each other in joyful celebration.

[Main Quest (Four): Survive]
[Quest objectives:]
[1. Collect 2,000 new hungry voters for your farm.]
[2. Collect at least one new terrain bait, unlock new terrain, and raise the farm’s completion to 61%.]
[3. Survive the Main God’s Eye’s next wave of retaliatory attacks. Countdown: 15 days.]
[Quest Timelimit: 15 days]
[Failure Penalty: Oblivion]

With this, the first main quest objective—population growth—was essentially fulfilled.

He did not know yet why the Eye so despised his player recruitment, but Si Zhiyan held to one conviction: if the enemy opposed something, it meant he was doing the right thing.
In time, these players would certainly yield the returns he sought.

Once the hot spring terrain was placed, the second objective—unlocking terrain and increasing farm completion—was also complete.

With the main quest progressing steadily, Si Zhiyan finally felt able to breathe a little easier.

His next priority was to find a suitable location for the hot spring, and finish the Witch’s Pact quest as soon as possible.

However, though he said this lightly, taking in over four hundred new residents was no small matter.

Before he could begin arranging things, Li Cui’e and Wu Jing knocked hurriedly at Si Zhiyan’s door.

These two, the heads of the farm’s player settlements, sat nervously—yet politely—on the spacious couch in the owner’s cottage, coffee in hand, ready to report a problem too important to ignore.