Chapter 276: Road Survival 8

In the end, Perry Yates acquired all twenty-five dolls for the price of twenty pounds of food and five barrels of fuel.

After Vera Vance and Caleb Vance left, Perry Yates watched the dolls, who seemed reluctant to part with them. ’These little guys aren’t going to mutiny and run off, are they?’ she thought.

As it turned out, Perry Yates was overthinking things.

Perhaps because Vera Vance was their creator, the little dolls felt a natural affinity for her, much like how they worshiped the Serpent Goddess.

But once Vera Vance was gone, that feeling would quickly fade. After all, they were just a bunch of dolls with heads full of cotton.

When Vera Vance’s figure had completely vanished, the dolls seemed to realize their old master no longer wanted them. Perry Yates was their new master now.

The panda doll in the lead was the first to approach. He asked cautiously, "Master, do you have any instructions for us?"

Hearing this, Perry Yates thought for a moment. "First, go patch up that hole," she said.

Even though the temperature was rising daily and the snow was melting, her car would still have trouble on the roads. She planned to stay here for another two days.

The little dolls might not look like much, standing not even as tall as a person’s calf, but they were incredibly nimble and efficient. In no time at all, they had the hole patched up.

"Master, we’ve patched it up."

Perry Yates inspected their work, then nodded. "You did a great job. Here’s a reward for you."

Vera Vance had said that the dolls relied on sugar for energy.

That was why she hadn’t dared to bring so many of them to life—she simply couldn’t afford to feed them.

The candy Perry Yates took out was produced by the Candy Box. There was one for each doll.

The dolls’ eyes lit up the instant they ate the candy. They had never tasted anything so delicious, and a warm feeling spread through their bodies.

Any lingering sadness they felt about leaving Vera Vance vanished completely after they tasted the candy.

’Vera Vance? Who’s that? Can she give us delicious candy?’

But in Perry Yates’s eyes, the dolls’ transformation was even more significant.

First, their appearance grew more lifelike, and their eyes became more expressive. Clearly, the candies were very good for them.

"Do you like this candy?" Perry Yates asked with a smile.

The dolls nodded vigorously.

Like it? They loved it.

"As long as you’re good and listen to me, you can have candy like this every day."

At these words, all the dolls’ eyes brightened. ’Being good and listening’ was their duty anyway, which meant that candy was as good as theirs.

Having easily won over the dolls, Perry Yates activated the Flame Barrier and Cold Moon Guardian again, then deployed the Safe House.

Once inside the Safe House, the little dolls took the initiative and started tidying up, soon leaving the place spotless.

Perry Yates stayed put for two more days. On the fifteenth day of the game, the outside temperature rose to twenty degrees Celsius and the snow had mostly melted. Only then did she leisurely get back on the road.

In contrast to the emptiness of her car before, which had held no one but her, it was now quite crowded. The twenty-five dolls occupied the passenger seat, the back seats, and even the trunk.

She had originally planned to leave them in the Safe House, but they wouldn’t have it, insisting on coming with her.

"Master, stop the car. I see a bronze treasure box up ahead," said a teddy bear doll wearing a bow tie.

"Alright."

Perry Yates pulled over close to the treasure box. The teddy bear doll then got out of the car, taking a Snoopy doll with him.

She had figured out a few things about opening treasure boxes during this time. White ones contained clothes. Off-white ones looked similar but held food. Yellow ones had medicine. Purple ones had Pet Eggs and blueprints. Silver Treasure Chests held items. As for bronze treasure boxes like this one, they had a chance of containing special items, but only if you could defeat the monster that came out of them.

Watching the two dolls get out of the car, Perry Yates wasn’t worried about their safety in the slightest. Because...

The moment the box was opened, a Goblin leaped out, ready to attack with teeth and claws. But in the next second, orange-red flames appeared in the teddy bear’s hands, while lightning crackled in Snoopy’s.

The Goblin that had just emerged from the treasure box was instantly killed by the two dolls.

Perry Yates, watching from the car, was no longer surprised by such things.

On the second day after eating the candy from the Candy Box, the dolls had all developed different abilities.

Some gained offensive powers, like the teddy bear and Snoopy. Others became faster, could grow in size or change shape, or had healing abilities. There were even some who became skilled at cooking and cleaning. In short, they had gained all sorts of powers.

After they killed the Goblin, a black stone appeared in the bronze treasure box.

Perry Yates took the stone, and a string of information immediately appeared in her mind.

[This is a high-quality Space Expansion Stone. It can be used to expand the space within a vehicle.]

Looking at the crowded dolls behind her, Perry Yates chose to use it immediately. Instantly, the car’s exterior appearance and size remained unchanged, but the interior space tripled.

The once-cramped space was now so roomy the dolls could even wrestle with each other.

Now that she had the dolls, Perry Yates’s focus began to shift from treasure boxes to other players.

’I hope I run into another player like Vera Vance again,’ she thought.

As night fell, Perry Yates set up her barrier and prepared for a fight.

Most of the resources she’d gathered lately had either been traded away or used for ascending her Sublimation Cards, so she planned to hunt for more prey tonight.

Not long after dark, the sound of footsteps echoed from outside the barrier. It was a beast—no, it should be called a monster. It was a Boarkin.

They had limbs like a human, but their bodies were several times larger. Their heads were pig-like, with two massive tusks jutting from their mouths.

’Humanoid? Can I eat it?’ she wondered. "Identification."

[Pigman: Level 2 Monster. Will attack any creature that enters its territory. Ferocious.

Edible. The meat is delectable.]

’As long as it’s edible,’ she thought.

Still, she was surprised to see a Level 2 monster. The Goblin from earlier and the three-headed wolves from before were only Level 1, and the two-headed wolves didn’t even count as monsters.

"Master, Master, let us handle this, please," the little teddy bear said, walking over eagerly.

Behind him stood Snoopy and seven other dolls, all of whom had awakened combat abilities.