Jin Qiang burst out of the pavilion, his chest burning and legs pumping hard against the cracked pavement. His breath came in sharp, panicked gasps, and the pounding of his footsteps echoed in the empty stillness of the haunted playground.
He didn't stop running until he reached an area where familiar silhouettes emerged.
A swing set.
A broken seesaw.
And a jungle gym that looked more like a skeletal ribcage in the dark.
He doubled over, panting, one hand bracing his knee while the other gripped the crumpled envelope he hadn't realized he'd been squeezing the whole run. His flashlight jittered as he caught his breath, casting shaky light over the ghostly playground.
Then it happened.
One of the swings creaked.
Not a gentle breeze.
No wind at all.
Just the sharp, gratingcreeeeeak of rusted metal chains.
He froze, eyes slowly lifting. The swing moved by itself, rocking back and forth.
CREAK.
The broken seesaw thumped softly next. One side cracked downward on its own, then slowly lifted, as if something heavy had gotten off.
"Uh – What is this? A killer clown DLC?" he muttered, trying to shake the chill crawling up his back.
He then scanned the rest of the playground, and more things emerged from the dark as his flashlight swept past them.
A sandbox with dried, cracked sand, an old metal slide, slightly bent like something too heavy had once sat on it for too long, and dirty mounted animal rides that stared blankly into nothing.
The area was way bigger than he expected.
His gaze then fell to the envelope in his hand again.
Lady Victoria's final warning echoed in his head like a death rattle.
"Take this… but only open it when you are ready… and don't forget…Only when your heart is ready will the truth reveal itself, my dear guest."
"Yeah, well, my heart's doing cardio right now, lady."
He stuffed the envelope into his inner jacket's pocket, trying to smooth it out a bit as he did.
Jin Qiang then whipped out his phone and checked the "Nearby Ghosts" counter.
[Ghosts Nearby: 2]
His instincts screamed at him to run.
CREAK!!!
When another loud creak rang out, louder this time, and followed by a ka-thunk from the seesaw and a rhythmic squeaking from the animal rides.
And then… he saw them.
Worn-out dolls…. Stuffed ones, plastic ones, and broken ones.
Dozens of them. One slumped in the sandbox. One on a cracked horse ride and another dangling off a slide like it had been shoved.
They weren't moving. But they were there.
A surge of hope struck him.
"Alright," he breathed. "Forgotten doll. You're in here somewhere."
And then he remembered the second clue he had received.
[Reward: Clue #2/3 – The Forgotten Doll cannot remember its name.]
The clue made sense, but it also didn't…
How was he supposed to use it? It didn't seem useful at all, unlike the first clue, which hinted at the doll being alone.
Jin then glanced back at his stream and noticed the mission's timer.
Time Limit: 01:13:24
"Ugh…. No time to think…" he muttered, as he straightened up, closing the flashlight he held in his right hand, and putting it inside his jacket. "Let's do a speedrun strategy. Touch only the loners." He said as he clutched his phone.
[Alive – Live Chat]
[🍿DramaLlama: Speedrun that doll trauma!~]
[🫨PingedOut: Touch only the loners... that's also how horror movies start.]
[🪀MuffinToppler: Imagine he grabs the wrong one and it just bites.]
[🧽slimesocks: The sandbox doll blinked. I SWEAR IT BLINKED.]
[Dead – Live Chat]
[🪱sand&bones: Timer + haunted playground + haunted dolls = nightmare fuel speedrun.]
[🎠loopdreamer: Speedrun or not, every step counts. Watch your back.]
[📌rottingbell: She's watching you. She's always been watching you.]
[🕯️gutlight: This whole place is stitched from regrets.]
Jin ran to the first solo doll, an eyeless one propped up in the sandbox, and tapped it.
DING!
[System Notification]
[You have touched "Bury-Betty – Retired." This is not the Forgotten Doll]
"Not it. Okay, next…"
He ran up to the mounted animal rides, a headless horse, a rotting panda, and something that looked like a melted duck. One doll was jammed into the saddle of the panda like a bad cowboy stunt.
DING!
[System: You have touched "Panda Patty – Broken Vocal Chip Variant." This is not the Forgotten Doll.]
Suddenly the doll let out a broken, hollow little voice that sang.
🎵 "Ride the horsie, round and round…
Until we fall and can't be found…" 🎵
Jin recoiled. "Nope. That's illegal. You can't do that."
[Ghosts Nearby: 3]
He then bolted toward the dusty jungle gym.
The doll hanging from it swayed gently in the wind, her hair stretched unnaturally long as if she'd been up there a while.
"Sorry. No offense," he muttered. "Hope you're not real. Or conscious. Or both."
Jin tapped her foot.
DING!
[System: You have touched "Jungle Gym Jojo – Retired." This is not the Forgotten Doll.]
– Sshcckkk!!! –
A loud snap came from above, and her braid loosened.
The doll fell.
Jin shrieked and scrambled backward as she landed on her side, limbs stiff, head facing him now.
(Wasn't she facing the other way…?)
Ghosts Nearby: 4
"Where is it, where is it—"
His eyes flicked to the metal slide.
There was a doll at the top.
"Of course it's the high ground," he groaned. "Why wouldn't it be?"
He forced himself up the rusty steps, each creak louder than the last. One hand clutched the side rail, the other outstretched.
Halfway up—
CREEEAAAKKK
The swings began moving again. All of them.
Ghosts Nearby: 5
"Please don't bite me, please don't bite me…." he muttered.
At the top of the slide now, face-to-face with the doll. He hesitated but then reached out.
DING!
[System: You have touched "Crushed Carla – Retired." This is not the Forgotten Doll.]
"Crushed Carla?! Who's naming these?!" His voice hitched with growing panic.
And just as he came down from the metal slide, a high-pitched, breathy giggle drifted in behind him like a cold draft.
"Gege~"
Jin's heart thudded in his chest like a warning drum.
He risked a glance over his shoulder.
And there she was.
Mengmeng.
She was skipping merrily after him, arms swinging at her sides, her white dress fluttering unnaturally, like it was moving in water.
Ghosts Nearby: 6
"Oh~ Is it my turn now, gege?~" she said in a singsong voice, clasping her hands behind her back. "Let's play tag~..."
"I'm it! So run as fast as you can….. Okay?~"
She giggled.
"Hihihihihihihi~"
"OH COME ON—!!!" He shouted and booked it.
"I need a damn walkthrough!" Jin shouted, ducking behind the jungle gym as he caught his breath.
But he couldn't stop. He needed to find the forgotten doll.
He peeked out and spotted another doll, sitting all alone in a tunnel crawl tube, tucked in the shadows.
He dashed over, with one hand out.
DING!
[System: You have touched "Smiley Sue – Retired. This is not the Forgotten Doll.]
"Let's play~ Gege, don't stop nowww~"
He slapped another doll sitting on a cracked rocking frog at the corner of the play area.
DING!
[System: You have touched "Peg-Leg Penny – Pirate Collection." This is not the Forgotten Doll.]
"This is a scam! I want a refund!"
Mengmeng's voice then echoed behind him like music from a demonic ice cream truck.
"Too slowww~ I'm gonna get youuuu~"
"XIAO HEI YOU PIECE OF SH*T—WHERE ARE YOU—!!" Jin wheezed, "Come on, come on… Forgotten dolls, Forgotten dolls—!"
He kept touching the dolls he could see as he ran away from the Mengmeng.
But none of them were right.
"Seriously?!" he hissed.
Then—
Tap.
A cold, claw-like finger brushed the back of his neck.
"Tag~" Mengmeng whispered behind him.
"AHHH—!" Jin screamed……And not the dignified kind. Not even the panicked adult kind.
No, this was the kind of shriek that came from a very specific place in the soul, one reserved for when ghost children with no eyes tag you.
Jin's legs went weak for a second, which made him stumble and nearly hit his face on the ground.
Mengmeng giggled and continued to skip after him, moving in impossible motions, like a puppet on tangled strings.
He fumbled into his jacket, his fingers brushing against cold plastic…. Yes!
[Alive – Live Chat]
[🧨RunForIt: SHE'S GONNA TAG YOU BRO!!!!!]
[🫠hydrationdenied: "I'm it~" = actual death sentence.]
[🎮ggghosted: That scream rewired my nervous system.]
[🥲buttonmasher9: My guy needs a guide, a priest, and new pants…]
[Dead – Live Chat]
[📺afterlifefanclub: You can't outrun childhood trauma, Jin.]
[🎠loopdreamer: Bet you'll find more than dolls in there~]
[🫧rottingraver: No eyes? Full speed? Yeah, that's our Mengmeng 💅]
[💿spiritdialup: If Jin pees himself, I'm clipping it.]
He spun around, hands shaking, aimed it like a water pistol, and shouted.
"YOU WANNA PLAY? FINE!! EAT HYDRATION, YOU LITTLE DEMON!!"
PFFSSSHHHTTT!!
A weak arc of water shot from the gun's nozzle, spraying in a pathetic stream toward Mengmeng's face.
She dodged it effortlessly with a backbend that snapped her spine, laughing the entire time.
"KYAAA~ That's so fun, gege!!" she cheered, clapping her hands as she tilted her broken neck upright again. "My turn next!!"
Jin stared in horror as she raised her hands like a zombie ballerina.
And started sprinting at him.
Like…. Full speed.
"NOT FUN!!! NOT FUN AT ALLLLL – HAAA!!!!" Jin yelled, hurling the squirt gun at her and booking it in the opposite direction.
[Alive – Live Chat]
[💀plsnohugs: Backbend + giggle = RUN, IDIOT!!!]
[🔫gumgang: Squirt gun vs. Mengmeng: 0-1.]
[🥤moistboi420: Oh god!!! She's getting faster~]
[Dead – Live Chat]
[🪦urwrong_but_dead: That neck snap was art. 10/10 execution.]
[💃bone_jangles: That squirt gun unlocked her final form 💃🩰]
[🎃jacknife_17: Next stream gonna be called "The Hydrated Memorial.]
Every direction he turned, giggling echoed back at him.
It was as if he was being herded.
"You're getting tired, aren't you, gege?~ Want me to slow down?~"
(Damn it!)
Jin didn't care anymore. He ducked under a plastic slide, rolled across gravel, and then he saw it.
A collapsed toy storage shed at the far corner, partially buried in vines and grime, with parts of its rusted metal roof curled like peeling scabs.
Mengmeng's laughter rang out again.
"Gege don't hide~ I'll find you~"
Jin Qiang didn't think twice and just dashed towards the shed.
Little Mengmeng, on the other hand, was skipping happily while humming a lullaby.
And the dolls….
Watched silently from their seats.
✦ Sanity: 64% - Functionally Frightened
Time Limit: 0:58:36