Layla opens the door to the second puzzle and peeks inside. The other three girls, curious, push each other behind her back, trying to get a good view too.

  “Is the monster here…?”

  “No, there are no monsters inside.”

  “Haa… that’s good. Good…”

  After a short exchange with the still worried Mimi, Layla pushes the door completely open and steps inside, followed by the others.

  They find themselves in a small, empty room. Four cylindrical devices, placed in a neat row, are the only elements inside. There’s also another door on the opposite wall, identical to the one they’ve just crossed.

  Layla examines the closest device. It consists of a platform near the ground for someone to step on, surrounded by curved glass reaching the ceiling, and a glass pane to close the entrance.

  “This must be where we need to enter… And that door is for our monsters so that they can join us after the event. Does this button activate—”

  “Wait!” Patricia interrupts Layla. “We must check the rules first!”

  “I know. I wasn’t going to trigger the countdown, don’t worry.”

  According to the little info Patricia has obtained from the forums, as soon as someone activates one of the teleporters, the dungeon will start a countdown before the four devices activate simultaneously. If the four want to participate, all of them need to be inside their respective teleporters by then.

  But before that happens, they want to read the rules in detail and analyze their options.

  Meanwhile, Mimi has approached a piece of paper hanging on the wall. It looks suspiciously similar to the one containing the instructions for ‘experiment #∞’, except that this one is significantly larger.

  “My head is spinning… So many words…!”

  “Tsk. This is why amateurs are such a bother. I’ll read them, step aside. I’m the best suited for this job.”

  Patricia pushes Mimi to the side and takes her place. Mimi glances around and, making sure the other two girls can’t listen, whispers in Patricia’s ear.

  “Yeah, sure. You just want to look good in front of Layla, am I right?”

  “D-don’t spout bullshit! W-who would care about that!?”

  “Is that so? Then why are you getting flustered?”

  “I-I. Am. Not!” Patricia panics. Noticing Layla’s approach, she places a finger over her lips. Shht!”

  “What are you whispering about?”

  “I asked Patri if she li—”

  “Nothing! It’s nothing!” Patricia glares at Mimi, trying to intimidate her, but instead makes her chuckle.

  Still, the effect achieved is the same, as Mimi doesn’t say another word.

  After the short banter, the girls stop fooling around and read the rules. Then, they make a plan of how to proceed and step into the teleport capsules. When they finish, they step into their respective teleport device. No monsters remain outside, as all of their support mobs died before or during the ‘white apocalypse’.

  Layla pushes the button, starting the countdown.

  “Let’s go, girls! We can do this! And remember, they’re Doppelgangers, but treat them as if they were humans.”

  “Okaaaaay!”

  “Of course. Doppelgangers are people, too. They might be smarter than Mimi…”

  “...Hey!”

  “O-only because I don’t want you to say I sabotaged your plans.”

  Five seconds later, four Identical magic circles appear below the girl’s feet. They quickly grow into white columns of light, and when the light disappears, there’s nothing left in the room.

  Patricia opens her eyes. Around her, she sees plenty of objects that you can find in children's playgrounds. She knows them well, thanks to her two younger siblings who still like to play there.

  Despite the cheerful colors and shapes and the semi-open view through the green-painted fences, this place feels off. The low ceiling, almost claustrophobic… the gloomy light, and the lack of children’s laughter…

  Patricia can’t help but think of the creepy playgrounds from a TV series her parents were watching not too long ago.

  “...!”

  She tries to talk, but as she had expected, nothing comes out. It’ll be hard to communicate with the other girls if she were to meet them.

  Patricia shrugs her shoulders and starts walking. She searches for the first one of the ‘igloo houses’. There should be nine, each of which has a hidden button to clear this puzzle.

  With four members, each one has to find two, and one must find three. It should be relatively easy.

  Confident in Layla’s plan, she strides forward without doubt.

  Before turning every corner, Patricia checks what’s on the other side. She uses the children’s toys as cover and the gaps between the fences to keep track of what’s on the other side.

  Apart from the obvious objective, each one of the four girls has another, separate goal: to find one of each of the Doppelgangers copying another one of the girls.

  This way, if each girl successfully keeps three fakes with them and stays away from the other groups, it’s impossible that the Doppelgangers will meet their originals or another clone and explode.

  To avoid forming a group with an actual player and spoiling the plan, they’ve agreed upon a secret signal only they know. It’s impossible to confuse a Doppelganger with one of them this way.

  “...”

  ‘As expected of Layla, to quickly come up with a simple and effective plan like this. Why did I have to argue with her during our first meeting… Now I can’t apologize…’

  Patricia ‘talks’ to herself. Her mouth moves, but no sound comes out.

  Sudden movement makes her stop. She looks in that direction and freezes. There’s a human on the other side of the fence…

  Patricia immediately recognizes it as a Doppelganger, because it looks identical to her!

  The two lock eyes.

  Patricia holds her breath in, wanting to deny the reality. Did she mess it up so early? What is Layla going to think!?

  But, contrary to what she expected, nothing happens. The Doppelganger doesn’t burst out into a puddle of sticky goo or anything similar.

  The staring contest continues. One second passes. Then another.

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  After three seconds, the Doppelganger turns around and leaves as if nothing happened.

  “...? ...!”

  Patricia recalls a crucial factor. According to the rules written in that paper, the Doppelgangers can’t see through fences, even if there’s a gap between them. With the unexpectedness of the situation, she forgot about that crucial detail.

  She brightens up and analyzes her surroundings.

  Not knowing the layout yet, avoiding that direction is crucial. She doesn’t want to meet her Doppelganger any time soon, so she chooses a different direction from the one she was taking before.

  “...”

  ‘Aaah, that was close… I almost had a heart attack! I never thought meeting myself face to face would be so weird.’

  Mimi presses a big red button she found inside a bright red igloo. The igloo has four perfectly square windows, making it look rather silly but cute at the same time.

  “...!”

  ‘And with this one, it makes two! I wonder how the others are doing... If they’ve been as quick as I, we must be about to win!’

  She starts jumping around in happiness. Then, she extends her open palm towards ‘Ana’ behind her, but the Doppelganger just tilts its head, acting confused.

  “...”

  ‘Muu…! Not even a high-five? The real Ana is much better...’

  Mimi recalls the parts of the labyrinthine children's playground she has explored, trying to find clues of where the next red igloo might be. The minimap, which should have been uploaded as she moved, is empty.

  Must be a mechanism from this dungeon to avoid cheating in the puzzle.

  She scratches her head, thinking hard. Smoke almost comes out. At the end, she just tilts her head in confusion, in a similar pose to ‘Ana’ in front of her.

  “...”

  ‘I’m not good at this. It was amazing how lucky I was to find two already. I have no idea where the rest might be.’

  According to Layla’s instructions, she should search for a Doppelganger of each of the other members as she moves, but she found the igloos very fast and prioritized them instead, so she hasn’t been able to find them yet.

  “...!”

  ‘I’m sure nothing will happen because I didn’t find them, hahaha!’

  Mimi walks down the narrow path. She turns the corner, and, to her surprise, she finds another human a few steps in front of her.

  “...!”

  She waves at Layla, who, alerted by the movement, immediately turns her head in her direction.

  This makes Layla stop in turn. To greet Mimi, she starts making a complex gesture with her hand, but Mimi, unable to contain her excitement, just tilts her head and runs towards Layla.

  “! !!!”

  ‘No! Stop! You can’t come here…!’

  Layla panics, waving her hands around to make Mimi stop. But Mimi ignores her, continuing to get closer. It’s then that Layla understands what’s going on.

  This isn’t Mimi, but a Doppelganger!

  Layla quickly changes tactics. She turns around, disappearing from ‘Mimi’s sight, and starts pushing another ‘Mimi’ towards the red igloo-house she had just come out of.

  “!”

  ‘Wait! Don’t come! Noo!’

  Despite her best efforts, Layla is too late.

  ‘Mimi’ turns around the corner. The Doppelganger sees ‘Ana’ and ‘Patricia’ standing next to the panicked Layla.

  And she also sees ‘Mimi’ being squished through the igloo’s door against her will.

  “!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

  ‘Mimi’ panics.

  She waves her arms around, raising them high into the air as her whole body shakes. Waves spread through her body, deforming it until it becomes unrecognizable. And then…

  *Blooch!*

  …’Mimi’ explodes, releasing purple goo everywhere.

  From behind, Layla hears the sound of something wet bursting and then splashing over the ground. Similar to the sound that happens after bursting a water balloon.

  “!”

  ‘Aaah, shit! This means…!’

  “!!!!!!!” “!!!!!!!!” *Blooch!, Blooch!*

  Shortly after, two more silent screams, two more balloon bursts.

  Layla can’t contain her frustration, but for a moment, the panic and confusion take hold of her. It’s because of the ‘Mimi’ she has been trying to push into the red igloo. She, too, is shaking violently and screaming.

  “!!”

  ‘No, no, no! Not you tooo!’

  She blocks ‘Mimi’s sight with her whole body, but it’s too late. With another *Blooch!*, ‘Mimi’ explodes, painting her body and surroundings in green.

  For a moment, Layla doesn’t know what to do. So much effort, wasted in a single moment…

  “...! .? …”

  ‘Aaaah! Why did this happen? Who did— No, it doesn’t matter. The puzzle takes precedence. We can still clear it as long as the others avoid making the same mistake…’

  Layla wipes the purple mess off her face, then looks around at the now purple igloo’s interior. Except for ‘Mimi’ outside, most of the goo landed around or even inside the igloo.

  Luckily, this time’s mess happened in a relatively enclosed space. Hard to see if not close.

  “...”

  ‘It’s okay. As long as the other girls pay attention, it’s hard for the Doppelgangers they’ve ‘recruited’ to see this. And I’ve already pressed this button. There’s no need to come inside.’

  Relaxed at her sound argument, Layla leaves the igloo. But only after cleaning herself up, in case she finds another Doppelganger she can ‘recruit’.

  Ana, the real player, cautiously advances through the children’s playground with her Doppelgangers in tow. Like ducklings following their mother.

  To her, they look like toddlers. Unable to fend or think for themselves.

  That’s why she thinks they’re cute. Plus, they look like three girls from her class, which makes the situation even funnier.

  “... …!”

  ‘Hehe. Hehehe… I’ll make a meme and tease them forever… Hehe…!’

  A big red blob gets Ana’s attention, snapping her out of her delusions. It’s another one of those red igloos.

  “! ? …”

  ‘Ah! How lucky am I? This is the third igloo. The others must be progressing properly, so this might be the last one!’

  Slightly excited at the idea of being the one who collaborated the most, Ana lowers her awareness and runs towards the red igloo, followed by her three ‘ducklings’.

  But when she gets there, an unexpected sight rattles her.

  “? !—”

  ‘Purple paint? What is this—’

  *Blooch!, Blooch!, Blooch!**

  Unexpectedly, she hears three busting sounds from behind. At the same time, something sticky lands on her shoulders and back.

  She turns around, just in time to see the three Doppelgangers’ goo fall to the ground.

  “!!! …!?”

  ‘Nooooo! My duckli— I mean, my Doppelgangers! What have I done!?’

  She drops to her knees in despair. But right then, before she can process what happened, a bright white light engulfs her, a sign of teleportation.

  Still in the same pose, Ana finds herself inside the cylindrical device from the starting room.

  “What’s going on…?”

  Still confused, Ana watches Layla come out of her own, wearing a grim face.

  “Uhh… We failed. I failed… Where did everything go wrong?”

  The four girls, reunited, place their heads together and start explaining everything they went through. By placing the pieces together, Layla builds up a simulation in her mind of everything that transpired.

  Patricia couldn’t find ‘Mimi’. The Doppelganger either spawned far away, or it had already died after finding Layla and her ‘Mimi’.

  Mimi got lost and ended up walking in circles, despite finding two igloos in the first four minutes.

  Layla butched it by creating a chain reaction that killed four Doppelgangers at once. And then, in a stroke of bad luck, Ana found that scene, eliminating them from the match.

  After the resume, Mimi tilts her head. “All of the ‘me’s died? Does this mean only the real one survived? Isn’t that good?”

  Layla shakes her head. “Haaa… Not when the objective was to keep them alive.”

  “Ah, right. I forgot about that part. I was having too much fun bullying my Lay— Ooops, forgot I said anything!”

  Mimi waves her hand in a panic, but the other girls just ignore her.

  “It’s because of me…” Patricia lowers her head, but quickly raises it back up. ”N-No! I did my best, too; it isn’t my fault! And I didn’t sabotage the plan!”

  “Nobody’s blaming you, Patri.”

  A short silence sets among the four usually chatty girls. It’s Patricia who breaks it first.

  “But hey, I told you it wouldn’t be so easy! I won this time, didn’t I? You failed, Layla! The great, mighty Layla. She has failed at last! I found a puzzle you couldn’t break at the first try! Hahaha!”

  “Yeah, you’re right…”

  Layla makes a sad face. For a moment, Ana and Mimi, slightly excluded, feel like the conversation just took a change for the worse, but Layla recovers shortly after.

  “Hey, Patri. Want to try it again? Want to break this puzzle together?”

  “...Yes.”

  Ana smiles, watching the two, doing her best to fade into the background and watch the spectacle.

  But, in the worst timing possible, Mimi suddenly stands up.

  “Aah, it’s this late already!? I’m sorry, girls, but it’ll have to be another day! My parents will get angry if I don’t go to sleep before nine!”