Chapter 24

Chapter 24

After standing at the entrance of the kids' amusement park for a while, Su Xuanxiao took the lead and walked toward the ticket booth, with Su Ximu following apprehensively.

The closer they got, the more he realized his earlier observation was correct.

This kids' amusement park was like a typical indoor playground found in shopping malls—it didn’t allow entry to unaccompanied adults.

Adults could only enter as guardians if they were accompanied by a child.

‘Big Brother’ lined up in the VIP line, where rejections were likely to come even faster.

But unlike him, ‘Big Brother’ was a boss with hundreds, if not thousands, of employees under his command, accustomed to giving orders and having his way. Being suddenly rejected at the ticket counter in front of so many other visitors might make him feel awkward and lose face.

Watching Big Brother’s back, which was so close to him, Su Ximu thought that maybe he should be the one to buy the tickets.

With this idea in mind, as the line moved forward and the family in front of them entered the park with their child, Su Ximu, who had been standing behind Su Xuanxiao, tentatively took a small step forward.

“Big Brother, I’ll buy…”

Before he could finish his sentence, a low-key black amusement park card was placed on the ticket counter.

A few seconds later, Su Ximu walked through the automatically opened barrier in a daze, with the amusement park ticket attendant bowing respectfully behind him.

He turned to look at the person beside him, stammering, “Big Brother, that, he, we…”

They got in just like that?

Su Xuanxiao pocketed the card again, his tone casual. “The Su family holds a 21% stake in this amusement park. I’m still looking for opportunities to acquire the rest.”

The reason he happened to pass by the amusement park last time was on his way to a meeting here.

If they couldn’t buy tickets as visitors, then they wouldn’t. Shareholders don’t need tickets—they inspect.

Such a statement left Su Ximu at a loss for words. He could only force a smile, afraid that his impoverished aura might taint the multi-talented and wealthy ‘Big Brother.’

Just as the atmosphere grew slightly awkward, Su Ximu suddenly heard a child’s voice calling out behind him, “Brother!”

At first, he didn’t think the call was for him, until the voice sounded again, very close by. “Brother.”

Su Ximu turned around and first noticed a rabbit balloon floating in the air. Looking down, he saw a little girl with her hair in a bun, her cheeks flushed as she looked up at him.

“Brother! That day when I went home with my mom and dad, I took off my clothes before bed and found candy in my pocket!” The little girl’s eyes sparkled, and she seemed excited as she spoke.

“I was so happy and wanted to find you. But my mom and dad wouldn’t let me go out.”

Su Ximu recognized the little girl now—she was one of the children he had met on the grassy lawn on his first day in this world.

Among them were two slightly older kids, whom the other children referred to as “the boss” and “Big Sister.”

After the boss and Big Sister ran off crying, upset by him, the remaining children, wanting candy, started cleaning up the mess they had made. Eventually, they too ran off crying, frustrated with him.

When he returned home after his morning exercise, some of the children had even brought their parents to confront his guardian.

Of course, ‘Big Brother’ clearly hadn’t been at a disadvantage.

This little girl was one of the children who had stayed behind to clean up the lawn. Her name was probably Du Du.

However, Su Ximu recalled, she hadn’t brought her parents to the Su residence to confront his guardian that day.

Su Ximu had assumed that he had somehow made enemies with the children of Wealth Avenue. After all, the next day when he was taking a walk in the neighborhood, their boss, the chubby boy, had made faces at him.

Seeing the little girl’s friendly attitude, Su Ximu crouched down to her level. “Du Du, hello. How have you been lately?”

The little girl thought for a moment, unsure how to answer.

That day, because she hadn’t joined the other children in bringing their parents to confront him, the boss and Big Sister had forbidden the other kids from playing with her.

But not long after, the boss and Big Sister moved away. So, their order for the other children not to play with her no longer mattered.

Still, without the boss and Big Sister, things had become boring.

The other children didn’t know what to play.

Unlike before, when the boss and Big Sister had plenty of ideas—they would take them to trample the grass, chop down trees, or even set houses on fire. The most exciting time was when Big Sister led them to steal the security guard’s electric baton. After electrocuting the guard who chased them, they threw him into the scariest Grandpa Niu’s house.

It was thrilling and fun, though Big Sister’s younger brother got lost at Grandpa Niu’s house and still hadn’t been found.

Su Ximu had no idea that a little girl who looked only five or six years old could have such frightening thoughts.

Hearing that the boss and Big Sister had moved away and that everyone had been bored lately, and that she had been isolated for not joining the others in causing trouble for him, he thought for a moment and took two pieces of candy from his pocket, handing them to her.

He didn’t have much candy left himself, but he was an adult now and didn’t crave sweets as much as children did.

Du Du’s eyes lit up as she carefully took the two candies with both hands, happily hopping on the spot. Then, she glanced warily at her father behind her and hid the candies carefully.

Du Du’s father clearly seemed intimidated by Su Xuanxiao. If Du Du hadn’t acted so quickly, he probably wouldn’t have approached them.

Noticing this, Su Xuanxiao turned to Du Du’s father. “Since we’ve run into each other, why don’t we go together?”

Du Du’s father opened his mouth to refuse, but meeting the other man’s gaze, he swallowed his words and nodded. “Sure, sure.”

With Du Du and her father joining them, Su Ximu no longer had to endure an awkward silence with Big Brother. He walked ahead with the little girl, while the two adults followed behind.

A few minutes later, the group passed by a cotton candy stall.

Five minutes after that, Su Ximu and Du Du were walking ahead, each holding a stick of cotton candy, while Su Xuanxiao and Du Du’s father continued to follow.

Du Du wanted to go to the ball pit ocean in the amusement park. The other three adults had no objections or suggestions, so they followed the directional arrows.

Along the way, Su Ximu tried hard to recall what games he used to play as a child but found himself drawing a blank.

After thinking for a long time, just as they were nearing the ball pit ocean, he finally came up with an idea for Du Du. “Du Du, have you ever played the hunter game?”

The little girl immediately shook her head, intrigued. “How do you play? How do you play?”

Now, anything related to playing caught her interest.

Su Ximu slowed his pace to match the little girl’s smaller steps as he recalled the rules. “It’s a game for exactly four people. One person is the hunter, and three are the prey. The hunter has special abilities—all kinds of special abilities. When playing, you can write the hunter’s abilities on cards, and the child playing the hunter draws a card…”

The more he recalled, the clearer the rules became.

It was essentially a simple game of chase and capture.

But whether it was the hunter, who did the chasing, or the prey, who were chased, just the name alone sounded vaguely unsettling.

If he hadn’t happened to recall it today, Su Ximu would never have remembered playing such a game as a child.

He only got halfway through recalling the rules when he immediately shook his head, "Never mind, never mind. Let's not play this. This game sucks."

Du Du, who had been patiently listening to the rules, also nodded, "Okay, whatever."

It really didn’t sound very fun, just a game of catching robbers.

Their voices were not loud, carrying from the front to where he stood, caught by Su Xuanxiao, who was lagging a few steps behind.

In an instant, something shifted completely, yet it also felt as if nothing had changed.

Du Du's father, who was standing close to Su Xuanxiao, seemed to sense this sudden tension and quietly edged away from the man beside him.

***

Further back, at the cotton candy stall that the group had long left behind, the cotton candy vendor wearing an employee cap gazed into the distance with an incredibly complex expression.

Seriously? On the first day entering the instance, he encountered that ghost Rao Fei had talked about—the one causing chaos across instances, matching every single characteristic!

Except the appearance of the powerful ghost following behind had changed again.

***

Standing by the bubble ball pool, Su Ximu ultimately was too shy to go down and play with Du Du.

Du Du's father, making the excuse of needing to take care of his child, quickly followed his daughter and vanished into the ball pit.

Su Ximu turned his head to the side and finally asked the question he'd wondered all morning, "Big Brother, is something bothering you?"

Su Xuanxiao also turned his head and reached out, wanting to smooth down the stray tuft of hair on the young man's head, but after raising his hand, he ultimately lowered it again.

He clasped his hands behind his back, his expression still calm, "I want to hear you call my name."

Facing each other, with the cheerful laughter of children in their ears, Su Xuanxiao no longer addressed the young man with any title.

Hearing this outrageous request, Su Ximu's first reaction was to shake his head.

But then "Big Brother" lured him, "Aren't you asking Jiang Lou to change jobs, and Jiang Lou didn’t agree? Say it once, and I’ll agree."

Clearly, when it came to family rank, Big Brother > Third Brother.

The young man immediately looked up, his voice bright and clear, "Su Xuanxiao."

"Su Xuanxiao, Su Xuanxiao."

Afraid that Big Brother might think it wasn’t enough, he added two more calls.

Su Xuanxiao’s hands, clasped behind his back, tightened into fists.

In the end, he couldn’t contain it—with a loud crash, the Su Corporation building, dozens of kilometers away, collapsed by half.

A name is the shortest curse.

Call it once, think of it once.

So when a name is called again and again, how can you ever forget, how can you ever stop missing them?