Chapter 3 “Little Fish Orphanage”

Chapter 3: Little Fish Orphanage

Tongtong stared at Xiaoyu through her bloody eye sockets. Her little face hidden in the darkness was pale as a ghost, but beneath the streaks of blood, there was a hint of excitement and anticipation.

She was looking forward to making Xiaoyu cry from fear.

Xiaoyu was a living child, different from her and everyone else, so Xiaoyu should also be scared like the adults.

And Xiaoyu was indeed scared.

The little girl turned around without warning and shuddered at the sight of her terrifying appearance.

Seeing the innocent, helpless fear in the girl's eyes, Tongtong slowly curled her lips into a triumphant, gleeful smile.

"You... your eyes? They were just on your face... Did you lose them?" The little girl's shy but daring question interrupted Tongtong's rising smile.

Not only that, the little girl's warm, chubby little hands also reached up, carefully cupping her face.

The icy blood flowing from her eye sockets fell onto Xiaoyu's fingers, slowly trickling toward her warm, living wrist.

"Tongtong, do you remember where you lost your eyes?"

Xiaoyu asked the stunned child in front of her, cupping her face, her own eyebrows furrowed as if she were really troubled, and her voice was soft and gentle as she coaxed, mimicking the Mother Director's tone:

"Does it hurt a lot? Just bear with it, don't be scared. I'm really good at stuff like this. I can help you find your eyes. Once I help you find them and put them back, they won't bleed as much."

As she coaxed, she used her own blood-covered little hands to wipe Tongtong's relatively clean face. Soon, Tongtong, whose face was pale, went from two streaks of bloody tears to a face smeared in blood and tears.

It looked even more terrifying, like some brutal murder mystery scene where a corpse came back to life.

Tongtong: "..."

She kind of regretted it.

It wasn't because she was touched by Xiaoyu's "kindness"; instead, she was fighting the urge to run back crying to Sister Sangye and tattle.

If she hadn't deliberately frightened Xiaoyu, she wouldn't have turned into an ugly, blood-covered kid, right?

But it was too late to regret it now.

Because without eyes, she found that she couldn't even glare at the culprit in front of her!

Tongtong pouted, wanted to cry, but fought to hold it in.

Sniffling, she tried to pull away from the hands holding her head.

She pushed hard but couldn't break free.

Tried again—

"Tongtong, don't move!" Xiaoyu said in a panic, even more flustered, reattaching the head she had "accidentally" pulled off. Seeing that she didn't cry, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief, hid her guilty, bloody hands behind her back, and whispered guiltily, "I'm sorry... I... I'm a little too strong. I really didn't mean to."

Tongtong, whose head had been lost and then put back in place: "..."

As a little ghost, at this moment, she seriously wondered if she had just run into a real ghost.

"Tongtong, can I still hold your hand?" Xiaoyu, knowing she had caused trouble, looked at her new friend eagerly and held out her fidgeting little paw.

Tongtong silently "stared" at her.

Xiaoyu was stunned for a moment, then realized, "Oh right, you can't see. It's okay, I can see. I can take your hand and guide you, and I'll help you find your eyes!"

The little girl seemed born with a natural instinct to care for the weak. With that, she took Tongtong's cold little hand again, held it tighter, and led her steadily back the way they'd come.

Finding the eyes was more important than going to scare adults.

But it turned out to have an unexpected side effect.

"—Aaaah!!!!!" A piercing scream erupted from the man who almost bumped into them at the corner.

Dazedly, Xiaoyu thought if she looked up, she could even see the uncle's tonsils trembling.

She pursed her lips, protectively shielding the blood-faced Tongtong as she carefully stepped back, then waited patiently with a stern expression on her little face for the uncle to finish screaming.

Qi Jing, who had just escaped from the horror of the small dark room and then encountered two little girls at the corner—with one apparently being the dungeon boss—: "Aaaahhhhh!!!!!"

Xiaoyu: "..."

The little girl turned her head in a daze, sharing her opinion softly with Tongtong, whose lips were curling up behind her: "Tongtong, this uncle looks like he's going to be screaming for a long time."

What she really wanted to say was: This uncle seems a bit scared out of his mind.

But she was kind enough not to say that in front of the uncle.

That would hurt his feelings.

Tongtong pressed her lips together and said gloomily, "Pull out his tongue, then he can't make such an ugly noise."

She tried to egg Xiaoyu on.

Xiaoyu actually thought about this for a second, then shook her head and said, "No."

Before Tongtong's aura could turn icy, the little girl casually added: "Uncles and aunties who can come into the orphanage might become the kids' future parents, and they might also invest a lot of money in charity. We can't really hurt them, otherwise the Mother Director won't have money to take care of us, and she'll have to work even harder."

The little girl's expression became unusually serious, and every word she said was exceptionally clear and logical.

At these words, not only was Tongtong stunned, but even Qi Jing, who was screaming on the surface but secretly eavesdropping on the NPC ghost's conversation, was also dumbfounded.

Is this horror dungeon... so humane and logical???

And this dungeon boss named Xiaoyu, so young, yet so articulate?!

He seemed unable to keep screaming.

Under the gaze of two little girls, but only one pair of bright, sparkling big eyes (since Tongtong had none), Qi Jing opened his mouth and slowly and awkwardly stopped screaming.

"Um... hello, I'm Qi Jing, um, I... uh..."

When people are embarrassed, they tend to give even more awkward introductions.

Xiaoyu tilted her head and looked him over.

Kindly helping the uncle come up with the excuse he couldn't think of despite racking his brains, she said, "Uncle, are you here to be a temporary volunteer at our Little Fish Orphanage?"

Qi Jing's eyes lit up, and he quickly nodded, "Ah yes yes yes! You're right, I came to be a volunteer at the orphanage!!"

Xiaoyu tightened her grip on Tongtong's icy little hand as it struggled restlessly, pursed her lips and gave Qi Jing a sweet, soft smile, and said in a sweet, syrupy voice, "Then, volunteer uncle, could you please help Tongtong find her lost eyes? She lost her eyes so she can't see where she's going. If no one holds her hand, she'll bump into walls and fall."

Tongtong: "..."

I didn't do it, I'm not like that, stop making stuff up.

But things didn't go the way Tongtong wanted. Before she could figure out how to respond, Xiaoyu had already taken full control, asked the new volunteer to help her find her lost eyes in the dark.

After the man fled back into the shadows, Tongtong said in a cold, hard voice, "He won't help. Adults are so hypocritical!"

"It's okay~"

Xiaoyu gently shook the hand she was holding and said slowly, "When dawn comes and he can't hide, he'll have to be a real volunteer. Even if he can't help us find the eyes, he can still feed other kids and take care of more children."

"That way, Director Mom can have a much easier time~"

The little girl spoke in the softest, most tender voice, yet she was making shrewd, clear-headed calculations.

At that moment, Tongtong suddenly realized that this seemingly harmless child was actually very smart!

Not just smart—she was also strong, brave, and as she herself had said, she was truly amazing!

Unaware that Tongtong was spacing out again, Xiaoyu led her back the way they came, continuing to search for her two lost eyes.

At the second turn, they ran into someone again.

To be precise, a ghost.

A child whose face was even paler than Tongtong's.

Xiaoyu's gaze swept over his broken leg without surprise. Meeting his wary, hostile stare, she still pulled Tongtong behind her protectively and asked politely, "Hello~ Have you seen Tongtong's eyes?"

Tongtong behind her: "..."

"I really, really don't need you to find my eyes!"

"I dug them out myself and threw them away to scare others!"

"I did it myself!!"

But she didn't dare say it out loud.

She was a little afraid that if Xiaoyu got angry, she might actually pull her head off and throw it away...

She silently kept her head down, avoiding the boy's questioning stare.

Don't look at me. I can't afford to provoke her.

The boy tried his best to tuck his broken, shriveled leg deeper into the shadows. After silently watching Tongtong for a moment, his view was blocked by Xiaoyu, who had moved quietly.

"Did you see the lost eyes?" Xiaoyu asked again politely.

"No," the boy replied in a gloomy tone, his cold gaze returning to Xiaoyu.

The next second, he spoke again, maliciously calling out Tongtong's lie: "She always likes to dig out her own eyeballs and throw them away. You don't need to help her find them. She loves to use her eyeballs to hide in corners and peek at others' secrets. If you find her eyeballs, I suggest you crush them immediately."

He made no secret of his malice.

Behind Xiaoyu, Tongtong's thin body, with her head bowed, suddenly froze.

Then she jerked her head up, staring at the boy sitting on the ground with her bloody, empty eye sockets.

Xiaoyu didn't sense the murderous desire surging behind her.

She listened seriously to the boy's suggestion, then nodded honestly, a look of realization dawning on her clean, fair little face.

"I see!"

She seemed relieved, her eyes curving into a smile at the boy, and then asked curiously, "So, did you break your own leg too?"

The boy's malicious, expectant expression suddenly froze: "..."

Even Tongtong widened her eye sockets in disbelief, as if shocked by Xiaoyu's devastating question.

Before they could recover from their brief shock or fury, Xiaoyu realized she might have asked the wrong question. She tucked her little hands away, hid her soft smile, and apologized sheepishly, her voice low: "So it wasn't... Sorry, I didn't mean it... Don't be sad."

It was a particularly innocent and flustered apology.

It looked full of sincerity.

Until the boy gritted his teeth, supporting himself with his hands on the ground, and crawled away awkwardly. Tongtong, with her hidden eyeball in the shadows, clearly saw Xiaoyu's innocent, naive face slowly lose its look of innocence and guilt.

"You did that on purpose," Tongtong whispered, calling her out.

Xiaoyu turned to look at her.

"That's right!"

She admitted it without hesitation and with full confidence, "He hurt us first. If we don't fight back when he bullies us, next time he'll bully us even worse. That way, he'll slowly become a bad kid that gives Director Mom a headache!"

Xiaoyu didn't think she was wrong.

She had lived in the Little Fish Orphanage for five whole years.

All her rules of conduct had been formed step by step, following instinct and environmental influences.

Before her fifth birthday, she had already become the feared leader among all the kids at the Little Fish Orphanage.

Because she had absolute strength, a sharp and intelligent mind, and most importantly, the tacit approval of Director Mom.

Some advantages were innate.

Others she had earned little by little through her own efforts.

Xiaoyu liked being a harmless, well-behaved child who didn't cause Director Mom any worry.

So she always smiled the sweetest, spoke the softest, and even made sure her face was washed the cleanest and cutest.

But in the new Little Fish Orphanage, before meeting the new Director Mom, what she needed was not obedience and harmlessness.

It was the recognition and fear of these kids.

She couldn't show fear or panic—those were weaknesses to survive. If she gave in even a little out of fear, the equally sharp kids would notice and gradually bully her mercilessly.

She might not yet understand the specific reasons behind this shift, but she was born with it. A keen instinct would push her to choose the best solution.

It was a survival instinct.

"Author's Note" Xiaoyu, a fierce little lucky koi who excels at pretending to be good and cute.

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