Chapter 4 “Little Fish Orphanage”

Chapter 4: "Little Fish Orphanage"

Xiaoyu felt no shame for her deliberate provocation and feigned innocent apology.

She stared at Tongtong, whose face was covered in blood, her eyes crinkled into crescents and her voice soft: "You bullied me too, but after I pulled your head off, Tongtong became a good, obedient child, right?"

Tongtong: "!!"

A shiver of horror ran through her for a moment. She subconsciously took two steps back, pressing her body tightly against the damp, decaying wall before clenching her fingers in terror, forcibly forcing herself to calm down.

But her body still trembled uncontrollably, and even more blood flowed from her eye sockets.

In the dark crevice of the wall, a hidden eyeball shook wildly, its gaze at Xiaoyu full of shock and terror.

It was like looking at a monster a hundred times scarier than itself.

Xiaoyu tilted her head innocently, stepped forward, and despite her struggling, firmly grasped her cold fingers again.

Earlier, Tongtong had only found Xiaoyu's warm, living little hand laughable, but now she couldn't laugh at all.

"Tongtong, still looking for your eyes?" the little girl asked seriously, holding her hand, her voice slow and harmless, as if nothing had happened.

Tongtong opened her mouth, stammering, "N-no need..."

"But without eyes, you can't see the way~" Xiaoyu frowned, her features scrunching up as she sighed worriedly: "If Tongtong can't see the way, how can you take me to find those adults? If we can't find the adults, we can't make them cry, and if we can't make them cry, Sister Sangye will be very disappointed..."

Every word that came out of Xiaoyu's soft, sweet voice seemed to grow eight legs and desperately crawl into Tongtong's ears.

She didn't dare interrupt this terrifyingly strange child. Only after Xiaoyu finally finished such a long and clear string of words did she, trembling and sobbing, promise: "I... sniffle, I really can see... I sniffle... can lead you."

Her fearful sobs became harder and harder to hide.

So even the eye hidden in the wall crevice started crying pitiful tears.

Xiaoyu stared at her fixedly.

One second later, she curled her lips and gave her a sweet, childlike grin.

"Thank you, Tongtong! I'm really lucky to know you!!"

The little girl cheered, then without any disgust, reached out and hugged the crying Tongtong tightly.

Tongtong: "...!!"

My bones! It felt like two of my bones had been broken!!

She even vaguely heard the clear sound of cracking bones from within the flesh of both arms.

So fragile, so piercing.

Xiaoyu's first bit of luck in the horror game was paid for by Tongtong's tears and two broken arm bones.

Wiping her tears, Tongtong sobbed pitifully and walked in another direction.

Tongtong decided she would scare those adults to death to vent her anger!!

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Under the pitch-black night sky.

Screams of terror echoed through the orphanage from time to time.

Xiaoyu rested her chin in her hands on the weed-covered stone steps, watching every adult who ran over in a panic. At the sight of her, they let out piercing screams and fled like crazy.

"Sigh~" The little girl sighed gloomily, listening to the lively commotion elsewhere, pouting in frustration as she felt gloomy.

This game was no fun at all.

These adults are too easily scared.

A faint sigh sounded. Tongtong's small figure stiffened, her pale gray eyes glaring angrily at the adult she had cornered and frightened. Though reluctant, she quickly disappeared from the spot.

In seconds, a light gray eye voluntarily jumped into Tongtong's hand, and she herself squeezed it expressionlessly into her bloodied eye socket.

"What's wrong with you?" One-eyed Tongtong turned to look at the child sitting on the stone steps cupping her face in her tiny hands.

Xiaoyu moved, pulled her to sit down beside her, then tilted her head and rested it on her arm, which she placed on her knees, looking like she was about to have a heart-to-heart talk with Tongtong.

"Do you always play this kind of scare game?" she asked curiously.

Tongtong nodded without hesitation. "Yeah, it's our favorite game. And let me tell you a secret~"

When sharing secrets, she seemed less afraid of Xiaoyu, leaning in to whisper sneakily in her ear: "This game is only fun tonight. After tonight, those adults won't want to play this scare game with us anymore. They're not cooperative at all. We have to think of other ways to mess with them, and it takes a long time every time."

"Why do you want to scare them?" Xiaoyu also lowered her voice, becoming conspiratorial.

Two five-year-old children sat on the stone steps, heads together, shoulders touching, sharing the little secrets hidden in this orphanage.

The scene was very...

If not for the fact that they were two little ghosts.

Any player who saw this scene instantly felt a creepy sensation crawl up the back of their skull.

They turned and fled as soon as they saw it, even if the direction they ran was where they had just been scared.

They would rather face a terrifying monster than see a warm, peaceful scene in a horror game.

Because that often meant: the boss was about to use its ultimate move!

If they didn't run now, they would truly become the brainless, asking-for-trouble protagonists of those horror movies.

So they ran fast, with their souls lagging behind.

Xiaoyu had grown used to it.

She couldn't understand what weird stuff those adults had in their heads, so she didn't bother to figure it out.

Xiaoyu looked away, leaned close to Tongtong's ear, and whispered, "I know a more fun game. Do you want to play with me?"

"...But Sister Sangye said we have to scare those adults. If they're scared, the headmistress can wake up sooner." Tongtong was tempted but hesitated, shaking her head.

She wanted the headmistress to wake up sooner more than she wanted to play a new game.

Xiaoyu was stunned by her answer.

"Headmistress?" Her eyes widened slightly, and she asked blankly, "What happened to the headmistress?"

Tongtong shook her head with a troubled look, her cheek resting on her hand.

"I don't know either..." The child's voice was downcast, low and soft. "Sister Sangye said that the headmistress is asleep, and told us not to disturb her, but... but the headmistress has been sleeping for such a long, long time."

Hearing this, Xiaoyu's fair little face scrunched up in worry. Even though it wasn't her own headmistress, she still felt worried. She asked softly, "So the more scared they get, the faster the headmistress will wake up?"

"Mm!" Tongtong nodded firmly. "Before, we scared several adults so badly they went crazy. One of them tried to set the orphanage on fire, and then the headmistress woke up and chased that bad guy away for us."

"And another time, we scared an adult to death, and the headmistress woke up too! And she was awake for a really long time!"

Tongtong's single pale gray eye sparkled as she recounted the times the headmistress had woken up before. Her blood-smeared little face was full of unguarded hope.

"So this time, we're going to scare all these adults to death too! That way the headmistress will definitely wake up for a long, long time, and she can even celebrate Xiaoyin's birthday with us!"

Tongtong said cheerfully, while Xiaoyu listened attentively.

When Tongtong finished, Xiaoyu pinched her own cheek thoughtfully and asked, "But if they die, they'll never come back to life. Does the headmistress like it when a lot of people die?"

Tongtong froze, blinked her single eye, and replied with a confused, belated, "Why wouldn't she like it? I'm dead too. All the kids in our orphanage are dead kids. The headmistress loves us the most, so of course she loves dead people!"

Xiaoyu was stunned too.

"Are you dead?" Her round eyes reflected Tongtong's image. She reached out in surprise to touch Tongtong's bloody cheek, even giving it a little pinch.

Soft. Cold. Not dead at all. She's alive and kicking.

Tongtong: "???"

She finally realized something, pointed at herself, and said in a voice tinged with disbelief, "Do you think I'm alive?"

"You're alive!" Xiaoyu nodded without hesitation, her little face scrunching up seriously. "You're alive and well!"

Tongtong: "... Don't you notice anything different about me?"

"There are lots of things!" Xiaoyu was still bewildered. Her usual sharpness seemed to have become strangely dull. Frowning in confusion, she touched Tongtong's face, then her bleeding eye socket, and came to a firm conclusion: "You're obviously still alive! Dead kids don't look like this!"

Tongtong's voice trembled slightly. "Th-then... what do you think dead kids look like?"

Xiaoyu seemed reluctant to remember, but she forced herself to think, digging out an unpleasant memory from her limited past.

"When you die... you become stiff and heavy, you can't open your eyes, you can't talk to me, and even a hug can't wake you up."

"... And the headmistress will bury you in a little pit in the ground. We'll scoop up lots of dirt and cover you with it. The mud is dirty, and it pushes you down little by little into the soil, until a small mound rises up."

"The headmistress says that dead kids live forever in the little dirt mound. If we miss them, we bring flowers, toys, and snacks to tell them lots of secrets."

Xiaoyu finished speaking gloomily, pursed her lips, then tilted her head to look at the completely stunned Tongtong, analyzing seriously: "You can talk, you can walk, you can hold my hand and hug me, and you won't live in a dark, little dirt mound."

"So you're not dead. You're still alive and well."

The little girl's soft, sweet voice was tight with emotion. She stubbornly widened her eyes and stared straight at Tongtong, insisting that the other girl was "alive."

Even though Tongtong was covered in blood, even though she had just pulled Tongtong's head off and put it back on.

"... But I can pop my eyeball out." Tongtong stared into Xiaoyu's clear, innocent eyes, and instantly dug her eyeball out of its socket again.

Xiaoyu wasn't scared at all. "Sister Xiaoxi's eyeball can pop out too! I've helped her look for it lots of times!!"

Tongtong: "... And you can pull my head off."

Xiaoyu became even more confident. "All the kids at my house who bully me, I've pulled their heads off before!!"

Tongtong: "...?"

Damn, she'd really met a ghost this time!

"Author's note"

Xiaoyu: (touching) (pinching) (nodding firmly) Yep! You must be a living kid!!

Tongtong: ??? Don't you really think there's something wrong with that?

Mwah~ Might be a bit late updating again when I get home tomorrow.

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