Chapter 82
The amusement park’s Ferris wheel started moving again, its rhythmic clicking filling the air.
Xing Nuo, confused by Yiyi’s words, looked up and saw two or three people in black inside one of the cabins.
They looked dazed and disoriented. One of them even opened the window and leaned out.
As the Ferris wheel reached its highest point, the person leaned further and further out.
Xing Nuo’s eyes widened, and he gasped, pointing for Lu Qi and Yiyi to see.
“Someone fall out!”
So dangerous! Why lean out window?
Yiyi looked up, her face expressionless, her voice indifferent.
“When he falls, I finish work.”
It was almost noon, time for her shift change.
Xing Nuo, even more confused, his little head unable to process Yiyi’s words, said:
“Yiyi, you strange.”
Her words were even more confusing than the sunflowers’.
Yiyi, not understanding what he meant, tilted her head, a cold glint in her eyes.
“I not strange. Xing Nuo, I always like this.”
Xing Nuo shook his head vigorously, his curls bouncing.
“Not. Yiyi scared of heights…likes holding Qingqing’s arm…hiding behind her.”
Yiyi just smiled, a stiff, unnatural smile.
“I grown up now, Xing Nuo. Grown-up children no need hide.”
She tilted her head, her eyes dark and empty. “Aren’t you happy for me?”
Children always liked to say they were grown up.
Xing Nuo was no exception. He desperately wanted to grow taller, as tall as Daddy, so he wouldn’t have to go to kindergarten anymore.
Hearing Yiyi’s words, he felt a strange tightness in his chest.
Is this what growing up is like? Becoming cold and unafraid of heights, no longer excitedly waving and calling his name?
Yiyi just nodded, looking at Xing Nuo.
“Yes. I know what I want now. I want stay in amusement park. This my favorite place.”
Despite her words, her voice was flat and emotionless.
Xing Nuo tried to take her arm, but Yiyi stepped back, avoiding his touch.
“Xing Nuo, you stay too. Then we four…can play together again.”
Little Fatty and Qingqing were also in the amusement park, but they worked in different areas and rarely saw each other.
Xing Nuo shook his head, a sense of unease and fear washing over him as he looked at Yiyi.
“I no stay. I go home.”
His beloved Daddy and Big Brother were waiting for him in the other world, and there was yummy egg custard at home. No matter the dangers, he would go back.
Yiyi just smiled, her expression still blank.
“But you in amusement park now. Can’t go back.”
Her tone was certain.
Lu Qi stepped forward, took Xing Nuo’s hand, and pulled him back slightly.
“Xing Nuo, we run.”
He sensed a hidden danger.
Xing Nuo also felt a chill run down his spine. He turned and saw the plump ticket lady approaching with a thin, gaunt man in a suit.
The monster manager was as thin as a piece of paper, his body swaying slightly in the breeze.
“Children? These aren’t our new employees!”
The monster manager, spotting Xing Nuo’s golden curls shining in the sunlight, his eyes widening, exclaimed:
“Oh ho! My chance has come!”
Wasn’t this the Big Boss’s little brother, whom they had been searching for?
And he had just fallen into his hands!
The monster manager’s eyes glowed red, and he excitedly slapped his thigh, almost breaking it.
The ticket lady, not having seen the Big Boss’s brother before, but understanding the manager’s excitement, yelled:
“Catch those children!”
The monsters lurking in the amusement park emerged from the shadows, their forms coalescing, the bright sky suddenly darkening.
Xing Nuo and Lu Qi, surrounded by shadowy figures, huddled together, the wind ruffling Xing Nuo’s hair, Lu Qi’s cold hand gripping his tightly, his palm sweating.
Yiyi, the closest to them, lunged at them.
“Xing Nuo, stay!”
Xing Nuo’s heart leaped into his throat, and Lu Qi pulled him away just in time, narrowly avoiding Yiyi’s grasp.
Yiyi, having missed, turned around, her little red shoes stomping the ground.
“Hee hee! So fun, Xing Nuo. We become same…not good?”
Her smile widened, turning sinister.
“Then we, Little Fatty, and Qingqing…can stay in amusement park…forever!”
Xing Nuo and Lu Qi, hand in hand, dodged and weaved, running away.
Yiyi, faster than the other monsters, chased after them, her laughter echoing through the air, like a little witch from Xing Nuo’s cartoons.
As she ran, she called out to Xing Nuo:
“Look, Xing Nuo! I’m strong now! Not slowest runner anymore! No need hide behind Qingqing! Can scare people now!”
“Don’t you want to be strong too?!”
Xing Nuo, his throat dry from running, his eyes narrowed against the wind, looked back at Yiyi.
Her red dress billowing, her smile wide and unsettling, he couldn’t help but yell:
“Yiyi, stop chasing me! I give you bunny eraser!”
Yiyi loved the little bunny eraser in Xing Nuo’s pencil case. She had a little brown bear eraser, and her mom wouldn’t buy her a new one.
Xing Nuo, seeing how much she liked it, always let her use it during art class.
Yiyi would treasure the little eraser, holding it in her hand, exclaiming how cute it was.
Hearing him mention the bunny eraser, Yiyi suddenly stopped.
She stood there, a confused look on her face, looking at Xing Nuo and the black-haired boy running away. She tilted her head, looking at her empty hands.
Where’s my favorite bunny eraser?
Xing Nuo and Lu Qi ran as fast as they could, Xing Nuo’s curls flying, until they reached a small train.
With the monsters closing in, they jumped onto the train just as it was about to depart.
The train started moving, the wind picking up, pushing Xing Nuo’s curls back, revealing his pale cheeks.
“Ahhh!”
Xing Nuo, his heart pounding, felt like his soul was leaving his body, floating behind him as the train sped along.
He gripped the bar in front of him, yelling.
Lu Qi, seemingly unafraid, also yelled, joining Xing Nuo.
The monsters, unable to catch them, watched as the train sped away.
The thin, gaunt manager arrived, seeing the monsters chasing the Boss’s little brother, and smacked their heads.
“I told you to chase them! Look what you’ve done!”
The monsters looked at him, confused, and the ticket lady, her face now covered in sharp quills, her monstrous form revealed, asked:
“What’s wrong, Manager? Didn’t you tell us to chase them?”
The manager, exasperated by their stupidity, smacked their heads again, his body inflating like a balloon with anger.
“Remember, you can’t offend those people!”
As the manager scolded the monsters, the train had already circled half the amusement park.
Xing Nuo opened his eyes, seeing the roller coasters, the water park, the flying airplanes…
And the Ferris wheel, each cabin adorned with a shiny, yellow star on top.
Flat, round stars, just like the ones on the Star Coins.
After about fifteen minutes, the train stopped on the other side of the park.
Xing Nuo, dizzy, stumbled as he got off the train and landed on his bottom.
He clutched his head, his vision filled with swirling stars.
He shook his head, but it only made him dizzier.
Lu Qi pulled him up and rubbed his head.
As Xing Nuo’s dizziness subsided, he pulled Lu Qi’s hand and ran.
“Run!”
The monster manager, arriving a moment too late, yelled after them:
“Little Boss, no, Little Ancestor, please stop running!”
If they continued running, he might have to kneel and beg for Shen Yan’s forgiveness.
But Xing Nuo didn’t hear him. He and Lu Qi hid behind two hobby horses in a children’s play area.
Xing Nuo, his round eyes wide, pretending to be a secret agent, nodded.
“Lu Qi, Lu Qi, no monsters here!”
Lu Qi, hiding behind another hobby horse, also replied:
“Xing Nuo, Xing Nuo, no monsters here either!”
The two little ones, about half a meter apart, exchanged glances and giggled.
“We escaped!” Xing Nuo cheered softly.
Before Lu Qi could reply, a hoarse female voice sounded.
“Were you two the ones being chased by the amusement park monsters?”
A woman, her abdomen bleeding, sat slumped against a trampoline, a frantic young man beside her.
“Xin-jie (Sister Xin), what do we do?! The bleeding won’t stop!”
The woman patted his arm, struggling to sit up, and looked at the two dirty, disheveled children.
“Why were the monsters chasing you?”
Xing Nuo, seeing the woman covered in blood, startled, quickly hid behind the hobby horse with Lu Qi.
“Because…we no pay.”
Having snuck into the amusement park, he felt guilty facing a normal visitor.
The woman chuckled, not believing that was the only reason.
“No, there must be something else.”
Looking at the two small children, she felt a flicker of hope.
