Chapter 23

Su Xuanxiao left the dessert shop and, for the first time, wandered aimlessly through the Tourist Garden.

Weirds did not need rest, nor did they require proper exercise to maintain a healthy state. He had never wasted time on such unnecessary things before.

Along the way, all the park’s employees tactfully kept their distance from the boss, who had his hands tucked into the pockets of his suit pants, his glasses reflecting light as he clearly pondered something.

The Weird World, to be precise, had not been so vast from the moment of its birth. It consisted of many world fragments that it had once devoured.

Thus, as the Weird World grew vast enough through devouring, its residents could accordingly be divided into two major categories.

Native Weirds, those naturally born alongside the development of the Weird World.

Foreign Weirds, those born in the world fragments devoured by the Weird World, or those who entered the Weird World through various means and were assimilated.

Su Xuanxiao was of the second category—the former— as were Su Wuzi and Su Jianglou.

As humans, they had perished along with that dark, fallen world. When they awoke again, they existed eternally as Weirds.

Su Xuanxiao recalled the moment he awoke in this world: his mind was filled with endless emptiness, and beside him sat Yuzi, who had been awake for who knew how long.

He thought they were still alive, but Yuzi did not notice he had woken and picked up a shattered soda can from nearby, unhesitatingly slitting his own throat with its sharp edge.

Blood sprayed out, splattering half of Su Xuanxiao’s face. He instinctively pressed his hand to Yuzi’s neck and held it there for a long time until he realized the blood had soaked the ground, forming little pits, yet Yuzi showed no sign of losing consciousness.

Yuzi, covered in blood and lying on the ground, opened his mouth toward him.

Unfortunately, he had used too much force when slitting his own throat, damaging his vocal cords. For the moment, he could only make rasping breaths, unable to say anything coherent.

Su Xuanxiao could not guess what Yuzi wanted to say. Since the man would not die, he simply left his second brother there and shook awake his still-sleeping third brother.

A long time passed that day—long enough for Yuzi’s vocal cords to heal—before the fog in Su Xuanxiao’s mind began to lift slightly. Suddenly, he remembered that there should have been three of them.

He had a little brother.

The small child had obediently burrowed into his big brothers’ arms during the “apocalypse” and closed his eyes along with his exhausted siblings.

He vanished in the New World.

He had nearly vanished from his brothers’ memories as well.

Becoming a Weird from a human was much like being reborn.

Some powerful Weirds lived solely on their obsessions, muddled and dazed, unable even to say what their obsessions truly were or what they had once experienced.

Thus, when another world was invaded by the Weird World, some Weirds subconsciously looked forward to the so-called Players cracking their “dungeons.”

Because the dungeons that Players spoke of for Weirds were, in most cases, tied to their obsessions.

Over these years, aside from expanding territory, Su Xuanxiao’s only pastime in his spare time had been mentally replaying that day when he, Yuzi, and Jiang Lou awoke, over and over.

Yuzi had awoken earlier than him and Jiang Lou, probably because he had not died as thoroughly back then.

At the same time, since he and Xibao had been holding each other when they last lost consciousness, Yuzi had noticed the emptiness in his arms—and the mental haze— sooner than they did upon waking.

To halt that change, Yuzi had used the most extreme method, employing pain to remind himself.

He thereby retained the most complete memories.

Su Xuanxiao and Jiang Lou, waking a half-beat later, had missed their chance to do the same to themselves.

They could only gradually recover their memories as their strength grew.

Every time he replayed up to this point, even Su Xuanxiao, who was tolerant toward his brothers, felt a twinge of resentment.

Setting aside everything else, when he had pressed his hand to Yuzi’s neck, could not Yuzi have taken the opportunity to do the same to him?

Speaking of Yuzi…

Was he really the Tourist Garden’s Park Chief, Hong 1, whom he had found in the Sunshine Neighborhood in the neighboring city?

Su Xuanxiao touched his own neck, standing by the lake shore in the Tourist Garden, his gaze deep and thoughtful.

Unable to buy a cake in the Tourist Garden, Su Xuanxiao went instead to a dessert shop downstairs from the Su Corporation Building.

When he returned to the Tourist Garden office, Su Jianglou, who had been waiting for quite a while, could not help complaining, “Big Brother, how did buying something take you so long?”

Su Xuanxiao looked at his office, which looked as if a typhoon had swept through it, then at the clearly disadvantaged Jiang Lou, before shifting his gaze to the other person present.

“Changed Human Skins?” Su Xuanxiao asked the other man, who sat with his head lowered on the sofa.

The “Human Skin” he mentioned was not actual human skin but a special garment produced by a factory under the Su Consortium. When worn, it allowed Weirds of any form to disguise themselves as humans. Hence the name Human Skin.

Su Jianglou snorted. “Not Human Skin. It’s his own.”

Otherwise, a mere scratch drawing blood would not have let Su Jianglou slam him to the ground.

Su Xuanxiao temporarily ignored the conflict between his two brothers, placed the bought cake on the desk, opened the box, and while inserting Fairy Tale Candles, motivated Su Jianglou. “It seems, Jiang Lou, that you’re still a ways off from your goal of mixing Yuzi into cement, pressing him under the floor, and stepping on him for ten years. You’ll need to keep working at it.”

Su Jianglou did not refute.

The man on the sofa, hearing that his brother planned such treatment for him, showed no anger. He stood and walked to the desk as well, picked up another box of Fairy Tale Candles, and even handed half a box to Su Jianglou to insert.

On Su Xuanxiao’s birthday, the three brothers—rarely gathered together lately—blew out the candles and divided the not-so-large cake, one piece each.

Su Xuanxiao never mentioned throughout that he had gone to the park’s dessert shop only to find the last cake already bought by someone else.

Once the cake was finished, the brothers, who had briefly reunited, went back to their own affairs.

But before they left, Su Xuanxiao spoke up to ask a favor. “Yuzi, Jiang Lou, the family portrait that painter from the neighboring city did for us last year went missing just before completion. I’m tied up here at the Tourist Garden right now, so could you two go look for it?”

Both brothers, called by their big brother, wanted to refuse.

But then Su Xuanxiao added, “That painter has great talent. During our video chat, based on my description, he painted our family of four so lifelike. It’s such a shame it’s lost now.”

Su Jianglou: “…” “I’ll go.”

Su Xuanxiao turned his gaze to the other brother.

The man nodded. “Got it.”

Su Ximu bought a cake at noon but did not eat it right away. Instead, to return the favor, he wanted to invite Blue 242 Leader to share it with him.

That evening, Blue 242, back from vacation and in his dorm, received the invitation from next door and gladly accepted.

That night, Su Ximu shared the cake he bought with Blue 242 Leader and also applied Mushroom Nutrient Fertilizer to the mushrooms in the basin.

The fertilizer was a souvenir Blue 242 had casually brought back from outside. Other plants could use it too, but it was not as effective for mushrooms.

The next morning, when Su Ximu took the Little Spray Pot to the balcony to check on the mushrooms—which he had long since moved to a shady corner—they looked noticeably more spirited than the past few days.

He measured one Blue Mushroom and found that the one treated with fertilizer had grown a full two centimeters taller than it had been the day before without it!

It seemed Blue 242 Leader was not only experienced at work but also knowledgeable about plants.

Su Ximu sighed inwardly, squatted on the balcony to tend to the mushrooms for a bit, then returned inside, opened the hidden compartment of his suitcase, took out the remaining five hundred-yuan bills, and stuffed them into his pocket.

Today was the park’s day off, and it was his and Blue 242 Leader’s turn to have the day off together.

Last night, they had agreed that once Blue 242 Leader finished his errands in the afternoon and returned, they would go together to the nearby zoo.

Blue 242 Leader had taken such good care of him lately, so this zoo trip definitely could not let Blue 242 Leader spend more money.

Even with the best of friends, there had to be give and take. It could not be just one side always paying.

That would not be making friends; that would be deliberately taking advantage.

Su Ximu stood, resolved that when they went to the zoo that afternoon, no matter what Blue 242 Leader wanted to play or eat, he would pay first.

Five hundred yuan was still quite useful in this world.

Su Ximu planned this, unaware of the saying that plans do not always go as expected.

As he stood in the dorm, feeling the five hundred yuan bulging in his pocket, the phone he also kept there buzzed.

Su Ximu thought it was Third Brother calling again and answered directly.

But the slightly unfamiliar male voice from the other end said, “Hello, Xiao Mu?”

Su Ximu listened carefully before responding, “Big Brother?”

The person on the other end hummed in affirmation, confirming his guess. Su Ximu then politely asked, “Big Brother, is there something you need?”

Su Ximu listened to what “Big Brother” said next. It was short and direct, yet he felt he did not quite understand.

“Big Brother” said: Come downstairs. I’ll take you to the Amusement Park.

The “Big Brother” he had not contacted in days said he would take him to the Amusement Park. The Amusement Park.

The youth clutched his phone, thud thud thud ran a few steps, leaned over the dorm railing, and looked down.

Sure enough, a black car had already parked downstairs.

The person in the car spotted him too, lowered the window, and gestured for him to come down.

Su Ximu hesitated, reluctant, but put the phone back to his ear. “Okay, Big Brother. I’ll be down in a bit.”

He locked the dorm door, went downstairs, got in the car—all in under five minutes.

Once in the car, Su Ximu shrank nervously into his seat, wanting to make small talk but unsure what to say.

He could only sneak a glance at “Big Brother” during the drive, then another, thinking Big Brother seemed a bit off today.

This area seemed to be a cluster of large parks. After leaving the Tourist Garden, the car did not take ten minutes to stop at the gate of another park.

Su Ximu got out and gazed at the park’s whimsical macaron-colored gate, filled with childlike charm, and at the rainbow pony carousel right in the center inside the gate. He could not help lowering his head to compare his own height and leg length, then looked at “Big Brother.”

“Big Brother” was… taking him to the Children’s Amusement Park.

So, how were they supposed to play?

“Big Brother, are there little kids coming to play with us later? I see the ticket booth—parents without kids seem like they can’t buy tickets,” Su Ximu asked.

Su Xuanxiao, uncharacteristically not in formal attire today, looked at him. “I’m bringing a kid too.”

Su Ximu first wanted to ask where Big Brother’s kid was, but realized the man was still looking at him.

“Me? Me?”