Even though it was a gigantic monster, in Xia Fenghua's hands, it seemed to turn into a doll. Her two small hands moved deftly, and upon feeling the monster's joints, she dismantled its limbs as if she were disassembling a doll. What's more, after the limbs were removed, not a single drop of blood flowed from the severed ends.
Mu Anqi didn't know whether it was because the monster had no blood or because of Xia Fenghua's method of attack. She held her candy cane, originally intending to continue supporting Xia Fenghua, but… the monster was already immobilized. It seemed she didn't even need to chant a blessing anymore.
So this was what it felt like to be carried by a ghost? If just a ghost at the Barrier-Breaking Stage under General Ji was already this powerful, then to be carried by General Ji herself… that must be amazing!
Since the monster was completely subdued by Xia Fenghua, Mu Anqi no longer paid attention to it. She walked to the bedside and carefully looked at the little girl lying on the bed, her eyes lifeless as she stared blankly at the moon outside the window. Mu Anqi hesitated, then used her candy cane to produce a few bell-shaped hard candies and offered them to the little girl.
However, Mu Anqi's hand didn't touch the girl at all—it passed right through her…
"She won't reveal her true form," Xia Fenghua said, placing both hands on the monster's neck. With just a gentle twist, she pulled the head right off. "She's too scared."
Picking up the monster's hand, Xia Fenghua thrust it into the monster's chest. After being tormented by her, the monster finally turned into black smoke and dissipated with her last move.
The moon outside the window gradually disappeared—it was dawn.
The world twisted for a moment, and the place where Mu Anqi and Xia Fenghua stood suddenly turned into the outside of that door. The originally pitch-black door had vanished.
Daytime. The sunlight was bright.
Mu Anqi saw the man in the suit walk into the elevator and head to work.
Mu Anqi and the others remained at the entrance where the door was no longer visible, wondering if the little girl might run out. However, after sitting in the corridor for a while, with the blazing and dazzling sun outside the window, Mu Anqi still felt a chill. The bright sunlight clearly lit up the corridor through the window, but standing in the light brought no sense of warmth.
Something was wrong. Mu Anqi tried looking downstairs. Unlike at night, the outside world now had sounds.
The sound of passing cars, renovations from some household, construction noise from a distant site, an aunt downstairs calling for her child, and indistinct chatter. The world outside seemed lively and vibrant, yet this building remained as quiet as ever.
In a daze, she saw one scene after another. The little girl ran out of the house in a panic, screaming, crying, begging for help. She pounded on doors, crawling and stumbling from one to the next, knocking on every door she could reach—yet no one was willing to open. Behind her, the man in the suit always wore a gentle, refined smile, speaking in a pampering yet reproachful tone: "Xiao Ai, don't throw a tantrum with Daddy."
Even when someone did open their door, compared to a crying child who couldn't clearly explain what had happened, people were more inclined to believe the man in the suit who looked like a polished elite and gentleman. Some would even patiently lecture the little girl not to act out, or say something like, "My kid does the same—wants something and throws a fit when they don't get it…"
Tracking, surveillance, audio recording.
The little girl didn't know why, but no matter when she tried to escape, no matter where she fled, no matter who she met or what she told them… Daddy always knew. A pitch-black hand clutched her throat, choking off her voice. In the end, even crying became futile in the face of constant blame.
Even just watching it, one felt suffocated.
On every night when sin blossomed, that bright moon silently watched through the window. Its light was clear and cold, yet it illuminated a house full of ugliness.
"How could this be… something like this… really happen… How could someone do something like that?"
Perverse control, twisted possessiveness. Step by step, control tightened, pressure mounted bit by bit, shrinking the child's world. Giving her hope, letting her try, letting her resist, letting her run—only to crush her in the end with the reality that it was all in vain. Labels were slapped onto her: "disobedient," "bad," "brat," "willful," "always crying"… and when she became numb and too drained to resist, they'd praise her as a "good child"…
Mu Anqi felt a wave of nausea.
Daytime here was brief, and night was unbearable.
Mu Anqi watched as scene after scene flashed by. The father hadn't sent the child to school, but taught her at home, even hired private tutors. However… after the girl said something she shouldn't have, the tutor never came back. The man moved to a new place with the little girl. The police had visited once, and finally, Mu Anqi saw the man watching a news broadcast on television—the news was about a university student tutor who had gone missing at night after leaving a session.
"Xiao Ai…"
"Xiao Ai…"
"Xiao Ai…"
"Good girl…"
"Don't be willful…"
"Don't throw tantrums…"
"Be obedient…"
"Daddy's here with you…"
"Be good…"
"Let's play a game…"
…
The devil's whispers echoed through the corridor. Mu Anqi jolted awake in shock, only to find that outside the window, night had already fallen completely. Xia Fenghua was nowhere to be seen, and beneath her feet… a black shadow had appeared.
The sound of leather shoes hitting the floor echoed—step by step…
"Xiao Ai, why weren't you a good girl and wait at home for Daddy to come back? So naughty…"
The man in the suit stepped out of the elevator, carrying a briefcase, and smiled at Mu Anqi. "What did my baby do today? Daddy knows everything~" [T/N: Give this insect crulest death possible ⸨◺_◿⸩]
As the man in the suit kept approaching, Mu Anqi noticed neither the little girl nor Xia Fenghua was anywhere to be seen. She looked back at the man in the suit and realized—he wasn't getting taller. She was getting smaller.
"Be good, come home with Daddy."
Mu Anqi felt for her backpack, confirming that all her tools and props were still there. She sneered, raised her middle finger at the man in the suit, and said, "Go to hell, scum!"
The candy cane in her hand grew larger. Gripping the curved end, Mu Anqi swung it fiercely at the man's crotch. But he reacted with lightning speed, grabbing the end of the candy cane: "Xiao Ai, you're being very naughty. Bad children must be punished…"
Switch form. Switch ammo—Spicy Syrup!
Fire! ——
Scalding, spicy syrup sprayed out, drenching the man in the suit from head to toe. Clearly unprepared for this, he cried out in pain and let go. In the next instant, he began transforming into the monster from the night before, and a moment later, he was about to lunge at her.
Mu Anqi gripped the end of the candy cane tightly, firing nonstop with her mind. She stared at the man in the suit, all her disgust and fury channeled into a string of gritted-teeth yet utterly sincere blessings: "I wish you a smiling death! To be remembered for generations! To be immortalized in history! To live a long, long life!"
The blessings triggered forced behavioral restraints on the monster, and during that time, Mu Anqi kept the barrel of the candy cane aimed at the monster's head, drenching him nonstop. The scorching, spicy, and sickeningly sweet smell of the syrup filled the entire corridor. The syrup flowed down the monster's head, scalding, burning, and stinging—causing him to scream in agony, unable to fight back or defend.
Mu Anqi didn't have the power to kill the monster outright.
But she felt this was just fine—drenching him all night with spicy syrup, torturing him all night long was good enough! As for the blessings? Mu Anqi had done her homework—her current reserve of blessing phrases was astonishing. Even if she couldn't keep it up for a whole night, just tormenting the monster for a little longer was worth it.
And so, Mu Anqi remained locked in a standoff with the monster.
Until Xia Fenghua walked into the area carrying a doll—at that moment, the monster disappeared with a bang.
"…Looks like I should've come a little later." Xia Fenghua sounded a bit apologetic. She had also just been pulled into a separate space, experiencing a confrontation with the monster from the little girl's perspective. Originally, Xia Fenghua had wanted to play a bit longer—after all, that monster was no different from a doll in her hands. But halfway through, she remembered Mu Anqi. In this Black Mirror vortex, her task was to protect this player, to let the player recruited by the General gain some experience and insight… If she got too caught up in playing and something happened to Mu Anqi, that wouldn't be good. So Xia Fenghua ended it quickly, twisted off the monster's head again, and rushed over.
…Only to find that Mu Anqi didn't seem to need much help at all. Her sudden intrusion into the solo instance had instead given the monster a chance to escape.
"…It's fine," Mu Anqi said, catching her breath. She had been in a state of intense focus the entire time, and it had left her exhausted. When the monster vanished, the syrup covering the floor vanished along with it, as if everything that had just happened had taken place in another world. "This kind of Black Mirror vortex… how do you even clear it?" Mu Anqi was completely at a loss. If it were about killing the monster—well, the monster had died so many times and was still fine. The illusions, the memories—they kept replaying.
If it was about saving the little girl… what had happened couldn't be changed. And as for helping her grow stronger, helping her overcome the trauma and walk out of the shadows… Mu Anqi really didn't know how. After seeing so many of the memories, she even felt that asking anything of the little girl was just too cruel.
"Everyone has a different way to clear the stage," Xia Fenghua said. "If it were me, I'd turn the monster into a doll and give it to the little girl to play with."
"Didn't the monster want to play a game? Then let it play to its heart's content," she said calmly. That monster was the fear in the little girl's heart. Xia Fenghua didn't know what would be best for the girl, but if it were her… that's what she would do.
Hmm, if General Ji were the one clearing this Black Mirror vortex, she probably wouldn't even wait for daylight—she'd tear the monster apart with her bare hands and carry its head to the little girl. If the general was in a bad mood… she'd likely just forcibly tear through the vortex to clear it.
"Big sis, let's go~"
"Let's head to that room and end this under the moonlight."
Xia Fenghua raised the doll in both hands and spun around with it. Her little skirt flared out as she twirled, looking adorably sweet. Her steps were light, skipping as she walked, and she began humming an unknown nursery rhyme…
"Dolly, oh my darling doll
So delicate, sweet, and ever so small
Your little eyes blink and blink
Your mouth is open, but you don't speak
My darling doll, my darling doll…"