Salted Fish Zombie

Chapter 46.2: Manman (19)

June 21, 2023 by Wyrd

The little girl said, “It’s a name I had even before being born.”

Ning Su made a sound of acknowledgment.

Previously, they speculated that the name of the instance - “Manman” - was referring to Gu Man Tong and Gu Man Li.

They didn’t expect that his ghost friend would also be named Manman.

Upon hearing this, it became possible that his ghost friend was this instance’s ghost master.

Was it because the ghost master’s name was Manman that the instance was named Manman? Or was it because these ghost friends were Gu Man Tong and Gu Man Li that the instance was named Manman?

It could be both, perhaps?

Anyway, Ning Su took a sip of fish and tofu soup, happily narrowed his eyes, and stopped thinking about it.

However, he couldn’t help but wonder if they would be okay.

Nothing happened overnight. No attacks from monster children. No need to worry about ghost friends. Ning Su had a good night’s sleep.

When he woke up the next morning, he saw the little girl, who was quite petite, bringing in a bag from outside that wasn’t much smaller than her. Ning Su was about to jump out of bed, but he saw that Gui Sheng had already rushed over to help her carry it.

Ning Su slowly descended the stairs and saw the two children standing on chairs, placing ingredients in the refrigerator.

The little girl had brought back groceries from outside.

Ning Su felt a bit embarrassed and said, “Next time, let us go and get it.”

Manman said, “It’s better for Mommy and little brother to stay at home.”

“Little brother?” Ning Su looked at the two children, who looked similar. “How do you know he’s a little brother? Do you know how old Gui Sheng is?”

Gui Sheng also looked at her curiously and made a sound of agreement.

Manman said, “I know for sure he’s a little brother.”

Ning Su made a sound of acknowledgment and put on an apron to prepare breakfast. As he cooked, he said, “After breakfast, shall we go out for a walk?”

Manman remained silent for a moment and said, “Alright.”

After finishing breakfast, the three of them walked out of the house together. They were at the innermost part of this street, and in order to leave, they had to pass by the houses where each surviving player was located.

Ning Su perked up his ears.

Along the way, he heard Zhu Shuangshuang saying, “Zhi Zhi, do you want to go out and play?”

He heard Meng Jiang asking, “Ayi, have you eaten enough?”

Ji Mingrui and Sui Sui were always quiet.

There’s no need to worry about Shi Tianzhu even more.

Ning Su happily took the two children for a stroll in the Fairy Tale Town and finally brought them to the children’s amusement park in the town.

At night, many monster children would appear here, but during the day, there were very few children.

Ning Su had never been to an amusement park when he was young, so having the feeling of having a whole amusement park to himself was incredibly joyful.

The three children played happily for three hours before returning home.

After going out once, Ning Su didn’t have any other thoughts and just wanted to lie at home like a couch potato.

Strangely and miraculously, after coming out of the castle, they spent the following days living a cozy life.

Ning Su was lazy and laid-back, with a naturally good-natured character. Manman was decisive, and the three children got along exceptionally harmoniously.

Manman was the one in charge at home, and she always managed to bring back various fresh ingredients, as well as making friends.

Although her friends were a bit strange.

They were a group of small skeletons, aged three or four years old.

Manman said, “Little brother Gui Sheng is too introverted. He needs to get to know more friends, so I brought the skeleton band.”

The little skeletons all looked up at Ning Su with a clattering sound.

Ning Su: “...”

Two children and a skeleton band were having a party on the grass. The little skeleton picked up a mini guitar and bass, strumming the guitar and singing.

The coolest one was the smallest skeleton. It looked like it had just learned to stand when it still had flesh. It wore a pair of worn-out skinny jeans with tiny holes and a duck-billed cap. While playing the bass, the skeleton shone with a cool silver glow in the moonlight.

Ning Su baked some cookies and brought coffee for them.

The little skeletons sat on the grass, holding their coffees, chatting about music.

Ning Su and Gui Sheng sat beside them, listening to their discussion about when instruments made from human bones were the best.

Gui Sheng surprisingly got along with them. He nodded and shook his head, joining the conversation.

Ning Su felt out of place, thinking that maybe he wasn’t eerie enough. After all, he still had 0.1% of his life left.

Manman would bring all sorts of seeds for Ning Su. They had strange shapes and looked a bit cute.

Ning Su had a test field in the backyard where he planted them one by one. Every morning, he would come and check, waiting to see what kind of sprouts they would produce.

In this place, where darkness obscured sunlight, would tender sprouts break through the soil?

They lived like this for ten days.

It was simply Ning Su’s dream life. During these ten days, he hadn’t left the house once, wishing to spend his days here until the end of time.

On this morning, Manman wore a red fluffy skirt and pinned a lily hairpin by her ear.

She was an exceptionally nimble girl, even in the castle. Only on the first night did Zhu Shuangshuang help her clean up. After that, she could tidy herself up without anyone’s assistance.

During this time, she could be said to take care of them a little more.

After sitting down, she was about to speak when she suddenly heard Ning Su say, “Manman, is there any way for us to stay here a little longer? Twenty days is not enough.”

“...”

***

In another house, Zhu Shuangshuang and Zhi Zhi were also having their meal.

She asked again, “Zhi Zhi, when are we going out?”

After the other’s paper body turned into pale white skin, Zhi Zhi transformed into a thin little gray-eyed boy. He continued eating and said, “This is the third time you’ve asked that today.”

“Oh, really? It’s because I really want to go out,” Zhu Shuangshuang said.

The little boy silently ate his meal without saying a word.

Zhu Shuangshuang looked at him, feeling a sudden chill in her heart, and didn’t speak anymore.

They lived in a large flat, as if it had been separated from a tall building and appeared here, neither high nor low.

After finishing their meal, Zhu Shuangshuang sat by the window, constantly looking outside.

She didn’t know how the others were doing. They had been pulled into different houses by their ghost friend ten days ago, and she hadn’t seen any of them even once.

She was very worried, especially when she thought about Bai Shuang that had been torn apart by her ghost friends on the day they left the castle. She felt uneasy all over.

Fortunately, she and Zhi Zhi had their own rooms. Even so, she couldn’t bring herself to close her eyes the whole night on the first night.

After confirming her own safety, she began to worry about others.

Living on the same street, they had never seen each other. The more Zhu Shuangshuang thought about it, the more worried she became.

She looked out the window, longing for what lay outside.

Compared to the window, the room was quite dark. Zhi Zhi stood in the shadows, silently watching the hope in her eyes.

On the next day at noon, Zhu Shuangshuang couldn’t resist asking again, “Zhi Zhi, are we going out today? If you don’t want to go, can I go out alone?”

Zhi Zhi remained unresponsive to the question, eating his meal in even deeper silence.

On the day after that, Zhu Shuangshuang didn’t give up and asked again. She even tried to open the door several times, but failed.

That night, Zhu Shuangshuang opened her eyes in a daze and first saw a pair of feet. It took her a moment to realize that she was currently upside down.

She only realized that she was hanging upside down on the wall when she felt the ropes bound tightly around her hands and feet.

On each wall of this storage room, there were various eerie yellow talismans with strange drawings outlined in red cinnabar, giving them a blood-like appearance.

In addition, there were two pink lotus lamps emitting dim light, and several burning incense sticks.

In the dim room, there was an eerie atmosphere that sent shivers down one’s spine.

Zhi Zhi took a step back, and Zhu Shuangshuang was able to see his face upside down.

Her eyes were facing his mouth, and she saw that little mouth opening and closing, saying, “Why do you always want to leave? Why can’t you stay with me forever?”

A pair of icy little hands cupped her face, causing goosebumps to immediately appear on Zhu Shuangshuang’s face.

“Sister, please stay with me forever.”

***

Ning Su slowly opened his eyes.

These days, he had been sleeping for more than ten hours every day. After sleeping for half of the night, he didn’t feel like sleeping anymore.

He got up from the bed and opened the door.

At this time, Gui Sheng and Manman were both asleep. Apart from the three bedrooms, there was only one toy room on the second floor.

Ning Su gently pushed open the door to the toy room.

The toy room was also quite spacious, with various dolls and toys placed on the cabinets around, along with exquisitely crafted figurines. The middle of the room was covered with thick, shaggy carpet, making it comfortable for children to sit and play with toys.

If a little girl could have so many toys, it would normally make many children envious.

However, for some unknown reason, Ning Su felt that these dolls couldn’t bring joy to a child.

The entire Fairy Tale Town had a dark color scheme, and this street was particularly gloomy. Even the pale moon in the night sky couldn’t illuminate the room clearly, as if it was shrouded in a layer of mist, creating a blurry and oppressive atmosphere.

In the hazy moonlight, among the hundreds of dolls on the towering cabinets, there were a few pairs of eyes that glowed faintly, resembling those of real people.

They were all very small, standing one by one inside the cabinet.

When Ning Su first entered this room. He picked up a doll and realized that the cabinet had more than one layer of dolls. The cabinet was made deep, with a row of dolls in front and another row behind.

Ning Su looked at the doll on the outermost layer inside, his eyes widening slightly.

It was a glass-faced mirror doll.

Ning Su had seen this mirror doll before. On the first day of moving into the castle, he knocked on Sun Xing’s door frantically and was hit by the monster children, smashing that doll.

Ning Su brought over a children’s ladder and carefully inspected each of the hundreds of dolls inside.

He found slime toy, paper doll, New Year picture doll, rag doll, mummy doll, waxen doll...

He arranged all these figurines on the carpet.

The boy sat on the shaggy carpet, picking up these dolls to examine them.

The time of their creation seemed to be quite old. When held close to his nose, some carried a faint fragrance, while others emitted a rotten smell.

Ning Su examined them closely and discovered markings on the back of their necks, hidden by their hair.

Each figurine had a mark, but some had additional symbols.

It wasn’t Chinese, but Ning Su still recognized it. They were symbols representing one’s position in life.

These markings depicted a clear path of advancement, leading towards an exceptionally high position—a trajectory symbolizing the progression and promotion of an individual.

Suddenly, Ning Su recalled the night when the ghost friends were born, and he heard that nursery rhyme.

It was different from the one sung by the monster children.

[Daddy’s growing taller, mommy’s getting wider.

Daddy’s making big money, mommy’s short in heart.]

Ning Su stared at these familiar yet unfamiliar dolls in a daze.

He placed them back in their original positions and quietly made his way to the third floor, where he had never been before.

The third floor was different from the second floor; it’s like two different worlds.

Here, a thick layer of dust covered everything, and thick spiderwebs could be seen in every corner. Faint traces of old bloodstains could be seen on the walls.

Ning Su pushed open the door of the first room on the right side of the stairs.

It was a study.

The study looked like a mischievous child had ransacked it, with books strewn all over the room.

The desk was empty, and the things that were supposed to be on it seemed to have been thrown out as well.

Ning Su stepped over a broken table lamp and picked up a photo frame from the corner.

The glass covering the frame was shattered, but it didn’t affect the view of the photo inside.

In the photo, a man in his thirties was playing with a little girl who appeared to be around three years old.

The little girl was exceptionally delicate and beautiful. Ning Su recognized her—it was Manman.