Salted Fish Zombie

Chapter 47.2: Manman (20)

June 23, 2023 by Wyrd

That day in the garden, the players witnessed Chen Jinpeng intimidating the doll to obtain luck points, and one by one, they followed his lead.

The place in the garden that used to be filled with laughter turned into a place with the most tears.

Then, in the garden, Zhu Ji forced the slime toy to death.

At two o’clock that night, she appeared before them, looking so beautiful.

She was also wearing a white dress, sitting on a motionless swing. The fluffy hem of her dress filled the entire swing, and the corners of her dress shimmered with a moon-like radiance.

She gathered her hair to the right side, revealing a beautiful blood-red flower-shaped earring. “You all saw it, didn’t you? Humans are selfish and cold-blooded.”

“They reveal their ugly faces for their own interests and can use all kinds of dirty means to coerce us and force us to our deaths.”

“Once there are humans or ghosts who can bring them greater benefits than us, they will not hesitate to abandon us.”

“Don’t you want to open your eyes and see clearly?”

“Investing emotions will only harm yourselves!”

At that moment, a tear fell from the eyes of the girl with a tattered jacket, as if a memory had awakened, and she thought of something.

She thought of the worn-out jacket she wore before her death.

She thought of the shabby room she lived in.

The memories became clearer, returning fully from the moment she left the castle.

During the wave of layoffs, her limping father, who worked in a textile factory, became unemployed. They lived in a self-built textile building, and every day someone came to evict them.

Her little brother cried loudly from hunger every day, and her blind mother was constantly worried, crying all the time. Her father’s temper grew increasingly volatile.

She had nightmares every night, dreaming that someone would come and smash the door, trying to drive them out.

Once people came to drive them away, her parents would beg them, without any dignity, and those people would curse: “A family of cripples, bringing bad luck.”

The word “cripple” kept striking her father over and over again.

After those people left, her father would angrily hit her mother and her.

He hated himself for marrying a disabled person like her mother, and he also hated her for being clumsy.

Later, she died.

In a gruesome manner.

The Taoist said it was an ominous room, whoever lived in it was in danger, and whoever approaches it was unlucky.

This news quickly spread throughout the textile factory, and they spoke in horror about them and people became fearful.

Several households moved out of the building, and each floor was not fully occupied. Since then, no one had come to drive them away.

And she was taken away by that fake Taoist.

A new round of torment began.

What would a child who had never been treated well in life or in death become when encountering someone who was so gentle and kind to them?

She couldn’t say for sure, but she only knew that she couldn’t accept the harm inflicted by this person.

Being unable to bear it was her greatest fear in life.

She was kicked out of the room and scolded as a cripple.

The girl in a tattered jacket lay in front of the dead body and closed her eyes.

The dilapidated house emitted a strong moldy smell, yet curiously, there was also a smell of burning fire.

***

In the storage room, the lotus lamp exuded a strange fragrance.

Zhu Shuangshuang said to Zhi Zhi, “Zhi Zhi, can I use this body a little longer while I still can?”

“I want to spend a few more days. I really like the warm temperature. I really like having long hair.”

Zhu Shuangshuang’s voice was hoarse, as if she was about to cry, but there were no tears. However, the impact was even greater than a single tear.

Zhi Zhi bit his lip; he also liked her hair.

When they were in the castle, they slept on the same bed. Except for the first two nights, her head was always close to him.

He could smell the faint fragrance from her hair, and when he gently touched it, it was smooth and soft.

Better than that famous actress’s hair.

She tied her hair up in a high bun with a red hairband before going to sleep.

He knew that the red hairband was a symbol of the Red Veil.

That day, the Red Veil covered the entire castle, but he was always searching for her figure through the gaps in the fluttering wind.

Despite the many monster children and players below, his gaze easily fixed on her.

She spent the whole night defending against the monster children below, gradually losing her strength.

The monster children jumped on the wall and hit the castle through the Red Veil. Every time that happened, she stumbled and fell.

She cried while clumsily trying to catch the monster children; her face covered in the fluid of the dead, her eyes swollen and red.

After the monster children retreated, he ran out of the castle and reached her unconscious body. He discovered numerous red and purple bruises on her.

When the monster children angrily pounded the wall, it wasn’t the wall they were hitting, but her.

In an upside-down position, Zhu Shuangshuang saw a tear fall to the ground.

It wasn’t hers.

“I really like you.”

If there could be someone like this, who knew he was an evil ghost child, who knew his body was made of rotting corpses, yet still wanted to sleep with him, teach him how to use chopsticks hand in hand, and protect him at all costs like an older sister, he would be willing to exchange everything for it.

Regardless of the body or the soul.

Zhi Zhi had finally let Zhu Shuangshuang go.

***

Ji Mingrui and Sui Sui are sitting face to face, reading books.

Ji Mingrui noticed him daydreaming and furrowed his brow, sternly saying: “Didn’t I just teach you to recognize those characters? How come you can’t remember again?”

Sui Sui’s face contorted slightly.

Ji Mingrui continued, “Even ghosts should learn to read properly. What if you can’t understand ‘Book of the Dead’ in the future? Do you know what the ‘Book of the Dead’ is? Do you know about Egyptian mummies?”

Sui Sui sighed and seemed to think of something, inexplicably feeling relieved.

***

In his dream, Meng Jiang was being wrapped in bandages by a boy, piece by piece, while lying on the bed.

The boy sat by the bedside, silently watching him, all white.

***

Ning Su bid farewell to the witch and raised his foot to step out of the narrow doorway.

Unexpectedly, the witch was also leaving, and the two collided at the door.

Ning Su stepped back a bit, waiting for the witch to leave before crossing the threshold.

He looked back at the dim and dilapidated house, where the girl in a tattered jacket was leaning on the arm of a skinny and bony boy. Silent and motionless, she resembled a hidden statue.

Ning Su and Manman walked back in silence.

As he passed by the house where Zhu Shuangshuang and Zhi Zhi were, memories of Zhi Zhi’s documents in the study come to his mind.

Zhi Zhi was the child of a rising star. For the sake of her career, a child was not allowed. She claimed to the outside world that he was her younger brother.

Even at home, she insisted on being called ‘sister.’

In reality, she spent very little time at home. Out of 365 days in a year, she spent 350 on set.

Naturally, she could not bring him to the set. Moreover, when the boy turned four and became aware, she didn’t want untrustworthy people taking care of him at home anymore, fearing that he might say something he shouldn’t.

The boy watched her on TV every day.

One time, the boy followed her out of the apartment. She noticed but didn’t pay attention.

The boy was always an unpredictable bomb. Once it exploded, it would have a devastating impact on her career and upcoming marriage.

In that economically developed and bustling city, the boy chased after her, but eventually got lost.

He stood bewildered on the busy street, then got hit by a car and crushed under another.

He passed by the house where Meng Jiang and the mummy doll were.

Ayi hadn’t seen his parents as far as he could remember.

His parents worked overseas, and their significance to him was sending a lot of money back every six months.

But very little of that money was spent on him; it ended up in the hands of his relatives.

When his relatives talked to his parents on the phone, they were gentle and kind, competing to take care of him. But once they hung up, their attitude changed completely.

They only wanted money from him, and to hear him speak well of them in front of his parents. Otherwise, no one cared about him.

His death was both ridiculous and tragic.

His delinquent cousin brought a group of hoodlums home who said he was too fair-skinned.

At that time, there was a popular movie about mummies, and not long after, this group of deviant boys turned him into a mummy.

Ning Su passed by the houses where Ji Mingrui and Sui Sui lived, passed by Shi Tianzhu and the wax figure doll’s house, passed by Gu Yangwei and the candy girl’s house...

With each house he passed, he would think of the corresponding information he had seen in the study.

“Mom, why are you walking so slowly?” Manman turned to look at him and asked, “What are you thinking?”

“Oh,” Ning Su scratched his slightly itchy arm, “I’m thinking...”

He turned around and looked back.

The two of them stood on a dark and gloomy street. Looking out from this long and dark street, the Fairy Tale Town outside appeared relatively brighter.

However, it remained dim.

The entire Fairy Tale Town was in dark tones, permeated with mist.

That mist might be what they call resentment, malevolence, gloom, and lifelessness. In any case, it was murky and oppressive, with no sight of daylight.

“I’m wondering why this place is called Fairy Tale Town. Fairy tales shouldn’t be like this, right?”

Fairy tales should have bright colors, like apple red, creamy yellow, orange like an orange fruit, and honeydew green, just like the amusement park depicted by Chagall’s brush. (T/N: Marc Chagall was an artist known for his unique style that combined elements of Cubism, Fauvism, and Symbolism, often depicting dreamlike and fantastical scenes.)

The little girl looked up at him, her eyes filled with rare confusion. “What is a fairy tale?”

Ning Su pursed his lips, feeling a pang in his stiff zombie heart.

The little girl didn’t know what a fairy tale was.

In her room, there were no Snow White or Cinderella, only evil spirits and wicked children.

Her companions since childhood were not her peers but the Gu Man Tong that filled the whole house.

Ever since she was born, her father made her familiar with these things, made her adapt to them.

What Zhu Shuangshuang said was right. “Manman” meant Gu Man Tong and Gu Man Li.

She hadn’t even been born yet, and she already had such a name.

At the end of the street was their house.

In the study, among the pile of documents locked in the drawer, the last one was numbered 20.

[My dear daughter.]

An insane man, trembling with excitement under the lamp, wrote down these words back then.

[Her name is Manman. I gave her this name before she was even born.]